40  AMERICAN   LITERATURE   IN   SPAIN

governor  and  to  that  end  does  not  rest  until  he  succeeds
in  leading  astray  in  the  wilderness  the  two  daughters  of
the  governor,  Cora  and  Alice,  whom  he  was  guiding,  in
company  with  two  other  persons,  ...  to  the  fort  which
their  father  commanded.  It  is  in  the  first  dangerous  strait
to  which  the  vengeful  Maqua  reduces  his  little  caravan
that  the  hunter,  the  young  Uncas  and  the  latter's  father
appear  on  the  scene  to  save  Maqua's  victims  from  death
or  captivity,  and  thenceforth  the  novel  is  merely  the  tale
of  [Maqua's]  efforts  to  satisfy  his  revenge  and  of  the  means
employed  by  the  hunter  and  young  Uncas  to  free  the  two
interesting  sisters  from  such  a  horror.  This  contest  of
strength  and  craft  greatly  enchants  the  reader  through
the  manner  in  which  the  author  depicts  the  exquisite
instinct  of  the  savages,  through  the  perfection  he  gives  to
his  pictures  and  episodes,  and  through  the  details  which  he
relates  of  the  mode  of  fife  of  those  cruel  and  wandering
tribes.  As  so  frequently  happens,  virtue  in  this  novel  does
not  triumph,  and  the  ferocious  Maqua  is  able  to  see  Cora
die,  though  not  to  enjoy  her,  and  with  his  own  hand  to
destroy  the  life  of  the  unfortunate  Uncas  when  the  latter
had  almost  achieved  the  rescue  of  the  beautiful  girl.  Few
books  can  be  read  with  so  much  pleasure  as  this  one,  which
has  the  added  advantage  of  being  much  better  translated
than  a  great  many  others."

To  comment  on  this  critique  would  be  to  gild  refined
gold.  I  have  quoted  these  two  reviews  almost  at  full
length  because  they  are  not  only  the  earliest  expression  of
Spanish  judgment  on  Cooper  but  also  the  only  reviews,
early  or  late,  that  I  have  found.  Henceforward  Cooper's
fame  must  have  advanced  almost  wholly  underground.
