The
struggle was short, however; uprightness of heart soon getting the
better of false pride and frontier boastfulness.
"To own the truth, I never did," answered Deerslayer; "seeing that
a fitting occasion never offered. The Delawares have been peaceable
since my sojourn with 'em, and I hold it to be onlawful to take
the life of man, except in open and generous warfare."
"What! did you never find a fellow thieving among your traps and
skins, and do the law on him with your own hands, by way of saving
the magistrates trouble in the settlements, and the rogue himself
the cost of the suit!"
"I am no trapper, Hurry," returned the young man proudly: "I live
by the rifle, a we'pon at which I will not turn my back on any
man of my years, atween the Hudson and the St. Lawrence. I never
offer a skin that has not a hole in its head besides them which
natur' made to see with or to breathe through."
"Ay, ay, this is all very well, in the animal way, though it makes
but a poor figure alongside of scalps and ambushes. Shooting an
Indian from an ambush is acting up to his own principles, and now
we have what you call a lawful war on our hands, the sooner you wipe
that disgrace off your character, the sounder will be your sleep;
if it only come from knowing there is one inimy the less prowling in
the woods.
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