In the mean time Le Balafre moved with a slow and painful step towards
the captives. He stopped before the person of Hard-Heart, whose
faultless form, unchanging eye, and lofty mien, he contemplated long,
with high and evident satisfaction. Then making a gesture of
authority, he awaited, until his order had been obeyed, and the youth
was released from the post and his bonds, by the same blow of the
knife. When the young warrior was led nearer to his dimmed and failing
sight, the examination was renewed, with strictness of scrutiny, and
that admiration, which physical excellence is so apt to excite in the
breast of a savage.
"It is good," the wary veteran murmured, when he found that all his
skill in the requisites of a brave could detect no blemish; "this is a
leaping panther! Does my son speak with the tongue of a Teton?"
The intelligence, which lighted the eyes of the captive, betrayed how
well he understood the question, but still he was far too haughty to
communicate his ideas through the medium of a language that belonged
to a hostile people.
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