The Last of the Mohicans

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The clay kits for 9 year olds under 20 dollarsLast of the Mohicans

A Narrative of 1757

by James Fenimore Cooper

Contents

INTRODUCTION

It is believed that the scene of this tale, and most of the informationnecessary to understand its allusions, are rendered sufficiently obvious to thereader in the text itself, or in the accompanying notes. Still there is so muchobscurity in the Indian traditions, and so much confusion in the Indian names,as to render some explanation useful.

Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so express it, greaterantithesis of character, than the native warrior of North America. In war, heis daring, boastful, cunning, ruthless, self-denying, and self-devoted; inpeace, just, generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest, andcommonly chaste. These are qualities, it is true, which do not distinguish allalike; but they are so far the predominating traits of these remarkable peopleas to be characteristic.

It is generally believed that the Aborigines of the American continent have anAsiatic origin. There are many physical as well as moral facts whichcorroborate this opinion, and some few that would seem to weigh against it.

The color of the Indian, the writer believes, is peculiar to himself, and whilehis cheek-bones have a very striking indication of a Tartar origin, his eyeshave not. Climate may have had great influence on the former, but it isdifficult to see how it can have produced the substantial difference whichexists in the latter. The imagery of the Indian, both in his poetry and in hisoratory, is oriental; chastened, and perhaps improved, by the limited range ofhis practical knowledge. He draws his metaphors from the clouds, the seasons,the birds, the beasts, and the vegetable world. In this, perhaps, he does nomore than any other energetic and imaginative race would do, being compelled toset bounds to fancy by experience; but the North American Indian clothes hisideas in a dress which is different from that of the African, and is orientalin itself. His language has the richness and sententious fullness of theChinese. He will express a phrase in a word, and he will qualify the meaning ofan entire sentence by a syllable; he will even convey different significationsby the simplest inflections of the voice.

Philologists have said that there are but two or three languages, properlyspeaking, among all the numerous tribes which formerly occupied the countrythat now composes the United States. They ascribe the known difficulty onepeople have to understand another to corruptions and dialects. The writerremembers to have been present at an interview between two chiefs of the GreatPrairies west of the Mississippi, and when an interpreter was in attendance whospoke both their languages. The warriors appeared to be on the most friendlyterms, and seemingly conversed much together; yet, according to the account ofthe interpreter, each was absolutely ignorant of what the other said. They wereof hostile tribes, brought together by the influence of the Americangovernment; and it is worthy of remark, that a common policy led them both toadopt the same subject. They mutually exhorted each other to be of use in theevent of the chances of war throwing either of the parties into the hands ofhis enemies. Whatever may be the truth, as respects the root and the genius ofthe Indian tongues, it is quite certain they are now so distinct in their wordsas to possess most of the disadvantages of strange languages; hence much of theembarrassment that has arisen in learning their histories, and most of theuncertainty which exists in their traditions.

Like nations of higher pretensions, the American Indian gives a very differentaccount of his own tribe or race from that which is given by other people. Heis much addicted to overestimating his own perfections, and to undervaluingthose of his rival or his enemy; a trait which may possibly be thoughtcorroborative of the Mosaic account of the creation.

The whites have assisted greatly in rendering the traditions of the Aboriginesmore obscure by their own manner of corrupting names. Thus, the term used inthe title of this book has undergone the changes of Mahicanni, Mohicans, andMohegans; the latter being the word commonly used by the whites. When it isremembered that the Dutch (who first settled New York), the English, and theFrench, all gave appellations to the tribes that dwelt within the country whichis the scene of this story, and that the Indians not only gave different namesto their enemies, but frequently to themselves, the cause of the confusion willbe understood.

In these pages, Lenni-Lenape, Lenope, Delawares, Wapanachki, and Mohicans, allmean the same people, or tribes of the same stock. The Mengwe, the Maquas, theMingoes, and the Iroquois, though not all strictly the same, are identifiedfrequently by the speakers, being politically confederated and opposed to thosejust named. Mingo was a term of peculiar reproach, as were Mengwe and Maqua ina less degree.

The Mohicans were the possessors of the country first occupied by the Europeansin this portion of the continent. They were, consequently, the firstdispossessed; and the seemingly inevitable fate of all these people, whodisappear before the advances, or it might be termed the inroads, ofcivilization, as the verdure of their native forests falls before the nippingfrosts, is represented as having already befallen them. There is sufficienthistorical truth in the picture to justify the use that has been made of it.

In point of fact, the country which is the scene of the following tale hasundergone as little change, since the historical events alluded to had place,as almost any other district of equal extent within the whole limits of theUnited States. There are fashionable and well-attended watering-places at andnear the spring where Hawkeye halted to drink, and roads traverse the forestswhere he and his friends were compelled to journey without even a path.Glen’s has a large village; and while William Henry, and even a fortressof later date, are only to be traced as ruins, there is another village on theshores of the Horican. But, beyond this, the enterprise and energy of a peoplewho have done so much in other places have done little here. The whole of thatwilderness, in which the latter incidents of the legend occurred, is nearly awilderness still, though the red man has entirely deserted this part of thestate. Of all the tribes named in these pages, there exist only a fewhalf-civilized beings of the Oneidas, on the reservations of their people inNew York. The rest have disappeared, either from the regions in which theirfathers dwelt, or altogether from the earth.

There is one point on which we would wish to say a word before closing thispreface. Hawkeye calls the Lac du Saint Sacrement, the “Horican.”As we believe this to be an appropriation of the name that has its origin withourselves, the time has arrived, perhaps, when the fact should be franklyadmitted. While writing this book, fully a quarter of a century since, itoccurred to us that the French name of this lake was too complicated, theAmerican too commonplace, and the Indian too unpronounceable, for either to beused familiarly in a work of fiction. Looking over an ancient map, it wasascertained that a tribe of Indians, called “Les Horicans” by theFrench, existed in the neighborhood of this beautiful sheet of water. As everyword uttered by Natty Bumppo was not to be received as rigid truth, we took theliberty of putting the “Horican” into his mouth, as the substitutefor “Lake George.” The name has appeared to find favor, and allthings considered, it may possibly be quite as well to let it stand, instead ofgoing back to the House of Hanover for the appellation of our finest sheet ofwater. We relieve our conscience by the confession, at all events leaving it toexercise its authority as it may see fit.

CHAPTER I.

“Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared:
The worst is wordly loss thou canst unfold:—
Say, is my kingdom lost?”—Shakespeare

It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toilsand dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hostscould meet. A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed thepossessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. The hardy colonist,and the trained European who fought at his side, frequently expended months instruggling against the rapids of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passesof the mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a moremartial conflict. But, emulating the patience and self-denial of the practicednative warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty; and it would seemthat, in time, there was no recess of the woods so dark, nor any secret placeso lovely, that it might claim exemption from the inroads of those who hadpledged their blood to satiate their vengeance, or to uphold the cold andselfish policy of the distant monarchs of Europe.

Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate frontierscan furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savagewarfare of those periods than the country which lies between the head waters ofthe Hudson and the adjacent lakes.

The facilities which nature had there offered to the march of the combatantswere too obvious to be neglected. The lengthened sheet of the Champlainstretched from the frontiers of Canada, deep within the borders of theneighboring province of New York, forming a natural passage across half thedistance that the French were compelled to master in order to strike theirenemies. Near its southern termination, it received the contributions ofanother lake, whose waters were so limpid as to have been exclusively selectedby the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism, andto obtain for it the title of lake “du Saint Sacrément.” The lesszealous English thought they conferred a sufficient honor on its unsulliedfountains, when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the second ofthe house of Hanover. The two united to rob the untutored possessors of itswooded scenery of their native right to perpetuate its original appellation of“Horican.”^[1]

[1]As each nation of the Indians had its language or its dialect, they usuallygave different names to the same places, though nearly all of theirappellations were descriptive of the object. Thus a literal translation of thename of this beautiful sheet of water, used by the tribe that dwelt on itsbanks, would be “The Tail of the Lake.” Lake George, as it isvulgarly, and now, indeed, legally, called, forms a sort of tail to LakeChamplain, when viewed on the map. Hence, the name.

Winding its way among countless islands, and imbedded in mountains, the“holy lake” extended a dozen leagues still further to the south.With the high plain that there interposed itself to the further passage of thewater, commenced a portage of as many miles, which conducted the adventurer tothe banks of the Hudson, at a point where, with the usual obstructions of therapids, or rifts, as they were then termed in the language of the country, theriver became navigable to the tide.

While, in the pursuit of their daring plans of annoyance, the restlessenterprise of the French even attempted the distant and difficult gorges of theAlleghany, it may easily be imagined that their proverbial acuteness would notoverlook the natural advantages of the district we have just described. Itbecame, emphatically, the bloody arena, in which most of the battles for themastery of the colonies were contested. Forts were erected at the differentpoints that commanded the facilities of the route, and were taken and retaken,razed and rebuilt, as victory alighted on the hostile banners. While thehusbandman shrank back from the dangerous passes, within the safer boundariesof the more ancient settlements, armies larger than those that had oftendisposed of the scepters of the mother countries, were seen to bury themselvesin these forests, whence they rarely returned but in skeleton bands, that werehaggard with care or dejected by defeat. Though the arts of peace were unknownto this fatal region, its forests were alive with men; its shades and glensrang with the sounds of martial music, and the echoes of its mountains threwback the laugh, or repeated the wanton cry, of many a gallant and recklessyouth, as he hurried by them, in the noontide of his spirits, to slumber in along night of forgetfulness.

It was in this scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents we shallattempt to relate occurred, during the third year of the war which England andFrance last waged for the possession of a country that neither was destined toretain.

The imbecility of her military leaders abroad, and the fatal want of energy inher councils at home, had lowered the character of Great Britain from the proudelevation on which it had been placed by the talents and enterprise of herformer warriors and statesmen. No longer dreaded by her enemies, her servantswere fast losing the confidence of self-respect. In this mortifying abasement,the colonists, though innocent of her imbecility, and too humble to be theagents of her blunders, were but the natural participators. They had recentlyseen a chosen army from that country, which, reverencing as a mother, they hadblindly believed invincible—an army led by a chief who had been selectedfrom a crowd of trained warriors, for his rare military endowments,disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and only saved fromannihilation by the coolness and spirit of a Virginian boy, whose riper famehas since diffused itself, with the steady influence of moral truth, to theuttermost confines of Christendom.^[2]A wide frontier had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster, and moresubstantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and imaginary dangers.The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of the savages mingled with everyfitful gust of wind that issued from the interminable forests of the west. Theterrific character of their merciless enemies increased immeasurably thenatural horrors of warfare. Numberless recent massacres were still vivid intheir recollections; nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not tohave drunk in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnightmurder, in which the natives of the forests were the principal and barbarousactors. As the credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances ofthe wilderness, the blood of the timid curdled with terror, and mothers castanxious glances even at those children which slumbered within the security ofthe largest towns. In short, the magnifying influence of fear began to set atnaught the calculations of reason, and to render those who should haveremembered their manhood, the slaves of the basest passions. Even the mostconfident and the stoutest hearts began to think the issue of the contest wasbecoming doubtful; and that abject class was hourly increasing in numbers, whothought they foresaw all the possessions of the English crown in Americasubdued by their Christian foes, or laid waste by the inroads of theirrelentless allies.

[2]Washington, who, after uselessly admonishing the European general of thedanger into which he was heedlessly running, saved the remnants of the Britisharmy, on this occasion, by his decision and courage. The reputation earned byWashington in this battle was the principal cause of his being selected tocommand the American armies at a later day. It is a circumstance worthy ofobservation, that while all America rang with his well-merited reputation, hisname does not occur in any European account of the battle; at least the authorhas searched for it without success. In this manner does the mother countryabsorb even the fame, under that system of rule.

When, therefore, intelligence was received at the fort which covered thesouthern termination of the portage between the Hudson and the lakes, thatMontcalm had been seen moving up the Champlain, with an army “numerous asthe leaves on the trees,” its truth was admitted with more of the cravenreluctance of fear than with the stern joy that a warrior should feel, infinding an enemy within reach of his blow. The news had been brought, towardthe decline of a day in midsummer, by an Indian runner, who also bore an urgentrequest from Munro, the commander of a work on the shore of the “holylake,” for a speedy and powerful reinforcement. It has already beenmentioned that the distance between these two posts was less than five leagues.The rude path, which originally formed their line of communication, had beenwidened for the passage of wagons; so that the distance which had been traveledby the son of the forest in two hours, might easily be effected by a detachmentof troops, with their necessary baggage, between the rising and setting of asummer sun. The loyal servants of the British crown had given to one of theseforest-fastnesses the name of William Henry, and to the other that of FortEdward, calling each after a favorite prince of the reigning family. Theveteran Scotchman just named held the first, with a regiment of regulars and afew provincials; a force really by far too small to make head against theformidable power that Montcalm was leading to the foot of his earthen mounds.At the latter, however, lay General Webb, who commanded the armies of the kingin the northern provinces, with a body of more than five thousand men. Byuniting the several detachments of his command, this officer might have arrayednearly double that number of combatants against the enterprising Frenchman, whohad ventured so far from his reinforcements, with an army but little superiorin numbers.

But under the influence of their degraded fortunes, both officers and menappeared better disposed to await the approach of their formidable antagonists,within their works, than to resist the progress of their march, by emulatingthe successful example of the French at Fort du Quesne, and striking a blow ontheir advance.

After the first surprise of the intelligence had a little abated, a rumor wasspread through the entrenched camp, which stretched along the margin of theHudson, forming a chain of outworks to the body of the fort itself, that achosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to depart, with the dawn, forWilliam Henry, the post at the northern extremity of the portage. That which atfirst was only rumor, soon became certainty, as orders passed from the quartersof the commander-in-chief to the several corps he had selected for thisservice, to prepare for their speedy departure. All doubts as to the intentionof Webb now vanished, and an hour or two of hurried footsteps and anxious facessucceeded. The novice in the military art flew from point to point, retardinghis own preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distemperedzeal; while the more practiced veteran made his arrangements with adeliberation that scorned every appearance of haste; though his soberlineaments and anxious eye sufficiently betrayed that he had no very strongprofessional relish for the, as yet, untried and dreaded warfare of thewilderness. At length the sun set in a flood of glory, behind the distantwestern hills, and as darkness drew its veil around the secluded spot thesounds of preparation diminished; the last light finally disappeared from thelog cabin of some officer; the trees cast their deeper shadows over the moundsand the rippling stream, and a silence soon pervaded the camp, as deep as thatwhich reigned in the vast forest by which it was environed.

According to the orders of the preceding night, the heavy sleep of the army wasbroken by the rolling of the warning drums, whose rattling echoes were heardissuing, on the damp morning air, out of every vista of the woods, just as daybegan to draw the shaggy outlines of some tall pines of the vicinity, on theopening brightness of a soft and cloudless eastern sky. In an instant the wholecamp was in motion; the meanest soldier arousing from his lair to witness thedeparture of his comrades, and to share in the excitement and incidents of thehour. The simple array of the chosen band was soon completed. While the regularand trained hirelings of the king marched with haughtiness to the right of theline, the less pretending colonists took their humbler position on its left,with a docility that long practice had rendered easy. The scouts departed;strong guards preceded and followed the lumbering vehicles that bore thebaggage; and before the gray light of the morning was mellowed by the rays ofthe sun, the main body of the combatants wheeled into column, and left theencampment with a show of high military bearing, that served to drown theslumbering apprehensions of many a novice, who was now about to make his firstessay in arms. While in view of their admiring comrades, the same proud frontand ordered array was observed, until the notes of their fifes growing fainterin distance, the forest at length appeared to swallow up the living mass whichhad slowly entered its bosom.

The deepest sounds of the retiring and invisible column had ceased to be borneon the breeze to the listeners, and the latest straggler had alreadydisappeared in pursuit; but there still remained the signs of anotherdeparture, before a log cabin of unusual size and accommodations, in front ofwhich those sentinels paced their rounds, who were known to guard the person ofthe English general. At this spot were gathered some half dozen horses,caparisoned in a manner which showed that two, at least, were destined to bearthe persons of females, of a rank that it was not usual to meet so far in thewilds of the country. A third wore trappings and arms of an officer of thestaff; while the rest, from the plainness of the housings, and the travelingmails with which they were encumbered, were evidently fitted for the receptionof as many menials, who were, seemingly, already waiting the pleasure of thosethey served. At a respectful distance from this unusual show, were gathereddivers groups of curious idlers; some admiring the blood and bone of thehigh-mettled military charger, and others gazing at the preparations, with thedull wonder of vulgar curiosity. There was one man, however, who, by hiscountenance and actions, formed a marked exception to those who composed thelatter class of spectators, being neither idle, nor seemingly very ignorant.

The person of this individual was to the last degree ungainly, without being inany particular manner deformed. He had all the bones and joints of other men,without any of their proportions. Erect, his stature surpassed that of hisfellows; though seated, he appeared reduced within the ordinary limits of therace. The same contrariety in his members seemed to exist throughout the wholeman. His head was large; his shoulders narrow; his arms long and dangling;while his hands were small, if not delicate. His legs and thighs were thin,nearly to emaciation, but of extraordinary length; and his knees would havebeen considered tremendous, had they not been outdone by the broaderfoundations on which this false superstructure of blended human orders was soprofanely reared. The ill-assorted and injudicious attire of the individualonly served to render his awkwardness more conspicuous. A sky-blue coat, withshort and broad skirts and low cape, exposed a long, thin neck, and longer andthinner legs, to the worst animadversions of the evil-disposed. His nethergarment was a yellow nankeen, closely fitted to the shape, and tied at hisbunches of knees by large knots of white ribbon, a good deal sullied by use.Clouded cotton stockings, and shoes, on one of the latter of which was a platedspur, completed the costume of the lower extremity of this figure, no curve orangle of which was concealed, but, on the other hand, studiously exhibited,through the vanity or simplicity of its owner.

From beneath the flap of an enormous pocket of a soiled vest of embossed silk,heavily ornamented with tarnished silver lace, projected an instrument, which,from being seen in such martial company, might have been easily mistaken forsome mischievous and unknown implement of war. Small as it was, this uncommonengine had excited the curiosity of most of the Europeans in the camp, thoughseveral of the provincials were seen to handle it, not only without fear, butwith the utmost familiarity. A large, civil cocked hat, like those worn byclergymen within the last thirty years, surmounted the whole, furnishingdignity to a good-natured and somewhat vacant countenance, that apparentlyneeded such artificial aid, to support the gravity of some high andextraordinary trust.

While the common herd stood aloof, in deference to the quarters of Webb, thefigure we have described stalked into the center of the domestics, freelyexpressing his censures or commendations on the merits of the horses, as bychance they displeased or satisfied his judgment.

“This beast, I rather conclude, friend, is not of home raising, but isfrom foreign lands, or perhaps from the little island itself over the bluewater?” he said, in a voice as remarkable for the softness and sweetnessof its tones, as was his person for its rare proportions; “I may speak ofthese things, and be no braggart; for I have been down at both havens; thatwhich is situate at the mouth of Thames, and is named after the capital of OldEngland, and that which is called ‘Haven’, with the addition of theword ‘New’; and have seen the scows and brigantines collectingtheir droves, like the gathering to the ark, being outward bound to the Islandof Jamaica, for the purpose of barter and traffic in four-footed animals; butnever before have I beheld a beast which verified the true scripture war-horselike this: ‘He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength; hegoeth on to meet the armed men. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and hesmelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and theshouting.’ It would seem that the stock of the horse of Israel haddescended to our own time; would it not, friend?”

Receiving no reply to this extraordinary appeal, which in truth, as it wasdelivered with the vigor of full and sonorous tones, merited some sort ofnotice, he who had thus sung forth the language of the holy book turned to thesilent figure to whom he had unwittingly addressed himself, and found a new andmore powerful subject of admiration in the object that encountered his gaze.His eyes fell on the still, upright, and rigid form of the “Indianrunner,” who had borne to the camp the unwelcome tidings of the precedingevening. Although in a state of perfect repose, and apparently disregarding,with characteristic stoicism, the excitement and bustle around him, there was asullen fierceness mingled with the quiet of the savage, that was likely toarrest the attention of much more experienced eyes than those which now scannedhim, in unconcealed amazement. The native bore both the tomahawk and knife ofhis tribe; and yet his appearance was not altogether that of a warrior. On thecontrary, there was an air of neglect about his person, like that which mighthave proceeded from great and recent exertion, which he had not yet foundleisure to repair. The colors of the war-paint had blended in dark confusionabout his fierce countenance, and rendered his swarthy lineaments still moresavage and repulsive than if art had attempted an effect which had been thusproduced by chance. His eye, alone, which glistened like a fiery star amidlowering clouds, was to be seen in its state of native wildness. For a singleinstant his searching and yet wary glance met the wondering look of the other,and then changing its direction, partly in cunning, and partly in disdain, itremained fixed, as if penetrating the distant air.

It is impossible to say what unlooked-for remark this short and silentcommunication, between two such singular men, might have elicited from thewhite man, had not his active curiosity been again drawn to other objects. Ageneral movement among the domestics, and a low sound of gentle voices,announced the approach of those whose presence alone was wanted to enable thecavalcade to move. The simple admirer of the war-horse instantly fell back to alow, gaunt, switch-tailed mare, that was unconsciously gleaning the fadedherbage of the camp nigh by; where, leaning with one elbow on the blanket thatconcealed an apology for a saddle, he became a spectator of the departure,while a foal was quietly making its morning repast, on the opposite side of thesame animal.

A young man, in the dress of an officer, conducted to their steeds two females,who, as it was apparent by their dresses, were prepared to encounter thefatigues of a journey in the woods. One, and she was the more juvenile in herappearance, though both were young, permitted glimpses of her dazzlingcomplexion, fair golden hair, and bright blue eyes, to be caught, as sheartlessly suffered the morning air to blow aside the green veil which descendedlow from her beaver.

The flush which still lingered above the pines in the western sky was not morebright nor delicate than the bloom on her cheek; nor was the opening day morecheering than the animated smile which she bestowed on the youth, as heassisted her into the saddle. The other, who appeared to share equally in theattention of the young officer, concealed her charms from the gaze of thesoldiery with a care that seemed better fitted to the experience of four orfive additional years. It could be seen, however, that her person, thoughmolded with the same exquisite proportions, of which none of the graces werelost by the traveling dress she wore, was rather fuller and more mature thanthat of her companion.

No sooner were these females seated, than their attendant sprang lightly intothe saddle of the war-horse, when the whole three bowed to Webb, who incourtesy, awaited their parting on the threshold of his cabin and turning theirhorses’ heads, they proceeded at a slow amble, followed by their train,toward the northern entrance of the encampment. As they traversed that shortdistance, not a voice was heard among them; but a slight exclamation proceededfrom the younger of the females, as the Indian runner glided by her,unexpectedly, and led the way along the military road in her front. Though thissudden and startling movement of the Indian produced no sound from the other,in the surprise her veil also was allowed to open its folds, and betrayed anindescribable look of pity, admiration, and horror, as her dark eye followedthe easy motions of the savage. The tresses of this lady were shining andblack, like the plumage of the raven. Her complexion was not brown, but itrather appeared charged with the color of the rich blood, that seemed ready toburst its bounds. And yet there was neither coarseness nor want of shadowing ina countenance that was exquisitely regular, and dignified and surpassinglybeautiful. She smiled, as if in pity at her own momentary forgetfulness,discovering by the act a row of teeth that would have shamed the purest ivory;when, replacing the veil, she bowed her face, and rode in silence, like onewhose thoughts were abstracted from the scene around her.

CHAPTER II.

“Sola, sola, wo ha, ho, sola!”
—Shakespeare

While one of the lovely beings we have so cursorily presented to the reader wasthus lost in thought, the other quickly recovered from the alarm which inducedthe exclamation, and, laughing at her own weakness, she inquired of the youthwho rode by her side:

“Are such specters frequent in the woods, Heyward, or is this sight anespecial entertainment ordered on our behalf? If the latter, gratitude mustclose our mouths; but if the former, both Cora and I shall have need to drawlargely on that stock of hereditary courage which we boast, even before we aremade to encounter the redoubtable Montcalm.”

“Yon Indian is a ‘runner’ of the army; and, after the fashionof his people, he may be accounted a hero,” returned the officer.“He has volunteered to guide us to the lake, by a path but little known,sooner than if we followed the tardy movements of the column; and, byconsequence, more agreeably.”

“I like him not,” said the lady, shuddering, partly in assumed, yetmore in real terror. “You know him, Duncan, or you would not trustyourself so freely to his keeping?”

“Say, rather, Alice, that I would not trust you. I do know him, or hewould not have my confidence, and least of all at this moment. He is said to bea Canadian too; and yet he served with our friends the Mohawks, who, as youknow, are one of the six allied nations. He was brought among us, as I haveheard, by some strange accident in which your father was interested, and inwhich the savage was rigidly dealt by; but I forget the idle tale, it isenough, that he is now our friend.”

“If he has been my father’s enemy, I like him still less!”exclaimed the now really anxious girl. “Will you not speak to him, MajorHeyward, that I may hear his tones? Foolish though it may be, you have oftenheard me avow my faith in the tones of the human voice!”

“It would be in vain; and answered, most probably, by an ejaculation.Though he may understand it, he affects, like most of his people, to beignorant of the English; and least of all will he condescend to speak it, nowthat the war demands the utmost exercise of his dignity. But he stops; theprivate path by which we are to journey is, doubtless, at hand.”

The conjecture of Major Heyward was true. When they reached the spot where theIndian stood, pointing into the thicket that fringed the military road; anarrow and blind path, which might, with some little inconvenience, receive oneperson at a time, became visible.

“Here, then, lies our way,” said the young man, in a low voice.“Manifest no distrust, or you may invite the danger you appear toapprehend.”

“Cora, what think you?” asked the reluctant fair one. “If wejourney with the troops, though we may find their presence irksome, shall wenot feel better assurance of our safety?”

“Being little accustomed to the practices of the savages, Alice, youmistake the place of real danger,” said Heyward. “If enemies havereached the portage at all, a thing by no means probable, as our scouts areabroad, they will surely be found skirting the column, where scalps abound themost. The route of the detachment is known, while ours, having been determinedwithin the hour, must still be secret.”

“Should we distrust the man because his manners are not our manners, andthat his skin is dark?” coldly asked Cora.

Alice hesitated no longer; but giving her Narrangansett^[1]a smart cut of the whip, she was the first to dash aside the slight branches ofthe bushes, and to follow the runner along the dark and tangled pathway. Theyoung man regarded the last speaker in open admiration, and even permitted herfairer, though certainly not more beautiful companion, to proceed unattended,while he sedulously opened the way himself for the passage of her who has beencalled Cora. It would seem that the domestics had been previously instructed;for, instead of penetrating the thicket, they followed the route of the column;a measure which Heyward stated had been dictated by the sagacity of theirguide, in order to diminish the marks of their trail, if, haply, the Canadiansavages should be lurking so far in advance of their army. For many minutes theintricacy of the route admitted of no further dialogue; after which theyemerged from the broad border of underbrush which grew along the line of thehighway, and entered under the high but dark arches of the forest. Here theirprogress was less interrupted; and the instant the guide perceived that thefemales could command their steeds, he moved on, at a pace between a trot and awalk, and at a rate which kept the sure-footed and peculiar animals they rodeat a fast yet easy amble. The youth had turned to speak to the dark-eyed Cora,when the distant sound of horses hoofs, clattering over the roots of the brokenway in his rear, caused him to check his charger; and, as his companions drewtheir reins at the same instant, the whole party came to a halt, in order toobtain an explanation of the unlooked-for interruption.

[1]In the state of Rhode Island there is a bay called Narragansett, so namedafter a powerful tribe of Indians, which formerly dwelt on its banks. Accident,or one of those unaccountable freaks which nature sometimes plays in the animalworld, gave rise to a breed of horses which were once well known in America,and distinguished by their habit of pacing. Horses of this race were, and arestill, in much request as saddle horses, on account of their hardiness and theease of their movements. As they were also sure of foot, the Narragansetts weregreatly sought for by females who were obliged to travel over the roots andholes in the “new countries.”

In a few moments a colt was seen gliding, like a fallow deer, among thestraight trunks of the pines; and, in another instant, the person of theungainly man, described in the preceding chapter, came into view, with as muchrapidity as he could excite his meager beast to endure without coming to anopen rupture. Until now this personage had escaped the observation of thetravelers. If he possessed the power to arrest any wandering eye whenexhibiting the glories of his altitude on foot, his equestrian graces werestill more likely to attract attention.

Notwithstanding a constant application of his one armed heel to the flanks ofthe mare, the most confirmed gait that he could establish was a Canterburygallop with the hind legs, in which those more forward assisted for doubtfulmoments, though generally content to maintain a loping trot. Perhaps therapidity of the changes from one of these paces to the other created an opticalillusion, which might thus magnify the powers of the beast; for it is certainthat Heyward, who possessed a true eye for the merits of a horse, was unable,with his utmost ingenuity, to decide by what sort of movement his pursuerworked his sinuous way on his footsteps with such persevering hardihood.

The industry and movements of the rider were not less remarkable than those ofthe ridden. At each change in the evolutions of the latter, the former raisedhis tall person in the stirrups; producing, in this manner, by the undueelongation of his legs, such sudden growths and diminishings of the stature, asbaffled every conjecture that might be made as to his dimensions. If to this beadded the fact that, in consequence of the ex parte application of the spur,one side of the mare appeared to journey faster than the other; and that theaggrieved flank was resolutely indicated by unremitted flourishes of a bushytail, we finish the picture of both horse and man.

The frown which had gathered around the handsome, open, and manly brow ofHeyward, gradually relaxed, and his lips curled into a slight smile, as heregarded the stranger. Alice made no very powerful effort to control hermerriment; and even the dark, thoughtful eye of Cora lighted with a humor thatit would seem, the habit, rather than the nature, of its mistress repressed.

“Seek you any here?” demanded Heyward, when the other had arrivedsufficiently nigh to abate his speed; “I trust you are no messenger ofevil tidings?”

“Even so,” replied the stranger, making diligent use of histriangular castor, to produce a circulation in the close air of the woods, andleaving his hearers in doubt to which of the young man’s questions heresponded; when, however, he had cooled his face, and recovered his breath, hecontinued, “I hear you are riding to William Henry; as I am journeyingthitherward myself, I concluded good company would seem consistent to thewishes of both parties.”

“You appear to possess the privilege of a casting vote,” returnedHeyward; “we are three, while you have consulted no one butyourself.”

“Even so. The first point to be obtained is to know one’s own mind.Once sure of that, and where women are concerned it is not easy, the next is,to act up to the decision. I have endeavored to do both, and here I am.”

“If you journey to the lake, you have mistaken your route,” saidHeyward, haughtily; “the highway thither is at least half a mile behindyou.”

“Even so,” returned the stranger, nothing daunted by this coldreception; “I have tarried at ‘Edward’ a week, and I shouldbe dumb not to have inquired the road I was to journey; and if dumb there wouldbe an end to my calling.” After simpering in a small way, like one whosemodesty prohibited a more open expression of his admiration of a witticism thatwas perfectly unintelligible to his hearers, he continued, “It is notprudent for any one of my profession to be too familiar with those he has toinstruct; for which reason I follow not the line of the army; besides which, Iconclude that a gentleman of your character has the best judgment in matters ofwayfaring; I have, therefore, decided to join company, in order that the ridemay be made agreeable, and partake of social communion.”

“A most arbitrary, if not a hasty decision!” exclaimed Heyward,undecided whether to give vent to his growing anger, or to laugh in theother’s face. “But you speak of instruction, and of a profession;are you an adjunct to the provincial corps, as a master of the noble science ofdefense and offense; or, perhaps, you are one who draws lines and angles, underthe pretense of expounding the mathematics?”

The stranger regarded his interrogator a moment in wonder; and then, losingevery mark of self-satisfaction in an expression of solemn humility, heanswered:

“Of offense, I hope there is none, to either party: of defense, I makenone—by God’s good mercy, having committed no palpable sin sincelast entreating his pardoning grace. I understand not your allusions aboutlines and angles; and I leave expounding to those who have been called and setapart for that holy office. I lay claim to no higher gift than a small insightinto the glorious art of petitioning and thanksgiving, as practiced inpsalmody.”

“The man is, most manifestly, a disciple of Apollo,” cried theamused Alice, “and I take him under my own especial protection. Nay,throw aside that frown, Heyward, and in pity to my longing ears, suffer him tojourney in our train. Besides,” she added, in a low and hurried voice,casting a glance at the distant Cora, who slowly followed the footsteps oftheir silent, but sullen guide, “it may be a friend added to ourstrength, in time of need.”

“Think you, Alice, that I would trust those I love by this secret path,did I imagine such need could happen?”

“Nay, nay, I think not of it now; but this strange man amuses me; and ifhe ‘hath music in his soul’, let us not churlishly reject hiscompany.” She pointed persuasively along the path with her riding whip,while their eyes met in a look which the young man lingered a moment toprolong; then, yielding to her gentle influence, he clapped his spurs into hischarger, and in a few bounds was again at the side of Cora.

“I am glad to encounter thee, friend,” continued the maiden, wavingher hand to the stranger to proceed, as she urged her Narragansett to renew itsamble. “Partial relatives have almost persuaded me that I am not entirelyworthless in a duet myself; and we may enliven our wayfaring by indulging inour favorite pursuit. It might be of signal advantage to one, ignorant as I, tohear the opinions and experience of a master in the art.”

“It is refreshing both to the spirits and to the body to indulge inpsalmody, in befitting seasons,” returned the master of song,unhesitatingly complying with her intimation to follow; “and nothingwould relieve the mind more than such a consoling communion. But four parts arealtogether necessary to the perfection of melody. You have all themanifestations of a soft and rich treble; I can, by especial aid, carry a fulltenor to the highest letter; but we lack counter and bass! Yon officer of theking, who hesitated to admit me to his company, might fill the latter, if onemay judge from the intonations of his voice in common dialogue.”

“Judge not too rashly from hasty and deceptive appearances,” saidthe lady, smiling; “though Major Heyward can assume such deep notes onoccasion, believe me, his natural tones are better fitted for a mellow tenorthan the bass you heard.”

“Is he, then, much practiced in the art of psalmody?” demanded hersimple companion.

Alice felt disposed to laugh, though she succeeded in suppressing hermerriment, ere she answered:

“I apprehend that he is rather addicted to profane song. The chances of asoldier’s life are but little fitted for the encouragement of more soberinclinations.”

“Man’s voice is given to him, like his other talents, to be used,and not to be abused. None can say they have ever known me to neglect my gifts!I am thankful that, though my boyhood may be said to have been set apart, likethe youth of the royal David, for the purposes of music, no syllable of rudeverse has ever profaned my lips.”

“You have, then, limited your efforts to sacred song?”

“Even so. As the psalms of David exceed all other language, so does thepsalmody that has been fitted to them by the divines and sages of the land,surpass all vain poetry. Happily, I may say that I utter nothing but thethoughts and the wishes of the King of Israel himself; for though the times maycall for some slight changes, yet does this version which we use in thecolonies of New England so much exceed all other versions, that, by itsrichness, its exactness, and its spiritual simplicity, it approacheth, as nearas may be, to the great work of the inspired writer. I never abide in anyplace, sleeping or waking, without an example of this gifted work. ’Tisthe six-and-twentieth edition, promulgated at Boston, Anno Domini 1744; and isentitled, ‘The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the Old and NewTestaments; faithfully translated into English Metre, for the Use, Edification,and Comfort of the Saints, in Public and Private, especially in NewEngland’.”

During this eulogium on the rare production of his native poets, the strangerhad drawn the book from his pocket, and fitting a pair of iron-rimmedspectacles to his nose, opened the volume with a care and veneration suited toits sacred purposes. Then, without circumlocution or apology, first pronouncedthe word “Standish,” and placing the unknown engine, alreadydescribed, to his mouth, from which he drew a high, shrill sound, that wasfollowed by an octave below, from his own voice, he commenced singing thefollowing words, in full, sweet, and melodious tones, that set the music, thepoetry, and even the uneasy motion of his ill-trained beast at defiance:

“How good it is, O see,
    And how it pleaseth well,
Together e’en in unity,
    For brethren so to dwell.

It’s like the choice ointment,
    From the head to the beard did go;
Down Aaron’s head, that downward went
    His garment’s skirts unto.”

The delivery of these skillful rhymes was accompanied, on the part of thestranger, by a regular rise and fall of his right hand, which terminated at thedescent, by suffering the fingers to dwell a moment on the leaves of the littlevolume; and on the ascent, by such a flourish of the member as none but theinitiated may ever hope to imitate. It would seem long practice had renderedthis manual accompaniment necessary; for it did not cease until the prepositionwhich the poet had selected for the close of his verse had been duly deliveredlike a word of two syllables.

Such an innovation on the silence and retirement of the forest could not failto enlist the ears of those who journeyed at so short a distance in advance.The Indian muttered a few words in broken English to Heyward, who, in his turn,spoke to the stranger; at once interrupting, and, for the time, closing hismusical efforts.

“Though we are not in danger, common prudence would teach us to journeythrough this wilderness in as quiet a manner as possible. You will then, pardonme, Alice, should I diminish your enjoyments, by requesting this gentleman topostpone his chant until a safer opportunity.”

“You will diminish them, indeed,” returned the arch girl;“for never did I hear a more unworthy conjunction of execution andlanguage than that to which I have been listening; and I was far gone in alearned inquiry into the causes of such an unfitness between sound and sense,when you broke the charm of my musings by that bass of yours, Duncan!”

“I know not what you call my bass,” said Heyward, piqued at herremark, “but I know that your safety, and that of Cora, is far dearer tome than could be any orchestra of Handel’s music.” He paused andturned his head quickly toward a thicket, and then bent his eyes suspiciouslyon their guide, who continued his steady pace, in undisturbed gravity. Theyoung man smiled to himself, for he believed he had mistaken some shining berryof the woods for the glistening eyeballs of a prowling savage, and he rodeforward, continuing the conversation which had been interrupted by the passingthought.

Major Heyward was mistaken only in suffering his youthful and generous pride tosuppress his active watchfulness. The cavalcade had not long passed, before thebranches of the bushes that formed the thicket were cautiously moved asunder,and a human visage, as fiercely wild as savage art and unbridled passions couldmake it, peered out on the retiring footsteps of the travelers. A gleam ofexultation shot across the darkly-painted lineaments of the inhabitant of theforest, as he traced the route of his intended victims, who rode unconsciouslyonward, the light and graceful forms of the females waving among the trees, inthe curvatures of their path, followed at each bend by the manly figure ofHeyward, until, finally, the shapeless person of the singing master wasconcealed behind the numberless trunks of trees, that rose, in dark lines, inthe intermediate space.

CHAPTER III.

“Before these fields were shorn and till’d,
Full to the brim our rivers flow’d;
The melody of waters fill’d
The fresh and boundless wood;
And torrents dash’d, and rivulets play’d,
And fountains spouted in the shade.”—Bryant

Leaving the unsuspecting Heyward and his confiding companions to penetratestill deeper into a forest that contained such treacherous inmates, we must usean author’s privilege, and shift the scene a few miles to the westward ofthe place where we have last seen them.

On that day, two men were lingering on the banks of a small but rapid stream,within an hour’s journey of the encampment of Webb, like those whoawaited the appearance of an absent person, or the approach of some expectedevent. The vast canopy of woods spread itself to the margin of the river,overhanging the water, and shadowing its dark current with a deeper hue. Therays of the sun were beginning to grow less fierce, and the intense heat of theday was lessened, as the cooler vapors of the springs and fountains rose abovetheir leafy beds, and rested in the atmosphere. Still that breathing silence,which marks the drowsy sultriness of an American landscape in July, pervadedthe secluded spot, interrupted only by the low voices of the men, theoccasional and lazy tap of a woodpecker, the discordant cry of some gaudy jay,or a swelling on the ear, from the dull roar of a distant waterfall. Thesefeeble and broken sounds were, however, too familiar to the foresters to drawtheir attention from the more interesting matter of their dialogue. While oneof these loiterers showed the red skin and wild accouterments of a native ofthe woods, the other exhibited, through the mask of his rude and nearly savageequipments, the brighter, though sun-burned and long-faced complexion of onewho might claim descent from a European parentage. The former was seated on theend of a mossy log, in a posture that permitted him to heighten the effect ofhis earnest language, by the calm but expressive gestures of an Indian engagedin debate. His body, which was nearly naked, presented a terrific emblem ofdeath, drawn in intermingled colors of white and black. His closely-shavedhead, on which no other hair than the well-known and chivalrous scalpingtuft^[1]was preserved, was without ornament of any kind, with the exception of asolitary eagle’s plume, that crossed his crown, and depended over theleft shoulder. A tomahawk and scalping knife, of English manufacture, were inhis girdle; while a short military rifle, of that sort with which the policy ofthe whites armed their savage allies, lay carelessly across his bare and sinewyknee. The expanded chest, full formed limbs, and grave countenance of thiswarrior, would denote that he had reached the vigor of his days, though nosymptoms of decay appeared to have yet weakened his manhood.

[1]The North American warrior caused the hair to be plucked from his whole body;a small tuft was left on the crown of his head, in order that his enemy mightavail himself of it, in wrenching off the scalp in the event of his fall. Thescalp was the only admissible trophy of victory. Thus, it was deemed moreimportant to obtain the scalp than to kill the man. Some tribes lay greatstress on the honor of striking a dead body. These practices have nearlydisappeared among the Indians of the Atlantic states.

The frame of the white man, judging by such parts as were not concealed by hisclothes, was like that of one who had known hardships and exertion from hisearliest youth. His person, though muscular, was rather attenuated than full;but every nerve and muscle appeared strung and indurated by unremitted exposureand toil. He wore a hunting shirt of forest-green, fringed with fadedyellow^[2],and a summer cap of skins which had been shorn of their fur. He also bore aknife in a girdle of wampum, like that which confined the scanty garments ofthe Indian, but no tomahawk. His moccasins were ornamented after the gayfashion of the natives, while the only part of his under dress which appearedbelow the hunting-frock was a pair of buckskin leggings, that laced at thesides, and which were gartered above the knees, with the sinews of a deer. Apouch and horn completed his personal accouterments, though a rifle of greatlength^[3], whichthe theory of the more ingenious whites had taught them was the most dangerousof all firearms, leaned against a neighboring sapling. The eye of the hunter,or scout, whichever he might be, was small, quick, keen, and restless, rovingwhile he spoke, on every side of him, as if in quest of game, or distrustingthe sudden approach of some lurking enemy. Notwithstanding the symptoms ofhabitual suspicion, his countenance was not only without guile, but at themoment at which he is introduced, it was charged with an expression of sturdyhonesty.

[2]The hunting-shirt is a picturesque smock-frock, being shorter, and ornamentedwith fringes and tassels. The colors are intended to imitate the hues of thewood, with a view to concealment. Many corps of American riflemen have beenthus attired, and the dress is one of the most striking of modern times. Thehunting-shirt is frequently white.

[3]The rifle of the army is short; that of the hunter is always long.

“Even your traditions make the case in my favor, Chingachgook,” hesaid, speaking in the tongue which was known to all the natives who formerlyinhabited the country between the Hudson and the Potomac, and of which we shallgive a free translation for the benefit of the reader; endeavoring, at the sametime, to preserve some of the peculiarities, both of the individual and of thelanguage. “Your fathers came from the setting sun, crossed the bigriver^[4], foughtthe people of the country, and took the land; and mine came from the red sky ofthe morning, over the salt lake, and did their work much after the fashion thathad been set them by yours; then let God judge the matter between us, andfriends spare their words!”

[4]The Mississippi. The scout alludes to a tradition which is very popular amongthe tribes of the Atlantic states. Evidence of their Asiatic origin is deducedfrom the circumstances, though great uncertainty hangs over the whole historyof the Indians.

“My fathers fought with the naked red man!” returned the Indian,sternly, in the same language. “Is there no difference, Hawkeye, betweenthe stone-headed arrow of the warrior, and the leaden bullet with which youkill?”

“There is reason in an Indian, though nature has made him with a redskin!” said the white man, shaking his head like one on whom such anappeal to his justice was not thrown away. For a moment he appeared to beconscious of having the worst of the argument, then, rallying again, heanswered the objection of his antagonist in the best manner his limitedinformation would allow:

“I am no scholar, and I care not who knows it; but, judging from what Ihave seen, at deer chases and squirrel hunts, of the sparks below, I shouldthink a rifle in the hands of their grandfathers was not so dangerous as ahickory bow and a good flint-head might be, if drawn with Indian judgment, andsent by an Indian eye.”

“You have the story told by your fathers,” returned the other,coldly waving his hand. “What say your old men? Do they tell the youngwarriors that the pale faces met the red men, painted for war and armed withthe stone hatchet and wooden gun?”

“I am not a prejudiced man, nor one who vaunts himself on his naturalprivileges, though the worst enemy I have on earth, and he is an Iroquois,daren’t deny that I am genuine white,” the scout replied,surveying, with secret satisfaction, the faded color of his bony and sinewyhand, “and I am willing to own that my people have many ways, of which,as an honest man, I can’t approve. It is one of their customs to write inbooks what they have done and seen, instead of telling them in their villages,where the lie can be given to the face of a cowardly boaster, and the bravesoldier can call on his comrades to witness for the truth of his words. Inconsequence of this bad fashion, a man, who is too conscientious to misspendhis days among the women, in learning the names of black marks, may never hearof the deeds of his fathers, nor feel a pride in striving to outdo them. Formyself, I conclude the Bumppos could shoot, for I have a natural turn with arifle, which must have been handed down from generation to generation, as, ourholy commandments tell us, all good and evil gifts are bestowed; though Ishould be loath to answer for other people in such a matter. But every storyhas its two sides; so I ask you, Chingachgook, what passed, according to thetraditions of the red men, when our fathers first met?”

A silence of a minute succeeded, during which the Indian sat mute; then, fullof the dignity of his office, he commenced his brief tale, with a solemnitythat served to heighten its appearance of truth.

“Listen, Hawkeye, and your ear shall drink no lie. ’Tis what myfathers have said, and what the Mohicans have done.” He hesitated asingle instant, and bending a cautious glance toward his companion, hecontinued, in a manner that was divided between interrogation and assertion.“Does not this stream at our feet run toward the summer, until its watersgrow salt, and the current flows upward?”

“It can’t be denied that your traditions tell you true in boththese matters,” said the white man; “for I have been there, andhave seen them, though why water, which is so sweet in the shade, should becomebitter in the sun, is an alteration for which I have never been able toaccount.”

“And the current!” demanded the Indian, who expected his reply withthat sort of interest that a man feels in the confirmation of testimony, atwhich he marvels even while he respects it; “the fathers of Chingachgookhave not lied!”

“The holy Bible is not more true, and that is the truest thing in nature.They call this up-stream current the tide, which is a thing soon explained, andclear enough. Six hours the waters run in, and six hours they run out, and thereason is this: when there is higher water in the sea than in the river, theyrun in until the river gets to be highest, and then it runs out again.”

“The waters in the woods, and on the great lakes, run downward until theylie like my hand,” said the Indian, stretching the limb horizontallybefore him, “and then they run no more.”

“No honest man will deny it,” said the scout, a little nettled atthe implied distrust of his explanation of the mystery of the tides; “andI grant that it is true on the small scale, and where the land is level. Buteverything depends on what scale you look at things. Now, on the small scale,the ’arth is level; but on the large scale it is round. In this manner,pools and ponds, and even the great fresh-water lakes, may be stagnant, as youand I both know they are, having seen them; but when you come to spread waterover a great tract, like the sea, where the earth is round, how in reason canthe water be quiet? You might as well expect the river to lie still on thebrink of those black rocks a mile above us, though your own ears tell you thatit is tumbling over them at this very moment.”

If unsatisfied by the philosophy of his companion, the Indian was far toodignified to betray his unbelief. He listened like one who was convinced, andresumed his narrative in his former solemn manner.

“We came from the place where the sun is hid at night, over great plainswhere the buffaloes live, until we reached the big river. There we fought theAlligewi, till the ground was red with their blood. From the banks of the bigriver to the shores of the salt lake, there was none to meet us. The Maquasfollowed at a distance. We said the country should be ours from the place wherethe water runs up no longer on this stream, to a river twenty sun’sjourney toward the summer. We drove the Maquas into the woods with the bears.They only tasted salt at the licks; they drew no fish from the great lake; wethrew them the bones.”

“All this I have heard and believe,” said the white man, observingthat the Indian paused; “but it was long before the English came into thecountry.”

“A pine grew then where this chestnut now stands. The first pale faceswho came among us spoke no English. They came in a large canoe, when my fathershad buried the tomahawk with the red men around them. Then, Hawkeye,” hecontinued, betraying his deep emotion, only by permitting his voice to fall tothose low, guttural tones, which render his language, as spoken at times, sovery musical; “then, Hawkeye, we were one people, and we were happy. Thesalt lake gave us its fish, the wood its deer, and the air its birds. We tookwives who bore us children; we worshipped the Great Spirit; and we kept theMaquas beyond the sound of our songs of triumph.”

“Know you anything of your own family at that time?” demanded thewhite. “But you are just a man, for an Indian; and as I suppose you holdtheir gifts, your fathers must have been brave warriors, and wise men at thecouncil-fire.”

“My tribe is the grandfather of nations, but I am an unmixed man. Theblood of chiefs is in my veins, where it must stay forever. The Dutch landed,and gave my people the fire-water; they drank until the heavens and the earthseemed to meet, and they foolishly thought they had found the Great Spirit.Then they parted with their land. Foot by foot, they were driven back from theshores, until I, that am a chief and a Sagamore, have never seen the sun shinebut through the trees, and have never visited the graves of my fathers.”

“Graves bring solemn feelings over the mind,” returned the scout, agood deal touched at the calm suffering of his companion; “and they oftenaid a man in his good intentions; though, for myself, I expect to leave my ownbones unburied, to bleach in the woods, or to be torn asunder by the wolves.But where are to be found those of your race who came to their kin in theDelaware country, so many summers since?”

“Where are the blossoms of those summers!—fallen, one by one; soall of my family departed, each in his turn, to the land of spirits. I am onthe hilltop and must go down into the valley; and when Uncas follows in myfootsteps there will no longer be any of the blood of the Sagamores, for my boyis the last of the Mohicans.”

“Uncas is here,” said another voice, in the same soft, gutturaltones, near his elbow; “who speaks to Uncas?”

The white man loosened his knife in his leathern sheath, and made aninvoluntary movement of the hand toward his rifle, at this sudden interruption;but the Indian sat composed, and without turning his head at the unexpectedsounds.

At the next instant, a youthful warrior passed between them, with a noiselessstep, and seated himself on the bank of the rapid stream. No exclamation ofsurprise escaped the father, nor was any question asked, or reply given, forseveral minutes; each appearing to await the moment when he might speak,without betraying womanish curiosity or childish impatience. The white manseemed to take counsel from their customs, and, relinquishing his grasp of therifle, he also remained silent and reserved. At length Chingachgook turned hiseyes slowly toward his son, and demanded:

“Do the Maquas dare to leave the print of their moccasins in thesewoods?”

“I have been on their trail,” replied the young Indian, “andknow that they number as many as the fingers of my two hands; but they lie hidlike cowards.”

“The thieves are outlying for scalps and plunder,” said the whiteman, whom we shall call Hawkeye, after the manner of his companions.“That busy Frenchman, Montcalm, will send his spies into our very camp,but he will know what road we travel!”

“’Tis enough,” returned the father, glancing his eye towardthe setting sun; “they shall be driven like deer from their bushes.Hawkeye, let us eat to-night, and show the Maquas that we are mento-morrow.”

“I am as ready to do the one as the other; but to fight the Iroquois’tis necessary to find the skulkers; and to eat, ’tis necessary toget the game—talk of the devil and he will come; there is a pair of thebiggest antlers I have seen this season, moving the bushes below the hill! Now,Uncas,” he continued, in a half whisper, and laughing with a kind ofinward sound, like one who had learned to be watchful, “I will bet mycharger three times full of powder, against a foot of wampum, that I take himatwixt the eyes, and nearer to the right than to the left.”

“It cannot be!” said the young Indian, springing to his feet withyouthful eagerness; “all but the tips of his horns are hid!”

“He’s a boy!” said the white man, shaking his head while hespoke, and addressing the father. “Does he think when a hunter sees apart of the creature’, he can’t tell where the rest of him shouldbe!”

Adjusting his rifle, he was about to make an exhibition of that skill on whichhe so much valued himself, when the warrior struck up the piece with his hand,saying:

“Hawkeye! will you fight the Maquas?”

“These Indians know the nature of the woods, as it might be byinstinct!” returned the scout, dropping his rifle, and turning away likea man who was convinced of his error. “I must leave the buck to yourarrow, Uncas, or we may kill a deer for them thieves, the Iroquois, toeat.”

The instant the father seconded this intimation by an expressive gesture of thehand, Uncas threw himself on the ground, and approached the animal with warymovements. When within a few yards of the cover, he fitted an arrow to his bowwith the utmost care, while the antlers moved, as if their owner snuffed anenemy in the tainted air. In another moment the twang of the cord was heard, awhite streak was seen glancing into the bushes, and the wounded buck plungedfrom the cover, to the very feet of his hidden enemy. Avoiding the horns of theinfuriated animal, Uncas darted to his side, and passed his knife across thethroat, when bounding to the edge of the river it fell, dyeing the waters withits blood.

“’Twas done with Indian skill,” said the scout laughinginwardly, but with vast satisfaction; “and ’twas a pretty sight tobehold! Though an arrow is a near shot, and needs a knife to finish thework.”

“Hugh!” ejaculated his companion, turning quickly, like a hound whoscented game.

“By the Lord, there is a drove of them!” exclaimed the scout, whoseeyes began to glisten with the ardor of his usual occupation; “if theycome within range of a bullet I will drop one, though the whole Six Nationsshould be lurking within sound! What do you hear, Chingachgook? for to my earsthe woods are dumb.”

“There is but one deer, and he is dead,” said the Indian, bendinghis body till his ear nearly touched the earth. “I hear the sounds offeet!”

“Perhaps the wolves have driven the buck to shelter, and are following onhis trail.”

“No. The horses of white men are coming!” returned the other,raising himself with dignity, and resuming his seat on the log with his formercomposure. “Hawkeye, they are your brothers; speak to them.”

“That I will, and in English that the king needn’t be ashamed toanswer,” returned the hunter, speaking in the language of which heboasted; “but I see nothing, nor do I hear the sounds of man or beast;’tis strange that an Indian should understand white sounds better than aman who, his very enemies will own, has no cross in his blood, although he mayhave lived with the red skins long enough to be suspected! Ha! there goessomething like the cracking of a dry stick, too—now I hear the bushesmove—yes, yes, there is a trampling that I mistook for thefalls—and—but here they come themselves; God keep them from theIroquois!”

CHAPTER IV.

“Well go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove
Till I torment thee for this injury.”—Midsummer Night’sDream.

The words were still in the mouth of the scout, when the leader of the party,whose approaching footsteps had caught the vigilant ear of the Indian, cameopenly into view. A beaten path, such as those made by the periodical passageof the deer, wound through a little glen at no great distance, and struck theriver at the point where the white man and his red companions had postedthemselves. Along this track the travelers, who had produced a surprise sounusual in the depths of the forest, advanced slowly toward the hunter, who wasin front of his associates, in readiness to receive them.

“Who comes?” demanded the scout, throwing his rifle carelesslyacross his left arm, and keeping the forefinger of his right hand on thetrigger, though he avoided all appearance of menace in the act. “Whocomes hither, among the beasts and dangers of the wilderness?”

“Believers in religion, and friends to the law and to the king,”returned he who rode foremost. “Men who have journeyed since the risingsun, in the shades of this forest, without nourishment, and are sadly tired oftheir wayfaring.”

“You are, then, lost,” interrupted the hunter, “and havefound how helpless ’tis not to know whether to take the right hand or theleft?”

“Even so; sucking babes are not more dependent on those who guide themthan we who are of larger growth, and who may now be said to possess thestature without the knowledge of men. Know you the distance to a post of thecrown called William Henry?”

“Hoot!” shouted the scout, who did not spare his open laughter,though instantly checking the dangerous sounds he indulged his merriment atless risk of being overheard by any lurking enemies. “You are as much offthe scent as a hound would be, with Horican atwixt him and the deer! WilliamHenry, man! if you are friends to the king and have business with the army,your way would be to follow the river down to Edward, and lay the matter beforeWebb, who tarries there, instead of pushing into the defiles, and driving thissaucy Frenchman back across Champlain, into his den again.”

Before the stranger could make any reply to this unexpected proposition,another horseman dashed the bushes aside, and leaped his charger into thepathway, in front of his companion.

“What, then, may be our distance from Fort Edward?” demanded a newspeaker; “the place you advise us to seek we left this morning, and ourdestination is the head of the lake.”

“Then you must have lost your eyesight afore losing your way, for theroad across the portage is cut to a good two rods, and is as grand a path, Icalculate, as any that runs into London, or even before the palace of the kinghimself.”

“We will not dispute concerning the excellence of the passage,”returned Heyward, smiling; for, as the reader has anticipated, it was he.“It is enough, for the present, that we trusted to an Indian guide totake us by a nearer, though blinder path, and that we are deceived in hisknowledge. In plain words, we know not where we are.”

“An Indian lost in the woods!” said the scout, shaking his headdoubtingly; “When the sun is scorching the tree tops, and the watercourses are full; when the moss on every beech he sees will tell him in whatquarter the north star will shine at night. The woods are full of deer-pathswhich run to the streams and licks, places well known to everybody; nor havethe geese done their flight to the Canada waters altogether! ’Tis strangethat an Indian should be lost atwixt Horican and the bend in the river! Is he aMohawk?”

“Not by birth, though adopted in that tribe; I think his birthplace wasfarther north, and he is one of those you call a Huron.”

“Hugh!” exclaimed the two companions of the scout, who hadcontinued until this part of the dialogue, seated immovable, and apparentlyindifferent to what passed, but who now sprang to their feet with an activityand interest that had evidently got the better of their reserve by surprise.

“A Huron!” repeated the sturdy scout, once more shaking his head inopen distrust; “they are a thievish race, nor do I care by whom they areadopted; you can never make anything of them but skulks and vagabonds. Sinceyou trusted yourself to the care of one of that nation, I only wonder that youhave not fallen in with more.”

“Of that there is little danger, since William Henry is so many miles inour front. You forget that I have told you our guide is now a Mohawk, and thathe serves with our forces as a friend.”

“And I tell you that he who is born a Mingo will die a Mingo,”returned the other positively. “A Mohawk! No, give me a Delaware or aMohican for honesty; and when they will fight, which they won’t all do,having suffered their cunning enemies, the Maquas, to make them women—butwhen they will fight at all, look to a Delaware, or a Mohican, for awarrior!”

“Enough of this,” said Heyward, impatiently; “I wish not toinquire into the character of a man that I know, and to whom you must be astranger. You have not yet answered my question; what is our distance from themain army at Edward?”

“It seems that may depend on who is your guide. One would think such ahorse as that might get over a good deal of ground atwixt sun-up andsun-down.”

“I wish no contention of idle words with you, friend,” saidHeyward, curbing his dissatisfied manner, and speaking in a more gentle voice;“if you will tell me the distance to Fort Edward, and conduct me thither,your labor shall not go without its reward.”

“And in so doing, how know I that I don’t guide an enemy and a spyof Montcalm, to the works of the army? It is not every man who can speak theEnglish tongue that is an honest subject.”

“If you serve with the troops, of whom I judge you to be a scout, youshould know of such a regiment of the king as the Sixtieth.”

“The Sixtieth! you can tell me little of the Royal Americans that Idon’t know, though I do wear a hunting-shirt instead of a scarletjacket.”

“Well, then, among other things, you may know the name of itsmajor?”

“Its major!” interrupted the hunter, elevating his body like onewho was proud of his trust. “If there is a man in the country who knowsMajor Effingham, he stands before you.”

“It is a corps which has many majors; the gentleman you name is thesenior, but I speak of the junior of them all; he who commands the companies ingarrison at William Henry.”

“Yes, yes, I have heard that a young gentleman of vast riches, from oneof the provinces far south, has got the place. He is over young, too, to holdsuch rank, and to be put above men whose heads are beginning to bleach; and yetthey say he is a soldier in his knowledge, and a gallant gentleman!”

“Whatever he may be, or however he may be qualified for his rank, he nowspeaks to you and, of course, can be no enemy to dread.”

The scout regarded Heyward in surprise, and then lifting his cap, he answered,in a tone less confident than before—though still expressing doubt.

“I have heard a party was to leave the encampment this morning for thelake shore?”

“You have heard the truth; but I preferred a nearer route, trusting tothe knowledge of the Indian I mentioned.”

“And he deceived you, and then deserted?”

“Neither, as I believe; certainly not the latter, for he is to be foundin the rear.”

“I should like to look at the creature; if it is a true Iroquois I cantell him by his knavish look, and by his paint,” said the scout; steppingpast the charger of Heyward, and entering the path behind the mare of thesinging master, whose foal had taken advantage of the halt to exact thematernal contribution. After shoving aside the bushes, and proceeding a fewpaces, he encountered the females, who awaited the result of the conferencewith anxiety, and not entirely without apprehension. Behind these, the runnerleaned against a tree, where he stood the close examination of the scout withan air unmoved, though with a look so dark and savage, that it might in itselfexcite fear. Satisfied with his scrutiny, the hunter soon left him. As herepassed the females, he paused a moment to gaze upon their beauty, answeringto the smile and nod of Alice with a look of open pleasure. Thence he went tothe side of the motherly animal, and spending a minute in a fruitless inquiryinto the character of her rider, he shook his head and returned to Heyward.

“A Mingo is a Mingo, and God having made him so, neither the Mohawks norany other tribe can alter him,” he said, when he had regained his formerposition. “If we were alone, and you would leave that noble horse at themercy of the wolves to-night, I could show you the way to Edward myself, withinan hour, for it lies only about an hour’s journey hence; but with suchladies in your company ’tis impossible!”

“And why? They are fatigued, but they are quite equal to a ride of a fewmore miles.”

“’Tis a natural impossibility!” repeated the scout; “Iwouldn’t walk a mile in these woods after night gets into them, incompany with that runner, for the best rifle in the colonies. They are full ofoutlying Iroquois, and your mongrel Mohawk knows where to find them too well tobe my companion.”

“Think you so?” said Heyward, leaning forward in the saddle, anddropping his voice nearly to a whisper; “I confess I have not beenwithout my own suspicions, though I have endeavored to conceal them, andaffected a confidence I have not always felt, on account of my companions. Itwas because I suspected him that I would follow no longer; making him, as yousee, follow me.”

“I knew he was one of the cheats as soon as I laid eyes on him!”returned the scout, placing a finger on his nose, in sign of caution.

“The thief is leaning against the foot of the sugar sapling, that you cansee over them bushes; his right leg is in a line with the bark of the tree,and,” tapping his rifle, “I can take him from where I stand,between the angle and the knee, with a single shot, putting an end to histramping through the woods, for at least a month to come. If I should go backto him, the cunning varmint would suspect something, and be dodging through thetrees like a frightened deer.”

“It will not do. He may be innocent, and I dislike the act. Though, if Ifelt confident of his treachery—”

“’Tis a safe thing to calculate on the knavery of anIroquois,” said the scout, throwing his rifle forward, by a sort ofinstinctive movement.

“Hold!” interrupted Heyward, “it will not do—we mustthink of some other scheme—and yet, I have much reason to believe therascal has deceived me.”

The hunter, who had already abandoned his intention of maiming the runner,mused a moment, and then made a gesture, which instantly brought his two redcompanions to his side. They spoke together earnestly in the Delaware language,though in an undertone; and by the gestures of the white man, which werefrequently directed towards the top of the sapling, it was evident he pointedout the situation of their hidden enemy. His companions were not long incomprehending his wishes, and laying aside their firearms, they parted, takingopposite sides of the path, and burying themselves in the thicket, with suchcautious movements, that their steps were inaudible.

“Now, go you back,” said the hunter, speaking again to Heyward,“and hold the imp in talk; these Mohicans here will take him withoutbreaking his paint.”

“Nay,” said Heyward, proudly, “I will seize himmyself.”

“Hist! what could you do, mounted, against an Indian in thebushes!”

“I will dismount.”

“And, think you, when he saw one of your feet out of the stirrup, hewould wait for the other to be free? Whoever comes into the woods to deal withthe natives, must use Indian fashions, if he would wish to prosper in hisundertakings. Go, then; talk openly to the miscreant, and seem to believe himthe truest friend you have on ’arth.”

Heyward prepared to comply, though with strong disgust at the nature of theoffice he was compelled to execute. Each moment, however, pressed upon him aconviction of the critical situation in which he had suffered his invaluabletrust to be involved through his own confidence. The sun had alreadydisappeared, and the woods, suddenly deprived of his light^[1],were assuming a dusky hue, which keenly reminded him that the hour the savageusually chose for his most barbarous and remorseless acts of vengeance orhostility, was speedily drawing near. Stimulated by apprehension, he left thescout, who immediately entered into a loud conversation with the stranger thathad so unceremoniously enlisted himself in the party of travelers that morning.In passing his gentler companions Heyward uttered a few words of encouragement,and was pleased to find that, though fatigued with the exercise of the day,they appeared to entertain no suspicion that their present embarrassment wasother than the result of accident. Giving them reason to believe he was merelyemployed in a consultation concerning the future route, he spurred his charger,and drew the reins again when the animal had carried him within a few yards ofthe place where the sullen runner still stood, leaning against the tree.

[1]The scene of this tale was in the 42d degree of latitude, where the twilightis never of long continuation.

“You may see, Magua,” he said, endeavoring to assume an air offreedom and confidence, “that the night is closing around us, and yet weare no nearer to William Henry than when we left the encampment of Webb withthe rising sun.

“You have missed the way, nor have I been more fortunate. But, happily,we have fallen in with a hunter, he whom you hear talking to the singer, thatis acquainted with the deerpaths and by-ways of the woods, and who promises tolead us to a place where we may rest securely till the morning.”

The Indian riveted his glowing eyes on Heyward as he asked, in his imperfectEnglish, “Is he alone?”

“Alone!” hesitatingly answered Heyward, to whom deception was toonew to be assumed without embarrassment. “Oh! not alone, surely, Magua,for you know that we are with him.”

“Then Le Renard Subtil will go,” returned the runner, coollyraising his little wallet from the place where it had lain at his feet;“and the pale faces will see none but their own color.”

“Go! Whom call you Le Renard?”

“’Tis the name his Canada fathers have given to Magua,”returned the runner, with an air that manifested his pride at the distinction.“Night is the same as day to Le Subtil, when Munro waits for him.”

“And what account will Le Renard give the chief of William Henryconcerning his daughters? Will he dare to tell the hot-blooded Scotsman thathis children are left without a guide, though Magua promised to be one?”

“Though the gray head has a loud voice, and a long arm, Le Renard willnot hear him, nor feel him, in the woods.”

“But what will the Mohawks say? They will make him petticoats, and bidhim stay in the wigwam with the women, for he is no longer to be trusted withthe business of a man.”

“Le Subtil knows the path to the great lakes, and he can find the bonesof his fathers,” was the answer of the unmoved runner.

“Enough, Magua,” said Heyward; “are we not friends? Whyshould there be bitter words between us? Munro has promised you a gift for yourservices when performed, and I shall be your debtor for another. Rest yourweary limbs, then, and open your wallet to eat. We have a few moments to spare;let us not waste them in talk like wrangling women. When the ladies arerefreshed we will proceed.”

“The pale faces make themselves dogs to their women,” muttered theIndian, in his native language, “and when they want to eat, theirwarriors must lay aside the tomahawk to feed their laziness.”

“What say you, Renard?”

“Le Subtil says it is good.”

The Indian then fastened his eyes keenly on the open countenance of Heyward,but meeting his glance, he turned them quickly away, and seating himselfdeliberately on the ground, he drew forth the remnant of some former repast,and began to eat, though not without first bending his looks slowly andcautiously around him.

“This is well,” continued Heyward; “and Le Renard will havestrength and sight to find the path in the morning”; he paused, forsounds like the snapping of a dried stick, and the rustling of leaves, rosefrom the adjacent bushes, but recollecting himself instantly, he continued,“we must be moving before the sun is seen, or Montcalm may lie in ourpath, and shut us out from the fortress.”

The hand of Magua dropped from his mouth to his side, and though his eyes werefastened on the ground, his head was turned aside, his nostrils expanded, andhis ears seemed even to stand more erect than usual, giving to him theappearance of a statue that was made to represent intense attention.

Heyward, who watched his movements with a vigilant eye, carelessly extricatedone of his feet from the stirrup, while he passed a hand toward the bear-skincovering of his holsters.

Every effort to detect the point most regarded by the runner was completelyfrustrated by the tremulous glances of his organs, which seemed not to rest asingle instant on any particular object, and which, at the same time, could behardly said to move. While he hesitated how to proceed, Le Subtil cautiouslyraised himself to his feet, though with a motion so slow and guarded, that notthe slightest noise was produced by the change. Heyward felt it had now becomeincumbent on him to act. Throwing his leg over the saddle, he dismounted, witha determination to advance and seize his treacherous companion, trusting theresult to his own manhood. In order, however, to prevent unnecessary alarm, hestill preserved an air of calmness and friendship.

“Le Renard Subtil does not eat,” he said, using the appellation hehad found most flattering to the vanity of the Indian. “His corn is notwell parched, and it seems dry. Let me examine; perhaps something may be foundamong my own provisions that will help his appetite.”

Magua held out the wallet to the proffer of the other. He even suffered theirhands to meet, without betraying the least emotion, or varying his rivetedattitude of attention. But when he felt the fingers of Heyward moving gentlyalong his own naked arm, he struck up the limb of the young man, and, utteringa piercing cry, he darted beneath it, and plunged, at a single bound, into theopposite thicket. At the next instant the form of Chingachgook appeared fromthe bushes, looking like a specter in its paint, and glided across the path inswift pursuit. Next followed the shout of Uncas, when the woods were lighted bya sudden flash, that was accompanied by the sharp report of the hunter’srifle.

CHAPTER V.

...”In such a night
Did This be fearfully o’ertrip the dew;
And saw the lion’s shadow ere himself.”—Merchant of Venice

The suddenness of the flight of his guide, and the wild cries of the pursuers,caused Heyward to remain fixed, for a few moments, in inactive surprise. Thenrecollecting the importance of securing the fugitive, he dashed aside thesurrounding bushes, and pressed eagerly forward to lend his aid in the chase.Before he had, however, proceeded a hundred yards, he met the three forestersalready returning from their unsuccessful pursuit.

“Why so soon disheartened!” he exclaimed; “the scoundrel mustbe concealed behind some of these trees, and may yet be secured. We are notsafe while he goes at large.”

“Would you set a cloud to chase the wind?” returned thedisappointed scout; “I heard the imp brushing over the dry leaves, like ablack snake, and blinking a glimpse of him, just over ag’in yon big pine,I pulled as it might be on the scent; but ’twouldn’t do! and yetfor a reasoning aim, if anybody but myself had touched the trigger, I shouldcall it a quick sight; and I may be accounted to have experience in thesematters, and one who ought to know. Look at this sumach; its leaves are red,though everybody knows the fruit is in the yellow blossom in the month ofJuly!”

“’Tis the blood of Le Subtil! he is hurt, and may yet fall!”

“No, no,” returned the scout, in decided disapprobation of thisopinion, “I rubbed the bark off a limb, perhaps, but the creature leapedthe longer for it. A rifle bullet acts on a running animal, when it barks him,much the same as one of your spurs on a horse; that is, it quickens motion, andputs life into the flesh, instead of taking it away. But when it cuts theragged hole, after a bound or two, there is, commonly, a stagnation of furtherleaping, be it Indian or be it deer!”

“We are four able bodies, to one wounded man!”

“Is life grievous to you?” interrupted the scout. “Yonder reddevil would draw you within swing of the tomahawks of his comrades, before youwere heated in the chase. It was an unthoughtful act in a man who has so oftenslept with the war-whoop ringing in the air, to let off his piece within soundof an ambushment! But then it was a natural temptation! ’twas verynatural! Come, friends, let us move our station, and in such fashion, too, aswill throw the cunning of a Mingo on a wrong scent, or our scalps will bedrying in the wind in front of Montcalm’s marquee, ag’in this hourto-morrow.”

This appalling declaration, which the scout uttered with the cool assurance ofa man who fully comprehended, while he did not fear to face the danger, servedto remind Heyward of the importance of the charge with which he himself hadbeen intrusted. Glancing his eyes around, with a vain effort to pierce thegloom that was thickening beneath the leafy arches of the forest, he felt asif, cut off from human aid, his unresisting companions would soon lie at theentire mercy of those barbarous enemies, who, like beasts of prey, only waitedtill the gathering darkness might render their blows more fatally certain. Hisawakened imagination, deluded by the deceptive light, converted each wavingbush, or the fragment of some fallen tree, into human forms, and twenty timeshe fancied he could distinguish the horrid visages of his lurking foes, peeringfrom their hiding places, in never ceasing watchfulness of the movements of hisparty. Looking upward, he found that the thin fleecy clouds, which evening hadpainted on the blue sky, were already losing their faintest tints ofrose-color, while the imbedded stream, which glided past the spot where hestood, was to be traced only by the dark boundary of its wooded banks.

“What is to be done!” he said, feeling the utter helplessness ofdoubt in such a pressing strait; “desert me not, for God’s sake!remain to defend those I escort, and freely name your own reward!”

His companions, who conversed apart in the language of their tribe, heeded notthis sudden and earnest appeal. Though their dialogue was maintained in low andcautious sounds, but little above a whisper, Heyward, who now approached, couldeasily distinguish the earnest tones of the younger warrior from the moredeliberate speeches of his seniors. It was evident that they debated on thepropriety of some measure, that nearly concerned the welfare of the travelers.Yielding to his powerful interest in the subject, and impatient of a delay thatseemed fraught with so much additional danger, Heyward drew still nigher to thedusky group, with an intention of making his offers of compensation moredefinite, when the white man, motioning with his hand, as if he conceded thedisputed point, turned away, saying in a sort of soliloquy, and in the Englishtongue:

“Uncas is right! it would not be the act of men to leave such harmlessthings to their fate, even though it breaks up the harboring place forever. Ifyou would save these tender blossoms from the fangs of the worst of serpents,gentleman, you have neither time to lose nor resolution to throw away!”

