Thus appealed to, however, he answered his friend in his ordinary
sententious manner.
"Six -" he said, holding up all the fingers of one hand, and the
thumb of the other, "besides this." The last number denoted his
betrothed, whom, with the poetry and truth of nature, he described
by laying his hand on his own heart.
"Did you see her, chief - did you get a glimpse of her pleasant
countenance, or come close enough to her ear, to sing in it the
song she loves to hear?"
"No, Deerslayer - the trees were too many, and leaves covered their
boughs like clouds hiding' the heavens in a storm. But" - and
the young warrior turned his dark face towards his friend, with a
smile on it that illuminated its fierce-looking paint and naturally
stern lineaments with a bright gleam of human feeling, "Chingachgook
heard the laugh of Wah-ta-Wah, and knew it from the laugh of the
women of the Iroquois. It sounded in his ears, like the chirp of
the wren."
"Ay, trust a lovyer's ear for that, and a Delaware's ear for all
sounds that are ever heard in the woods. I know not why it is so,
Judith, but when young men - and I dares to say it may be all the
same with young women, too - but when they get to have kind feelin's
towards each other, it's wonderful how pleasant the laugh, or
the speech becomes, to the other person.
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