He loves animals made
of ivory, and little rifles. See; I have brought some with me to
show him. I am his friend. When he has packed up these things
among his goods, he will start for his village, before any of my
young men can overtake him, and then he will show his people in
Canada what riches they can come to seek, now that our great fathers,
across the Salt Lake, have sent each other the war hatchet. I will
lead back with me this great hunter, of whom I have need to keep
my house in venison."
Judith, who was sufficiently familiar with Indian phraseology,
endeavored to express her ideas in the sententious manner common to
those people, and she succeeded even beyond her own expectations.
Deerslayer did her full justice in the translation, and this so much
the more readily, since the girl carefully abstained from uttering
any direct untruth; a homage she paid to the young man's known aversion
to falsehood, which he deemed a meanness altogether unworthy of a
white man's gifts. The offering of the two remaining elephants,
and of the pistols already mentioned, one of which was all the worse
for the recent accident, produced a lively sensation among the Hurons,
generally, though Rivenoak received it coldly, notwithstanding the
delight with which he had first discovered the probable existence
of a creature with two tails.
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