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I should think, sir, that the appearance of Mohegan and the Leather-Stocking, stalking through the country, impoverished and forlorn, would wither your sight. Marmaduke heard this burst of passion, at first, with deep amazement; but when the youth had ended, he beckoned to his impatient daughter for silence, and replied: Oliver Edwards, thou forgettest in whose presence thou standest.
It was a leisure moment with the court; some low whispering passed between the bench and the sheriff, who gave a signal to his officers, and in a very few minutes the silence that prevailed was interrupted by a general movement in the outer crowd, when presently the Leather-Stocking made his appearance, ushered into the criminals bar under the custody of two constables, The hum ceased, the people closed into the open space again, and the silence soon became so deep that the hard breathing of the prisoner was audible.
Now let me ask you, Judge Temple, what motive could induce a man like the Leather-Stocking to make a sled, and toil with a load over these mountains, if he had nothing but his rifle or his ammunition to carry? They frequently make these jumpers to convey their game home, and you say he had been absent many days. How did he kill it? His rifle was in the village, to be mended.
And yet he was an original; for he assured us that he had never read the Leather-Stocking Tales. What a figure, I was thinking, he must have made in the late war! Such a shot, such a splendid physique, such iron endurance! I almost dreaded to hear his tales of the havoc he had wrought on the Union army. Yes, he was in the war, he was sixteen months in the Confederate army, this Homeric man.
Ease and plenty! again repeated the Leather-Stocking; what ease can there be to an old man, who must walk a mile across the open fields, before he can find a shade to hide him from a scorching sun! or what plenty is there where you hunt a day, and not start a buck, or see anything bigger than a mink, or maybe a stray fox! Ah! I shall have a hard time after them very beavers, for this fine.
Would you, old boy? roared Billy; then so much the better for me. But I must do my arrand. Heres a letter for you, Leather-Stocking. If you can read it, its all well, and if you cant, heres Squire Doolittle at hand, to let you know what it means. It seems you mistook the twentieth of July for the first of August. thats all.
She even blushed a little as she turned to the young hunter, and with the charm of a womans manner added: But it was only to see an exhibition of the far-famed skill of Leather-Stocking, that I tried my fortunes. Will you, sir, accept the bird as a small peace offering for the hurt that prevented your own success?
Come, come, heres a green spot; take it out like men, while Jotham and I see fair play. William Kirby, I order you to do your duty, cried Hiram, from under the bank; seize that man; I order you to seize him in the name of the people. But the Leather-Stocking now assumed a more threatening attitude; his rifle was in his hand, and its muzzle was directed toward the wood- chopper.
He-e-e-re, he-e-e-re, Hector he-e-e-re, slut come this a-way, pups come this a- way- come hither. Oh! I have always heard a good character of the dogs, returned Mr. Doolittle, quickening his pace by raising each leg in rapid succession, as the hounds scented around his person. And where is the game, Leather-Stocking?
Among the sportsmen was the tall, gaunt form of Leather-Stocking, walking over the field, with his rifle hanging on his arm, his dogs at his heels; the latter now scenting the dead or wounded birds that were beginning to tumble from the flocks, and then crouching under the legs of their master, as if they participated in his feelings at this wasteful and unsportsmanlike execution.
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