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The Lake Gun by James Fenimore Cooper
page 14 of 22 (63%)
been obliged to keep in the chilled waters of the lake; in
five hundred more the Manitou will let him rest on its
bottom."

"What was the offense that has drawn down upon this
chief so severe a punishment?"

"Listen to our traditions, and you shall know. When the
Great Spirit created man, He gave him laws to obey, and
duties to perform--"

"Excuse me, Seneca, but your language is so good that I
hardly know what to make of you."

An almost imperceptible smile played about the
compressed lip of the young Indian, who, at first, seemed
disposed to evade an explanation; but, on reflection, he
changed his purpose, and communicated to Fuller the
outlines of a very simple, and, by no means, unusual
history. He was a chief of the highest race in his tribe, and
had been selected to receive the education of a pale-face
at one of the colleges of that people. He had received a
degree, and, yielding to the irrepressible longings of what
might almost be termed his nature, he no sooner left the
college in which he had been educated, than he resumed
the blanket and leggings, under the influence of early
recollections, and a mistaken appreciation of the
comparative advantages between the civilized condition,
and those of a life passed in the forest and on the prairies.
In this respect our young Seneca resembles the white
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