"
The Indian uttered his favorite exclamation of "Good!" and then
they walked side by side, towards the shore. There was no apparent
distrust in the manner of either, the Indian moving in advance,
as if he wished to show his companion that he did not fear turning
his back to him. As they reached the open ground, the former
pointed towards Deerslayer's boat, and said emphatically - "No mine
- pale-face canoe. This red man's. No want other man's canoe -
want his own."
"You're wrong, red-skin, you 're altogether wrong. This canoe was
left in old Hutter's keeping, and is his'n according to law, red
or white, till its owner comes to claim it. Here's the seats and
the stitching of the bark to speak for themselves. No man ever
know'd an Injin to turn off such work."
"Good! My brother little old - big wisdom. Injin no make him.
White man's work."
"I'm glad you think so, for holding out to the contrary might have
made ill blood atween us, every one having a right to take possession
of his own. I'll just shove the canoe out of reach of dispute at
once, as the quickest way of settling difficulties."
While Deerslayer was speaking, he put a foot against the end of
the light boat, and giving a vigorous shove, he sent it out into
the lake a hundred feet or more, where, taking the true current,
it would necessarily float past the point, and be in no further
danger of coming ashore.
Pages:
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196