“How can such a wish be doubted! Have I not already offered—”

“Offer your prayers to Him who can give us wisdom to circumvent thecunning of the devils who fill these woods,” calmly interrupted thescout, “but spare your offers of money, which neither you may live torealize, nor I to profit by. These Mohicans and I will do what man’sthoughts can invent, to keep such flowers, which, though so sweet, were nevermade for the wilderness, from harm, and that without hope of any otherrecompense but such as God always gives to upright dealings. First, you mustpromise two things, both in your own name and for your friends, or withoutserving you we shall only injure ourselves!”

“Name them.”

“The one is, to be still as these sleeping woods, let what will happenand the other is, to keep the place where we shall take you, forever a secretfrom all mortal men.”

“I will do my utmost to see both these conditions fulfilled.”

“Then follow, for we are losing moments that are as precious as theheart’s blood to a stricken deer!”

Heyward could distinguish the impatient gesture of the scout, through theincreasing shadows of the evening, and he moved in his footsteps, swiftly,toward the place where he had left the remainder of the party. When theyrejoined the expecting and anxious females, he briefly acquainted them with theconditions of their new guide, and with the necessity that existed for theirhushing every apprehension in instant and serious exertions. Although hisalarming communication was not received without much secret terror by thelisteners, his earnest and impressive manner, aided perhaps by the nature ofthe danger, succeeded in bracing their nerves to undergo some unlooked-for andunusual trial. Silently, and without a moment’s delay, they permitted himto assist them from their saddles, and when they descended quickly to thewater’s edge, where the scout had collected the rest of the party, moreby the agency of expressive gestures than by any use of words.

“What to do with these dumb creatures!” muttered the white man, onwhom the sole control of their future movements appeared to devolve; “itwould be time lost to cut their throats, and cast them into the river; and toleave them here would be to tell the Mingoes that they have not far to seek tofind their owners!”

“Then give them their bridles, and let them range the woods,”Heyward ventured to suggest.

“No; it would be better to mislead the imps, and make them believe theymust equal a horse’s speed to run down their chase. Ay, ay, that willblind their fireballs of eyes! Chingach—Hist! what stirs the bush?”

“The colt.”

“That colt, at least, must die,” muttered the scout, grasping atthe mane of the nimble beast, which easily eluded his hand; “Uncas, yourarrows!”

“Hold!” exclaimed the proprietor of the condemned animal, aloud,without regard to the whispering tones used by the others; “spare thefoal of Miriam! it is the comely offspring of a faithful dam, and wouldwillingly injure naught.”

“When men struggle for the single life God has given them,” saidthe scout, sternly, “even their own kind seem no more than the beasts ofthe wood. If you speak again, I shall leave you to the mercy of the Maquas!Draw to your arrow’s head, Uncas; we have no time for secondblows.”

The low, muttering sounds of his threatening voice were still audible, when thewounded foal, first rearing on its hinder legs, plunged forward to its knees.It was met by Chingachgook, whose knife passed across its throat quicker thanthought, and then precipitating the motions of the struggling victim, he dashedinto the river, down whose stream it glided away, gasping audibly for breathwith its ebbing life. This deed of apparent cruelty, but of real necessity,fell upon the spirits of the travelers like a terrific warning of the peril inwhich they stood, heightened as it was by the calm though steady resolution ofthe actors in the scene. The sisters shuddered and clung closer to each other,while Heyward instinctively laid his hand on one of the pistols he had justdrawn from their holsters, as he placed himself between his charge and thosedense shadows that seemed to draw an impenetrable veil before the bosom of theforest.

The Indians, however, hesitated not a moment, but taking the bridles, they ledthe frightened and reluctant horses into the bed of the river.

At a short distance from the shore they turned, and were soon concealed by theprojection of the bank, under the brow of which they moved, in a directionopposite to the course of the waters. In the meantime, the scout drew a canoeof bark from its place of concealment beneath some low bushes, whose brancheswere waving with the eddies of the current, into which he silently motioned forthe females to enter. They complied without hesitation, though many a fearfuland anxious glance was thrown behind them, toward the thickening gloom, whichnow lay like a dark barrier along the margin of the stream.

So soon as Cora and Alice were seated, the scout, without regarding theelement, directed Heyward to support one side of the frail vessel, and postinghimself at the other, they bore it up against the stream, followed by thedejected owner of the dead foal. In this manner they proceeded, for many rods,in a silence that was only interrupted by the rippling of the water, as itseddies played around them, or the low dash made by their own cautiousfootsteps. Heyward yielded the guidance of the canoe implicitly to the scout,who approached or receded from the shore, to avoid the fragments of rocks, ordeeper parts of the river, with a readiness that showed his knowledge of theroute they held. Occasionally he would stop; and in the midst of a breathingstillness, that the dull but increasing roar of the waterfall only served torender more impressive, he would listen with painful intenseness, to catch anysounds that might arise from the slumbering forest. When assured that all wasstill, and unable to detect, even by the aid of his practiced senses, any signof his approaching foes, he would deliberately resume his slow and guardedprogress. At length they reached a point in the river where the roving eye ofHeyward became riveted on a cluster of black objects, collected at a spot wherethe high bank threw a deeper shadow than usual on the dark waters. Hesitatingto advance, he pointed out the place to the attention of his companion.

“Ay,” returned the composed scout, “the Indians have hid thebeasts with the judgment of natives! Water leaves no trail, and an owl’seyes would be blinded by the darkness of such a hole.”

The whole party was soon reunited, and another consultation was held betweenthe scout and his new comrades, during which, they, whose fates depended on thefaith and ingenuity of these unknown foresters, had a little leisure to observetheir situation more minutely.

The river was confined between high and cragged rocks, one of which impendedabove the spot where the canoe rested. As these, again, were surmounted by talltrees, which appeared to totter on the brows of the precipice, it gave thestream the appearance of running through a deep and narrow dell. All beneaththe fantastic limbs and ragged tree tops, which were, here and there, dimlypainted against the starry zenith, lay alike in shadowed obscurity. Behindthem, the curvature of the banks soon bounded the view by the same dark andwooded outline; but in front, and apparently at no great distance, the waterseemed piled against the heavens, whence it tumbled into caverns, out of whichissued those sullen sounds that had loaded the evening atmosphere. It seemed,in truth, to be a spot devoted to seclusion, and the sisters imbibed a soothingimpression of security, as they gazed upon its romantic though not unappallingbeauties. A general movement among their conductors, however, soon recalledthem from a contemplation of the wild charms that night had assisted to lendthe place to a painful sense of their real peril.

The horses had been secured to some scattering shrubs that grew in the fissuresof the rocks, where, standing in the water, they were left to pass the night.The scout directed Heyward and his disconsolate fellow travelers to seatthemselves in the forward end of the canoe, and took possession of the otherhimself, as erect and steady as if he floated in a vessel of much firmermaterials. The Indians warily retraced their steps toward the place they hadleft, when the scout, placing his pole against a rock, by a powerful shove,sent his frail bark directly into the turbulent stream. For many minutes thestruggle between the light bubble in which they floated and the swift currentwas severe and doubtful. Forbidden to stir even a hand, and almost afraid tobreath, lest they should expose the frail fabric to the fury of the stream, thepassengers watched the glancing waters in feverish suspense. Twenty times theythought the whirling eddies were sweeping them to destruction, when themaster-hand of their pilot would bring the bows of the canoe to stem the rapid.A long, a vigorous, and, as it appeared to the females, a desperate effort,closed the struggle. Just as Alice veiled her eyes in horror, under theimpression that they were about to be swept within the vortex at the foot ofthe cataract, the canoe floated, stationary, at the side of a flat rock, thatlay on a level with the water.

“Where are we, and what is next to be done!” demanded Heyward,perceiving that the exertions of the scout had ceased.

“You are at the foot of Glenn’s,” returned the other,speaking aloud, without fear of consequences within the roar of the cataract;“and the next thing is to make a steady landing, lest the canoe upset,and you should go down again the hard road we have traveled faster than youcame up; ’tis a hard rift to stem, when the river is a little swelled;and five is an unnatural number to keep dry, in a hurry-skurry, with a littlebirchen bark and gum. There, go you all on the rock, and I will bring up theMohicans with the venison. A man had better sleep without his scalp, thanfamish in the midst of plenty.”

His passengers gladly complied with these directions. As the last foot touchedthe rock, the canoe whirled from its station, when the tall form of the scoutwas seen, for an instant, gliding above the waters, before it disappeared inthe impenetrable darkness that rested on the bed of the river. Left by theirguide, the travelers remained a few minutes in helpless ignorance, afraid evento move along the broken rocks, lest a false step should precipitate them downsome one of the many deep and roaring caverns, into which the water seemed totumble, on every side of them. Their suspense, however, was soon relieved; for,aided by the skill of the natives, the canoe shot back into the eddy, andfloated again at the side of the low rock, before they thought the scout hadeven time to rejoin his companions.

“We are now fortified, garrisoned, and provisioned,” cried Heywardcheerfully, “and may set Montcalm and his allies at defiance. How, now,my vigilant sentinel, can see anything of those you call the Iroquois, on themain land!”

“I call them Iroquois, because to me every native, who speaks a foreigntongue, is accounted an enemy, though he may pretend to serve the king! If Webbwants faith and honesty in an Indian, let him bring out the tribes of theDelawares, and send these greedy and lying Mohawks and Oneidas, with their sixnations of varlets, where in nature they belong, among the French!”

“We should then exchange a warlike for a useless friend! I have heardthat the Delawares have laid aside the hatchet, and are content to be calledwomen!”

“Aye, shame on the Hollanders and Iroquois, who circumvented them bytheir deviltries, into such a treaty! But I have known them for twenty years,and I call him liar that says cowardly blood runs in the veins of a Delaware.You have driven their tribes from the seashore, and would now believe whattheir enemies say, that you may sleep at night upon an easy pillow. No, no; tome, every Indian who speaks a foreign tongue is an Iroquois, whether thecastle^[1]of histribe be in Canada, or be in York.”

[1]The principal villages of the Indians are still called “castles”by the whites of New York. “Oneida castle” is no more than ascattered hamlet; but the name is in general use.

Heyward, perceiving that the stubborn adherence of the scout to the cause ofhis friends the Delawares, or Mohicans, for they were branches of the samenumerous people, was likely to prolong a useless discussion, changed thesubject.

“Treaty or no treaty, I know full well that your two companions are braveand cautious warriors! have they heard or seen anything of our enemies?”

“An Indian is a mortal to be felt afore he is seen,” returned thescout, ascending the rock, and throwing the deer carelessly down. “Itrust to other signs than such as come in at the eye, when I am outlying on thetrail of the Mingoes.”

“Do your ears tell you that they have traced our retreat?”

“I should be sorry to think they had, though this is a spot that stoutcourage might hold for a smart scrimmage. I will not deny, however, but thehorses cowered when I passed them, as though they scented the wolves; and awolf is a beast that is apt to hover about an Indian ambushment, craving theoffals of the deer the savages kill.”

“You forget the buck at your feet! or, may we not owe their visit to thedead colt? Ha! what noise is that?”

“Poor Miriam!” murmured the stranger; “thy foal wasforeordained to become a prey to ravenous beasts!” Then, suddenly liftingup his voice, amid the eternal din of the waters, he sang aloud:

“First born of Egypt, smite did he,
Of mankind, and of beast also:
O, Egypt! wonders sent ’midst thee,
On Pharaoh and his servants too!”

“The death of the colt sits heavy on the heart of its owner,” saidthe scout; “but it’s a good sign to see a man account upon his dumbfriends. He has the religion of the matter, in believing what is to happen willhappen; and with such a consolation, it won’t be long afore he submits tothe rationality of killing a four-footed beast to save the lives of human men.It may be as you say,” he continued, reverting to the purport ofHeyward’s last remark; “and the greater the reason why we shouldcut our steaks, and let the carcass drive down the stream, or we shall have thepack howling along the cliffs, begrudging every mouthful we swallow. Besides,though the Delaware tongue is the same as a book to the Iroquois, the cunningvarlets are quick enough at understanding the reason of a wolf’showl.”

The scout, while making his remarks, was busied in collecting certain necessaryimplements; as he concluded, he moved silently by the group of travelers,accompanied by the Mohicans, who seemed to comprehend his intentions withinstinctive readiness, when the whole three disappeared in succession, seemingto vanish against the dark face of a perpendicular rock that rose to the heightof a few yards, within as many feet of the water’s edge.

CHAPTER VI.

“Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide;
He wales a portion with judicious care;
And ‘Let us worship God’, he says, with solemnair.”—Burns

Heyward and his female companions witnessed this mysterious movement withsecret uneasiness; for, though the conduct of the white man had hitherto beenabove reproach, his rude equipments, blunt address, and strong antipathies,together with the character of his silent associates, were all causes forexciting distrust in minds that had been so recently alarmed by Indiantreachery.

The stranger alone disregarded the passing incidents. He seated himself on aprojection of the rocks, whence he gave no other signs of consciousness than bythe struggles of his spirit, as manifested in frequent and heavy sighs.Smothered voices were next heard, as though men called to each other in thebowels of the earth, when a sudden light flashed upon those without, and laidbare the much-prized secret of the place.

At the further extremity of a narrow, deep cavern in the rock, whose lengthappeared much extended by the perspective and the nature of the light by whichit was seen, was seated the scout, holding a blazing knot of pine. The strongglare of the fire fell full upon his sturdy, weather-beaten countenance andforest attire, lending an air of romantic wildness to the aspect of anindividual, who, seen by the sober light of day, would have exhibited thepeculiarities of a man remarkable for the strangeness of his dress, theiron-like inflexibility of his frame, and the singular compound of quick,vigilant sagacity, and of exquisite simplicity, that by turns usurped thepossession of his muscular features. At a little distance in advance stoodUncas, his whole person thrown powerfully into view. The travelers anxiouslyregarded the upright, flexible figure of the young Mohican, graceful andunrestrained in the attitudes and movements of nature. Though his person wasmore than usually screened by a green and fringed hunting-shirt, like that ofthe white man, there was no concealment to his dark, glancing, fearless eye,alike terrible and calm; the bold outline of his high, haughty features, purein their native red; or to the dignified elevation of his receding forehead,together with all the finest proportions of a noble head, bared to the generousscalping tuft. It was the first opportunity possessed by Duncan and hiscompanions to view the marked lineaments of either of their Indian attendants,and each individual of the party felt relieved from a burden of doubt, as theproud and determined, though wild expression of the features of the youngwarrior forced itself on their notice. They felt it might be a being partiallybenighted in the vale of ignorance, but it could not be one who would willinglydevote his rich natural gifts to the purposes of wanton treachery. Theingenuous Alice gazed at his free air and proud carriage, as she would havelooked upon some precious relic of the Grecian chisel, to which life had beenimparted by the intervention of a miracle; while Heyward, though accustomed tosee the perfection of form which abounds among the uncorrupted natives, openlyexpressed his admiration at such an unblemished specimen of the noblestproportions of man.

“I could sleep in peace,” whispered Alice, in reply, “withsuch a fearless and generous-looking youth for my sentinel. Surely, Duncan,those cruel murders, those terrific scenes of torture, of which we read andhear so much, are never acted in the presence of such as he!”

“This certainly is a rare and brilliant instance of those naturalqualities in which these peculiar people are said to excel,” he answered.“I agree with you, Alice, in thinking that such a front and eye wereformed rather to intimidate than to deceive; but let us not practice adeception upon ourselves, by expecting any other exhibition of what we esteemvirtue than according to the fashion of the savage. As bright examples of greatqualities are but too uncommon among Christians, so are they singular andsolitary with the Indians; though, for the honor of our common nature, neitherare incapable of producing them. Let us then hope that this Mohican may notdisappoint our wishes, but prove what his looks assert him to be, a brave andconstant friend.”

“Now Major Heyward speaks as Major Heyward should,” said Cora;“who that looks at this creature of nature, remembers the shade of hisskin?”

A short and apparently an embarrassed silence succeeded this remark, which wasinterrupted by the scout calling to them, aloud, to enter.

“This fire begins to show too bright a flame,” he continued, asthey complied, “and might light the Mingoes to our undoing. Uncas, dropthe blanket, and show the knaves its dark side. This is not such a supper as amajor of the Royal Americans has a right to expect, but I’ve known stoutdetachments of the corps glad to eat their venison raw, and without a relish,too^[1]. Here, yousee, we have plenty of salt, and can make a quick broil. There’s freshsassafras boughs for the ladies to sit on, which may not be as proud as theirmy-hog-guinea chairs, but which sends up a sweeter flavor, than the skin of anyhog can do, be it of Guinea, or be it of any other land. Come, friend,don’t be mournful for the colt; ’twas an innocent thing, and hadnot seen much hardship. Its death will save the creature many a sore back andweary foot!”

[1]In vulgar parlance the condiments of a repast are called by the American“a relish,” substituting the thing for its effect. These provincialterms are frequently put in the mouths of the speakers, according to theirseveral conditions in life. Most of them are of local use, and others quitepeculiar to the particular class of men to which the character belongs. In thepresent instance, the scout uses the word with immediate reference to the“salt,” with which his own party was so fortunate as to beprovided.

Uncas did as the other had directed, and when the voice of Hawkeye ceased, theroar of the cataract sounded like the rumbling of distant thunder.

“Are we quite safe in this cavern?” demanded Heyward. “Isthere no danger of surprise? A single armed man, at its entrance, would hold usat his mercy.”

A spectral-looking figure stalked from out of the darkness behind the scout,and seizing a blazing brand, held it toward the further extremity of theirplace of retreat. Alice uttered a faint shriek, and even Cora rose to her feet,as this appalling object moved into the light; but a single word from Heywardcalmed them, with the assurance it was only their attendant, Chingachgook, who,lifting another blanket, discovered that the cavern had two outlets. Then,holding the brand, he crossed a deep, narrow chasm in the rocks which ran atright angles with the passage they were in, but which, unlike that, was open tothe heavens, and entered another cave, answering to the description of thefirst, in every essential particular.

“Such old foxes as Chingachgook and myself are not often caught in abarrow with one hole,” said Hawkeye, laughing; “you can easily seethe cunning of the place—the rock is black limestone, which everybodyknows is soft; it makes no uncomfortable pillow, where brush and pine wood isscarce; well, the fall was once a few yards below us, and I dare to say was, inits time, as regular and as handsome a sheet of water as any along the Hudson.But old age is a great injury to good looks, as these sweet young ladies haveyet to l’arn! The place is sadly changed! These rocks are full of cracks,and in some places they are softer than at othersome, and the water has workedout deep hollows for itself, until it has fallen back, ay, some hundred feet,breaking here and wearing there, until the falls have neither shape norconsistency.”

“In what part of them are we?” asked Heyward.

“Why, we are nigh the spot that Providence first placed them at, butwhere, it seems, they were too rebellious to stay. The rock proved softer oneach side of us, and so they left the center of the river bare and dry, firstworking out these two little holes for us to hide in.”

“We are then on an island!”

“Ay! there are the falls on two sides of us, and the river above andbelow. If you had daylight, it would be worth the trouble to step up on theheight of this rock, and look at the perversity of the water. It falls by norule at all; sometimes it leaps, sometimes it tumbles; there it skips; here itshoots; in one place ’tis white as snow, and in another ’tis greenas grass; hereabouts, it pitches into deep hollows, that rumble and crush the’arth; and thereaways, it ripples and sings like a brook, fashioningwhirlpools and gullies in the old stone, as if ’twas no harder thantrodden clay. The whole design of the river seems disconcerted. First it runssmoothly, as if meaning to go down the descent as things were ordered; then itangles about and faces the shores; nor are there places wanting where it looksbackward, as if unwilling to leave the wilderness, to mingle with the salt. Ay,lady, the fine cobweb-looking cloth you wear at your throat is coarse, and likea fishnet, to little spots I can show you, where the river fabricates all sortsof images, as if having broke loose from order, it would try its hand ateverything. And yet what does it amount to! After the water has been sufferedso to have its will, for a time, like a headstrong man, it is gathered togetherby the hand that made it, and a few rods below you may see it all, flowing onsteadily toward the sea, as was foreordained from the first foundation of the’arth!”

While his auditors received a cheering assurance of the security of their placeof concealment from this untutored description of Glenn’s,^[2]they were much inclined to judge differently from Hawkeye, of its wildbeauties. But they were not in a situation to suffer their thoughts to dwell onthe charms of natural objects; and, as the scout had not found it necessary tocease his culinary labors while he spoke, unless to point out, with a brokenfork, the direction of some particularly obnoxious point in the rebelliousstream, they now suffered their attention to be drawn to the necessary thoughmore vulgar consideration of their supper.

[2]Glenn’s Falls are on the Hudson, some forty or fifty miles above thehead of tide, or that place where the river becomes navigable for sloops. Thedescription of this picturesque and remarkable little cataract, as given by thescout, is sufficiently correct, though the application of the water to uses ofcivilized life has materially injured its beauties. The rocky island and thetwo caverns are known to every traveler, since the former sustains the pier ofa bridge, which is now thrown across the river, immediately above the fall. Inexplanation of the taste of Hawkeye, it should be remembered that men alwaysprize that most which is least enjoyed. Thus, in a new country, the woods andother objects, which in an old country would be maintained at great cost, aregot rid of, simply with a view of “improving” as it is called.

The repast, which was greatly aided by the addition of a few delicacies thatHeyward had the precaution to bring with him when they left their horses, wasexceedingly refreshing to the weary party. Uncas acted as attendant to thefemales, performing all the little offices within his power, with a mixture ofdignity and anxious grace, that served to amuse Heyward, who well knew that itwas an utter innovation on the Indian customs, which forbid their warriors todescend to any menial employment, especially in favor of their women. As therights of hospitality were, however, considered sacred among them, this littledeparture from the dignity of manhood excited no audible comment. Had therebeen one there sufficiently disengaged to become a close observer, he mighthave fancied that the services of the young chief were not entirely impartial.That while he tendered to Alice the gourd of sweet water, and the venison in atrencher, neatly carved from the knot of the pepperidge, with sufficientcourtesy, in performing the same offices to her sister, his dark eye lingeredon her rich, speaking countenance. Once or twice he was compelled to speak, tocommand the attention of those he served. In such cases he made use of English,broken and imperfect, but sufficiently intelligible, and which he rendered somild and musical, by his deep, guttural voice, that it never failed to causeboth ladies to look up in admiration and astonishment. In the course of thesecivilities, a few sentences were exchanged, that served to establish theappearance of an amicable intercourse between the parties.

In the meanwhile, the gravity of Chingcachgook remained immovable. He hadseated himself more within the circle of light, where the frequent, uneasyglances of his guests were better enabled to separate the natural expression ofhis face from the artificial terrors of the war paint. They found a strongresemblance between father and son, with the difference that might be expectedfrom age and hardships. The fierceness of his countenance now seemed toslumber, and in its place was to be seen the quiet, vacant composure whichdistinguishes an Indian warrior, when his faculties are not required for any ofthe greater purposes of his existence. It was, however, easy to be seen, by theoccasional gleams that shot across his swarthy visage, that it was onlynecessary to arouse his passions, in order to give full effect to the terrificdevice which he had adopted to intimidate his enemies. On the other hand, thequick, roving eye of the scout seldom rested. He ate and drank with an appetitethat no sense of danger could disturb, but his vigilance seemed never to deserthim. Twenty times the gourd or the venison was suspended before his lips, whilehis head was turned aside, as though he listened to some distant and distrustedsounds—a movement that never failed to recall his guests from regardingthe novelties of their situation, to a recollection of the alarming reasonsthat had driven them to seek it. As these frequent pauses were never followedby any remark, the momentary uneasiness they created quickly passed away, andfor a time was forgotten.

“Come, friend,” said Hawkeye, drawing out a keg from beneath acover of leaves, toward the close of the repast, and addressing the strangerwho sat at his elbow, doing great justice to his culinary skill, “try alittle spruce; ’twill wash away all thoughts of the colt, and quicken thelife in your bosom. I drink to our better friendship, hoping that a littlehorse-flesh may leave no heart-burnings atween us. How do you nameyourself?”

“Gamut—David Gamut,” returned the singing master, preparingto wash down his sorrows in a powerful draught of the woodsman’shigh-flavored and well-laced compound.

“A very good name, and, I dare say, handed down from honest forefathers.I’m an admirator of names, though the Christian fashions fall far belowsavage customs in this particular. The biggest coward I ever knew was calledLyon; and his wife, Patience, would scold you out of hearing in less time thana hunted deer would run a rod. With an Indian ’tis a matter ofconscience; what he calls himself, he generally is—not that Chingachgook,which signifies Big Sarpent, is really a snake, big or little; but that heunderstands the windings and turnings of human natur’, and is silent, andstrikes his enemies when they least expect him. What may be yourcalling?”

“I am an unworthy instructor in the art of psalmody.”

“Anan!”

“I teach singing to the youths of the Connecticut levy.”

“You might be better employed. The young hounds go laughing and singingtoo much already through the woods, when they ought not to breathe louder thana fox in his cover. Can you use the smoothbore, or handle the rifle?”

“Praised be God, I have never had occasion to meddle with murderousimplements!”

“Perhaps you understand the compass, and lay down the watercourses andmountains of the wilderness on paper, in order that they who follow may findplaces by their given names?”

“I practice no such employment.”

“You have a pair of legs that might make a long path seem short! youjourney sometimes, I fancy, with tidings for the general.”

“Never; I follow no other than my own high vocation, which is instructionin sacred music!”

“’Tis a strange calling!” muttered Hawkeye, with an inwardlaugh, “to go through life, like a catbird, mocking all the ups and downsthat may happen to come out of other men’s throats. Well, friend, Isuppose it is your gift, and mustn’t be denied any more than if’twas shooting, or some other better inclination. Let us hear what youcan do in that way; ’twill be a friendly manner of saying good-night, for’tis time that these ladies should be getting strength for a hard and along push, in the pride of the morning, afore the Maquas are stirring.”

“With joyful pleasure do I consent”, said David, adjusting hisiron-rimmed spectacles, and producing his beloved little volume, which heimmediately tendered to Alice. “What can be more fitting and consolatory,than to offer up evening praise, after a day of such exceeding jeopardy!”

Alice smiled; but, regarding Heyward, she blushed and hesitated.

“Indulge yourself,” he whispered; “ought not the suggestionof the worthy namesake of the Psalmist to have its weight at such amoment?”

Encouraged by his opinion, Alice did what her pious inclinations, and her keenrelish for gentle sounds, had before so strongly urged. The book was open at ahymn not ill adapted to their situation, and in which the poet, no longergoaded by his desire to excel the inspired King of Israel, had discovered somechastened and respectable powers. Cora betrayed a disposition to support hersister, and the sacred song proceeded, after the indispensable preliminaries ofthe pitchpipe, and the tune had been duly attended to by the methodical David.

The air was solemn and slow. At times it rose to the fullest compass of therich voices of the females, who hung over their little book in holy excitement,and again it sank so low, that the rushing of the waters ran through theirmelody, like a hollow accompaniment. The natural taste and true ear of Davidgoverned and modified the sounds to suit the confined cavern, every crevice andcranny of which was filled with the thrilling notes of their flexible voices.The Indians riveted their eyes on the rocks, and listened with an attentionthat seemed to turn them into stone. But the scout, who had placed his chin inhis hand, with an expression of cold indifference, gradually suffered his rigidfeatures to relax, until, as verse succeeded verse, he felt his iron naturesubdued, while his recollection was carried back to boyhood, when his ears hadbeen accustomed to listen to similar sounds of praise, in the settlements ofthe colony. His roving eyes began to moisten, and before the hymn was endedscalding tears rolled out of fountains that had long seemed dry, and followedeach other down those cheeks, that had oftener felt the storms of heaven thanany testimonials of weakness. The singers were dwelling on one of those low,dying chords, which the ear devours with such greedy rapture, as if consciousthat it is about to lose them, when a cry, that seemed neither human norearthly, rose in the outward air, penetrating not only the recesses of thecavern, but to the inmost hearts of all who heard it. It was followed by astillness apparently as deep as if the waters had been checked in their furiousprogress, at such a horrid and unusual interruption.

“What is it?” murmured Alice, after a few moments of terriblesuspense.

“What is it?” murmured Alice, after a fewmoments of terrible suspense.

“What is it?” repeated Hewyard aloud.

Neither Hawkeye nor the Indians made any reply. They listened, as if expectingthe sound would be repeated, with a manner that expressed their ownastonishment. At length they spoke together, earnestly, in the Delawarelanguage, when Uncas, passing by the inner and most concealed aperture,cautiously left the cavern. When he had gone, the scout first spoke in English.

“What it is, or what it is not, none here can tell, though two of us haveranged the woods for more than thirty years. I did believe there was no crythat Indian or beast could make, that my ears had not heard; but this hasproved that I was only a vain and conceited mortal.”

“Was it not, then, the shout the warriors make when they wish tointimidate their enemies?” asked Cora who stood drawing her veil abouther person, with a calmness to which her agitated sister was a stranger.

“No, no; this was bad, and shocking, and had a sort of unhuman sound; butwhen you once hear the war-whoop, you will never mistake it for anything else.Well, Uncas!” speaking in Delaware to the young chief as he re-entered,“what see you? do our lights shine through the blankets?”

The answer was short, and apparently decided, being given in the same tongue.

“There is nothing to be seen without,” continued Hawkeye, shakinghis head in discontent; “and our hiding-place is still in darkness. Passinto the other cave, you that need it, and seek for sleep; we must be afootlong before the sun, and make the most of our time to get to Edward, while theMingoes are taking their morning nap.”

Cora set the example of compliance, with a steadiness that taught the moretimid Alice the necessity of obedience. Before leaving the place, however, shewhispered a request to Duncan, that he would follow. Uncas raised the blanketfor their passage, and as the sisters turned to thank him for this act ofattention, they saw the scout seated again before the dying embers, with hisface resting on his hands, in a manner which showed how deeply he brooded onthe unaccountable interruption which had broken up their evening devotions.

Heyward took with him a blazing knot, which threw a dim light through thenarrow vista of their new apartment. Placing it in a favorable position, hejoined the females, who now found themselves alone with him for the first timesince they had left the friendly ramparts of Fort Edward.

“Leave us not, Duncan,” said Alice: “we cannot sleep in sucha place as this, with that horrid cry still ringing in our ears.”

“First let us examine into the security of your fortress,” heanswered, “and then we will speak of rest.”

He approached the further end of the cavern, to an outlet, which, like theothers, was concealed by blankets; and removing the thick screen, breathed thefresh and reviving air from the cataract. One arm of the river flowed through adeep, narrow ravine, which its current had worn in the soft rock, directlybeneath his feet, forming an effectual defense, as he believed, against anydanger from that quarter; the water, a few rods above them, plunging, glancing,and sweeping along in its most violent and broken manner.

“Nature has made an impenetrable barrier on this side,” hecontinued, pointing down the perpendicular declivity into the dark currentbefore he dropped the blanket; “and as you know that good men and trueare on guard in front I see no reason why the advice of our honest host shouldbe disregarded. I am certain Cora will join me in saying that sleep isnecessary to you both.”

“Cora may submit to the justice of your opinion though she cannot put itin practice,” returned the elder sister, who had placed herself by theside of Alice, on a couch of sassafras; “there would be other causes tochase away sleep, though we had been spared the shock of this mysterious noise.Ask yourself, Heyward, can daughters forget the anxiety a father must endure,whose children lodge he knows not where or how, in such a wilderness, and inthe midst of so many perils?”

“He is a soldier, and knows how to estimate the chances of thewoods.”

“He is a father, and cannot deny his nature.”

“How kind has he ever been to all my follies, how tender and indulgent toall my wishes!” sobbed Alice. “We have been selfish, sister, inurging our visit at such hazard.”

“I may have been rash in pressing his consent in a moment of muchembarrassment, but I would have proved to him, that however others mightneglect him in his strait his children at least were faithful.”

“When he heard of your arrival at Edward,” said Heyward, kindly,“there was a powerful struggle in his bosom between fear and love; thoughthe latter, heightened, if possible, by so long a separation, quicklyprevailed. ‘It is the spirit of my noble-minded Cora that leads them,Duncan’, he said, ‘and I will not balk it. Would to God, that hewho holds the honor of our royal master in his guardianship, would show buthalf her firmness!’”

“And did he not speak of me, Heyward?” demanded Alice, with jealousaffection; “surely, he forgot not altogether his little Elsie?”

“That were impossible,” returned the young man; “he calledyou by a thousand endearing epithets, that I may not presume to use, but to thejustice of which, I can warmly testify. Once, indeed, he said—”

Duncan ceased speaking; for while his eyes were riveted on those of Alice, whohad turned toward him with the eagerness of filial affection, to catch hiswords, the same strong, horrid cry, as before, filled the air, and rendered himmute. A long, breathless silence succeeded, during which each looked at theothers in fearful expectation of hearing the sound repeated. At length, theblanket was slowly raised, and the scout stood in the aperture with acountenance whose firmness evidently began to give way before a mystery thatseemed to threaten some danger, against which all his cunning and experiencemight prove of no avail.

CHAPTER VII.

“They do not sleep,
On yonder cliffs, a grizzly band,
I see them sit.”—Gray

“’Twould be neglecting a warning that is given for our good to liehid any longer,” said Hawkeye “when such sounds are raised in theforest. These gentle ones may keep close, but the Mohicans and I will watchupon the rock, where I suppose a major of the Sixtieth would wish to keep uscompany.”

“Is, then, our danger so pressing?” asked Cora.

“He who makes strange sounds, and gives them out for man’sinformation, alone knows our danger. I should think myself wicked, untorebellion against His will, was I to burrow with such warnings in the air! Eventhe weak soul who passes his days in singing is stirred by the cry, and, as hesays, is ‘ready to go forth to the battle’ If ’twere only abattle, it would be a thing understood by us all, and easily managed; but Ihave heard that when such shrieks are atween heaven and ’arth, itbetokens another sort of warfare!”

“If all our reasons for fear, my friend, are confined to such as proceedfrom supernatural causes, we have but little occasion to be alarmed,”continued the undisturbed Cora, “are you certain that our enemies havenot invented some new and ingenious method to strike us with terror, that theirconquest may become more easy?”

“Lady,” returned the scout, solemnly, “I have listened to allthe sounds of the woods for thirty years, as a man will listen whose life anddeath depend on the quickness of his ears. There is no whine of the panther, nowhistle of the catbird, nor any invention of the devilish Mingoes, that cancheat me! I have heard the forest moan like mortal men in their affliction;often, and again, have I listened to the wind playing its music in the branchesof the girdled trees; and I have heard the lightning cracking in the air likethe snapping of blazing brush as it spitted forth sparks and forked flames; butnever have I thought that I heard more than the pleasure of him who sportedwith the things of his hand. But neither the Mohicans, nor I, who am a whiteman without a cross, can explain the cry just heard. We, therefore, believe ita sign given for our good.”

“It is extraordinary!” said Heyward, taking his pistols from theplace where he had laid them on entering; “be it a sign of peace or asignal of war, it must be looked to. Lead the way, my friend; I follow.”

On issuing from their place of confinement, the whole party instantlyexperienced a grateful renovation of spirits, by exchanging the pent air of thehiding-place for the cool and invigorating atmosphere which played around thewhirlpools and pitches of the cataract. A heavy evening breeze swept along thesurface of the river, and seemed to drive the roar of the falls into therecesses of their own cavern, whence it issued heavily and constant, likethunder rumbling beyond the distant hills. The moon had risen, and its lightwas already glancing here and there on the waters above them; but the extremityof the rock where they stood still lay in shadow. With the exception of thesounds produced by the rushing waters, and an occasional breathing of the air,as it murmured past them in fitful currents, the scene was as still as nightand solitude could make it. In vain were the eyes of each individual bent alongthe opposite shores, in quest of some signs of life, that might explain thenature of the interruption they had heard. Their anxious and eager looks werebaffled by the deceptive light, or rested only on naked rocks, and straight andimmovable trees.

“Here is nothing to be seen but the gloom and quiet of a lovelyevening,” whispered Duncan; “how much should we prize such a scene,and all this breathing solitude, at any other moment, Cora! Fancy yourselves insecurity, and what now, perhaps, increases your terror, may be made conduciveto enjoyment—”

“Listen!” interrupted Alice.

The caution was unnecessary. Once more the same sound arose, as if from the bedof the river, and having broken out of the narrow bounds of the cliffs, washeard undulating through the forest, in distant and dying cadences.

“Can any here give a name to such a cry?” demanded Hawkeye, whenthe last echo was lost in the woods; “if so, let him speak; for myself, Ijudge it not to belong to ’arth!”

“Here, then, is one who can undeceive you,” said Duncan; “Iknow the sound full well, for often have I heard it on the field of battle, andin situations which are frequent in a soldier’s life. ’Tis thehorrid shriek that a horse will give in his agony; oftener drawn from him inpain, though sometimes in terror. My charger is either a prey to the beasts ofthe forest, or he sees his danger, without the power to avoid it. The soundmight deceive me in the cavern, but in the open air I know it too well to bewrong.”

The scout and his companions listened to this simple explanation with theinterest of men who imbibe new ideas, at the same time that they get rid of oldones, which had proved disagreeable inmates. The two latter uttered their usualexpressive exclamation, “hugh!” as the truth first glanced upontheir minds, while the former, after a short, musing pause, took upon himselfto reply.

“I cannot deny your words,” he said, “for I am little skilledin horses, though born where they abound. The wolves must be hovering abovetheir heads on the bank, and the timorsome creatures are calling on man forhelp, in the best manner they are able. Uncas”—he spoke inDelaware—“Uncas, drop down in the canoe, and whirl a brand amongthe pack; or fear may do what the wolves can’t get at to perform, andleave us without horses in the morning, when we shall have so much need tojourney swiftly!”

The young native had already descended to the water to comply, when a long howlwas raised on the edge of the river, and was borne swiftly off into the depthsof the forest, as though the beasts, of their own accord, were abandoning theirprey in sudden terror. Uncas, with instinctive quickness, receded, and thethree foresters held another of their low, earnest conferences.

“We have been like hunters who have lost the points of the heavens, andfrom whom the sun has been hid for days,” said Hawkeye, turning away fromhis companions; “now we begin again to know the signs of our course, andthe paths are cleared from briers! Seat yourselves in the shade which the moonthrows from yonder beech—’tis thicker than that of thepines—and let us wait for that which the Lord may choose to send next.Let all your conversation be in whispers; though it would be better, and,perhaps, in the end, wiser, if each one held discourse with his own thoughts,for a time.”

The manner of the scout was seriously impressive, though no longerdistinguished by any signs of unmanly apprehension. It was evident that hismomentary weakness had vanished with the explanation of a mystery which his ownexperience had not served to fathom; and though he now felt all the realitiesof their actual condition, that he was prepared to meet them with the energy ofhis hardy nature. This feeling seemed also common to the natives, who placedthemselves in positions which commanded a full view of both shores, while theirown persons were effectually concealed from observation. In such circumstances,common prudence dictated that Heyward and his companions should imitate acaution that proceeded from so intelligent a source. The young man drew a pileof the sassafras from the cave, and placing it in the chasm which separated thetwo caverns, it was occupied by the sisters, who were thus protected by therocks from any missiles, while their anxiety was relieved by the assurance thatno danger could approach without a warning. Heyward himself was posted at hand,so near that he might communicate with his companions without raising his voiceto a dangerous elevation; while David, in imitation of the woodsmen, bestowedhis person in such a manner among the fissures of the rocks, that his ungainlylimbs were no longer offensive to the eye.

In this manner hours passed without further interruption. The moon reached thezenith, and shed its mild light perpendicularly on the lovely sight of thesisters slumbering peacefully in each other’s arms. Duncan cast the wideshawl of Cora before a spectacle he so much loved to contemplate, and thensuffered his own head to seek a pillow on the rock. David began to utter soundsthat would have shocked his delicate organs in more wakeful moments; in short,all but Hawkeye and the Mohicans lost every idea of consciousness, inuncontrollable drowsiness. But the watchfulness of these vigilant protectorsneither tired nor slumbered. Immovable as that rock, of which each appeared toform a part, they lay, with their eyes roving, without intermission, along thedark margin of trees, that bounded the adjacent shores of the narrow stream.Not a sound escaped them; the most subtle examination could not have told theybreathed. It was evident that this excess of caution proceeded from anexperience that no subtlety on the part of their enemies could deceive. It was,however, continued without any apparent consequences, until the moon had set,and a pale streak above the treetops, at the bend of the river a little below,announced the approach of day.

Then, for the first time, Hawkeye was seen to stir. He crawled along the rockand shook Duncan from his heavy slumbers.

“Now is the time to journey,” he whispered; “awake the gentleones, and be ready to get into the canoe when I bring it to thelanding-place.”

“Have you had a quiet night?” said Heyward; “for myself, Ibelieve sleep has got the better of my vigilance.”

“All is yet still as midnight. Be silent, but be quick.”

By this time Duncan was thoroughly awake, and he immediately lifted the shawlfrom the sleeping females. The motion caused Cora to raise her hand as if torepulse him, while Alice murmured, in her soft, gentle voice, “No, no,dear father, we were not deserted; Duncan was with us!”

“Yes, sweet innocence,” whispered the youth; “Duncan is here,and while life continues or danger remains, he will never quit thee. Cora!Alice! awake! The hour has come to move!”

A loud shriek from the younger of the sisters, and the form of the otherstanding upright before him, in bewildered horror, was the unexpected answer hereceived.

While the words were still on the lips of Heyward, there had arisen such atumult of yells and cries as served to drive the swift currents of his ownblood back from its bounding course into the fountains of his heart. It seemed,for near a minute, as if the demons of hell had possessed themselves of the airabout them, and were venting their savage humors in barbarous sounds. The criescame from no particular direction, though it was evident they filled the woods,and, as the appalled listeners easily imagined, the caverns of the falls, therocks, the bed of the river, and the upper air. David raised his tall person inthe midst of the infernal din, with a hand on either ear, exclaiming:

“Whence comes this discord! Has hell broke loose, that man should uttersounds like these!”

The bright flashes and the quick reports of a dozen rifles, from the oppositebanks of the stream, followed this incautious exposure of his person, and leftthe unfortunate singing master senseless on that rock where he had been so longslumbering. The Mohicans boldly sent back the intimidating yell of theirenemies, who raised a shout of savage triumph at the fall of Gamut. The flashof rifles was then quick and close between them, but either party was too wellskilled to leave even a limb exposed to the hostile aim. Duncan listened withintense anxiety for the strokes of the paddle, believing that flight was nowtheir only refuge. The river glanced by with its ordinary velocity, but thecanoe was nowhere to be seen on its dark waters. He had just fancied they werecruelly deserted by their scout, as a stream of flame issued from the rockbeneath them, and a fierce yell, blended with a shriek of agony, announced thatthe messenger of death sent from the fatal weapon of Hawkeye, had found avictim. At this slight repulse the assailants instantly withdrew, and graduallythe place became as still as before the sudden tumult.

Duncan seized the favorable moment to spring to the body of Gamut, which hebore within the shelter of the narrow chasm that protected the sisters. Inanother minute the whole party was collected in this spot of comparativesafety.

“The poor fellow has saved his scalp,” said Hawkeye, coolly passinghis hand over the head of David; “but he is a proof that a man may beborn with too long a tongue! ’Twas downright madness to show six feet offlesh and blood, on a naked rock, to the raging savages. I only wonder he hasescaped with life.”

“Is he not dead?” demanded Cora, in a voice whose husky tonesshowed how powerfully natural horror struggled with her assumed firmness.“Can we do aught to assist the wretched man?”

“No, no! the life is in his heart yet, and after he has slept awhile hewill come to himself, and be a wiser man for it, till the hour of his real timeshall come,” returned Hawkeye, casting another oblique glance at theinsensible body, while he filled his charger with admirable nicety.“Carry him in, Uncas, and lay him on the sassafras. The longer his naplasts the better it will be for him, as I doubt whether he can find a propercover for such a shape on these rocks; and singing won’t do any good withthe Iroquois.”

“You believe, then, the attack will be renewed?” asked Heyward.

“Do I expect a hungry wolf will satisfy his craving with a mouthful! Theyhave lost a man, and ’tis their fashion, when they meet a loss, and failin the surprise, to fall back; but we shall have them on again, with newexpedients to circumvent us, and master our scalps. Our main hope,” hecontinued, raising his rugged countenance, across which a shade of anxiety justthen passed like a darkening cloud, “will be to keep the rock until Munrocan send a party to our help! God send it may be soon and under a leader thatknows the Indian customs!”

“You hear our probable fortunes, Cora,” said Duncan, “and youknow we have everything to hope from the anxiety and experience of your father.Come, then, with Alice, into this cavern, where you, at least, will be safefrom the murderous rifles of our enemies, and where you may bestow a caresuited to your gentle natures on our unfortunate comrade.”

The sisters followed him into the outer cave, where David was beginning, by hissighs, to give symptoms of returning consciousness, and then commending thewounded man to their attention, he immediately prepared to leave them.

“Duncan!” said the tremulous voice of Cora, when he had reached themouth of the cavern. He turned and beheld the speaker, whose color had changedto a deadly paleness, and whose lips quivered, gazing after him, with anexpression of interest which immediately recalled him to her side.“Remember, Duncan, how necessary your safety is to our own—how youbear a father’s sacred trust—how much depends on your discretionand care—in short,” she added, while the telltale blood stole overher features, crimsoning her very temples, “how very deservedly dear youare to all of the name of Munro.”

“If anything could add to my own base love of life,” said Heyward,suffering his unconscious eyes to wander to the youthful form of the silentAlice, “it would be so kind an assurance. As major of the Sixtieth, ourhonest host will tell you I must take my share of the fray; but our task willbe easy; it is merely to keep these blood-hounds at bay for a few hours.”

Without waiting for a reply, he tore himself from the presence of the sisters,and joined the scout and his companions, who still lay within the protection ofthe little chasm between the two caves.

“I tell you, Uncas,” said the former, as Heyward joined them,“you are wasteful of your powder, and the kick of the rifle disconcertsyour aim! Little powder, light lead, and a long arm, seldom fail of bringingthe death screech from a Mingo! At least, such has been my experience with thecreatur’s. Come, friends: let us to our covers, for no man can tell whenor where a Maqua^[1]will strike his blow.”

[1]Mingo was the Delaware term of the Five Nations. Maquas was the name giventhem by the Dutch. The French, from their first intercourse with them, calledthem Iroquois.

The Indians silently repaired to their appointed stations, which were fissuresin the rocks, whence they could command the approaches to the foot of thefalls. In the center of the little island, a few short and stunted pines hadfound root, forming a thicket, into which Hawkeye darted with the swiftness ofa deer, followed by the active Duncan. Here they secured themselves, as well ascircumstances would permit, among the shrubs and fragments of stone that werescattered about the place. Above them was a bare, rounded rock, on each side ofwhich the water played its gambols, and plunged into the abysses beneath, inthe manner already described. As the day had now dawned, the opposite shores nolonger presented a confused outline, but they were able to look into the woods,and distinguish objects beneath a canopy of gloomy pines.

A long and anxious watch succeeded, but without any further evidences of arenewed attack; and Duncan began to hope that their fire had proved more fatalthan was supposed, and that their enemies had been effectually repulsed. Whenhe ventured to utter this impression to his companions, it was met by Hawkeyewith an incredulous shake of the head.

“You know not the nature of a Maqua, if you think he is so easily beatenback without a scalp!” he answered. “If there was one of the impsyelling this morning, there were forty! and they know our number and qualitytoo well to give up the chase so soon. Hist! look into the water above, justwhere it breaks over the rocks. I am no mortal, if the risky devilshaven’t swam down upon the very pitch, and, as bad luck would have it,they have hit the head of the island. Hist! man, keep close! or the hair willbe off your crown in the turning of a knife!”

Heyward lifted his head from the cover, and beheld what he justly considered aprodigy of rashness and skill. The river had worn away the edge of the softrock in such a manner as to render its first pitch less abrupt andperpendicular than is usual at waterfalls. With no other guide than the rippleof the stream where it met the head of the island, a party of their insatiablefoes had ventured into the current, and swam down upon this point, knowing theready access it would give, if successful, to their intended victims.

As Hawkeye ceased speaking, four human heads could be seen peering above a fewlogs of drift-wood that had lodged on these naked rocks, and which had probablysuggested the idea of the practicability of the hazardous undertaking. At thenext moment, a fifth form was seen floating over the green edge of the fall, alittle from the line of the island. The savage struggled powerfully to gain thepoint of safety, and, favored by the glancing water, he was already stretchingforth an arm to meet the grasp of his companions, when he shot away again withthe shirling current, appeared to rise into the air, with uplifted arms andstarting eyeballs, and fell, with a sudden plunge, into that deep and yawningabyss over which he hovered. A single, wild, despairing shriek rose from thecavern, and all was hushed again as the grave.

The first generous impulse of Duncan was to rush to the rescue of the haplesswretch; but he felt himself bound to the spot by the iron grasp of theimmovable scout.

“Would ye bring certain death upon us, by telling the Mingoes where welie?” demanded Hawkeye, sternly; “’Tis a charge of powdersaved, and ammunition is as precious now as breath to a worried deer! Freshenthe priming of your pistols—the midst of the falls is apt to dampen thebrimstone—and stand firm for a close struggle, while I fire on theirrush.”

He placed a finger in his mouth, and drew a long, shrill whistle, which wasanswered from the rocks that were guarded by the Mohicans. Duncan caughtglimpses of heads above the scattered drift-wood, as this signal rose on theair, but they disappeared again as suddenly as they had glanced upon his sight.A low, rustling sound next drew his attention behind him, and turning his head,he beheld Uncas within a few feet, creeping to his side. Hawkeye spoke to himin Delaware, when the young chief took his position with singular caution andundisturbed coolness. To Heyward this was a moment of feverish and impatientsuspense; though the scout saw fit to select it as a fit occasion to read alecture to his more youthful associates on the art of using firearms withdiscretion.

“Of all we’pons,” he commenced, “the long barreled,true-grooved, soft-metaled rifle is the most dangerous in skillful hands,though it wants a strong arm, a quick eye, and great judgment in charging, toput forth all its beauties. The gunsmiths can have but little insight intotheir trade when they make their fowling-pieces and shorthorsemen’s—”

He was interrupted by the low but expressive “hugh” of Uncas.

“I see them, boy, I see them!” continued Hawkeye; “they aregathering for the rush, or they would keep their dingy backs below the logs.Well, let them,” he added, examining his flint; “the leading mancertainly comes on to his death, though it should be Montcalm himself!”

At that moment the woods were filled with another burst of cries, and at thesignal four savages sprang from the cover of the driftwood. Heyward felt aburning desire to rush forward to meet them, so intense was the deliriousanxiety of the moment; but he was restrained by the deliberate examples of thescout and Uncas.

When their foes, who had leaped over the black rocks that divided them, withlong bounds, uttering the wildest yells, were within a few rods, the rifle ofHawkeye slowly rose among the shrubs, and poured out its fatal contents. Theforemost Indian bounded like a stricken deer, and fell headlong among theclefts of the island.

“Now, Uncas!” cried the scout, drawing his long knife, while hisquick eyes began to flash with ardor, “take the last of the screechingimps; of the other two we are sartain!”

He was obeyed; and but two enemies remained to be overcome. Heyward had givenone of his pistols to Hawkeye, and together they rushed down a little declivitytoward their foes; they discharged their weapons at the same instant, andequally without success.

“I know’d it! and I said it!” muttered the scout, whirlingthe despised little implement over the falls with bitter disdain. “Comeon, ye bloody minded hell-hounds! ye meet a man without a cross!”

The words were barely uttered, when he encountered a savage of giganticstature, of the fiercest mien. At the same moment, Duncan found himself engagedwith the other, in a similar contest of hand to hand. With ready skill, Hawkeyeand his antagonist each grasped that uplifted arm of the other which held thedangerous knife. For near a minute they stood looking one another in the eye,and gradually exerting the power of their muscles for the mastery.

At length, the toughened sinews of the white man prevailed over the lesspracticed limbs of the native. The arm of the latter slowly gave way before theincreasing force of the scout, who, suddenly wresting his armed hand from thegrasp of the foe, drove the sharp weapon through his naked bosom to the heart.In the meantime, Heyward had been pressed in a more deadly struggle. His slightsword was snapped in the first encounter. As he was destitute of any othermeans of defense, his safety now depended entirely on bodily strength andresolution. Though deficient in neither of these qualities, he had met an enemyevery way his equal. Happily, he soon succeeded in disarming his adversary,whose knife fell on the rock at their feet; and from this moment it became afierce struggle who should cast the other over the dizzy height into aneighboring cavern of the falls. Every successive struggle brought them nearerto the verge, where Duncan perceived the final and conquering effort must bemade. Each of the combatants threw all his energies into that effort, and theresult was, that both tottered on the brink of the precipice. Heyward felt thegrasp of the other at his throat, and saw the grim smile the savage gave, underthe revengeful hope that he hurried his enemy to a fate similar to his own, ashe felt his body slowly yielding to a resistless power, and the young manexperienced the passing agony of such a moment in all its horrors. At thatinstant of extreme danger, a dark hand and glancing knife appeared before him;the Indian released his hold, as the blood flowed freely from around thesevered tendons of the wrist; and while Duncan was drawn backward by the savinghand of Uncas, his charmed eyes still were riveted on the fierce anddisappointed countenance of his foe, who fell sullenly and disappointed downthe irrecoverable precipice.

“To cover! to cover!” cried Hawkeye, who just then had despatchedthe enemy; “to cover, for your lives! the work is but half ended!”

The young Mohican gave a shout of triumph, and followed by Duncan, he glided upthe acclivity they had descended to the combat, and sought the friendly shelterof the rocks and shrubs.

CHAPTER VIII.

“They linger yet,
Avengers of their native land.”—Gray

The warning call of the scout was not uttered without occasion. During theoccurrence of the deadly encounter just related, the roar of the falls wasunbroken by any human sound whatever. It would seem that interest in the resulthad kept the natives on the opposite shores in breathless suspense, while thequick evolutions and swift changes in the positions of the combatantseffectually prevented a fire that might prove dangerous alike to friend andenemy. But the moment the struggle was decided, a yell arose as fierce andsavage as wild and revengeful passions could throw into the air. It wasfollowed by the swift flashes of the rifles, which sent their leaden messengersacross the rock in volleys, as though the assailants would pour out theirimpotent fury on the insensible scene of the fatal contest.

A steady, though deliberate return was made from the rifle of Chingachgook, whohad maintained his post throughout the fray with unmoved resolution. When thetriumphant shout of Uncas was borne to his ears, the gratified father raisedhis voice in a single responsive cry, after which his busy piece alone provedthat he still guarded his pass with unwearied diligence. In this manner manyminutes flew by with the swiftness of thought; the rifles of the assailantsspeaking, at times, in rattling volleys, and at others in occasional,scattering shots. Though the rock, the trees, and the shrubs, were cut and tornin a hundred places around the besieged, their cover was so close, and sorigidly maintained, that, as yet, David had been the only sufferer in theirlittle band.

“Let them burn their powder,” said the deliberate scout, whilebullet after bullet whizzed by the place where he securely lay; “therewill be a fine gathering of lead when it is over, and I fancy the imps willtire of the sport afore these old stones cry out for mercy! Uncas, boy, youwaste the kernels by overcharging; and a kicking rifle never carries a truebullet. I told you to take that loping miscreant under the line of white point;now, if your bullet went a hair’s breadth it went two inches above it.The life lies low in a Mingo, and humanity teaches us to make a quick end tothe sarpents.”

A quiet smile lighted the haughty features of the young Mohican, betraying hisknowledge of the English language as well as of the other’s meaning; buthe suffered it to pass away without vindication of reply.

“I cannot permit you to accuse Uncas of want of judgment or ofskill,” said Duncan; “he saved my life in the coolest and readiestmanner, and he has made a friend who never will require to be reminded of thedebt he owes.”

Uncas partly raised his body, and offered his hand to the grasp of Heyward.During this act of friendship, the two young men exchanged looks ofintelligence which caused Duncan to forget the character and condition of hiswild associate. In the meanwhile, Hawkeye, who looked on this burst of youthfulfeeling with a cool but kind regard made the following reply:

“Life is an obligation which friends often owe each other in thewilderness. I dare say I may have served Uncas some such turn myself beforenow; and I very well remember that he has stood between me and death fivedifferent times; three times from the Mingoes, once in crossing Horican,and—”

“That bullet was better aimed than common!” exclaimed Duncan,involuntarily shrinking from a shot which struck the rock at his side with asmart rebound.

Hawkeye laid his hand on the shapeless metal, and shook his head, as heexamined it, saying, “Falling lead is never flattened, had it come fromthe clouds this might have happened.”

But the rifle of Uncas was deliberately raised toward the heavens, directingthe eyes of his companions to a point, where the mystery was immediatelyexplained. A ragged oak grew on the right bank of the river, nearly opposite totheir position, which, seeking the freedom of the open space, had inclined sofar forward that its upper branches overhung that arm of the stream whichflowed nearest to its own shore. Among the topmost leaves, which scantilyconcealed the gnarled and stunted limbs, a savage was nestled, partly concealedby the trunk of the tree, and partly exposed, as though looking down upon themto ascertain the effect produced by his treacherous aim.

“These devils will scale heaven to circumvent us to our ruin,” saidHawkeye; “keep him in play, boy, until I can bring ‘killdeer’to bear, when we will try his metal on each side of the tree at once.”

Uncas delayed his fire until the scout uttered the word.

The rifles flashed, the leaves and bark of the oak flew into the air, and werescattered by the wind, but the Indian answered their assault by a tauntinglaugh, sending down upon them another bullet in return, that struck the cap ofHawkeye from his head. Once more the savage yells burst out of the woods, andthe leaden hail whistled above the heads of the besieged, as if to confine themto a place where they might become easy victims to the enterprise of thewarrior who had mounted the tree.

“This must be looked to,” said the scout, glancing about him withan anxious eye. “Uncas, call up your father; we have need of all ourwe’pons to bring the cunning varmint from his roost.”

The signal was instantly given; and, before Hawkeye had reloaded his rifle,they were joined by Chingachgook. When his son pointed out to the experiencedwarrior the situation of their dangerous enemy, the usual exclamatory“hugh” burst from his lips; after which, no further expression ofsurprise or alarm was suffered to escape him. Hawkeye and the Mohicansconversed earnestly together in Delaware for a few moments, when each quietlytook his post, in order to execute the plan they had speedily devised.

The warrior in the oak had maintained a quick, though ineffectual fire, fromthe moment of his discovery. But his aim was interrupted by the vigilance ofhis enemies, whose rifles instantaneously bore on any part of his person thatwas left exposed. Still his bullets fell in the center of the crouching party.The clothes of Heyward, which rendered him peculiarly conspicuous, wererepeatedly cut, and once blood was drawn from a slight wound in his arm.

At length, emboldened by the long and patient watchfulness of his enemies, theHuron attempted a better and more fatal aim. The quick eyes of the Mohicanscaught the dark line of his lower limbs incautiously exposed through the thinfoliage, a few inches from the trunk of the tree. Their rifles made a commonreport, when, sinking on his wounded limb, part of the body of the savage cameinto view. Swift as thought, Hawkeye seized the advantage, and discharged hisfatal weapon into the top of the oak. The leaves were unusually agitated; thedangerous rifle fell from its commanding elevation, and after a few moments ofvain struggling, the form of the savage was seen swinging in the wind, while hestill grasped a ragged and naked branch of the tree with hands clenched indesperation.

“Give him, in pity, give him the contents of another rifle,” criedDuncan, turning away his eyes in horror from the spectacle of a fellow creaturein such awful jeopardy.

“Not a karnel!” exclaimed the obdurate Hawkeye; “his death iscertain, and we have no powder to spare, for Indian fights sometimes last fordays; ’tis their scalps or ours! and God, who made us, has put into ournatures the craving to keep the skin on the head.”

Against this stern and unyielding morality, supported as it was by such visiblepolicy, there was no appeal. From that moment the yells in the forest once moreceased, the fire was suffered to decline, and all eyes, those of friends aswell as enemies, became fixed on the hopeless condition of the wretch who wasdangling between heaven and earth. The body yielded to the currents of air, andthough no murmur or groan escaped the victim, there were instants when hegrimly faced his foes, and the anguish of cold despair might be traced, throughthe intervening distance, in possession of his swarthy lineaments. Threeseveral times the scout raised his piece in mercy, and as often, prudencegetting the better of his intention, it was again silently lowered. At lengthone hand of the Huron lost its hold, and dropped exhausted to his side. Adesperate and fruitless struggle to recover the branch succeeded, and then thesavage was seen for a fleeting instant, grasping wildly at the empty air. Thelightning is not quicker than was the flame from the rifle of Hawkeye; thelimbs of the victim trembled and contracted, the head fell to the bosom, andthe body parted the foaming waters like lead, when the element closed above it,in its ceaseless velocity, and every vestige of the unhappy Huron was lostforever.

No shout of triumph succeeded this important advantage, but even the Mohicansgazed at each other in silent horror. A single yell burst from the woods, andall was again still. Hawkeye, who alone appeared to reason on the occasion,shook his head at his own momentary weakness, even uttering hisself-disapprobation aloud.

“’Twas the last charge in my horn and the last bullet in my pouch,and ’twas the act of a boy!” he said; “what mattered itwhether he struck the rock living or dead! feeling would soon be over. Uncas,lad, go down to the canoe, and bring up the big horn; it is all the powder wehave left, and we shall need it to the last grain, or I am ignorant of theMingo nature.”

The young Mohican complied, leaving the scout turning over the useless contentsof his pouch, and shaking the empty horn with renewed discontent. From thisunsatisfactory examination, however, he was soon called by a loud and piercingexclamation from Uncas, that sounded, even to the unpracticed ears of Duncan,as the signal of some new and unexpected calamity. Every thought filled withapprehension for the previous treasure he had concealed in the cavern, theyoung man started to his feet, totally regardless of the hazard he incurred bysuch an exposure. As if actuated by a common impulse, his movement was imitatedby his companions, and, together they rushed down the pass to the friendlychasm, with a rapidity that rendered the scattering fire of their enemiesperfectly harmless. The unwonted cry had brought the sisters, together with thewounded David, from their place of refuge; and the whole party, at a singleglance, was made acquainted with the nature of the disaster that had disturbedeven the practiced stoicism of their youthful Indian protector.

At a short distance from the rock, their little bark was to be seen floatingacross the eddy, toward the swift current of the river, in a manner whichproved that its course was directed by some hidden agent. The instant thisunwelcome sight caught the eye of the scout, his rifle was leveled as byinstinct, but the barrel gave no answer to the bright sparks of the flint.

“’Tis too late, ’tis too late!” Hawkeye exclaimed,dropping the useless piece in bitter disappointment; “the miscreant hasstruck the rapid; and had we powder, it could hardly send the lead swifter thanhe now goes!”

The adventurous Huron raised his head above the shelter of the canoe, and,while it glided swiftly down the stream, he waved his hand, and gave forth theshout, which was the known signal of success. His cry was answered by a yelland a laugh from the woods, as tauntingly exulting as if fifty demons wereuttering their blasphemies at the fall of some Christian soul.

“Well may you laugh, ye children of the devil!” said the scout,seating himself on a projection of the rock, and suffering his gun to fallneglected at his feet, “for the three quickest and truest rifles in thesewoods are no better than so many stalks of mullein, or the last year’shorns of a buck!”

“What is to be done?” demanded Duncan, losing the first feeling ofdisappointment in a more manly desire for exertion; “what will become ofus?”

Hawkeye made no other reply than by passing his finger around the crown of hishead, in a manner so significant, that none who witnessed the action couldmistake its meaning.

“Surely, surely, our case is not so desperate!” exclaimed theyouth; “the Hurons are not here; we may make good the caverns, we mayoppose their landing.”

“With what?” coolly demanded the scout. “The arrows of Uncas,or such tears as women shed! No, no; you are young, and rich, and have friends,and at such an age I know it is hard to die! But,” glancing his eyes atthe Mohicans, “let us remember we are men without a cross, and let usteach these natives of the forest that white blood can run as freely as red,when the appointed hour is come.”

Duncan turned quickly in the direction indicated by the other’s eyes, andread a confirmation of his worst apprehensions in the conduct of the Indians.Chingachgook, placing himself in a dignified posture on another fragment of therock, had already laid aside his knife and tomahawk, and was in the act oftaking the eagle’s plume from his head, and smoothing the solitary tuftof hair in readiness to perform its last and revolting office. His countenancewas composed, though thoughtful, while his dark, gleaming eyes were graduallylosing the fierceness of the combat in an expression better suited to thechange he expected momentarily to undergo.

“Our case is not, cannot be so hopeless!” said Duncan; “evenat this very moment succor may be at hand. I see no enemies! They have sickenedof a struggle in which they risk so much with so little prospect ofgain!”

“It may be a minute, or it may be an hour, afore the wily sarpents stealupon us, and it is quite in natur’ for them to be lying within hearing atthis very moment,” said Hawkeye; “but come they will, and in such afashion as will leave us nothing to hope! Chingachgook”—he spoke inDelaware—“my brother, we have fought our last battle together, andthe Maquas will triumph in the death of the sage man of the Mohicans, and ofthe pale face, whose eyes can make night as day, and level the clouds to themists of the springs!”

“Let the Mingo women go weep over the slain!” returned the Indian,with characteristic pride and unmoved firmness; “the Great Snake of theMohicans has coiled himself in their wigwams, and has poisoned their triumphwith the wailings of children, whose fathers have not returned! Eleven warriorslie hid from the graves of their tribes since the snows have melted, and nonewill tell where to find them when the tongue of Chingachgook shall be silent!Let them draw the sharpest knife, and whirl the swiftest tomahawk, for theirbitterest enemy is in their hands. Uncas, topmost branch of a noble trunk, callon the cowards to hasten, or their hearts will soften, and they will change towomen!”

“They look among the fishes for their dead!” returned the low, softvoice of the youthful chieftain; “the Hurons float with the slimy eels!They drop from the oaks like fruit that is ready to be eaten! and the Delawareslaugh!”

“Ay, ay,” muttered the scout, who had listened to this peculiarburst of the natives with deep attention; “they have warmed their Indianfeelings, and they’ll soon provoke the Maquas to give them a speedy end.As for me, who am of the whole blood of the whites, it is befitting that Ishould die as becomes my color, with no words of scoffing in my mouth, andwithout bitterness at the heart!”

“Why die at all!” said Cora, advancing from the place where naturalhorror had, until this moment, held her riveted to the rock; “the path isopen on every side; fly, then, to the woods, and call on God for succor. Go,brave men, we owe you too much already; let us no longer involve you in ourhapless fortunes!”

“You but little know the craft of the Iroquois, lady, if you judge theyhave left the path open to the woods!” returned Hawkeye, who, however,immediately added in his simplicity, “the down stream current, it iscertain, might soon sweep us beyond the reach of their rifles or the sound oftheir voices.”

“Then try the river. Why linger to add to the number of the victims ofour merciless enemies?”

“Why,” repeated the scout, looking about him proudly;“because it is better for a man to die at peace with himself than to livehaunted by an evil conscience! What answer could we give Munro, when he askedus where and how we left his children?”

“Go to him, and say that you left them with a message to hasten to theiraid,” returned Cora, advancing nigher to the scout in her generous ardor;“that the Hurons bear them into the northern wilds, but that by vigilanceand speed they may yet be rescued; and if, after all, it should please heaventhat his assistance come too late, bear to him,” she continued, her voicegradually lowering, until it seemed nearly choked, “the love, theblessings, the final prayers of his daughters, and bid him not mourn theirearly fate, but to look forward with humble confidence to the Christian’sgoal to meet his children.” The hard, weather-beaten features of thescout began to work, and when she had ended, he dropped his chin to his hand,like a man musing profoundly on the nature of the proposal.

“There is reason in her words!” at length broke from his compressedand trembling lips; “ay, and they bear the spirit of Christianity; whatmight be right and proper in a red-skin, may be sinful in a man who has noteven a cross in blood to plead for his ignorance. Chingachgook! Uncas! hear youthe talk of the dark-eyed woman?”

He now spoke in Delaware to his companions, and his address, though calm anddeliberate, seemed very decided. The elder Mohican heard with deep gravity, andappeared to ponder on his words, as though he felt the importance of theirimport. After a moment of hesitation, he waved his hand in assent, and utteredthe English word “Good!” with the peculiar emphasis of his people.Then, replacing his knife and tomahawk in his girdle, the warrior movedsilently to the edge of the rock which was most concealed from the banks of theriver. Here he paused a moment, pointed significantly to the woods below, andsaying a few words in his own language, as if indicating his intended route, hedropped into the water, and sank from before the eyes of the witnesses of hismovements.

The scout delayed his departure to speak to the generous girl, whose breathingbecame lighter as she saw the success of her remonstrance.

“Wisdom is sometimes given to the young, as well as to the old,” hesaid; “and what you have spoken is wise, not to call it by a better word.If you are led into the woods, that is such of you as may be spared for awhile,break the twigs on the bushes as you pass, and make the marks of your trail asbroad as you can, when, if mortal eyes can see them, depend on having a friendwho will follow to the ends of the ’arth afore he desarts you.”

He gave Cora an affectionate shake of the hand, lifted his rifle, and afterregarding it a moment with melancholy solicitude, laid it carefully aside, anddescended to the place where Chingachgook had just disappeared. For an instanthe hung suspended by the rock, and looking about him, with a countenance ofpeculiar care, he added bitterly, “Had the powder held out, this disgracecould never have befallen!” then, loosening his hold, the water closedabove his head, and he also became lost to view.

All eyes now were turned on Uncas, who stood leaning against the ragged rock,in immovable composure. After waiting a short time, Cora pointed down theriver, and said:

“Your friends have not been seen, and are now, most probably, in safety.Is it not time for you to follow?”

“Uncas will stay,” the young Mohican calmly answered in English.

“To increase the horror of our capture, and to diminish the chances ofour release! Go, generous young man,” Cora continued, lowering her eyesunder the gaze of the Mohican, and perhaps, with an intuitive consciousness ofher power; “go to my father, as I have said, and be the most confidentialof my messengers. Tell him to trust you with the means to buy the freedom ofhis daughters. Go! ’tis my wish, ’tis my prayer, that you willgo!”

The settled, calm look of the young chief changed to an expression of gloom,but he no longer hesitated. With a noiseless step he crossed the rock, anddropped into the troubled stream. Hardly a breath was drawn by those he leftbehind, until they caught a glimpse of his head emerging for air, far down thecurrent, when he again sank, and was seen no more.

These sudden and apparently successful experiments had all taken place in a fewminutes of that time which had now become so precious. After a last look atUncas, Cora turned and with a quivering lip, addressed herself to Heyward:

“I have heard of your boasted skill in the water, too, Duncan,” shesaid; “follow, then, the wise example set you by these simple andfaithful beings.”

“Is such the faith that Cora Munro would exact from her protector?”said the young man, smiling mournfully, but with bitterness.

“This is not a time for idle subtleties and false opinions,” sheanswered; “but a moment when every duty should be equally considered. Tous you can be of no further service here, but your precious life may be savedfor other and nearer friends.”

He made no reply, though his eye fell wistfully on the beautiful form of Alice,who was clinging to his arm with the dependency of an infant.

“Consider,” continued Cora, after a pause, during which she seemedto struggle with a pang even more acute than any that her fears had excited,“that the worst to us can be but death; a tribute that all must pay atthe good time of God’s appointment.”

“There are evils worse than death,” said Duncan, speaking hoarsely,and as if fretful at her importunity, “but which the presence of one whowould die in your behalf may avert.”

Cora ceased her entreaties; and veiling her face in her shawl, drew the nearlyinsensible Alice after her into the deepest recess of the inner cavern.

CHAPTER IX.

“Be gay securely;
Dispel, my fair, with smiles, the tim’rous clouds,
That hang on thy clear brow.”—Death of Agrippina

The sudden and almost magical change, from the stirring incidents of the combatto the stillness that now reigned around him, acted on the heated imaginationof Heyward like some exciting dream. While all the images and events he hadwitnessed remained deeply impressed on his memory, he felt a difficulty inpersuading him of their truth. Still ignorant of the fate of those who hadtrusted to the aid of the swift current, he at first listened intently to anysignal or sounds of alarm, which might announce the good or evil fortune oftheir hazardous undertaking. His attention was, however, bestowed in vain; forwith the disappearance of Uncas, every sign of the adventurers had been lost,leaving him in total uncertainty of their fate.

In a moment of such painful doubt, Duncan did not hesitate to look around him,without consulting that protection from the rocks which just before had been sonecessary to his safety. Every effort, however, to detect the least evidence ofthe approach of their hidden enemies was as fruitless as the inquiry after hislate companions. The wooded banks of the river seemed again deserted byeverything possessing animal life. The uproar which had so lately echoedthrough the vaults of the forest was gone, leaving the rush of the waters toswell and sink on the currents of the air, in the unmingled sweetness ofnature. A fish-hawk, which, secure on the topmost branches of a dead pine, hadbeen a distant spectator of the fray, now swooped from his high and raggedperch, and soared, in wide sweeps, above his prey; while a jay, whose noisyvoice had been stilled by the hoarser cries of the savages, ventured again toopen his discordant throat, as though once more in undisturbed possession ofhis wild domains. Duncan caught from these natural accompaniments of thesolitary scene a glimmering of hope; and he began to rally his faculties torenewed exertions, with something like a reviving confidence of success.

“The Hurons are not to be seen,” he said, addressing David, who hadby no means recovered from the effects of the stunning blow he had received;“let us conceal ourselves in the cavern, and trust the rest toProvidence.”

“I remember to have united with two comely maidens, in lifting up ourvoices in praise and thanksgiving,” returned the bewilderedsinging-master; “since which time I have been visited by a heavy judgmentfor my sins. I have been mocked with the likeness of sleep, while sounds ofdiscord have rent my ears, such as might manifest the fullness of time, andthat nature had forgotten her harmony.”

“Poor fellow! thine own period was, in truth, near its accomplishment!But arouse, and come with me; I will lead you where all other sounds but thoseof your own psalmody shall be excluded.”

“There is melody in the fall of the cataract, and the rushing of manywaters is sweet to the senses!” said David, pressing his hand confusedlyon his brow. “Is not the air yet filled with shrieks and cries, as thoughthe departed spirits of the damned—”

“Not now, not now,” interrupted the impatient Heyward, “theyhave ceased, and they who raised them, I trust in God, they are gone, too!everything but the water is still and at peace; in, then, where you may createthose sounds you love so well to hear.”

David smiled sadly, though not without a momentary gleam of pleasure, at thisallusion to his beloved vocation. He no longer hesitated to be led to a spotwhich promised such unalloyed gratification to his wearied senses; and leaningon the arm of his companion, he entered the narrow mouth of the cave. Duncanseized a pile of the sassafras, which he drew before the passage, studiouslyconcealing every appearance of an aperture. Within this fragile barrier hearranged the blankets abandoned by the foresters, darkening the inner extremityof the cavern, while its outer received a chastened light from the narrowravine, through which one arm of the river rushed to form the junction with itssister branch a few rods below.

