The colour slowly receded from her cheeks, and the girl
looked up archly at the Indian, smiling with the innocence of a
child, mingled with the interest of a woman.
"My sister, the Drooping Lily, hear such bird!" Chingachgook added,
and this with a gentleness of tone and manner that would have
astonished those who sometimes heard the discordant cries that
often came from the same throat; these transitions from the harsh
and guttural, to the soft and melodious not being infrequent in
ordinary Indian dialogues. "My sister's ears were open -has she
lost her tongue?"
"You are Chingachgook - you must be; for there is no other red man
here, and she thought Chingachgook would come."
"Chin-gach-gook," pronouncing the name slowly, and dwelling on each
syllable` "Great Sarpent, Yengeese tongue."
[It is singular there should be any question concerning the origin
of the well-known sobriquet of "Yankees." Nearly all the old
writers who speak of the Indians first known to the colonists make
them pronounce the word "English" as "Yengeese." Even at this day,
it is a provincialism of New England to say "Anglish" instead of
"Inglish," and there is a close conformity of sound between "Anglish"
and "yengeese," more especially if the latter word, as was probably
the case, be pronounced short.
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