186
THE LAST OF
CHAPTER III.
"If you deny me, fie upon your law!
There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?"
The silence continued unbroken by human sounds for many anxious minutes. Then the waving multitude opened, and shut again, and Uncas stood environed by the living circle. All those eyes, which had been curiously studying the lineaments of the sage, as the source of their own intelligence, turned, on the instant, and were now bent in secret admiration on the erect, agile, and faultless person of the captive. But neither the presence in which he found himself, nor the exclusive attention that he attracted, in any manner dis-
