"Whittal--my old playfellow, Whittal Ring;" said the son of Content,
advancing with a humid eye to take the hand of the prisoner. "Hast
forgotten, man, the companion of thy early days? It is young Mark
Heathcote that speaks."
The other looked up into his countenance, for a moment, with a reviving
recollection; but shaking his head, he drew back in marked displeasure,
muttering loud enough to be heard--
"What a false liar is a Pale-face! Here is one of the tall rogues, wishing
to pass for a loping boy!"
What more he uttered his auditors never knew, for he instantly changed his
language to some dialect of an Indian tribe.
"The mind of the unhappy youth hath even been more blunted, by exposure
and the usages of a savage life, than by Nature," said Content, who with
most of the others had been recalled, by his interest in the examination,
to the scene they had momentarily quitted. "Let the sister deal tenderly
with the lad, and, in Heaven's time, shall we learn the truth."
The deep feeling of the father clothed his words with authority.
Pages:
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444