Останній з Могікан
Chapter 11
WhenMaguareachedtheclusteroflollingsavages,who,gorgedwiththeirdisgustingmeal,laystretchedontheearthinbrutalindulgence,hecommencedspeakingwiththedignityofanIndianchief.Thefirstsyllablesheutteredhadtheeffecttocausehislistenerstoraisethemselvesinattitudesofrespectfulattention.AstheHuronusedhisnativelanguage,theprisoners,notwithstandingthecautionofthenativeshadkeptthemwithintheswingoftheirtomahawks,couldonlyconjecturethesubstanceofhisharrangue,fromthenatureofthosesignificantgestureswithwhichanIndianalwaysillustrateshiseloquence.
Atfirst,thelanguage,aswellastheactionofMagua,appearedcalmanddeliberate.Whenhehadsucceededinsufficientlyawakeningtheattentionofhiscomrades,Heywardfancied,byhispointingsofrequentlytowardsthedirectionofthegreatlakes,thathespokeofthelandoftheirfathers,andoftheirdistanttribe.Frequentindicationsofapplauseescapedthelisteners,who,astheyutteredtheexpressive"Hugh!"lookedateachotherincommendationofthespeaker.LeRenardwastooskilfultoneglecthisadvantage.Henowspokeofthelongandpainfulroutebywhichtheyhadleftthosespaciousgroundsandhappyvillages,tocomeandbattleagainsttheenemiesoftheirCanadianfathers.Heenumeratedthewarriorsoftheparty;theirseveralmerits;theirfrequentservicestothenation;theirwounds,andthenumberofthescalpstheyhadtaken.
