Instead  of  manifesting  any  womanish  curiosity  to  feast
his  eyes  with  the  sight  of  a  captive  from  a  people  he  was
known  to  have  so  much  reason  to  hate,  Magua  continued
to  smoke,  with  the  meditative  air  that  he  usually  main-
tained, when  there  was  no  immediate  call  on  his  cunning
or  his  eloquence.  Although  secretly  amazed  at  the  facts
communicated  by  the  speech  of  the  aged  father,  he  per-
mitted himself  to  ask  no  questions,  reserving  his  inquiries
for  a  more  suitable  moment.  It  was  only  after  a  suffi-
cient interval  that  he  shook  the  ashes  from  his  pipe,  re-
placed the  tomahawk,  tightened  his  girdle,  and  arose,
casting  for  the  first  time  a  glance  in  the  direction  of  the
prisoner,  who  stood  a  little  behind  him.  The  wary,
though  seemingly  abstracted  Uncas,  caught  a  glimpse  of
the  movement,  and  turning  suddenly  to  the  light,  their
looks  met.  Near  a  minute  these  two  bold  and  untamed
spirits  stood  regarding  one  another  steadily  in  the  eye,
neither  quailing  in  the  least  before  the  fierce  gaze  he
encountered.  The  form  of  Uncas  dilated,  and  his  nos-
trils opened  like  those  of  a  tiger  at  bay ;  but  so  rigid  and


368  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans

unyielding  was  his  posture,  that  he  might  easily  have
been  converted  by  the  imagination  into  an  exquisite  and
faultless  representation  of  the  warlike  deity  of  his  tribe.