“I like not the principle of the natives, which teaches them to submitwithout a struggle, in emergencies that appear desperate,” he said, whilebusied in this employment; “our own maxim, which says, ‘while liferemains there is hope’, is more consoling, and better suited to asoldier’s temperament. To you, Cora, I will urge no words of idleencouragement; your own fortitude and undisturbed reason will teach you allthat may become your sex; but cannot we dry the tears of that trembling weeperon your bosom?”

“I am calmer, Duncan,” said Alice, raising herself from the arms ofher sister, and forcing an appearance of composure through her tears;“much calmer, now. Surely, in this hidden spot we are safe, we aresecret, free from injury; we will hope everything from those generous men whohave risked so much already in our behalf.”

“Now does our gentle Alice speak like a daughter of Munro!” saidHeyward, pausing to press her hand as he passed toward the outer entrance ofthe cavern. “With two such examples of courage before him, a man would beashamed to prove other than a hero.” He then seated himself in the centerof the cavern, grasping his remaining pistol with a hand convulsively clenched,while his contracted and frowning eye announced the sullen desperation of hispurpose. “The Hurons, if they come, may not gain our position so easilyas they think,” he slowly muttered; and propping his head back againstthe rock, he seemed to await the result in patience, though his gaze wasunceasingly bent on the open avenue to their place of retreat.

With the last sound of his voice, a deep, a long, and almost breathless silencesucceeded. The fresh air of the morning had penetrated the recess, and itsinfluence was gradually felt on the spirits of its inmates. As minute afterminute passed by, leaving them in undisturbed security, the insinuating feelingof hope was gradually gaining possession of every bosom, though each one feltreluctant to give utterance to expectations that the next moment might sofearfully destroy.

David alone formed an exception to these varying emotions. A gleam of lightfrom the opening crossed his wan countenance, and fell upon the pages of thelittle volume, whose leaves he was again occupied in turning, as if searchingfor some song more fitted to their condition than any that had yet met theireye. He was, most probably, acting all this time under a confused recollectionof the promised consolation of Duncan. At length, it would seem, his patientindustry found its reward; for, without explanation or apology, he pronouncedaloud the words “Isle of Wight,” drew a long, sweet sound from hispitch-pipe, and then ran through the preliminary modulations of the air whosename he had just mentioned, with the sweeter tones of his own musical voice.

“May not this prove dangerous?” asked Cora, glancing her dark eyeat Major Heyward.

“Poor fellow! his voice is too feeble to be heard above the din of thefalls,” was the answer; “beside, the cavern will prove his friend.Let him indulge his passions since it may be done without hazard.”

“Isle of Wight!” repeated David, looking about him with thatdignity with which he had long been wont to silence the whispering echoes ofhis school; “’tis a brave tune, and set to solemn words! let it besung with meet respect!”

After allowing a moment of stillness to enforce his discipline, the voice ofthe singer was heard, in low, murmuring syllables, gradually stealing on theear, until it filled the narrow vault with sounds rendered trebly thrilling bythe feeble and tremulous utterance produced by his debility. The melody, whichno weakness could destroy, gradually wrought its sweet influence on the sensesof those who heard it. It even prevailed over the miserable travesty of thesong of David which the singer had selected from a volume of similar effusions,and caused the sense to be forgotten in the insinuating harmony of the sounds.Alice unconsciously dried her tears, and bent her melting eyes on the pallidfeatures of Gamut, with an expression of chastened delight that she neitheraffected or wished to conceal. Cora bestowed an approving smile on the piousefforts of the namesake of the Jewish prince, and Heyward soon turned hissteady, stern look from the outlet of the cavern, to fasten it, with a mildercharacter, on the face of David, or to meet the wandering beams which atmoments strayed from the humid eyes of Alice. The open sympathy of thelisteners stirred the spirit of the votary of music, whose voice regained itsrichness and volume, without losing that touching softness which proved itssecret charm. Exerting his renovated powers to their utmost, he was yet fillingthe arches of the cave with long and full tones, when a yell burst into the airwithout, that instantly stilled his pious strains, choking his voice suddenly,as though his heart had literally bounded into the passage of his throat.

“We are lost!” exclaimed Alice, throwing herself into the arms ofCora.

“Not yet, not yet,” returned the agitated but undaunted Heyward:“the sound came from the center of the island, and it has been producedby the sight of their dead companions. We are not yet discovered, and there isstill hope.”

Faint and almost despairing as was the prospect of escape, the words of Duncanwere not thrown away, for it awakened the powers of the sisters in such amanner that they awaited the results in silence. A second yell soon followedthe first, when a rush of voices was heard pouring down the island, from itsupper to its lower extremity, until they reached the naked rock above thecaverns, where, after a shout of savage triumph, the air continued full ofhorrible cries and screams, such as man alone can utter, and he only when in astate of the fiercest barbarity.

The sounds quickly spread around them in every direction. Some called to theirfellows from the water’s edge, and were answered from the heights above.Cries were heard in the startling vicinity of the chasm between the two caves,which mingled with hoarser yells that arose out of the abyss of the deepravine. In short, so rapidly had the savage sounds diffused themselves over thebarren rock, that it was not difficult for the anxious listeners to imaginethey could be heard beneath, as in truth they were above on every side of them.

In the midst of this tumult, a triumphant yell was raised within a few yards ofthe hidden entrance to the cave. Heyward abandoned every hope, with the beliefit was the signal that they were discovered. Again the impression passed away,as he heard the voices collect near the spot where the white man had soreluctantly abandoned his rifle. Amid the jargon of Indian dialects that he nowplainly heard, it was easy to distinguish not only words, but sentences, in thepatois of the Canadas. A burst of voices had shouted simultaneously, “LaLongue Carabine!” causing the opposite woods to re-echo with a namewhich, Heyward well remembered, had been given by his enemies to a celebratedhunter and scout of the English camp, and who, he now learned for the firsttime, had been his late companion.

“La Longue Carabine! La Longue Carabine!” passed from mouth tomouth, until the whole band appeared to be collected around a trophy whichwould seem to announce the death of its formidable owner. After a vociferousconsultation, which was, at times, deafened by bursts of savage joy, they againseparated, filling the air with the name of a foe, whose body, Heywood couldcollect from their expressions, they hoped to find concealed in some crevice ofthe island.

“Now,” he whispered to the trembling sisters, “now is themoment of uncertainty! if our place of retreat escape this scrutiny, we arestill safe! In every event, we are assured, by what has fallen from ourenemies, that our friends have escaped, and in two short hours we may look forsuccor from Webb.”

There were now a few minutes of fearful stillness, during which Heyward wellknew that the savages conducted their search with greater vigilance and method.More than once he could distinguish their footsteps, as they brushed thesassafras, causing the faded leaves to rustle, and the branches to snap. Atlength, the pile yielded a little, a corner of a blanket fell, and a faint rayof light gleamed into the inner part of the cave. Cora folded Alice to herbosom in agony, and Duncan sprang to his feet. A shout was at that momentheard, as if issuing from the center of the rock, announcing that theneighboring cavern had at length been entered. In a minute, the number andloudness of the voices indicated that the whole party was collected in andaround that secret place.

As the inner passages to the two caves were so close to each other, Duncan,believing that escape was no longer possible, passed David and the sisters, toplace himself between the latter and the first onset of the terrible meeting.Grown desperate by his situation, he drew nigh the slight barrier whichseparated him only by a few feet from his relentless pursuers, and placing hisface to the casual opening, he even looked out with a sort of desperateindifference, on their movements.

Within reach of his arm was the brawny shoulder of a gigantic Indian, whosedeep and authoritative voice appeared to give directions to the proceedings ofhis fellows. Beyond him again, Duncan could look into the vault opposite, whichwas filled with savages, upturning and rifling the humble furniture of thescout. The wound of David had dyed the leaves of sassafras with a color thatthe native well knew as anticipating the season. Over this sign of theirsuccess, they sent up a howl, like an opening from so many hounds who hadrecovered a lost trail. After this yell of victory, they tore up the fragrantbed of the cavern, and bore the branches into the chasm, scattering the boughs,as if they suspected them of concealing the person of the man they had so longhated and feared. One fierce and wild-looking warrior approached the chief,bearing a load of the brush, and pointing exultingly to the deep red stainswith which it was sprinkled, uttered his joy in Indian yells, whose meaningHeyward was only enabled to comprehend by the frequent repetition of the name“La Longue Carabine!” When his triumph had ceased, he cast thebrush on the slight heap Duncan had made before the entrance of the secondcavern, and closed the view. His example was followed by others, who, as theydrew the branches from the cave of the scout, threw them into one pile, adding,unconsciously, to the security of those they sought. The very slightness of thedefense was its chief merit, for no one thought of disturbing a mass of brush,which all of them believed, in that moment of hurry and confusion, had beenaccidentally raised by the hands of their own party.

As the blankets yielded before the outward pressure, and the branches settledin the fissure of the rock by their own weight, forming a compact body, Duncanonce more breathed freely. With a light step and lighter heart, he returned tothe center of the cave, and took the place he had left, where he could commanda view of the opening next the river. While he was in the act of making thismovement, the Indians, as if changing their purpose by a common impulse, brokeaway from the chasm in a body, and were heard rushing up the island again,toward the point whence they had originally descended. Here another wailing crybetrayed that they were again collected around the bodies of their deadcomrades.

Duncan now ventured to look at his companions; for, during the most criticalmoments of their danger, he had been apprehensive that the anxiety of hiscountenance might communicate some additional alarm to those who were so littleable to sustain it.

“They are gone, Cora!” he whispered; “Alice, they arereturned whence they came, and we are saved! To Heaven, that has alonedelivered us from the grasp of so merciless an enemy, be all the praise!”

“Then to Heaven will I return my thanks!” exclaimed the youngersister, rising from the encircling arm of Cora, and casting herself withenthusiastic gratitude on the naked rock; “to that Heaven who has sparedthe tears of a gray-headed father; has saved the lives of those I so muchlove.”

Both Heyward and the more temperate Cora witnessed the act of involuntaryemotion with powerful sympathy, the former secretly believing that piety hadnever worn a form so lovely as it had now assumed in the youthful person ofAlice. Her eyes were radiant with the glow of grateful feelings; the flush ofher beauty was again seated on her cheeks, and her whole soul seemed ready andanxious to pour out its thanksgivings through the medium of her eloquentfeatures. But when her lips moved, the words they should have uttered appearedfrozen by some new and sudden chill. Her bloom gave place to the paleness ofdeath; her soft and melting eyes grew hard, and seemed contracting with horror;while those hands, which she had raised, clasped in each other, toward heaven,dropped in horizontal lines before her, the fingers pointed forward inconvulsed motion. Heyward turned the instant she gave a direction to hissuspicions, and peering just above the ledge which formed the threshold of theopen outlet of the cavern, he beheld the malignant, fierce and savage featuresof Le Renard Subtil.

In that moment of surprise, the self-possession of Heyward did not desert him.He observed by the vacant expression of the Indian’s countenance, thathis eye, accustomed to the open air had not yet been able to penetrate thedusky light which pervaded the depth of the cavern. He had even thought ofretreating beyond a curvature in the natural wall, which might still concealhim and his companions, when by the sudden gleam of intelligence that shotacross the features of the savage, he saw it was too late, and that they werebetrayed.

The look of exultation and brutal triumph which announced this terrible truthwas irresistibly irritating. Forgetful of everything but the impulses of hishot blood, Duncan leveled his pistol and fired. The report of the weapon madethe cavern bellow like an eruption from a volcano; and when the smoke itvomited had been driven away before the current of air which issued from theravine the place so lately occupied by the features of his treacherous guidewas vacant. Rushing to the outlet, Heyward caught a glimpse of his dark figurestealing around a low and narrow ledge, which soon hid him entirely from sight.

Among the savages a frightful stillness succeeded the explosion, which had justbeen heard bursting from the bowels of the rock. But when Le Renard raised hisvoice in a long and intelligible whoop, it was answered by a spontaneous yellfrom the mouth of every Indian within hearing of the sound.

The clamorous noises again rushed down the island; and before Duncan had timeto recover from the shock, his feeble barrier of brush was scattered to thewinds, the cavern was entered at both its extremities, and he and hiscompanions were dragged from their shelter and borne into the day, where theystood surrounded by the whole band of the triumphant Hurons.

CHAPTER X.

“I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn
As much as we this night have overwatched!”
—Midsummer Night’s Dream

The instant the shock of this sudden misfortune had abated, Duncan began tomake his observations on the appearance and proceedings of their captors.Contrary to the usages of the natives in the wantonness of their success theyhad respected, not only the persons of the trembling sisters, but his own. Therich ornaments of his military attire had indeed been repeatedly handled bydifferent individuals of the tribes with eyes expressing a savage longing topossess the baubles; but before the customary violence could be resorted to, amandate in the authoritative voice of the large warrior, already mentioned,stayed the uplifted hand, and convinced Heyward that they were to be reservedfor some object of particular moment.

While, however, these manifestations of weakness were exhibited by the youngand vain of the party, the more experienced warriors continued their searchthroughout both caverns, with an activity that denoted they were far from beingsatisfied with those fruits of their conquest which had already been brought tolight. Unable to discover any new victim, these diligent workers of vengeancesoon approached their male prisoners, pronouncing the name “La LongueCarabine,” with a fierceness that could not be easily mistaken. Duncanaffected not to comprehend the meaning of their repeated and violentinterrogatories, while his companion was spared the effort of a similardeception by his ignorance of French. Wearied at length by their importunities,and apprehensive of irritating his captors by too stubborn a silence, theformer looked about him in quest of Magua, who might interpret his answers toquestions which were at each moment becoming more earnest and threatening.

The conduct of this savage had formed a solitary exception to that of all hisfellows. While the others were busily occupied in seeking to gratify theirchildish passion for finery, by plundering even the miserable effects of thescout, or had been searching with such bloodthirsty vengeance in their looksfor their absent owner, Le Renard had stood at a little distance from theprisoners, with a demeanor so quiet and satisfied, as to betray that he hadalready effected the grand purpose of his treachery. When the eyes of Heywardfirst met those of his recent guide, he turned them away in horror at thesinister though calm look he encountered. Conquering his disgust, however, hewas able, with an averted face, to address his successful enemy.

“Le Renard Subtil is too much of a warrior,” said the reluctantHeyward, “to refuse telling an unarmed man what his conquerorssay.”

“They ask for the hunter who knows the paths through the woods,”returned Magua, in his broken English, laying his hand, at the same time, witha ferocious smile, on the bundle of leaves with which a wound on his ownshoulder was bandaged. “‘La Longue Carabine’! His rifle isgood, and his eye never shut; but, like the short gun of the white chief, it isnothing against the life of Le Subtil.”

“Le Renard is too brave to remember the hurts received in war, or thehands that gave them.”

“Was it war, when the tired Indian rested at the sugartree to taste hiscorn! who filled the bushes with creeping enemies! who drew the knife, whosetongue was peace, while his heart was colored with blood! Did Magua say thatthe hatchet was out of the ground, and that his hand had dug it up?”

As Duncan dared not retort upon his accuser by reminding him of his ownpremeditated treachery, and disdained to deprecate his resentment by any wordsof apology, he remained silent. Magua seemed also content to rest thecontroversy as well as all further communication there, for he resumed theleaning attitude against the rock from which, in momentary energy, he hadarisen. But the cry of “La Longue Carabine” was renewed the instantthe impatient savages perceived that the short dialogue was ended.

“You hear,” said Magua, with stubborn indifference: “the redHurons call for the life of ‘The Long Rifle’, or they will have theblood of him that keep him hid!”

“He is gone—escaped; he is far beyond their reach.”

Renard smiled with cold contempt, as he answered:

“When the white man dies, he thinks he is at peace; but the red men knowhow to torture even the ghosts of their enemies. Where is his body? Let theHurons see his scalp.”

“He is not dead, but escaped.”

Magua shook his head incredulously.

“Is he a bird, to spread his wings; or is he a fish, to swim without air!The white chief read in his books, and he believes the Hurons are fools!”

“Though no fish, ‘The Long Rifle’ can swim. He floated downthe stream when the powder was all burned, and when the eyes of the Hurons werebehind a cloud.”

“And why did the white chief stay?” demanded the still incredulousIndian. “Is he a stone that goes to the bottom, or does the scalp burnhis head?”

“That I am not stone, your dead comrade, who fell into the falls, mightanswer, were the life still in him,” said the provoked young man, using,in his anger, that boastful language which was most likely to excite theadmiration of an Indian. “The white man thinks none but cowards deserttheir women.”

Magua muttered a few words, inaudibly, between his teeth, before he continued,aloud:

“Can the Delawares swim, too, as well as crawl in the bushes? Where is‘Le Gros Serpent’?”

Duncan, who perceived by the use of these Canadian appellations, that his latecompanions were much better known to his enemies than to himself, answered,reluctantly: “He also is gone down with the water.”

“‘Le Cerf Agile’ is not here?”

“I know not whom you call ‘The Nimble Deer’,” saidDuncan gladly profiting by any excuse to create delay.

“Uncas,” returned Magua, pronouncing the Delaware name with evengreater difficulty than he spoke his English words. “‘BoundingElk’ is what the white man says, when he calls to the youngMohican.”

“Here is some confusion in names between us, Le Renard,” saidDuncan, hoping to provoke a discussion. “Daim is the French for deer, andcerf for stag; elan is the true term, when one would speak of an elk.”

“Yes,” muttered the Indian, in his native tongue; “the palefaces are prattling women! they have two words for each thing, while a red-skinwill make the sound of his voice speak for him.” Then, changing hislanguage, he continued, adhering to the imperfect nomenclature of hisprovincial instructors. “The deer is swift, but weak; the elk is swift,but strong; and the son of ‘Le Serpent’ is ‘Le CerfAgile.’ Has he leaped the river to the woods?”

“If you mean the younger Delaware, he, too, has gone down with thewater.”

As there was nothing improbable to an Indian in the manner of the escape, Maguaadmitted the truth of what he had heard, with a readiness that affordedadditional evidence how little he would prize such worthless captives. With hiscompanions, however, the feeling was manifestly different.

The Hurons had awaited the result of this short dialogue with characteristicpatience, and with a silence that increased until there was a general stillnessin the band. When Heyward ceased to speak, they turned their eyes, as one man,on Magua, demanding, in this expressive manner, an explanation of what had beensaid. Their interpreter pointed to the river, and made them acquainted with theresult, as much by the action as by the few words he uttered. When the fact wasgenerally understood, the savages raised a frightful yell, which declared theextent of their disappointment. Some ran furiously to the water’s edge,beating the air with frantic gestures, while others spat upon the element, toresent the supposed treason it had committed against their acknowledged rightsas conquerors. A few, and they not the least powerful and terrific of the band,threw lowering looks, in which the fiercest passion was only tempered byhabitual self-command, at those captives who still remained in their power,while one or two even gave vent to their malignant feelings by the mostmenacing gestures, against which neither the sex nor the beauty of the sisterswas any protection. The young soldier made a desperate but fruitless effort tospring to the side of Alice, when he saw the dark hand of a savage twisted inthe rich tresses which were flowing in volumes over her shoulders, while aknife was passed around the head from which they fell, as if to denote thehorrid manner in which it was about to be robbed of its beautiful ornament. Buthis hands were bound; and at the first movement he made, he felt the grasp ofthe powerful Indian who directed the band, pressing his shoulder like a vise.Immediately conscious how unavailing any struggle against such an overwhelmingforce must prove, he submitted to his fate, encouraging his gentle companionsby a few low and tender assurances, that the natives seldom failed to threatenmore than they performed.

But while Duncan resorted to these words of consolation to quiet theapprehensions of the sisters, he was not so weak as to deceive himself. He wellknew that the authority of an Indian chief was so little conventional, that itwas oftener maintained by physical superiority than by any moral supremacy hemight possess. The danger was, therefore, magnified exactly in proportion tothe number of the savage spirits by which they were surrounded. The mostpositive mandate from him who seemed the acknowledged leader, was liable to beviolated at each moment by any rash hand that might choose to sacrifice avictim to the manes of some dead friend or relative. While, therefore, hesustained an outward appearance of calmness and fortitude, his heart leapedinto his throat, whenever any of their fierce captors drew nearer than commonto the helpless sisters, or fastened one of their sullen, wandering looks onthose fragile forms which were so little able to resist the slightest assault.

His apprehensions were, however, greatly relieved, when he saw that the leaderhad summoned his warriors to himself in counsel. Their deliberations wereshort, and it would seem, by the silence of most of the party, the decisionunanimous. By the frequency with which the few speakers pointed in thedirection of the encampment of Webb, it was apparent they dreaded the approachof danger from that quarter. This consideration probably hastened theirdetermination, and quickened the subsequent movements.

During his short conference, Heyward, finding a respite from his gravest fears,had leisure to admire the cautious manner in which the Hurons had made theirapproaches, even after hostilities had ceased.

It has already been stated that the upper half of the island was a naked rock,and destitute of any other defenses than a few scattered logs of driftwood.They had selected this point to make their descent, having borne the canoethrough the wood around the cataract for that purpose. Placing their arms inthe little vessel a dozen men clinging to its sides had trusted themselves tothe direction of the canoe, which was controlled by two of the most skillfulwarriors, in attitudes that enabled them to command a view of the dangerouspassage. Favored by this arrangement, they touched the head of the island atthat point which had proved so fatal to their first adventurers, but with theadvantages of superior numbers, and the possession of firearms. That such hadbeen the manner of their descent was rendered quite apparent to Duncan; forthey now bore the light bark from the upper end of the rock, and placed it inthe water, near the mouth of the outer cavern. As soon as this change was made,the leader made signs to the prisoners to descend and enter.

As resistance was impossible, and remonstrance useless, Heyward set the exampleof submission, by leading the way into the canoe, where he was soon seated withthe sisters and the still wondering David. Notwithstanding the Hurons werenecessarily ignorant of the little channels among the eddies and rapids of thestream, they knew the common signs of such a navigation too well to commit anymaterial blunder. When the pilot chosen for the task of guiding the canoe hadtaken his station, the whole band plunged again into the river, the vesselglided down the current, and in a few moments the captives found themselves onthe south bank of the stream, nearly opposite to the point where they hadstruck it the preceding evening.

Here was held another short but earnest consultation, during which the horses,to whose panic their owners ascribed their heaviest misfortune, were led fromthe cover of the woods, and brought to the sheltered spot. The band nowdivided. The great chief, so often mentioned, mounting the charger of Heyward,led the way directly across the river, followed by most of his people, anddisappeared in the woods, leaving the prisoners in charge of six savages, atwhose head was Le Renard Subtil. Duncan witnessed all their movements withrenewed uneasiness.

He had been fond of believing, from the uncommon forbearance of the savages,that he was reserved as a prisoner to be delivered to Montcalm. As the thoughtsof those who are in misery seldom slumber, and the invention is never morelively than when it is stimulated by hope, however feeble and remote, he hadeven imagined that the parental feelings of Munro were to be made instrumentalin seducing him from his duty to the king. For though the French commander borea high character for courage and enterprise, he was also thought to be expertin those political practises which do not always respect the nicer obligationsof morality, and which so generally disgraced the European diplomacy of thatperiod.

All those busy and ingenious speculations were now annihilated by the conductof his captors. That portion of the band who had followed the huge warrior tookthe route toward the foot of the Horican, and no other expectation was left forhimself and companions, than that they were to be retained as hopeless captivesby their savage conquerors. Anxious to know the worst, and willing, in such anemergency, to try the potency of gold he overcame his reluctance to speak toMagua. Addressing himself to his former guide, who had now assumed theauthority and manner of one who was to direct the future movements of theparty, he said, in tones as friendly and confiding as he could assume:

“I would speak to Magua, what is fit only for so great a chief tohear.”

The Indian turned his eyes on the young soldier scornfully, as he answered:

“Speak; trees have no ears.”

“But the red Hurons are not deaf; and counsel that is fit for the greatmen of a nation would make the young warriors drunk. If Magua will not listen,the officer of the king knows how to be silent.”

The savage spoke carelessly to his comrades, who were busied, after theirawkward manner, in preparing the horses for the reception of the sisters, andmoved a little to one side, whither by a cautious gesture he induced Heyward tofollow.

“Now, speak,” he said; “if the words are such as Magua shouldhear.”

“Le Renard Subtil has proved himself worthy of the honorable name givento him by his Canada fathers,” commenced Heyward; “I see hiswisdom, and all that he has done for us, and shall remember it when the hour toreward him arrives. Yes! Renard has proved that he is not only a great chief incouncil, but one who knows how to deceive his enemies!”

“What has Renard done?” coldly demanded the Indian.

“What! has he not seen that the woods were filled with outlying partiesof the enemies, and that the serpent could not steal through them without beingseen? Then, did he not lose his path to blind the eyes of the Hurons? Did henot pretend to go back to his tribe, who had treated him ill, and driven himfrom their wigwams like a dog? And, when we saw what he wished to do, did wenot aid him, by making a false face, that the Hurons might think the white manbelieved that his friend was his enemy? Is not all this true? And when LeSubtil had shut the eyes and stopped the ears of his nation by his wisdom, didthey not forget that they had once done him wrong, and forced him to flee tothe Mohawks? And did they not leave him on the south side of the river, withtheir prisoners, while they have gone foolishly on the north? Does not Renardmean to turn like a fox on his footsteps, and to carry to the rich andgray-headed Scotchman his daughters? Yes, Magua, I see it all, and I havealready been thinking how so much wisdom and honesty should be repaid. First,the chief of William Henry will give as a great chief should for such aservice. The medal^[1]of Magua will no longer be of tin, but of beaten gold; his horn will run overwith powder; dollars will be as plenty in his pouch as pebbles on the shore ofHorican; and the deer will lick his hand, for they will know it to be vain tofly from the rifle he will carry! As for myself, I know not how to exceed thegratitude of the Scotchman, but I—yes, I will—”

[1]It has long been a practice with the whites to conciliate the important menof the Indians by presenting medals, which are worn in the place of their ownrude ornaments. Those given by the English generally bear the impression of thereigning king, and those given by the Americans that of the president.

“What will the young chief, who comes from toward the sun, give?”demanded the Huron, observing that Heyward hesitated in his desire to end theenumeration of benefits with that which might form the climax of anIndian’s wishes.

“He will make the fire-water from the islands in the salt lake flowbefore the wigwam of Magua, until the heart of the Indian shall be lighter thanthe feathers of the humming-bird, and his breath sweeter than the wildhoneysuckle.”

Le Renard had listened gravely as Heyward slowly proceeded in this subtlespeech. When the young man mentioned the artifice he supposed the Indian tohave practised on his own nation, the countenance of the listener was veiled inan expression of cautious gravity. At the allusion to the injury which Duncanaffected to believe had driven the Huron from his native tribe, a gleam of suchungovernable ferocity flashed from the other’s eyes, as induced theadventurous speaker to believe he had struck the proper chord. And by the timehe reached the part where he so artfully blended the thirst of vengeance withthe desire of gain, he had, at least, obtained a command of the deepestattention of the savage. The question put by Le Renard had been calm, and withall the dignity of an Indian; but it was quite apparent, by the thoughtfulexpression of the listener’s countenance, that the answer was mostcunningly devised. The Huron mused a few moments, and then laying his hand onthe rude bandages of his wounded shoulder, he said, with some energy:

“Do friends make such marks?”

“Would ‘La Longue Carbine’ cut one so slight on anenemy?”

“Do the Delawares crawl upon those they love like snakes, twistingthemselves to strike?”

“Would ‘Le Gros Serpent’ have been heard by the ears of onehe wished to be deaf?”

“Does the white chief burn his powder in the faces of hisbrothers?”

“Does he ever miss his aim, when seriously bent to kill?” returnedDuncan, smiling with well acted sincerity.

Another long and deliberate pause succeeded these sententious questions andready replies. Duncan saw that the Indian hesitated. In order to complete hisvictory, he was in the act of recommencing the enumeration of the rewards, whenMagua made an expressive gesture and said:

“Enough; Le Renard is a wise chief, and what he does will be seen. Go,and keep the mouth shut. When Magua speaks, it will be the time toanswer.”

Heyward, perceiving that the eyes of his companion were warily fastened on therest of the band, fell back immediately, in order to avoid the appearance ofany suspicious confederacy with their leader. Magua approached the horses, andaffected to be well pleased with the diligence and ingenuity of his comrades.He then signed to Heyward to assist the sisters into the saddles, for he seldomdeigned to use the English tongue, unless urged by some motive of more thanusual moment.

There was no longer any plausible pretext for delay; and Duncan was obliged,however reluctantly, to comply. As he performed this office, he whispered hisreviving hopes in the ears of the trembling females, who, through dread ofencountering the savage countenances of their captors, seldom raised their eyesfrom the ground. The mare of David had been taken with the followers of thelarge chief; in consequence, its owner, as well as Duncan, was compelled tojourney on foot. The latter did not, however, so much regret this circumstance,as it might enable him to retard the speed of the party; for he still turnedhis longing looks in the direction of Fort Edward, in the vain expectation ofcatching some sound from that quarter of the forest, which might denote theapproach of succor. When all were prepared, Magua made the signal to proceed,advancing in front to lead the party in person. Next followed David, who wasgradually coming to a true sense of his condition, as the effects of the woundbecame less and less apparent. The sisters rode in his rear, with Heyward attheir side, while the Indians flanked the party, and brought up the close ofthe march, with a caution that seemed never to tire.

In this manner they proceeded in uninterrupted silence, except when Heywardaddressed some solitary word of comfort to the females, or David gave vent tothe moanings of his spirit, in piteous exclamations, which he intended shouldexpress the humility of resignation. Their direction lay toward the south, andin a course nearly opposite to the road to William Henry. Notwithstanding thisapparent adherence in Magua to the original determination of his conquerors,Heyward could not believe his tempting bait was so soon forgotten; and he knewthe windings of an Indian’s path too well to suppose that its apparentcourse led directly to its object, when artifice was at all necessary. Mileafter mile was, however, passed through the boundless woods, in this painfulmanner, without any prospect of a termination to their journey. Heyward watchedthe sun, as he darted his meridian rays through the branches of the trees, andpined for the moment when the policy of Magua should change their route to onemore favorable to his hopes. Sometimes he fancied the wary savage, despairingof passing the army of Montcalm in safety, was holding his way toward awell-known border settlement, where a distinguished officer of the crown, and afavored friend of the Six Nations, held his large possessions, as well as hisusual residence. To be delivered into the hands of Sir William Johnson was farpreferable to being led into the wilds of Canada; but in order to effect eventhe former, it would be necessary to traverse the forest for many wearyleagues, each step of which was carrying him further from the scene of the war,and, consequently, from the post, not only of honor, but of duty.

Cora alone remembered the parting injunctions of the scout, and whenever anopportunity offered, she stretched forth her arm to bend aside the twigs thatmet her hands. But the vigilance of the Indians rendered this act of precautionboth difficult and dangerous. She was often defeated in her purpose, byencountering their watchful eyes, when it became necessary to feign an alarmshe did not feel, and occupy the limb by some gesture of feminine apprehension.Once, and once only, was she completely successful; when she broke down thebough of a large sumach, and by a sudden thought, let her glove fall at thesame instant. This sign, intended for those that might follow, was observed byone of her conductors, who restored the glove, broke the remaining branches ofthe bush in such a manner that it appeared to proceed from the struggling ofsome beast in its branches, and then laid his hand on his tomahawk, with a lookso significant, that it put an effectual end to these stolen memorials of theirpassage.

As there were horses, to leave the prints of their footsteps, in both bands ofthe Indians, this interruption cut off any probable hopes of assistance beingconveyed through the means of their trail.

Heyward would have ventured a remonstrance had there been anything encouragingin the gloomy reserve of Magua. But the savage, during all this time, seldomturned to look at his followers, and never spoke. With the sun for his onlyguide, or aided by such blind marks as are only known to the sagacity of anative, he held his way along the barrens of pine, through occasional littlefertile vales, across brooks and rivulets, and over undulating hills, with theaccuracy of instinct, and nearly with the directness of a bird. He never seemedto hesitate. Whether the path was hardly distinguishable, whether itdisappeared, or whether it lay beaten and plain before him, made no sensibledifference in his speed or certainty. It seemed as if fatigue could not affecthim. Whenever the eyes of the wearied travelers rose from the decayed leavesover which they trod, his dark form was to be seen glancing among the stems ofthe trees in front, his head immovably fastened in a forward position, with thelight plume on his crest fluttering in a current of air, made solely by theswiftness of his own motion.

But all this diligence and speed were not without an object. After crossing alow vale, through which a gushing brook meandered, he suddenly ascended a hill,so steep and difficult of ascent, that the sisters were compelled to alight inorder to follow. When the summit was gained, they found themselves on a levelspot, but thinly covered with trees, under one of which Magua had thrown hisdark form, as if willing and ready to seek that rest which was so much neededby the whole party.

CHAPTER XI.

“Cursed be my tribe If I forgive him.”
—Shylock

The Indian had selected for this desirable purpose one of those steep,pyramidal hills, which bear a strong resemblance to artificial mounds, andwhich so frequently occur in the valleys of America. The one in question washigh and precipitous; its top flattened, as usual; but with one of its sidesmore than ordinarily irregular. It possessed no other apparent advantage for aresting place, than in its elevation and form, which might render defense easy,and surprise nearly impossible. As Heyward, however, no longer expected thatrescue which time and distance now rendered so improbable, he regarded theselittle peculiarities with an eye devoid of interest, devoting himself entirelyto the comfort and condolence of his feebler companions. The Narragansetts weresuffered to browse on the branches of the trees and shrubs that were thinlyscattered over the summit of the hill, while the remains of their provisionswere spread under the shade of a beech, that stretched its horizontal limbslike a canopy above them.

Notwithstanding the swiftness of their flight, one of the Indians had found anopportunity to strike a straggling fawn with an arrow, and had borne the morepreferable fragments of the victim, patiently on his shoulders, to the stoppingplace. Without any aid from the science of cookery, he was immediatelyemployed, in common with his fellows, in gorging himself with this digestiblesustenance. Magua alone sat apart, without participating in the revolting meal,and apparently buried in the deepest thought.

This abstinence, so remarkable in an Indian, when he possessed the means ofsatisfying hunger, at length attracted the notice of Heyward. The young manwillingly believed that the Huron deliberated on the most eligible manner ofeluding the vigilance of his associates. With a view to assist his plans by anysuggestion of his own, and to strengthen the temptation, he left the beech, andstraggled, as if without an object, to the spot where Le Renard was seated.

“Has not Magua kept the sun in his face long enough to escape all dangerfrom the Canadians?” he asked, as though no longer doubtful of the goodintelligence established between them; “and will not the chief of WilliamHenry be better pleased to see his daughters before another night may havehardened his heart to their loss, to make him less liberal in hisreward?”

“Do the pale faces love their children less in the morning than atnight?” asked the Indian, coldly.

“By no means,” returned Heyward, anxious to recall his error, if hehad made one; “the white man may, and does often, forget the burial placeof his fathers; he sometimes ceases to remember those he should love, and haspromised to cherish; but the affection of a parent for his child is neverpermitted to die.”

“And is the heart of the white-headed chief soft, and will he think ofthe babes that his squaws have given him? He is hard on his warriors and hiseyes are made of stone!”

“He is severe to the idle and wicked, but to the sober and deserving heis a leader, both just and humane. I have known many fond and tender parents,but never have I seen a man whose heart was softer toward his child. You haveseen the gray-head in front of his warriors, Magua; but I have seen his eyesswimming in water, when he spoke of those children who are now in yourpower!”

Heyward paused, for he knew not how to construe the remarkable expression thatgleamed across the swarthy features of the attentive Indian. At first it seemedas if the remembrance of the promised reward grew vivid in his mind, while helistened to the sources of parental feeling which were to assure itspossession; but, as Duncan proceeded, the expression of joy became so fiercelymalignant that it was impossible not to apprehend it proceeded from somepassion more sinister than avarice.

“Go,” said the Huron, suppressing the alarming exhibition in aninstant, in a death-like calmness of countenance; “go to the dark-haireddaughter, and say, ‘Magua waits to speak.’ The father will rememberwhat the child promises.”

Duncan, who interpreted this speech to express a wish for some additionalpledge that the promised gifts should not be withheld, slowly and reluctantlyrepaired to the place where the sisters were now resting from their fatigue, tocommunicate its purport to Cora.

“You understand the nature of an Indian’s wishes,” heconcluded, as he led her toward the place where she was expected, “andmust be prodigal of your offers of powder and blankets. Ardent spirits are,however, the most prized by such as he; nor would it be amiss to add some boonfrom your own hand, with that grace you so well know how to practise. Remember,Cora, that on your presence of mind and ingenuity, even your life, as well asthat of Alice, may in some measure depend.”

“Heyward, and yours!”

“Mine is of little moment; it is already sold to my king, and is a prizeto be seized by any enemy who may possess the power. I have no father to expectme, and but few friends to lament a fate which I have courted with theinsatiable longings of youth after distinction. But hush! we approach theIndian. Magua, the lady with whom you wish to speak, is here.”

The Indian rose slowly from his seat, and stood for near a minute silent andmotionless. He then signed with his hand for Heyward to retire, saying, coldly:

“When the Huron talks to the women, his tribe shut their ears.”

Duncan, still lingering, as if refusing to comply, Cora said, with a calmsmile:

“You hear, Heyward, and delicacy at least should urge you to retire. Goto Alice, and comfort her with our reviving prospects.”

She waited until he had departed, and then turning to the native, with thedignity of her sex in her voice and manner, she added: “What would LeRenard say to the daughter of Munro?”

“Listen,” said the Indian, laying his hand firmly upon her arm, asif willing to draw her utmost attention to his words; a movement that Cora asfirmly but quietly repulsed, by extricating the limb from his grasp:“Magua was born a chief and a warrior among the red Hurons of the lakes;he saw the suns of twenty summers make the snows of twenty winters run off inthe streams before he saw a pale face; and he was happy! Then his Canadafathers came into the woods, and taught him to drink the fire-water, and hebecame a rascal. The Hurons drove him from the graves of his fathers, as theywould chase the hunted buffalo. He ran down the shores of the lakes, andfollowed their outlet to the ‘city of cannon.’ There he hunted andfished, till the people chased him again through the woods into the arms of hisenemies. The chief, who was born a Huron, was at last a warrior among theMohawks!”

“Something like this I had heard before,” said Cora, observing thathe paused to suppress those passions which began to burn with too bright aflame, as he recalled the recollection of his supposed injuries.

“Was it the fault of Le Renard that his head was not made of rock? Whogave him the fire-water? who made him a villain? ’Twas the pale faces,the people of your own color.”

“And am I answerable that thoughtless and unprincipled men exist, whoseshades of countenance may resemble mine?” Cora calmly demanded of theexcited savage.

“No; Magua is a man, and not a fool; such as you never open their lips tothe burning stream: the Great Spirit has given you wisdom!”

“What, then, have I do to, or say, in the matter of your misfortunes, notto say of your errors?”

“Listen,” repeated the Indian, resuming his earnest attitude;“when his English and French fathers dug up the hatchet, Le Renard struckthe war-post of the Mohawks, and went out against his own nation. The palefaces have driven the red-skins from their hunting grounds, and now when theyfight, a white man leads the way. The old chief at Horican, your father, wasthe great captain of our war-party. He said to the Mohawks do this, and dothat, and he was minded. He made a law, that if an Indian swallowed thefire-water, and came into the cloth wigwams of his warriors, it should not beforgotten. Magua foolishly opened his mouth, and the hot liquor led him intothe cabin of Munro. What did the gray-head? let his daughter say.”

“He forgot not his words, and did justice, by punishing theoffender,” said the undaunted daughter.

“Justice!” repeated the Indian, casting an oblique glance of themost ferocious expression at her unyielding countenance; “is it justiceto make evil and then punish for it? Magua was not himself; it was thefire-water that spoke and acted for him! but Munro did believe it. The Huronchief was tied up before all the pale-faced warriors, and whipped like adog.”

Cora remained silent, for she knew not how to palliate this imprudent severityon the part of her father in a manner to suit the comprehension of an Indian.

“See!” continued Magua, tearing aside the slight calico that veryimperfectly concealed his painted breast; “here are scars given by knivesand bullets—of these a warrior may boast before his nation; but thegray-head has left marks on the back of the Huron chief that he must hide likea squaw, under this painted cloth of the whites.”

“I had thought,” resumed Cora, “that an Indian warrior waspatient, and that his spirit felt not and knew not the pain his bodysuffered.”

“When the Chippewas tied Magua to the stake, and cut this gash,”said the other, laying his finger on a deep scar, “the Huron laughed intheir faces, and told them, Women struck so light! His spirit was then in theclouds! But when he felt the blows of Munro, his spirit lay under the birch.The spirit of a Huron is never drunk; it remembers forever!”

“But it may be appeased. If my father has done you this injustice, showhim how an Indian can forgive an injury, and take back his daughters. You haveheard from Major Heyward—”

Magua shook his head, forbidding the repetition of offers he so much despised.

“What would you have?” continued Cora, after a most painful pause,while the conviction forced itself on her mind that the too sanguine andgenerous Duncan had been cruelly deceived by the cunning of the savage.

“What a Huron loves—good for good; bad for bad!”

“You would, then, revenge the injury inflicted by Munro on his helplessdaughters. Would it not be more like a man to go before his face, and take thesatisfaction of a warrior?”

“The arms of the pale faces are long, and their knives sharp!”returned the savage, with a malignant laugh: “why should Le Renard goamong the muskets of his warriors, when he holds the spirit of the gray-head inhis hand?”

“Name your intention, Magua,” said Cora, struggling with herself tospeak with steady calmness. “Is it to lead us prisoners to the woods, ordo you contemplate even some greater evil? Is there no reward, no means ofpalliating the injury, and of softening your heart? At least, release my gentlesister, and pour out all your malice on me. Purchase wealth by her safety andsatisfy your revenge with a single victim. The loss of both his daughters mightbring the aged man to his grave, and where would then be the satisfaction of LeRenard?”

“Listen,” said the Indian again. “The light eyes can go backto the Horican, and tell the old chief what has been done, if the dark-hairedwoman will swear by the Great Spirit of her fathers to tell no lie.”

“What must I promise?” demanded Cora, still maintaining a secretascendancy over the fierce native by the collected and feminine dignity of herpresence.

“When Magua left his people his wife was given to another chief; he hasnow made friends with the Hurons, and will go back to the graves of his tribe,on the shores of the great lake. Let the daughter of the English chief follow,and live in his wigwam forever.”

However revolting a proposal of such a character might prove to Cora, sheretained, notwithstanding her powerful disgust, sufficient self-command toreply, without betraying the weakness.

“And what pleasure would Magua find in sharing his cabin with a wife hedid not love; one who would be of a nation and color different from his own? Itwould be better to take the gold of Munro, and buy the heart of some Huron maidwith his gifts.”

The Indian made no reply for near a minute, but bent his fierce looks on thecountenance of Cora, in such wavering glances, that her eyes sank with shame,under an impression that for the first time they had encountered an expressionthat no chaste female might endure. While she was shrinking within herself, indread of having her ears wounded by some proposal still more shocking than thelast, the voice of Magua answered, in its tones of deepest malignancy:

“When the blows scorched the back of the Huron, he would know where tofind a woman to feel the smart. The daughter of Munro would draw his water, hoehis corn, and cook his venison. The body of the gray-head would sleep among hiscannon, but his heart would lie within reach of the knife of Le Subtil.”

“Monster! well dost thou deserve thy treacherous name,” cried Cora,in an ungovernable burst of filial indignation. “None but a fiend couldmeditate such a vengeance. But thou overratest thy power! You shall find it is,in truth, the heart of Munro you hold, and that it will defy your utmostmalice!”

The Indian answered this bold defiance by a ghastly smile, that showed anunaltered purpose, while he motioned her away, as if to close the conferenceforever. Cora, already regretting her precipitation, was obliged to comply, forMagua instantly left the spot, and approached his gluttonous comrades. Heywardflew to the side of the agitated female, and demanded the result of a dialoguethat he had watched at a distance with so much interest. But, unwilling toalarm the fears of Alice, she evaded a direct reply, betraying only by heranxious looks fastened on the slightest movements of her captors. To thereiterated and earnest questions of her sister concerning their probabledestination, she made no other answer than by pointing toward the dark group,with an agitation she could not control, and murmuring as she folded Alice toher bosom.

“There, there; read our fortunes in their faces; we shall see; we shallsee!”

The action, and the choked utterance of Cora, spoke more impressively than anywords, and quickly drew the attention of her companions on that spot where herown was riveted with an intenseness that nothing but the importance of thestake could create.

When Magua reached the cluster of lolling savages, who, gorged with theirdisgusting meal, lay stretched on the earth in brutal indulgence, he commencedspeaking with the dignity of an Indian chief. The first syllables he utteredhad the effect to cause his listeners to raise themselves in attitudes ofrespectful attention. As the Huron used his native language, the prisoners,notwithstanding the caution of the natives had kept them within the swing oftheir tomahawks, could only conjecture the substance of his harangue from thenature of those significant gestures with which an Indian always illustrateshis eloquence.

At first, the language, as well as the action of Magua, appeared calm anddeliberative. When he had succeeded in sufficiently awakening the attention ofhis comrades, Heyward fancied, by his pointing so frequently toward thedirection of the great lakes, that he spoke of the land of their fathers, andof their distant tribe. Frequent indications of applause escaped the listeners,who, as they uttered the expressive “Hugh!” looked at each other incommendation of the speaker. Le Renard was too skillful to neglect hisadvantage. He now spoke of the long and painful route by which they had leftthose spacious grounds and happy villages, to come and battle against theenemies of their Canadian fathers. He enumerated the warriors of the party;their several merits; their frequent services to the nation; their wounds, andthe number of the scalps they had taken. Whenever he alluded to any present(and the subtle Indian neglected none), the dark countenance of the flatteredindividual gleamed with exultation, nor did he even hesitate to assert thetruth of the words, by gestures of applause and confirmation. Then the voice ofthe speaker fell, and lost the loud, animated tones of triumph with which hehad enumerated their deeds of success and victory. He described the cataract ofGlenn’s; the impregnable position of its rocky island, with its cavernsand its numerous rapids and whirlpools; he named the name of “La LongueCarabine,” and paused until the forest beneath them had sent up the lastecho of a loud and long yell, with which the hated appellation was received. Hepointed toward the youthful military captive, and described the death of afavorite warrior, who had been precipitated into the deep ravine by his hand.He not only mentioned the fate of him who, hanging between heaven and earth,had presented such a spectacle of horror to the whole band, but he acted anewthe terrors of his situation, his resolution and his death, on the branches ofa sapling; and, finally, he rapidly recounted the manner in which each of theirfriends had fallen, never failing to touch upon their courage, and their mostacknowledged virtues. When this recital of events was ended, his voice oncemore changed, and became plaintive and even musical, in its low gutturalsounds. He now spoke of the wives and children of the slain; their destitution;their misery, both physical and moral; their distance; and, at last, of theirunavenged wrongs. Then suddenly lifting his voice to a pitch of terrificenergy, he concluded by demanding:

“Are the Hurons dogs to bear this? Who shall say to the wife of Menowguathat the fishes have his scalp, and that his nation have not taken revenge! Whowill dare meet the mother of Wassawattimie, that scornful woman, with his handsclean! What shall be said to the old men when they ask us for scalps, and wehave not a hair from a white head to give them! The women will point theirfingers at us. There is a dark spot on the names of the Hurons, and it must behid in blood!” His voice was no longer audible in the burst of rage whichnow broke into the air, as if the wood, instead of containing so small a band,was filled with the nation. During the foregoing address the progress of thespeaker was too plainly read by those most interested in his success throughthe medium of the countenances of the men he addressed. They had answered hismelancholy and mourning by sympathy and sorrow; his assertions, by gestures ofconfirmation; and his boasting, with the exultation of savages. When he spokeof courage, their looks were firm and responsive; when he alluded to theirinjuries, their eyes kindled with fury; when he mentioned the taunts of thewomen, they dropped their heads in shame; but when he pointed out their meansof vengeance, he struck a chord which never failed to thrill in the breast ofan Indian. With the first intimation that it was within their reach, the wholeband sprang upon their feet as one man; giving utterance to their rage in themost frantic cries, they rushed upon their prisoners in a body with drawnknives and uplifted tomahawks. Heyward threw himself between the sisters andthe foremost, whom he grappled with a desperate strength that for a momentchecked his violence. This unexpected resistance gave Magua time to interpose,and with rapid enunciation and animated gesture, he drew the attention of theband again to himself. In that language he knew so well how to assume, hediverted his comrades from their instant purpose, and invited them to prolongthe misery of their victims. His proposal was received with acclamations, andexecuted with the swiftness of thought.

Two powerful warriors cast themselves on Heyward, while another was occupied insecuring the less active singing-master. Neither of the captives, however,submitted without a desperate, though fruitless, struggle. Even David hurledhis assailant to the earth; nor was Heyward secured until the victory over hiscompanion enabled the Indians to direct their united force to that object. Hewas then bound and fastened to the body of the sapling, on whose branches Maguahad acted the pantomime of the falling Huron. When the young soldier regainedhis recollection, he had the painful certainty before his eyes that a commonfate was intended for the whole party. On his right was Cora in a durancesimilar to his own, pale and agitated, but with an eye whose steady look stillread the proceedings of their enemies. On his left, the withes which bound herto a pine, performed that office for Alice which her trembling limbs refused,and alone kept her fragile form from sinking. Her hands were clasped before herin prayer, but instead of looking upward toward that power which alone couldrescue them, her unconscious looks wandered to the countenance of Duncan withinfantile dependency. David had contended, and the novelty of the circumstanceheld him silent, in deliberation on the propriety of the unusual occurrence.

The vengeance of the Hurons had now taken a new direction, and they prepared toexecute it with that barbarous ingenuity with which they were familiarized bythe practise of centuries. Some sought knots, to raise the blazing pile; onewas riving the splinters of pine, in order to pierce the flesh of theircaptives with the burning fragments; and others bent the tops of two saplingsto the earth, in order to suspend Heyward by the arms between the recoilingbranches. But the vengeance of Magua sought a deeper and more malignantenjoyment.

While the less refined monsters of the band prepared, before the eyes of thosewho were to suffer, these well-known and vulgar means of torture, he approachedCora, and pointed out, with the most malign expression of countenance, thespeedy fate that awaited her:

“Ha!” he added, “what says the daughter of Munro? Her head istoo good to find a pillow in the wigwam of Le Renard; will she like it betterwhen it rolls about this hill a plaything for the wolves? Her bosom cannotnurse the children of a Huron; she will see it spit upon by Indians!”

“What means the monster!” demanded the astonished Heyward.

“Nothing!” was the firm reply. “He is a savage, a barbarousand ignorant savage, and knows not what he does. Let us find leisure, with ourdying breath, to ask for him penitence and pardon.”

“Pardon!” echoed the fierce Huron, mistaking in his anger, themeaning of her words; “the memory of an Indian is no longer than the armof the pale faces; his mercy shorter than their justice! Say; shall I send theyellow hair to her father, and will you follow Magua to the great lakes, tocarry his water, and feed him with corn?”

Cora beckoned him away, with an emotion of disgust she could not control.

“Leave me,” she said, with a solemnity that for a moment checkedthe barbarity of the Indian; “you mingle bitterness in my prayers; youstand between me and my God!”

The slight impression produced on the savage was, however, soon forgotten, andhe continued pointing, with taunting irony, toward Alice.

“Look! the child weeps! She is too young to die! Send her to Munro, tocomb his gray hairs, and keep life in the heart of the old man.”

Cora could not resist the desire to look upon her youthful sister, in whoseeyes she met an imploring glance, that betrayed the longings of nature.

“What says he, dearest Cora?” asked the trembling voice of Alice.“Did he speak of sending me to our father?”

For many moments the elder sister looked upon the younger, with a countenancethat wavered with powerful and contending emotions. At length she spoke, thoughher tones had lost their rich and calm fullness, in an expression of tendernessthat seemed maternal.

“Alice,” she said, “the Huron offers us both life, nay, morethan both; he offers to restore Duncan, our invaluable Duncan, as well as you,to our friends—to our father—to our heart-stricken, childlessfather, if I will bow down this rebellious, stubborn pride of mine, andconsent—”

Her voice became choked, and clasping her hands, she looked upward, as ifseeking, in her agony, intelligence from a wisdom that was infinite.

“Say on,” cried Alice; “to what, dearest Cora? Oh! that theproffer were made to me! to save you, to cheer our aged father, to restoreDuncan, how cheerfully could I die!”

“Die!” repeated Cora, with a calmer and firmer voice, “thatwere easy! Perhaps the alternative may not be less so. He would have me,”she continued, her accents sinking under a deep consciousness of thedegradation of the proposal, “follow him to the wilderness; go to thehabitations of the Hurons; to remain there; in short, to become his wife!Speak, then, Alice; child of my affections! sister of my love! And you, too,Major Heyward, aid my weak reason with your counsel. Is life to be purchased bysuch a sacrifice? Will you, Alice, receive it at my hands at such a price? Andyou, Duncan, guide me; control me between you; for I am wholly yours!”

“Would I!” echoed the indignant and astonished youth. “Cora!Cora! you jest with our misery! Name not the horrid alternative again; thethought itself is worse than a thousand deaths.”

“That such would be your answer, I well knew!” exclaimed Cora, hercheeks flushing, and her dark eyes once more sparkling with the lingeringemotions of a woman. “What says my Alice? for her will I submit withoutanother murmur.”

Although both Heyward and Cora listened with painful suspense and the deepestattention, no sounds were heard in reply. It appeared as if the delicate andsensitive form of Alice would shrink into itself, as she listened to thisproposal. Her arms had fallen lengthwise before her, the fingers moving inslight convulsions; her head dropped upon her bosom, and her whole personseemed suspended against the tree, looking like some beautiful emblem of thewounded delicacy of her sex, devoid of animation and yet keenly conscious. In afew moments, however, her head began to move slowly, in a sign of deep,unconquerable disapprobation.

“No, no, no; better that we die as we have lived, together!”

“Then die!” shouted Magua, hurling his tomahawkwith violence at the unresisting speaker

“Then die!” shouted Magua, hurling his tomahawk with violence atthe unresisting speaker, and gnashing his teeth with a rage that could nolonger be bridled at this sudden exhibition of firmness in the one he believedthe weakest of the party. The axe cleaved the air in front of Heyward, andcutting some of the flowing ringlets of Alice, quivered in the tree above herhead. The sight maddened Duncan to desperation. Collecting all his energies inone effort he snapped the twigs which bound him and rushed upon another savage,who was preparing, with loud yells and a more deliberate aim, to repeat theblow. They encountered, grappled, and fell to the earth together. The nakedbody of his antagonist afforded Heyward no means of holding his adversary, whoglided from his grasp, and rose again with one knee on his chest, pressing himdown with the weight of a giant. Duncan already saw the knife gleaming in theair, when a whistling sound swept past him, and was rather accompanied thanfollowed by the sharp crack of a rifle. He felt his breast relieved from theload it had endured; he saw the savage expression of his adversary’scountenance change to a look of vacant wildness, when the Indian fell dead onthe faded leaves by his side.

CHAPTER XII.

“Clo.—I am gone, sire,
And anon, sire, I’ll be with you again.”
—Twelfth Night

The Hurons stood aghast at this sudden visitation of death on one of theirband. But as they regarded the fatal accuracy of an aim which had dared toimmolate an enemy at so much hazard to a friend, the name of “La LongueCarabine” burst simultaneously from every lip, and was succeeded by awild and a sort of plaintive howl. The cry was answered by a loud shout from alittle thicket, where the incautious party had piled their arms; and at thenext moment, Hawkeye, too eager to load the rifle he had regained, was seenadvancing upon them, brandishing the clubbed weapon, and cutting the air withwide and powerful sweeps. Bold and rapid as was the progress of the scout, itwas exceeded by that of a light and vigorous form which, bounding past him,leaped, with incredible activity and daring, into the very center of theHurons, where it stood, whirling a tomahawk, and flourishing a glitteringknife, with fearful menaces, in front of Cora. Quicker than the thoughts couldfollow those unexpected and audacious movements, an image, armed in theemblematic panoply of death, glided before their eyes, and assumed athreatening attitude at the other’s side. The savage tormentors recoiledbefore these warlike intruders, and uttered, as they appeared in such quicksuccession, the often repeated and peculiar exclamations of surprise, followedby the well-known and dreaded appellations of:

“Le Cerf Agile! Le Gros Serpent!”

But the wary and vigilant leader of the Hurons was not so easily disconcerted.Casting his keen eyes around the little plain, he comprehended the nature ofthe assault at a glance, and encouraging his followers by his voice as well asby his example, he unsheathed his long and dangerous knife, and rushed with aloud whoop upon the expected Chingachgook. It was the signal for a generalcombat. Neither party had firearms, and the contest was to be decided in thedeadliest manner, hand to hand, with weapons of offense, and none of defense.

Uncas answered the whoop, and leaping on an enemy, with a single, well-directedblow of his tomahawk, cleft him to the brain. Heyward tore the weapon of Maguafrom the sapling, and rushed eagerly toward the fray. As the combatants werenow equal in number, each singled an opponent from the adverse band. The rushand blows passed with the fury of a whirlwind, and the swiftness of lightning.Hawkeye soon got another enemy within reach of his arm, and with one sweep ofhis formidable weapon he beat down the slight and inartificial defenses of hisantagonist, crushing him to the earth with the blow. Heyward ventured to hurlthe tomahawk he had seized, too ardent to await the moment of closing. Itstruck the Indian he had selected on the forehead, and checked for an instanthis onward rush. Encouraged by this slight advantage, the impetuous young mancontinued his onset, and sprang upon his enemy with naked hands. A singleinstant was enough to assure him of the rashness of the measure, for heimmediately found himself fully engaged, with all his activity and courage, inendeavoring to ward the desperate thrusts made with the knife of the Huron.Unable longer to foil an enemy so alert and vigilant, he threw his arms abouthim, and succeeded in pinning the limbs of the other to his side, with an irongrasp, but one that was far too exhausting to himself to continue long. In thisextremity he heard a voice near him, shouting:

“Extarminate the varlets! no quarter to an accursed Mingo!”

At the next moment, the breech of Hawkeye’s rifle fell on the naked headof his adversary, whose muscles appeared to wither under the shock, as he sankfrom the arms of Duncan, flexible and motionless.

When Uncas had brained his first antagonist, he turned, like a hungry lion, toseek another. The fifth and only Huron disengaged at the first onset had pauseda moment, and then seeing that all around him were employed in the deadlystrife, he had sought, with hellish vengeance, to complete the baffled work ofrevenge. Raising a shout of triumph, he sprang toward the defenseless Cora,sending his keen axe as the dreadful precursor of his approach. The tomahawkgrazed her shoulder, and cutting the withes which bound her to the tree, leftthe maiden at liberty to fly. She eluded the grasp of the savage, and recklessof her own safety, threw herself on the bosom of Alice, striving with convulsedand ill-directed fingers, to tear asunder the twigs which confined the personof her sister. Any other than a monster would have relented at such an act ofgenerous devotion to the best and purest affection; but the breast of the Huronwas a stranger to sympathy. Seizing Cora by the rich tresses which fell inconfusion about her form, he tore her from her frantic hold, and bowed her downwith brutal violence to her knees. The savage drew the flowing curls throughhis hand, and raising them on high with an outstretched arm, he passed theknife around the exquisitely molded head of his victim, with a taunting andexulting laugh. But he purchased this moment of fierce gratification with theloss of the fatal opportunity. It was just then the sight caught the eye ofUncas. Bounding from his footsteps he appeared for an instant darting throughthe air and descending in a ball he fell on the chest of his enemy, driving himmany yards from the spot, headlong and prostrate. The violence of the exertioncast the young Mohican at his side. They arose together, fought, and bled, eachin his turn. But the conflict was soon decided; the tomahawk of Heyward and therifle of Hawkeye descended on the skull of the Huron, at the same moment thatthe knife of Uncas reached his heart.

The battle was now entirely terminated with the exception of the protractedstruggle between “Le Renard Subtil” and “Le GrosSerpent.” Well did these barbarous warriors prove that they deservedthose significant names which had been bestowed for deeds in former wars. Whenthey engaged, some little time was lost in eluding the quick and vigorousthrusts which had been aimed at their lives. Suddenly darting on each other,they closed, and came to the earth, twisted together like twining serpents, inpliant and subtle folds. At the moment when the victors found themselvesunoccupied, the spot where these experienced and desperate combatants lay couldonly be distinguished by a cloud of dust and leaves, which moved from thecenter of the little plain toward its boundary, as if raised by the passage ofa whirlwind. Urged by the different motives of filial affection, friendship andgratitude, Heyward and his companions rushed with one accord to the place,encircling the little canopy of dust which hung above the warriors. In vain didUncas dart around the cloud, with a wish to strike his knife into the heart ofhis father’s foe; the threatening rifle of Hawkeye was raised andsuspended in vain, while Duncan endeavored to seize the limbs of the Huron withhands that appeared to have lost their power. Covered as they were with dustand blood, the swift evolutions of the combatants seemed to incorporate theirbodies into one. The death-like looking figure of the Mohican, and the darkform of the Huron, gleamed before their eyes in such quick and confusedsuccession, that the friends of the former knew not where to plant thesuccoring blow. It is true there were short and fleeting moments, when thefiery eyes of Magua were seen glittering, like the fabled organs of thebasilisk through the dusty wreath by which he was enveloped, and he read bythose short and deadly glances the fate of the combat in the presence of hisenemies; ere, however, any hostile hand could descend on his devoted head, itsplace was filled by the scowling visage of Chingachgook. In this manner thescene of the combat was removed from the center of the little plain to itsverge. The Mohican now found an opportunity to make a powerful thrust with hisknife; Magua suddenly relinquished his grasp, and fell backward without motion,and seemingly without life. His adversary leaped on his feet, making the archesof the forest ring with the sounds of triumph.

“Well done for the Delawares! victory to the Mohicans!” criedHawkeye, once more elevating the butt of the long and fatal rifle; “afinishing blow from a man without a cross will never tell against his honor,nor rob him of his right to the scalp.”

But at the very moment when the dangerous weapon was in the act of descending,the subtle Huron rolled swiftly from beneath the danger, over the edge of theprecipice, and falling on his feet, was seen leaping, with a single bound, intothe center of a thicket of low bushes, which clung along its sides. TheDelawares, who had believed their enemy dead, uttered their exclamation ofsurprise, and were following with speed and clamor, like hounds in open view ofthe deer, when a shrill and peculiar cry from the scout instantly changed theirpurpose, and recalled them to the summit of the hill.

“’Twas like himself!” cried the inveterate forester, whoseprejudices contributed so largely to veil his natural sense of justice in allmatters which concerned the Mingoes; “a lying and deceitful varlet as heis. An honest Delaware now, being fairly vanquished, would have lain still, andbeen knocked on the head, but these knavish Maquas cling to life like so manycats-o’-the-mountain. Let him go—let him go; ’tis but oneman, and he without rifle or bow, many a long mile from his French commerades;and like a rattler that lost his fangs, he can do no further mischief, untilsuch time as he, and we too, may leave the prints of our moccasins over a longreach of sandy plain. See, Uncas,” he added, in Delaware, “yourfather is flaying the scalps already. It may be well to go round and feel thevagabonds that are left, or we may have another of them loping through thewoods, and screeching like a jay that has been winged.”

So saying the honest but implacable scout made the circuit of the dead, intowhose senseless bosoms he thrust his long knife, with as much coolness asthough they had been so many brute carcasses. He had, however, been anticipatedby the elder Mohican, who had already torn the emblems of victory from theunresisting heads of the slain.

But Uncas, denying his habits, we had almost said his nature, flew withinstinctive delicacy, accompanied by Heyward, to the assistance of the females,and quickly releasing Alice, placed her in the arms of Cora. We shall notattempt to describe the gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of Events whichglowed in the bosoms of the sisters, who were thus unexpectedly restored tolife and to each other. Their thanksgivings were deep and silent; the offeringsof their gentle spirits burning brightest and purest on the secret altars oftheir hearts; and their renovated and more earthly feelings exhibitingthemselves in long and fervent though speechless caresses. As Alice rose fromher knees, where she had sunk by the side of Cora, she threw herself on thebosom of the latter, and sobbed aloud the name of their aged father, while hersoft, dove-like eyes, sparkled with the rays of hope.

“We are saved! we are saved!” she murmured; “to return to thearms of our dear, dear father, and his heart will not be broken with grief. Andyou, too, Cora, my sister, my more than sister, my mother; you, too, arespared. And Duncan,” she added, looking round upon the youth with a smileof ineffable innocence, “even our own brave and noble Duncan has escapedwithout a hurt.”

To these ardent and nearly innocent words Cora made no other answer than bystraining the youthful speaker to her heart, as she bent over her in meltingtenderness. The manhood of Heyward felt no shame in dropping tears over thisspectacle of affectionate rapture; and Uncas stood, fresh and blood-stainedfrom the combat, a calm, and, apparently, an unmoved looker-on, it is true, butwith eyes that had already lost their fierceness, and were beaming with asympathy that elevated him far above the intelligence, and advanced himprobably centuries before, the practises of his nation.

During this display of emotions so natural in their situation, Hawkeye, whosevigilant distrust had satisfied itself that the Hurons, who disfigured theheavenly scene, no longer possessed the power to interrupt its harmony,approached David, and liberated him from the bonds he had, until that moment,endured with the most exemplary patience.

“There,” exclaimed the scout, casting the last withe behind him,“you are once more master of your own limbs, though you seem not to usethem with much greater judgment than that in which they were first fashioned.If advice from one who is not older than yourself, but who, having lived mostof his time in the wilderness, may be said to have experience beyond his years,will give no offense, you are welcome to my thoughts; and these are, to partwith the little tooting instrument in your jacket to the first fool you meetwith, and buy some we’pon with the money, if it be only the barrel of ahorseman’s pistol. By industry and care, you might thus come to someprefarment; for by this time, I should think, your eyes would plainly tell youthat a carrion crow is a better bird than a mocking-thresher. The one will, atleast, remove foul sights from before the face of man, while the other is onlygood to brew disturbances in the woods, by cheating the ears of all that hearthem.”

“Arms and the clarion for the battle, but the song of thanksgiving to thevictory!” answered the liberated David. “Friend,” he added,thrusting forth his lean, delicate hand toward Hawkeye, in kindness, while hiseyes twinkled and grew moist, “I thank thee that the hairs of my headstill grow where they were first rooted by Providence; for, though those ofother men may be more glossy and curling, I have ever found mine own wellsuited to the brain they shelter. That I did not join myself to the battle, wasless owing to disinclination, than to the bonds of the heathen. Valiant andskillful hast thou proved thyself in the conflict, and I hereby thank thee,before proceeding to discharge other and more important duties, because thouhast proved thyself well worthy of a Christian’s praise.”

“The thing is but a trifle, and what you may often see if you tarry longamong us,” returned the scout, a good deal softened toward the man ofsong, by this unequivocal expression of gratitude. “I have got back myold companion, ‘killdeer’,” he added, striking his hand onthe breech of his rifle; “and that in itself is a victory. These Iroquoisare cunning, but they outwitted themselves when they placed their firearms outof reach; and had Uncas or his father been gifted with only their common Indianpatience, we should have come in upon the knaves with three bullets instead ofone, and that would have made a finish of the whole pack; yon loping varlet, aswell as his commerades. But ’twas all fore-ordered, and for thebest.”

“Thou sayest well,” returned David, “and hast caught the truespirit of Christianity. He that is to be saved will be saved, and he that ispredestined to be damned will be damned. This is the doctrine of truth, andmost consoling and refreshing it is to the true believer.”

The scout, who by this time was seated, examining into the state of his riflewith a species of parental assiduity, now looked up at the other in adispleasure that he did not affect to conceal, roughly interrupting furtherspeech.

“Doctrine or no doctrine,” said the sturdy woodsman,“’tis the belief of knaves, and the curse of an honest man. I cancredit that yonder Huron was to fall by my hand, for with my own eyes I haveseen it; but nothing short of being a witness will cause me to think he has metwith any reward, or that Chingachgook there will be condemned at the finalday.”

“You have no warranty for such an audacious doctrine, nor any covenant tosupport it,” cried David who was deeply tinctured with the subtledistinctions which, in his time, and more especially in his province, had beendrawn around the beautiful simplicity of revelation, by endeavoring topenetrate the awful mystery of the divine nature, supplying faith byself-sufficiency, and by consequence, involving those who reasoned from suchhuman dogmas in absurdities and doubt; “your temple is reared on thesands, and the first tempest will wash away its foundation. I demand yourauthorities for such an uncharitable assertion (like other advocates of asystem, David was not always accurate in his use of terms). Name chapter andverse; in which of the holy books do you find language to support you?”

“Book!” repeated Hawkeye, with singular and ill-concealed disdain;“do you take me for a whimpering boy at the apronstring of one of yourold gals; and this good rifle on my knee for the feather of a goose’swing, my ox’s horn for a bottle of ink, and my leathern pouch for across-barred handkercher to carry my dinner? Book! what have such as I, who ama warrior of the wilderness, though a man without a cross, to do with books? Inever read but in one, and the words that are written there are too simple andtoo plain to need much schooling; though I may boast that of forty long andhard-working years.”

“What call you the volume?” said David, misconceiving theother’s meaning.

“’Tis open before your eyes,” returned the scout; “andhe who owns it is not a niggard of its use. I have heard it said that there aremen who read in books to convince themselves there is a God. I know not but manmay so deform his works in the settlement, as to leave that which is so clearin the wilderness a matter of doubt among traders and priests. If any suchthere be, and he will follow me from sun to sun, through the windings of theforest, he shall see enough to teach him that he is a fool, and that thegreatest of his folly lies in striving to rise to the level of One he can neverequal, be it in goodness, or be it in power.”

The instant David discovered that he battled with a disputant who imbibed hisfaith from the lights of nature, eschewing all subtleties of doctrine, hewillingly abandoned a controversy from which he believed neither profit norcredit was to be derived. While the scout was speaking, he had also seatedhimself, and producing the ready little volume and the iron-rimmed spectacles,he prepared to discharge a duty, which nothing but the unexpected assault hehad received in his orthodoxy could have so long suspended. He was, in truth, aminstrel of the western continent—of a much later day, certainly, thanthose gifted bards, who formerly sang the profane renown of baron and prince,but after the spirit of his own age and country; and he was now prepared toexercise the cunning of his craft, in celebration of, or rather in thanksgivingfor, the recent victory. He waited patiently for Hawkeye to cease, then liftinghis eyes, together with his voice, he said, aloud:

“I invite you, friends, to join in praise for this signal deliverancefrom the hands of barbarians and infidels, to the comfortable and solemn tonesof the tune called ‘Northampton’.”

He next named the page and verse where the rhymes selected were to be found,and applied the pitch-pipe to his lips, with the decent gravity that he hadbeen wont to use in the temple. This time he was, however, without anyaccompaniment, for the sisters were just then pouring out those tendereffusions of affection which have been already alluded to. Nothing deterred bythe smallness of his audience, which, in truth, consisted only of thediscontented scout, he raised his voice, commencing and ending the sacred songwithout accident or interruption of any kind.

Hawkeye listened while he coolly adjusted his flint and reloaded his rifle; butthe sounds, wanting the extraneous assistance of scene and sympathy, failed toawaken his slumbering emotions. Never minstrel, or by whatever more suitablename David should be known, drew upon his talents in the presence of moreinsensible auditors; though considering the singleness and sincerity of hismotive, it is probable that no bard of profane song ever uttered notes thatascended so near to that throne where all homage and praise is due. The scoutshook his head, and muttering some unintelligible words, among which“throat” and “Iroquois” were alone audible, he walkedaway, to collect and to examine into the state of the captured arsenal of theHurons. In this office he was now joined by Chingachgook, who found his own, aswell as the rifle of his son, among the arms. Even Heyward and David werefurnished with weapons; nor was ammunition wanting to render them alleffectual.

When the foresters had made their selection, and distributed their prizes, thescout announced that the hour had arrived when it was necessary to move. Bythis time the song of Gamut had ceased, and the sisters had learned to stillthe exhibition of their emotions. Aided by Duncan and the younger Mohican, thetwo latter descended the precipitous sides of that hill which they had solately ascended under so very different auspices, and whose summit had sonearly proved the scene of their massacre. At the foot they found theNarragansetts browsing the herbage of the bushes, and having mounted, theyfollowed the movements of a guide, who, in the most deadly straits, had sooften proved himself their friend. The journey was, however, short. Hawkeye,leaving the blind path that the Hurons had followed, turned short to his right,and entering the thicket, he crossed a babbling brook, and halted in a narrowdell, under the shade of a few water elms. Their distance from the base of thefatal hill was but a few rods, and the steeds had been serviceable only incrossing the shallow stream.

The scout and the Indians appeared to be familiar with the sequestered placewhere they now were; for, leaning their rifle against the trees, they commencedthrowing aside the dried leaves, and opening the blue clay, out of which aclear and sparkling spring of bright, glancing water, quickly bubbled. Thewhite man then looked about him, as though seeking for some object, which wasnot to be found as readily as he expected.

“Them careless imps, the Mohawks, with their Tuscarora and Onondagabrethren, have been here slaking their thirst,” he muttered, “andthe vagabonds have thrown away the gourd! This is the way with benefits, whenthey are bestowed on such disremembering hounds! Here has the Lord laid hishand, in the midst of the howling wilderness, for their good, and raised afountain of water from the bowels of the ’arth, that might laugh at therichest shop of apothecary’s ware in all the colonies; and see! theknaves have trodden in the clay, and deformed the cleanliness of the place, asthough they were brute beasts, instead of human men.”

Uncas silently extended toward him the desired gourd, which the spleen ofHawkeye had hitherto prevented him from observing on a branch of an elm.Filling it with water, he retired a short distance, to a place where the groundwas more firm and dry; here he coolly seated himself, and after taking a long,and, apparently, a grateful draught, he commenced a very strict examination ofthe fragments of food left by the Hurons, which had hung in a wallet on hisarm.

“Thank you, lad!” he continued, returning the empty gourd to Uncas;“now we will see how these rampaging Hurons lived, when outlying inambushments. Look at this! The varlets know the better pieces of the deer; andone would think they might carve and roast a saddle, equal to the best cook inthe land! But everything is raw, for the Iroquois are thorough savages. Uncas,take my steel and kindle a fire; a mouthful of a tender broil will givenatur’ a helping hand, after so long a trail.”

