The Deerslayer

Chapter 26

"Upon two stony tables, spread before her,

She lean'd her bosom, more than stony hard,

There slept th' impartial judge, and strict restorer

Of wrong, or right, with pain or with reward;

There hung the score of all our debts, the card

Where good, and bad, and life, and death, were painted;

Was never heart of mortal so untainted,

But when the roll was read, with thousand terrors fainted."

Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victory in Heaven, lxv.

"We've done an unthoughtful thing, Sarpent - yes, Judith, we've

done an unthoughtful thing in taking life with an object no better

than vanity!" exclaimed Deerslayer, when the Delaware held up the

enormous bird, by its wings, and exhibited the dying eyes riveted

on its enemies with the gaze that the helpless ever fasten on their

destroyers. "Twa