"There goes Uncas!" said the scout; "the boy bears a smart piece! I know its crack, as well as a father knows the language of his child, for I carried the gun myself until a better offered."
"What can this mean?" demanded Duncan; "we are watched, and, as it would seem, marked for destruction."
"Yonder scattered brand can witness that no good was intended, and this Indian will testify that no harm has been done," returned the scout, dropping his rifle across his arm again, and following Chingachgook, who just then reappeared within the circle of light, into the bosom of the works. "How is it, Sagamore? Are the Mingos upon us in earnest, or is it only one of those rept y les who hang upon the skirts of a war party, to scalp the dead, go in, and make their boast among the squaws of the vali