Heyward, perceiving that their guides now set about their repast in soberearnest, assisted the ladies to alight, and placed himself at their side, notunwilling to enjoy a few moments of grateful rest, after the bloody scene hehad just gone through. While the culinary process was in hand, curiosityinduced him to inquire into the circumstances which had led to their timely andunexpected rescue:

“How is it that we see you so soon, my generous friend,” he asked,“and without aid from the garrison of Edward?”

“Had we gone to the bend in the river, we might have been in time to rakethe leaves over your bodies, but too late to have saved your scalps,”coolly answered the scout. “No, no; instead of throwing away strength andopportunity by crossing to the fort, we lay by, under the bank of the Hudson,waiting to watch the movements of the Hurons.”

“You were, then, witnesses of all that passed?”

“Not of all; for Indian sight is too keen to be easily cheated, and wekept close. A difficult matter it was, too, to keep this Mohican boy snug inthe ambushment. Ah! Uncas, Uncas, your behavior was more like that of a curiouswoman than of a warrior on his scent.”

Uncas permitted his eyes to turn for an instant on the sturdy countenance ofthe speaker, but he neither spoke nor gave any indication of repentance. On thecontrary, Heyward thought the manner of the young Mohican was disdainful, ifnot a little fierce, and that he suppressed passions that were ready toexplode, as much in compliment to the listeners, as from the deference heusually paid to his white associate.

“You saw our capture?” Heyward next demanded.

“We heard it,” was the significant answer. “An Indian yell isplain language to men who have passed their days in the woods. But when youlanded, we were driven to crawl like sarpents, beneath the leaves; and then welost sight of you entirely, until we placed eyes on you again trussed to thetrees, and ready bound for an Indian massacre.”

“Our rescue was the deed of Providence. It was nearly a miracle that youdid not mistake the path, for the Hurons divided, and each band had itshorses.”

“Ay! there we were thrown off the scent, and might, indeed, have lost thetrail, had it not been for Uncas; we took the path, however, that led into thewilderness; for we judged, and judged rightly, that the savages would hold thatcourse with their prisoners. But when we had followed it for many miles,without finding a single twig broken, as I had advised, my mind misgave me;especially as all the footsteps had the prints of moccasins.”

“Our captors had the precaution to see us shod like themselves,”said Duncan, raising a foot, and exhibiting the buckskin he wore.

“Aye, ’twas judgmatical and like themselves; though we were tooexpart to be thrown from a trail by so common an invention.”

“To what, then, are we indebted for our safety?”

“To what, as a white man who has no taint of Indian blood, I should beashamed to own; to the judgment of the young Mohican, in matters which I shouldknow better than he, but which I can now hardly believe to be true, though myown eyes tell me it is so.”

“’Tis extraordinary! will you not name the reason?”

“Uncas was bold enough to say, that the beasts ridden by the gentleones,” continued Hawkeye, glancing his eyes, not without curiousinterest, on the fillies of the ladies, “planted the legs of one side onthe ground at the same time, which is contrary to the movements of all trottingfour-footed animals of my knowledge, except the bear. And yet here are horsesthat always journey in this manner, as my own eyes have seen, and as theirtrail has shown for twenty long miles.”

“’Tis the merit of the animal! They come from the shores ofNarrangansett Bay, in the small province of Providence Plantations, and arecelebrated for their hardihood, and the ease of this peculiar movement; thoughother horses are not unfrequently trained to the same.”

“It may be—it may be,” said Hawkeye, who had listened withsingular attention to this explanation; “though I am a man who has thefull blood of the whites, my judgment in deer and beaver is greater than inbeasts of burden. Major Effingham has many noble chargers, but I have neverseen one travel after such a sidling gait.”

“True; for he would value the animals for very different properties.Still is this a breed highly esteemed and, as you witness, much honored withthe burdens it is often destined to bear.”

The Mohicans had suspended their operations about the glimmering fire tolisten; and, when Duncan had done, they looked at each other significantly, thefather uttering the never-failing exclamation of surprise. The scout ruminated,like a man digesting his newly-acquired knowledge, and once more stole a glanceat the horses.

“I dare to say there are even stranger sights to be seen in thesettlements!” he said, at length. “Natur’ is sadly abused byman, when he once gets the mastery. But, go sidling or go straight, Uncas hadseen the movement, and their trail led us on to the broken bush. The outerbranch, near the prints of one of the horses, was bent upward, as a lady breaksa flower from its stem, but all the rest were ragged and broken down, as if thestrong hand of a man had been tearing them! So I concluded that the cunningvarments had seen the twig bent, and had torn the rest, to make us believe abuck had been feeling the boughs with his antlers.”

“I do believe your sagacity did not deceive you; for some such thingoccurred!”

“That was easy to see,” added the scout, in no degree conscious ofhaving exhibited any extraordinary sagacity; “and a very different matterit was from a waddling horse! It then struck me the Mingoes would push for thisspring, for the knaves well know the vartue of its waters!”

“Is it, then, so famous?” demanded Heyward, examining, with a morecurious eye, the secluded dell, with its bubbling fountain, surrounded, as itwas, by earth of a deep, dingy brown.

“Few red-skins, who travel south and east of the great lakes but haveheard of its qualities. Will you taste for yourself?”

Heyward took the gourd, and after swallowing a little of the water, threw itaside with grimaces of discontent. The scout laughed in his silent butheartfelt manner, and shook his head with vast satisfaction.

“Ah! you want the flavor that one gets by habit; the time was when Iliked it as little as yourself; but I have come to my taste, and I now craveit, as a deer does the licks^[1].Your high-spiced wines are not better liked than a red-skin relishes thiswater; especially when his natur’ is ailing. But Uncas has made his fire,and it is time we think of eating, for our journey is long, and all beforeus.”

[1]Many of the animals of the American forests resort to those spots where saltsprings are found. These are called “licks” or “saltlicks,” in the language of the country, from the circumstance that thequadruped is often obliged to lick the earth, in order to obtain the salineparticles. These licks are great places of resort with the hunters, who waylaytheir game near the paths that lead to them.

Interrupting the dialogue by this abrupt transition, the scout had instantrecourse to the fragments of food which had escaped the voracity of the Hurons.A very summary process completed the simple cookery, when he and the Mohicanscommenced their humble meal, with the silence and characteristic diligence ofmen who ate in order to enable themselves to endure great and unremitting toil.

When this necessary, and, happily, grateful duty had been performed, each ofthe foresters stooped and took a long and parting draught at that solitary andsilent spring^[2],around which and its sister fountains, within fifty years, the wealth, beautyand talents of a hemisphere were to assemble in throngs, in pursuit of healthand pleasure. Then Hawkeye announced his determination to proceed. The sistersresumed their saddles; Duncan and David grapsed their rifles, and followed onfootsteps; the scout leading the advance, and the Mohicans bringing up therear. The whole party moved swiftly through the narrow path, toward the north,leaving the healing waters to mingle unheeded with the adjacent brooks and thebodies of the dead to fester on the neighboring mount, without the rites ofsepulture; a fate but too common to the warriors of the woods to excite eithercommiseration or comment.

[2]The scene of the foregoing incidents is on the spot where the village ofBallston now stands; one of the two principal watering places of America.

CHAPTER XIII.

“I’ll seek a readier path.”
—Parnell

The route taken by Hawkeye lay across those sandy plains, relived by occasionalvalleys and swells of land, which had been traversed by their party on themorning of the same day, with the baffled Magua for their guide. The sun hadnow fallen low toward the distant mountains; and as their journey lay throughthe interminable forest, the heat was no longer oppressive. Their progress, inconsequence, was proportionate; and long before the twilight gathered aboutthem, they had made good many toilsome miles on their return.

The hunter, like the savage whose place he filled, seemed to select among theblind signs of their wild route, with a species of instinct, seldom abating hisspeed, and never pausing to deliberate. A rapid and oblique glance at the mosson the trees, with an occasional upward gaze toward the setting sun, or asteady but passing look at the direction of the numerous water courses, throughwhich he waded, were sufficient to determine his path, and remove his greatestdifficulties. In the meantime, the forest began to change its hues, losing thatlively green which had embellished its arches, in the graver light which is theusual precursor of the close of day.

While the eyes of the sisters were endeavoring to catch glimpses through thetrees, of the flood of golden glory which formed a glittering halo around thesun, tinging here and there with ruby streaks, or bordering with narrow edgingsof shining yellow, a mass of clouds that lay piled at no great distance abovethe western hills, Hawkeye turned suddenly and pointing upward toward thegorgeous heavens, he spoke:

“Yonder is the signal given to man to seek his food and naturalrest,” he said; “better and wiser would it be, if he couldunderstand the signs of nature, and take a lesson from the fowls of the air andthe beasts of the field! Our night, however, will soon be over, for with themoon we must be up and moving again. I remember to have fou’t the Maquas,hereaways, in the first war in which I ever drew blood from man; and we threwup a work of blocks, to keep the ravenous varmints from handling our scalps. Ifmy marks do not fail me, we shall find the place a few rods further to ourleft.”

Without waiting for an assent, or, indeed, for any reply, the sturdy huntermoved boldly into a dense thicket of young chestnuts, shoving aside thebranches of the exuberant shoots which nearly covered the ground, like a manwho expected, at each step, to discover some object he had formerly known. Therecollection of the scout did not deceive him. After penetrating through thebrush, matted as it was with briars, for a few hundred feet, he entered an openspace, that surrounded a low, green hillock, which was crowned by the decayedblockhouse in question. This rude and neglected building was one of thosedeserted works, which, having been thrown up on an emergency, had beenabandoned with the disappearance of danger, and was now quietly crumbling inthe solitude of the forest, neglected and nearly forgotten, like thecircumstances which had caused it to be reared. Such memorials of the passageand struggles of man are yet frequent throughout the broad barrier ofwilderness which once separated the hostile provinces, and form a species ofruins that are intimately associated with the recollections of colonialhistory, and which are in appropriate keeping with the gloomy character of thesurrounding scenery. The roof of bark had long since fallen, and mingled withthe soil, but the huge logs of pine, which had been hastily thrown together,still preserved their relative positions, though one angle of the work hadgiven way under the pressure, and threatened a speedy downfall to the remainderof the rustic edifice. While Heyward and his companions hesitated to approach abuilding so decayed, Hawkeye and the Indians entered within the low walls, notonly without fear, but with obvious interest. While the former surveyed theruins, both internally and externally, with the curiosity of one whoserecollections were reviving at each moment, Chingachgook related to his son, inthe language of the Delawares, and with the pride of a conqueror, the briefhistory of the skirmish which had been fought, in his youth, in that secludedspot. A strain of melancholy, however, blended with his triumph, rendering hisvoice, as usual, soft and musical.

In the meantime, the sisters gladly dismounted, and prepared to enjoy theirhalt in the coolness of the evening, and in a security which they believednothing but the beasts of the forest could invade.

“Would not our resting-place have been more retired, my worthyfriend,” demanded the more vigilant Duncan, perceiving that the scout hadalready finished his short survey, “had we chosen a spot less known, andone more rarely visited than this?”

“Few live who know the blockhouse was ever raised,” was the slowand musing answer; “’tis not often that books are made, andnarratives written of such a scrimmage as was here fou’t atween theMohicans and the Mohawks, in a war of their own waging. I was then a younker,and went out with the Delawares, because I know’d they were a scandalizedand wronged race. Forty days and forty nights did the imps crave our bloodaround this pile of logs, which I designed and partly reared, being, asyou’ll remember, no Indian myself, but a man without a cross. TheDelawares lent themselves to the work, and we made it good, ten to twenty,until our numbers were nearly equal, and then we sallied out upon the hounds,and not a man of them ever got back to tell the fate of his party. Yes, yes; Iwas then young, and new to the sight of blood; and not relishing the thoughtthat creatures who had spirits like myself should lay on the naked ground, tobe torn asunder by beasts, or to bleach in the rains, I buried the dead with myown hands, under that very little hillock where you have placed yourselves; andno bad seat does it make neither, though it be raised by the bones of mortalmen.”

Heyward and the sisters arose, on the instant, from the grassy sepulcher; norcould the two latter, notwithstanding the terrific scenes they had so recentlypassed through, entirely suppress an emotion of natural horror, when they foundthemselves in such familiar contact with the grave of the dead Mohawks. Thegray light, the gloomy little area of dark grass, surrounded by its border ofbrush, beyond which the pines rose, in breathing silence, apparently into thevery clouds, and the deathlike stillness of the vast forest, were all in unisonto deepen such a sensation. “They are gone, and they are harmless,”continued Hawkeye, waving his hand, with a melancholy smile at their manifestalarm; “they’ll never shout the war-whoop nor strike a blow withthe tomahawk again! And of all those who aided in placing them where they lie,Chingachgook and I only are living! The brothers and family of the Mohicanformed our war party; and you see before you all that are now left of hisrace.”

The eyes of the listeners involuntarily sought the forms of the Indians, with acompassionate interest in their desolate fortune. Their dark persons were stillto be seen within the shadows of the blockhouse, the son listening to therelation of his father with that sort of intenseness which would be created bya narrative that redounded so much to the honor of those whose names he hadlong revered for their courage and savage virtues.

“I had thought the Delawares a pacific people,” said Duncan,“and that they never waged war in person; trusting the defense of theirhands to those very Mohawks that you slew!”

“’Tis true in part,” returned the scout, “and yet, atthe bottom, ’tis a wicked lie. Such a treaty was made in ages gone by,through the deviltries of the Dutchers, who wished to disarm the natives thathad the best right to the country, where they had settled themselves. TheMohicans, though a part of the same nation, having to deal with the English,never entered into the silly bargain, but kept to their manhood; as in truthdid the Delawares, when their eyes were open to their folly. You see before youa chief of the great Mohican Sagamores! Once his family could chase their deerover tracts of country wider than that which belongs to the Albany Patteroon,without crossing brook or hill that was not their own; but what is left oftheir descendant? He may find his six feet of earth when God chooses, and keepit in peace, perhaps, if he has a friend who will take the pains to sink hishead so low that the plowshares cannot reach it!”

“Enough!” said Heyward, apprehensive that the subject might lead toa discussion that would interrupt the harmony so necessary to the preservationof his fair companions; “we have journeyed far, and few among us areblessed with forms like that of yours, which seems to know neither fatigue norweakness.”

“The sinews and bones of a man carry me through it all,” said thehunter, surveying his muscular limbs with a simplicity that betrayed the honestpleasure the compliment afforded him; “there are larger and heavier mento be found in the settlements, but you might travel many days in a city beforeyou could meet one able to walk fifty miles without stopping to take breath, orwho has kept the hounds within hearing during a chase of hours. However, asflesh and blood are not always the same, it is quite reasonable to suppose thatthe gentle ones are willing to rest, after all they have seen and done thisday. Uncas, clear out the spring, while your father and I make a cover fortheir tender heads of these chestnut shoots, and a bed of grass andleaves.”

The dialogue ceased, while the hunter and his companions busied themselves inpreparations for the comfort and protection of those they guided. A spring,which many long years before had induced the natives to select the place fortheir temporary fortification, was soon cleared of leaves, and a fountain ofcrystal gushed from the bed, diffusing its waters over the verdant hillock. Acorner of the building was then roofed in such a manner as to exclude the heavydew of the climate, and piles of sweet shrubs and dried leaves were laidbeneath it for the sisters to repose on.

While the diligent woodsmen were employed in this manner, Cora and Alicepartook of that refreshment which duty required much more than inclinationprompted them to accept. They then retired within the walls, and first offeringup their thanksgivings for past mercies, and petitioning for a continuance ofthe Divine favor throughout the coming night, they laid their tender forms onthe fragrant couch, and in spite of recollections and forebodings, soon sankinto those slumbers which nature so imperiously demanded, and which weresweetened by hopes for the morrow. Duncan had prepared himself to pass thenight in watchfulness near them, just without the ruin, but the scout,perceiving his intention, pointed toward Chingachgook, as he coolly disposedhis own person on the grass, and said:

“The eyes of a white man are too heavy and too blind for such a watch asthis! The Mohican will be our sentinel, therefore let us sleep.”

“I proved myself a sluggard on my post during the past night,” saidHeyward, “and have less need of repose than you, who did more credit tothe character of a soldier. Let all the party seek their rest, then, while Ihold the guard.”

“If we lay among the white tents of the Sixtieth, and in front of anenemy like the French, I could not ask for a better watchman,” returnedthe scout; “but in the darkness and among the signs of the wildernessyour judgment would be like the folly of a child, and your vigilance thrownaway. Do then, like Uncas and myself, sleep, and sleep in safety.”

Heyward perceived, in truth, that the younger Indian had thrown his form on theside of the hillock while they were talking, like one who sought to make themost of the time allotted to rest, and that his example had been followed byDavid, whose voice literally “clove to his jaws,” with the fever ofhis wound, heightened, as it was, by their toilsome march. Unwilling to prolonga useless discussion, the young man affected to comply, by posting his backagainst the logs of the blockhouse, in a half recumbent posture, thoughresolutely determined, in his own mind, not to close an eye until he haddelivered his precious charge into the arms of Munro himself. Hawkeye,believing he had prevailed, soon fell asleep, and a silence as deep as thesolitude in which they had found it, pervaded the retired spot.

For many minutes Duncan succeeded in keeping his senses on the alert, and aliveto every moaning sound that arose from the forest. His vision became more acuteas the shades of evening settled on the place; and even after the stars wereglimmering above his head, he was able to distinguish the recumbent forms ofhis companions, as they lay stretched on the grass, and to note the person ofChingachgook, who sat upright and motionless as one of the trees which formedthe dark barrier on every side. He still heard the gentle breathings of thesisters, who lay within a few feet of him, and not a leaf was ruffled by thepassing air of which his ear did not detect the whispering sound. At length,however, the mournful notes of a whip-poor-will became blended with themoanings of an owl; his heavy eyes occasionally sought the bright rays of thestars, and he then fancied he saw them through the fallen lids. At instants ofmomentary wakefulness he mistook a bush for his associate sentinel; his headnext sank upon his shoulder, which, in its turn, sought the support of theground; and, finally, his whole person became relaxed and pliant, and the youngman sank into a deep sleep, dreaming that he was a knight of ancient chivalry,holding his midnight vigils before the tent of a recaptured princess, whosefavor he did not despair of gaining, by such a proof of devotion andwatchfulness.

How long the tired Duncan lay in this insensible state he never knew himself,but his slumbering visions had been long lost in total forgetfulness, when hewas awakened by a light tap on the shoulder. Aroused by this signal, slight asit was, he sprang upon his feet with a confused recollection of theself-imposed duty he had assumed with the commencement of the night.

“Who comes?” he demanded, feeling for his sword, at the place whereit was usually suspended. “Speak! friend or enemy?”

“Friend,” replied the low voice of Chingachgook; who, pointingupward at the luminary which was shedding its mild light through the opening inthe trees, directly in their bivouac, immediately added, in his rude English:“Moon comes and white man’s fort far—far off; time to move,when sleep shuts both eyes of the Frenchman!”

“You say true! Call up your friends, and bridle the horses while Iprepare my own companions for the march!”

“We are awake, Duncan,” said the soft, silvery tones of Alicewithin the building, “and ready to travel very fast after so refreshing asleep; but you have watched through the tedious night in our behalf, afterhaving endured so much fatigue the livelong day!”

“Say, rather, I would have watched, but my treacherous eyes betrayed me;twice have I proved myself unfit for the trust I bear.”

“Nay, Duncan, deny it not,” interrupted the smiling Alice, issuingfrom the shadows of the building into the light of the moon, in all theloveliness of her freshened beauty; “I know you to be a heedless one,when self is the object of your care, and but too vigilant in favor of others.Can we not tarry here a little longer while you find the rest you need?Cheerfully, most cheerfully, will Cora and I keep the vigils, while you and allthese brave men endeavor to snatch a little sleep!”

“If shame could cure me of my drowsiness, I should never close an eyeagain,” said the uneasy youth, gazing at the ingenuous countenance ofAlice, where, however, in its sweet solicitude, he read nothing to confirm hishalf-awakened suspicion. “It is but too true, that after leading you intodanger by my heedlessness, I have not even the merit of guarding your pillowsas should become a soldier.”

“No one but Duncan himself should accuse Duncan of such a weakness. Go,then, and sleep; believe me, neither of us, weak girls as we are, will betrayour watch.”

The young man was relieved from the awkwardness of making any furtherprotestations of his own demerits, by an exclamation from Chingachgook, and theattitude of riveted attention assumed by his son.

“The Mohicans hear an enemy!” whispered Hawkeye, who, by this time,in common with the whole party, was awake and stirring. “They scentdanger in the wind!”

“God forbid!” exclaimed Heyward. “Surely we have had enoughof bloodshed!”

While he spoke, however, the young soldier seized his rifle, and advancingtoward the front, prepared to atone for his venial remissness, by freelyexposing his life in defense of those he attended.

“’Tis some creature of the forest prowling around us in quest offood,” he said, in a whisper, as soon as the low, and apparently distantsounds, which had startled the Mohicans, reached his own ears.

“Hist!” returned the attentive scout; “’tis man; even Ican now tell his tread, poor as my senses are when compared to anIndian’s! That Scampering Huron has fallen in with one ofMontcalm’s outlying parties, and they have struck upon our trail. Ishouldn’t like, myself, to spill more human blood in this spot,” headded, looking around with anxiety in his features, at the dim objects by whichhe was surrounded; “but what must be, must! Lead the horses into theblockhouse, Uncas; and, friends, do you follow to the same shelter. Poor andold as it is, it offers a cover, and has rung with the crack of a rifle aforeto-night!”

He was instantly obeyed, the Mohicans leading the Narrangansetts within theruin, whither the whole party repaired with the most guarded silence.

The sound of approaching footsteps were now too distinctly audible to leave anydoubts as to the nature of the interruption. They were soon mingled with voicescalling to each other in an Indian dialect, which the hunter, in a whisper,affirmed to Heyward was the language of the Hurons. When the party reached thepoint where the horses had entered the thicket which surrounded the blockhouse,they were evidently at fault, having lost those marks which, until that moment,had directed their pursuit.

It would seem by the voices that twenty men were soon collected at that onespot, mingling their different opinions and advice in noisy clamor.

“The knaves know our weakness,” whispered Hawkeye, who stood by theside of Heyward, in deep shade, looking through an opening in the logs,“or they wouldn’t indulge their idleness in such a squaw’smarch. Listen to the reptiles! each man among them seems to have two tongues,and but a single leg.”

Duncan, brave as he was in the combat, could not, in such a moment of painfulsuspense, make any reply to the cool and characteristic remark of the scout. Heonly grasped his rifle more firmly, and fastened his eyes upon the narrowopening, through which he gazed upon the moonlight view with increasinganxiety. The deeper tones of one who spoke as having authority were next heard,amid a silence that denoted the respect with which his orders, or ratheradvice, was received. After which, by the rustling of leaves, and crackling ofdried twigs, it was apparent the savages were separating in pursuit of the losttrail. Fortunately for the pursued, the light of the moon, while it shed aflood of mild luster upon the little area around the ruin, was not sufficientlystrong to penetrate the deep arches of the forest, where the objects still layin deceptive shadow. The search proved fruitless; for so short and sudden hadbeen the passage from the faint path the travelers had journeyed into thethicket, that every trace of their footsteps was lost in the obscurity of thewoods.

It was not long, however, before the restless savages were heard beating thebrush, and gradually approaching the inner edge of that dense border of youngchestnuts which encircled the little area.

“They are coming,” muttered Heyward, endeavoring to thrust hisrifle through the chink in the logs; “let us fire on theirapproach.”

“Keep everything in the shade,” returned the scout; “thesnapping of a flint, or even the smell of a single karnel of the brimstone,would bring the hungry varlets upon us in a body. Should it please God that wemust give battle for the scalps, trust to the experience of men who know theways of the savages, and who are not often backward when the war-whoop ishowled.”

Duncan cast his eyes behind him, and saw that the trembling sisters werecowering in the far corner of the building, while the Mohicans stood in theshadow, like two upright posts, ready, and apparently willing, to strike whenthe blow should be needed. Curbing his impatience, he again looked out upon thearea, and awaited the result in silence. At that instant the thicket opened,and a tall and armed Huron advanced a few paces into the open space. As hegazed upon the silent blockhouse, the moon fell upon his swarthy countenance,and betrayed its surprise and curiosity. He made the exclamation which usuallyaccompanies the former emotion in an Indian, and, calling in a low voice, soondrew a companion to his side.

These children of the woods stood together for several moments pointing at thecrumbling edifice, and conversing in the unintelligible language of theirtribe. They then approached, though with slow and cautious steps, pausing everyinstant to look at the building, like startled deer whose curiosity struggledpowerfully with their awakened apprehensions for the mastery. The foot of oneof them suddenly rested on the mound, and he stopped to examine its nature. Atthis moment, Heyward observed that the scout loosened his knife in its sheath,and lowered the muzzle of his rifle. Imitating these movements, the young manprepared himself for the struggle which now seemed inevitable.

The savages were so near, that the least motion in one of the horses, or even abreath louder than common, would have betrayed the fugitives. But indiscovering the character of the mound, the attention of the Hurons appeareddirected to a different object. They spoke together, and the sounds of theirvoices were low and solemn, as if influenced by a reverence that was deeplyblended with awe. Then they drew warily back, keeping their eyes riveted on theruin, as if they expected to see the apparitions of the dead issue from itssilent walls, until, having reached the boundary of the area, they moved slowlyinto the thicket and disappeared.

Hawkeye dropped the breech of his rifle to the earth, and drawing a long, freebreath, exclaimed, in an audible whisper:

“Ay! they respect the dead, and it has this time saved their own lives,and, it may be, the lives of better men too.”

Heyward lent his attention for a single moment to his companion, but withoutreplying, he again turned toward those who just then interested him more. Heheard the two Hurons leave the bushes, and it was soon plain that all thepursuers were gathered about them, in deep attention to their report. After afew minutes of earnest and solemn dialogue, altogether different from the noisyclamor with which they had first collected about the spot, the sounds grewfainter and more distant, and finally were lost in the depths of the forest.

Hawkeye waited until a signal from the listening Chingachgook assured him thatevery sound from the retiring party was completely swallowed by the distance,when he motioned to Heyward to lead forth the horses, and to assist the sistersinto their saddles. The instant this was done they issued through the brokengateway, and stealing out by a direction opposite to the one by which theyentered, they quitted the spot, the sisters casting furtive glances at thesilent, grave and crumbling ruin, as they left the soft light of the moon, tobury themselves in the gloom of the woods.

CHAPTER XIV.

“Guard.—Qui est la?
Puc. —Paisans, pauvres gens de France.”
—King Henry VI

The scout resumed his post in the advance

During the rapid movement from the blockhouse, and until the party was deeplyburied in the forest, each individual was too much interested in the escape tohazard a word even in whispers. The scout resumed his post in advance, thoughhis steps, after he had thrown a safe distance between himself and his enemies,were more deliberate than in their previous march, in consequence of his utterignorance of the localities of the surrounding woods. More than once he haltedto consult with his confederates, the Mohicans, pointing upward at the moon,and examining the barks of the trees with care. In these brief pauses, Heywardand the sisters listened, with senses rendered doubly acute by the danger, todetect any symptoms which might announce the proximity of their foes. At suchmoments, it seemed as if a vast range of country lay buried in eternal sleep;not the least sound arising from the forest, unless it was the distant andscarcely audible rippling of a water-course. Birds, beasts, and man, appearedto slumber alike, if, indeed, any of the latter were to be found in that widetract of wilderness. But the sounds of the rivulet, feeble and murmuring asthey were, relieved the guides at once from no trifling embarrassment, andtoward it they immediately held their way.

When the banks of the little stream were gained, Hawkeye made another halt; andtaking the moccasins from his feet, he invited Heyward and Gamut to follow hisexample. He then entered the water, and for near an hour they traveled in thebed of the brook, leaving no trail. The moon had already sunk into an immensepile of black clouds, which lay impending above the western horizon, when theyissued from the low and devious water-course to rise again to the light andlevel of the sandy but wooded plain. Here the scout seemed to be once more athome, for he held on this way with the certainty and diligence of a man whomoved in the security of his own knowledge. The path soon became more uneven,and the travelers could plainly perceive that the mountains drew nigher to themon each hand, and that they were, in truth, about entering one of their gorges.Suddenly, Hawkeye made a pause, and, waiting until he was joined by the wholeparty, he spoke, though in tones so low and cautious, that they added to thesolemnity of his words, in the quiet and darkness of the place.

“It is easy to know the pathways, and to find the licks and water-coursesof the wilderness,” he said; “but who that saw this spot couldventure to say, that a mighty army was at rest among yonder silent trees andbarren mountains?”

“We are, then, at no great distance from William Henry?” saidHeyward, advancing nigher to the scout.

“It is yet a long and weary path, and when and where to strike it is nowour greatest difficulty. See,” he said, pointing through the trees towarda spot where a little basin of water reflected the stars from its placid bosom,“here is the ‘bloody pond’; and I am on ground that I havenot only often traveled, but over which I have fou’t the enemy, from therising to the setting sun.”

“Ha! that sheet of dull and dreary water, then, is the sepulcher of thebrave men who fell in the contest. I have heard it named, but never have Istood on its banks before.”

“Three battles did we make with the Dutch-Frenchman^[1]in a day,” continued Hawkeye, pursuing the train of his own thoughts,rather than replying to the remark of Duncan. “He met us hard by, in ouroutward march to ambush his advance, and scattered us, like driven deer,through the defile, to the shores of Horican. Then we rallied behind our fallentrees, and made head against him, under Sir William—who was made SirWilliam for that very deed; and well did we pay him for the disgrace of themorning! Hundreds of Frenchmen saw the sun that day for the last time; and eventheir leader, Dieskau himself, fell into our hands, so cut and torn with thelead, that he has gone back to his own country, unfit for further acts inwar.”

[1]Baron Dieskau, a German, in the service of France. A few years previously tothe period of the tale, this officer was defeated by Sir William Johnson, ofJohnstown, New York, on the shores of Lake George.

“’Twas a noble repulse!” exclaimed Heyward, in the heat ofhis youthful ardor; “the fame of it reached us early, in our southernarmy.”

“Ay! but it did not end there. I was sent by Major Effingham, at SirWilliam’s own bidding, to outflank the French, and carry the tidings oftheir disaster across the portage, to the fort on the Hudson. Just hereaway,where you see the trees rise into a mountain swell, I met a party coming downto our aid, and I led them where the enemy were taking their meal, littledreaming that they had not finished the bloody work of the day.”

“And you surprised them?”

“If death can be a surprise to men who are thinking only of the cravingsof their appetites. We gave them but little breathing time, for they had bornehard upon us in the fight of the morning, and there were few in our party whohad not lost friend or relative by their hands.”

“When all was over, the dead, and some say the dying, were cast into thatlittle pond. These eyes have seen its waters colored with blood, as naturalwater never yet flowed from the bowels of the ’arth.”

“It was a convenient, and, I trust, will prove a peaceful grave for asoldier. You have then seen much service on this frontier?”

“Ay!” said the scout, erecting his tall person with an air ofmilitary pride; “there are not many echoes among these hills thathaven’t rung with the crack of my rifle, nor is there the space of asquare mile atwixt Horican and the river, that ‘killdeer’hasn’t dropped a living body on, be it an enemy or be it a brute beast.As for the grave there being as quiet as you mention, it is another matter.There are them in the camp who say and think, man, to lie still, should not beburied while the breath is in the body; and certain it is that in the hurry ofthat evening, the doctors had but little time to say who was living and who wasdead. Hist! see you nothing walking on the shore of the pond?”

“’Tis not probable that any are as houseless as ourselves in thisdreary forest.”

“Such as he may care but little for house or shelter, and night dew cannever wet a body that passes its days in the water,” returned the scout,grasping the shoulder of Heyward with such convulsive strength as to make theyoung soldier painfully sensible how much superstitious terror had got themastery of a man usually so dauntless.

“By heaven, there is a human form, and it approaches! Stand to your arms,my friends; for we know not whom we encounter.”

“Qui vive?” demanded a stern, quick voice, which sounded like achallenge from another world, issuing out of that solitary and solemn place.

“What says it?” whispered the scout; “it speaks neitherIndian nor English.”

“Qui vive?” repeated the same voice, which was quickly followed bythe rattling of arms, and a menacing attitude.

“France!” cried Heyward, advancing from the shadow of the trees tothe shore of the pond, within a few yards of the sentinel.

“D’ou venez-vous—ou allez-vous, d’aussi bonneheure?” demanded the grenadier, in the language and with the accent of aman from old France.

“Je viens de la découverte, et je vais me coucher.”

“Etes-vous officier du roi?”

“Sans doute, mon camarade; me prends-tu pour un provincial! Je suiscapitaine de chasseurs (Heyward well knew that the other was of a regiment inthe line); j’ai ici, avec moi, les filles du commandant de lafortification. Aha! tu en as entendu parler! je les ai fait prisonnières prèsde l’autre fort, et je les conduis au général.”

“Ma foi! mesdames; j’en suis faché pour vous,” exclaimed theyoung soldier, touching his cap with grace; “mais—fortune deguerre! vous trouverez notre général un brave homme, et bien poli avec lesdames.”

“C’est le caractere des gens de guerre,” said Cora, withadmirable self-possession. “Adieu, mon ami; je vous souhaiterais undevoir plus agréable a remplir.”

The soldier made a low and humble acknowledgment for her civility; and Heywardadding a “Bonne nuit, mon camarade,” they moved deliberatelyforward, leaving the sentinel pacing the banks of the silent pond, littlesuspecting an enemy of so much effrontery, and humming to himself those wordswhich were recalled to his mind by the sight of women, and, perhaps, byrecollections of his own distant and beautiful France:

“Vive le vin, vive l’amour,” &c., &c.

“’Tis well you understood the knave!” whispered the scout,when they had gained a little distance from the place, and letting his riflefall into the hollow of his arm again; “I soon saw that he was one ofthem uneasy Frenchers; and well for him it was that his speech was friendly andhis wishes kind, or a place might have been found for his bones among those ofhis countrymen.”

He was interrupted by a long and heavy groan which arose from the little basin,as though, in truth, the spirits of the departed lingered about their waterysepulcher.

“Surely it was of flesh,” continued the scout; “no spiritcould handle its arms so steadily.”

“It wasof flesh; but whether the poor fellow still belongs tothis world may well be doubted,” said Heyward, glancing his eyes aroundhim, and missing Chingachgook from their little band. Another groan more faintthan the former was succeeded by a heavy and sullen plunge into the water, andall was still again as if the borders of the dreary pool had never beenawakened from the silence of creation. While they yet hesitated in uncertainty,the form of the Indian was seen gliding out of the thicket. As the chiefrejoined them, with one hand he attached the reeking scalp of the unfortunateyoung Frenchman to his girdle, and with the other he replaced the knife andtomahawk that had drunk his blood. He then took his wonted station, with theair of a man who believed he had done a deed of merit.

The scout dropped one end of his rifle to the earth, and leaning his hands onthe other, he stood musing in profound silence. Then, shaking his head in amournful manner, he muttered:

“’Twould have been a cruel and an unhuman act for a white-skin; but’tis the gift and natur’ of an Indian, and I suppose it should notbe denied. I could wish, though, it had befallen an accursed Mingo, rather thanthat gay young boy from the old countries.”

“Enough!” said Heyward, apprehensive the unconscious sisters mightcomprehend the nature of the detention, and conquering his disgust by a trainof reflections very much like that of the hunter; “’tis done; andthough better it were left undone, cannot be amended. You see, we are, tooobviously within the sentinels of the enemy; what course do you propose tofollow?”

“Yes,” said Hawkeye, rousing himself again; “’tis asyou say, too late to harbor further thoughts about it. Ay, the French havegathered around the fort in good earnest and we have a delicate needle tothread in passing them.”

“And but little time to do it in,” added Heyward, glancing his eyesupwards, toward the bank of vapor that concealed the setting moon.

“And little time to do it in!” repeated the scout. “The thingmay be done in two fashions, by the help of Providence, without which it maynot be done at all.”

“Name them quickly for time presses.”

“One would be to dismount the gentle ones, and let their beasts range theplain, by sending the Mohicans in front, we might then cut a lane through theirsentries, and enter the fort over the dead bodies.”

“It will not do—it will not do!” interrupted the generousHeyward; “a soldier might force his way in this manner, but never withsuch a convoy.”

“’Twould be, indeed, a bloody path for such tender feet to wadein,” returned the equally reluctant scout; “but I thought itbefitting my manhood to name it. We must, then, turn in our trail and getwithout the line of their lookouts, when we will bend short to the west, andenter the mountains; where I can hide you, so that all the devil’s houndsin Montcalm’s pay would be thrown off the scent for months tocome.”

“Let it be done, and that instantly.”

Further words were unnecessary; for Hawkeye, merely uttering the mandate to“follow,” moved along the route by which they had just enteredtheir present critical and even dangerous situation. Their progress, like theirlate dialogue, was guarded, and without noise; for none knew at what moment apassing patrol, or a crouching picket of the enemy, might rise upon their path.As they held their silent way along the margin of the pond, again Heyward andthe scout stole furtive glances at its appalling dreariness. They looked invain for the form they had so recently seen stalking along in silent shores,while a low and regular wash of the little waves, by announcing that the waterswere not yet subsided, furnished a frightful memorial of the deed of blood theyhad just witnessed. Like all that passing and gloomy scene, the low basin,however, quickly melted in the darkness, and became blended with the mass ofblack objects in the rear of the travelers.

Hawkeye soon deviated from the line of their retreat, and striking off towardsthe mountains which form the western boundary of the narrow plain, he led hisfollowers, with swift steps, deep within the shadows that were cast from theirhigh and broken summits. The route was now painful; lying over ground raggedwith rocks, and intersected with ravines, and their progress proportionatelyslow. Bleak and black hills lay on every side of them, compensating in somedegree for the additional toil of the march by the sense of security theyimparted. At length the party began slowly to rise a steep and rugged ascent,by a path that curiously wound among rocks and trees, avoiding the one andsupported by the other, in a manner that showed it had been devised by men longpractised in the arts of the wilderness. As they gradually rose from the levelof the valleys, the thick darkness which usually precedes the approach of daybegan to disperse, and objects were seen in the plain and palpable colors withwhich they had been gifted by nature. When they issued from the stunted woodswhich clung to the barren sides of the mountain, upon a flat and mossy rockthat formed its summit, they met the morning, as it came blushing above thegreen pines of a hill that lay on the opposite side of the valley of theHorican.

The scout now told the sisters to dismount; and taking the bridles from themouths, and the saddles off the backs of the jaded beasts, he turned themloose, to glean a scanty subsistence among the shrubs and meager herbage ofthat elevated region.

“Go,” he said, “and seek your food where natur’ givesit to you; and beware that you become not food to ravenous wolves yourselves,among these hills.”

“Have we no further need of them?” demanded Heyward.

“See, and judge with your own eyes,” said the scout, advancingtoward the eastern brow of the mountain, whither he beckoned for the wholeparty to follow; “if it was as easy to look into the heart of man as itis to spy out the nakedness of Montcalm’s camp from this spot, hypocriteswould grow scarce, and the cunning of a Mingo might prove a losing game,compared to the honesty of a Delaware.”

When the travelers reached the verge of the precipices they saw, at a glance,the truth of the scout’s declaration, and the admirable foresight withwhich he had led them to their commanding station.

The mountain on which they stood, elevated perhaps a thousand feet in the air,was a high cone that rose a little in advance of that range which stretches formiles along the western shores of the lake, until meeting its sisters milesbeyond the water, it ran off toward the Canadas, in confused and broken massesof rock, thinly sprinkled with evergreens. Immediately at the feet of theparty, the southern shore of the Horican swept in a broad semicircle frommountain to mountain, marking a wide strand, that soon rose into an uneven andsomewhat elevated plain. To the north stretched the limpid, and, as it appearedfrom that dizzy height, the narrow sheet of the “holy lake,”indented with numberless bays, embellished by fantastic headlands, and dottedwith countless islands. At the distance of a few leagues, the bed of the waterbecame lost among mountains, or was wrapped in the masses of vapor that cameslowly rolling along their bosom, before a light morning air. But a narrowopening between the crests of the hills pointed out the passage by which theyfound their way still further north, to spread their pure and ample sheetsagain, before pouring out their tribute into the distant Champlain. To thesouth stretched the defile, or rather broken plain, so often mentioned. Forseveral miles in this direction, the mountains appeared reluctant to yieldtheir dominion, but within reach of the eye they diverged, and finally meltedinto the level and sandy lands, across which we have accompanied ouradventurers in their double journey. Along both ranges of hills, which boundedthe opposite sides of the lake and valley, clouds of light vapor were rising inspiral wreaths from the uninhabited woods, looking like the smoke of hiddencottages; or rolled lazily down the declivities, to mingle with the fogs of thelower land. A single, solitary, snow-white cloud floated above the valley, andmarked the spot beneath which lay the silent pool of the “bloodypond.”

Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its western than to itseastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts and low buildings of WilliamHenry. Two of the sweeping bastions appeared to rest on the water which washedtheir bases, while a deep ditch and extensive morasses guarded its other sidesand angles. The land had been cleared of wood for a reasonable distance aroundthe work, but every other part of the scene lay in the green livery of nature,except where the limpid water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust theirblack and naked heads above the undulating outline of the mountain ranges. Inits front might be seen the scattered sentinels, who held a weary watch againsttheir numerous foes; and within the walls themselves, the travelers looked downupon men still drowsy with a night of vigilance. Toward the southeast, but inimmediate contact with the fort, was an entrenched camp, posted on a rockyeminence, that would have been far more eligible for the work itself, in whichHawkeye pointed out the presence of those auxiliary regiments that had sorecently left the Hudson in their company. From the woods, a little further tothe south, rose numerous dark and lurid smokes, that were easily to bedistinguished from the purer exhalations of the springs, and which the scoutalso showed to Heyward, as evidences that the enemy lay in force in thatdirection.

But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was on the westernbank of the lake, though quite near to its southern termination. On a strip ofland, which appeared from his stand too narrow to contain such an army, butwhich, in truth, extended many hundreds of yards from the shores of the Horicanto the base of the mountain, were to be seen the white tents and militaryengines of an encampment of ten thousand men. Batteries were already thrown upin their front, and even while the spectators above them were looking down,with such different emotions, on a scene which lay like a map beneath theirfeet, the roar of artillery rose from the valley, and passed off in thunderingechoes along the eastern hills.

“Morning is just touching them below,” said the deliberate andmusing scout, “and the watchers have a mind to wake up the sleepers bythe sound of cannon. We are a few hours too late! Montcalm has already filledthe woods with his accursed Iroquois.”

“The place is, indeed, invested,” returned Duncan; “but isthere no expedient by which we may enter? capture in the works would be farpreferable to falling again into the hands of roving Indians.”

“See!” exclaimed the scout, unconsciously directing the attentionof Cora to the quarters of her own father, “how that shot has made thestones fly from the side of the commandant’s house! Ay! these Frencherswill pull it to pieces faster than it was put together, solid and thick thoughit be!”

“Heyward, I sicken at the sight of danger that I cannot share,”said the undaunted but anxious daughter. “Let us go to Montcalm, anddemand admission: he dare not deny a child the boon.”

“You would scarce find the tent of the Frenchman with the hair on yourhead”; said the blunt scout. “If I had but one of the thousandboats which lie empty along that shore, it might be done! Ha! here will soon bean end of the firing, for yonder comes a fog that will turn day to night, andmake an Indian arrow more dangerous than a molded cannon. Now, if you are equalto the work, and will follow, I will make a push; for I long to get down intothat camp, if it be only to scatter some Mingo dogs that I see lurking in theskirts of yonder thicket of birch.”

“We are equal,” said Cora, firmly; “on such an errand we willfollow to any danger.”

The scout turned to her with a smile of honest and cordial approbation, as heanswered:

“I would I had a thousand men, of brawny limbs and quick eyes, thatfeared death as little as you! I’d send them jabbering Frenchers backinto their den again, afore the week was ended, howling like so many fetteredhounds or hungry wolves. But, stir,” he added, turning from her to therest of the party, “the fog comes rolling down so fast, we shall have butjust the time to meet it on the plain, and use it as a cover. Remember, if anyaccident should befall me, to keep the air blowing on your leftcheeks—or, rather, follow the Mohicans; they’d scent their way, beit in day or be it at night.”

He then waved his hand for them to follow, and threw himself down the steepdeclivity, with free, but careful footsteps. Heyward assisted the sisters todescend, and in a few minutes they were all far down a mountain whose sidesthey had climbed with so much toil and pain.

The direction taken by Hawkeye soon brought the travelers to the level of theplain, nearly opposite to a sally-port in the western curtain of the fort,which lay itself at the distance of about half a mile from the point where hehalted to allow Duncan to come up with his charge. In their eagerness, andfavored by the nature of the ground, they had anticipated the fog, which wasrolling heavily down the lake, and it became necessary to pause, until themists had wrapped the camp of the enemy in their fleecy mantle. The Mohicansprofited by the delay, to steal out of the woods, and to make a survey ofsurrounding objects. They were followed at a little distance by the scout, witha view to profit early by their report, and to obtain some faint knowledge forhimself of the more immediate localities.

In a very few moments he returned, his face reddened with vexation, while hemuttered his disappointment in words of no very gentle import.

“Here has the cunning Frenchman been posting a picket directly in ourpath,” he said; “red-skins and whites; and we shall be as likely tofall into their midst as to pass them in the fog!”

“Cannot we make a circuit to avoid the danger,” asked Heyward,“and come into our path again when it is passed?”

“Who that once bends from the line of his march in a fog can tell when orhow to find it again! The mists of Horican are not like the curls from apeace-pipe, or the smoke which settles above a mosquito fire.”

He was yet speaking, when a crashing sound was heard, and a cannon-ball enteredthe thicket, striking the body of a sapling, and rebounding to the earth, itsforce being much expended by previous resistance. The Indians followedinstantly like busy attendants on the terrible messenger, and Uncas commencedspeaking earnestly and with much action, in the Delaware tongue.

“It may be so, lad,” muttered the scout, when he had ended;“for desperate fevers are not to be treated like a toothache. Come, then,the fog is shutting in.”

“Stop!” cried Heyward; “first explain yourexpectations.”

“’Tis soon done, and a small hope it is; but it is better thannothing. This shot that you see,” added the scout, kicking the harmlessiron with his foot, “has plowed the ’arth in its road from thefort, and we shall hunt for the furrow it has made, when all other signs mayfail. No more words, but follow, or the fog may leave us in the middle of ourpath, a mark for both armies to shoot at.”

Heyward perceiving that, in fact, a crisis had arrived, when acts were morerequired than words, placed himself between the sisters, and drew them swiftlyforward, keeping the dim figure of their leader in his eye. It was soonapparent that Hawkeye had not magnified the power of the fog, for before theyhad proceeded twenty yards, it was difficult for the different individuals ofthe party to distinguish each other in the vapor.

They had made their little circuit to the left, and were already incliningagain toward the right, having, as Heyward thought, got over nearly half thedistance to the friendly works, when his ears were saluted with the fiercesummons, apparently within twenty feet of them, of:

“Qui va là?”

“Push on!” whispered the scout, once more bending to the left.

“Push on!” repeated Heyward; when the summons was renewed by adozen voices, each of which seemed charged with menace.

“C’est moi,” cried Duncan, dragging rather than leading thosehe supported swiftly onward.

“Bête!—qui?—moi!”

“Ami de la France.”

“Tu m’as plus l’air d’un ennemide la France;arrete ou pardieu je te ferai ami du diable. Non! feu, camarades, feu!”

The order was instantly obeyed, and the fog was stirred by the explosion offifty muskets. Happily, the aim was bad, and the bullets cut the air in adirection a little different from that taken by the fugitives; though still sonigh them, that to the unpractised ears of David and the two females, itappeared as if they whistled within a few inches of the organs. The outcry wasrenewed, and the order, not only to fire again, but to pursue, was too plainlyaudible. When Heyward briefly explained the meaning of the words they heard,Hawkeye halted and spoke with quick decision and great firmness.

“Let us deliver our fire,” he said; “they will believe it asortie, and give way, or they will wait for reinforcements.”

The scheme was well conceived, but failed in its effects. The instant theFrench heard the pieces, it seemed as if the plain was alive with men, musketsrattling along its whole extent, from the shores of the lake to the furthestboundary of the woods.

“We shall draw their entire army upon us, and bring on a generalassault,” said Duncan: “lead on, my friend, for your own life andours.”

The scout seemed willing to comply; but, in the hurry of the moment, and in thechange of position, he had lost the direction. In vain he turned either cheektoward the light air; they felt equally cool. In this dilemma, Uncas lighted onthe furrow of the cannon ball, where it had cut the ground in three adjacentant-hills.

“Give me the range!” said Hawkeye, bending to catch a glimpse ofthe direction, and then instantly moving onward.

Cries, oaths, voices calling to each other, and the reports of muskets, werenow quick and incessant, and, apparently, on every side of them. Suddenly astrong glare of light flashed across the scene, the fog rolled upward in thickwreaths, and several cannons belched across the plain, and the roar was thrownheavily back from the bellowing echoes of the mountain.

“’Tis from the fort!” exclaimed Hawkeye, turning short on histracks; “and we, like stricken fools, were rushing to the woods, underthe very knives of the Maquas.”

The instant their mistake was rectified, the whole party retraced the errorwith the utmost diligence. Duncan willingly relinquished the support of Cora tothe arm of Uncas and Cora as readily accepted the welcome assistance. Men, hotand angry in pursuit, were evidently on their footsteps, and each instantthreatened their capture, if not their destruction.

“Point de quartier aux coquins!” cried an eager pursuer, who seemedto direct the operations of the enemy.

“Stand firm, and be ready, my gallant Sixtieths!” suddenlyexclaimed a voice above them; “wait to see the enemy, fire low and sweepthe glacis.”

“Father! father!” exclaimed a piercing cry from out the mist:“it is I! Alice! thy own Elsie! Spare, oh! save your daughters!”

“Hold!” shouted the former speaker, in the awful tones of parentalagony, the sound reaching even to the woods, and rolling back in solemn echo.“’Tis she! God has restored me to my children! Throw open thesally-port; to the field, Sixtieths, to the field; pull not a trigger, lest yekill my lambs! Drive off these dogs of France with your steel.”

Duncan heard the grating of the rusty hinges, and darting to the spot, directedby the sound, he met a long line of dark red warriors, passing swiftly towardthe glacis. He knew them for his own battalion of the Royal Americans, andflying to their head, soon swept every trace of his pursuers from before theworks.

For an instant, Cora and Alice had stood trembling and bewildered by thisunexpected desertion; but before either had leisure for speech, or eventhought, an officer of gigantic frame, whose locks were bleached with years andservice, but whose air of military grandeur had been rather softened thandestroyed by time, rushed out of the body of mist, and folded them to hisbosom, while large scalding tears rolled down his pale and wrinkled cheeks, andhe exclaimed, in the peculiar accent of Scotland:

“For this I thank thee, Lord! Let danger come as it will, thy servant isnow prepared!”

CHAPTER XV.

“Then go we in, to know his embassy;
Which I could, with ready guess, declare,
Before the Frenchmen speak a word of it.”
—King Henry V

A few succeeding days were passed amid the privations, the uproar, and thedangers of the siege, which was vigorously pressed by a power, against whoseapproaches Munro possessed no competent means of resistance. It appeared as ifWebb, with his army, which lay slumbering on the banks of the Hudson, hadutterly forgotten the strait to which his countrymen were reduced. Montcalm hadfilled the woods of the portage with his savages, every yell and whoop fromwhom rang through the British encampment, chilling the hearts of men who werealready but too much disposed to magnify the danger.

Not so, however, with the besieged. Animated by the words, and stimulated bythe examples of their leaders, they had found their courage, and maintainedtheir ancient reputation, with a zeal that did justice to the stern characterof their commander. As if satisfied with the toil of marching through thewilderness to encounter his enemy, the French general, though of approvedskill, had neglected to seize the adjacent mountains; whence the besieged mighthave been exterminated with impunity, and which, in the more modern warfare ofthe country, would not have been neglected for a single hour. This sort ofcontempt for eminences, or rather dread of the labor of ascending them, mighthave been termed the besetting weakness of the warfare of the period. Itoriginated in the simplicity of the Indian contests, in which, from the natureof the combats, and the density of the forests, fortresses were rare, andartillery next to useless. The carelessness engendered by these usagesdescended even to the war of the Revolution and lost the States the importantfortress of Ticonderoga opening a way for the army of Burgoyne into what wasthen the bosom of the country. We look back at this ignorance, or infatuation,whichever it may be called, with wonder, knowing that the neglect of aneminence, whose difficulties, like those of Mount Defiance, have been sogreatly exaggerated, would, at the present time, prove fatal to the reputationof the engineer who had planned the works at their base, or to that of thegeneral whose lot it was to defend them.

The tourist, the valetudinarian, or the amateur of the beauties of nature, who,in the train of his four-in-hand, now rolls through the scenes we haveattempted to describe, in quest of information, health, or pleasure, or floatssteadily toward his object on those artificial waters which have sprung upunder the administration of a statesman^[1]who has dared to stake his political character on the hazardous issue, is notto suppose that his ancestors traversed those hills, or struggled with the samecurrents with equal facility. The transportation of a single heavy gun wasoften considered equal to a victory gained; if happily, the difficulties of thepassage had not so far separated it from its necessary concomitant, theammunition, as to render it no more than a useless tube of unwieldy iron.

[1]Evidently the late De Witt Clinton, who died governor of New York in 1828.

The evils of this state of things pressed heavily on the fortunes of theresolute Scotsman who now defended William Henry. Though his adversaryneglected the hills, he had planted his batteries with judgment on the plain,and caused them to be served with vigor and skill. Against this assault, thebesieged could only oppose the imperfect and hasty preparations of a fortressin the wilderness.

It was in the afternoon of the fifth day of the siege, and the fourth of hisown service in it, that Major Heyward profited by a parley that had just beenbeaten, by repairing to the ramparts of one of the water bastions, to breathethe cool air from the lake, and to take a survey of the progress of the siege.He was alone, if the solitary sentinel who paced the mound be excepted; for theartillerists had hastened also to profit by the temporary suspension of theirarduous duties. The evening was delightfully calm, and the light air from thelimpid water fresh and soothing. It seemed as if, with the termination of theroar of artillery and the plunging of shot, nature had also seized the momentto assume her mildest and most captivating form. The sun poured down hisparting glory on the scene, without the oppression of those fierce rays thatbelong to the climate and the season. The mountains looked green, and fresh,and lovely, tempered with the milder light, or softened in shadow, as thinvapors floated between them and the sun. The numerous islands rested on thebosom of the Horican, some low and sunken, as if embedded in the waters, andothers appearing to hover about the element, in little hillocks of greenvelvet; among which the fishermen of the beleaguering army peacefully rowedtheir skiffs, or floated at rest on the glassy mirror in quiet pursuit of theiremployment.

The scene was at once animated and still. All that pertained to nature wassweet, or simply grand; while those parts which depended on the temper andmovements of man were lively and playful.

Two little spotless flags were abroad, the one on a salient angle of the fort,and the other on the advanced battery of the besiegers; emblems of the truthwhich existed, not only to the acts, but it would seem, also, to the enmity ofthe combatants.

Behind these again swung, heavily opening and closing in silken folds, therival standards of England and France.

A hundred gay and thoughtless young Frenchmen were drawing a net to the pebblybeach, within dangerous proximity to the sullen but silent cannon of the fort,while the eastern mountain was sending back the loud shouts and gay merrimentthat attended their sport. Some were rushing eagerly to enjoy the aquatic gamesof the lake, and others were already toiling their way up the neighboringhills, with the restless curiosity of their nation. To all these sports andpursuits, those of the enemy who watched the besieged, and the besiegedthemselves, were, however, merely the idle though sympathizing spectators. Hereand there a picket had, indeed, raised a song, or mingled in a dance, which haddrawn the dusky savages around them, from their lairs in the forest. In short,everything wore rather the appearance of a day of pleasure, than of an hourstolen from the dangers and toil of a bloody and vindictive warfare.

Duncan had stood in a musing attitude, contemplating this scene a few minutes,when his eyes were directed to the glacis in front of the sally-port alreadymentioned, by the sounds of approaching footsteps. He walked to an angle of thebastion, and beheld the scout advancing, under the custody of a French officer,to the body of the fort. The countenance of Hawkeye was haggard and careworn,and his air dejected, as though he felt the deepest degradation at havingfallen into the power of his enemies. He was without his favorite weapon, andhis arms were even bound behind him with thongs, made of the skin of a deer.The arrival of flags to cover the messengers of summons, had occurred so oftenof late, that when Heyward first threw his careless glance on this group, heexpected to see another of the officers of the enemy, charged with a similaroffice but the instant he recognized the tall person and still sturdy thoughdowncast features of his friend, the woodsman, he started with surprise, andturned to descend from the bastion into the bosom of the work.

The sounds of other voices, however, caught his attention, and for a momentcaused him to forget his purpose. At the inner angle of the mound he met thesisters, walking along the parapet, in search, like himself, of air and relieffrom confinement. They had not met from that painful moment when he desertedthem on the plain, only to assure their safety. He had parted from them wornwith care, and jaded with fatigue; he now saw them refreshed and blooming,though timid and anxious. Under such an inducement it will cause no surprisethat the young man lost sight for a time, of other objects in order to addressthem. He was, however, anticipated by the voice of the ingenuous and youthfulAlice.

“Ah! thou tyrant! thou recreant knight! he who abandons his damsels inthe very lists,” she cried; “here have we been days, nay, ages,expecting you at our feet, imploring mercy and forgetfulness of your cravenbacksliding, or I should rather say, backrunning—for verily you fled inthe manner that no stricken deer, as our worthy friend the scout would say,could equal!”

“You know that Alice means our thanks and our blessings,” added thegraver and more thoughtful Cora. “In truth, we have a little wonder whyyou should so rigidly absent yourself from a place where the gratitude of thedaughters might receive the support of a parent’s thanks.”

“Your father himself could tell you, that, though absent from yourpresence, I have not been altogether forgetful of your safety,” returnedthe young man; “the mastery of yonder village of huts,” pointing tothe neighboring entrenched camp, “has been keenly disputed; and he whoholds it is sure to be possessed of this fort, and that which it contains. Mydays and nights have all been passed there since we separated, because Ithought that duty called me thither. But,” he added, with an air ofchagrin, which he endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to conceal, “had Ibeen aware that what I then believed a soldier’s conduct could be soconstrued, shame would have been added to the list of reasons.”

“Heyward! Duncan!” exclaimed Alice, bending forward to read hishalf-averted countenance, until a lock of her golden hair rested on her flushedcheek, and nearly concealed the tear that had started to her eye; “did Ithink this idle tongue of mine had pained you, I would silence it forever. Coracan say, if Cora would, how justly we have prized your services, and howdeep—I had almost said, how fervent—is our gratitude.”

“And will Cora attest the truth of this?” cried Duncan, sufferingthe cloud to be chased from his countenance by a smile of open pleasure.“What says our graver sister? Will she find an excuse for the neglect ofthe knight in the duty of a soldier?”

Cora made no immediate answer, but turned her face toward the water, as iflooking on the sheet of the Horican. When she did bend her dark eyes on theyoung man, they were yet filled with an expression of anguish that at oncedrove every thought but that of kind solicitude from his mind.

“You are not well, dearest Miss Munro!” he exclaimed; “wehave trifled while you are in suffering!”

“’Tis nothing,” she answered, refusing his support withfeminine reserve. “That I cannot see the sunny side of the picture oflife, like this artless but ardent enthusiast,” she added, laying herhand lightly, but affectionately, on the arm of her sister, “is thepenalty of experience, and, perhaps, the misfortune of my nature. See,”she continued, as if determined to shake off infirmity, in a sense of duty;“look around you, Major Heyward, and tell me what a prospect is this forthe daughter of a soldier whose greatest happiness is his honor and hismilitary renown.”

“Neither ought nor shall be tarnished by circumstances over which he hashad no control,” Duncan warmly replied. “But your words recall meto my own duty. I go now to your gallant father, to hear his determination inmatters of the last moment to the defense. God bless you in every fortune,noble—Cora—I may and must call you.” She frankly gave him herhand, though her lip quivered, and her cheeks gradually became of ashlypaleness. “In every fortune, I know you will be an ornament and honor toyour sex. Alice, adieu”—his voice changed from admiration totenderness—“adieu, Alice; we shall soon meet again; as conquerors,I trust, and amid rejoicings!”

Without waiting for an answer from either, the young man threw himself down thegrassy steps of the bastion, and moving rapidly across the parade, he wasquickly in the presence of their father. Munro was pacing his narrow apartmentwith a disturbed air and gigantic strides as Duncan entered.

“You have anticipated my wishes, Major Heyward,” he said; “Iwas about to request this favor.”

“I am sorry to see, sir, that the messenger I so warmly recommended hasreturned in custody of the French! I hope there is no reason to distrust hisfidelity?”

“The fidelity of ‘The Long Rifle’ is well known to me,”returned Munro, “and is above suspicion; though his usual good fortuneseems, at last, to have failed. Montcalm has got him, and with the accursedpoliteness of his nation, he has sent him in with a doleful tale, of‘knowing how I valued the fellow, he could not think of retaininghim.’ A Jesuitical way that, Major Duncan Heyward, of telling a man ofhis misfortunes!”

“But the general and his succor?”

“Did ye look to the south as ye entered, and could ye not seethem?” said the old soldier, laughing bitterly. “Hoot! hoot!you’re an impatient boy, sir, and cannot give the gentlemen leisure fortheir march!”

“They are coming, then? The scout has said as much?”

“When? and by what path? for the dunce has omitted to tell me this. Thereis a letter, it would seem, too; and that is the only agreeable part of thematter. For the customary attentions of your Marquis of Montcalm—Iwarrant me, Duncan, that he of Lothian would buy a dozen suchmarquisates—but if the news of the letter were bad, the gentility of thisFrench monsieur would certainly compel him to let us know it.”

“He keeps the letter, then, while he releases the messenger?”

“Ay, that does he, and all for the sake of what you call your‘bonhommie.’ I would venture, if the truth was known, thefellow’s grandfather taught the noble science of dancing.”

“But what says the scout? he has eyes and ears, and a tongue. What verbalreport does he make?”

“Oh! sir, he is not wanting in natural organs, and he is free to tell allthat he has seen and heard. The whole amount is this; there is a fort of hismajesty’s on the banks of the Hudson, called Edward, in honor of hisgracious highness of York, you’ll know; and it is well filled with armedmen, as such a work should be.”

“But was there no movement, no signs of any intention to advance to ourrelief?”

“There were the morning and evening parades; and when one of theprovincial loons—you’ll know, Duncan, you’re half a Scotsmanyourself—when one of them dropped his powder over his porretch, if ittouched the coals, it just burned!” Then, suddenly changing his bitter,ironical manner, to one more grave and thoughtful, he continued: “and yetthere might, and must be, something in that letter which it would be well toknow!”

“Our decision should be speedy,” said Duncan, gladly availinghimself of this change of humor, to press the more important objects of theirinterview; “I cannot conceal from you, sir, that the camp will not bemuch longer tenable; and I am sorry to add, that things appear no better in thefort; more than half the guns are bursted.”

“And how should it be otherwise? Some were fished from the bottom of thelake; some have been rusting in woods since the discovery of the country; andsome were never guns at all—mere privateersmen’s playthings! Do youthink, sir, you can have Woolwich Warren in the midst of a wilderness, threethousand miles from Great Britain?”

“The walls are crumbling about our ears, and provisions begin to failus,” continued Heyward, without regarding the new burst of indignation;“even the men show signs of discontent and alarm.”

“Major Heyward,” said Munro, turning to his youthful associate withthe dignity of his years and superior rank; “I should have served hismajesty for half a century, and earned these gray hairs in vain, were Iignorant of all you say, and of the pressing nature of our circumstances;still, there is everything due to the honor of the king’s arms, andsomething to ourselves. While there is hope of succor, this fortress will Idefend, though it be to be done with pebbles gathered on the lake shore. It isa sight of the letter, therefore, that we want, that we may know the intentionsof the man the earl of Loudon has left among us as his substitute.”

“And can I be of service in the matter?”

“Sir, you can; the marquis of Montcalm has, in addition to his othercivilities, invited me to a personal interview between the works and his owncamp; in order, as he says, to impart some additional information. Now, I thinkit would not be wise to show any undue solicitude to meet him, and I wouldemploy you, an officer of rank, as my substitute; for it would but ill comportwith the honor of Scotland to let it be said one of her gentlemen was outdonein civility by a native of any other country on earth.”

Without assuming the supererogatory task of entering into a discussion of thecomparative merits of national courtesy, Duncan cheerfully assented to supplythe place of the veteran in the approaching interview. A long and confidentialcommunication now succeeded, during which the young man received someadditional insight into his duty, from the experience and native acuteness ofhis commander, and then the former took his leave.

As Duncan could only act as the representative of the commandant of the fort,the ceremonies which should have accompanied a meeting between the heads of theadverse forces were, of course, dispensed with. The truce still existed, andwith a roll and beat of the drum, and covered by a little white flag, Duncanleft the sally-port, within ten minutes after his instructions were ended. Hewas received by the French officer in advance with the usual formalities, andimmediately accompanied to a distant marquee of the renowned soldier who ledthe forces of France.

The general of the enemy received the youthful messenger, surrounded by hisprincipal officers, and by a swarthy band of the native chiefs, who hadfollowed him to the field, with the warriors of their several tribes. Heywardpaused short, when, in glancing his eyes rapidly over the dark group of thelatter, he beheld the malignant countenance of Magua, regarding him with thecalm but sullen attention which marked the expression of that subtle savage. Aslight exclamation of surprise even burst from the lips of the young man, butinstantly, recollecting his errand, and the presence in which he stood, hesuppressed every appearance of emotion, and turned to the hostile leader, whohad already advanced a step to receive him.

The marquis of Montcalm was, at the period of which we write, in the flower ofhis age, and, it may be added, in the zenith of his fortunes. But even in thatenviable situation, he was affable, and distinguished as much for his attentionto the forms of courtesy, as for that chivalrous courage which, only two shortyears afterward, induced him to throw away his life on the plains of Abraham.Duncan, in turning his eyes from the malign expression of Magua, suffered themto rest with pleasure on the smiling and polished features, and the noblemilitary air, of the French general.

“Monsieur,” said the latter, “j’ai beaucoup de plaisirà—bah!—où est cet interpréte?”

“Je crois, monsieur, qu’il ne sear pas nécessaire,” Heywardmodestly replied; “je parle un peu Français.”

“Ah! j’en suis bien aise,” said Montcalm, taking Duncanfamiliarly by the arm, and leading him deep into the marquee, a little out ofearshot; “je déteste ces fripons-là; on ne sait jamais sur quel piè onest avec eux. Eh, bien! monsieur,” he continued still speaking in French;“though I should have been proud of receiving your commandant, I am veryhappy that he has seen proper to employ an officer so distinguished, and who, Iam sure, is so amiable, as yourself.”

Duncan bowed low, pleased with the compliment, in spite of a most heroicdetermination to suffer no artifice to allure him into forgetfulness of theinterest of his prince; and Montcalm, after a pause of a moment, as if tocollect his thoughts, proceeded:

“Your commandant is a brave man, and well qualified to repel my assault.Mais, monsieur, is it not time to begin to take more counsel of humanity, andless of your courage? The one as strongly characterizes the hero as theother.”

“We consider the qualities as inseparable,” returned Duncan,smiling; “but while we find in the vigor of your excellency every motiveto stimulate the one, we can, as yet, see no particular call for the exerciseof the other.”

Montcalm, in his turn, slightly bowed, but it was with the air of a man toopractised to remember the language of flattery. After musing a moment, headded:

“It is possible my glasses have deceived me, and that your works resistour cannon better than I had supposed. You know our force?”

“Our accounts vary,” said Duncan, carelessly; “the highest,however, has not exceeded twenty thousand men.”

The Frenchman bit his lip, and fastened his eyes keenly on the other as if toread his thoughts; then, with a readiness peculiar to himself, he continued, asif assenting to the truth of an enumeration which quite doubled his army:

“It is a poor compliment to the vigilance of us soldiers, monsieur, that,do what we will, we never can conceal our numbers. If it were to be done atall, one would believe it might succeed in these woods. Though you think it toosoon to listen to the calls of humanity,” he added, smiling archly,“I may be permitted to believe that gallantry is not forgotten by one soyoung as yourself. The daughters of the commandant, I learn, have passed intothe fort since it was invested?”

“It is true, monsieur; but, so far from weakening our efforts, they setus an example of courage in their own fortitude. Were nothing but resolutionnecessary to repel so accomplished a soldier as M. de Montcalm, I would gladlytrust the defense of William Henry to the elder of those ladies.”

“We have a wise ordinance in our Salique laws, which says, ‘Thecrown of France shall never degrade the lance to the distaff’,”said Montcalm, dryly, and with a little hauteur; but instantly adding, with hisformer frank and easy air: “as all the nobler qualities are hereditary, Ican easily credit you; though, as I said before, courage has its limits, andhumanity must not be forgotten. I trust, monsieur, you come authorized to treatfor the surrender of the place?”

“Has your excellency found our defense so feeble as to believe themeasure necessary?”

“I should be sorry to have the defense protracted in such a manner as toirritate my red friends there,” continued Montcalm, glancing his eyes atthe group of grave and attentive Indians, without attending to theother’s questions; “I find it difficult, even now, to limit them tothe usages of war.”

Heyward was silent; for a painful recollection of the dangers he had sorecently escaped came over his mind, and recalled the images of thosedefenseless beings who had shared in all his sufferings.

“Ces messieurs-là,” said Montcalm, following up the advantage whichhe conceived he had gained, “are most formidable when baffled; and it isunnecessary to tell you with what difficulty they are restrained in theiranger. Eh bien, monsieur! shall we speak of the terms?”

“I fear your excellency has been deceived as to the strength of WilliamHenry, and the resources of its garrison!”

“I have not sat down before Quebec, but an earthen work, that is defendedby twenty-three hundred gallant men,” was the laconic reply.

“Our mounds are earthen, certainly—nor are they seated on the rocksof Cape Diamond; but they stand on that shore which proved so destructive toDieskau and his army. There is also a powerful force within a few hours’march of us, which we account upon as a part of our means.”

“Some six or eight thousand men,” returned Montcalm, with muchapparent indifference, “whom their leader wisely judges to be safer intheir works than in the field.”

It was now Heyward’s turn to bite his lip with vexation as the other socoolly alluded to a force which the young man knew to be overrated. Both museda little while in silence, when Montcalm renewed the conversation, in a waythat showed he believed the visit of his guest was solely to propose terms ofcapitulation. On the other hand, Heyward began to throw sundry inducements inthe way of the French general, to betray the discoveries he had made throughthe intercepted letter. The artifice of neither, however, succeeded; and aftera protracted and fruitless interview, Duncan took his leave, favorablyimpressed with an opinion of the courtesy and talents of the enemy’scaptain, but as ignorant of what he came to learn as when he arrived. Montcalmfollowed him as far as the entrance of the marquee, renewing his invitations tothe commandant of the fort to give him an immediate meeting in the open groundbetween the two armies.

There they separated, and Duncan returned to the advanced post of the French,accompanied as before; whence he instantly proceeded to the fort, and to thequarters of his own commander.

CHAPTER XVI.

“EDG.—Before you fight the battle ope this letter.”
—Lear

Major Heyward found Munro attended only by his daughters. Alice sat upon hisknee, parting the gray hairs on the forehead of the old man with her delicatefingers; and whenever he affected to frown on her trifling, appeasing hisassumed anger by pressing her ruby lips fondly on his wrinkled brow. Cora wasseated nigh them, a calm and amused looker-on; regarding the wayward movementsof her more youthful sister with that species of maternal fondness whichcharacterized her love for Alice. Not only the dangers through which they hadpassed, but those which still impended above them, appeared to be momentarilyforgotten, in the soothing indulgence of such a family meeting. It seemed as ifthey had profited by the short truce, to devote an instant to the purest andbest affection; the daughters forgetting their fears, and the veteran hiscares, in the security of the moment. Of this scene, Duncan, who, in hiseagerness to report his arrival, had entered unannounced, stood many moments anunobserved and a delighted spectator. But the quick and dancing eyes of Alicesoon caught a glimpse of his figure reflected from a glass, and she sprangblushing from her father’s knee, exclaiming aloud:

“Major Heyward!”

“What of the lad?” demanded her father; “I have sent him tocrack a little with the Frenchman. Ha, sir, you are young, and you’renimble! Away with you, ye baggage; as if there were not troubles enough for asoldier, without having his camp filled with such prattling hussies asyourself!”

Alice laughingly followed her sister, who instantly led the way from anapartment where she perceived their presence was no longer desirable. Munro,instead of demanding the result of the young man’s mission, paced theroom for a few moments, with his hands behind his back, and his head inclinedtoward the floor, like a man lost in thought. At length he raised his eyes,glistening with a father’s fondness, and exclaimed:

“They are a pair of excellent girls, Heyward, and such as any one mayboast of.”

“You are not now to learn my opinion of your daughters, ColonelMunro.”

“True, lad, true,” interrupted the impatient old man; “youwere about opening your mind more fully on that matter the day you got in, butI did not think it becoming in an old soldier to be talking of nuptialblessings and wedding jokes when the enemies of his king were likely to beunbidden guests at the feast. But I was wrong, Duncan, boy, I was wrong there;and I am now ready to hear what you have to say.”

“Notwithstanding the pleasure your assurance gives me, dear sir, I havejust now, a message from Montcalm—”

“Let the Frenchman and all his host go to the devil, sir!”exclaimed the hasty veteran. “He is not yet master of William Henry, norshall he ever be, provided Webb proves himself the man he should. No, sir,thank Heaven we are not yet in such a strait that it can be said Munro is toomuch pressed to discharge the little domestic duties of his own family. Yourmother was the only child of my bosom friend, Duncan; and I’ll just giveyou a hearing, though all the knights of St. Louis were in a body at thesally-port, with the French saint at their head, crying to speak a word underfavor. A pretty degree of knighthood, sir, is that which can be bought withsugar hogsheads! and then your twopenny marquisates. The thistle is the orderfor dignity and antiquity; the veritable ‘nemo me impune lacessit’of chivalry. Ye had ancestors in that degree, Duncan, and they were an ornamentto the nobles of Scotland.”

Heyward, who perceived that his superior took a malicious pleasure inexhibiting his contempt for the message of the French general, was fain tohumor a spleen that he knew would be short-lived; he therefore, replied with asmuch indifference as he could assume on such a subject:

“My request, as you know, sir, went so far as to presume to the honor ofbeing your son.”

“Ay, boy, you found words to make yourself very plainly comprehended.But, let me ask ye, sir, have you been as intelligible to the girl?”

