chase. Ay, ay, that will blind their fireballs of eyes! Chingach—Hist! what stirs the bush?"
"The colt."
"That colt, at least, must die," muttered the scout, grasping at the mane of the nimble beast, which easily eluded his hand, "Uncas, your arrows!"
"Hold!" exclaimed the proprietor of the condemned animal, aloud, without regard to the whispering tones used by the others, "spare the foal of Miriam! it is a comely offspring of a faithful dam, and would willingly injure naught."
"When men struggle for the single life God has given them," said the scout, sternly, "even their own kind seem no more than the beasts of the wood. If you speak again, I shall leave you to the mercy of the Maquas! Draw to your arrow's head, Uncas; we have not time for second blows!"
The low, muttering sounds of his threatening voice were still audible, when the wounded foal, first rearing on its hinder legs, plunged forward to its knees. It was
