“Does the sun rise and set?  When I reached the tree, I found the Sarpent leaning against its trunk with torn leggings and muddied moecassins.  The Delaware had got into a swamp, and it worried him not a little to find his way out of it; but as the sun which comes over the eastern hills in the morning goes down behind the western at night, so was he true to time and place.  No fear of Chingachgook when there is either a friend or an enemy in the case.  He is equally sartain with each.”

“And where is the Delaware now? why is he not with us to-day?”

“He is scouting on the Mingo trail, where I ought to have been too, but for a great human infirmity.”

“You seem above, beyond, superior to all infirmity, Pathfinder; I never yet met with a man who appeared to be so little liable to the weaknesses of nature.”

“If you mean in the way of health and strength, Mabel, Providence has been kind to me; though I fancy the open air, long hunts, active scoutings, forest fare, and the sleep of a good conscience, may always keep the doctors at a distance.  But I am human after all; yes, I find I’m very human in some of my feelings.”

Mabel looked surprised, and it would be no more than delineating the character of her sex, if we added that her sweet countenance expressed a good deal of curiosity, too, though her tongue was more discreet.

“There is something bewitching in this wild life of yours, Pathfinder,” she exclaimed, a tinge of enthusiasm mantling her cheeks.  “I find I’m fast getting to be a frontier girl, and am coming to love all this grand silence of the woods.  The towns seem tame to me; and, as my father will probably pass the remainder of his days here, where he has already lived so long, I begin to feel that I should be happy to continue with him, and not to return to the seashore.”

“The woods are never silent, Mabel, to such as understand their meaning.  Days at a time have I travelled them alone, without feeling the want of company; and, as for conversation, for such as can comprehend their language, there is no want of rational and instructive discourse.”

“I believe you are happier when alone, Pathfinder, than when mingling with your fellow-creatures.”

“I will not say that, I will not say exactly that.  I have seen the time when I have thought that God was sufficient for me in the forest, and that I have craved no more than His bounty and His care.  But other feelings have got uppermost, and I suppose natur’ will have its way.  All other creatur’s mate, Mabel, and it was intended man should do so too.”

“And have you never bethought you of seeking a wife, Pathfinder, to share your fortunes?” inquired the girl, with the directness and simplicity that the pure of heart and the undesigning are the most apt to manifest, and with that feeling of affection which is inbred in her sex.  “To me it seems you only want a home to return to from your wanderings to render your life completely happy.  Were I a man, it would be my delight to roam through these forests at will, or to sail over this beautiful lake.”