“On my honor, no,” exclaimed Duncan, warmly; “there wouldhave been an abuse of a confided trust, had I taken advantage of my situationfor such a purpose.”

“Your notions are those of a gentleman, Major Heyward, and well enough intheir place. But Cora Munro is a maiden too discreet, and of a mind tooelevated and improved, to need the guardianship even of a father.”

“Cora!”

“Ay—Cora! we are talking of your pretensions to Miss Munro, are wenot, sir?”

“I—I—I was not conscious of having mentioned her name,”said Duncan, stammering.

“And to marry whom, then, did you wish my consent, Major Heyward?”demanded the old soldier, erecting himself in the dignity of offended feeling.

“You have another, and not less lovely child.”

“Alice!” exclaimed the father, in an astonishment equal to thatwith which Duncan had just repeated the name of her sister.

“Such was the direction of my wishes, sir.”

The young man awaited in silence the result of the extraordinary effectproduced by a communication, which, as it now appeared, was so unexpected. Forseveral minutes Munro paced the chamber with long and rapid strides, his rigidfeatures working convulsively, and every faculty seemingly absorbed in themusings of his own mind. At length, he paused directly in front of Heyward, andriveting his eyes upon those of the other, he said, with a lip that quiveredviolently:

“Duncan Heyward, I have loved you for the sake of him whose blood is inyour veins; I have loved you for your own good qualities; and I have loved you,because I thought you would contribute to the happiness of my child. But allthis love would turn to hatred, were I assured that what I so much apprehend istrue.”

“God forbid that any act or thought of mine should lead to such achange!” exclaimed the young man, whose eye never quailed under thepenetrating look it encountered. Without adverting to the impossibility of theother’s comprehending those feelings which were hid in his own bosom,Munro suffered himself to be appeased by the unaltered countenance he met, andwith a voice sensibly softened, he continued:

“You would be my son, Duncan, and you’re ignorant of the history ofthe man you wish to call your father. Sit ye down, young man, and I will opento you the wounds of a seared heart, in as few words as may be suitable.”

By this time, the message of Montcalm was as much forgotten by him who bore itas by the man for whose ears it was intended. Each drew a chair, and while theveteran communed a few moments with his own thoughts, apparently in sadness,the youth suppressed his impatience in a look and attitude of respectfulattention. At length, the former spoke:

“You’ll know, already, Major Heyward, that my family was bothancient and honorable,” commenced the Scotsman; “though it mightnot altogether be endowed with that amount of wealth that should correspondwith its degree. I was, maybe, such an one as yourself when I plighted my faithto Alice Graham, the only child of a neighboring laird of some estate. But theconnection was disagreeable to her father, on more accounts than my poverty. Idid, therefore, what an honest man should—restored the maiden her troth,and departed the country in the service of my king. I had seen many regions,and had shed much blood in different lands, before duty called me to theislands of the West Indies. There it was my lot to form a connection with onewho in time became my wife, and the mother of Cora. She was the daughter of agentleman of those isles, by a lady whose misfortune it was, if youwill,” said the old man, proudly, “to be descended, remotely, fromthat unfortunate class who are so basely enslaved to administer to the wants ofa luxurious people. Ay, sir, that is a curse, entailed on Scotland by herunnatural union with a foreign and trading people. But could I find a man amongthem who would dare to reflect on my child, he should feel the weight of afather’s anger! Ha! Major Heyward, you are yourself born at the south,where these unfortunate beings are considered of a race inferior to yourown.”

“’Tis most unfortunately true, sir,” said Duncan, unable anylonger to prevent his eyes from sinking to the floor in embarrassment.

“And you cast it on my child as a reproach! You scorn to mingle the bloodof the Heywards with one so degraded—lovely and virtuous though shebe?” fiercely demanded the jealous parent.

“Heaven protect me from a prejudice so unworthy of my reason!”returned Duncan, at the same time conscious of such a feeling, and that asdeeply rooted as if it had been ingrafted in his nature. “The sweetness,the beauty, the witchery of your younger daughter, Colonel Munro, might explainmy motives without imputing to me this injustice.”

“Ye are right, sir,” returned the old man, again changing his tonesto those of gentleness, or rather softness; “the girl is the image ofwhat her mother was at her years, and before she had become acquainted withgrief. When death deprived me of my wife I returned to Scotland, enriched bythe marriage; and, would you think it, Duncan! the suffering angel had remainedin the heartless state of celibacy twenty long years, and that for the sake ofa man who could forget her! She did more, sir; she overlooked my want of faith,and, all difficulties being now removed, she took me for her husband.”

“And became the mother of Alice?” exclaimed Duncan, with aneagerness that might have proved dangerous at a moment when the thoughts ofMunro were less occupied that at present.

“She did, indeed,” said the old man, “and dearly did she payfor the blessing she bestowed. But she is a saint in heaven, sir; and it illbecomes one whose foot rests on the grave to mourn a lot so blessed. I had herbut a single year, though; a short term of happiness for one who had seen heryouth fade in hopeless pining.”

There was something so commanding in the distress of the old man, that Heywarddid not dare to venture a syllable of consolation. Munro sat utterlyunconscious of the other’s presence, his features exposed and workingwith the anguish of his regrets, while heavy tears fell from his eyes, androlled unheeded from his cheeks to the floor. At length he moved, and as ifsuddenly recovering his recollection; when he arose, and taking a single turnacross the room, he approached his companion with an air of military grandeur,and demanded:

“Have you not, Major Heyward, some communication that I should hear fromthe marquis de Montcalm?”

Duncan started in his turn, and immediately commenced in an embarrassed voice,the half-forgotten message. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the evasive thoughpolite manner with which the French general had eluded every attempt of Heywardto worm from him the purport of the communication he had proposed making, or onthe decided, though still polished message, by which he now gave his enemy tounderstand, that, unless he chose to receive it in person, he should notreceive it at all. As Munro listened to the detail of Duncan, the excitedfeelings of the father gradually gave way before the obligations of hisstation, and when the other was done, he saw before him nothing but theveteran, swelling with the wounded feelings of a soldier.

“You have said enough, Major Heyward,” exclaimed the angry old man;“enough to make a volume of commentary on French civility. Here has thisgentleman invited me to a conference, and when I send him a capable substitute,for ye’re all that, Duncan, though your years are but few, he answers mewith a riddle.”

“He may have thought less favorably of the substitute, my dear sir; andyou will remember that the invitation, which he now repeats, was to thecommandant of the works, and not to his second.”

“Well, sir, is not a substitute clothed with all the power and dignity ofhim who grants the commission? He wishes to confer with Munro! Faith, sir, Ihave much inclination to indulge the man, if it should only be to let himbehold the firm countenance we maintain in spite of his numbers and hissummons. There might be not bad policy in such a stroke, young man.”

Duncan, who believed it of the last importance that they should speedily cometo the contents of the letter borne by the scout, gladly encouraged this idea.

“Without doubt, he could gather no confidence by witnessing ourindifference,” he said.

“You never said truer word. I could wish, sir, that he would visit theworks in open day, and in the form of a storming party; that is the leastfailing method of proving the countenance of an enemy, and would be farpreferable to the battering system he has chosen. The beauty and manliness ofwarfare has been much deformed, Major Heyward, by the arts of your MonsieurVauban. Our ancestors were far above such scientific cowardice!”

“It may be very true, sir; but we are now obliged to repel art by art.What is your pleasure in the matter of the interview?”

“I will meet the Frenchman, and that without fear or delay; promptly,sir, as becomes a servant of my royal master. Go, Major Heyward, and give thema flourish of the music; and send out a messenger to let them know who iscoming. We will follow with a small guard, for such respect is due to one whoholds the honor of his king in keeping; and hark’ee, Duncan,” headded, in a half whisper, though they were alone, “it may be prudent tohave some aid at hand, in case there should be treachery at the bottom of itall.”

The young man availed himself of this order to quit the apartment; and, as theday was fast coming to a close, he hastened without delay, to make thenecessary arrangements. A very few minutes only were necessary to parade a fewfiles, and to dispatch an orderly with a flag to announce the approach of thecommandant of the fort. When Duncan had done both these, he led the guard tothe sally-port, near which he found his superior ready, waiting his appearance.As soon as the usual ceremonials of a military departure were observed, theveteran and his more youthful companion left the fortress, attended by theescort.

They had proceeded only a hundred yards from the works, when the little arraywhich attended the French general to the conference was seen issuing from thehollow way which formed the bed of a brook that ran between the batteries ofthe besiegers and the fort. From the moment that Munro left his own works toappear in front of his enemy’s, his air had been grand, and his step andcountenance highly military. The instant he caught a glimpse of the white plumethat waved in the hat of Montcalm, his eye lighted, and age no longer appearedto possess any influence over his vast and still muscular person.

“Speak to the boys to be watchful, sir,” he said, in an undertone,to Duncan; “and to look well to their flints and steel, for one is neversafe with a servant of these Louis’s; at the same time, we shall showthem the front of men in deep security. Ye’ll understand me, MajorHeyward!”

He was interrupted by the clamor of a drum from the approaching Frenchmen,which was immediately answered, when each party pushed an orderly in advance,bearing a white flag, and the wary Scotsman halted with his guard close at hisback. As soon as this slight salutation had passed, Montcalm moved toward themwith a quick but graceful step, baring his head to the veteran, and droppinghis spotless plume nearly to the earth in courtesy. If the air of Munro wasmore commanding and manly, it wanted both the ease and insinuating polish ofthat of the Frenchman. Neither spoke for a few moments, each regarding theother with curious and interested eyes. Then, as became his superior rank andthe nature of the interview, Montcalm broke the silence. After uttering theusual words of greeting, he turned to Duncan, and continued, with a smile ofrecognition, speaking always in French:

“I am rejoiced, monsieur, that you have given us the pleasure of yourcompany on this occasion. There will be no necessity to employ an ordinaryinterpreter; for, in your hands, I feel the same security as if I spoke yourlanguage myself.”

Duncan acknowledged the compliment, when Montcalm, turning to his guard, whichin imitation of that of their enemies, pressed close upon him, continued:

“En arriere, mes enfants—il fait chaud—-retirez-vous unpeu.”

Before Major Heyward would imitate this proof of confidence, he glanced hiseyes around the plain, and beheld with uneasiness the numerous dusky groups ofsavages, who looked out from the margin of the surrounding woods, curiousspectators of the interview.

“Monsieur de Montcalm will readily acknowledge the difference in oursituation,” he said, with some embarrassment, pointing at the same timetoward those dangerous foes, who were to be seen in almost every direction.“Were we to dismiss our guard, we should stand here at the mercy of ourenemies.”

“Monsieur, you have the plighted faith of ‘un gentilhommeFrançais’, for your safety,” returned Montcalm, laying his handimpressively on his heart; “it should suffice.”

“It shall. Fall back,” Duncan added to the officer who led theescort; “fall back, sir, beyond hearing, and wait for orders.”

Munro witnessed this movement with manifest uneasiness; nor did he fail todemand an instant explanation.

“Is it not our interest, sir, to betray no distrust?” retortedDuncan. “Monsieur de Montcalm pledges his word for our safety, and I haveordered the men to withdraw a little, in order to prove how much we depend onhis assurance.”

“It may be all right, sir, but I have no overweening reliance on thefaith of these marquesses, or marquis, as they call themselves. Their patentsof nobility are too common to be certain that they bear the seal of truehonor.”

“You forget, dear sir, that we confer with an officer, distinguishedalike in Europe and America for his deeds. From a soldier of his reputation wecan have nothing to apprehend.”

The old man made a gesture of resignation, though his rigid features stillbetrayed his obstinate adherence to a distrust, which he derived from a sort ofhereditary contempt of his enemy, rather than from any present signs whichmight warrant so uncharitable a feeling. Montcalm waited patiently until thislittle dialogue in demi-voice was ended, when he drew nigher, and opened thesubject of their conference.

“I have solicited this interview from your superior, monsieur,” hesaid, “because I believe he will allow himself to be persuaded that hehas already done everything which is necessary for the honor of his prince, andwill now listen to the admonitions of humanity. I will forever bear testimonythat his resistance has been gallant, and was continued as long as there washope.”

When this opening was translated to Munro, he answered with dignity, but withsufficient courtesy:

“However I may prize such testimony from Monsieur Montcalm, it will bemore valuable when it shall be better merited.”

The French general smiled, as Duncan gave him the purport of this reply, andobserved:

“What is now so freely accorded to approved courage, may be refused touseless obstinacy. Monsieur would wish to see my camp, and witness for himselfour numbers, and the impossibility of his resisting them with success?”

“I know that the king of France is well served,” returned theunmoved Scotsman, as soon as Duncan ended his translation; “but my ownroyal master has as many and as faithful troops.”

“Though not at hand, fortunately for us,” said Montcalm, withoutwaiting, in his ardor, for the interpreter. “There is a destiny in war,to which a brave man knows how to submit with the same courage that he faceshis foes.”

“Had I been conscious that Monsieur Montcalm was master of the English, Ishould have spared myself the trouble of so awkward a translation,” saidthe vexed Duncan, dryly; remembering instantly his recent by-play with Munro.

“Your pardon, monsieur,” rejoined the Frenchman, suffering a slightcolor to appear on his dark cheek. “There is a vast difference betweenunderstanding and speaking a foreign tongue; you will, therefore, please toassist me still.” Then, after a short pause, he added: “These hillsafford us every opportunity of reconnoitering your works, messieurs, and I ampossibly as well acquainted with their weak condition as you can beyourselves.”

“Ask the French general if his glasses can reach to the Hudson,”said Munro, proudly; “and if he knows when and where to expect the armyof Webb.”

“Let General Webb be his own interpreter,” returned the politicMontcalm, suddenly extending an open letter toward Munro as he spoke;“you will there learn, monsieur, that his movements are not likely toprove embarrassing to my army.”

The veteran seized the offered paper, without waiting for Duncan to translatethe speech, and with an eagerness that betrayed how important he deemed itscontents. As his eye passed hastily over the words, his countenance changedfrom its look of military pride to one of deep chagrin; his lip began toquiver; and suffering the paper to fall from his hand, his head dropped uponhis chest, like that of a man whose hopes were withered at a single blow.Duncan caught the letter from the ground, and without apology for the libertyhe took, he read at a glance its cruel purport. Their common superior, so farfrom encouraging them to resist, advised a speedy surrender, urging in theplainest language, as a reason, the utter impossibility of his sending a singleman to their rescue.

“Here is no deception!” exclaimed Duncan, examining the billet bothinside and out; “this is the signature of Webb, and must be the capturedletter.”

“The man has betrayed me!” Munro at length bitterly exclaimed;“he has brought dishonor to the door of one where disgrace was neverbefore known to dwell, and shame has he heaped heavily on my gray hairs.”

“Say not so,” cried Duncan; “we are yet masters of the fort,and of our honor. Let us, then, sell our lives at such a rate as shall make ourenemies believe the purchase too dear.”

“Boy, I thank thee,” exclaimed the old man, rousing himself fromhis stupor; “you have, for once, reminded Munro of his duty. We will goback, and dig our graves behind those ramparts.”

“Messieurs,” said Montcalm, advancing toward them a step, ingenerous interest, “you little know Louis de St. Veran if you believe himcapable of profiting by this letter to humble brave men, or to build up adishonest reputation for himself. Listen to my terms before you leaveme.”

“What says the Frenchman?” demanded the veteran, sternly;“does he make a merit of having captured a scout, with a note fromheadquarters? Sir, he had better raise this siege, to go and sit down beforeEdward if he wishes to frighten his enemy with words.”

Duncan explained the other’s meaning.

“Monsieur de Montcalm, we will hear you,” the veteran added, morecalmly, as Duncan ended.

“To retain the fort is now impossible,” said his liberal enemy;“it is necessary to the interests of my master that it should bedestroyed; but as for yourselves and your brave comrades, there is no privilegedear to a soldier that shall be denied.”

“Our colors?” demanded Heyward.

“Carry them to England, and show them to your king.”

“Our arms?”

“Keep them; none can use them better.”

“Our march; the surrender of the place?”

“Shall all be done in a way most honorable to yourselves.”

Duncan now turned to explain these proposals to his commander, who heard himwith amazement, and a sensibility that was deeply touched by so unusual andunexpected generosity.

“Go you, Duncan,” he said; “go with this marquess, as,indeed, marquess he should be; go to his marquee and arrange it all. I havelived to see two things in my old age that never did I expect to behold. AnEnglishman afraid to support a friend, and a Frenchman too honest to profit byhis advantage.”

So saying, the veteran again dropped his head to his chest, and returned slowlytoward the fort, exhibiting, by the dejection of his air, to the anxiousgarrison, a harbinger of evil tidings.

From the shock of this unexpected blow the haughty feelings of Munro neverrecovered; but from that moment there commenced a change in his determinedcharacter, which accompanied him to a speedy grave. Duncan remained to settlethe terms of the capitulation. He was seen to re-enter the works during thefirst watches of the night, and immediately after a private conference with thecommandant, to leave them again. It was then openly announced that hostilitiesmust cease—Munro having signed a treaty by which the place was to beyielded to the enemy, with the morning; the garrison to retain their arms, thecolors and their baggage, and, consequently, according to military opinion,their honor.

CHAPTER XVII.

“Weave we the woof.
The thread is spun.
The web is wove.
The work is done.”—Gray

The hostile armies, which lay in the wilds of the Horican, passed the night ofthe ninth of August, 1757, much in the manner they would, had they encounteredon the fairest field of Europe. While the conquered were still, sullen, anddejected, the victors triumphed. But there are limits alike to grief and joy;and long before the watches of the morning came the stillness of thoseboundless woods was only broken by a gay call from some exulting youngFrenchman of the advanced pickets, or a menacing challenge from the fort, whichsternly forbade the approach of any hostile footsteps before the stipulatedmoment. Even these occasional threatening sounds ceased to be heard in thatdull hour which precedes the day, at which period a listener might have soughtin vain any evidence of the presence of those armed powers that then slumberedon the shores of the “holy lake.”

It was during these moments of deep silence that the canvas which concealed theentrance to a spacious marquee in the French encampment was shoved aside, and aman issued from beneath the drapery into the open air. He was enveloped in acloak that might have been intended as a protection from the chilling damps ofthe woods, but which served equally well as a mantle to conceal his person. Hewas permitted to pass the grenadier, who watched over the slumbers of theFrench commander, without interruption, the man making the usual salute whichbetokens military deference, as the other passed swiftly through the littlecity of tents, in the direction of William Henry. Whenever this unknownindividual encountered one of the numberless sentinels who crossed his path,his answer was prompt, and, as it appeared, satisfactory; for he was uniformlyallowed to proceed without further interrogation.

With the exception of such repeated but brief interruptions, he had movedsilently from the center of the camp to its most advanced outposts, when hedrew nigh the soldier who held his watch nearest to the works of the enemy. Ashe approached he was received with the usual challenge:

“Qui vive?”

“France,” was the reply.

“Le mot d’ordre?”

“La victorie,” said the other, drawing so nigh as to be heard in aloud whisper.

“C’est bien,” returned the sentinel, throwing his musket fromthe charge to his shoulder; “vous promenez bien matin, monsieur!”

“Il est necessaire d’être vigilant, mon enfant,” the otherobserved, dropping a fold of his cloak, and looking the soldier close in theface as he passed him, still continuing his way toward the Britishfortification. The man started; his arms rattled heavily as he threw themforward in the lowest and most respectful salute; and when he had againrecovered his piece, he turned to walk his post, muttering between his teeth:

“Il faut être vigilant, en vérité! je crois que nous avons là, un caporalqui ne dort jamais!”

The officer proceeded, without affecting to hear the words which escaped thesentinel in his surprise; nor did he again pause until he had reached the lowstrand, and in a somewhat dangerous vicinity to the western water bastion ofthe fort. The light of an obscure moon was just sufficient to render objects,though dim, perceptible in their outlines. He, therefore, took the precautionto place himself against the trunk of a tree, where he leaned for many minutes,and seemed to contemplate the dark and silent mounds of the English works inprofound attention. His gaze at the ramparts was not that of a curious or idlespectator; but his looks wandered from point to point, denoting his knowledgeof military usages, and betraying that his search was not unaccompanied bydistrust. At length he appeared satisfied; and having cast his eyes impatientlyupward toward the summit of the eastern mountain, as if anticipating theapproach of the morning, he was in the act of turning on his footsteps, when alight sound on the nearest angle of the bastion caught his ear, and induced himto remain.

Just then a figure was seen to approach the edge of the rampart, where itstood, apparently contemplating in its turn the distant tents of the Frenchencampment. Its head was then turned toward the east, as though equally anxiousfor the appearance of light, when the form leaned against the mound, and seemedto gaze upon the glassy expanse of the waters, which, like a submarinefirmament, glittered with its thousand mimic stars. The melancholy air, thehour, together with the vast frame of the man who thus leaned, musing, againstthe English ramparts, left no doubt as to his person in the mind of theobservant spectator. Delicacy, no less than prudence, now urged him to retire;and he had moved cautiously round the body of the tree for that purpose, whenanother sound drew his attention, and once more arrested his footsteps. It wasa low and almost inaudible movement of the water, and was succeeded by agrating of pebbles one against the other. In a moment he saw a dark form rise,as it were, out of the lake, and steal without further noise to the land,within a few feet of the place where he himself stood. A rifle next slowly rosebetween his eyes and the watery mirror; but before it could be discharged hisown hand was on the lock.

“Hugh!” exclaimed the savage, whose treacherous aim was sosingularly and so unexpectedly interrupted.

Without making any reply, the French officer laid his hand on the shoulder ofthe Indian, and led him in profound silence to a distance from the spot, wheretheir subsequent dialogue might have proved dangerous, and where it seemed thatone of them, at least, sought a victim. Then throwing open his cloak, so as toexpose his uniform and the cross of St. Louis which was suspended at hisbreast, Montcalm sternly demanded:

“What means this? Does not my son know that the hatchet is buried betweenthe English and his Canadian Father?”

“What can the Hurons do?” returned the savage, speaking also,though imperfectly, in the French language.

“Not a warrior has a scalp, and the pale faces make friends!”

“Ha, Le Renard Subtil! Methinks this is an excess of zeal for a friendwho was so late an enemy! How many suns have set since Le Renard struck thewar-post of the English?”

“Where is that sun?” demanded the sullen savage. “Behind thehill; and it is dark and cold. But when he comes again, it will be bright andwarm. Le Subtil is the sun of his tribe. There have been clouds, and manymountains between him and his nation; but now he shines and it is a clearsky!”

“That Le Renard has power with his people, I well know,” saidMontcalm; “for yesterday he hunted for their scalps, and to-day they hearhim at the council-fire.”

“Magua is a great chief.”

“Let him prove it, by teaching his nation how to conduct themselvestoward our new friends.”

“Why did the chief of the Canadas bring his young men into the woods, andfire his cannon at the earthen house?” demanded the subtle Indian.

“To subdue it. My master owns the land, and your father was ordered todrive off these English squatters. They have consented to go, and now he callsthem enemies no longer.”

“’Tis well. Magua took the hatchet to color it with blood. It isnow bright; when it is red, it shall be buried.”

“But Magua is pledged not to sully the lilies of France. The enemies ofthe great king across the salt lake are his enemies; his friends, the friendsof the Hurons.”

“Friends!” repeated the Indian in scorn. “Let his father giveMagua a hand.”

Montcalm, who felt that his influence over the warlike tribes he had gatheredwas to be maintained by concession rather than by power, complied reluctantlywith the other’s request. The savage placed the fingers of the Frenchcommander on a deep scar in his bosom, and then exultingly demanded:

“Does my father know that?”

“What warrior does not? ’Tis where a leaden bullet has cut.”

“And this?” continued the Indian, who had turned his naked back tothe other, his body being without its usual calico mantle.

“This!—my son has been sadly injured here; who has donethis?”

“Magua slept hard in the English wigwams, and the sticks have left theirmark,” returned the savage, with a hollow laugh, which did not concealthe fierce temper that nearly choked him. Then, recollecting himself, withsudden and native dignity, he added: “Go; teach your young men it ispeace. Le Renard Subtil knows how to speak to a Huron warrior.”

Without deigning to bestow further words, or to wait for any answer, the savagecast his rifle into the hollow of his arm, and moved silently through theencampment toward the woods where his own tribe was known to lie. Every fewyards as he proceeded he was challenged by the sentinels; but he stalkedsullenly onward, utterly disregarding the summons of the soldiers, who onlyspared his life because they knew the air and tread no less than the obstinatedaring of an Indian.

Montcalm lingered long and melancholy on the strand where he had been left byhis companion, brooding deeply on the temper which his ungovernable ally hadjust discovered. Already had his fair fame been tarnished by one horrid scene,and in circumstances fearfully resembling those under which he now foundhimself. As he mused he became keenly sensible of the deep responsibility theyassume who disregard the means to attain the end, and of all the danger ofsetting in motion an engine which it exceeds human power to control. Thenshaking off a train of reflections that he accounted a weakness in such amoment of triumph, he retraced his steps toward his tent, giving the order ashe passed to make the signal that should arouse the army from its slumbers.

The first tap of the French drums was echoed from the bosom of the fort, andpresently the valley was filled with the strains of martial music, rising long,thrilling and lively above the rattling accompaniment. The horns of the victorssounded merry and cheerful flourishes, until the last laggard of the camp wasat his post; but the instant the British fifes had blown their shrill signal,they became mute. In the meantime the day had dawned, and when the line of theFrench army was ready to receive its general, the rays of a brilliant sun wereglancing along the glittering array. Then that success, which was already sowell known, was officially announced; the favored band who were selected toguard the gates of the fort were detailed, and defiled before their chief; thesignal of their approach was given, and all the usual preparations for a changeof masters were ordered and executed directly under the guns of the contestedworks.

A very different scene presented itself within the lines of the Anglo-Americanarmy. As soon as the warning signal was given, it exhibited all the signs of ahurried and forced departure. The sullen soldiers shouldered their empty tubesand fell into their places, like men whose blood had been heated by the pastcontest, and who only desired the opportunity to revenge an indignity which wasstill wounding to their pride, concealed as it was under the observances ofmilitary etiquette.

Women and children ran from place to place, some bearing the scanty remnants oftheir baggage, and others searching in the ranks for those countenances theylooked up to for protection.

Munro appeared among his silent troops firm but dejected. It was evident thatthe unexpected blow had struck deep into his heart, though he struggled tosustain his misfortune with the port of a man.

Duncan was touched at the quiet and impressive exhibition of his grief. He haddischarged his own duty, and he now pressed to the side of the old man, to knowin what particular he might serve him.

“My daughters,” was the brief but expressive reply.

“Good heavens! are not arrangements already made for theirconvenience?”

“To-day I am only a soldier, Major Heyward,” said the veteran.“All that you see here, claim alike to be my children.”

Duncan had heard enough. Without losing one of those moments which had nowbecome so precious, he flew toward the quarters of Munro, in quest of thesisters. He found them on the threshold of the low edifice, already prepared todepart, and surrounded by a clamorous and weeping assemblage of their own sex,that had gathered about the place, with a sort of instinctive consciousnessthat it was the point most likely to be protected. Though the cheeks of Corawere pale and her countenance anxious, she had lost none of her firmness; butthe eyes of Alice were inflamed, and betrayed how long and bitterly she hadwept. They both, however, received the young man with undisguised pleasure; theformer, for a novelty, being the first to speak.

“The fort is lost,” she said, with a melancholy smile;“though our good name, I trust, remains.”

“’Tis brighter than ever. But, dearest Miss Munro, it is time tothink less of others, and to make some provision for yourself. Militaryusage—pride—that pride on which you so much value yourself, demandsthat your father and I should for a little while continue with the troops. Thenwhere to seek a proper protector for you against the confusion and chances ofsuch a scene?”

“None is necessary,” returned Cora; “who will dare to injureor insult the daughter of such a father, at a time like this?”

“I would not leave you alone,” continued the youth, looking abouthim in a hurried manner, “for the command of the best regiment in the payof the king. Remember, our Alice is not gifted with all your firmness, and Godonly knows the terror she might endure.”

“You may be right,” Cora replied, smiling again, but far more sadlythan before. “Listen! chance has already sent us a friend when he is mostneeded.”

Duncan did listen, and on the instant comprehended her meaning. The low andserious sounds of the sacred music, so well known to the eastern provinces,caught his ear, and instantly drew him to an apartment in an adjacent building,which had already been deserted by its customary tenants. There he found David,pouring out his pious feelings through the only medium in which he everindulged. Duncan waited, until, by the cessation of the movement of the hand,he believed the strain was ended, when, by touching his shoulder, he drew theattention of the other to himself, and in a few words explained his wishes.

“Even so,” replied the single-minded disciple of the King ofIsrael, when the young man had ended; “I have found much that is comelyand melodious in the maidens, and it is fitting that we who have consorted inso much peril, should abide together in peace. I will attend them, when I havecompleted my morning praise, to which nothing is now wanting but the doxology.Wilt thou bear a part, friend? The meter is common, and the tune‘Southwell’.”

Then, extending the little volume, and giving the pitch of the air anew withconsiderate attention, David recommenced and finished his strains, with afixedness of manner that it was not easy to interrupt. Heyward was fain to waituntil the verse was ended; when, seeing David relieving himself from thespectacles, and replacing the book, he continued.

“It will be your duty to see that none dare to approach the ladies withany rude intention, or to offer insult or taunt at the misfortune of theirbrave father. In this task you will be seconded by the domestics of theirhousehold.”

“Even so.”

“It is possible that the Indians and stragglers of the enemy may intrude,in which case you will remind them of the terms of the capitulation, andthreaten to report their conduct to Montcalm. A word will suffice.”

“If not, I have that here which shall,” returned David, exhibitinghis book, with an air in which meekness and confidence were singularly blended.Here are words which, uttered, or rather thundered, with proper emphasis, andin measured time, shall quiet the most unruly temper:

“‘Why rage the heathen furiously’?”

“Enough,” said Heyward, interrupting the burst of his musicalinvocation; “we understand each other; it is time that we should nowassume our respective duties.”

Gamut cheerfully assented, and together they sought the females. Cora receivedher new and somewhat extraordinary protector courteously, at least; and eventhe pallid features of Alice lighted again with some of their native archnessas she thanked Heyward for his care. Duncan took occasion to assure them he haddone the best that circumstances permitted, and, as he believed, quite enoughfor the security of their feelings; of danger there was none. He then spokegladly of his intention to rejoin them the moment he had led the advance a fewmiles toward the Hudson, and immediately took his leave.

By this time the signal for departure had been given, and the head of theEnglish column was in motion. The sisters started at the sound, and glancingtheir eyes around, they saw the white uniforms of the French grenadiers, whohad already taken possession of the gates of the fort. At that moment anenormous cloud seemed to pass suddenly above their heads, and, looking upward,they discovered that they stood beneath the wide folds of the standard ofFrance.

“Let us go,” said Cora; “this is no longer a fit place forthe children of an English officer.”

Alice clung to the arm of her sister, and together they left the parade,accompanied by the moving throng that surrounded them.

As they passed the gates, the French officers, who had learned their rank,bowed often and low, forbearing, however, to intrude those attentions whichthey saw, with peculiar tact, might not be agreeable. As every vehicle and eachbeast of burden was occupied by the sick and wounded, Cora had decided toendure the fatigues of a foot march, rather than interfere with their comforts.Indeed, many a maimed and feeble soldier was compelled to drag his exhaustedlimbs in the rear of the columns, for the want of the necessary means ofconveyance in that wilderness. The whole, however, was in motion; the weak andwounded, groaning and in suffering; their comrades silent and sullen; and thewomen and children in terror, they knew not of what.

As the confused and timid throng left the protecting mounds of the fort, andissued on the open plain, the whole scene was at once presented to their eyes.At a little distance on the right, and somewhat in the rear, the French armystood to their arms, Montcalm having collected his parties, so soon as hisguards had possession of the works. They were attentive but silent observers ofthe proceedings of the vanquished, failing in none of the stipulated militaryhonors, and offering no taunt or insult, in their success, to their lessfortunate foes. Living masses of the English, to the amount, in the whole, ofnear three thousand, were moving slowly across the plain, toward the commoncenter, and gradually approached each other, as they converged to the point oftheir march, a vista cut through the lofty trees, where the road to the Hudsonentered the forest. Along the sweeping borders of the woods hung a dark cloudof savages, eyeing the passage of their enemies, and hovering at a distance,like vultures who were only kept from swooping on their prey by the presenceand restraint of a superior army. A few had straggled among the conqueredcolumns, where they stalked in sullen discontent; attentive, though, as yet,passive observers of the moving multitude.

The advance, with Heyward at its head, had already reached the defile, and wasslowly disappearing, when the attention of Cora was drawn to a collection ofstragglers by the sounds of contention. A truant provincial was paying theforfeit of his disobedience, by being plundered of those very effects which hadcaused him to desert his place in the ranks. The man was of powerful frame, andtoo avaricious to part with his goods without a struggle. Individuals fromeither party interfered; the one side to prevent and the other to aid in therobbery. Voices grew loud and angry, and a hundred savages appeared, as itwere, by magic, where a dozen only had been seen a minute before. It was thenthat Cora saw the form of Magua gliding among his countrymen, and speaking withhis fatal and artful eloquence. The mass of women and children stopped, andhovered together like alarmed and fluttering birds. But the cupidity of theIndian was soon gratified, and the different bodies again moved slowly onward.

The savages now fell back, and seemed content to let their enemies advancewithout further molestation. But, as the female crowd approached them, thegaudy colors of a shawl attracted the eyes of a wild and untutored Huron. Headvanced to seize it without the least hesitation. The woman, more in terrorthan through love of the ornament, wrapped her child in the coveted article,and folded both more closely to her bosom. Cora was in the act of speaking,with an intent to advise the woman to abandon the trifle, when the savagerelinquished his hold of the shawl, and tore the screaming infant from herarms. Abandoning everything to the greedy grasp of those around her, the motherdarted, with distraction in her mien, to reclaim her child. The Indian smiledgrimly, and extended one hand, in sign of a willingness to exchange, while,with the other, he flourished the babe over his head, holding it by the feet asif to enhance the value of the ransom.

“Here—here—there—all—any—everything!”exclaimed the breathless woman, tearing the lighter articles of dress from herperson with ill-directed and trembling fingers; “take all, but give me mybabe!”

The savage spurned the worthless rags, and perceiving that the shawl hadalready become a prize to another, his bantering but sullen smile changing to agleam of ferocity, he dashed the head of the infant against a rock, and castits quivering remains to her very feet. For an instant the mother stood, like astatue of despair, looking wildly down at the unseemly object, which had solately nestled in her bosom and smiled in her face; and then she raised hereyes and countenance toward heaven, as if calling on God to curse theperpetrator of the foul deed. She was spared the sin of such a prayer for,maddened at his disappointment, and excited at the sight of blood, the Huronmercifully drove his tomahawk into her own brain. The mother sank under theblow, and fell, grasping at her child, in death, with the same engrossing lovethat had caused her to cherish it when living.

At that dangerous moment, Magua placed his hands to his mouth, and raised thefatal and appalling whoop. The scattered Indians started at the well-known cry,as coursers bound at the signal to quit the goal; and directly there arose sucha yell along the plain, and through the arches of the wood, as seldom burstfrom human lips before. They who heard it listened with a curdling horror atthe heart, little inferior to that dread which may be expected to attend theblasts of the final summons.

More than two thousand raving savages broke from the forest at the signal, andthrew themselves across the fatal plain with instinctive alacrity. We shall notdwell on the revolting horrors that succeeded. Death was everywhere, and in hismost terrific and disgusting aspects. Resistance only served to inflame themurderers, who inflicted their furious blows long after their victims werebeyond the power of their resentment. The flow of blood might be likened to theoutbreaking of a torrent; and as the natives became heated and maddened by thesight, many among them even kneeled to the earth, and drank freely, exultingly,hellishly, of the crimson tide.

The trained bodies of the troops threw themselves quickly into solid masses,endeavoring to awe their assailants by the imposing appearance of a militaryfront. The experiment in some measure succeeded, though far too many sufferedtheir unloaded muskets to be torn from their hands, in the vain hope ofappeasing the savages.

In such a scene none had leisure to note the fleeting moments. It might havebeen ten minutes (it seemed an age) that the sisters had stood riveted to onespot, horror-stricken and nearly helpless. When the first blow was struck,their screaming companions had pressed upon them in a body, rendering flightimpossible; and now that fear or death had scattered most, if not all, fromaround them, they saw no avenue open, but such as conducted to the tomahawks oftheir foes. On every side arose shrieks, groans, exhortations and curses. Atthis moment, Alice caught a glimpse of the vast form of her father, movingrapidly across the plain, in the direction of the French army. He was, intruth, proceeding to Montcalm, fearless of every danger, to claim the tardyescort for which he had before conditioned. Fifty glittering axes and barbedspears were offered unheeded at his life, but the savages respected his rankand calmness, even in their fury. The dangerous weapons were brushed aside bythe still nervous arm of the veteran, or fell of themselves, after menacing anact that it would seem no one had courage to perform. Fortunately, thevindictive Magua was searching for his victim in the very band the veteran hadjust quitted.

“Father—father—we are here!” shrieked Alice, as hepassed, at no great distance, without appearing to heed them. “Come tous, father, or we die!”

The cry was repeated, and in terms and tones that might have melted a heart ofstone, but it was unanswered. Once, indeed, the old man appeared to catch thesound, for he paused and listened; but Alice had dropped senseless on theearth, and Cora had sunk at her side, hovering in untiring tenderness over herlifeless form. Munro shook his head in disappointment, and proceeded, bent onthe high duty of his station.

“Lady,” said Gamut, who, helpless and useless as he was, had notyet dreamed of deserting his trust, “it is the jubilee of the devils, andthis is not a meet place for Christians to tarry in. Let us up and fly.”

“Go,” said Cora, still gazing at her unconscious sister;“save thyself. To me thou canst not be of further use.”

David comprehended the unyielding character of her resolution, by the simplebut expressive gesture that accompanied her words. He gazed for a moment at thedusky forms that were acting their hellish rites on every side of him, and histall person grew more erect while his chest heaved, and every feature swelled,and seemed to speak with the power of the feelings by which he was governed.

“If the Jewish boy might tame the great spirit of Saul by the sound ofhis harp, and the words of sacred song, it may not be amiss,” he said,“to try the potency of music here.”

Then raising his voice to its highest tone, he poured out a strain so powerfulas to be heard even amid the din of that bloody field. More than one savagerushed toward them, thinking to rifle the unprotected sisters of their attire,and bear away their scalps; but when they found this strange and unmoved figureriveted to his post, they paused to listen. Astonishment soon changed toadmiration, and they passed on to other and less courageous victims, openlyexpressing their satisfaction at the firmness with which the white warrior sanghis death song. Encouraged and deluded by his success, David exerted all hispowers to extend what he believed so holy an influence. The unwonted soundscaught the ears of a distant savage, who flew raging from group to group, likeone who, scorning to touch the vulgar herd, hunted for some victim more worthyof his renown. It was Magua, who uttered a yell of pleasure when he beheld hisancient prisoners again at his mercy.

“Come,” he said, laying his soiled hands on the dress of Cora,“the wigwam of the Huron is still open. Is it not better than thisplace?”

“Away!” cried Cora, veiling her eyes from his revolting aspect.

The Indian laughed tauntingly, as he held up his reeking hand, and answered:“It is red, but it comes from white veins!”

“Monster! there is blood, oceans of blood, upon thy soul; thy spirit hasmoved this scene.”

“Magua is a great chief!” returned the exulting savage, “willthe dark-hair go to his tribe?”

“Never! strike if thou wilt, and complete thy revenge.” Hehesitated a moment, and then catching the light and senseless form of Alice inhis arms, the subtle Indian moved swiftly across the plain toward the woods.

“Hold!” shrieked Cora, following wildly on his footsteps;“release the child! wretch! what is’t you do?”

But Magua was deaf to her voice; or, rather, he knew his power, and wasdetermined to maintain it.

“Stay—lady—stay,” called Gamut, after the unconsciousCora. “The holy charm is beginning to be felt, and soon shalt thou seethis horrid tumult stilled.”

Perceiving that, in his turn, he was unheeded, the faithful David followed thedistracted sister, raising his voice again in sacred song, and sweeping the airto the measure, with his long arm, in diligent accompaniment. In this mannerthey traversed the plain, through the flying, the wounded and the dead. Thefierce Huron was, at any time, sufficient for himself and the victim that hebore; though Cora would have fallen more than once under the blows of hersavage enemies, but for the extraordinary being who stalked in her rear, andwho now appeared to the astonished natives gifted with the protecting spirit ofmadness.

Magua, who knew how to avoid the more pressing dangers, and also to eludepursuit, entered the woods through a low ravine, where he quickly found theNarragansetts, which the travelers had abandoned so shortly before, awaitinghis appearance, in custody of a savage as fierce and malign in his expressionas himself. Laying Alice on one of the horses, he made a sign to Cora to mountthe other.

Notwithstanding the horror excited by the presence of her captor, there was apresent relief in escaping from the bloody scene enacting on the plain, towhich Cora could not be altogether insensible. She took her seat, and heldforth her arms for her sister, with an air of entreaty and love that even theHuron could not deny. Placing Alice, then, on the same animal with Cora, heseized the bridle, and commenced his route by plunging deeper into the forest.David, perceiving that he was left alone, utterly disregarded as a subject tooworthless even to destroy, threw his long limb across the saddle of the beastthey had deserted, and made such progress in the pursuit as the difficulties ofthe path permitted.

They soon began to ascend; but as the motion had a tendency to revive thedormant faculties of her sister, the attention of Cora was too much dividedbetween the tenderest solicitude in her behalf, and in listening to the crieswhich were still too audible on the plain, to note the direction in which theyjourneyed. When, however, they gained the flattened surface of themountain-top, and approached the eastern precipice, she recognized the spot towhich she had once before been led under the more friendly auspices of thescout. Here Magua suffered them to dismount; and notwithstanding their owncaptivity, the curiosity which seems inseparable from horror, induced them togaze at the sickening sight below.

The cruel work was still unchecked. On every side the captured were flyingbefore their relentless persecutors, while the armed columns of the Christianking stood fast in an apathy which has never been explained, and which has leftan immovable blot on the otherwise fair escutcheon of their leader. Nor was thesword of death stayed until cupidity got the mastery of revenge. Then, indeed,the shrieks of the wounded, and the yells of their murderers grew lessfrequent, until, finally, the cries of horror were lost to their ear, or weredrowned in the loud, long and piercing whoops of the triumphant savages.

CHAPTER XVIII.

“Why, anything;
An honorable murderer, if you will;
For naught I did in hate, but all in honor.”
—Othello

The bloody and inhuman scene rather incidentally mentioned than described inthe preceding chapter, is conspicuous in the pages of colonial history by themerited title of “The Massacre of William Henry.” It so fardeepened the stain which a previous and very similar event had left upon thereputation of the French commander that it was not entirely erased by his earlyand glorious death. It is now becoming obscured by time; and thousands, whoknow that Montcalm died like a hero on the plains of Abraham, have yet to learnhow much he was deficient in that moral courage without which no man can betruly great. Pages might yet be written to prove, from this illustriousexample, the defects of human excellence; to show how easy it is for generoussentiments, high courtesy, and chivalrous courage to lose their influencebeneath the chilling blight of selfishness, and to exhibit to the world a manwho was great in all the minor attributes of character, but who was foundwanting when it became necessary to prove how much principle is superior topolicy. But the task would exceed our prerogatives; and, as history, like love,is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness, itis probable that Louis de Saint Veran will be viewed by posterity only as thegallant defender of his country, while his cruel apathy on the shores of theOswego and of the Horican will be forgotten. Deeply regretting this weakness onthe part of a sister muse, we shall at once retire from her sacred precincts,within the proper limits of our own humble vocation.

The third day from the capture of the fort was drawing to a close, but thebusiness of the narrative must still detain the reader on the shores of the“holy lake.” When last seen, the environs of the works were filledwith violence and uproar. They were now possessed by stillness and death. Theblood-stained conquerors had departed; and their camp, which had so lately rungwith the merry rejoicings of a victorious army, lay a silent and deserted cityof huts. The fortress was a smoldering ruin; charred rafters, fragments ofexploded artillery, and rent mason-work covering its earthen mounds in confuseddisorder.

A frightful change had also occurred in the season. The sun had hid its warmthbehind an impenetrable mass of vapor, and hundreds of human forms, which hadblackened beneath the fierce heats of August, were stiffening in theirdeformity before the blasts of a premature November. The curling and spotlessmists, which had been seen sailing above the hills toward the north, were nowreturning in an interminable dusky sheet, that was urged along by the fury of atempest. The crowded mirror of the Horican was gone; and, in its place, thegreen and angry waters lashed the shores, as if indignantly casting back itsimpurities to the polluted strand. Still the clear fountain retained a portionof its charmed influence, but it reflected only the somber gloom that fell fromthe impending heavens. That humid and congenial atmosphere which commonlyadorned the view, veiling its harshness, and softening its asperities, haddisappeared, the northern air poured across the waste of water so harsh andunmingled, that nothing was left to be conjectured by the eye, or fashioned bythe fancy.

The fiercer element had cropped the verdure of the plain, which looked asthough it were scathed by the consuming lightning. But, here and there, a darkgreen tuft rose in the midst of the desolation; the earliest fruits of a soilthat had been fattened with human blood. The whole landscape, which, seen by afavoring light, and in a genial temperature, had been found so lovely, appearednow like some pictured allegory of life, in which objects were arrayed in theirharshest but truest colors, and without the relief of any shadowing.

The solitary and arid blades of grass arose from the passing gusts fearfullyperceptible; the bold and rocky mountains were too distinct in theirbarrenness, and the eye even sought relief, in vain, by attempting to piercethe illimitable void of heaven, which was shut to its gaze by the dusky sheetof ragged and driving vapor.

The wind blew unequally; sometimes sweeping heavily along the ground, seemingto whisper its moanings in the cold ears of the dead, then rising in a shrilland mournful whistling, it entered the forest with a rush that filled the airwith the leaves and branches it scattered in its path. Amid the unnaturalshower, a few hungry ravens struggled with the gale; but no sooner was thegreen ocean of woods which stretched beneath them, passed, than they gladlystopped, at random, to their hideous banquet.

In short, it was a scene of wildness and desolation; and it appeared as if allwho had profanely entered it had been stricken, at a blow, by the relentlessarm of death. But the prohibition had ceased; and for the first time since theperpetrators of those foul deeds which had assisted to disfigure the scene weregone, living human beings had now presumed to approach the place.

About an hour before the setting of the sun, on the day already mentioned, theforms of five men might have been seen issuing from the narrow vista of trees,where the path to the Hudson entered the forest, and advancing in the directionof the ruined works. At first their progress was slow and guarded, as thoughthey entered with reluctance amid the horrors of the post, or dreaded therenewal of its frightful incidents. A light figure preceded the rest of theparty, with the caution and activity of a native; ascending every hillock toreconnoiter, and indicating by gestures, to his companions, the route he deemedit most prudent to pursue. Nor were those in the rear wanting in every cautionand foresight known to forest warfare. One among them, he also was an Indian,moved a little on one flank, and watched the margin of the woods, with eyeslong accustomed to read the smallest sign of danger. The remaining three werewhite, though clad in vestments adapted, both in quality and color, to theirpresent hazardous pursuit—that of hanging on the skirts of a retiringarmy in the wilderness.

The effects produced by the appalling sights that constantly arose in theirpath to the lake shore, were as different as the characters of the respectiveindividuals who composed the party. The youth in front threw serious butfurtive glances at the mangled victims, as he stepped lightly across the plain,afraid to exhibit his feelings, and yet too inexperienced to quell entirelytheir sudden and powerful influence. His red associate, however, was superiorto such a weakness. He passed the groups of dead with a steadiness of purpose,and an eye so calm, that nothing but long and inveterate practise could enablehim to maintain. The sensations produced in the minds of even the white menwere different, though uniformly sorrowful. One, whose gray locks and furrowedlineaments, blending with a martial air and tread, betrayed, in spite of thedisguise of a woodsman’s dress, a man long experienced in scenes of war,was not ashamed to groan aloud, whenever a spectacle of more than usual horrorcame under his view. The young man at his elbow shuddered, but seemed tosuppress his feelings in tenderness to his companion. Of them all, thestraggler who brought up the rear appeared alone to betray his real thoughts,without fear of observation or dread of consequences. He gazed at the mostappalling sight with eyes and muscles that knew not how to waver, but withexecrations so bitter and deep as to denote how much he denounced the crime ofhis enemies.

The reader will perceive at once, in these respective characters, the Mohicans,and their white friend, the scout; together with Munro and Heyward. It was, intruth, the father in quest of his children, attended by the youth who felt sodeep a stake in their happiness, and those brave and trusty foresters, who hadalready proved their skill and fidelity through the trying scenes related.

When Uncas, who moved in front, had reached the center of the plain, he raiseda cry that drew his companions in a body to the spot. The young warrior hadhalted over a group of females who lay in a cluster, a confused mass of dead.Notwithstanding the revolting horror of the exhibition, Munro and Heyward flewtoward the festering heap, endeavoring, with a love that no unseemliness couldextinguish, to discover whether any vestiges of those they sought were to beseen among the tattered and many-colored garments. The father and the loverfound instant relief in the search; though each was condemned again toexperience the misery of an uncertainty that was hardly less insupportable thanthe most revolting truth. They were standing, silent and thoughtful, around themelancholy pile, when the scout approached. Eyeing the sad spectacle with anangry countenance, the sturdy woodsman, for the first time since his enteringthe plain, spoke intelligibly and aloud:

“I have been on many a shocking field, and have followed a trail of bloodfor weary miles,” he said, “but never have I found the hand of thedevil so plain as it is here to be seen! Revenge is an Indian feeling, and allwho know me know that there is no cross in my veins; but this much will Isay—here, in the face of heaven, and with the power of the Lord somanifest in this howling wilderness—that should these Frenchers evertrust themselves again within the range of a ragged bullet, there is one riflewhich shall play its part so long as flint will fire or powder burn! I leavethe tomahawk and knife to such as have a natural gift to use them. What sayyou, Chingachgook,” he added, in Delaware; “shall the Hurons boastof this to their women when the deep snows come?”

A gleam of resentment flashed across the dark lineaments of the Mohican chief;he loosened his knife in his sheath; and then turning calmly from the sight,his countenance settled into a repose as deep as if he knew the instigation ofpassion.

“Montcalm! Montcalm!” continued the deeply resentful and lessself-restrained scout; “they say a time must come when all the deeds donein the flesh will be seen at a single look; and that by eyes cleared frommortal infirmities. Woe betide the wretch who is born to behold this plain,with the judgment hanging about his soul! Ha—as I am a man of whiteblood, yonder lies a red-skin, without the hair of his head where nature rootedit! Look to him, Delaware; it may be one of your missing people; and he shouldhave burial like a stout warrior. I see it in your eye, Sagamore; a Huron paysfor this, afore the fall winds have blown away the scent of the blood!”

Chingachgook approached the mutilated form, and, turning it over, he found thedistinguishing marks of one of those six allied tribes, or nations, as theywere called, who, while they fought in the English ranks, were so deadlyhostile to his own people. Spurning the loathsome object with his foot, heturned from it with the same indifference he would have quitted a brutecarcass. The scout comprehended the action, and very deliberately pursued hisown way, continuing, however, his denunciations against the French commander inthe same resentful strain.

“Nothing but vast wisdom and unlimited power should dare to sweep off menin multitudes,” he added; “for it is only the one that can know thenecessity of the judgment; and what is there, short of the other, that canreplace the creatures of the Lord? I hold it a sin to kill the second buckafore the first is eaten, unless a march in front, or an ambushment, becontemplated. It is a different matter with a few warriors in open and ruggedfight, for ’tis their gift to die with the rifle or the tomahawk in hand;according as their natures may happen to be, white or red. Uncas, come thisway, lad, and let the ravens settle upon the Mingo. I know, from often seeingit, that they have a craving for the flesh of an Oneida; and it is as well tolet the bird follow the gift of its natural appetite.”

“Hugh!” exclaimed the young Mohican, rising on the extremities ofhis feet, and gazing intently in his front, frightening the ravens to someother prey by the sound and the action.

“What is it, boy?” whispered the scout, lowering his tall form intoa crouching attitude, like a panther about to take his leap; “God send itbe a tardy Frencher, skulking for plunder. I do believe ‘killdeer’would take an uncommon range today!”

Uncas, without making any reply, bounded away from the spot, and in the nextinstant he was seen tearing from a bush, and waving in triumph, a fragment ofthe green riding-veil of Cora. The movement, the exhibition, and the cry whichagain burst from the lips of the young Mohican, instantly drew the whole partyabout him.

“My child!” said Munro, speaking quickly and wildly; “give memy child!”

“Uncas will try,” was the short and touching answer.

The simple but meaning assurance was lost on the father, who seized the pieceof gauze, and crushed it in his hand, while his eyes roamed fearfully among thebushes, as if he equally dreaded and hoped for the secrets they might reveal.

“Here are no dead,” said Heyward; “the storm seems not tohave passed this way.”

“That’s manifest; and clearer than the heavens above ourheads,” returned the undisturbed scout; “but either she, or theythat have robbed her, have passed the bush; for I remember the rag she wore tohide a face that all did love to look upon. Uncas, you are right; the dark-hairhas been here, and she has fled like a frightened fawn, to the wood; none whocould fly would remain to be murdered. Let us search for the marks she left;for, to Indian eyes, I sometimes think a humming-bird leaves his trail in theair.”

The young Mohican darted away at the suggestion, and the scout had hardly donespeaking, before the former raised a cry of success from the margin of theforest. On reaching the spot, the anxious party perceived another portion ofthe veil fluttering on the lower branch of a beech.

“Softly, softly,” said the scout, extending his long rifle in frontof the eager Heyward; “we now know our work, but the beauty of the trailmust not be deformed. A step too soon may give us hours of trouble. We havethem, though; that much is beyond denial.”

“Bless ye, bless ye, worthy man!” exclaimed Munro; “whitherthen, have they fled, and where are my babes?”

“The path they have taken depends on many chances. If they have gonealone, they are quite as likely to move in a circle as straight, and they maybe within a dozen miles of us; but if the Hurons, or any of the French Indians,have laid hands on them, ’tis probably they are now near the borders ofthe Canadas. But what matters that?” continued the deliberate scout,observing the powerful anxiety and disappointment the listeners exhibited;“here are the Mohicans and I on one end of the trail, and, rely on it, wefind the other, though they should be a hundred leagues asunder! Gently,gently, Uncas, you are as impatient as a man in the settlements; you forgetthat light feet leave but faint marks!”

“Hugh!” exclaimed Chingachgook, who had been occupied in examiningan opening that had been evidently made through the low underbrush whichskirted the forest; and who now stood erect, as he pointed downward, in theattitude and with the air of a man who beheld a disgusting serpent.

“Here is the palpable impression of the footstep of a man,” criedHeyward, bending over the indicated spot; “he has trod in the margin ofthis pool, and the mark cannot be mistaken. They are captives.”

“Better so than left to starve in the wilderness,” returned thescout; “and they will leave a wider trail. I would wager fifty beaverskins against as many flints, that the Mohicans and I enter their wigwamswithin the month! Stoop to it, Uncas, and try what you can make of themoccasin; for moccasin it plainly is, and no shoe.”

The young Mohican bent over the track, and removing the scattered leaves fromaround the place, he examined it with much of that sort of scrutiny that amoney dealer, in these days of pecuniary doubts, would bestow on a suspecteddue-bill. At length he arose from his knees, satisfied with the result of theexamination.

“Well, boy,” demanded the attentive scout; “what does it say?Can you make anything of the tell-tale?”

“Well, boy,” demanded the attentive scout;“what does it say? Can you make anything of the tell-tale?”

“Le Renard Subtil!”

“Ha! that rampaging devil again! there will never be an end of his lopingtill ‘killdeer’ has said a friendly word to him.”

Heyward reluctantly admitted the truth of this intelligence, and now expressedrather his hopes than his doubts by saying:

“One moccasin is so much like another, it is probable there is somemistake.”

“One moccasin like another! you may as well say that one foot is likeanother; though we all know that some are long, and others short; some broadand others narrow; some with high, and some with low insteps; some intoed, andsome out. One moccasin is no more like another than one book is like another:though they who can read in one are seldom able to tell the marks of the other.Which is all ordered for the best, giving to every man his natural advantages.Let me get down to it, Uncas; neither book nor moccasin is the worse for havingtwo opinions, instead of one.” The scout stooped to the task, andinstantly added:

“You are right, boy; here is the patch we saw so often in the otherchase. And the fellow will drink when he can get an opportunity; your drinkingIndian always learns to walk with a wider toe than the natural savage, it beingthe gift of a drunkard to straddle, whether of white or red skin. ’Tisjust the length and breadth, too! look at it, Sagamore; you measured the printsmore than once, when we hunted the varmints from Glenn’s to the healthsprings.”

Chingachgook complied; and after finishing his short examination, he arose, andwith a quiet demeanor, he merely pronounced the word:

“Magua!”

“Ay, ’tis a settled thing; here, then, have passed the dark-hairand Magua.”

“And not Alice?” demanded Heyward.

“Of her we have not yet seen the signs,” returned the scout,looking closely around at the trees, the bushes and the ground. “Whathave we there? Uncas, bring hither the thing you see dangling from yonderthorn-bush.”

When the Indian had complied, the scout received the prize, and holding it onhigh, he laughed in his silent but heartfelt manner.

“’Tis the tooting we’pon of the singer! now we shall have atrail a priest might travel,” he said. “Uncas, look for the marksof a shoe that is long enough to uphold six feet two of tottering human flesh.I begin to have some hopes of the fellow, since he has given up squalling tofollow some better trade.”

“At least he has been faithful to his trust,” said Heyward.“And Cora and Alice are not without a friend.”

“Yes,” said Hawkeye, dropping his rifle, and leaning on it with anair of visible contempt, “he will do their singing. Can he slay a buckfor their dinner; journey by the moss on the beeches, or cut the throat of aHuron? If not, the first catbird^[1]he meets is the cleverer of the two. Well, boy, any signs of such afoundation?”

[1]The powers of the American mocking-bird are generally known. But the truemocking-bird is not found so far north as the state of New York, where it has,however, two substitutes of inferior excellence, the catbird, so often named bythe scout, and the bird vulgarly called ground- thresher. Either of these lasttwo birds is superior to the nightingale or the lark, though, in general, theAmerican birds are less musical than those of Europe.

“Here is something like the footstep of one who has worn a shoe; can itbe that of our friend?”

“Touch the leaves lightly or you’ll disconsart the formation. That!that is the print of a foot, but ’tis the dark-hair’s; and small itis, too, for one of such a noble height and grand appearance. The singer wouldcover it with his heel.”

“Where! let me look on the footsteps of my child,” said Munro,shoving the bushes aside, and bending fondly over the nearly obliteratedimpression. Though the tread which had left the mark had been light and rapid,it was still plainly visible. The aged soldier examined it with eyes that grewdim as he gazed; nor did he rise from this stooping posture until Heyward sawthat he had watered the trace of his daughter’s passage with a scaldingtear. Willing to divert a distress which threatened each moment to breakthrough the restraint of appearances, by giving the veteran something to do,the young man said to the scout:

“As we now possess these infallible signs, let us commence our march. Amoment, at such a time, will appear an age to the captives.”

“It is not the swiftest leaping deer that gives the longest chase,”returned Hawkeye, without moving his eyes from the different marks that hadcome under his view; “we know that the rampaging Huron has passed, andthe dark-hair, and the singer, but where is she of the yellow locks and blueeyes? Though little, and far from being as bold as her sister, she is fair tothe view, and pleasant in discourse. Has she no friend, that none care forher?”

“God forbid she should ever want hundreds! Are we not now in her pursuit?For one, I will never cease the search till she be found.”

“In that case we may have to journey by different paths; for here she hasnot passed, light and little as her footsteps would be.”

Heyward drew back, all his ardor to proceed seeming to vanish on the instant.Without attending to this sudden change in the other’s humor, the scoutafter musing a moment continued:

“There is no woman in this wilderness could leave such a print as that,but the dark-hair or her sister. We know that the first has been here, butwhere are the signs of the other? Let us push deeper on the trail, and ifnothing offers, we must go back to the plain and strike another scent. Move on,Uncas, and keep your eyes on the dried leaves. I will watch the bushes, whileyour father shall run with a low nose to the ground. Move on, friends; the sunis getting behind the hills.”

“Is there nothing that I can do?” demanded the anxious Heyward.

“You?” repeated the scout, who, with his red friends, was alreadyadvancing in the order he had prescribed; “yes, you can keep in our rearand be careful not to cross the trail.”

Before they had proceeded many rods, the Indians stopped, and appeared to gazeat some signs on the earth with more than their usual keenness. Both father andson spoke quick and loud, now looking at the object of their mutual admiration,and now regarding each other with the most unequivocal pleasure.

“They have found the little foot!” exclaimed the scout, movingforward, without attending further to his own portion of the duty. “Whathave we here? An ambushment has been planted in the spot! No, by the truestrifle on the frontiers, here have been them one-sided horses again! Now thewhole secret is out, and all is plain as the north star at midnight. Yes, herethey have mounted. There the beasts have been bound to a sapling, in waiting;and yonder runs the broad path away to the north, in full sweep for theCanadas.”

“But still there are no signs of Alice, of the younger Miss Munro,”said Duncan.

“Unless the shining bauble Uncas has just lifted from the ground shouldprove one. Pass it this way, lad, that we may look at it.”

Heyward instantly knew it for a trinket that Alice was fond of wearing, andwhich he recollected, with the tenacious memory of a lover, to have seen, onthe fatal morning of the massacre, dangling from the fair neck of his mistress.He seized the highly prized jewel; and as he proclaimed the fact, it vanishedfrom the eyes of the wondering scout, who in vain looked for it on the ground,long after it was warmly pressed against the beating heart of Duncan.

“Pshaw!” said the disappointed Hawkeye, ceasing to rake the leaveswith the breech of his rifle; “’tis a certain sign of age, when thesight begins to weaken. Such a glittering gewgaw, and not to be seen! Well,well, I can squint along a clouded barrel yet, and that is enough to settle alldisputes between me and the Mingoes. I should like to find the thing, too, ifit were only to carry it to the right owner, and that would be bringing the twoends of what I call a long trail together, for by this time the broad St.Lawrence, or perhaps, the Great Lakes themselves, are between us.”

“So much the more reason why we should not delay our march,”returned Heyward; “let us proceed.”

“Young blood and hot blood, they say, are much the same thing. We are notabout to start on a squirrel hunt, or to drive a deer into the Horican, but tooutlie for days and nights, and to stretch across a wilderness where the feetof men seldom go, and where no bookish knowledge would carry you throughharmless. An Indian never starts on such an expedition without smoking over hiscouncil-fire; and, though a man of white blood, I honor their customs in thisparticular, seeing that they are deliberate and wise. We will, therefore, goback, and light our fire to-night in the ruins of the old fort, and in themorning we shall be fresh, and ready to undertake our work like men, and notlike babbling women or eager boys.”

Heyward saw, by the manner of the scout, that altercation would be useless.Munro had again sunk into that sort of apathy which had beset him since hislate overwhelming misfortunes, and from which he was apparently to be rousedonly by some new and powerful excitement. Making a merit of necessity, theyoung man took the veteran by the arm, and followed in the footsteps of theIndians and the scout, who had already begun to retrace the path whichconducted them to the plain.

CHAPTER XIX.

“Salar.—Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take hisflesh; what’s that good for?
Shy.—To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed myrevenge.”
—Merchant of Venice

The shades of evening had come to increase the dreariness of the place, whenthe party entered the ruins of William Henry. The scout and his companionsimmediately made their preparations to pass the night there; but with anearnestness and sobriety of demeanor that betrayed how much the unusual horrorsthey had just witnessed worked on even their practised feelings. A fewfragments of rafters were reared against a blackened wall; and when Uncas hadcovered them slightly with brush, the temporary accommodations were deemedsufficient. The young Indian pointed toward his rude hut when his labor wasended; and Heyward, who understood the meaning of the silent gestures, gentlyurged Munro to enter. Leaving the bereaved old man alone with his sorrows,Duncan immediately returned into the open air, too much excited himself to seekthe repose he had recommended to his veteran friend.

While Hawkeye and the Indians lighted their fire and took their evening’srepast, a frugal meal of dried bear’s meat, the young man paid a visit tothat curtain of the dilapidated fort which looked out on the sheet of theHorican. The wind had fallen, and the waves were already rolling on the sandybeach beneath him, in a more regular and tempered succession. The clouds, as iftired of their furious chase, were breaking asunder; the heavier volumes,gathering in black masses about the horizon, while the lighter scud stillhurried above the water, or eddied among the tops of the mountains, like brokenflights of birds, hovering around their roosts. Here and there, a red and fierystar struggled through the drifting vapor, furnishing a lurid gleam ofbrightness to the dull aspect of the heavens. Within the bosom of theencircling hills, an impenetrable darkness had already settled; and the plainlay like a vast and deserted charnel-house, without omen or whisper to disturbthe slumbers of its numerous and hapless tenants.

Of this scene, so chillingly in accordance with the past, Duncan stood for manyminutes a rapt observer. His eyes wandered from the bosom of the mound, wherethe foresters were seated around their glimmering fire, to the fainter lightwhich still lingered in the skies, and then rested long and anxiously on theembodied gloom, which lay like a dreary void on that side of him where the deadreposed. He soon fancied that inexplicable sounds arose from the place, thoughso indistinct and stolen, as to render not only their nature but even theirexistence uncertain. Ashamed of his apprehensions, the young man turned towardthe water, and strove to divert his attention to the mimic stars that dimlyglimmered on its moving surface. Still, his too-conscious ears performed theirungrateful duty, as if to warn him of some lurking danger. At length, a swifttrampling seemed, quite audibly, to rush athwart the darkness. Unable anylonger to quiet his uneasiness, Duncan spoke in a low voice to the scout,requesting him to ascend the mound to the place where he stood. Hawkeye threwhis rifle across an arm and complied, but with an air so unmoved and calm, asto prove how much he counted on the security of their position.

“Listen!” said Duncan, when the other placed himself deliberatelyat his elbow; “there are suppressed noises on the plain which may showMontcalm has not yet entirely deserted his conquest.”

“Then ears are better than eyes,” said the undisturbed scout, who,having just deposited a portion of a bear between his grinders, spoke thick andslow, like one whose mouth was doubly occupied. “I myself saw him cagedin Ty, with all his host; for your Frenchers, when they have done a cleverthing, like to get back, and have a dance, or a merry-making, with the womenover their success.”

“I know not. An Indian seldom sleeps in war, and plunder may keep a Huronhere after his tribe has departed. It would be well to extinguish the fire, andhave a watch—listen! you hear the noise I mean!”

“An Indian more rarely lurks about the graves. Though ready to slay, andnot over regardful of the means, he is commonly content with the scalp, unlesswhen blood is hot, and temper up; but after spirit is once fairly gone, heforgets his enmity, and is willing to let the dead find their natural rest.Speaking of spirits, major, are you of opinion that the heaven of a red-skinand of us whites will be of one and the same?”

“No doubt—no doubt. I thought I heard it again! or was it therustling of the leaves in the top of the beech?”

“For my own part,” continued Hawkeye, turning his face for a momentin the direction indicated by Heyward, but with a vacant and careless manner,“I believe that paradise is ordained for happiness; and that men will beindulged in it according to their dispositions and gifts. I, therefore, judgethat a red-skin is not far from the truth when he believes he is to find themglorious hunting grounds of which his traditions tell; nor, for that matter, doI think it would be any disparagement to a man without a cross to pass histime—”

“You hear it again?” interrupted Duncan.

“Ay, ay; when food is scarce, and when food is plenty, a wolf growsbold,” said the unmoved scout. “There would be picking, too, amongthe skins of the devils, if there was light and time for the sport. But,concerning the life that is to come, major; I have heard preachers say, in thesettlements, that heaven was a place of rest. Now, men’s minds differ asto their ideas of enjoyment. For myself, and I say it with reverence to theordering of Providence, it would be no great indulgence to be kept shut up inthose mansions of which they preach, having a natural longing for motion andthe chase.”

Duncan, who was now made to understand the nature of the noise he had heard,answered, with more attention to the subject which the humor of the scout hadchosen for discussion, by saying:

“It is difficult to account for the feelings that may attend the lastgreat change.”

“It would be a change, indeed, for a man who has passed his days in theopen air,” returned the single-minded scout; “and who has so oftenbroken his fast on the head waters of the Hudson, to sleep within sound of theroaring Mohawk. But it is a comfort to know we serve a merciful Master, thoughwe do it each after his fashion, and with great tracts of wilderness atweenus—what goes there?”

“Is it not the rushing of the wolves you have mentioned?”

Hawkeye slowly shook his head, and beckoned for Duncan to follow him to a spotto which the glare from the fire did not extend. When he had taken thisprecaution, the scout placed himself in an attitude of intense attention andlistened long and keenly for a repetition of the low sound that had sounexpectedly startled him. His vigilance, however, seemed exercised in vain;for after a fruitless pause, he whispered to Duncan:

“We must give a call to Uncas. The boy has Indian senses, and he may hearwhat is hid from us; for, being a white-skin, I will not deny my nature.”

The young Mohican, who was conversing in a low voice with his father, startedas he heard the moaning of an owl, and, springing on his feet, he looked towardthe black mounds, as if seeking the place whence the sounds proceeded. Thescout repeated the call, and in a few moments, Duncan saw the figure of Uncasstealing cautiously along the rampart, to the spot where they stood.

Hawkeye explained his wishes in a very few words, which were spoken in theDelaware tongue. So soon as Uncas was in possession of the reason why he wassummoned, he threw himself flat on the turf; where, to the eyes of Duncan, heappeared to lie quiet and motionless. Surprised at the immovable attitude ofthe young warrior, and curious to observe the manner in which he employed hisfaculties to obtain the desired information, Heyward advanced a few steps, andbent over the dark object on which he had kept his eye riveted. Then it was hediscovered that the form of Uncas vanished, and that he beheld only the darkoutline of an inequality in the embankment.

“What has become of the Mohican?” he demanded of the scout,stepping back in amazement; “it was here that I saw him fall, and couldhave sworn that here he yet remained.”

“Hist! speak lower; for we know not what ears are open, and the Mingoesare a quick-witted breed. As for Uncas, he is out on the plain, and the Maquas,if any such are about us, will find their equal.”

“You think that Montcalm has not called off all his Indians? Let us givethe alarm to our companions, that we may stand to our arms. Here are five ofus, who are not unused to meet an enemy.”

“Not a word to either, as you value your life. Look at the Sagamore, howlike a grand Indian chief he sits by the fire. If there are any skulkers out inthe darkness, they will never discover, by his countenance, that we suspectdanger at hand.”

“But they may discover him, and it will prove his death. His person canbe too plainly seen by the light of that fire, and he will become the first andmost certain victim.”

“It is undeniable that now you speak the truth,” returned thescout, betraying more anxiety than was usual; “yet what can be done? Asingle suspicious look might bring on an attack before we are ready to receiveit. He knows, by the call I gave to Uncas, that we have struck a scent; I willtell him that we are on the trail of the Mingoes; his Indian nature will teachhim how to act.”

The scout applied his fingers to his mouth, and raised a low hissing sound,that caused Duncan at first to start aside, believing that he heard a serpent.The head of Chingachgook was resting on a hand, as he sat musing by himself butthe moment he had heard the warning of the animal whose name he bore, he aroseto an upright position, and his dark eyes glanced swiftly and keenly on everyside of him. With his sudden and, perhaps, involuntary movement, everyappearance of surprise or alarm ended. His rifle lay untouched, and apparentlyunnoticed, within reach of his hand. The tomahawk that he had loosened in hisbelt for the sake of ease, was even suffered to fall from its usual situationto the ground, and his form seemed to sink, like that of a man whose nerves andsinews were suffered to relax for the purpose of rest. Cunningly resuming hisformer position, though with a change of hands, as if the movement had beenmade merely to relieve the limb, the native awaited the result with a calmnessand fortitude that none but an Indian warrior would have known how to exercise.

But Heyward saw that while to a less instructed eye the Mohican chief appearedto slumber, his nostrils were expanded, his head was turned a little to oneside, as if to assist the organs of hearing, and that his quick and rapidglances ran incessantly over every object within the power of his vision.

“See the noble fellow!” whispered Hawkeye, pressing the arm ofHeyward; “he knows that a look or a motion might disconsart our schemes,and put us at the mercy of them imps—”

He was interrupted by the flash and report of a rifle. The air was filled withsparks of fire, around that spot where the eyes of Heyward were still fastened,with admiration and wonder. A second look told him that Chingachgook haddisappeared in the confusion. In the meantime, the scout had thrown forward hisrifle, like one prepared for service, and awaited impatiently the moment whenan enemy might rise to view. But with the solitary and fruitless attempt madeon the life of Chingachgook, the attack appeared to have terminated. Once ortwice the listeners thought they could distinguish the distant rustling ofbushes, as bodies of some unknown description rushed through them; nor was itlong before Hawkeye pointed out the “scampering of the wolves,” asthey fled precipitately before the passage of some intruder on their properdomains. After an impatient and breathless pause, a plunge was heard in thewater, and it was immediately followed by the report of another rifle.

“There goes Uncas!” said the scout; “the boy bears a smartpiece! I know its crack, as well as a father knows the language of his child,for I carried the gun myself until a better offered.”

“What can this mean?” demanded Duncan, “we are watched, and,as it would seem, marked for destruction.”

“Yonder scattered brand can witness that no good was intended, and thisIndian will testify that no harm has been done,” returned the scout,dropping his rifle across his arm again, and following Chingachgook, who justthen reappeared within the circle of light, into the bosom of the work.“How is it, Sagamore? Are the Mingoes upon us in earnest, or is it onlyone of those reptiles who hang upon the skirts of a war-party, to scalp thedead, go in, and make their boast among the squaws of the valiant deeds done onthe pale faces?”

Chingachgook very quietly resumed his seat; nor did he make any reply, untilafter he had examined the firebrand which had been struck by the bullet thathad nearly proved fatal to himself. After which he was content to reply,holding a single finger up to view, with the English monosyllable:

“One.”

“I thought as much,” returned Hawkeye, seating himself; “andas he had got the cover of the lake afore Uncas pulled upon him, it is morethan probable the knave will sing his lies about some great ambushment, inwhich he was outlying on the trail of two Mohicans and a white hunter—forthe officers can be considered as little better than idlers in such ascrimmage. Well, let him—let him. There are always some honest men inevery nation, though heaven knows, too, that they are scarce among the Maquas,to look down an upstart when he brags ag’in the face of reason. Thevarlet sent his lead within whistle of your ears, Sagamore.”

Chingachgook turned a calm and incurious eye toward the place where the ballhad struck, and then resumed his former attitude, with a composure that couldnot be disturbed by so trifling an incident. Just then Uncas glided into thecircle, and seated himself at the fire, with the same appearance ofindifference as was maintained by his father.

Of these several moments Heyward was a deeply interested and wonderingobserver. It appeared to him as though the foresters had some secret means ofintelligence, which had escaped the vigilance of his own faculties. In place ofthat eager and garrulous narration with which a white youth would haveendeavored to communicate, and perhaps exaggerate, that which had passed out inthe darkness of the plain, the young warrior was seemingly content to let hisdeeds speak for themselves. It was, in fact, neither the moment nor theoccasion for an Indian to boast of his exploits; and it is probably that, hadHeyward neglected to inquire, not another syllable would, just then, have beenuttered on the subject.

“What has become of our enemy, Uncas?” demanded Duncan; “weheard your rifle, and hoped you had not fired in vain.”

The young chief removed a fold of his hunting skirt, and quietly exposed thefatal tuft of hair, which he bore as the symbol of victory. Chingachgook laidhis hand on the scalp, and considered it for a moment with deep attention. Thendropping it, with disgust depicted in his strong features, he ejaculated:

“Oneida!”

“Oneida!” repeated the scout, who was fast losing his interest inthe scene, in an apathy nearly assimilated to that of his red associates, butwho now advanced in uncommon earnestness to regard the bloody badge. “Bythe Lord, if the Oneidas are outlying upon the trail, we shall by flanked bydevils on every side of us! Now, to white eyes there is no difference betweenthis bit of skin and that of any other Indian, and yet the Sagamore declares itcame from the poll of a Mingo; nay, he even names the tribe of the poor devil,with as much ease as if the scalp was the leaf of a book, and each hair aletter. What right have Christian whites to boast of their learning, when asavage can read a language that would prove too much for the wisest of themall! What say you, lad, of what people was the knave?”

Uncas raised his eyes to the face of the scout, and answered, in his softvoice:

“Oneida.”

“Oneida, again! when one Indian makes a declaration it is commonly true;but when he is supported by his people, set it down as gospel!”

“The poor fellow has mistaken us for French,” said Heyward;“or he would not have attempted the life of a friend.”

“He mistake a Mohican in his paint for a Huron! You would be as likely tomistake the white-coated grenadiers of Montcalm for the scarlet jackets of theRoyal Americans,” returned the scout. “No, no, the sarpent knew hiserrand; nor was there any great mistake in the matter, for there is but littlelove atween a Delaware and a Mingo, let their tribes go out to fight for whomthey may, in a white quarrel. For that matter, though the Oneidas do serve hissacred majesty, who is my sovereign lord and master, I should not havedeliberated long about letting off ‘killdeer’ at the imp myself,had luck thrown him in my way.”

“That would have been an abuse of our treaties, and unworthy of yourcharacter.”

“When a man consort much with a people,” continued Hawkeye,“if they were honest and he no knave, love will grow up atwixt them. Itis true that white cunning has managed to throw the tribes into greatconfusion, as respects friends and enemies; so that the Hurons and the Oneidas,who speak the same tongue, or what may be called the same, take eachother’s scalps, and the Delawares are divided among themselves; a fewhanging about their great council-fire on their own river, and fighting on thesame side with the Mingoes while the greater part are in the Canadas, out ofnatural enmity to the Maquas—thus throwing everything into disorder, anddestroying all the harmony of warfare. Yet a red natur’ is not likely toalter with every shift of policy; so that the love atwixt a Mohican and a Mingois much like the regard between a white man and a sarpent.”

“I regret to hear it; for I had believed those natives who dwelt withinour boundaries had found us too just and liberal, not to identify themselvesfully with our quarrels.”

“Why, I believe it is natur’ to give a preference to one’sown quarrels before those of strangers. Now, for myself, I do love justice;and, therefore, I will not say I hate a Mingo, for that may be unsuitable to mycolor and my religion, though I will just repeat, it may have been owing to thenight that ‘killdeer’ had no hand in the death of this skulkingOneida.”

Then, as if satisfied with the force of his own reasons, whatever might betheir effect on the opinions of the other disputant, the honest but implacablewoodsman turned from the fire, content to let the controversy slumber. Heywardwithdrew to the rampart, too uneasy and too little accustomed to the warfare ofthe woods to remain at ease under the possibility of such insidious attacks.Not so, however, with the scout and the Mohicans. Those acute andlong-practised senses, whose powers so often exceed the limits of all ordinarycredulity, after having detected the danger, had enabled them to ascertain itsmagnitude and duration. Not one of the three appeared in the least to doubttheir perfect security, as was indicated by the preparations that were soonmade to sit in council over their future proceedings.

The confusion of nations, and even of tribes, to which Hawkeye alluded, existedat that period in the fullest force. The great tie of language, and, of course,of a common origin, was severed in many places; and it was one of itsconsequences, that the Delaware and the Mingo (as the people of the Six Nationswere called) were found fighting in the same ranks, while the latter sought thescalp of the Huron, though believed to be the root of his own stock. TheDelawares were even divided among themselves. Though love for the soil whichhad belonged to his ancestors kept the Sagamore of the Mohicans with a smallband of followers who were serving at Edward, under the banners of the Englishking, by far the largest portion of his nation were known to be in the field asallies of Montcalm. The reader probably knows, if enough has not already beengleaned form this narrative, that the Delaware, or Lenape, claimed to be theprogenitors of that numerous people, who once were masters of most of theeastern and northern states of America, of whom the community of the Mohicanswas an ancient and highly honored member.

It was, of course, with a perfect understanding of the minute and intricateinterests which had armed friend against friend, and brought natural enemies tocombat by each other’s side, that the scout and his companions nowdisposed themselves to deliberate on the measures that were to govern theirfuture movements, amid so many jarring and savage races of men. Duncan knewenough of Indian customs to understand the reason that the fire wasreplenished, and why the warriors, not excepting Hawkeye, took their seatswithin the curl of its smoke with so much gravity and decorum. Placing himselfat an angle of the works, where he might be a spectator of the scene without,he awaited the result with as much patience as he could summon.

After a short and impressive pause, Chingachgook lighted a pipe whose bowl wascuriously carved in one of the soft stones of the country, and whose stem was atube of wood, and commenced smoking. When he had inhaled enough of thefragrance of the soothing weed, he passed the instrument into the hands of thescout. In this manner the pipe had made its rounds three several times, amidthe most profound silence, before either of the party opened his lips. Then theSagamore, as the oldest and highest in rank, in a few calm and dignified words,proposed the subject for deliberation. He was answered by the scout; andChingachgook rejoined, when the other objected to his opinions. But theyouthful Uncas continued a silent and respectful listener, until Hawkeye, incomplaisance, demanded his opinion. Heyward gathered from the manners of thedifferent speakers, that the father and son espoused one side of a disputedquestion, while the white man maintained the other. The contest gradually grewwarmer, until it was quite evident the feelings of the speakers began to besomewhat enlisted in the debate.

Notwithstanding the increasing warmth of the amicable contest, the mostdecorous Christian assembly, not even excepting those in which its reverendministers are collected, might have learned a wholesome lesson of moderationfrom the forbearance and courtesy of the disputants. The words of Uncas werereceived with the same deep attention as those which fell from the maturerwisdom of his father; and so far from manifesting any impatience, neither spokein reply, until a few moments of silent meditation were, seemingly, bestowed indeliberating on what had already been said.

The language of the Mohicans was accompanied by gestures so direct and naturalthat Heyward had but little difficulty in following the thread of theirargument. On the other hand, the scout was obscure; because from the lingeringpride of color, he rather affected the cold and artificial manner whichcharacterizes all classes of Anglo-Americans when unexcited. By the frequencywith which the Indians described the marks of a forest trial, it was evidentthey urged a pursuit by land, while the repeated sweep of Hawkeye’s armtoward the Horican denoted that he was for a passage across its waters.

The latter was to every appearance fast losing ground, and the point was aboutto be decided against him, when he arose to his feet, and shaking off hisapathy, he suddenly assumed the manner of an Indian, and adopted all the artsof native eloquence. Elevating an arm, he pointed out the track of the sun,repeating the gesture for every day that was necessary to accomplish theirobjects. Then he delineated a long and painful path, amid rocks andwater-courses. The age and weakness of the slumbering and unconscious Munrowere indicated by signs too palpable to be mistaken. Duncan perceived that evenhis own powers were spoken lightly of, as the scout extended his palm, andmentioned him by the appellation of the “Open Hand”—a namehis liberality had purchased of all the friendly tribes. Then came arepresentation of the light and graceful movements of a canoe, set in forciblecontrast to the tottering steps of one enfeebled and tired. He concluded bypointing to the scalp of the Oneida, and apparently urging the necessity oftheir departing speedily, and in a manner that should leave no trail.

The Mohicans listened gravely, and with countenances thatreflected thesentiments of the speaker.

The Mohicans listened gravely, and with countenances that reflected thesentiments of the speaker. Conviction gradually wrought its influence, andtoward the close of Hawkeye’s speech, his sentences were accompanied bythe customary exclamation of commendation. In short, Uncas and his fatherbecame converts to his way of thinking, abandoning their own previouslyexpressed opinions with a liberality and candor that, had they been therepresentatives of some great and civilized people, would have infalliblyworked their political ruin, by destroying forever their reputation forconsistency.

The instant the matter in discussion was decided, the debate, and everythingconnected with it, except the result appeared to be forgotten. Hawkeye, withoutlooking round to read his triumph in applauding eyes, very composedly stretchedhis tall frame before the dying embers, and closed his own organs in sleep.

Left now in a measure to themselves, the Mohicans, whose time had been so muchdevoted to the interests of others, seized the moment to devote some attentionto themselves. Casting off at once the grave and austere demeanor of an Indianchief, Chingachgook commenced speaking to his son in the soft and playful tonesof affection. Uncas gladly met the familiar air of his father; and before thehard breathing of the scout announced that he slept, a complete change waseffected in the manner of his two associates.

It is impossible to describe the music of their language, while thus engaged inlaughter and endearments, in such a way as to render it intelligible to thosewhose ears have never listened to its melody. The compass of their voices,particularly that of the youth, was wonderful—extending from the deepestbass to tones that were even feminine in softness. The eyes of the fatherfollowed the plastic and ingenious movements of the son with open delight, andhe never failed to smile in reply to the other’s contagious but lowlaughter. While under the influence of these gentle and natural feelings, notrace of ferocity was to be seen in the softened features of the Sagamore. Hisfigured panoply of death looked more like a disguise assumed in mockery than afierce annunciation of a desire to carry destruction in his footsteps.

After an hour had passed in the indulgence of their better feelings,Chingachgook abruptly announced his desire to sleep, by wrapping his head inhis blanket and stretching his form on the naked earth. The merriment of Uncasinstantly ceased; and carefully raking the coals in such a manner that theyshould impart their warmth to his father’s feet, the youth sought his ownpillow among the ruins of the place.

Imbibing renewed confidence from the security of these experienced foresters,Heyward soon imitated their example; and long before the night had turned, theywho lay in the bosom of the ruined work, seemed to slumber as heavily as theunconscious multitude whose bones were already beginning to bleach on thesurrounding plain.

CHAPTER XX.

“Land of Albania! let me bend mine eyes
On thee; thou rugged nurse of savage men!”
—Childe Harold

The heavens were still studded with stars, when Hawkeye came to arouse thesleepers. Casting aside their cloaks Munro and Heyward were on their feet whilethe woodsman was still making his low calls, at the entrance of the rudeshelter where they had passed the night. When they issued from beneath itsconcealment, they found the scout awaiting their appearance nigh by, and theonly salutation between them was the significant gesture for silence, made bytheir sagacious leader.

“Think over your prayers,” he whispered, as they approached him;“for He to whom you make them, knows all tongues; that of the heart, aswell as those of the mouth. But speak not a syllable; it is rare for a whitevoice to pitch itself properly in the woods, as we have seen by the example ofthat miserable devil, the singer. Come,” he continued, turning toward acurtain of the works; “let us get into the ditch on this side, and beregardful to step on the stones and fragments of wood as you go.”

His companions complied, though to two of them the reasons of thisextraordinary precaution were yet a mystery. When they were in the low cavitythat surrounded the earthen fort on three sides, they found that passage nearlychoked by the ruins. With care and patience, however, they succeeded inclambering after the scout, until they reached the sandy shore of the Horican.

“That’s a trail that nothing but a nose can follow,” said thesatisfied scout, looking back along their difficult way; “grass is atreacherous carpet for a flying party to tread on, but wood and stone take noprint from a moccasin. Had you worn your armed boots, there might, indeed, havebeen something to fear; but with the deer-skin suitably prepared, a man maytrust himself, generally, on rocks with safety. Shove in the canoe nigher tothe land, Uncas; this sand will take a stamp as easily as the butter of theJarmans on the Mohawk. Softly, lad, softly; it must not touch the beach, or theknaves will know by what road we have left the place.”

The young man observed the precaution; and the scout, laying a board from theruins to the canoe, made a sign for the two officers to enter. When this wasdone, everything was studiously restored to its former disorder; and thenHawkeye succeeded in reaching his little birchen vessel, without leaving behindhim any of those marks which he appeared so much to dread. Heyward was silentuntil the Indians had cautiously paddled the canoe some distance from the fort,and within the broad and dark shadows that fell from the eastern mountain onthe glassy surface of the lake; then he demanded:

“What need have we for this stolen and hurried departure?”

“If the blood of an Oneida could stain such a sheet of pure water as thiswe float on,” returned the scout, “your two eyes would answer yourown question. Have you forgotten the skulking reptile Uncas slew?”

“By no means. But he was said to be alone, and dead men give no cause forfear.”

“Ay, he was alone in his deviltry! but an Indian whose tribe counts somany warriors, need seldom fear his blood will run without the death shriekcoming speedily from some of his enemies.”

“But our presence—the authority of Colonel Munro—would provesufficient protection against the anger of our allies, especially in a casewhere the wretch so well merited his fate. I trust in Heaven you have notdeviated a single foot from the direct line of our course with so slight areason!”

“Do you think the bullet of that varlet’s rifle would have turnedaside, though his sacred majesty the king had stood in its path?”returned the stubborn scout. “Why did not the grand Frencher, he who iscaptain-general of the Canadas, bury the tomahawks of the Hurons, if a wordfrom a white can work so strongly on the natur’ of an Indian?”

The reply of Heyward was interrupted by a groan from Munro; but after he hadpaused a moment, in deference to the sorrow of his aged friend he resumed thesubject.

“The marquis of Montcalm can only settle that error with his God,”said the young man solemnly.

“Ay, ay, now there is reason in your words, for they are bottomed onreligion and honesty. There is a vast difference between throwing a regiment ofwhite coats atwixt the tribes and the prisoners, and coaxing an angry savage toforget he carries a knife and rifle, with words that must begin with callinghim your son. No, no,” continued the scout, looking back at the dim shoreof William Henry, which was now fast receding, and laughing in his own silentbut heartfelt manner; “I have put a trail of water atween us; and unlessthe imps can make friends with the fishes, and hear who has paddled acrosstheir basin this fine morning, we shall throw the length of the Horican behindus before they have made up their minds which path to take.”

“With foes in front, and foes in our rear, our journey is like to be oneof danger.”

“Danger!” repeated Hawkeye, calmly; “no, not absolutely ofdanger; for, with vigilant ears and quick eyes, we can manage to keep a fewhours ahead of the knaves; or, if we must try the rifle, there are three of uswho understand its gifts as well as any you can name on the borders. No, not ofdanger; but that we shall have what you may call a brisk push of it, isprobable; and it may happen, a brush, a scrimmage, or some such divarsion, butalways where covers are good, and ammunition abundant.”

It is possible that Heyward’s estimate of danger differed in some degreefrom that of the scout, for, instead of replying, he now sat in silence, whilethe canoe glided over several miles of water. Just as the day dawned, theyentered the narrows of the lake^[1],and stole swiftly and cautiously among their numberless little islands. It wasby this road that Montcalm had retired with his army, and the adventurers knewnot but he had left some of his Indians in ambush, to protect the rear of hisforces, and collect the stragglers. They, therefore, approached the passagewith the customary silence of their guarded habits.

[1]The beauties of Lake George are well known to every American tourist. In theheight of the mountains which surround it, and in artificial accessories, it isinferior to the finest of the Swiss and Italian lakes, while in outline andpurity of water it is fully their equal; and in the number and disposition ofits isles and islets much superior to them all together. There are said to besome hundreds of islands in a sheet of water less than thirty miles long. Thenarrows, which connect what may be called, in truth, two lakes, are crowdedwith islands to such a degree as to leave passages between them frequently ofonly a few feet in width. The lake itself varies in breadth from one to threemiles.

Chingachgook laid aside his paddle; while Uncas and the scout urged the lightvessel through crooked and intricate channels, where every foot that theyadvanced exposed them to the danger of some sudden rising on their progress.The eyes of the Sagamore moved warily from islet to islet, and copse to copse,as the canoe proceeded; and, when a clearer sheet of water permitted, his keenvision was bent along the bald rocks and impending forests that frowned uponthe narrow strait.

Heyward, who was a doubly interested spectator, as well from the beauties ofthe place as from the apprehension natural to his situation, was just believingthat he had permitted the latter to be excited without sufficient reason, whenthe paddle ceased moving, in obedience to a signal from Chingachgook.

“Hugh!” exclaimed Uncas, nearly at the moment that the light taphis father had made on the side of the canoe notified them of the vicinity ofdanger.

“What now?” asked the scout; “the lake is as smooth as if thewinds had never blown, and I can see along its sheet for miles; there is not somuch as the black head of a loon dotting the water.”

The Indian gravely raised his paddle, and pointed in the direction in which hisown steady look was riveted. Duncan’s eyes followed the motion. A fewrods in their front lay another of the wooded islets, but it appeared as calmand peaceful as if its solitude had never been disturbed by the foot of man.

“I see nothing,” he said, “but land and water; and a lovelyscene it is.”

“Hist!” interrupted the scout. “Ay, Sagamore, there is alwaysa reason for what you do. ’Tis but a shade, and yet it is not natural.You see the mist, major, that is rising above the island; you can’t callit a fog, for it is more like a streak of thin cloud—”

“It is vapor from the water.”

“That a child could tell. But what is the edging of blacker smoke thathangs along its lower side, and which you may trace down into the thicket ofhazel? ’Tis from a fire; but one that, in my judgment, has been sufferedto burn low.”

“Let us, then, push for the place, and relieve our doubts,” saidthe impatient Duncan; “the party must be small that can lie on such a bitof land.”

“If you judge of Indian cunning by the rules you find in books, or bywhite sagacity, they will lead you astray, if not to your death,”returned Hawkeye, examining the signs of the place with that acuteness whichdistinguished him. “If I may be permitted to speak in this matter, itwill be to say, that we have but two things to choose between: the one is, toreturn, and give up all thoughts of following the Hurons—”

“Never!” exclaimed Heyward, in a voice far too loud for theircircumstances.

“Well, well,” continued Hawkeye, making a hasty sign to repress hisimpatience; “I am much of your mind myself; though I thought it becomingmy experience to tell the whole. We must, then, make a push, and if the Indiansor Frenchers are in the narrows, run the gauntlet through these topplingmountains. Is there reason in my words, Sagamore?”

The Indian made no other answer than by dropping his paddle into the water, andurging forward the canoe. As he held the office of directing its course, hisresolution was sufficiently indicated by the movement. The whole party nowplied their paddles vigorously, and in a very few moments they had reached apoint whence they might command an entire view of the northern shore of theisland, the side that had hitherto been concealed.

“There they are, by all the truth of signs,” whispered the scout,“two canoes and a smoke. The knaves haven’t yet got their eyes outof the mist, or we should hear the accursed whoop. Together, friends! we areleaving them, and are already nearly out of whistle of a bullet.”

The well-known crack of a rifle, whose ball came skipping along the placidsurface of the strait, and a shrill yell from the island, interrupted hisspeech, and announced that their passage was discovered. In another instantseveral savages were seen rushing into canoes, which were soon dancing over thewater in pursuit. These fearful precursors of a coming struggle produced nochange in the countenances and movements of his three guides, so far as Duncancould discover, except that the strokes of their paddles were longer and morein unison, and caused the little bark to spring forward like a creaturepossessing life and volition.

“Hold them there, Sagamore,” said Hawkeye, looking coolly backwardover this left shoulder, while he still plied his paddle; “keep them justthere. Them Hurons have never a piece in their nation that will execute at thisdistance; but ‘killdeer’ has a barrel on which a man maycalculate.”

The scout having ascertained that the Mohicans were sufficient of themselves tomaintain the requisite distance, deliberately laid aside his paddle, and raisedthe fatal rifle. Three several times he brought the piece to his shoulder, andwhen his companions were expecting its report, he as often lowered it torequest the Indians would permit their enemies to approach a little nigher. Atlength his accurate and fastidious eye seemed satisfied, and, throwing out hisleft arm on the barrel, he was slowly elevating the muzzle, when an exclamationfrom Uncas, who sat in the bow, once more caused him to suspend the shot.

“What, now, lad?” demanded Hawkeye; “you save a Huron fromthe death-shriek by that word; have you reason for what you do?”

Uncas pointed toward a rocky shore a little in their front, whence another warcanoe was darting directly across their course. It was too obvious now thattheir situation was imminently perilous to need the aid of language to confirmit. The scout laid aside his rifle, and resumed the paddle, while Chingachgookinclined the bows of the canoe a little toward the western shore, in order toincrease the distance between them and this new enemy. In the meantime theywere reminded of the presence of those who pressed upon their rear, by wild andexulting shouts. The stirring scene awakened even Munro from his apathy.

“Let us make for the rocks on the main,” he said, with the mien ofa tired soldier, “and give battle to the savages. God forbid that I, orthose attached to me and mine, should ever trust again to the faith of anyservant of the Louis’s!”

“He who wishes to prosper in Indian warfare,” returned the scout,“must not be too proud to learn from the wit of a native. Lay her morealong the land, Sagamore; we are doubling on the varlets, and perhaps they maytry to strike our trail on the long calculation.”

Hawkeye was not mistaken; for when the Hurons found their course was likely tothrow them behind their chase they rendered it less direct, until, by graduallybearing more and more obliquely, the two canoes were, ere long, gliding onparallel lines, within two hundred yards of each other. It now became entirelya trial of speed. So rapid was the progress of the light vessels, that the lakecurled in their front, in miniature waves, and their motion became undulatingby its own velocity. It was, perhaps, owing to this circumstance, in additionto the necessity of keeping every hand employed at the paddles, that the Huronshad not immediate recourse to their firearms. The exertions of the fugitiveswere too severe to continue long, and the pursuers had the advantage ofnumbers. Duncan observed with uneasiness, that the scout began to lookanxiously about him, as if searching for some further means of assisting theirflight.

“Edge her a little more from the sun, Sagamore,” said the stubbornwoodsman; “I see the knaves are sparing a man to the rifle. A singlebroken bone might lose us our scalps. Edge more from the sun and we will putthe island between us.”

The expedient was not without its use. A long, low island lay at a littledistance before them, and, as they closed with it, the chasing canoe wascompelled to take a side opposite to that on which the pursued passed. Thescout and his companions did not neglect this advantage, but the instant theywere hid from observation by the bushes, they redoubled efforts that before hadseemed prodigious. The two canoes came round the last low point, like twocoursers at the top of their speed, the fugitives taking the lead. This changehad brought them nigher to each other, however, while it altered their relativepositions.

“You showed knowledge in the shaping of a birchen bark, Uncas, when youchose this from among the Huron canoes,” said the scout, smiling,apparently more in satisfaction at their superiority in the race than from thatprospect of final escape which now began to open a little upon them. “Theimps have put all their strength again at the paddles, and we are to strugglefor our scalps with bits of flattened wood, instead of clouded barrels and trueeyes. A long stroke, and together, friends.”

“They are preparing for a shot,” said Heyward; “and as we arein a line with them, it can scarcely fail.”

“Get you, then, into the bottom of the canoe,” returned the scout;“you and the colonel; it will be so much taken from the size of themark.”

Heyward smiled, as he answered:

“It would be but an ill example for the highest in rank to dodge, whilethe warriors were under fire.”

“Lord! Lord! That is now a white man’s courage!” exclaimedthe scout; “and like to many of his notions, not to be maintained byreason. Do you think the Sagamore, or Uncas, or even I, who am a man without across, would deliberate about finding a cover in the scrimmage, when an openbody would do no good? For what have the Frenchers reared up their Quebec, iffighting is always to be done in the clearings?”

“All that you say is very true, my friend,” replied Heyward;“still, our customs must prevent us from doing as you wish.”

A volley from the Hurons interrupted the discourse, and as the bullets whistledabout them, Duncan saw the head of Uncas turned, looking back at himself andMunro. Notwithstanding the nearness of the enemy, and his own great personaldanger, the countenance of the young warrior expressed no other emotion, as theformer was compelled to think, than amazement at finding men willing toencounter so useless an exposure. Chingachgook was probably better acquaintedwith the notions of white men, for he did not even cast a glance aside from theriveted look his eye maintained on the object by which he governed theircourse. A ball soon struck the light and polished paddle from the hands of thechief, and drove it through the air, far in the advance. A shout arose from theHurons, who seized the opportunity to fire another volley. Uncas described anarc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe passed swiftly on,Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing it on high, he gave thewar-whoop of the Mohicans, and then lent his strength and skill again to theimportant task.

The clamorous sounds of “Le Gros Serpent!” “La LongueCarabine!” “Le Cerf Agile!” burst at once from the canoesbehind, and seemed to give new zeal to the pursuers. The scout seized“killdeer” in his left hand, and elevating it about his head, heshook it in triumph at his enemies. The savages answered the insult with ayell, and immediately another volley succeeded. The bullets pattered along thelake, and one even pierced the bark of their little vessel. No perceptibleemotion could be discovered in the Mohicans during this critical moment, theirrigid features expressing neither hope nor alarm; but the scout again turnedhis head, and, laughing in his own silent manner, he said to Heyward:

“The knaves love to hear the sounds of their pieces; but the eye is notto be found among the Mingoes that can calculate a true range in a dancingcanoe! You see the dumb devils have taken off a man to charge, and by thesmallest measurement that can be allowed, we move three feet to theirtwo!”

Duncan, who was not altogether as easy under this nice estimate of distances ashis companions, was glad to find, however, that owing to their superiordexterity, and the diversion among their enemies, they were very sensiblyobtaining the advantage. The Hurons soon fired again, and a bullet struck theblade of Hawkeye’s paddle without injury.

“That will do,” said the scout, examining the slight indentationwith a curious eye; “it would not have cut the skin of an infant, muchless of men, who, like us, have been blown upon by the heavens in their anger.Now, major, if you will try to use this piece of flattened wood, I’ll let‘killdeer’ take a part in the conversation.”

Heyward seized the paddle, and applied himself to the work with an eagernessthat supplied the place of skill, while Hawkeye was engaged in inspecting thepriming of his rifle. The latter then took a swift aim and fired. The Huron inthe bows of the leading canoe had risen with a similar object, and he now fellbackward, suffering his gun to escape from his hands into the water. In aninstant, however, he recovered his feet, though his gestures were wild andbewildered. At the same moment his companions suspended their efforts, and thechasing canoes clustered together, and became stationary. Chingachgook andUncas profited by the interval to regain their wind, though Duncan continued towork with the most persevering industry. The father and son now cast calm butinquiring glances at each other, to learn if either had sustained any injury bythe fire; for both well knew that no cry or exclamation would, in such a momentof necessity have been permitted to betray the accident. A few large drops ofblood were trickling down the shoulder of the Sagamore, who, when he perceivedthat the eyes of Uncas dwelt too long on the sight, raised some water in thehollow of his hand, and washing off the stain, was content to manifest, in thissimple manner, the slightness of the injury.

“Softly, softly, major,” said the scout, who by this time hadreloaded his rifle; “we are a little too far already for a rifle to putforth its beauties, and you see yonder imps are holding a council. Let themcome up within striking distance—my eye may well be trusted in such amatter—and I will trail the varlets the length of the Horican,guaranteeing that not a shot of theirs shall, at the worst, more than break theskin, while ‘killdeer’ shall touch the life twice in threetimes.”

“We forget our errand,” returned the diligent Duncan. “ForGod’s sake let us profit by this advantage, and increase our distancefrom the enemy.”

“Give me my children,” said Munro, hoarsely; “trifle nolonger with a father’s agony, but restore me my babes.”

Long and habitual deference to the mandates of his superiors had taught thescout the virtue of obedience. Throwing a last and lingering glance at thedistant canoes, he laid aside his rifle, and, relieving the wearied Duncan,resumed the paddle, which he wielded with sinews that never tired. His effortswere seconded by those of the Mohicans and a very few minutes served to placesuch a sheet of water between them and their enemies, that Heyward once morebreathed freely.

The lake now began to expand, and their route lay along a wide reach, that waslined, as before, by high and ragged mountains. But the islands were few, andeasily avoided. The strokes of the paddles grew more measured and regular,while they who plied them continued their labor, after the close and deadlychase from which they had just relieved themselves, with as much coolness asthough their speed had been tried in sport, rather than under such pressing,nay, almost desperate, circumstances.

Instead of following the western shore, whither their errand led them, the waryMohican inclined his course more toward those hills behind which Montcalm wasknown to have led his army into the formidable fortress of Ticonderoga. As theHurons, to every appearance, had abandoned the pursuit, there was no apparentreason for this excess of caution. It was, however, maintained for hours, untilthey had reached a bay, nigh the northern termination of the lake. Here thecanoe was driven upon the beach, and the whole party landed. Hawkeye andHeyward ascended an adjacent bluff, where the former, after considering theexpanse of water beneath him, pointed out to the latter a small black object,hovering under a headland, at the distance of several miles.

“Do you see it?” demanded the scout. “Now, what would youaccount that spot, were you left alone to white experience to find your waythrough this wilderness?”

“But for its distance and its magnitude, I should suppose it a bird. Canit be a living object?”

“’Tis a canoe of good birchen bark, and paddled by fierce andcrafty Mingoes. Though Providence has lent to those who inhabit the woods eyesthat would be needless to men in the settlements, where there are inventions toassist the sight, yet no human organs can see all the dangers which at thismoment circumvent us. These varlets pretend to be bent chiefly on theirsun-down meal, but the moment it is dark they will be on our trail, as true ashounds on the scent. We must throw them off, or our pursuit of Le Renard Subtilmay be given up. These lakes are useful at times, especially when the game takethe water,” continued the scout, gazing about him with a countenance ofconcern; “but they give no cover, except it be to the fishes. God knowswhat the country would be, if the settlements should ever spread far from thetwo rivers. Both hunting and war would lose their beauty.”

“Let us not delay a moment, without some good and obvious cause.”

“I little like that smoke, which you may see worming up along the rockabove the canoe,” interrupted the abstracted scout. “My life on it,other eyes than ours see it, and know its meaning. Well, words will not mendthe matter, and it is time that we were doing.”

Hawkeye moved away from the lookout, and descended, musing profoundly, to theshore. He communicated the result of his observations to his companions, inDelaware, and a short and earnest consultation succeeded. When it terminated,the three instantly set about executing their new resolutions.

The canoe was lifted from the water, and borne on the shoulders of the party,they proceeded into the wood, making as broad and obvious a trail as possible.They soon reached the water-course, which they crossed, and, continuing onward,until they came to an extensive and naked rock. At this point, where theirfootsteps might be expected to be no longer visible, they retraced their routeto the brook, walking backward, with the utmost care. They now followed the bedof the little stream to the lake, into which they immediately launched theircanoe again. A low point concealed them from the headland, and the margin ofthe lake was fringed for some distance with dense and overhanging bushes. Underthe cover of these natural advantages, they toiled their way, with patientindustry, until the scout pronounced that he believed it would be safe oncemore to land.

The halt continued until evening rendered objects indistinct and uncertain tothe eye. Then they resumed their route, and, favored by the darkness, pushedsilently and vigorously toward the western shore. Although the rugged outlineof mountain, to which they were steering, presented no distinctive marks to theeyes of Duncan, the Mohican entered the little haven he had selected with theconfidence and accuracy of an experienced pilot.

The boat was again lifted and borne into the woods, where it was carefullyconcealed under a pile of brush. The adventurers assumed their arms and packs,and the scout announced to Munro and Heyward that he and the Indians were atlast in readiness to proceed.

CHAPTER XXI.

“If you find a man there, he shall die a flea’s death.”
—Merry Wives of Windsor.

The party had landed on the border of a region that is, even to this day, lessknown to the inhabitants of the States than the deserts of Arabia, or thesteppes of Tartary. It was the sterile and rugged district which separates thetributaries of Champlain from those of the Hudson, the Mohawk, and the St.Lawrence. Since the period of our tale the active spirit of the country hassurrounded it with a belt of rich and thriving settlements, though none but thehunter or the savage is ever known even now to penetrate its wild recesses.

As Hawkeye and the Mohicans had, however, often traversed the mountains andvalleys of this vast wilderness, they did not hesitate to plunge into itsdepth, with the freedom of men accustomed to its privations and difficulties.For many hours the travelers toiled on their laborious way, guided by a star,or following the direction of some water-course, until the scout called a halt,and holding a short consultation with the Indians, they lighted their fire, andmade the usual preparations to pass the remainder of the night where they thenwere.

Imitating the example, and emulating the confidence of their more experiencedassociates, Munro and Duncan slept without fear, if not without uneasiness. Thedews were suffered to exhale, and the sun had dispersed the mists, and wasshedding a strong and clear light in the forest, when the travelers resumedtheir journey.

After proceeding a few miles, the progress of Hawkeye, who led the advance,became more deliberate and watchful. He often stopped to examine the trees; nordid he cross a rivulet without attentively considering the quantity, thevelocity, and the color of its waters. Distrusting his own judgment, hisappeals to the opinion of Chingachgook were frequent and earnest. During one ofthese conferences Heyward observed that Uncas stood a patient and silent,though, as he imagined, an interested listener. He was strongly tempted toaddress the young chief, and demand his opinion of their progress; but the calmand dignified demeanor of the native induced him to believe, that, likehimself, the other was wholly dependent on the sagacity and intelligence of theseniors of the party. At last the scout spoke in English, and at once explainedthe embarrassment of their situation.

“When I found that the home path of the Hurons run north,” he said,“it did not need the judgment of many long years to tell that they wouldfollow the valleys, and keep atween the waters of the Hudson and the Horican,until they might strike the springs of the Canada streams, which would leadthem into the heart of the country of the Frenchers. Yet here are we, within ashort range of the Scaroons, and not a sign of a trail have we crossed! Humannatur’ is weak, and it is possible we may not have taken the properscent.”

“Heaven protect us from such an error!” exclaimed Duncan.“Let us retrace our steps, and examine as we go, with keener eyes. HasUncas no counsel to offer in such a strait?”

The young Mohican cast a glance at his father, but, maintaining his quiet andreserved mien, he continued silent. Chingachgook had caught the look, andmotioning with his hand, he bade him speak. The moment this permission wasaccorded, the countenance of Uncas changed from its grave composure to a gleamof intelligence and joy. Bounding forward like a deer, he sprang up the side ofa little acclivity, a few rods in advance, and stood, exultingly, over a spotof fresh earth, that looked as though it had been recently upturned by thepassage of some heavy animal. The eyes of the whole party followed theunexpected movement, and read their success in the air of triumph that theyouth assumed.

“’Tis the trail!” exclaimed the scout, advancing to the spot;“the lad is quick of sight and keen of wit for his years.”

“’Tis extraordinary that he should have withheld his knowledge solong,” muttered Duncan, at his elbow.

“It would have been more wonderful had he spoken without a bidding. No,no; your young white, who gathers his learning from books and can measure whathe knows by the page, may conceit that his knowledge, like his legs, outrunsthat of his fathers’, but, where experience is the master, the scholar ismade to know the value of years, and respects them accordingly.”

“See!” said Uncas, pointing north and south, at the evident marksof the broad trail on either side of him, “the dark-hair has gone towardthe forest.”

“Hound never ran on a more beautiful scent,” responded the scout,dashing forward, at once, on the indicated route; “we are favored,greatly favored, and can follow with high noses. Ay, here are both yourwaddling beasts: this Huron travels like a white general. The fellow isstricken with a judgment, and is mad! Look sharp for wheels, Sagamore,”he continued, looking back, and laughing in his newly awakened satisfaction;“we shall soon have the fool journeying in a coach, and that with threeof the best pair of eyes on the borders in his rear.”

The spirits of the scout, and the astonishing success of the chase, in which acircuitous distance of more than forty miles had been passed, did not fail toimpart a portion of hope to the whole party. Their advance was rapid; and madewith as much confidence as a traveler would proceed along a wide highway. If arock, or a rivulet, or a bit of earth harder than common, severed the links ofthe clew they followed, the true eye of the scout recovered them at a distance,and seldom rendered the delay of a single moment necessary. Their progress wasmuch facilitated by the certainty that Magua had found it necessary to journeythrough the valleys; a circumstance which rendered the general direction of theroute sure. Nor had the Huron entirely neglected the arts uniformly practisedby the natives when retiring in front of an enemy. False trails and suddenturnings were frequent, wherever a brook or the formation of the groundrendered them feasible; but his pursuers were rarely deceived, and never failedto detect their error, before they had lost either time or distance on thedeceptive track.

By the middle of the afternoon they had passed the Scaroons, and were followingthe route of the declining sun. After descending an eminence to a low bottom,through which a swift stream glided, they suddenly came to a place where theparty of Le Renard had made a halt. Extinguished brands were lying around aspring, the offals of a deer were scattered about the place, and the trees boreevident marks of having been browsed by the horses. At a little distance,Heyward discovered, and contemplated with tender emotion, the small bower underwhich he was fain to believe that Cora and Alice had reposed. But while theearth was trodden, and the footsteps of both men and beasts were so plainlyvisible around the place, the trail appeared to have suddenly ended.

It was easy to follow the tracks of the Narragansetts, but they seemed only tohave wandered without guides, or any other object than the pursuit of food. Atlength Uncas, who, with his father, had endeavored to trace the route of thehorses, came upon a sign of their presence that was quite recent. Beforefollowing the clew, he communicated his success to his companions; and whilethe latter were consulting on the circumstance, the youth reappeared, leadingthe two fillies, with their saddles broken, and the housings soiled, as thoughthey had been permitted to run at will for several days.

“What should this prove?” said Duncan, turning pale, and glancinghis eyes around him, as if he feared the brush and leaves were about to give upsome horrid secret.

“That our march is come to a quick end, and that we are in anenemy’s country,” returned the scout. “Had the knave beenpressed, and the gentle ones wanted horses to keep up with the party, he mighthave taken their scalps; but without an enemy at his heels, and with suchrugged beasts as these, he would not hurt a hair of their heads. I know yourthoughts, and shame be it to our color that you have reason for them; but hewho thinks that even a Mingo would ill-treat a woman, unless it be to tomahawkher, knows nothing of Indian natur’, or the laws of the woods. No, no; Ihave heard that the French Indians had come into these hills to hunt the moose,and we are getting within scent of their camp. Why should they not? The morningand evening guns of Ty may be heard any day among these mountains; for theFrenchers are running a new line atween the provinces of the king and theCanadas. It is true that the horses are here, but the Hurons are gone; let us,then, hunt for the path by which they parted.”

Hawkeye and the Mohicans now applied themselves to their task in good earnest.A circle of a few hundred feet in circumference was drawn, and each of theparty took a segment for his portion. The examination, however, resulted in nodiscovery. The impressions of footsteps were numerous, but they all appearedlike those of men who had wandered about the spot, without any design to quitit. Again the scout and his companions made the circuit of the halting place,each slowly following the other, until they assembled in the center once more,no wiser than when they started.

“Such cunning is not without its deviltry,” exclaimed Hawkeye, whenhe met the disappointed looks of his assistants.

“We must get down to it, Sagamore, beginning at the spring, and goingover the ground by inches. The Huron shall never brag in his tribe that he hasa foot which leaves no print.”

Setting the example himself, the scout engaged in the scrutiny with renewedzeal. Not a leaf was left unturned. The sticks were removed, and the stoneslifted; for Indian cunning was known frequently to adopt these objects ascovers, laboring with the utmost patience and industry, to conceal eachfootstep as they proceeded. Still no discovery was made. At length Uncas, whoseactivity had enabled him to achieve his portion of the task the soonest, rakedthe earth across the turbid little rill which ran from the spring, and divertedits course into another channel. So soon as its narrow bed below the dam wasdry, he stooped over it with keen and curious eyes. A cry of exultationimmediately announced the success of the young warrior. The whole party crowdedto the spot where Uncas pointed out the impression of a moccasin in the moistalluvion.

“This lad will be an honor to his people,” said Hawkeye, regardingthe trail with as much admiration as a naturalist would expend on the tusk of amammoth or the rib of a mastodon; “ay, and a thorn in the sides of theHurons. Yet that is not the footstep of an Indian! the weight is too much onthe heel, and the toes are squared, as though one of the French dancers hadbeen in, pigeon-winging his tribe! Run back, Uncas, and bring me the size ofthe singer’s foot. You will find a beautiful print of it just oppositeyon rock, agin the hillside.”

While the youth was engaged in this commission, the scout and Chingachgook wereattentively considering the impressions. The measurements agreed, and theformer unhesitatingly pronounced that the footstep was that of David, who hadonce more been made to exchange his shoes for moccasins.

“I can now read the whole of it, as plainly as if I had seen the arts ofLe Subtil,” he added; “the singer being a man whose gifts laychiefly in his throat and feet, was made to go first, and the others have trodin his steps, imitating their formation.”

“But,” cried Duncan, “I see no signs of—”

“The gentle ones,” interrupted the scout; “the varlet hasfound a way to carry them, until he supposed he had thrown any followers offthe scent. My life on it, we see their pretty little feet again, before manyrods go by.”

The whole party now proceeded, following the course of the rill, keepinganxious eyes on the regular impressions. The water soon flowed into its bedagain, but watching the ground on either side, the foresters pursued their waycontent with knowing that the trail lay beneath. More than half a mile waspassed, before the rill rippled close around the base of an extensive and dryrock. Here they paused to make sure that the Hurons had not quitted the water.

It was fortunate they did so. For the quick and active Uncas soon found theimpression of a foot on a bunch of moss, where it would seem an Indian hadinadvertently trodden. Pursuing the direction given by this discovery, heentered the neighboring thicket, and struck the trail, as fresh and obvious asit had been before they reached the spring. Another shout announced the goodfortune of the youth to his companions, and at once terminated the search.

“Ay, it has been planned with Indian judgment,” said the scout,when the party was assembled around the place, “and would have blindedwhite eyes.”

“Shall we proceed?” demanded Heyward.

“Softly, softly, we know our path; but it is good to examine theformation of things. This is my schooling, major; and if one neglects the book,there is little chance of learning from the open land of Providence. All isplain but one thing, which is the manner that the knave contrived to get thegentle ones along the blind trail. Even a Huron would be too proud to let theirtender feet touch the water.”

“Will this assist in explaining the difficulty?” said Heyward,pointing toward the fragments of a sort of handbarrow, that had been rudelyconstructed of boughs, and bound together with withes, and which now seemedcarelessly cast aside as useless.

“’Tis explained!” cried the delighted Hawkeye. “If themvarlets have passed a minute, they have spent hours in striving to fabricate alying end to their trail! Well, I’ve known them to waste a day in thesame manner to as little purpose. Here we have three pair of moccasins, and twoof little feet. It is amazing that any mortal beings can journey on limbs sosmall! Pass me the thong of buckskin, Uncas, and let me take the length of thisfoot. By the Lord, it is no longer than a child’s and yet the maidens aretall and comely. That Providence is partial in its gifts, for its own wisereasons, the best and most contented of us must allow.”

“The tender limbs of my daughters are unequal to these hardships,”said Munro, looking at the light footsteps of his children, with aparent’s love; “we shall find their fainting forms in thisdesert.”

“Of that there is little cause of fear,” returned the scout, slowlyshaking his head; “this is a firm and straight, though a light step, andnot over long. See, the heel has hardly touched the ground; and there thedark-hair has made a little jump, from root to root. No, no; my knowledge forit, neither of them was nigh fainting, hereaway. Now, the singer was beginningto be footsore and leg-weary, as is plain by his trail. There, you see, heslipped; here he has traveled wide and tottered; and there again it looks asthough he journeyed on snowshoes. Ay, ay, a man who uses his throat altogether,can hardly give his legs a proper training.”

From such undeniable testimony did the practised woodsman arrive at the truth,with nearly as much certainty and precision as if he had been a witness of allthose events which his ingenuity so easily elucidated. Cheered by theseassurances, and satisfied by a reasoning that was so obvious, while it was sosimple, the party resumed its course, after making a short halt, to take ahurried repast.

When the meal was ended, the scout cast a glance upward at the setting sun, andpushed forward with a rapidity which compelled Heyward and the still vigorousMunro to exert all their muscles to equal. Their route now lay along the bottomwhich has already been mentioned. As the Hurons had made no further efforts toconceal their footsteps, the progress of the pursuers was no longer delayed byuncertainty. Before an hour had elapsed, however, the speed of Hawkeye sensiblyabated, and his head, instead of maintaining its former direct and forwardlook, began to turn suspiciously from side to side, as if he were conscious ofapproaching danger. He soon stopped again, and waited for the whole party tocome up.

“I scent the Hurons,” he said, speaking to the Mohicans;“yonder is open sky, through the treetops, and we are getting too nightheir encampment. Sagamore, you will take the hillside, to the right; Uncaswill bend along the brook to the left, while I will try the trail. If anythingshould happen, the call will be three croaks of a crow. I saw one of the birdsfanning himself in the air, just beyond the dead oak—another sign that weare approaching an encampment.”

The Indians departed their several ways without reply, while Hawkeye cautiouslyproceeded with the two gentlemen. Heyward soon pressed to the side of theirguide, eager to catch an early glimpse of those enemies he had pursued with somuch toil and anxiety. His companion told him to steal to the edge of the wood,which, as usual, was fringed with a thicket, and wait his coming, for he wishedto examine certain suspicious signs a little on one side. Duncan obeyed, andsoon found himself in a situation to command a view which he found asextraordinary as it was novel.

The trees of many acres had been felled, and the glow of a mild summer’sevening had fallen on the clearing, in beautiful contrast to the gray light ofthe forest. A short distance from the place where Duncan stood, the stream hadseemingly expanded into a little lake, covering most of the low land, frommountain to mountain. The water fell out of this wide basin, in a cataract soregular and gentle, that it appeared rather to be the work of human hands thanfashioned by nature. A hundred earthen dwellings stood on the margin of thelake, and even in its waters, as though the latter had overflowed its usualbanks. Their rounded roofs, admirably molded for defense against the weather,denoted more of industry and foresight than the natives were wont to bestow ontheir regular habitations, much less on those they occupied for the temporarypurposes of hunting and war. In short, the whole village or town, whichever itmight be termed, possessed more of method and neatness of execution, than thewhite men had been accustomed to believe belonged, ordinarily, to the Indianhabits. It appeared, however, to be deserted. At least, so thought Duncan formany minutes; but, at length, he fancied he discovered several human formsadvancing toward him on all fours, and apparently dragging in the train someheavy, and as he was quick to apprehend, some formidable engine. Just then afew dark-looking heads gleamed out of the dwellings, and the place seemedsuddenly alive with beings, which, however, glided from cover to cover soswiftly, as to allow no opportunity of examining their humors or pursuits.Alarmed at these suspicious and inexplicable movements, he was about to attemptthe signal of the crows, when the rustling of leaves at hand drew his eyes inanother direction.

The young man started, and recoiled a few paces instinctively, when he foundhimself within a hundred yards of a stranger Indian. Recovering hisrecollection on the instant, instead of sounding an alarm, which might provefatal to himself, he remained stationary, an attentive observer of theother’s motions.

An instant of calm observation served to assure Duncan that he wasundiscovered. The native, like himself, seemed occupied in considering the lowdwellings of the village, and the stolen movements of its inhabitants. It wasimpossible to discover the expression of his features through the grotesquemask of paint under which they were concealed, though Duncan fancied it wasrather melancholy than savage. His head was shaved, as usual, with theexception of the crown, from whose tuft three or four faded feathers from ahawk’s wing were loosely dangling. A ragged calico mantle half encircledhis body, while his nether garment was composed of an ordinary shirt, thesleeves of which were made to perform the office that is usually executed by amuch more commodious arrangement. His legs were, however, covered with a pairof good deer-skin moccasins. Altogether, the appearance of the individual wasforlorn and miserable.

Duncan was still curiously observing the person of his neighbor when the scoutstole silently and cautiously to his side.

“You see we have reached their settlement or encampment,” whisperedthe young man; “and here is one of the savages himself, in a veryembarrassing position for our further movements.”

Hawkeye started, and dropped his rifle, when, directed by the finger of hiscompanion, the stranger came under his view. Then lowering the dangerous muzzlehe stretched forward his long neck, as if to assist a scrutiny that was alreadyintensely keen.

“The imp is not a Huron,” he said, “nor of any of the Canadatribes; and yet you see, by his clothes, the knave has been plundering a white.Ay, Montcalm has raked the woods for his inroad, and a whooping, murdering setof varlets has he gathered together. Can you see where he has put his rifle orhis bow?”

“He appears to have no arms; nor does he seem to be viciously inclined.Unless he communicate the alarm to his fellows, who, as you see, are dodgingabout the water, we have but little to fear from him.”

The scout turned to Heyward, and regarded him a moment with unconcealedamazement. Then opening wide his mouth, he indulged in unrestrained andheartfelt laughter, though in that silent and peculiar manner which danger hadso long taught him to practise.

Repeating the words, “Fellows who are dodging about the water!” headded, “so much for schooling and passing a boyhood in the settlements!The knave has long legs, though, and shall not be trusted. Do you keep himunder your rifle while I creep in behind, through the bush, and take him alive.Fire on no account.”

Heyward had already permitted his companion to bury part of his person in thethicket, when, stretching forth his arm, he arrested him, in order to ask:

“If I see you in danger, may I not risk a shot?”

Hawkeye regarded him a moment, like one who knew not how to take the question;then, nodding his head, he answered, still laughing, though inaudibly:

“Fire a whole platoon, major.”

In the next moment he was concealed by the leaves. Duncan waited severalminutes in feverish impatience, before he caught another glimpse of the scout.Then he reappeared, creeping along the earth, from which his dress was hardlydistinguishable, directly in the rear of his intended captive. Having reachedwithin a few yards of the latter, he arose to his feet, silently and slowly. Atthat instant, several loud blows were struck on the water, and Duncan turnedhis eyes just in time to perceive that a hundred dark forms were plunging, in abody, into the troubled little sheet. Grasping his rifle his looks were againbent on the Indian near him. Instead of taking the alarm, the unconscioussavage stretched forward his neck, as if he also watched the movements aboutthe gloomy lake, with a sort of silly curiosity. In the meantime, the upliftedhand of Hawkeye was above him. But, without any apparent reason, it waswithdrawn, and its owner indulged in another long, though still silent, fit ofmerriment. When the peculiar and hearty laughter of Hawkeye was ended, insteadof grasping his victim by the throat, he tapped him lightly on the shoulder,and exclaimed aloud:

“How now, friend! have you a mind to teach the beavers to sing?”

“Even so,” was the ready answer. “It would seem that theBeing that gave them power to improve His gifts so well, would not deny themvoices to proclaim His praise.”

CHAPTER XXII.

“Bot.—Abibl we all met?
Qui.—Pat—pat; and here’s a marvelous convenient place for ourrehearsal.”
—Midsummer Night’s Dream

The reader may better imagine, than we describe the surprise of Heyward. Hislurking Indians were suddenly converted into four-footed beasts; his lake intoa beaver pond; his cataract into a dam, constructed by those industrious andingenious quadrupeds; and a suspected enemy into his tried friend, David Gamut,the master of psalmody. The presence of the latter created so many unexpectedhopes relative to the sisters that, without a moment’s hesitation, theyoung man broke out of his ambush, and sprang forward to join the two principalactors in the scene.

The merriment of Hawkeye was not easily appeased. Without ceremony, and with arough hand, he twirled the supple Gamut around on his heel, and more than onceaffirmed that the Hurons had done themselves great credit in the fashion of hiscostume. Then, seizing the hand of the other, he squeezed it with a grip thatbrought tears into the eyes of the placid David, and wished him joy of his newcondition.

“You were about opening your throat-practisings among the beavers, wereye?” he said. “The cunning devils know half the trade already, forthey beat the time with their tails, as you heard just now; and in good time itwas, too, or ‘killdeer’ might have sounded the first note amongthem. I have known greater fools, who could read and write, than an experiencedold beaver; but as for squalling, the animals are born dumb! What think you ofsuch a song as this?”

David shut his sensitive ears, and even Heyward apprised as he was of thenature of the cry, looked upward in quest of the bird, as the cawing of a crowrang in the air about them.

“See!” continued the laughing scout, as he pointed toward theremainder of the party, who, in obedience to the signal, were alreadyapproaching; “this is music which has its natural virtues; it brings twogood rifles to my elbow, to say nothing of the knives and tomahawks. But we seethat you are safe; now tell us what has become of the maidens.”

“They are captives to the heathen,” said David; “and, thoughgreatly troubled in spirit, enjoying comfort and safety in the body.”

“Both!” demanded the breathless Heyward.

“Even so. Though our wayfaring has been sore and our sustenance scanty,we have had little other cause for complaint, except the violence done ourfeelings, by being thus led in captivity into a far land.”

“Bless ye for these very words!” exclaimed the trembling Munro;“I shall then receive my babes, spotless and angel-like, as I lostthem!”

“I know not that their delivery is at hand,” returned the doubtingDavid; “the leader of these savages is possessed of an evil spirit thatno power short of Omnipotence can tame. I have tried him sleeping and waking,but neither sounds nor language seem to touch his soul.”

“Where is the knave?” bluntly interrupted the scout.

“He hunts the moose to-day, with his young men; and tomorrow, as I hear,they pass further into the forests, and nigher to the borders of Canada. Theelder maiden is conveyed to a neighboring people, whose lodges are situatebeyond yonder black pinnacle of rock; while the younger is detained among thewomen of the Hurons, whose dwellings are but two short miles hence, on atable-land, where the fire had done the office of the axe, and prepared theplace for their reception.”

“Alice, my gentle Alice!” murmured Heyward; “she has lost theconsolation of her sister’s presence!”

“Even so. But so far as praise and thanksgiving in psalmody can temperthe spirit in affliction, she has not suffered.”

“Has she then a heart for music?”

“Of the graver and more solemn character; though it must be acknowledgedthat, in spite of all my endeavors, the maiden weeps oftener than she smiles.At such moments I forbear to press the holy songs; but there are many sweet andcomfortable periods of satisfactory communication, when the ears of the savagesare astounded with the upliftings of our voices.”

“And why are you permitted to go at large, unwatched?”

David composed his features into what he intended should express an air ofmodest humility, before he meekly replied:

“Little be the praise to such a worm as I. But, though the power ofpsalmody was suspended in the terrible business of that field of blood throughwhich we have passed, it has recovered its influence even over the souls of theheathen, and I am suffered to go and come at will.”

The scout laughed, and, tapping his own forehead significantly, he perhapsexplained the singular indulgence more satisfactorily when he said:

“The Indians never harm a non-composser. But why, when the path lay openbefore your eyes, did you not strike back on your own trail (it is not so blindas that which a squirrel would make), and bring in the tidings toEdward?”

The scout, remembering only his own sturdy and iron nature, had probablyexacted a task that David, under no circumstances, could have performed. But,without entirely losing the meekness of his air, the latter was content toanswer:

“Though my soul would rejoice to visit the habitations of Christendomonce more, my feet would rather follow the tender spirits intrusted to mykeeping, even into the idolatrous province of the Jesuits, than take one stepbackward, while they pined in captivity and sorrow.”

Though the figurative language of David was not very intelligible, the sincereand steady expression of his eye, and the glow of his honest countenance, werenot easily mistaken. Uncas pressed closer to his side, and regarded the speakerwith a look of commendation, while his father expressed his satisfaction by theordinary pithy exclamation of approbation. The scout shook his head as herejoined:

“The Lord never intended that the man should place all his endeavors inhis throat, to the neglect of other and better gifts! But he has fallen intothe hands of some silly woman, when he should have been gathering his educationunder a blue sky, among the beauties of the forest. Here, friend; I did intendto kindle a fire with this tooting-whistle of thine; but, as you value thething, take it, and blow your best on it.”

Gamut received his pitch-pipe with as strong an expression of pleasure as hebelieved compatible with the grave functions he exercised. After essaying itsvirtues repeatedly, in contrast with his own voice, and, satisfying himselfthat none of its melody was lost, he made a very serious demonstration towardachieving a few stanzas of one of the longest effusions in the little volume sooften mentioned.

Heyward, however, hastily interrupted his pious purpose by continuing questionsconcerning the past and present condition of his fellow captives, and in amanner more methodical than had been permitted by his feelings in the openingof their interview. David, though he regarded his treasure with longing eyes,was constrained to answer, especially as the venerable father took a part inthe interrogatories, with an interest too imposing to be denied. Nor did thescout fail to throw in a pertinent inquiry, whenever a fitting occasionpresented. In this manner, though with frequent interruptions which were filledwith certain threatening sounds from the recovered instrument, the pursuerswere put in possession of such leading circumstances as were likely to proveuseful in accomplishing their great and engrossing object—the recovery ofthe sisters. The narrative of David was simple, and the facts but few.

Magua had waited on the mountain until a safe moment to retire presenteditself, when he had descended, and taken the route along the western side ofthe Horican in direction of the Canadas. As the subtle Huron was familiar withthe paths, and well knew there was no immediate danger of pursuit, theirprogress had been moderate, and far from fatiguing. It appeared from theunembellished statement of David, that his own presence had been rather enduredthan desired; though even Magua had not been entirely exempt from thatveneration with which the Indians regard those whom the Great Spirit hadvisited in their intellects. At night, the utmost care had been taken of thecaptives, both to prevent injury from the damps of the woods and to guardagainst an escape. At the spring, the horses were turned loose, as has beenseen; and, notwithstanding the remoteness and length of their trail, theartifices already named were resorted to, in order to cut off every clue totheir place of retreat. On their arrival at the encampment of his people,Magua, in obedience to a policy seldom departed from, separated his prisoners.Cora had been sent to a tribe that temporarily occupied an adjacent valley,though David was far too ignorant of the customs and history of the natives, tobe able to declare anything satisfactory concerning their name or character. Heonly knew that they had not engaged in the late expedition against WilliamHenry; that, like the Hurons themselves they were allies of Montcalm; and thatthey maintained an amicable, though a watchful intercourse with the warlike andsavage people whom chance had, for a time, brought in such close anddisagreeable contact with themselves.

The Mohicans and the scout listened to his interrupted and imperfect narrative,with an interest that obviously increased as he proceeded; and it was whileattempting to explain the pursuits of the community in which Cora was detained,that the latter abruptly demanded:

“Did you see the fashion of their knives? were they of English or Frenchformation?”

“My thoughts were bent on no such vanities, but rather mingled inconsolation with those of the maidens.”

“The time may come when you will not consider the knife of a savage sucha despicable vanity,” returned the scout, with a strong expression ofcontempt for the other’s dullness. “Had they held their cornfeast—or can you say anything of the totems of the tribe?”

“Of corn, we had many and plentiful feasts; for the grain, being in themilk is both sweet to the mouth and comfortable to the stomach. Of totem, Iknow not the meaning; but if it appertaineth in any wise to the art of Indianmusic, it need not be inquired after at their hands. They never join theirvoices in praise, and it would seem that they are among the profanest of theidolatrous.”

“Therein you belie the natur’ of an Indian. Even the Mingo adoresbut the true and loving God. ’Tis wicked fabrication of the whites, and Isay it to the shame of my color that would make the warrior bow down beforeimages of his own creation. It is true, they endeavor to make truces to thewicked one—as who would not with an enemy he cannot conquer! but theylook up for favor and assistance to the Great and Good Spirit only.”

“It may be so,” said David; “but I have seen strange andfantastic images drawn in their paint, of which their admiration and caresavored of spiritual pride; especially one, and that, too, a foul and loathsomeobject.”

“Was it a sarpent?” quickly demanded the scout.

“Much the same. It was in the likeness of an abject and creepingtortoise.”

“Hugh!” exclaimed both the attentive Mohicans in a breath; whilethe scout shook his head with the air of one who had made an important but byno means a pleasing discovery. Then the father spoke, in the language of theDelawares, and with a calmness and dignity that instantly arrested theattention even of those to whom his words were unintelligible. His gestureswere impressive, and at times energetic. Once he lifted his arm on high; and,as it descended, the action threw aside the folds of his light mantle, a fingerresting on his breast, as if he would enforce his meaning by the attitude.Duncan’s eyes followed the movement, and he perceived that the animaljust mentioned was beautifully, though faintly, worked in blue tint, on theswarthy breast of the chief. All that he had ever heard of the violentseparation of the vast tribes of the Delawares rushed across his mind, and heawaited the proper moment to speak, with a suspense that was rendered nearlyintolerable by his interest in the stake. His wish, however, was anticipated bythe scout who turned from his red friend, saying:

“We have found that which may be good or evil to us, as heaven disposes.The Sagamore is of the high blood of the Delawares, and is the great chief oftheir Tortoises! That some of this stock are among the people of whom thesinger tells us, is plain by his words; and, had he but spent half the breathin prudent questions that he has blown away in making a trumpet of his throat,we might have known how many warriors they numbered. It is, altogether, adangerous path we move in; for a friend whose face is turned from you oftenbears a bloodier mind than the enemy who seeks your scalp.”

“Explain,” said Duncan.

“’Tis a long and melancholy tradition, and one I little like tothink of; for it is not to be denied that the evil has been mainly done by menwith white skins. But it has ended in turning the tomahawk of brother againstbrother, and brought the Mingo and the Delaware to travel in the samepath.”

“You, then, suspect it is a portion of that people among whom Coraresides?”

The scout nodded his head in assent, though he seemed anxious to waive thefurther discussion of a subject that appeared painful. The impatient Duncan nowmade several hasty and desperate propositions to attempt the release of thesisters. Munro seemed to shake off his apathy, and listened to the wild schemesof the young man with a deference that his gray hairs and reverend years shouldhave denied. But the scout, after suffering the ardor of the lover to expenditself a little, found means to convince him of the folly of precipitation, ina manner that would require their coolest judgment and utmost fortitude.

“It would be well,” he added, “to let this man go in again,as usual, and for him to tarry in the lodges, giving notice to the gentle onesof our approach, until we call him out, by signal, to consult. You know the cryof a crow, friend, from the whistle of the whip-poor-will?”

“’Tis a pleasing bird,” returned David, “and has a softand melancholy note! though the time is rather quick and ill-measured.”

“He speaks of the wish-ton-wish,” said the scout; “well,since you like his whistle, it shall be your signal. Remember, then, when youhear the whip-poor-will’s call three times repeated, you are to come intothe bushes where the bird might be supposed—”

“Stop,” interrupted Heyward; “I will accompany him.”

“You!” exclaimed the astonished Hawkeye; “are you tired ofseeing the sun rise and set?”

“David is a living proof that the Hurons can be merciful.”

“Ay, but David can use his throat, as no man in his senses would pervartthe gift.”

“I too can play the madman, the fool, the hero; in short, any oreverything to rescue her I love. Name your objections no longer: I amresolved.”

Hawkeye regarded the young man a moment in speechless amazement. But Duncan,who, in deference to the other’s skill and services, had hithertosubmitted somewhat implicitly to his dictation, now assumed the superior, witha manner that was not easily resisted. He waved his hand, in sign of hisdislike to all remonstrance, and then, in more tempered language, he continued:

“You have the means of disguise; change me; paint me, too, if you will;in short, alter me to anything—a fool.”

“It is not for one like me to say that he who is already formed by sopowerful a hand as Providence, stands in need of a change,” muttered thediscontented scout. “When you send your parties abroad in war, you findit prudent, at least, to arrange the marks and places of encampment, in orderthat they who fight on your side may know when and where to expect afriend.”

“Listen,” interrupted Duncan; “you have heard from thisfaithful follower of the captives, that the Indians are of two tribes, if notof different nations. With one, whom you think to be a branch of the Delawares,is she you call the ‘dark-hair’; the other, and younger, of theladies, is undeniably with our declared enemies, the Hurons. It becomes myyouth and rank to attempt the latter adventure. While you, therefore, arenegotiating with your friends for the release of one of the sisters, I willeffect that of the other, or die.”

The awakened spirit of the young soldier gleamed in his eyes, and his formbecame imposing under its influence. Hawkeye, though too much accustomed toIndian artifices not to foresee the danger of the experiment, knew not well howto combat this sudden resolution.

Perhaps there was something in the proposal that suited his own hardy nature,and that secret love of desperate adventure, which had increased with hisexperience, until hazard and danger had become, in some measure, necessary tothe enjoyment of his existence. Instead of continuing to oppose the scheme ofDuncan, his humor suddenly altered, and he lent himself to its execution.

“Come,” he said, with a good-humored smile; “the buck thatwill take to the water must be headed, and not followed. Chingachgook has asmany different paints as the engineer officer’s wife, who takes downnatur’ on scraps of paper, making the mountains look like cocks of rustyhay, and placing the blue sky in reach of your hand. The Sagamore can use them,too. Seat yourself on the log; and my life on it, he can soon make a naturalfool of you, and that well to your liking.”

Duncan complied; and the Mohican, who had been an attentive listener to thediscourse, readily undertook the office. Long practised in all the subtle artsof his race, he drew, with great dexterity and quickness, the fantastic shadowthat the natives were accustomed to consider as the evidence of a friendly andjocular disposition. Every line that could possibly be interpreted into asecret inclination for war, was carefully avoided; while, on the other hand, hestudied those conceits that might be construed into amity.

In short, he entirely sacrificed every appearance of the warrior to themasquerade of a buffoon. Such exhibitions were not uncommon among the Indians,and as Duncan was already sufficiently disguised in his dress, there certainlydid exist some reason for believing that, with his knowledge of French, hemight pass for a juggler from Ticonderoga, straggling among the allied andfriendly tribes.

When he was thought to be sufficiently painted, the scout gave him muchfriendly advice; concerted signals, and appointed the place where they shouldmeet, in the event of mutual success. The parting between Munro and his youngfriend was more melancholy; still, the former submitted to the separation withan indifference that his warm and honest nature would never have permitted in amore healthful state of mind. The scout led Heyward aside, and acquainted himwith his intention to leave the veteran in some safe encampment, in charge ofChingachgook, while he and Uncas pursued their inquires among the people theyhad reason to believe were Delawares. Then, renewing his cautions and advice,he concluded by saying, with a solemnity and warmth of feeling, with whichDuncan was deeply touched:

“And, now, God bless you! You have shown a spirit that I like; for it isthe gift of youth, more especially one of warm blood and a stout heart. Butbelieve the warning of a man who has reason to know all he says to be true. Youwill have occasion for your best manhood, and for a sharper wit than what is tobe gathered in books, afore you outdo the cunning or get the better of thecourage of a Mingo. God bless you! if the Hurons master your scalp, rely on thepromise of one who has two stout warriors to back him. They shall pay for theirvictory, with a life for every hair it holds. I say, young gentleman, mayProvidence bless your undertaking, which is altogether for good; and, remember,that to outwit the knaves it is lawful to practise things that may not benaturally the gift of a white-skin.”

Duncan shook his worthy and reluctant associate warmly by the hand, once morerecommended his aged friend to his care, and returning his good wishes, hemotioned to David to proceed. Hawkeye gazed after the high-spirited andadventurous young man for several moments, in open admiration; then, shakinghis head doubtingly, he turned, and led his own division of the party into theconcealment of the forest.

The route taken by Duncan and David lay directly across the clearing of thebeavers, and along the margin of their pond.

When the former found himself alone with one so simple, and so little qualifiedto render any assistance in desperate emergencies, he first began to besensible of the difficulties of the task he had undertaken. The fading lightincreased the gloominess of the bleak and savage wilderness that stretched sofar on every side of him, and there was even a fearful character in thestillness of those little huts, that he knew were so abundantly peopled. Itstruck him, as he gazed at the admirable structures and the wonderfulprecautions of their sagacious inmates, that even the brutes of these vastwilds were possessed of an instinct nearly commensurate with his own reason;and he could not reflect, without anxiety, on the unequal contest that he hadso rashly courted. Then came the glowing image of Alice; her distress; heractual danger; and all the peril of his situation was forgotten. CheeringDavid, he moved on with the light and vigorous step of youth and enterprise.

After making nearly a semicircle around the pond, they diverged from thewater-course, and began to ascend to the level of a slight elevation in thatbottom land, over which they journeyed. Within half an hour they gained themargin of another opening that bore all the signs of having been also made bythe beavers, and which those sagacious animals had probably been induced, bysome accident, to abandon, for the more eligible position they now occupied. Avery natural sensation caused Duncan to hesitate a moment, unwilling to leavethe cover of their bushy path, as a man pauses to collect his energies beforehe essays any hazardous experiment, in which he is secretly conscious they willall be needed. He profited by the halt, to gather such information as might beobtained from his short and hasty glances.

On the opposite side of the clearing, and near the point where the brooktumbled over some rocks, from a still higher level, some fifty or sixty lodges,rudely fabricated of logs brush, and earth intermingled, were to be discovered.They were arranged without any order, and seemed to be constructed with verylittle attention to neatness or beauty. Indeed, so very inferior were they inthe two latter particulars to the village Duncan had just seen, that he beganto expect a second surprise, no less astonishing that the former. Thisexpectation was in no degree diminished, when, by the doubtful twilight, hebeheld twenty or thirty forms rising alternately from the cover of the tall,coarse grass, in front of the lodges, and then sinking again from the sight, asit were to burrow in the earth. By the sudden and hasty glimpses that he caughtof these figures, they seemed more like dark, glancing specters, or some otherunearthly beings, than creatures fashioned with the ordinary and vulgarmaterials of flesh and blood. A gaunt, naked form was seen, for a singleinstant, tossing its arms wildly in the air, and then the spot it had filledwas vacant; the figure appearing suddenly in some other and distant place, orbeing succeeded by another, possessing the same mysterious character. David,observing that his companion lingered, pursued the direction of his gaze, andin some measure recalled the recollection of Heyward, by speaking.

“There is much fruitful soil uncultivated here,” he said;“and, I may add, without the sinful leaven of self-commendation, that,since my short sojourn in these heathenish abodes, much good seed has beenscattered by the wayside.”

“The tribes are fonder of the chase than of the arts of men oflabor,” returned the unconscious Duncan, still gazing at the objects ofhis wonder.

“It is rather joy than labor to the spirit, to lift up the voice inpraise; but sadly do these boys abuse their gifts. Rarely have I found any oftheir age, on whom nature has so freely bestowed the elements of psalmody; andsurely, surely, there are none who neglect them more. Three nights have I nowtarried here, and three several times have I assembled the urchins to join insacred song; and as often have they responded to my efforts with whoopings andhowlings that have chilled my soul!”

“Of whom speak you?”

“Of those children of the devil, who waste the precious moments in yonderidle antics. Ah! the wholesome restraint of discipline is but little knownamong this self-abandoned people. In a country of birches, a rod is never seen,and it ought not to appear a marvel in my eyes, that the choicest blessings ofProvidence are wasted in such cries as these.”

David closed his ears against the juvenile pack, whose yell just then rangshrilly through the forest; and Duncan, suffering his lip to curl, as inmockery of his own superstition, said firmly:

“We will proceed.”

Without removing the safeguards form his ears, the master of song complied, andtogether they pursued their way toward what David was sometimes wont to callthe “tents of the Philistines.”

CHAPTER XXIII.

“But though the beast of game
The privilege of chase may claim;
Though space and law the stag we lend
Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend;
Whoever recked, where, how, or when
The prowling fox was trapped or slain?”
—Lady of the Lake.

It is unusual to find an encampment of the natives, like those of the moreinstructed whites, guarded by the presence of armed men. Well informed of theapproach of every danger, while it is yet at a distance, the Indian generallyrests secure under his knowledge of the signs of the forest, and the long anddifficult paths that separate him from those he has most reason to dread. Butthe enemy who, by any lucky concurrence of accidents, has found means to eludethe vigilance of the scouts, will seldom meet with sentinels nearer home tosound the alarm. In addition to this general usage, the tribes friendly to theFrench knew too well the weight of the blow that had just been struck, toapprehend any immediate danger from the hostile nations that were tributary tothe crown of Britain.

When Duncan and David, therefore, found themselves in the center of thechildren, who played the antics already mentioned, it was without the leastprevious intimation of their approach. But so soon as they were observed thewhole of the juvenile pack raised, by common consent, a shrill and warningwhoop; and then sank, as it were, by magic, from before the sight of theirvisitors. The naked, tawny bodies of the crouching urchins blended so nicely atthat hour, with the withered herbage, that at first it seemed as if the earthhad, in truth, swallowed up their forms; though when surprise permitted Duncanto bend his look more curiously about the spot, he found it everywhere met bydark, quick, and rolling eyeballs.

Gathering no encouragement from this startling presage of the nature of thescrutiny he was likely to undergo from the more mature judgments of the men,there was an instant when the young soldier would have retreated. It was,however, too late to appear to hesitate. The cry of the children had drawn adozen warriors to the door of the nearest lodge, where they stood clustered ina dark and savage group, gravely awaiting the nearer approach of those who hadunexpectedly come among them.

David, in some measure familiarized to the scene, led the way with a steadinessthat no slight obstacle was likely to disconcert, into this very building. Itwas the principal edifice of the village, though roughly constructed of thebark and branches of trees; being the lodge in which the tribe held itscouncils and public meetings during their temporary residence on the borders ofthe English province. Duncan found it difficult to assume the necessaryappearance of unconcern, as he brushed the dark and powerful frames of thesavages who thronged its threshold; but, conscious that his existence dependedon his presence of mind, he trusted to the discretion of his companion, whosefootsteps he closely followed, endeavoring, as he proceeded, to rally histhoughts for the occasion. His blood curdled when he found himself in absolutecontact with such fierce and implacable enemies; but he so far mastered hisfeelings as to pursue his way into the center of the lodge, with an exteriorthat did not betray the weakness. Imitating the example of the deliberateGamut, he drew a bundle of fragrant brush from beneath a pile that filled thecorner of the hut, and seated himself in silence.

So soon as their visitor had passed, the observant warriors fell back from theentrance, and arranging themselves about him, they seemed patiently to awaitthe moment when it might comport with the dignity of the stranger to speak. Byfar the greater number stood leaning, in lazy, lounging attitudes, against theupright posts that supported the crazy building, while three or four of theoldest and most distinguished of the chiefs placed themselves on the earth alittle more in advance.

A flaring torch was burning in the place, and set its red glare from face toface and figure to figure, as it waved in the currents of air. Duncan profitedby its light to read the probable character of his reception, in thecountenances of his hosts. But his ingenuity availed him little, against thecold artifices of the people he had encountered. The chiefs in front scarcecast a glance at his person, keeping their eyes on the ground, with an air thatmight have been intended for respect, but which it was quite easy to construeinto distrust. The men in the shadow were less reserved. Duncan soon detectedtheir searching, but stolen, looks which, in truth, scanned his person andattire inch by inch; leaving no emotion of the countenance, no gesture, no lineof the paint, nor even the fashion of a garment, unheeded, and without comment.

At length one whose hair was beginning to be sprinkled with gray, but whosesinewy limbs and firm tread announced that he was still equal to the duties ofmanhood, advanced out of the gloom of a corner, whither he had probably postedhimself to make his observations unseen, and spoke. He used the language of theWyandots, or Hurons; his words were, consequently, unintelligible to Heyward,though they seemed, by the gestures that accompanied them, to be uttered morein courtesy than anger. The latter shook his head, and made a gestureindicative of his inability to reply.

“Do none of my brothers speak the French or the English?” he said,in the former language, looking about him from countenance to countenance, inhopes of finding a nod of assent.

Though more than one had turned, as if to catch the meaning of his words, theyremained unanswered.

“I should be grieved to think,” continued Duncan, speaking slowly,and using the simplest French of which he was the master, “to believethat none of this wise and brave nation understand the language that the‘Grand Monarque’ uses when he talks to his children. His heartwould be heavy did he believe his red warriors paid him so littlerespect!”

A long and grave pause succeeded, during which no movement of a limb, nor anyexpression of an eye, betrayed the expression produced by his remark. Duncan,who knew that silence was a virtue among his hosts, gladly had recourse to thecustom, in order to arrange his ideas. At length the same warrior who hadbefore addressed him replied, by dryly demanding, in the language of theCanadas:

“When our Great Father speaks to his people, is it with the tongue of aHuron?”

“He knows no difference in his children, whether the color of the skin bered, or black, or white,” returned Duncan, evasively; “thoughchiefly is he satisfied with the brave Hurons.”

“In what manner will he speak,” demanded the wary chief,“when the runners count to him the scalps which five nights ago grew onthe heads of the Yengeese?”

“They were his enemies,” said Duncan, shuddering involuntarily;“and doubtless, he will say, it is good; my Hurons are verygallant.”

“Our Canada father does not think it. Instead of looking forward toreward his Indians, his eyes are turned backward. He sees the dead Yengeese,but no Huron. What can this mean?”

“A great chief, like him, has more thoughts than tongues. He looks to seethat no enemies are on his trail.”

“The canoe of a dead warrior will not float on the Horican,”returned the savage, gloomily. “His ears are open to the Delawares, whoare not our friends, and they fill them with lies.”

“It cannot be. See; he has bid me, who am a man that knows the art ofhealing, to go to his children, the red Hurons of the great lakes, and ask ifany are sick!”

Another silence succeeded this annunciation of the character Duncan hadassumed. Every eye was simultaneously bent on his person, as if to inquire intothe truth or falsehood of the declaration, with an intelligence and keennessthat caused the subject of their scrutiny to tremble for the result. He was,however, relieved again by the former speaker.

“Do the cunning men of the Canadas paint their skins?” the Huroncoldly continued; “we have heard them boast that their faces werepale.”

“When an Indian chief comes among his white fathers,” returnedDuncan, with great steadiness, “he lays aside his buffalo robe, to carrythe shirt that is offered him. My brothers have given me paint and I wearit.”

A low murmur of applause announced that the compliment of the tribe wasfavorably received. The elderly chief made a gesture of commendation, which wasanswered by most of his companions, who each threw forth a hand and uttered abrief exclamation of pleasure. Duncan began to breathe more freely, believingthat the weight of his examination was past; and, as he had already prepared asimple and probable tale to support his pretended occupation, his hopes ofultimate success grew brighter.

After a silence of a few moments, as if adjusting his thoughts, in order tomake a suitable answer to the declaration their guests had just given, anotherwarrior arose, and placed himself in an attitude to speak. While his lips wereyet in the act of parting, a low but fearful sound arose from the forest, andwas immediately succeeded by a high, shrill yell, that was drawn out, until itequaled the longest and most plaintive howl of the wolf. The sudden andterrible interruption caused Duncan to start from his seat, unconscious ofeverything but the effect produced by so frightful a cry. At the same moment,the warriors glided in a body from the lodge, and the outer air was filled withloud shouts, that nearly drowned those awful sounds, which were still ringingbeneath the arches of the woods. Unable to command himself any longer, theyouth broke from the place, and presently stood in the center of a disorderlythrong, that included nearly everything having life, within the limits of theencampment. Men, women, and children; the aged, the inform, the active, and thestrong, were alike abroad, some exclaiming aloud, others clapping their handswith a joy that seemed frantic, and all expressing their savage pleasure insome unexpected event. Though astounded, at first, by the uproar, Heyward wassoon enabled to find its solution by the scene that followed.

There yet lingered sufficient light in the heavens to exhibit those brightopenings among the tree-tops, where different paths left the clearing to enterthe depths of the wilderness. Beneath one of them, a line of warriors issuedfrom the woods, and advanced slowly toward the dwellings. One in front bore ashort pole, on which, as it afterwards appeared, were suspended several humanscalps. The startling sounds that Duncan had heard were what the whites havenot inappropriately called the “death-hallo”; and each repetitionof the cry was intended to announce to the tribe the fate of an enemy. Thus farthe knowledge of Heyward assisted him in the explanation; and as he now knewthat the interruption was caused by the unlooked-for return of a successfulwar-party, every disagreeable sensation was quieted in inward congratulation,for the opportune relief and insignificance it conferred on himself.

When at the distance of a few hundred feet from the lodges the newly arrivedwarriors halted. Their plaintive and terrific cry, which was intended torepresent equally the wailings of the dead and the triumph to the victors, hadentirely ceased. One of their number now called aloud, in words that were farfrom appalling, though not more intelligible to those for whose ears they wereintended, than their expressive yells. It would be difficult to convey asuitable idea of the savage ecstasy with which the news thus imparted wasreceived. The whole encampment, in a moment, became a scene of the most violentbustle and commotion. The warriors drew their knives, and flourishing them,they arranged themselves in two lines, forming a lane that extended from thewar-party to the lodges. The squaws seized clubs, axes, or whatever weapon ofoffense first offered itself to their hands, and rushed eagerly to act theirpart in the cruel game that was at hand. Even the children would not beexcluded; but boys, little able to wield the instruments, tore the tomahawksfrom the belts of their fathers, and stole into the ranks, apt imitators of thesavage traits exhibited by their parents.

Large piles of brush lay scattered about the clearing, and a wary and agedsquaw was occupied in firing as many as might serve to light the comingexhibition. As the flame arose, its power exceeded that of the parting day, andassisted to render objects at the same time more distinct and more hideous. Thewhole scene formed a striking picture, whose frame was composed of the dark andtall border of pines. The warriors just arrived were the most distant figures.A little in advance stood two men, who were apparently selected from the rest,as the principal actors in what was to follow. The light was not strong enoughto render their features distinct, though it was quite evident that they weregoverned by very different emotions. While one stood erect and firm, preparedto meet his fate like a hero, the other bowed his head, as if palsied by terroror stricken with shame. The high-spirited Duncan felt a powerful impulse ofadmiration and pity toward the former, though no opportunity could offer toexhibit his generous emotions. He watched his slightest movement, however, witheager eyes; and, as he traced the fine outline of his admirably proportionedand active frame, he endeavored to persuade himself, that, if the powers ofman, seconded by such noble resolution, could bear one harmless through sosevere a trial, the youthful captive before him might hope for success in thehazardous race he was about to run. Insensibly the young man drew nigher to theswarthy lines of the Hurons, and scarcely breathed, so intense became hisinterest in the spectacle. Just then the signal yell was given, and themomentary quiet which had preceded it was broken by a burst of cries, that farexceeded any before heard. The more abject of the two victims continuedmotionless; but the other bounded from the place at the cry, with the activityand swiftness of a deer. Instead of rushing through the hostile lines, as hadbeen expected, he just entered the dangerous defile, and before time was givenfor a single blow, turned short, and leaping the heads of a row of children, hegained at once the exterior and safer side of the formidable array. Theartifice was answered by a hundred voices raised in imprecations; and the wholeof the excited multitude broke from their order, and spread themselves aboutthe place in wild confusion.

A dozen blazing piles now shed their lurid brightness on the place, whichresembled some unhallowed and supernatural arena, in which malicious demons hadassembled to act their bloody and lawless rites. The forms in the backgroundlooked like unearthly beings, gliding before the eye, and cleaving the air withfrantic and unmeaning gestures; while the savage passions of such as passed theflames were rendered fearfully distinct by the gleams that shot athwart theirinflamed visages.

It will easily be understood that, amid such a concourse of vindictive enemies,no breathing time was allowed the fugitive. There was a single moment when itseemed as if he would have reached the forest, but the whole body of hiscaptors threw themselves before him, and drove him back into the center of hisrelentless persecutors. Turning like a headed deer, he shot, with the swiftnessof an arrow, through a pillar of forked flame, and passing the whole multitudeharmless, he appeared on the opposite side of the clearing. Here, too, he wasmet and turned by a few of the older and more subtle of the Hurons. Once morehe tried the throng, as if seeking safety in its blindness, and then severalmoments succeeded, during which Duncan believed the active and courageous youngstranger was lost.

Nothing could be distinguished but a dark mass of human forms tossed andinvolved in inexplicable confusion. Arms, gleaming knives, and formidableclubs, appeared above them, but the blows were evidently given at random. Theawful effect was heightened by the piercing shrieks of the women and the fierceyells of the warriors. Now and then Duncan caught a glimpse of a light formcleaving the air in some desperate bound, and he rather hoped than believedthat the captive yet retained the command of his astonishing powers ofactivity. Suddenly the multitude rolled backward, and approached the spot wherehe himself stood. The heavy body in the rear pressed upon the women andchildren in front, and bore them to the earth. The stranger reappeared in theconfusion. Human power could not, however, much longer endure so severe atrial. Of this the captive seemed conscious. Profiting by the momentaryopening, he darted from among the warriors, and made a desperate, and whatseemed to Duncan a final effort to gain the wood. As if aware that no dangerwas to be apprehended from the young soldier, the fugitive nearly brushed hisperson in his flight. A tall and powerful Huron, who had husbanded his forces,pressed close upon his heels, and with an uplifted arm menaced a fatal blow.Duncan thrust forth a foot, and the shock precipitated the eager savageheadlong, many feet in advance of his intended victim. Thought itself is notquicker than was the motion with which the latter profited by the advantage; heturned, gleamed like a meteor again before the eyes of Duncan, and, at the nextmoment, when the latter recovered his recollection, and gazed around in questof the captive, he saw him quietly leaning against a small painted post, whichstood before the door of the principal lodge.

Apprehensive that the part he had taken in the escape might prove fatal tohimself, Duncan left the place without delay. He followed the crowd, which drewnigh the lodges, gloomy and sullen, like any other multitude that had beendisappointed in an execution. Curiosity, or perhaps a better feeling, inducedhim to approach the stranger. He found him, standing with one arm cast aboutthe protecting post, and breathing thick and hard, after his exertions, butdisdaining to permit a single sign of suffering to escape. His person was nowprotected by immemorial and sacred usage, until the tribe in council haddeliberated and determined on his fate. It was not difficult, however, toforetell the result, if any presage could be drawn from the feelings of thosewho crowded the place.

There was no term of abuse known to the Huron vocabulary that the disappointedwomen did not lavishly expend on the successful stranger. They flouted at hisefforts, and told him, with bitter scoffs, that his feet were better than hishands; and that he merited wings, while he knew not the use of an arrow or aknife. To all this the captive made no reply; but was content to preserve anattitude in which dignity was singularly blended with disdain. Exasperated asmuch by his composure as by his good-fortune, their words becameunintelligible, and were succeeded by shrill, piercing yells. Just then thecrafty squaw, who had taken the necessary precaution to fire the piles, madeher way through the throng, and cleared a place for herself in front of thecaptive. The squalid and withered person of this hag might well have obtainedfor her the character of possessing more than human cunning. Throwing back herlight vestment, she stretched forth her long, skinny arm, in derision, andusing the language of the Lenape, as more intelligible to the subject of hergibes, she commenced aloud:

“Look you, Delaware,” she said, snapping her fingers in his face;“your nation is a race of women, and the hoe is better fitted to yourhands than the gun. Your squaws are the mothers of deer; but if a bear, or awildcat, or a serpent were born among you, ye would flee. The Huron girls shallmake you petticoats, and we will find you a husband.”

A burst of savage laughter succeeded this attack, during which the soft andmusical merriment of the younger females strangely chimed with the crackedvoice of their older and more malignant companion. But the stranger wassuperior to all their efforts. His head was immovable; nor did he betray theslightest consciousness that any were present, except when his haughty eyerolled toward the dusky forms of the warriors, who stalked in the backgroundsilent and sullen observers of the scene.

Infuriated at the self-command of the captive, the woman placed her armsakimbo; and, throwing herself into a posture of defiance, she broke out anew,in a torrent of words that no art of ours could commit successfully to paper.Her breath was, however, expended in vain; for, although distinguished in hernation as a proficient in the art of abuse, she was permitted to work herselfinto such a fury as actually to foam at the mouth, without causing a muscle tovibrate in the motionless figure of the stranger. The effect of hisindifference began to extend itself to the other spectators; and a youngster,who was just quitting the condition of a boy to enter the state of manhood,attempted to assist the termagant, by flourishing his tomahawk before theirvictim, and adding his empty boasts to the taunts of the women. Then, indeed,the captive turned his face toward the light, and looked down on the striplingwith an expression that was superior to contempt. At the next moment he resumedhis quiet and reclining attitude against the post. But the change of posturehad permitted Duncan to exchange glances with the firm and piercing eyes ofUncas.

Breathless with amazement, and heavily oppressed with the critical situation ofhis friend, Heyward recoiled before the look, trembling lest its meaning might,in some unknown manner, hasten the prisoner’s fate. There was not,however, any instant cause for such an apprehension. Just then a warrior forcedhis way into the exasperated crowd. Motioning the women and children aside witha stern gesture, he took Uncas by the arm, and led him toward the door of thecouncil-lodge. Thither all the chiefs, and most of the distinguished warriors,followed; among whom the anxious Heyward found means to enter withoutattracting any dangerous attention to himself.

A few minutes were consumed in disposing of those present in a manner suitableto their rank and influence in the tribe. An order very similar to that adoptedin the preceding interview was observed; the aged and superior chiefs occupyingthe area of the spacious apartment, within the powerful light of a glaringtorch, while their juniors and inferiors were arranged in the background,presenting a dark outline of swarthy and marked visages. In the very center ofthe lodge, immediately under an opening that admitted the twinkling light ofone or two stars, stood Uncas, calm, elevated, and collected. His high andhaughty carriage was not lost on his captors, who often bent their looks on hisperson, with eyes which, while they lost none of their inflexibility ofpurpose, plainly betrayed their admiration of the stranger’s daring.

The case was different with the individual whom Duncan had observed to standforth with his friend, previously to the desperate trial of speed; and who,instead of joining in the chase, had remained, throughout its turbulent uproar,like a cringing statue, expressive of shame and disgrace. Though not a hand hadbeen extended to greet him, nor yet an eye had condescended to watch hismovements, he had also entered the lodge, as though impelled by a fate to whosedecrees he submitted, seemingly, without a struggle. Heyward profited by thefirst opportunity to gaze in his face, secretly apprehensive he might find thefeatures of another acquaintance; but they proved to be those of a stranger,and, what was still more inexplicable, of one who bore all the distinctivemarks of a Huron warrior. Instead of mingling with his tribe, however, he satapart, a solitary being in a multitude, his form shrinking into a crouching andabject attitude, as if anxious to fill as little space as possible. When eachindividual had taken his proper station, and silence reigned in the place, thegray-haired chief already introduced to the reader, spoke aloud, in thelanguage of the Lenni Lenape.

“Delaware,” he said, “though one of a nation of women, youhave proved yourself a man. I would give you food; but he who eats with a Huronshould become his friend. Rest in peace till the morning sun, when our lastwords shall be spoken.”

“Seven nights, and as many summer days, have I fasted on the trail of theHurons,” Uncas coldly replied; “the children of the Lenape know howto travel the path of the just without lingering to eat.”

“Two of my young men are in pursuit of your companion,” resumed theother, without appearing to regard the boast of his captive; “when theyget back, then will our wise man say to you ‘live’ or‘die’.”

“Has a Huron no ears?” scornfully exclaimed Uncas; “twice,since he has been your prisoner, has the Delaware heard a gun that he knows.Your young men will never come back!”

A short and sullen pause succeeded this bold assertion. Duncan, who understoodthe Mohican to allude to the fatal rifle of the scout, bent forward in earnestobservation of the effect it might produce on the conquerors; but the chief wascontent with simply retorting:

“If the Lenape are so skillful, why is one of their bravest warriorshere?”

“He followed in the steps of a flying coward, and fell into a snare. Thecunning beaver may be caught.”

As Uncas thus replied, he pointed with his finger toward the solitary Huron,but without deigning to bestow any other notice on so unworthy an object. Thewords of the answer and the air of the speaker produced a strong sensationamong his auditors. Every eye rolled sullenly toward the individual indicatedby the simple gesture, and a low, threatening murmur passed through the crowd.The ominous sounds reached the outer door, and the women and children pressinginto the throng, no gap had been left, between shoulder and shoulder, that wasnot now filled with the dark lineaments of some eager and curious humancountenance.

In the meantime, the more aged chiefs, in the center, communed with each otherin short and broken sentences. Not a word was uttered that did not convey themeaning of the speaker, in the simplest and most energetic form. Again, a longand deeply solemn pause took place. It was known, by all present, to be thebrave precursor of a weighty and important judgment. They who composed theouter circle of faces were on tiptoe to gaze; and even the culprit for aninstant forgot his shame in a deeper emotion, and exposed his abject features,in order to cast an anxious and troubled glance at the dark assemblage ofchiefs. The silence was finally broken by the aged warrior so often named. Hearose from the earth, and moving past the immovable form of Uncas, placedhimself in a dignified attitude before the offender. At that moment, thewithered squaw already mentioned moved into the circle, in a slow, sidling sortof a dance, holding the torch, and muttering the indistinct words of what mighthave been a species of incantation. Though her presence was altogether anintrusion, it was unheeded.

Approaching Uncas, she held the blazing brand in such a manner as to cast itsred glare on his person, and to expose the slightest emotion of hiscountenance. The Mohican maintained his firm and haughty attitude; and hiseyes, so far from deigning to meet her inquisitive look, dwelt steadily on thedistance, as though it penetrated the obstacles which impeded the view andlooked into futurity. Satisfied with her examination, she left him, with aslight expression of pleasure, and proceeded to practise the same tryingexperiment on her delinquent countryman.

The young Huron was in his war paint, and very little of a finely molded formwas concealed by his attire. The light rendered every limb and jointdiscernible, and Duncan turned away in horror when he saw they were writhing inirrepressible agony. The woman was commencing a low and plaintive howl at thesad and shameful spectacle, when the chief put forth his hand and gently pushedher aside.

“Reed-that-bends,” he said, addressing the young culprit by name,and in his proper language, “though the Great Spirit has made youpleasant to the eyes, it would have been better that you had not been born.Your tongue is loud in the village, but in battle it is still. None of my youngmen strike the tomahawk deeper into the war-post—none of them so lightlyon the Yengeese. The enemy know the shape of your back, but they have neverseen the color of your eyes. Three times have they called on you to come, andas often did you forget to answer. Your name will never be mentioned again inyour tribe—it is already forgotten.”

As the chief slowly uttered these words, pausing impressively between eachsentence, the culprit raised his face, in deference to the other’s rankand years. Shame, horror, and pride struggled in its lineaments. His eye, whichwas contracted with inward anguish, gleamed on the persons of those whosebreath was his fame; and the latter emotion for an instant predominated. Hearose to his feet, and baring his bosom, looked steadily on the keen,glittering knife, that was already upheld by his inexorable judge. As theweapon passed slowly into his heart he even smiled, as if in joy at havingfound death less dreadful than he had anticipated, and fell heavily on hisface, at the feet of the rigid and unyielding form of Uncas.

The squaw gave a loud and plaintive yell, dashed the torch to the earth, andburied everything in darkness. The whole shuddering group of spectators glidedfrom the lodge like troubled sprites; and Duncan thought that he and the yetthrobbing body of the victim of an Indian judgment had now become its onlytenants.

CHAPTER XXIV.

“Thus spoke the sage: the kings without delay
Dissolve the council, and their chief obey.”
—Pope’s Iliad

A single moment served to convince the youth that he was mistaken. A hand waslaid, with a powerful pressure, on his arm, and the low voice of Uncas mutteredin his ear:

“The Hurons are dogs. The sight of a coward’s blood can never makea warrior tremble. The ‘Gray Head’ and the Sagamore are safe, andthe rifle of Hawkeye is not asleep. Go—Uncas and the ‘OpenHand’ are now strangers. It is enough.”

Heyward would gladly have heard more, but a gentle push from his friend urgedhim toward the door, and admonished him of the danger that might attend thediscovery of their intercourse. Slowly and reluctantly yielding to thenecessity, he quitted the place, and mingled with the throng that hovered nigh.The dying fires in the clearing cast a dim and uncertain light on the duskyfigures that were silently stalking to and fro; and occasionally a brightergleam than common glanced into the lodge, and exhibited the figure of Uncasstill maintaining its upright attitude near the dead body of the Huron.

A knot of warriors soon entered the place again, and reissuing, they bore thesenseless remains into the adjacent woods. After this termination of the scene,Duncan wandered among the lodges, unquestioned and unnoticed, endeavoring tofind some trace of her in whose behalf he incurred the risk he ran. In thepresent temper of the tribe it would have been easy to have fled and rejoinedhis companions, had such a wish crossed his mind. But, in addition to thenever-ceasing anxiety on account of Alice, a fresher though feebler interest inthe fate of Uncas assisted to chain him to the spot. He continued, therefore,to stray from hut to hut, looking into each only to encounter additionaldisappointment, until he had made the entire circuit of the village. Abandoninga species of inquiry that proved so fruitless, he retraced his steps to thecouncil-lodge, resolved to seek and question David, in order to put an end tohis doubts.

On reaching the building, which had proved alike the seat of judgment and theplace of execution, the young man found that the excitement had alreadysubsided. The warriors had reassembled, and were now calmly smoking, while theyconversed gravely on the chief incidents of their recent expedition to the headof the Horican. Though the return of Duncan was likely to remind them of hischaracter, and the suspicious circumstances of his visit, it produced novisible sensation. So far, the terrible scene that had just occurred provedfavorable to his views, and he required no other prompter than his own feelingsto convince him of the expediency of profiting by so unexpected an advantage.

Without seeming to hesitate, he walked into the lodge, and took his seat with agravity that accorded admirably with the deportment of his hosts. A hasty butsearching glance sufficed to tell him that, though Uncas still remained wherehe had left him, David had not reappeared. No other restraint was imposed onthe former than the watchful looks of a young Huron, who had placed himself athand; though an armed warrior leaned against the post that formed one side ofthe narrow doorway. In every other respect, the captive seemed at liberty;still he was excluded from all participation in the discourse, and possessedmuch more of the air of some finely molded statue than a man having life andvolition.

Heyward had too recently witnessed a frightful instance of the promptpunishments of the people into whose hands he had fallen to hazard an exposureby any officious boldness. He would greatly have preferred silence andmeditation to speech, when a discovery of his real condition might prove soinstantly fatal. Unfortunately for this prudent resolution, his entertainersappeared otherwise disposed. He had not long occupied the seat wisely taken alittle in the shade, when another of the elder warriors, who spoke the Frenchlanguage, addressed him:

“My Canada father does not forget his children,” said the chief;“I thank him. An evil spirit lives in the wife of one of my young men.Can the cunning stranger frighten him away?”

Heyward possessed some knowledge of the mummery practised among the Indians, inthe cases of such supposed visitations. He saw, at a glance, that thecircumstance might possibly be improved to further his own ends. It would,therefore, have been difficult, just then to have uttered a proposal that wouldhave given him more satisfaction. Aware of the necessity of preserving thedignity of his imaginary character, however, he repressed his feelings, andanswered with suitable mystery:

“Spirits differ; some yield to the power of wisdom, while others are toostrong.”

“My brother is a great medicine,” said the cunning savage;“he will try?”

A gesture of assent was the answer. The Huron was content with the assurance,and, resuming his pipe, he awaited the proper moment to move. The impatientHeyward, inwardly execrating the cold customs of the savages, which requiredsuch sacrifices to appearance, was fain to assume an air of indifference, equalto that maintained by the chief, who was, in truth, a near relative of theafflicted woman. The minutes lingered, and the delay had seemed an hour to theadventurer in empiricism, when the Huron laid aside his pipe and drew his robeacross his breast, as if about to lead the way to the lodge of the invalid.Just then, a warrior of powerful frame, darkened the door, and stalkingsilently among the attentive group, he seated himself on one end of the lowpile of brush which sustained Duncan. The latter cast an impatient look at hisneighbor, and felt his flesh creep with uncontrollable horror when he foundhimself in actual contact with Magua.

The sudden return of this artful and dreaded chief caused a delay in thedeparture of the Huron. Several pipes, that had been extinguished, were lightedagain; while the newcomer, without speaking a word, drew his tomahawk from hisgirdle, and filling the bowl on its head began to inhale the vapors of the weedthrough the hollow handle, with as much indifference as if he had not beenabsent two weary days on a long and toilsome hunt. Ten minutes, which appearedso many ages to Duncan, might have passed in this manner; and the warriors werefairly enveloped in a cloud of white smoke before any of them spoke.

“Welcome!” one at length uttered; “has my friend found themoose?”

“The young men stagger under their burdens,” returned Magua.“Let ‘Reed-that-bends’ go on the hunting path; he will meetthem.”

A deep and awful silence succeeded the utterance of the forbidden name. Eachpipe dropped from the lips of its owner as though all had inhaled an impurityat the same instant. The smoke wreathed above their heads in little eddies, andcurling in a spiral form it ascended swiftly through the opening in the roof ofthe lodge, leaving the place beneath clear of its fumes, and each dark visagedistinctly visible. The looks of most of the warriors were riveted on theearth; though a few of the younger and less gifted of the party suffered theirwild and glaring eyeballs to roll in the direction of a white-headed savage,who sat between two of the most venerated chiefs of the tribe. There wasnothing in the air or attire of this Indian that would seem to entitle him tosuch a distinction. The former was rather depressed, than remarkable for thebearing of the natives; and the latter was such as was commonly worn by theordinary men of the nation. Like most around him for more than a minute hislook, too, was on the ground; but, trusting his eyes at length to steal aglance aside, he perceived that he was becoming an object of general attention.Then he arose and lifted his voice in the general silence.

“It was a lie,” he said; “I had no son. He who was called bythat name is forgotten; his blood was pale, and it came not from the veins of aHuron; the wicked Chippewas cheated my squaw. The Great Spirit has said, thatthe family of Wiss-entush should end; he is happy who knows that the evil ofhis race dies with himself. I have done.”

The speaker, who was the father of the recreant young Indian, looked round andabout him, as if seeking commendation of his stoicism in the eyes of theauditors. But the stern customs of his people had made too severe an exactionof the feeble old man. The expression of his eye contradicted his figurativeand boastful language, while every muscle in his wrinkled visage was workingwith anguish. Standing a single minute to enjoy his bitter triumph, he turnedaway, as if sickening at the gaze of men, and, veiling his face in his blanket,he walked from the lodge with the noiseless step of an Indian seeking, in theprivacy of his own abode, the sympathy of one like himself, aged, forlorn andchildless.

The Indians, who believe in the hereditary transmission of virtues and defectsin character, suffered him to depart in silence. Then, with an elevation ofbreeding that many in a more cultivated state of society might profitablyemulate, one of the chiefs drew the attention of the young men from theweakness they had just witnessed, by saying, in a cheerful voice, addressinghimself in courtesy to Magua, as the newest comer:

“The Delawares have been like bears after the honey pots, prowling aroundmy village. But who has ever found a Huron asleep?”

The darkness of the impending cloud which precedes a burst of thunder was notblacker than the brow of Magua as he exclaimed:

“The Delawares of the Lakes!”

“Not so. They who wear the petticoats of squaws, on their own river. Oneof them has been passing the tribe.”

“Did my young men take his scalp?”

“His legs were good, though his arm is better for the hoe than thetomahawk,” returned the other, pointing to the immovable form of Uncas.

Instead of manifesting any womanish curiosity to feast his eyes with the sightof a captive from a people he was known to have so much reason to hate, Maguacontinued to smoke, with the meditative air that he usually maintained, whenthere was no immediate call on his cunning or his eloquence. Although secretlyamazed at the facts communicated by the speech of the aged father, he permittedhimself to ask no questions, reserving his inquiries for a more suitablemoment. It was only after a sufficient interval that he shook the ashes fromhis pipe, replaced the tomahawk, tightened his girdle, and arose, casting forthe first time a glance in the direction of the prisoner, who stood a littlebehind him. The wary, though seemingly abstracted Uncas, caught a glimpse ofthe movement, and turning suddenly to the light, their looks met. Near a minutethese two bold and untamed spirits stood regarding one another steadily in theeye, neither quailing in the least before the fierce gaze he encountered. Theform of Uncas dilated, and his nostrils opened like those of a tiger at bay;but so rigid and unyielding was his posture, that he might easily have beenconverted by the imagination into an exquisite and faultless representation ofthe warlike deity of his tribe. The lineaments of the quivering features ofMagua proved more ductile; his countenance gradually lost its character ofdefiance in an expression of ferocious joy, and heaving a breath from the verybottom of his chest, he pronounced aloud the formidable name of:

“Le Cerf Agile!”

Each warrior sprang upon his feet at the utterance of the well-knownappellation, and there was a short period during which the stoical constancy ofthe natives was completely conquered by surprise. The hated and yet respectedname was repeated as by one voice, carrying the sound even beyond the limits ofthe lodge. The women and children, who lingered around the entrance, took upthe words in an echo, which was succeeded by another shrill and plaintive howl.The latter was not yet ended, when the sensation among the men had entirelyabated. Each one in presence seated himself, as though ashamed of hisprecipitation; but it was many minutes before their meaning eyes ceased to rolltoward their captive, in curious examination of a warrior who had so oftenproved his prowess on the best and proudest of their nation. Uncas enjoyed hisvictory, but was content with merely exhibiting his triumph by a quietsmile—an emblem of scorn which belongs to all time and every nation.

Magua caught the expression, and raising his arm, he shook it at the captive,the light silver ornaments attached to his bracelet rattling with the tremblingagitation of the limb, as, in a tone of vengeance, he exclaimed, in English:

“Mohican, you die!”

“The healing waters will never bring the dead Hurons to life,”returned Uncas, in the music of the Delawares; “the tumbling river washestheir bones; their men are squaws: their women owls. Go! call together theHuron dogs, that they may look upon a warrior, My nostrils are offended; theyscent the blood of a coward.”

The latter allusion struck deep, and the injury rankled. Many of the Huronsunderstood the strange tongue in which the captive spoke, among which numberwas Magua. This cunning savage beheld, and instantly profited by his advantage.Dropping the light robe of skin from his shoulder, he stretched forth his arm,and commenced a burst of his dangerous and artful eloquence. However much hisinfluence among his people had been impaired by his occasional and besettingweakness, as well as by his desertion of the tribe, his courage and his fame asan orator were undeniable. He never spoke without auditors, and rarely withoutmaking converts to his opinions. On the present occasion, his native powerswere stimulated by the thirst of revenge.

He again recounted the events of the attack on the island at Glenn’s, thedeath of his associates and the escape of their most formidable enemies. Thenhe described the nature and position of the mount whither he had led suchcaptives as had fallen into their hands. Of his own bloody intentions towardthe maidens, and of his baffled malice he made no mention, but passed rapidlyon to the surprise of the party by “La Longue Carabine,” and itsfatal termination. Here he paused, and looked about him, in affected venerationfor the departed, but, in truth, to note the effect of his opening narrative.As usual, every eye was riveted on his face. Each dusky figure seemed abreathing statue, so motionless was the posture, so intense the attention ofthe individual.

Then Magua dropped his voice which had hitherto been clear, strong andelevated, and touched upon the merits of the dead. No quality that was likelyto command the sympathy of an Indian escaped his notice. One had never beenknown to follow the chase in vain; another had been indefatigable on the trailof their enemies. This was brave, that generous. In short, he so managed hisallusions, that in a nation which was composed of so few families, he contrivedto strike every chord that might find, in its turn, some breast in which tovibrate.

“Are the bones of my young men,” he concluded, “in theburial-place of the Hurons? You know they are not. Their spirits are gonetoward the setting sun, and are already crossing the great waters, to the happyhunting-grounds. But they departed without food, without guns or knives,without moccasins, naked and poor as they were born. Shall this be? Are theirsouls to enter the land of the just like hungry Iroquois or unmanly Delawares,or shall they meet their friends with arms in their hands and robes on theirbacks? What will our fathers think the tribes of the Wyandots have become? Theywill look on their children with a dark eye, and say, ‘Go! a Chippewa hascome hither with the name of a Huron.’ Brothers, we must not forget thedead; a red-skin never ceases to remember. We will load the back of thisMohican until he staggers under our bounty, and dispatch him after my youngmen. They call to us for aid, though our ears are not open; they say,‘Forget us not.’ When they see the spirit of this Mohican toilingafter them with his burden, they will know we are of that mind. Then will theygo on happy; and our children will say, ‘So did our fathers to theirfriends, so must we do to them.’ What is a Yengee? we have slain many,but the earth is still pale. A stain on the name of Huron can only be hid byblood that comes from the veins of an Indian. Let this Delaware die.”

The effect of such an harangue, delivered in the nervous language and with theemphatic manner of a Huron orator, could scarcely be mistaken. Magua had soartfully blended the natural sympathies with the religious superstition of hisauditors, that their minds, already prepared by custom to sacrifice a victim tothe manes of their countrymen, lost every vestige of humanity in a wish forrevenge. One warrior in particular, a man of wild and ferocious mien, had beenconspicuous for the attention he had given to the words of the speaker. Hiscountenance had changed with each passing emotion, until it settled into a lookof deadly malice. As Magua ended he arose and, uttering the yell of a demon,his polished little axe was seen glancing in the torchlight as he whirled itabove his head. The motion and the cry were too sudden for words to interrupthis bloody intention. It appeared as if a bright gleam shot from his hand,which was crossed at the same moment by a dark and powerful line. The formerwas the tomahawk in its passage; the latter the arm that Magua darted forwardto divert its aim. The quick and ready motion of the chief was not entirely toolate. The keen weapon cut the war plume from the scalping tuft of Uncas, andpassed through the frail wall of the lodge as though it were hurled from someformidable engine.

Duncan had seen the threatening action, and sprang upon his feet, with a heartwhich, while it leaped into his throat, swelled with the most generousresolution in behalf of his friend. A glance told him that the blow had failed,and terror changed to admiration. Uncas stood still, looking his enemy in theeye with features that seemed superior to emotion. Marble could not be colder,calmer, or steadier than the countenance he put upon this sudden and vindictiveattack. Then, as if pitying a want of skill which had proved so fortunate tohimself, he smiled, and muttered a few words of contempt in his own tongue.

“No!” said Magua, after satisfying himself of the safety of thecaptive; “the sun must shine on his shame; the squaws must see his fleshtremble, or our revenge will be like the play of boys. Go! take him where thereis silence; let us see if a Delaware can sleep at night, and in the morningdie.”

The young men whose duty it was to guard the prisoner instantly passed theirligaments of bark across his arms, and led him from the lodge, amid a profoundand ominous silence. It was only as the figure of Uncas stood in the opening ofthe door that his firm step hesitated. There he turned, and, in the sweepingand haughty glance that he threw around the circle of his enemies, Duncancaught a look which he was glad to construe into an expression that he was notentirely deserted by hope.

Magua was content with his success, or too much occupied with his secretpurposes to push his inquiries any further. Shaking his mantle, and folding iton his bosom, he also quitted the place, without pursuing a subject which mighthave proved so fatal to the individual at his elbow. Notwithstanding his risingresentment, his natural firmness, and his anxiety on behalf of Uncas, Heywardfelt sensibly relieved by the absence of so dangerous and so subtle a foe. Theexcitement produced by the speech gradually subsided. The warriors resumedtheir seats and clouds of smoke once more filled the lodge. For near half anhour, not a syllable was uttered, or scarcely a look cast aside; a grave andmeditative silence being the ordinary succession to every scene of violence andcommotion among these beings, who were alike so impetuous and yet soself-restrained.

When the chief, who had solicited the aid of Duncan, finished his pipe, he madea final and successful movement toward departing. A motion of a finger was theintimation he gave the supposed physician to follow; and passing through theclouds of smoke, Duncad was glad, on more accounts than one, to be able at lastto breathe the pure air of a cool and refreshing summer evening.

Instead of pursuing his way among those lodges where Heyward had already madehis unsuccessful search, his companion turned aside, and proceeded directlytoward the base of an adjacent mountain, which overhung the temporary village.A thicket of brush skirted its foot, and it became necessary to proceed througha crooked and narrow path. The boys had resumed their sports in the clearing,and were enacting a mimic chase to the post among themselves. In order torender their games as like the reality as possible, one of the boldest of theirnumber had conveyed a few brands into some piles of tree-tops that had hithertoescaped the burning. The blaze of one of these fires lighted the way of thechief and Duncan, and gave a character of additional wildness to the rudescenery. At a little distance from a bald rock, and directly in its front, theyentered a grassy opening, which they prepared to cross. Just then fresh fuelwas added to the fire, and a powerful light penetrated even to that distantspot. It fell upon the white surface of the mountain, and was reflecteddownward upon a dark and mysterious-looking being that arose, unexpectedly, intheir path. The Indian paused, as if doubtful whether to proceed, and permittedhis companion to approach his side. A large black ball, which at first seemedstationary, now began to move in a manner that to the latter was inexplicable.Again the fire brightened and its glare fell more distinctly on the object.Then even Duncan knew it, by its restless and sidling attitudes, which kept theupper part of its form in constant motion, while the animal itself appearedseated, to be a bear. Though it growled loudly and fiercely, and there wereinstants when its glistening eyeballs might be seen, it gave no otherindications of hostility. The Huron, at least, seemed assured that theintentions of this singular intruder were peaceable, for after giving it anattentive examination, he quietly pursued his course.

Duncan, who knew that the animal was often domesticated among the Indians,followed the example of his companion, believing that some favorite of thetribe had found its way into the thicket, in search of food. They passed itunmolested. Though obliged to come nearly in contact with the monster, theHuron, who had at first so warily determined the character of his strangevisitor, was now content with proceeding without wasting a moment in furtherexamination; but Heyward was unable to prevent his eyes from looking backward,in salutary watchfulness against attacks in the rear. His uneasiness was in nodegree diminished when he perceived the beast rolling along their path, andfollowing their footsteps. He would have spoken, but the Indian at that momentshoved aside a door of bark, and entered a cavern in the bosom of the mountain.

Profiting by so easy a method of retreat, Duncan stepped after him, and wasgladly closing the slight cover to the opening, when he felt it drawn from hishand by the beast, whose shaggy form immediately darkened the passage. Theywere now in a straight and long gallery, in a chasm of the rocks, where retreatwithout encountering the animal was impossible. Making the best of thecircumstances, the young man pressed forward, keeping as close as possible tohis conductor. The bear growled frequently at his heels, and once or twice itsenormous paws were laid on his person, as if disposed to prevent his furtherpassage into the den.

How long the nerves of Heyward would have sustained him in this extraordinarysituation, it might be difficult to decide, for, happily, he soon found relief.A glimmer of light had constantly been in their front, and they now arrived atthe place whence it proceeded.

A large cavity in the rock had been rudely fitted to answer the purposes ofmany apartments. The subdivisions were simple but ingenious, being composed ofstone, sticks, and bark, intermingled. Openings above admitted the light byday, and at night fires and torches supplied the place of the sun. Hither theHurons had brought most of their valuables, especially those which moreparticularly pertained to the nation; and hither, as it now appeared, the sickwoman, who was believed to be the victim of supernatural power, had beentransported also, under an impression that her tormentor would find moredifficulty in making his assaults through walls of stone than through the leafycoverings of the lodges. The apartment into which Duncan and his guide firstentered, had been exclusively devoted to her accommodation. The latterapproached her bedside, which was surrounded by females, in the center of whomHeyward was surprised to find his missing friend David.

A single look was sufficient to apprise the pretended leech that the invalidwas far beyond his powers of healing. She lay in a sort of paralysis,indifferent to the objects which crowded before her sight, and happilyunconscious of suffering. Heyward was far from regretting that his mummerieswere to be performed on one who was much too ill to take an interest in theirfailure or success. The slight qualm of conscience which had been excited bythe intended deception was instantly appeased, and he began to collect histhoughts, in order to enact his part with suitable spirit, when he found he wasabout to be anticipated in his skill by an attempt to prove the power of music.

Gamut, who had stood prepared to pour forth his spirit in song when thevisitors entered, after delaying a moment, drew a strain from his pipe, andcommenced a hymn that might have worked a miracle, had faith in its efficacybeen of much avail. He was allowed to proceed to the close, the Indiansrespecting his imaginary infirmity, and Duncan too glad of the delay to hazardthe slightest interruption. As the dying cadence of his strains was falling onthe ears of the latter, he started aside at hearing them repeated behind him,in a voice half human and half sepulchral. Looking around, he beheld the shaggymonster seated on end in a shadow of the cavern, where, while his restless bodyswung in the uneasy manner of the animal, it repeated, in a sort of low growl,sounds, if not words, which bore some slight resemblance to the melody of thesinger.

The effect of so strange an echo on David may better be imagined thandescribed. His eyes opened as if he doubted their truth; and his voice becameinstantly mute in excess of wonder. A deep-laid scheme, of communicating someimportant intelligence to Heyward, was driven from his recollection by anemotion which very nearly resembled fear, but which he was fain to believe wasadmiration. Under its influence, he exclaimed aloud: “She expects you,and is at hand”; and precipitately left the cavern.

CHAPTER XXV.

“Snug.—Have you the lion’s part written? Pray you, if it be,give it to me, for I am slow of study.

Quince.—You may do it extempore, for it is nothing butroaring.”
—Midsummer Night’s Dream.

There was a strange blending of the ridiculous with that which was solemn inthis scene. The beast still continued its rolling, and apparently untiringmovements, though its ludicrous attempt to imitate the melody of David ceasedthe instant the latter abandoned the field. The words of Gamut were, as hasbeen seen, in his native tongue; and to Duncan they seem pregnant with somehidden meaning, though nothing present assisted him in discovering the objectof their allusion. A speedy end was, however, put to every conjecture on thesubject, by the manner of the chief, who advanced to the bedside of theinvalid, and beckoned away the whole group of female attendants that hadclustered there to witness the skill of the stranger. He was implicitly, thoughreluctantly, obeyed; and when the low echo which rang along the hollow, naturalgallery, from the distant closing door, had ceased, pointing toward hisinsensible daughter, he said:

“Now let my brother show his power.”

Thus unequivocally called on to exercise the functions of his assumedcharacter, Heyward was apprehensive that the smallest delay might provedangerous. Endeavoring, then, to collect his ideas, he prepared to perform thatspecies of incantation, and those uncouth rites, under which the Indianconjurers are accustomed to conceal their ignorance and impotency. It is morethan probable that, in the disordered state of his thoughts, he would soon havefallen into some suspicious, if not fatal, error had not his incipient attemptsbeen interrupted by a fierce growl from the quadruped. Three several times didhe renew his efforts to proceed, and as often was he met by the sameunaccountable opposition, each interruption seeming more savage and threateningthan the preceding.

“The cunning ones are jealous,” said the Huron; “I go.Brother, the woman is the wife of one of my bravest young men; deal justly byher. Peace!” he added, beckoning to the discontented beast to be quiet;“I go.”

The chief was as good as his word, and Duncan now found himself alone in thatwild and desolate abode with the helpless invalid and the fierce and dangerousbrute. The latter listened to the movements of the Indian with that air ofsagacity that a bear is known to possess, until another echo announced that hehad also left the cavern, when it turned and came waddling up to Duncan beforewhom it seated itself in its natural attitude, erect like a man. The youthlooked anxiously about him for some weapon, with which he might make aresistance against the attack he now seriously expected.

It seemed, however, as if the humor of the animal had suddenly changed. Insteadof continuing its discontented growls, or manifesting any further signs ofanger, the whole of its shaggy body shook violently, as if agitated by somestrange internal convulsion. The huge and unwieldy talons pawed stupidly aboutthe grinning muzzle, and while Heyward kept his eyes riveted on its movementswith jealous watchfulness, the grim head fell on one side and in its placeappeared the honest sturdy countenance of the scout, who was indulging from thebottom of his soul in his own peculiar expression of merriment.

“Hist!” said the wary woodsman, interrupting Heyward’sexclamation of surprise; “the varlets are about the place, and any soundsthat are not natural to witchcraft would bring them back upon us in abody.”

“Tell me the meaning of this masquerade; and why you have attempted sodesperate an adventure?”

“Ah, reason and calculation are often outdone by accident,”returned the scout. “But, as a story should always commence at thebeginning, I will tell you the whole in order. After we parted I placed thecommandant and the Sagamore in an old beaver lodge, where they are safer fromthe Hurons than they would be in the garrison of Edward; for your highnorth-west Indians, not having as yet got the traders among them, continued tovenerate the beaver. After which Uncas and I pushed for the other encampment aswas agreed. Have you seen the lad?”

“To my great grief! He is captive, and condemned to die at the rising ofthe sun.”

“I had misgivings that such would be his fate,” resumed the scout,in a less confident and joyous tone. But soon regaining his naturally firmvoice, he continued: “His bad fortune is the true reason of my beinghere, for it would never do to abandon such a boy to the Hurons. A rare timethe knaves would have of it, could they tie ‘The Bounding Elk’ and‘The Long Carabine’, as they call me, to the same stake! Though whythey have given me such a name I never knew, there being as little likenessbetween the gifts of ‘killdeer’ and the performance of one of yourreal Canada carabynes, as there is between the natur’ of a pipe-stone anda flint.”

“Keep to your tale,” said the impatient Heyward; “we know notat what moment the Hurons may return.”

“No fear of them. A conjurer must have his time, like a straggling priestin the settlements. We are as safe from interruption as a missionary would beat the beginning of a two hours’ discourse. Well, Uncas and I fell inwith a return party of the varlets; the lad was much too forward for a scout;nay, for that matter, being of hot blood, he was not so much to blame; and,after all, one of the Hurons proved a coward, and in fleeing led him into anambushment.”

“And dearly has he paid for the weakness.”

The scout significantly passed his hand across his own throat, and nodded, asif he said, “I comprehend your meaning.” After which he continued,in a more audible though scarcely more intelligible language:

“After the loss of the boy I turned upon the Hurons, as you may judge.There have been scrimmages atween one or two of their outlyers and myself; butthat is neither here nor there. So, after I had shot the imps, I got in prettynigh to the lodges without further commotion. Then what should luck do in myfavor but lead me to the very spot where one of the most famous conjurers ofthe tribe was dressing himself, as I well knew, for some great battle withSatan—though why should I call that luck, which it now seems was anespecial ordering of Providence. So a judgmatical rap over the head stiffenedthe lying impostor for a time, and leaving him a bit of walnut for his supper,to prevent an uproar, and stringing him up atween two saplings, I made freewith his finery, and took the part of the bear on myself, in order that theoperations might proceed.”

“And admirably did you enact the character; the animal itself might havebeen shamed by the representation.”

“Lord, major,” returned the flattered woodsman, “I should bebut a poor scholar for one who has studied so long in the wilderness, did I notknow how to set forth the movements or natur’ of such a beast. Had itbeen now a catamount, or even a full-size panther, I would have embellished aperformance for you worth regarding. But it is no such marvelous feat toexhibit the feats of so dull a beast; though, for that matter, too, a bear maybe overacted. Yes, yes; it is not every imitator that knows natur’ may beoutdone easier than she is equaled. But all our work is yet before us. Where isthe gentle one?”

“Heaven knows. I have examined every lodge in the village, withoutdiscovering the slightest trace of her presence in the tribe.”

“You heard what the singer said, as he left us: ‘She is at hand,and expects you’?”

“I have been compelled to believe he alluded to this unhappywoman.”

“The simpleton was frightened, and blundered through his message; but hehad a deeper meaning. Here are walls enough to separate the whole settlement. Abear ought to climb; therefore will I take a look above them. There may behoney-pots hid in these rocks, and I am a beast, you know, that has a hankeringfor the sweets.”

The scout looked behind him, laughing at his own conceit, while he clambered upthe partition, imitating, as he went, the clumsy motions of the beast herepresented; but the instant the summit was gained he made a gesture forsilence, and slid down with the utmost precipitation.

“She is here,” he whispered, “and by that door you will findher. I would have spoken a word of comfort to the afflicted soul; but the sightof such a monster might upset her reason. Though for that matter, major, youare none of the most inviting yourself in your paint.”

Duncan, who had already swung eagerly forward, drew instantly back on hearingthese discouraging words.

“Am I, then, so very revolting?” he demanded, with an air ofchagrin.

“You might not startle a wolf, or turn the Royal Americans from adischarge; but I have seen the time when you had a better favored look; yourstreaked countenances are not ill-judged of by the squaws, but young women ofwhite blood give the preference to their own color. See,” he added,pointing to a place where the water trickled from a rock, forming a littlecrystal spring, before it found an issue through the adjacent crevices;“you may easily get rid of the Sagamore’s daub, and when you comeback I will try my hand at a new embellishment. It’s as common for aconjurer to alter his paint as for a buck in the settlements to change hisfinery.”

The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to enforcehis advice. He was yet speaking when Duncan availed himself of the water. In amoment every frightful or offensive mark was obliterated, and the youthappeared again in the lineaments with which he had been gifted by nature. Thusprepared for an interview with his mistress, he took a hasty leave of hiscompanion, and disappeared through the indicated passage. The scout witnessedhis departure with complacency, nodding his head after him, and muttering hisgood wishes; after which he very coolly set about an examination of the stateof the larder, among the Hurons, the cavern, among other purposes, being usedas a receptacle for the fruits of their hunts.

Duncan had no other guide than a distant glimmering light, which served,however, the office of a polar star to the lover. By its aid he was enabled toenter the haven of his hopes, which was merely another apartment of the cavern,that had been solely appropriated to the safekeeping of so important a prisoneras a daughter of the commandant of William Henry. It was profusely strewed withthe plunder of that unlucky fortress. In the midst of this confusion he foundher he sought, pale, anxious and terrified, but lovely. David had prepared herfor such a visit.

“Duncan!” she exclaimed, in a voice that seemed to tremble at thesounds created by itself.

“Alice!” he answered, leaping carelessly among trunks, boxes, arms,and furniture, until he stood at her side.

“I knew that you would never desert me,” she said, looking up witha momentary glow on her otherwise dejected countenance. “But you arealone! Grateful as it is to be thus remembered, I could wish to think you arenot entirely alone.”

Duncan, observing that she trembled in a manner which betrayed her inability tostand, gently induced her to be seated, while he recounted those leadingincidents which it has been our task to accord. Alice listened with breathlessinterest; and though the young man touched lightly on the sorrows of thestricken father; taking care, however, not to wound the self-love of hisauditor, the tears ran as freely down the cheeks of the daughter as though shehad never wept before. The soothing tenderness of Duncan, however, soon quietedthe first burst of her emotions, and she then heard him to the close withundivided attention, if not with composure.

“And now, Alice,” he added, “you will see how much is stillexpected of you. By the assistance of our experienced and invaluable friend,the scout, we may find our way from this savage people, but you will have toexert your utmost fortitude. Remember that you fly to the arms of yourvenerable parent, and how much his happiness, as well as your own, depends onthose exertions.”

“Can I do otherwise for a father who has done so much for me?”

“And for me, too,” continued the youth, gently pressing the hand heheld in both his own.

The look of innocence and surprise which he received in return convinced Duncanof the necessity of being more explicit.

“This is neither the place nor the occasion to detain you with selfishwishes,” he added; “but what heart loaded like mine would not wishto cast its burden? They say misery is the closest of all ties; our commonsuffering in your behalf left but little to be explained between your fatherand myself.”

“And, dearest Cora, Duncan; surely Cora was not forgotten?”

“Not forgotten! no; regretted, as woman was seldom mourned before. Yourvenerable father knew no difference between his children; but I—Alice,you will not be offended when I say, that to me her worth was in a degreeobscured—”

“Then you knew not the merit of my sister,” said Alice, withdrawingher hand; “of you she ever speaks as of one who is her dearestfriend.”

“I would gladly believe her such,” returned Duncan, hastily;“I could wish her to be even more; but with you, Alice, I have thepermission of your father to aspire to a still nearer and dearer tie.”

Alice trembled violently, and there was an instant during which she bent herface aside, yielding to the emotions common to her sex; but they quickly passedaway, leaving her mistress of her deportment, if not of her affections.

“Heyward,” she said, looking him full in the face with a touchingexpression of innocence and dependency, “give me the sacred presence andthe holy sanction of that parent before you urge me further.”

“Though more I should not, less I could not say,” the youth wasabout to answer, when he was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder.Starting to his feet, he turned, and, confronting the intruder, his looks fellon the dark form and malignant visage of Magua. The deep guttural laugh of thesavage sounded, at such a moment, to Duncan, like the hellish taunt of a demon.Had he pursued the sudden and fierce impulse of the instant, he would have casthimself on the Huron, and committed their fortunes to the issue of a deadlystruggle. But, without arms of any description, ignorant of what succor hissubtle enemy could command, and charged with the safety of one who was justthen dearer than ever to his heart, he no sooner entertained than he abandonedthe desperate intention.

“What is your purpose?” said Alice, meekly folding her arms on herbosom, and struggling to conceal an agony of apprehension in behalf of Heyward,in the usual cold and distant manner with which she received the visits of hercaptor.

The exulting Indian had resumed his austere countenance, though he drew warilyback before the menacing glance of the young man’s fiery eye. He regardedboth his captives for a moment with a steady look, and then, stepping aside, hedropped a log of wood across a door different from that by which Duncan hadentered. The latter now comprehended the manner of his surprise, and, believinghimself irretrievably lost, he drew Alice to his bosom, and stood prepared tomeet a fate which he hardly regretted, since it was to be suffered in suchcompany. But Magua meditated no immediate violence. His first measures werevery evidently taken to secure his new captive; nor did he even bestow a secondglance at the motionless forms in the center of the cavern, until he hadcompletely cut off every hope of retreat through the private outlet he hadhimself used. He was watched in all his movements by Heyward, who, however,remained firm, still folding the fragile form of Alice to his heart, at oncetoo proud and too hopeless to ask favor of an enemy so often foiled. When Maguahad effected his object he approached his prisoners, and said in English:

“The pale faces trap the cunning beavers; but the red-skins know how totake the Yengeese.”

“Huron, do your worst!” exclaimed the excited Heyward, forgetfulthat a double stake was involved in his life; “you and your vengeance arealike despised.”

“Will the white man speak these words at the stake?” asked Magua;manifesting, at the same time, how little faith he had in the other’sresolution by the sneer that accompanied his words.

“Here; singly to your face, or in the presence of your nation.”

“Le Renard Subtil is a great chief!” returned the Indian; “hewill go and bring his young men, to see how bravely a pale face can laugh attortures.”

He turned away while speaking, and was about to leave the place through theavenue by which Duncan had approached, when a growl caught his ear, and causedhim to hesitate. The figure of the bear appeared in the door, where it sat,rolling from side to side in its customary restlessness. Magua, like the fatherof the sick woman, eyed it keenly for a moment, as if to ascertain itscharacter. He was far above the more vulgar superstitions of his tribe, and sosoon as he recognized the well-known attire of the conjurer, he prepared topass it in cool contempt. But a louder and more threatening growl caused himagain to pause. Then he seemed as if suddenly resolved to trifle no longer, andmoved resolutely forward.

The mimic animal, which had advanced a little, retired slowly in his front,until it arrived again at the pass, when, rearing on his hinder legs, it beatthe air with its paws, in the manner practised by its brutal prototype.

“Fool!” exclaimed the chief, in Huron, “go play with thechildren and squaws; leave men to their wisdom.”

He once more endeavored to pass the supposed empiric, scorning even the paradeof threatening to use the knife, or tomahawk, that was pendent from his belt.Suddenly the beast extended its arms, or rather legs, and inclosed him in agrasp that might have vied with the far-famed power of the “bear’shug” itself. Heyward had watched the whole procedure, on the part ofHawkeye, with breathless interest. At first he relinquished his hold of Alice;then he caught up a thong of buckskin, which had been used around some bundle,and when he beheld his enemy with his two arms pinned to his side by the ironmuscles of the scout, he rushed upon him, and effectually secured them there.Arms, legs, and feet were encircled in twenty folds of the thong, in less timethan we have taken to record the circumstance. When the formidable Huron wascompletely pinioned, the scout released his hold, and Duncan laid his enemy onhis back, utterly helpless.

Throughout the whole of this sudden and extraordinary operation, Magua, thoughhe had struggled violently, until assured he was in the hands of one whosenerves were far better strung than his own, had not uttered the slightestexclamation. But when Hawkeye, by way of making a summary explanation of hisconduct, removed the shaggy jaws of the beast, and exposed his own rugged andearnest countenance to the gaze of the Huron, the philosophy of the latter wasso far mastered as to permit him to utter the never failing:

“Hugh!”

“Ay, you’ve found your tongue,” said his undisturbedconqueror; “now, in order that you shall not use it to our ruin, I mustmake free to stop your mouth.”

As there was no time to be lost, the scout immediately set about effecting sonecessary a precaution; and when he had gagged the Indian, his enemy mightsafely have been considered as “hors de combat.”

“By what place did the imp enter?” asked the industrious scout,when his work was ended. “Not a soul has passed my way since you leftme.”

Duncan pointed out the door by which Magua had come, and which now presentedtoo many obstacles to a quick retreat.

“Bring on the gentle one, then,” continued his friend; “wemust make a push for the woods by the other outlet.”

“’Tis impossible!” said Duncan; “fear has overcome her,and she is helpless. Alice! my sweet, my own Alice, arouse yourself; now is themoment to fly. ’Tis in vain! she hears, but is unable to follow. Go,noble and worthy friend; save yourself, and leave me to my fate.”

“Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!”returned the scout. “There, wrap her in them Indian cloths. Conceal allof her little form. Nay, that foot has no fellow in the wilderness; it willbetray her. All, every part. Now take her in your arms, and follow. Leave therest to me.”

Duncan, as may be gathered from the words of his companion, was eagerlyobeying; and, as the other finished speaking, he took the light person of Alicein his arms, and followed in the footsteps of the scout. They found the sickwoman as they had left her, still alone, and passed swiftly on, by the naturalgallery, to the place of entrance. As they approached the little door of bark,a murmur of voices without announced that the friends and relatives of theinvalid were gathered about the place, patiently awaiting a summons tore-enter.

“If I open my lips to speak,” Hawkeye whispered, “my English,which is the genuine tongue of a white-skin, will tell the varlets that anenemy is among them. You must give ’em your jargon, major; and say thatwe have shut the evil spirit in the cave, and are taking the woman to the woodsin order to find strengthening roots. Practise all your cunning, for it is alawful undertaking.”

The door opened a little, as if one without was listening to the proceedingswithin, and compelled the scout to cease his directions. A fierce growlrepelled the eavesdropper, and then the scout boldly threw open the covering ofbark, and left the place, enacting the character of a bear as he proceeded.Duncan kept close at his heels, and soon found himself in the center of acluster of twenty anxious relatives and friends.

The crowd fell back a little, and permitted the father, and one who appeared tobe the husband of the woman, to approach.

“Has my brother driven away the evil spirit?” demanded the former.“What has he in his arms?”

“Thy child,” returned Duncan, gravely; “the disease has goneout of her; it is shut up in the rocks. I take the woman to a distance, where Iwill strengthen her against any further attacks. She will be in the wigwam ofthe young man when the sun comes again.”

When the father had translated the meaning of the stranger’s words intothe Huron language, a suppressed murmur announced the satisfaction with whichthis intelligence was received. The chief himself waved his hand for Duncan toproceed, saying aloud, in a firm voice, and with a lofty manner:

“Go; I am a man, and I will enter the rock and fight the wickedone.”

Heyward had gladly obeyed, and was already past the little group, when thesestartling words arrested him.

“Is my brother mad?” he exclaimed; “is he cruel? He will meetthe disease, and it will enter him; or he will drive out the disease, and itwill chase his daughter into the woods. No; let my children wait without, andif the spirit appears beat him down with clubs. He is cunning, and will buryhimself in the mountain, when he sees how many are ready to fight him.”

This singular warning had the desired effect. Instead of entering the cavern,the father and husband drew their tomahawks, and posted themselves in readinessto deal their vengeance on the imaginary tormentor of their sick relative,while the women and children broke branches from the bushes, or seizedfragments of the rock, with a similar intention. At this favorable moment thecounterfeit conjurers disappeared.

Hawkeye, at the same time that he had presumed so far on the nature of theIndian superstitions, was not ignorant that they were rather tolerated thanrelied on by the wisest of the chiefs. He well knew the value of time in thepresent emergency. Whatever might be the extent of the self-delusion of hisenemies, and however it had tended to assist his schemes, the slightest causeof suspicion, acting on the subtle nature of an Indian, would be likely toprove fatal. Taking the path, therefore, that was most likely to avoidobservation, he rather skirted than entered the village. The warriors werestill to be seen in the distance, by the fading light of the fires, stalkingfrom lodge to lodge. But the children had abandoned their sports for their bedsof skins, and the quiet of night was already beginning to prevail over theturbulence and excitement of so busy and important an evening.

Alice revived under the renovating influence of the open air, and, as herphysical rather than her mental powers had been the subject of weakness, shestood in no need of any explanation of that which had occurred.

“Now let me make an effort to walk,” she said, when they hadentered the forest, blushing, though unseen, that she had not been sooner ableto quit the arms of Duncan; “I am indeed restored.”

“Nay, Alice, you are yet too weak.”

The maiden struggled gently to release herself, and Heyward was compelled topart with his precious burden. The representative of the bear had certainlybeen an entire stranger to the delicious emotions of the lover while his armsencircled his mistress; and he was, perhaps, a stranger also to the nature ofthat feeling of ingenuous shame that oppressed the trembling Alice. But when hefound himself at a suitable distance from the lodges he made a halt, and spokeon a subject of which he was thoroughly the master.

“This path will lead you to the brook,” he said; “follow itsnorthern bank until you come to a fall; mount the hill on your right, and youwill see the fires of the other people. There you must go and demandprotection; if they are true Delawares you will be safe. A distant flight withthat gentle one, just now, is impossible. The Hurons would follow up our trail,and master our scalps before we had got a dozen miles. Go, and Providence bewith you.”

“And you!” demanded Heyward, in surprise; “surely we part nothere?”

“The Hurons hold the pride of the Delawares; the last of the high bloodof the Mohicans is in their power,” returned the scout; “I go tosee what can be done in his favor. Had they mastered your scalp, major, a knaveshould have fallen for every hair it held, as I promised; but if the youngSagamore is to be led to the stake, the Indians shall see also how a manwithout a cross can die.”

Not in the least offended with the decided preference that the sturdy woodsmangave to one who might, in some degree, be called the child of his adoption,Duncan still continued to urge such reasons against so desperate an effort aspresented themselves. He was aided by Alice, who mingled her entreaties withthose of Heyward that he would abandon a resolution that promised so muchdanger, with so little hope of success. Their eloquence and ingenuity wereexpended in vain. The scout heard them attentively, but impatiently, andfinally closed the discussion, by answering, in a tone that instantly silencedAlice, while it told Heyward how fruitless any further remonstrances would be.

“I have heard,” he said, “that there is a feeling in youthwhich binds man to woman closer than the father is tied to the son. It may beso. I have seldom been where women of my color dwell; but such may be the giftsof nature in the settlements. You have risked life, and all that is dear toyou, to bring off this gentle one, and I suppose that some such disposition isat the bottom of it all. As for me, I taught the lad the real character of arifle; and well has he paid me for it. I have fou’t at his side in many abloody scrimmage; and so long as I could hear the crack of his piece in oneear, and that of the Sagamore in the other, I knew no enemy was on my back.Winters and summer, nights and days, have we roved the wilderness in company,eating of the same dish, one sleeping while the other watched; and afore itshall be said that Uncas was taken to the torment, and I at hand—There isbut a single Ruler of us all, whatever may the color of the skin; and Him Icall to witness, that before the Mohican boy shall perish for the want of afriend, good faith shall depart the ’arth, and ‘killdeer’become as harmless as the tooting we’pon of the singer!”

Duncan released his hold on the arm of the scout, who turned, and steadilyretraced his steps toward the lodges. After pausing a moment to gaze at hisretiring form, the successful and yet sorrowful Heyward and Alice took theirway together toward the distant village of the Delawares.

CHAPTER XXVI.

“Bot.—Let me play the lion too.”
—Midsummer Night’s Dream

Notwithstanding the high resolution of Hawkeye he fully comprehended all thedifficulties and danger he was about to incur. In his return to the camp, hisacute and practised intellects were intently engaged in devising means tocounteract a watchfulness and suspicion on the part of his enemies, that heknew were, in no degree, inferior to his own. Nothing but the color of his skinhad saved the lives of Magua and the conjurer, who would have been the firstvictims sacrificed to his own security, had not the scout believed such an act,however congenial it might be to the nature of an Indian, utterly unworthy ofone who boasted a descent from men that knew no cross of blood. Accordingly, hetrusted to the withes and ligaments with which he had bound his captives, andpursued his way directly toward the center of the lodges. As he approached thebuildings, his steps become more deliberate, and his vigilant eye suffered nosign, whether friendly or hostile, to escape him. A neglected hut was a littlein advance of the others, and appeared as if it had been deserted when halfcompleted—most probably on account of failing in some of the moreimportant requisites; such as wood or water. A faint light glimmered throughits cracks, however, and announced that, notwithstanding its imperfectstructure, it was not without a tenant. Thither, then, the scout proceeded,like a prudent general, who was about to feel the advanced positions of hisenemy, before he hazarded the main attack.

Throwing himself into a suitable posture for the beast he represented, Hawkeyecrawled to a little opening, where he might command a view of the interior. Itproved to be the abiding place of David Gamut. Hither the faithfulsinging-master had now brought himself, together with all his sorrows, hisapprehensions, and his meek dependence on the protection of Providence. At theprecise moment when his ungainly person came under the observation of thescout, in the manner just mentioned, the woodsman himself, though in hisassumed character, was the subject of the solitary being’s profoundedreflections.

However implicit the faith of David was in the performance of ancient miracles,he eschewed the belief of any direct supernatural agency in the management ofmodern morality. In other words, while he had implicit faith in the ability ofBalaam’s ass to speak, he was somewhat skeptical on the subject of abear’s singing; and yet he had been assured of the latter, on thetestimony of his own exquisite organs. There was something in his air andmanner that betrayed to the scout the utter confusion of the state of his mind.He was seated on a pile of brush, a few twigs from which occasionally fed hislow fire, with his head leaning on his arm, in a posture of melancholy musing.The costume of the votary of music had undergone no other alteration from thatso lately described, except that he had covered his bald head with thetriangular beaver, which had not proved sufficiently alluring to excite thecupidity of any of his captors.

The ingenious Hawkeye, who recalled the hasty manner in which the other hadabandoned his post at the bedside of the sick woman, was not without hissuspicions concerning the subject of so much solemn deliberation. First makingthe circuit of the hut, and ascertaining that it stood quite alone, and thatthe character of its inmate was likely to protect it from visitors, he venturedthrough its low door, into the very presence of Gamut. The position of thelatter brought the fire between them; and when Hawkeye had seated himself onend, near a minute elapsed, during which the two remained regarding each otherwithout speaking. The suddenness and the nature of the surprise had nearlyproved too much for—we will not say the philosophy—but for thepitch and resolution of David. He fumbled for his pitch-pipe, and arose with aconfused intention of attempting a musical exorcism.

“Dark and mysterious monster!” he exclaimed, while with tremblinghands he disposed of his auxiliary eyes, and sought his never-failing resourcein trouble, the gifted version of the psalms; “I know not your nature norintents; but if aught you meditate against the person and rights of one of thehumblest servants of the temple, listen to the inspired language of the youthof Israel, and repent.”

The bear shook his shaggy sides, and then a well-known voice replied:

“Put up the tooting we’pon, and teach your throat modesty. Fivewords of plain and comprehendible English are worth just now an hour ofsqualling.”

“What art thou?” demanded David, utterly disqualified to pursue hisoriginal intention, and nearly gasping for breath.

“A man like yourself; and one whose blood is as little tainted by thecross of a bear, or an Indian, as your own. Have you so soon forgotten fromwhom you received the foolish instrument you hold in your hand?”

“Can these things be?” returned David, breathing more freely, asthe truth began to dawn upon him. “I have found many marvels during mysojourn with the heathen, but surely nothing to excel this.”

“Come, come,” returned Hawkeye, uncasing his honest countenance,the better to assure the wavering confidence of his companion; “you maysee a skin, which, if it be not as white as one of the gentle ones, has notinge of red to it that the winds of the heaven and the sun have not bestowed.Now let us to business.”

“First tell me of the maiden, and of the youth who so bravely soughther,” interrupted David.

“Ay, they are happily freed from the tomahawks of these varlets. But canyou put me on the scent of Uncas?”

“The young man is in bondage, and much I fear his death is decreed. Igreatly mourn that one so well disposed should die in his ignorance, and I havesought a goodly hymn—”

“Can you lead me to him?”

“The task will not be difficult,” returned David, hesitating;“though I greatly fear your presence would rather increase than mitigatehis unhappy fortunes.”

“No more words, but lead on,” returned Hawkeye, concealing his faceagain, and setting the example in his own person, by instantly quitting thelodge.

As they proceeded, the scout ascertained that his companion found access toUncas, under privilege of his imaginary infirmity, aided by the favor he hadacquired with one of the guards, who, in consequence of speaking a littleEnglish, had been selected by David as the subject of a religious conversion.How far the Huron comprehended the intentions of his new friend may well bedoubted; but as exclusive attention is as flattering to a savage as to a morecivilized individual, it had produced the effect we have mentioned. It isunnecessary to repeat the shrewd manner with which the scout extracted theseparticulars from the simple David; neither shall we dwell in this place on thenature of the instruction he delivered, when completely master of all thenecessary facts; as the whole will be sufficiently explained to the reader inthe course of the narrative.

The lodge in which Uncas was confined was in the very center of the village,and in a situation, perhaps, more difficult than any other to approach, orleave, without observation. But it was not the policy of Hawkeye to affect theleast concealment. Presuming on his disguise, and his ability to sustain thecharacter he had assumed, he took the most plain and direct route to the place.The hour, however, afforded him some little of that protection which heappeared so much to despise. The boys were already buried in sleep, and all thewomen, and most of the warriors, had retired to their lodges for the night.Four or five of the latter only lingered about the door of the prison of Uncas,wary but close observers of the manner of their captive.

At the sight of Gamut, accompanied by one in the well-known masquerade of theirmost distinguished conjurer, they readily made way for them both. Still theybetrayed no intention to depart. On the other hand, they were evidentlydisposed to remain bound to the place by an additional interest in themysterious mummeries that they of course expected from such a visit.

From the total inability of the scout to address the Hurons in their ownlanguage, he was compelled to trust the conversation entirely to David.Notwithstanding the simplicity of the latter, he did ample justice to theinstructions he had received, more than fulfilling the strongest hopes of histeacher.

“The Delawares are women!” he exclaimed, addressing himself to thesavage who had a slight understanding of the language in which he spoke;“the Yengeese, my foolish countrymen, have told them to take up thetomahawk, and strike their fathers in the Canadas, and they have forgottentheir sex. Does my brother wish to hear ‘Le Cerf Agile’ ask for hispetticoats, and see him weep before the Hurons, at the stake?”

The exclamation “Hugh!” delivered in a strong tone of assent,announced the gratification the savage would receive in witnessing such anexhibition of weakness in an enemy so long hated and so much feared.

“Then let him step aside, and the cunning man will blow upon the dog.Tell it to my brothers.”

The Huron explained the meaning of David to his fellows, who, in their turn,listened to the project with that sort of satisfaction that their untamedspirits might be expected to find in such a refinement in cruelty. They drewback a little from the entrance and motioned to the supposed conjurer to enter.But the bear, instead of obeying, maintained the seat it had taken, andgrowled:

“The cunning man is afraid that his breath will blow upon his brothers,and take away their courage too,” continued David, improving the hint hereceived; “they must stand further off.”

The Hurons, who would have deemed such a misfortune the heaviest calamity thatcould befall them, fell back in a body, taking a position where they were outof earshot, though at the same time they could command a view of the entranceto the lodge. Then, as if satisfied of their safety, the scout left hisposition, and slowly entered the place. It was silent and gloomy, beingtenanted solely by the captive, and lighted by the dying embers of a fire,which had been used for the purposed of cookery.

Uncas occupied a distant corner, in a reclining attitude, being rigidly bound,both hands and feet, by strong and painful withes. When the frightful objectfirst presented itself to the young Mohican, he did not deign to bestow asingle glance on the animal. The scout, who had left David at the door, toascertain they were not observed, thought it prudent to preserve his disguiseuntil assured of their privacy. Instead of speaking, therefore, he exertedhimself to enact one of the antics of the animal he represented. The youngMohican, who at first believed his enemies had sent in a real beast to tormenthim, and try his nerves, detected in those performances that to Heyward hadappeared so accurate, certain blemishes, that at once betrayed the counterfeit.Had Hawkeye been aware of the low estimation in which the skillful Uncas heldhis representations, he would probably have prolonged the entertainment alittle in pique. But the scornful expression of the young man’s eyeadmitted of so many constructions, that the worthy scout was spared themortification of such a discovery. As soon, therefore, as David gave thepreconcerted signal, a low hissing sound was heard in the lodge in place of thefierce growlings of the bear.

His keen eye rested on the shaggy monster.

Uncas had cast his body back against the wall of the hut and closed his eyes,as if willing to exclude so contemptible and disagreeable an object from hissight. But the moment the noise of the serpent was heard, he arose, and casthis looks on each side of him, bending his head low, and turning it inquiringlyin every direction, until his keen eye rested on the shaggy monster, where itremained riveted, as though fixed by the power of a charm. Again the samesounds were repeated, evidently proceeding from the mouth of the beast. Oncemore the eyes of the youth roamed over the interior of the lodge, and returningto the former resting place, he uttered, in a deep, suppressed voice:

“Hawkeye!”

“Cut his bands,” said Hawkeye to David, who just then approachedthem.

The singer did as he was ordered, and Uncas found his limbs released. At thesame moment the dried skin of the animal rattled, and presently the scout aroseto his feet, in proper person. The Mohican appeared to comprehend the nature ofthe attempt his friend had made, intuitively, neither tongue nor featurebetraying another symptom of surprise. When Hawkeye had cast his shaggyvestment, which was done by simply loosing certain thongs of skin, he drew along, glittering knife, and put it in the hands of Uncas.

“The red Hurons are without,” he said; “let us beready.” At the same time he laid his finger significantly on anothersimilar weapon, both being the fruits of his prowess among their enemies duringthe evening.

“We will go,” said Uncas.

“Whither?”

“To the Tortoises; they are the children of my grandfathers.”

“Ay, lad,” said the scout in English—a language he was apt touse when a little abstracted in mind; “the same blood runs in your veins,I believe; but time and distance has a little changed its color. What shall wedo with the Mingoes at the door? They count six, and this singer is as good asnothing.”

“The Hurons are boasters,” said Uncas, scornfully; “their‘totem’ is a moose, and they run like snails. The Delawares arechildren of the tortoise, and they outstrip the deer.”

“Ay, lad, there is truth in what you say; and I doubt not, on a rush, youwould pass the whole nation; and, in a straight race of two miles, would be in,and get your breath again, afore a knave of them all was within hearing of theother village. But the gift of a white man lies more in his arms than in hislegs. As for myself, I can brain a Huron as well as a better man; but when itcomes to a race the knaves would prove too much for me.”

Uncas, who had already approached the door, in readiness to lead the way, nowrecoiled, and placed himself, once more, in the bottom of the lodge. ButHawkeye, who was too much occupied with his own thoughts to note the movement,continued speaking more to himself than to his companion.

“After all,” he said, “it is unreasonable to keep one man inbondage to the gifts of another. So, Uncas, you had better take the lead, whileI will put on the skin again, and trust to cunning for want of speed.”

The young Mohican made no reply, but quietly folded his arms, and leaned hisbody against one of the upright posts that supported the wall of the hut.

“Well,” said the scout looking up at him, “why do you tarry?There will be time enough for me, as the knaves will give chase to you atfirst.”

“Uncas will stay,” was the calm reply.

“For what?”

“To fight with his father’s brother, and die with the friend of theDelawares.”

“Ay, lad,” returned Hawkeye, squeezing the hand of Uncas betweenhis own iron fingers; “’twould have been more like a Mingo than aMohican had you left me. But I thought I would make the offer, seeing thatyouth commonly loves life. Well, what can’t be done by main courage, inwar, must be done by circumvention. Put on the skin; I doubt not you can playthe bear nearly as well as myself.”

Whatever might have been the private opinion of Uncas of their respectiveabilities in this particular, his grave countenance manifested no opinion ofhis superiority. He silently and expeditiously encased himself in the coveringof the beast, and then awaited such other movements as his more aged companionsaw fit to dictate.

“Now, friend,” said Hawkeye, addressing David, “an exchangeof garments will be a great convenience to you, inasmuch as you are but littleaccustomed to the make-shifts of the wilderness. Here, take my hunting shirtand cap, and give me your blanket and hat. You must trust me with the book andspectacles, as well as the tooter, too; if we ever meet again, in better times,you shall have all back again, with many thanks into the bargain.”

David parted with the several articles named with a readiness that would havedone great credit to his liberality, had he not certainly profited, in manyparticulars, by the exchange. Hawkeye was not long in assuming his borrowedgarments; and when his restless eyes were hid behind the glasses, and his headwas surmounted by the triangular beaver, as their statures were not dissimilar,he might readily have passed for the singer, by starlight. As soon as thesedispositions were made, the scout turned to David, and gave him his partinginstructions.

“Are you much given to cowardice?” he bluntly asked, by way ofobtaining a suitable understanding of the whole case before he ventured aprescription.

“My pursuits are peaceful, and my temper, I humbly trust, is greatlygiven to mercy and love,” returned David, a little nettled at so directan attack on his manhood; “but there are none who can say that I haveever forgotten my faith in the Lord, even in the greatest straits.”

“Your chiefest danger will be at the moment when the savages find outthat they have been deceived. If you are not then knocked on the head, yourbeing a non-composser will protect you; and you’ll then have a goodreason to expect to die in your bed. If you stay, it must be to sit down herein the shadow, and take the part of Uncas, until such times as the cunning ofthe Indians discover the cheat, when, as I have already said, your times oftrial will come. So choose for yourself—to make a rush or tarryhere.”

“Even so,” said David, firmly; “I will abide in the place ofthe Delaware. Bravely and generously has he battled in my behalf, and this, andmore, will I dare in his service.”

“You have spoken as a man, and like one who, under wiser schooling, wouldhave been brought to better things. Hold your head down, and draw in your legs;their formation might tell the truth too early. Keep silent as long as may be;and it would be wise, when you do speak, to break out suddenly in one of yourshoutings, which will serve to remind the Indians that you are not altogetheras responsible as men should be. If however, they take your scalp, as I trustand believe they will not, depend on it, Uncas and I will not forget the deed,but revenge it as becomes true warriors and trusty friends.”

“Hold!” said David, perceiving that with this assurance they wereabout to leave him; “I am an unworthy and humble follower of one whotaught not the damnable principle of revenge. Should I fall, therefore, seek novictims to my manes, but rather forgive my destroyers; and if you remember themat all, let it be in prayers for the enlightening of their minds, and for theireternal welfare.”

The scout hesitated, and appeared to muse.

“There is a principle in that,” he said, “different from thelaw of the woods; and yet it is fair and noble to reflect upon.” Thenheaving a heavy sigh, probably among the last he ever drew in pining for acondition he had so long abandoned, he added: “it is what I would wish topractise myself, as one without a cross of blood, though it is not always easyto deal with an Indian as you would with a fellow Christian. God bless you,friend; I do believe your scent is not greatly wrong, when the matter is dulyconsidered, and keeping eternity before the eyes, though much depends on thenatural gifts, and the force of temptation.”

So saying, the scout returned and shook David cordially by the hand; afterwhich act of friendship he immediately left the lodge, attended by the newrepresentative of the beast.

The instant Hawkeye found himself under the observation of the Hurons, he drewup his tall form in the rigid manner of David, threw out his arm in the act ofkeeping time, and commenced what he intended for an imitation of his psalmody.Happily for the success of this delicate adventure, he had to deal with earsbut little practised in the concord of sweet sounds, or the miserable effortwould infallibly have been detected. It was necessary to pass within adangerous proximity of the dark group of the savages, and the voice of thescout grew louder as they drew nigher. When at the nearest point the Huron whospoke the English thrust out an arm, and stopped the supposed singing-master.

“The Delaware dog!” he said, leaning forward, and peering throughthe dim light to catch the expression of the other’s features; “ishe afraid? Will the Hurons hear his groans?”

A growl, so exceedingly fierce and natural, proceeded from the beast, that theyoung Indian released his hold and started aside, as if to assure himself thatit was not a veritable bear, and no counterfeit, that was rolling before him.Hawkeye, who feared his voice would betray him to his subtle enemies, gladlyprofited by the interruption, to break out anew in such a burst of musicalexpression as would, probably, in a more refined state of society have beentermed “a grand crash.” Among his actual auditors, however, itmerely gave him an additional claim to that respect which they never withholdfrom such as are believed to be the subjects of mental alienation. The littleknot of Indians drew back in a body, and suffered, as they thought, theconjurer and his inspired assistant to proceed.

It required no common exercise of fortitude in Uncas and the scout to continuethe dignified and deliberate pace they had assumed in passing the lodge;especially as they immediately perceived that curiosity had so far masteredfear, as to induce the watchers to approach the hut, in order to witness theeffect of the incantations. The least injudicious or impatient movement on thepart of David might betray them, and time was absolutely necessary to insurethe safety of the scout. The loud noise the latter conceived it politic tocontinue, drew many curious gazers to the doors of the different huts as thypassed; and once or twice a dark-looking warrior stepped across their path, ledto the act by superstition and watchfulness. They were not, however,interrupted, the darkness of the hour, and the boldness of the attempt, provingtheir principal friends.

The adventurers had got clear of the village, and were now swiftly approachingthe shelter of the woods, when a loud and long cry arose from the lodge whereUncas had been confined. The Mohican started on his feet, and shook his shaggycovering, as though the animal he counterfeited was about to make somedesperate effort.

“Hold!” said the scout, grasping his friend by the shoulder,“let them yell again! ’Twas nothing but wonderment.”

He had no occasion to delay, for at the next instant a burst of cries filledthe outer air, and ran along the whole extent of the village. Uncas cast hisskin, and stepped forth in his own beautiful proportions. Hawkeye tapped himlightly on the shoulder, and glided ahead.

“Now let the devils strike our scent!” said the scout, tearing tworifles, with all their attendant accouterments, from beneath a bush, andflourishing “killdeer” as he handed Uncas his weapon; “two,at least, will find it to their deaths.”

Then, throwing their pieces to a low trail, like sportsmen in readiness fortheir game, they dashed forward, and were soon buried in the somber darkness ofthe forest.

CHAPTER XXVII.

“Ant. I shall remember: When C’sar says
Do this, it is performed.”
—Julius Caesar

The impatience of the savages who lingered about the prison of Uncas, as hasbeen seen, had overcome their dread of the conjurer’s breath. They stolecautiously, and with beating hearts, to a crevice, through which the faintlight of the fire was glimmering. For several minutes they mistook the form ofDavid for that of the prisoner; but the very accident which Hawkeye hadforeseen occurred. Tired of keeping the extremities of his long person so neartogether, the singer gradually suffered the lower limbs to extend themselves,until one of his misshapen feet actually came in contact with and shoved asidethe embers of the fire. At first the Hurons believed the Delaware had been thusdeformed by witchcraft. But when David, unconscious of being observed, turnedhis head, and exposed his simple, mild countenance, in place of the haughtylineaments of their prisoner, it would have exceeded the credulity of even anative to have doubted any longer. They rushed together into the lodge, and,laying their hands, with but little ceremony, on their captive, immediatelydetected the imposition. Then arose the cry first heard by the fugitives. Itwas succeeded by the most frantic and angry demonstrations of vengeance. David,however, firm in his determination to cover the retreat of his friends, wascompelled to believe that his own final hour had come. Deprived of his book andhis pipe, he was fain to trust to a memory that rarely failed him on suchsubjects; and breaking forth in a loud and impassioned strain, he endeavored tosmooth his passage into the other world by singing the opening verse of afuneral anthem. The Indians were seasonably reminded of his infirmity, and,rushing into the open air, they aroused the village in the manner described.

A native warrior fights as he sleeps, without the protection of anythingdefensive. The sounds of the alarm were, therefore, hardly uttered before twohundred men were afoot, and ready for the battle or the chase, as either mightbe required. The escape was soon known; and the whole tribe crowded, in a body,around the council-lodge, impatiently awaiting the instruction of their chiefs.In such a sudden demand on their wisdom, the presence of the cunning Maguacould scarcely fail of being needed. His name was mentioned, and all lookedround in wonder that he did not appear. Messengers were then despatched to hislodge requiring his presence.

In the meantime, some of the swiftest and most discreet of the young men wereordered to make the circuit of the clearing, under cover of the woods, in orderto ascertain that their suspected neighbors, the Delawares, designed nomischief. Women and children ran to and fro; and, in short, the wholeencampment exhibited another scene of wild and savage confusion. Gradually,however, these symptoms of disorder diminished; and in a few minutes the oldestand most distinguished chiefs were assembled in the lodge, in graveconsultation.

The clamor of many voices soon announced that a party approached, who might beexpected to communicate some intelligence that would explain the mystery of thenovel surprise. The crowd without gave way, and several warriors entered theplace, bringing with them the hapless conjurer, who had been left so long bythe scout in duress.

Notwithstanding this man was held in very unequal estimation among the Hurons,some believing implicitly in his power, and others deeming him an impostor, hewas now listened to by all with the deepest attention. When his brief story wasended, the father of the sick woman stepped forth, and, in a few pithyexpression, related, in his turn, what he knew. These two narratives gave aproper direction to the subsequent inquiries, which were now made with thecharacteristic cunning of savages.

Instead of rushing in a confused and disorderly throng to the cavern, ten ofthe wisest and firmest among the chiefs were selected to prosecute theinvestigation. As no time was to be lost, the instant the choice was made theindividuals appointed rose in a body and left the place without speaking. Onreaching the entrance, the younger men in advance made way for their seniors;and the whole proceeded along the low, dark gallery, with the firmness ofwarriors ready to devote themselves to the public good, though, at the sametime, secretly doubting the nature of the power with which they were about tocontend.

The outer apartment of the cavern was silent and gloomy. The woman lay in herusual place and posture, though there were those present who affirmed they hadseen her borne to the woods by the supposed “medicine of the whitemen.” Such a direct and palpable contradiction of the tale related by thefather caused all eyes to be turned on him. Chafed by the silent imputation,and inwardly troubled by so unaccountable a circumstance, the chief advanced tothe side of the bed, and, stooping, cast an incredulous look at the features,as if distrusting their reality. His daughter was dead.

The unerring feeling of nature for a moment prevailed and the old warrior hidhis eyes in sorrow. Then, recovering his self-possession, he faced hiscompanions, and, pointing toward the corpse, he said, in the language of hispeople:

“The wife of my young man has left us! The Great Spirit is angry with hischildren.”

The mournful intelligence was received in solemn silence. After a short pause,one of the elder Indians was about to speak, when a dark-looking object wasseen rolling out of an adjoining apartment, into the very center of the roomwhere they stood. Ignorant of the nature of the beings they had to deal with,the whole party drew back a little, and, rising on end, exhibited the distortedbut still fierce and sullen features of Magua. The discovery was succeeded by ageneral exclamation of amazement.

As soon, however, as the true situation of the chief was understood, severalknives appeared, and his limbs and tongue were quickly released. The Huronarose, and shook himself like a lion quitting his lair. Not a word escaped him,though his hand played convulsively with the handle of his knife, while hislowering eyes scanned the whole party, as if they sought an object suited tothe first burst of his vengeance.

It was happy for Uncas and the scout, and even David, that they were all beyondthe reach of his arm at such a moment; for, assuredly, no refinement in crueltywould then have deferred their deaths, in opposition to the promptings of thefierce temper that nearly choked him. Meeting everywhere faces that he knew asfriends, the savage grated his teeth together like rasps of iron, and swallowedhis passion for want of a victim on whom to vent it. This exhibition of angerwas noted by all present; and from an apprehension of exasperating a temperthat was already chafed nearly to madness, several minutes were suffered topass before another word was uttered. When, however, suitable time had elapsed,the oldest of the party spoke.

“My friend has found an enemy,” he said. “Is he nigh that theHurons might take revenge?”

“Let the Delaware die!” exclaimed Magua, in a voice of thunder.

Another longer and expressive silence was observed, and was broken, as before,with due precaution, by the same individual.

“The Mohican is swift of foot, and leaps far,” he said; “butmy young men are on his trail.”

“Is he gone?” demanded Magua, in tones so deep and guttural, thatthey seemed to proceed from his inmost chest.

“An evil spirit has been among us, and the Delaware has blinded oureyes.”

“An evil spirit!” repeated the other, mockingly; “’tisthe spirit that has taken the lives of so many Hurons; the spirit that slew myyoung men at ‘the tumbling river’; that took their scalps at the‘healing spring’; and who has, now, bound the arms of Le RenardSubtil!”

“Of whom does my friend speak?”

“Of the dog who carries the heart and cunning of a Huron under a paleskin—La Longue Carabine.”

The pronunciation of so terrible a name produced the usual effect among hisauditors. But when time was given for reflection, and the warriors rememberedthat their formidable and daring enemy had even been in the bosom of theirencampment, working injury, fearful rage took the place of wonder, and allthose fierce passions with which the bosom of Magua had just been strugglingwere suddenly transferred to his companions. Some among them gnashed theirteeth in anger, others vented their feelings in yells, and some, again, beatthe air as frantically as if the object of their resentment were sufferingunder their blows. But this sudden outbreaking of temper as quickly subsided inthe still and sullen restraint they most affected in their moments of inaction.

Magua, who had in his turn found leisure for reflection, now changed hismanner, and assumed the air of one who knew how to think and act with a dignityworthy of so grave a subject.

“Let us go to my people,” he said; “they wait for us.”

His companions consented in silence, and the whole of the savage party left thecavern and returned to the council-lodge. When they were seated, all eyesturned on Magua, who understood, from such an indication, that, by commonconsent, they had devolved the duty of relating what had passed on him. Hearose, and told his tale without duplicity or reservation. The whole deceptionpractised by both Duncan and Hawkeye was, of course, laid naked, and no roomwas found, even for the most superstitious of the tribe, any longer to affix adoubt on the character of the occurrences. It was but too apparent that theyhad been insultingly, shamefully, disgracefully deceived. When he had ended,and resumed his seat, the collected tribe—for his auditors, in substance,included all the fighting men of the party—sat regarding each other likemen astonished equally at the audacity and the success of their enemies. Thenext consideration, however, was the means and opportunities for revenge.

Additional pursuers were sent on the trail of the fugitives; and then thechiefs applied themselves, in earnest, to the business of consultation. Manydifferent expedients were proposed by the elder warriors, in succession, to allof which Magua was a silent and respectful listener. That subtle savage hadrecovered his artifice and self-command, and now proceeded toward his objectwith his customary caution and skill. It was only when each one disposed tospeak had uttered his sentiments, that he prepared to advance his own opinions.They were given with additional weight from the circumstance that some of therunners had already returned, and reported that their enemies had been tracedso far as to leave no doubt of their having sought safety in the neighboringcamp of their suspected allies, the Delawares. With the advantage of possessingthis important intelligence, the chief warily laid his plans before hisfellows, and, as might have been anticipated from his eloquence and cunning,they were adopted without a dissenting voice. They were, briefly, as follows,both in opinions and in motives.

It has been already stated that, in obedience to a policy rarely departed from,the sisters were separated so soon as they reached the Huron village. Magua hadearly discovered that in retaining the person of Alice, he possessed the mosteffectual check on Cora. When they parted, therefore, he kept the former withinreach of his hand, consigning the one he most valued to the keeping of theirallies. The arrangement was understood to be merely temporary, and was made asmuch with a view to flatter his neighbors as in obedience to the invariablerule of Indian policy.

While goaded incessantly by these revengeful impulses that in a savage seldomslumber, the chief was still attentive to his more permanent personalinterests. The follies and disloyalty committed in his youth were to beexpiated by a long and painful penance, ere he could be restored to the fullenjoyment of the confidence of his ancient people; and without confidence therecould be no authority in an Indian tribe. In this delicate and arduoussituation, the crafty native had neglected no means of increasing hisinfluence; and one of the happiest of his expedients had been the success withwhich he had cultivated the favor of their powerful and dangerous neighbors.The result of his experiment had answered all the expectations of his policy;for the Hurons were in no degree exempt from that governing principle ofnature, which induces man to value his gifts precisely in the degree that theyare appreciated by others.

But, while he was making this ostensible sacrifice to general considerations,Magua never lost sight of his individual motives. The latter had beenfrustrated by the unlooked-for events which had placed all his prisoners beyondhis control; and he now found himself reduced to the necessity of suing forfavors to those whom it had so lately been his policy to oblige.

Several of the chiefs had proposed deep and treacherous schemes to surprise theDelawares and, by gaining possession of their camp, to recover their prisonersby the same blow; for all agreed that their honor, their interests, and thepeace and happiness of their dead countrymen, imperiously required themspeedily to immolate some victims to their revenge. But plans so dangerous toattempt, and of such doubtful issue, Magua found little difficulty indefeating. He exposed their risk and fallacy with his usual skill; and it wasonly after he had removed every impediment, in the shape of opposing advice,that he ventured to propose his own projects.

He commenced by flattering the self-love of his auditors; a never-failingmethod of commanding attention. When he had enumerated the many differentoccasions on which the Hurons had exhibited their courage and prowess, in thepunishment of insults, he digressed in a high encomium on the virtue of wisdom.He painted the quality as forming the great point of difference between thebeaver and other brutes; between the brutes and men; and, finally, between theHurons, in particular, and the rest of the human race. After he hadsufficiently extolled the property of discretion, he undertook to exhibit inwhat manner its use was applicable to the present situation of their tribe. Onthe one hand, he said, was their great pale father, the governor of theCanadas, who had looked upon his children with a hard eye since their tomahawkshad been so red; on the other, a people as numerous as themselves, who spoke adifferent language, possessed different interests, and loved them not, and whowould be glad of any pretense to bring them in disgrace with the great whitechief. Then he spoke of their necessities; of the gifts they had a right toexpect for their past services; of their distance from their properhunting-grounds and native villages; and of the necessity of consultingprudence more, and inclination less, in so critical circumstances. When heperceived that, while the old men applauded his moderation, many of thefiercest and most distinguished of the warriors listened to these politic planswith lowering looks, he cunningly led them back to the subject which they mostloved. He spoke openly of the fruits of their wisdom, which he boldlypronounced would be a complete and final triumph over their enemies. He evendarkly hinted that their success might be extended, with proper caution, insuch a manner as to include the destruction of all whom they had reason tohate. In short, he so blended the warlike with the artful, the obvious with theobscure, as to flatter the propensities of both parties, and to leave to eachsubject of hope, while neither could say it clearly comprehended hisintentions.

The orator, or the politician, who can produce such a state of things, iscommonly popular with his contemporaries, however he may be treated byposterity. All perceived that more was meant than was uttered, and each onebelieved that the hidden meaning was precisely such as his own facultiesenabled him to understand, or his own wishes led him to anticipate.

In this happy state of things, it is not surprising that the management ofMagua prevailed. The tribe consented to act with deliberation, and with onevoice they committed the direction of the whole affair to the government of thechief who had suggested such wise and intelligible expedients.

Magua had now attained one great object of all his cunning and enterprise. Theground he had lost in the favor of his people was completely regained, and hefound himself even placed at the head of affairs. He was, in truth, theirruler; and, so long as he could maintain his popularity, no monarch could bemore despotic, especially while the tribe continued in a hostile country.Throwing off, therefore, the appearance of consultation, he assumed the graveair of authority necessary to support the dignity of his office.

Runners were despatched for intelligence in different directions; spies wereordered to approach and feel the encampment of the Delawares; the warriors weredismissed to their lodges, with an intimation that their services would soon beneeded; and the women and children were ordered to retire, with a warning thatit was their province to be silent. When these several arrangements were made,Magua passed through the village, stopping here and there to pay a visit wherehe thought his presence might be flattering to the individual. He confirmed hisfriends in their confidence, fixed the wavering, and gratified all. Then hesought his own lodge. The wife the Huron chief had abandoned, when he waschased from among his people, was dead. Children he had none; and he nowoccupied a hut, without companion of any sort. It was, in fact, the dilapidatedand solitary structure in which David had been discovered, and whom he hadtolerated in his presence, on those few occasions when they met, with thecontemptuous indifference of a haughty superiority.

Hither, then, Magua retired, when his labors of policy were ended. While othersslept, however, he neither knew or sought repose. Had there been onesufficiently curious to have watched the movements of the newly elected chief,he would have seen him seated in a corner of his lodge, musing on the subjectof his future plans, from the hour of his retirement to the time he hadappointed for the warriors to assemble again. Occasionally the air breathedthrough the crevices of the hut, and the low flame that fluttered about theembers of the fire threw their wavering light on the person of the sullenrecluse. At such moments it would not have been difficult to have fancied thedusky savage the Prince of Darkness brooding on his own fancied wrongs, andplotting evil.

Long before the day dawned, however, warrior after warrior entered the solitaryhut of Magua, until they had collected to the number of twenty. Each bore hisrifle, and all the other accouterments of war, though the paint was uniformlypeaceful. The entrance of these fierce-looking beings was unnoticed: someseating themselves in the shadows of the place, and others standing likemotionless statues, until the whole of the designated band was collected.

Then Magua arose and gave the signal to proceed, marching himself in advance.They followed their leader singly, and in that well-known order which hasobtained the distinguishing appellation of “Indian file.” Unlikeother men engaged in the spirit-stirring business of war, they stole from theircamp unostentatiously and unobserved resembling a band of gliding specters,more than warriors seeking the bubble reputation by deeds of desperate daring.

Instead of taking the path which led directly toward the camp of the Delawares,Magua led his party for some distance down the windings of the stream, andalong the little artificial lake of the beavers. The day began to dawn as theyentered the clearing which had been formed by those sagacious and industriousanimals. Though Magua, who had resumed his ancient garb, bore the outline of afox on the dressed skin which formed his robe, there was one chief of his partywho carried the beaver as his peculiar symbol, or “totem.” Therewould have been a species of profanity in the omission, had this man passed sopowerful a community of his fancied kindred, without bestowing some evidence ofhis regard. Accordingly, he paused, and spoke in words as kind and friendly asif he were addressing more intelligent beings. He called the animals hiscousins, and reminded them that his protecting influence was the reason theyremained unharmed, while many avaricious traders were prompting the Indians totake their lives. He promised a continuance of his favors, and admonished themto be grateful. After which, he spoke of the expedition in which he was himselfengaged, and intimated, though with sufficient delicacy and circumlocution, theexpediency of bestowing on their relative a portion of that wisdom for whichthey were so renowned.^[1]

[1]These harangues of the beasts were frequent among the Indians. They oftenaddress their victims in this way, reproaching them for cowardice or commendingtheir resolution, as they may happen to exhibit fortitude or the reverse, insuffering.

During the utterance of this extraordinary address, the companions of thespeaker were as grave and as attentive to his language as though they were allequally impressed with its propriety. Once or twice black objects were seenrising to the surface of the water, and the Huron expressed pleasure,conceiving that his words were not bestowed in vain. Just as he ended hisaddress, the head of a large beaver was thrust from the door of a lodge, whoseearthen walls had been much injured, and which the party had believed, from itssituation, to be uninhabited. Such an extraordinary sign of confidence wasreceived by the orator as a highly favorable omen; and though the animalretreated a little precipitately, he was lavish of his thanks andcommendations.

When Magua thought sufficient time had been lost in gratifying the familyaffection of the warrior, he again made the signal to proceed. As the Indiansmoved away in a body, and with a step that would have been inaudible to theears of any common man, the same venerable-looking beaver once more venturedhis head from its cover. Had any of the Hurons turned to look behind them, theywould have seen the animal watching their movements with an interest andsagacity that might easily have been mistaken for reason. Indeed, so verydistinct and intelligible were the devices of the quadruped, that even the mostexperienced observer would have been at a loss to account for its actions,until the moment when the party entered the forest, when the whole would havebeen explained, by seeing the entire animal issue from the lodge, uncasing, bythe act, the grave features of Chingachgook from his mask of fur.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

“Brief, I pray for you; for you see, ’tis a busy time withme.”
—Much Ado About Nothing.

The tribe, or rather half tribe, of Delawares, which has been so oftenmentioned, and whose present place of encampment was so nigh the temporaryvillage of the Hurons, could assemble about an equal number of warriors withthe latter people. Like their neighbors, they had followed Montcalm into theterritories of the English crown, and were making heavy and serious inroads onthe hunting-grounds of the Mohawks; though they had seen fit, with themysterious reserve so common among the natives, to withhold their assistance atthe moment when it was most required. The French had accounted for thisunexpected defection on the part of their ally in various ways. It was theprevalent opinion, however, that they had been influenced by veneration for theancient treaty, that had once made them dependent on the Six Nations formilitary protection, and now rendered them reluctant to encounter their formermasters. As for the tribe itself, it had been content to announce to Montcalm,through his emissaries, with Indian brevity, that their hatchets were dull, andtime was necessary to sharpen them. The politic captain of the Canadas haddeemed it wiser to submit to entertain a passive friend, than by any acts ofill-judged severity to convert him into an open enemy.

On that morning when Magua led his silent party from the settlement of thebeavers into the forests, in the manner described, the sun rose upon theDelaware encampment as if it had suddenly burst upon a busy people, activelyemployed in all the customary avocations of high noon. The women ran from lodgeto lodge, some engaged in preparing their morning’s meal, a few earnestlybent on seeking the comforts necessary to their habits, but more pausing toexchange hasty and whispered sentences with their friends. The warriors werelounging in groups, musing more than they conversed and when a few words wereuttered, speaking like men who deeply weighed their opinions. The instrumentsof the chase were to be seen in abundance among the lodges; but none departed.Here and there a warrior was examining his arms, with an attention that israrely bestowed on the implements, when no other enemy than the beasts of theforest is expected to be encountered. And occasionally, the eyes of a wholegroup were turned simultaneously toward a large and silent lodge in the centerof the village, as if it contained the subject of their common thoughts.

During the existence of this scene, a man suddenly appeared at the furthestextremity of a platform of rock which formed the level of the village. He waswithout arms, and his paint tended rather to soften than increase the naturalsternness of his austere countenance. When in full view of the Delawares hestopped, and made a gesture of amity, by throwing his arm upward toward heaven,and then letting it fall impressively on his breast. The inhabitants of thevillage answered his salute by a low murmur of welcome, and encouraged him toadvance by similar indications of friendship. Fortified by these assurances,the dark figure left the brow of the natural rocky terrace, where it had stooda moment, drawn in a strong outline against the blushing morning sky, and movedwith dignity into the very center of the huts. As he approached, nothing wasaudible but the rattling of the light silver ornaments that loaded his arms andneck, and the tinkling of the little bells that fringed his deerskin moccasins.He made, as he advanced, many courteous signs of greeting to the men he passed,neglecting to notice the women, however, like one who deemed their favor, inthe present enterprise, of no importance. When he had reached the group inwhich it was evident, by the haughtiness of their common mien, that theprincipal chiefs were collected, the stranger paused, and then the Delawaressaw that the active and erect form that stood before them was that of thewell-known Huron chief, Le Renard Subtil.

His reception was grave, silent, and wary. The warriors in front stepped aside,opening the way to their most approved orator by the action; one who spoke allthose languages that were cultivated among the northern aborigines.

“The wise Huron is welcome,” said the Delaware, in the language ofthe Maquas; “he is come to eat his ‘succotash’,^[1]with his brothers of the lakes.”

[1]A dish composed of cracked corn and beans. It is much used also by thewhites. By corn is meant maise.

“He is come,” repeated Magua, bending his head with the dignity ofan eastern prince.

The chief extended his arm and taking the other by the wrist, they once moreexchanged friendly salutations. Then the Delaware invited his guest to enterhis own lodge, and share his morning meal. The invitation was accepted; and thetwo warriors, attended by three or four of the old men, walked calmly away,leaving the rest of the tribe devoured by a desire to understand the reasons ofso unusual a visit, and yet not betraying the least impatience by sign or word.

During the short and frugal repast that followed, the conversation wasextremely circumspect, and related entirely to the events of the hunt, in whichMagua had so lately been engaged. It would have been impossible for the mostfinished breeding to wear more of the appearance of considering the visit as athing of course, than did his hosts, notwithstanding every individual presentwas perfectly aware that it must be connected with some secret object and thatprobably of importance to themselves. When the appetites of the whole wereappeased, the squaws removed the trenchers and gourds, and the two partiesbegan to prepare themselves for a subtle trial of their wits.

“Is the face of my great Canada father turned again toward his Huronchildren?” demanded the orator of the Delawares.

“When was it ever otherwise?” returned Magua. “He calls mypeople ‘most beloved’.”

The Delaware gravely bowed his acquiescence to what he knew to be false, andcontinued:

“The tomahawks of your young men have been very red.”

“It is so; but they are now bright and dull; for the Yengeese are dead,and the Delawares are our neighbors.”

The other acknowledged the pacific compliment by a gesture of the hand, andremained silent. Then Magua, as if recalled to such a recollection, by theallusion to the massacre, demanded:

“Does my prisoner give trouble to my brothers?”

“She is welcome.”

“The path between the Hurons and the Delawares is short and it is open;let her be sent to my squaws, if she gives trouble to my brother.”

“She is welcome,” returned the chief of the latter nation, stillmore emphatically.

The baffled Magua continued silent several minutes, apparently indifferent,however, to the repulse he had received in this his opening effort to regainpossession of Cora.

“Do my young men leave the Delawares room on the mountains for theirhunts?” he at length continued.

“The Lenape are rulers of their own hills,” returned the other alittle haughtily.

“It is well. Justice is the master of a red-skin. Why should theybrighten their tomahawks and sharpen their knives against each other? Are notthe pale faces thicker than the swallows in the season of flowers?”

“Good!” exclaimed two or three of his auditors at the same time.

Magua waited a little, to permit his words to soften the feelings of theDelawares, before he added:

“Have there not been strange moccasins in the woods? Have not my brothersscented the feet of white men?”

“Let my Canada father come,” returned the other, evasively;“his children are ready to see him.”

“When the great chief comes, it is to smoke with the Indians in theirwigwams. The Hurons say, too, he is welcome. But the Yengeese have long arms,and legs that never tire! My young men dreamed they had seen the trail of theYengeese nigh the village of the Delawares!”

“They will not find the Lenape asleep.”

“It is well. The warrior whose eye is open can see his enemy,” saidMagua, once more shifting his ground, when he found himself unable to penetratethe caution of his companion. “I have brought gifts to my brother. Hisnation would not go on the warpath, because they did not think it well, buttheir friends have remembered where they lived.”

When he had thus announced his liberal intention, the crafty chief arose, andgravely spread his presents before the dazzled eyes of his hosts. Theyconsisted principally of trinkets of little value, plundered from theslaughtered females of William Henry. In the division of the baubles thecunning Huron discovered no less art than in their selection. While he bestowedthose of greater value on the two most distinguished warriors, one of whom washis host, he seasoned his offerings to their inferiors with such well-timed andapposite compliments, as left them no ground of complaint. In short, the wholeceremony contained such a happy blending of the profitable with the flattering,that it was not difficult for the donor immediately to read the effect of agenerosity so aptly mingled with praise, in the eyes of those he addressed.

This well-judged and politic stroke on the part of Magua was not withoutinstantaneous results. The Delawares lost their gravity in a much more cordialexpression; and the host, in particular, after contemplating his own liberalshare of the spoil for some moments with peculiar gratification, repeated withstrong emphasis, the words:

“My brother is a wise chief. He is welcome.”

“The Hurons love their friends the Delawares,” returned Magua.“Why should they not? they are colored by the same sun, and their justmen will hunt in the same grounds after death. The red-skins should be friends,and look with open eyes on the white men. Has not my brother scented spies inthe woods?”

The Delaware, whose name in English signified “Hard Heart,” anappellation that the French had translated into “le Coeur-dur,”forgot that obduracy of purpose, which had probably obtained him so significanta title. His countenance grew very sensibly less stern and he now deigned toanswer more directly.

“There have been strange moccasins about my camp. They have been trackedinto my lodges.”

“Did my brother beat out the dogs?” asked Magua, without advertingin any manner to the former equivocation of the chief.

“It would not do. The stranger is always welcome to the children of theLenape.”

“The stranger, but not the spy.”

“Would the Yengeese send their women as spies? Did not the Huron chiefsay he took women in the battle?”

“He told no lie. The Yengeese have sent out their scouts. They have beenin my wigwams, but they found there no one to say welcome. Then they fled tothe Delawares—for, say they, the Delawares are our friends; their mindsare turned from their Canada father!”

This insinuation was a home thrust, and one that in a more advanced state ofsociety would have entitled Magua to the reputation of a skillful diplomatist.The recent defection of the tribe had, as they well knew themselves, subjectedthe Delawares to much reproach among their French allies; and they were nowmade to feel that their future actions were to be regarded with jealousy anddistrust. There was no deep insight into causes and effects necessary toforesee that such a situation of things was likely to prove highly prejudicialto their future movements. Their distant villages, their hunting-grounds andhundreds of their women and children, together with a material part of theirphysical force, were actually within the limits of the French territory.Accordingly, this alarming annunciation was received, as Magua intended, withmanifest disapprobation, if not with alarm.

“Let my father look in my face,” said Le Coeur-dur; “he willsee no change. It is true, my young men did not go out on the war-path; theyhad dreams for not doing so. But they love and venerate the great whitechief.”

“Will he think so when he hears that his greatest enemy is fed in thecamp of his children? When he is told a bloody Yengee smokes at your fire? Thatthe pale face who has slain so many of his friends goes in and out among theDelawares? Go! my great Canada father is not a fool!”

“Where is the Yengee that the Delawares fear?” returned the other;“who has slain my young men? Who is the mortal enemy of my GreatFather?”

“La Longue Carabine!”

The Delaware warriors started at the well-known name, betraying by theiramazement, that they now learned, for the first time, one so famous among theIndian allies of France was within their power.

“What does my brother mean?” demanded Le Coeur-dur, in a tone that,by its wonder, far exceeded the usual apathy of his race.

“A Huron never lies!” returned Magua, coldly, leaning his headagainst the side of the lodge, and drawing his slight robe across his tawnybreast. “Let the Delawares count their prisoners; they will find onewhose skin is neither red nor pale.”

A long and musing pause succeeded. The chief consulted apart with hiscompanions, and messengers despatched to collect certain others of the mostdistinguished men of the tribe.

As warrior after warrior dropped in, they were each made acquainted, in turn,with the important intelligence that Magua had just communicated. The air ofsurprise, and the usual low, deep, guttural exclamation, were common to themall. The news spread from mouth to mouth, until the whole encampment becamepowerfully agitated. The women suspended their labors, to catch such syllablesas unguardedly fell from the lips of the consulting warriors. The boys desertedtheir sports, and walking fearlessly among their fathers, looked up in curiousadmiration, as they heard the brief exclamations of wonder they so freelyexpressed the temerity of their hated foe. In short, every occupation wasabandoned for the time, and all other pursuits seemed discarded in order thatthe tribe might freely indulge, after their own peculiar manner, in an openexpression of feeling.

When the excitement had a little abated, the old men disposed themselvesseriously to consider that which it became the honor and safety of their tribeto perform, under circumstances of so much delicacy and embarrassment. Duringall these movements, and in the midst of the general commotion, Magua had notonly maintained his seat, but the very attitude he had originally taken,against the side of the lodge, where he continued as immovable, and,apparently, as unconcerned, as if he had no interest in the result. Not asingle indication of the future intentions of his hosts, however, escaped hisvigilant eyes. With his consummate knowledge of the nature of the people withwhom he had to deal, he anticipated every measure on which they decided; and itmight almost be said, that, in many instances, he knew their intentions, evenbefore they became known to themselves.

The council of the Delawares was short. When it was ended, a general bustleannounced that it was to be immediately succeeded by a solemn and formalassemblage of the nation. As such meetings were rare, and only called onoccasions of the last importance, the subtle Huron, who still sat apart, a wilyand dark observer of the proceedings, now knew that all his projects must bebrought to their final issue. He, therefore, left the lodge and walked silentlyforth to the place, in front of the encampment, whither the warriors werealready beginning to collect.

It might have been half an hour before each individual, including even thewomen and children, was in his place. The delay had been created by the gravepreparations that were deemed necessary to so solemn and unusual a conference.But when the sun was seen climbing above the tops of that mountain, againstwhose bosom the Delawares had constructed their encampment, most were seated;and as his bright rays darted from behind the outline of trees that fringed theeminence, they fell upon as grave, as attentive, and as deeply interested amultitude, as was probably ever before lighted by his morning beams. Its numbersomewhat exceeded a thousand souls.

In a collection of so serious savages, there is never to be found any impatientaspirant after premature distinction, standing ready to move his auditors tosome hasty, and, perhaps, injudicious discussion, in order that his ownreputation may be the gainer. An act of so much precipitancy and presumptionwould seal the downfall of precocious intellect forever. It rested solely withthe oldest and most experienced of the men to lay the subject of the conferencebefore the people. Until such a one chose to make some movement, no deeds inarms, no natural gifts, nor any renown as an orator, would have justified theslightest interruption. On the present occasion, the aged warrior whoseprivilege it was to speak, was silent, seemingly oppressed with the magnitudeof his subject. The delay had already continued long beyond the usualdeliberative pause that always preceded a conference; but no sign of impatienceor surprise escaped even the youngest boy. Occasionally an eye was raised fromthe earth, where the looks of most were riveted, and strayed toward aparticular lodge, that was, however, in no manner distinguished from thosearound it, except in the peculiar care that had been taken to protect itagainst the assaults of the weather.

At length one of those low murmurs, that are so apt to disturb a multitude, washeard, and the whole nation arose to their feet by a common impulse. At thatinstant the door of the lodge in question opened, and three men, issuing fromit, slowly approached the place of consultation. They were all aged, evenbeyond that period to which the oldest present had reached; but one in thecenter, who leaned on his companions for support, had numbered an amount ofyears to which the human race is seldom permitted to attain. His frame, whichhad once been tall and erect, like the cedar, was now bending under thepressure of more than a century. The elastic, light step of an Indian was gone,and in its place he was compelled to toil his tardy way over the ground, inchby inch. His dark, wrinkled countenance was in singular and wild contrast withthe long white locks which floated on his shoulders, in such thickness, as toannounce that generations had probably passed away since they had last beenshorn.

The dress of this patriarch—for such, considering his vast age, inconjunction with his affinity and influence with his people, he might veryproperly be termed—was rich and imposing, though strictly after thesimple fashions of the tribe. His robe was of the finest skins, which had beendeprived of their fur, in order to admit of a hieroglyphical representation ofvarious deeds in arms, done in former ages. His bosom was loaded with medals,some in massive silver, and one or two even in gold, the gifts of variousChristian potentates during the long period of his life. He also wore armlets,and cinctures above the ankles, of the latter precious metal. His head, on thewhole of which the hair had been permitted to grow, the pursuits of war havingso long been abandoned, was encircled by a sort of plated diadem, which, in itsturn, bore lesser and more glittering ornaments, that sparkled amid the glossyhues of three drooping ostrich feathers, dyed a deep black, in touchingcontrast to the color of his snow-white locks. His tomahawk was nearly hid insilver, and the handle of his knife shone like a horn of solid gold.

So soon as the first hum of emotion and pleasure, which the sudden appearanceof this venerated individual created, had a little subsided, the name of“Tamenund” was whispered from mouth to mouth. Magua had often heardthe fame of this wise and just Delaware; a reputation that even proceeded sofar as to bestow on him the rare gift of holding secret communion with theGreat Spirit, and which has since transmitted his name, with some slightalteration, to the white usurpers of his ancient territory, as the imaginarytutelar saint^[2]of a vast empire. The Huron chief, therefore, stepped eagerly out a little fromthe throng, to a spot whence he might catch a nearer glimpse of the features ofthe man, whose decision was likely to produce so deep an influence on his ownfortunes.

[2]The Americans sometimes called their tutelar saint Tamenay, a corruption ofthe name of the renowned chief here introduced. There are many traditions whichspeak of the character and power of Tamenund.

The eyes of the old man were closed, as though the organs were wearied withhaving so long witnessed the selfish workings of the human passions. The colorof his skin differed from that of most around him, being richer and darker, thelatter having been produced by certain delicate and mazy lines of complicatedand yet beautiful figures, which had been traced over most of his person by theoperation of tattooing. Notwithstanding the position of the Huron, he passedthe observant and silent Magua without notice, and leaning on his two venerablesupporters proceeded to the high place of the multitude, where he seatedhimself in the center of his nation, with the dignity of a monarch and the airof a father.

Nothing could surpass the reverence and affection with which this unexpectedvisit from one who belongs rather to another world than to this, was receivedby his people. After a suitable and decent pause, the principal chiefs arose,and, approaching the patriarch, they placed his hands reverently on theirheads, seeming to entreat a blessing. The younger men were content withtouching his robe, or even drawing nigh his person, in order to breathe in theatmosphere of one so aged, so just, and so valiant. None but the mostdistinguished among the youthful warriors even presumed so far as to performthe latter ceremony, the great mass of the multitude deeming it a sufficienthappiness to look upon a form so deeply venerated, and so well beloved. Whenthese acts of affection and respect were performed, the chiefs drew back againto their several places, and silence reigned in the whole encampment.

After a short delay, a few of the young men, to whom instructions had beenwhispered by one of the aged attendants of Tamenund, arose, left the crowd, andentered the lodge which has already been noted as the object of so muchattention throughout that morning. In a few minutes they reappeared, escortingthe individuals who had caused all these solemn preparations toward the seat ofjudgment. The crowd opened in a lane; and when the party had re-entered, itclosed in again, forming a large and dense belt of human bodies, arranged in anopen circle.

CHAPTER XXIX.

“The assembly seated, rising o’er the rest,
Achilles thus the king of men addressed.”
—Pope’s Illiad

Cora stood foremost among the prisoners, entwining her arms in those of Alice,in the tenderness of sisterly love. Notwithstanding the fearful and menacingarray of savages on every side of her, no apprehension on her own account couldprevent the nobler-minded maiden from keeping her eyes fastened on the pale andanxious features of the trembling Alice. Close at their side stood Heyward,with an interest in both, that, at such a moment of intense uncertainty,scarcely knew a preponderance in favor of her whom he most loved. Hawkeye hadplaced himself a little in the rear, with a deference to the superior rank ofhis companions, that no similarity in the state of their present fortunes couldinduce him to forget. Uncas was not there.

When perfect silence was again restored, and after the usual long, impressivepause, one of the two aged chiefs who sat at the side of the patriarch arose,and demanded aloud, in very intelligible English:

“Which of my prisoners is La Longue Carabine?”

Neither Duncan nor the scout answered. The former, however, glanced his eyesaround the dark and silent assembly, and recoiled a pace, when they fell on themalignant visage of Magua. He saw, at once, that this wily savage had somesecret agency in their present arraignment before the nation, and determined tothrow every possible impediment in the way of the execution of his sinisterplans. He had witnessed one instance of the summary punishments of the Indians,and now dreaded that his companion was to be selected for a second. In thisdilemma, with little or no time for reflection, he suddenly determined to cloakhis invaluable friend, at any or every hazard to himself. Before he had time,however, to speak, the question was repeated in a louder voice, and with aclearer utterance.

“Give us arms,” the young man haughtily replied, “and placeus in yonder woods. Our deeds shall speak for us!”

“This is the warrior whose name has filled our ears!” returned thechief, regarding Heyward with that sort of curious interest which seemsinseparable from man, when first beholding one of his fellows to whom merit oraccident, virtue or crime, has given notoriety. “What has brought thewhite man into the camp of the Delawares?”

“My necessities. I come for food, shelter, and friends.”

“It cannot be. The woods are full of game. The head of a warrior needs noother shelter than a sky without clouds; and the Delawares are the enemies, andnot the friends of the Yengeese. Go, the mouth has spoken, while the heart saidnothing.”

Duncan, a little at a loss in what manner to proceed, remained silent; but thescout, who had listened attentively to all that passed, now advanced steadilyto the front.

“That I did not answer to the call for La Longue Carabine, was not owingeither to shame or fear,” he said, “for neither one nor the otheris the gift of an honest man. But I do not admit the right of the Mingoes tobestow a name on one whose friends have been mindful of his gifts, in thisparticular; especially as their title is a lie, ‘killdeer’ being agrooved barrel and no carabyne. I am the man, however, that got the name ofNathaniel from my kin; the compliment of Hawkeye from the Delawares, who liveon their own river; and whom the Iroquois have presumed to style the‘Long Rifle’, without any warranty from him who is most concernedin the matter.”

The eyes of all present, which had hitherto been gravely scanning the person ofDuncan, were now turned, on the instant, toward the upright iron frame of thisnew pretender to the distinguished appellation. It was in no degree remarkablethat there should be found two who were willing to claim so great an honor, forimpostors, though rare, were not unknown among the natives; but it wasaltogether material to the just and severe intentions of the Delawares, thatthere should be no mistake in the matter. Some of their old men consultedtogether in private, and then, as it would seem, they determined to interrogatetheir visitor on the subject.

“My brother has said that a snake crept into my camp,” said thechief to Magua; “which is he?”

The Huron pointed to the scout.

“Will a wise Delaware believe the barking of a wolf?” exclaimedDuncan, still more confirmed in the evil intentions of his ancient enemy:“a dog never lies, but when was a wolf known to speak the truth?”

The eyes of Magua flashed fire; but suddenly recollecting the necessity ofmaintaining his presence of mind, he turned away in silent disdain, wellassured that the sagacity of the Indians would not fail to extract the realmerits of the point in controversy. He was not deceived; for, after anothershort consultation, the wary Delaware turned to him again, and expressed thedetermination of the chiefs, though in the most considerate language.

“My brother has been called a liar,” he said, “and hisfriends are angry. They will show that he has spoken the truth. Give myprisoners guns, and let them prove which is the man.”

Magua affected to consider the expedient, which he well knew proceeded fromdistrust of himself, as a compliment, and made a gesture of acquiescence, wellcontent that his veracity should be supported by so skillful a marksman as thescout. The weapons were instantly placed in the hands of the friendlyopponents, and they were bid to fire, over the heads of the seated multitude,at an earthen vessel, which lay, by accident, on a stump, some fifty yards fromthe place where they stood.

Heyward smiled to himself at the idea of a competition with the scout, thoughhe determined to persevere in the deception, until apprised of the real designsof Magua.

Raising his rifle with the utmost care, and renewing his aim three severaltimes, he fired. The bullet cut the wood within a few inches of the vessel; anda general exclamation of satisfaction announced that the shot was considered aproof of great skill in the use of a weapon. Even Hawkeye nodded his head, asif he would say, it was better than he expected. But, instead of manifesting anintention to contend with the successful marksman, he stood leaning on hisrifle for more than a minute, like a man who was completely buried in thought.From this reverie, he was, however, awakened by one of the young Indians whohad furnished the arms, and who now touched his shoulder, saying in exceedinglybroken English:

“Can the pale face beat it?”

“Yes, Huron!” exclaimed the scout, raising the short rifle in hisright hand, and shaking it at Magua, with as much apparent ease as if it were areed; “yes, Huron, I could strike you now, and no power on earth couldprevent the deed! The soaring hawk is not more certain of the dove than I amthis moment of you, did I choose to send a bullet to your heart! Why should Inot? Why!—because the gifts of my color forbid it, and I might draw downevil on tender and innocent heads. If you know such a being as God, thank Him,therefore, in your inward soul; for you have reason!”

The flushed countenance, angry eye and swelling figure of the scout, produced asensation of secret awe in all that heard him. The Delawares held their breathin expectation; but Magua himself, even while he distrusted the forbearance ofhis enemy, remained immovable and calm, where he stood wedged in by the crowd,as one who grew to the spot.

“Beat it,” repeated the young Delaware at the elbow of the scout.

“Beat what, fool!—what?” exclaimed Hawkeye, still flourishingthe weapon angrily above his head, though his eye no longer sought the personof Magua.

“If the white man is the warrior he pretends,” said the aged chief,“let him strike nigher to the mark.”

The scout laughed aloud—a noise that produced the startling effect of anunnatural sound on Heyward; then dropping the piece, heavily, into his extendedleft hand, it was discharged, apparently by the shock, driving the fragments ofthe vessel into the air, and scattering them on every side. Almost at the sameinstant, the rattling sound of the rifle was heard, as he suffered it to fall,contemptuously, to the earth.

The first impression of so strange a scene was engrossing admiration. Then alow, but increasing murmur, ran through the multitude, and finally swelled intosounds that denoted a lively opposition in the sentiments of the spectators.While some openly testified their satisfaction at so unexampled dexterity, byfar the larger portion of the tribe were inclined to believe the success of theshot was the result of accident. Heyward was not slow to confirm an opinionthat was so favorable to his own pretensions.

“It was chance!” he exclaimed; “none can shoot without anaim!”

“Chance!” echoed the excited woodsman, who was now stubbornly benton maintaining his identity at every hazard, and on whom the secret hints ofHeyward to acquiesce in the deception were entirely lost. “Does yonderlying Huron, too, think it chance? Give him another gun, and place us face toface, without cover or dodge, and let Providence, and our own eyes, decide thematter atween us! I do not make the offer, to you, major; for our blood is of acolor, and we serve the same master.”

“That the Huron is a liar, is very evident,” returned Heyward,coolly; “you have yourself heard him assert you to be La LongueCarabine.”

It were impossible to say what violent assertion the stubborn Hawkeye wouldhave next made, in his headlong wish to vindicate his identity, had not theaged Delaware once more interposed.

“The hawk which comes from the clouds can return when he will,” hesaid; “give them the guns.”

This time the scout seized the rifle with avidity; nor had Magua, though hewatched the movements of the marksman with jealous eyes, any further cause forapprehension.

“Now let it be proved, in the face of this tribe of Delawares, which isthe better man,” cried the scout, tapping the butt of his piece with thatfinger which had pulled so many fatal triggers.

“You see that gourd hanging against yonder tree, major; if you are amarksman fit for the borders, let me see you break its shell!”

Duncan noted the object, and prepared himself to renew the trial. The gourd wasone of the usual little vessels used by the Indians, and it was suspended froma dead branch of a small pine, by a thong of deerskin, at the full distance ofa hundred yards. So strangely compounded is the feeling of self-love, that theyoung soldier, while he knew the utter worthlessness of the suffrages of hissavage umpires, forgot the sudden motives of the contest in a wish to excel. Ithad been seen, already, that his skill was far from being contemptible, and henow resolved to put forth its nicest qualities. Had his life depended on theissue, the aim of Duncan could not have been more deliberate or guarded. Hefired; and three or four young Indians, who sprang forward at the report,announced with a shout, that the ball was in the tree, a very little on oneside of the proper object. The warriors uttered a common ejaculation ofpleasure, and then turned their eyes, inquiringly, on the movements of hisrival.

“It may do for the Royal Americans!” said Hawkeye, laughing oncemore in his own silent, heartfelt manner; “but had my gun often turned somuch from the true line, many a marten, whose skin is now in a lady’smuff, would still be in the woods; ay, and many a bloody Mingo, who hasdeparted to his final account, would be acting his deviltries at this very day,atween the provinces. I hope the squaw who owns the gourd has more of them inher wigwam, for this will never hold water again!”

The scout had shook his priming, and cocked his piece, while speaking; and, ashe ended, he threw back a foot, and slowly raised the muzzle from the earth:the motion was steady, uniform, and in one direction. When on a perfect level,it remained for a single moment, without tremor or variation, as though bothman and rifle were carved in stone. During that stationary instant, it pouredforth its contents, in a bright, glancing sheet of flame. Again the youngIndians bounded forward; but their hurried search and disappointed looksannounced that no traces of the bullet were to be seen.

“Go!” said the old chief to the scout, in a tone of strong disgust;“thou art a wolf in the skin of a dog. I will talk to the ‘LongRifle’ of the Yengeese.”

“Ah! had I that piece which furnished the name you use, I would obligatemyself to cut the thong, and drop the gourd without breaking it!”returned Hawkeye, perfectly undisturbed by the other’s manner.“Fools, if you would find the bullet of a sharpshooter in these woods,you must look in the object, and not around it!”

The Indian youths instantly comprehended his meaning—for this time hespoke in the Delaware tongue—and tearing the gourd from the tree, theyheld it on high with an exulting shout, displaying a hole in its bottom, whichhad been cut by the bullet, after passing through the usual orifice in thecenter of its upper side. At this unexpected exhibition, a loud and vehementexpression of pleasure burst from the mouth of every warrior present. Itdecided the question, and effectually established Hawkeye in the possession ofhis dangerous reputation. Those curious and admiring eyes which had been turnedagain on Heyward, were finally directed to the weather-beaten form of thescout, who immediately became the principal object of attention to the simpleand unsophisticated beings by whom he was surrounded. When the sudden and noisycommotion had a little subsided, the aged chief resumed his examination.

“Why did you wish to stop my ears?” he said, addressing Duncan;“are the Delawares fools that they could not know the young panther fromthe cat?”

“They will yet find the Huron a singing-bird,” said Duncan,endeavoring to adopt the figurative language of the natives.

“It is good. We will know who can shut the ears of men. Brother,”added the chief turning his eyes on Magua, “the Delawares listen.”

Thus singled, and directly called on to declare his object, the Huron arose;and advancing with great deliberation and dignity into the very center of thecircle, where he stood confronted by the prisoners, he placed himself in anattitude to speak. Before opening his mouth, however, he bent his eyes slowlyalong the whole living boundary of earnest faces, as if to temper hisexpressions to the capacities of his audience. On Hawkeye he cast a glance ofrespectful enmity; on Duncan, a look of inextinguishable hatred; the shrinkingfigure of Alice he scarcely deigned to notice; but when his glance met thefirm, commanding, and yet lovely form of Cora, his eye lingered a moment, withan expression that it might have been difficult to define. Then, filled withhis own dark intentions, he spoke in the language of the Canadas, a tongue thathe well knew was comprehended by most of his auditors.

“The Spirit that made men colored them differently,” commenced thesubtle Huron. “Some are blacker than the sluggish bear. These He saidshould be slaves; and He ordered them to work forever, like the beaver. You mayhear them groan, when the south wind blows, louder than the lowing buffaloes,along the shores of the great salt lake, where the big canoes come and go withthem in droves. Some He made with faces paler than the ermine of the forests;and these He ordered to be traders; dogs to their women, and wolves to theirslaves. He gave this people the nature of the pigeon; wings that never tire;young, more plentiful than the leaves on the trees, and appetites to devour theearth. He gave them tongues like the false call of the wildcat; hearts likerabbits; the cunning of the hog (but none of the fox), and arms longer than thelegs of the moose. With his tongue he stops the ears of the Indians; his heartteaches him to pay warriors to fight his battles; his cunning tells him how toget together the goods of the earth; and his arms inclose the land from theshores of the salt-water to the islands of the great lake. His gluttony makeshim sick. God gave him enough, and yet he wants all. Such are the pale faces.

“Some the Great Spirit made with skins brighter and redder than yondersun,” continued Magua, pointing impressively upward to the luridluminary, which was struggling through the misty atmosphere of the horizon;“and these did He fashion to His own mind. He gave them this island as Hehad made it, covered with trees, and filled with game. The wind made theirclearings; the sun and rain ripened their fruits; and the snows came to tellthem to be thankful. What need had they of roads to journey by! They sawthrough the hills! When the beavers worked, they lay in the shade, and lookedon. The winds cooled them in summer; in winter, skins kept them warm. If theyfought among themselves, it was to prove that they were men. They were brave;they were just; they were happy.”

Here the speaker paused, and again looked around him to discover if his legendhad touched the sympathies of his listeners. He met everywhere, with eyesriveted on his own, heads erect and nostrils expanded, as if each individualpresent felt himself able and willing, singly, to redress the wrongs of hisrace.

“If the Great Spirit gave different tongues to his red children,”he continued, in a low, still melancholy voice, “it was that all animalsmight understand them. Some He placed among the snows, with their cousin, thebear. Some he placed near the setting sun, on the road to the happy huntinggrounds. Some on the lands around the great fresh waters; but to His greatest,and most beloved, He gave the sands of the salt lake. Do my brothers know thename of this favored people?”

“It was the Lenape!” exclaimed twenty eager voices in a breath.

“It was the Lenni Lenape,” returned Magua, affecting to bend hishead in reverence to their former greatness. “It was the tribes of theLenape! The sun rose from water that was salt, and set in water that was sweet,and never hid himself from their eyes. But why should I, a Huron of the woods,tell a wise people their own traditions? Why remind them of their injuries;their ancient greatness; their deeds; their glory; their happiness; theirlosses; their defeats; their misery? Is there not one among them who has seenit all, and who knows it to be true? I have done. My tongue is still for myheart is of lead. I listen.”

As the voice of the speaker suddenly ceased, every face and all eyes turned, bya common movement, toward the venerable Tamenund. From the moment that he tookhis seat, until the present instant, the lips of the patriarch had not severed,and scarcely a sign of life had escaped him. He sat bent in feebleness, andapparently unconscious of the presence he was in, during the whole of thatopening scene, in which the skill of the scout had been so clearly established.At the nicely graduated sound of Magua’s voice, however, he betrayed someevidence of consciousness, and once or twice he even raised his head, as if tolisten. But when the crafty Huron spoke of his nation by name, the eyelids ofthe old man raised themselves, and he looked out upon the multitude with thatsort of dull, unmeaning expression which might be supposed to belong to thecountenance of a specter. Then he made an effort to rise, and being upheld byhis supporters, he gained his feet, in a posture commanding by its dignity,while he tottered with weakness.

“Who calls upon the children of the Lenape?” he said, in a deep,guttural voice, that was rendered awfully audible by the breathless silence ofthe multitude; “who speaks of things gone? Does not the egg become aworm—the worm a fly, and perish? Why tell the Delawares of good that ispast? Better thank the Manitou for that which remains.”

“It is a Wyandot,” said Magua, stepping nigher to the rude platformon which the other stood; “a friend of Tamenund.”

“A friend!” repeated the sage, on whose brow a dark frown settled,imparting a portion of that severity which had rendered his eye so terrible inmiddle age. “Are the Mingoes rulers of the earth? What brings a Huron inhere?”

“Justice. His prisoners are with his brothers, and he comes for hisown.”

Tamenund turned his head toward one of his supporters, and listened to theshort explanation the man gave.

Then, facing the applicant, he regarded him a moment with deep attention; afterwhich he said, in a low and reluctant voice:

“Justice is the law of the great Manitou. My children, give the strangerfood. Then, Huron, take thine own and depart.”

On the delivery of this solemn judgment, the patriarch seated himself, andclosed his eyes again, as if better pleased with the images of his own ripenedexperience than with the visible objects of the world. Against such a decreethere was no Delaware sufficiently hardy to murmur, much less oppose himself.The words were barely uttered when four or five of the younger warriors,stepping behind Heyward and the scout, passed thongs so dexterously and rapidlyaround their arms, as to hold them both in instant bondage. The former was toomuch engrossed with his precious and nearly insensible burden, to be aware oftheir intentions before they were executed; and the latter, who considered eventhe hostile tribes of the Delawares a superior race of beings, submittedwithout resistance. Perhaps, however, the manner of the scout would not havebeen so passive, had he fully comprehended the language in which the precedingdialogue had been conducted.

Magua cast a look of triumph around the whole assembly before he proceeded tothe execution of his purpose. Perceiving that the men were unable to offer anyresistance, he turned his looks on her he valued most. Cora met his gaze withan eye so calm and firm, that his resolution wavered. Then, recollecting hisformer artifice, he raised Alice from the arms of the warrior against whom sheleaned, and beckoning Heyward to follow, he motioned for the encircling crowdto open. But Cora, instead of obeying the impulse he had expected, rushed tothe feet of the patriarch, and, raising her voice, exclaimed aloud:

“Just and venerable Delaware, on thy wisdom and power we lean for mercy!Be deaf to yonder artful and remorseless monster, who poisons thy ears withfalsehoods to feed his thirst for blood. Thou that hast lived long, and thathast seen the evil of the world, should know how to temper its calamities tothe miserable.”

The eyes of the old man opened heavily, and he once more looked upward at themultitude. As the piercing tones of the suppliant swelled on his ears, theymoved slowly in the direction of her person, and finally settled there in asteady gaze. Cora had cast herself to her knees; and, with hands clenched ineach other and pressed upon her bosom, she remained like a beauteous andbreathing model of her sex, looking up in his faded but majestic countenance,with a species of holy reverence. Gradually the expression of Tamenund’sfeatures changed, and losing their vacancy in admiration, they lighted with aportion of that intelligence which a century before had been wont tocommunicate his youthful fire to the extensive bands of the Delawares. Risingwithout assistance, and seemingly without an effort, he demanded, in a voicethat startled its auditors by its firmness:

“What art thou?”

“A woman. One of a hated race, if thou wilt—a Yengee. But one whohas never harmed thee, and who cannot harm thy people, if she would; who asksfor succor.”

“Tell me, my children,” continued the patriarch, hoarsely,motioning to those around him, though his eyes still dwelt upon the kneelingform of Cora, “where have the Delawares camped?”

“In the mountains of the Iroquois, beyond the clear springs of theHorican.”

“Many parching summers are come and gone,” continued the sage,“since I drank of the water of my own rivers. The children ofMinquon^[1]are the justest white men, but they were thirsty and they took it tothemselves. Do they follow us so far?”

[1]William Penn was termed Minquon by the Delawares, and, as he never usedviolence or injustice in his dealings with them, his reputation for probitypassed into a proverb. The American is justly proud of the origin of hisnation, which is perhaps unequaled in the history of the world; but thePennsylvanian and Jerseyman have more reason to value themselves in theirancestors than the natives of any other state, since no wrong was done theoriginal owners of the soil.

“We follow none, we covet nothing,” answered Cora. “Captivesagainst our wills, have we been brought amongst you; and we ask but permissionto depart to our own in peace. Art thou not Tamenund—the father, thejudge, I had almost said, the prophet—of this people?”

“I am Tamenund of many days.”

“’Tis now some seven years that one of thy people was at the mercyof a white chief on the borders of this province. He claimed to be of the bloodof the good and just Tamenund. ‘Go’, said the white man, ‘forthy parent’s sake thou art free.’ Dost thou remember the name ofthat English warrior?”

“I remember, that when a laughing boy,” returned the patriarch,with the peculiar recollection of vast age, “I stood upon the sands ofthe sea shore, and saw a big canoe, with wings whiter than the swan’s,and wider than many eagles, come from the rising sun.”

“Nay, nay; I speak not of a time so very distant, but of favor shown tothy kindred by one of mine, within the memory of thy youngest warrior.”

“Was it when the Yengeese and the Dutchmanne fought for thehunting-grounds of the Delawares? Then Tamenund was a chief, and first laidaside the bow for the lightning of the pale faces—”

“Not yet then,” interrupted Cora, “by many ages; I speak of athing of yesterday. Surely, surely, you forget it not.”

“It was but yesterday,” rejoined the aged man, with touchingpathos, “that the children of the Lenape were masters of the world. Thefishes of the salt lake, the birds, the beasts, and the Mengee of the woods,owned them for Sagamores.”

Cora bowed her head in disappointment, and, for a bitter moment struggled withher chagrin. Then, elevating her rich features and beaming eyes, she continued,in tones scarcely less penetrating than the unearthly voice of the patriarchhimself:

“Tell me, is Tamenund a father?”

The old man looked down upon her from his elevated stand, with a benignantsmile on his wasted countenance, and then casting his eyes slowly over thewhole assemblage, he answered:

“Of a nation.”

“For myself I ask nothing. Like thee and thine, venerable chief,”she continued, pressing her hands convulsively on her heart, and suffering herhead to droop until her burning cheeks were nearly concealed in the maze ofdark, glossy tresses that fell in disorder upon her shoulders, “the curseof my ancestors has fallen heavily on their child. But yonder is one who hasnever known the weight of Heaven’s displeasure until now. She is thedaughter of an old and failing man, whose days are near their close. She hasmany, very many, to love her, and delight in her; and she is too good, much tooprecious, to become the victim of that villain.”

“I know that the pale faces are a proud and hungry race. I know that theyclaim not only to have the earth, but that the meanest of their color is betterthan the Sachems of the red man. The dogs and crows of their tribes,”continued the earnest old chieftain, without heeding the wounded spirit of hislistener, whose head was nearly crushed to the earth in shame, as he proceeded,“would bark and caw before they would take a woman to their wigwams whoseblood was not of the color of snow. But let them not boast before the face ofthe Manitou too loud. They entered the land at the rising, and may yet go offat the setting sun. I have often seen the locusts strip the leaves from thetrees, but the season of blossoms has always come again.”

“It is so,” said Cora, drawing a long breath, as if reviving from atrance, raising her face, and shaking back her shining veil, with a kindlingeye, that contradicted the death-like paleness of her countenance; “butwhy—it is not permitted us to inquire. There is yet one of thine ownpeople who has not been brought before thee; before thou lettest the Hurondepart in triumph, hear him speak.”

Observing Tamenund to look about him doubtingly, one of his companions said:

“It is a snake—a red-skin in the pay of the Yengeese. We keep himfor the torture.”

“Let him come,” returned the sage.

Then Tamenund once more sank into his seat, and a silence so deep prevailedwhile the young man prepared to obey his simple mandate, that the leaves, whichfluttered in the draught of the light morning air, were distinctly heardrustling in the surrounding forest.

CHAPTER XXX.

“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?”
—Merchant of Venice

The silence continued unbroken by human sounds for many anxious minutes. Thenthe waving multitude opened and shut again, and Uncas stood in the livingcircle. All those eyes, which had been curiously studying the lineaments of thesage, as the source of their own intelligence, turned on the instant, and werenow bent in secret admiration on the erect, agile, and faultless person of thecaptive. But neither the presence in which he found himself, nor the exclusiveattention that he attracted, in any manner disturbed the self-possession of theyoung Mohican. He cast a deliberate and observing look on every side of him,meeting the settled expression of hostility that lowered in the visages of thechiefs with the same calmness as the curious gaze of the attentive children.But when, last in this haughty scrutiny, the person of Tamenund came under hisglance, his eye became fixed, as though all other objects were alreadyforgotten. Then, advancing with a slow and noiseless step up the area, heplaced himself immediately before the footstool of the sage. Here he stoodunnoted, though keenly observant himself, until one of the chiefs apprised thelatter of his presence.

“With what tongue does the prisoner speak to the Manitou?” demandedthe patriarch, without unclosing his eyes.

“With what tongue does the prisoner speak to the Manitou?”

“Like his fathers,” Uncas replied; “with the tongue of aDelaware.”

At this sudden and unexpected annunciation, a low, fierce yell ran through themultitude, that might not inaptly be compared to the growl of the lion, as hischoler is first awakened—a fearful omen of the weight of his futureanger. The effect was equally strong on the sage, though differently exhibited.He passed a hand before his eyes, as if to exclude the least evidence of soshameful a spectacle, while he repeated, in his low, guttural tones, the wordshe had just heard.

“A Delaware! I have lived to see the tribes of the Lenape driven fromtheir council-fires, and scattered, like broken herds of deer, among the hillsof the Iroquois! I have seen the hatchets of a strong people sweep woods fromthe valleys, that the winds of heaven have spared! The beasts that run on themountains, and the birds that fly above the trees, have I seen living in thewigwams of men; but never before have I found a Delaware so base as to creep,like a poisonous serpent, into the camps of his nation.”

“The singing-birds have opened their bills,” returned Uncas, in thesoftest notes of his own musical voice; “and Tamenund has heard theirsong.”

The sage started, and bent his head aside, as if to catch the fleeting soundsof some passing melody.

“Does Tamenund dream!” he exclaimed. “What voice is at hisear! Have the winters gone backward! Will summer come again to the children ofthe Lenape!”

A solemn and respectful silence succeeded this incoherent burst from the lipsof the Delaware prophet. His people readily constructed his unintelligiblelanguage into one of those mysterious conferences he was believed to hold sofrequently with a superior intelligence and they awaited the issue of therevelation in awe. After a patient pause, however, one of the aged men,perceiving that the sage had lost the recollection of the subject before them,ventured to remind him again of the presence of the prisoner.

“The false Delaware trembles lest he should hear the words ofTamenund,” he said. “’Tis a hound that howls, when theYengeese show him a trail.”

“And ye,” returned Uncas, looking sternly around him, “aredogs that whine, when the Frenchman casts ye the offals of his deer!”

Twenty knives gleamed in the air, and as many warriors sprang to their feet, atthis biting, and perhaps merited retort; but a motion from one of the chiefssuppressed the outbreaking of their tempers, and restored the appearance ofquiet. The task might probably have been more difficult, had not a movementmade by Tamenund indicated that he was again about to speak.

“Delaware!” resumed the sage, “little art thou worthy of thyname. My people have not seen a bright sun in many winters; and the warrior whodeserts his tribe when hid in clouds is doubly a traitor. The law of theManitou is just. It is so; while the rivers run and the mountains stand, whilethe blossoms come and go on the trees, it must be so. He is thine, my children;deal justly by him.”

Not a limb was moved, nor was a breath drawn louder and longer than common,until the closing syllable of this final decree had passed the lips ofTamenund. Then a cry of vengeance burst at once, as it might be, from theunited lips of the nation; a frightful augury of their ruthless intentions. Inthe midst of these prolonged and savage yells, a chief proclaimed, in a highvoice, that the captive was condemned to endure the dreadful trial of tortureby fire. The circle broke its order, and screams of delight mingled with thebustle and tumult of preparation. Heyward struggled madly with his captors; theanxious eye of Hawkeye began to look around him, with an expression of peculiarearnestness; and Cora again threw herself at the feet of the patriarch, oncemore a suppliant for mercy.

Throughout the whole of these trying moments, Uncas had alone preserved hisserenity. He looked on the preparations with a steady eye, and when thetormentors came to seize him, he met them with a firm and upright attitude. Oneamong them, if possible more fierce and savage than his fellows, seized thehunting-shirt of the young warrior, and at a single effort tore it from hisbody. Then, with a yell of frantic pleasure, he leaped toward his unresistingvictim and prepared to lead him to the stake. But, at that moment, when heappeared most a stranger to the feelings of humanity, the purpose of the savagewas arrested as suddenly as if a supernatural agency had interposed in thebehalf of Uncas. The eyeballs of the Delaware seemed to start from theirsockets; his mouth opened and his whole form became frozen in an attitude ofamazement. Raising his hand with a slow and regulated motion, he pointed with afinger to the bosom of the captive. His companions crowded about him in wonderand every eye was like his own, fastened intently on the figure of a smalltortoise, beautifully tattooed on the breast of the prisoner, in a bright bluetint.

For a single instant Uncas enjoyed his triumph, smiling calmly on the scene.Then motioning the crowd away with a high and haughty sweep of his arm, headvanced in front of the nation with the air of a king, and spoke in a voicelouder than the murmur of admiration that ran through the multitude.

“Men of the Lenni Lenape!” he said, “my race upholds theearth! Your feeble tribe stands on my shell! What fire that a Delaware canlight would burn the child of my fathers,” he added, pointing proudly tothe simple blazonry on his skin; “the blood that came from such a stockwould smother your flames! My race is the grandfather of nations!”

“Who art thou?” demanded Tamenund, rising at the startling tones heheard, more than at any meaning conveyed by the language of the prisoner.

“Uncas, the son of Chingachgook,” answered the captive modestly,turning from the nation, and bending his head in reverence to the other’scharacter and years; “a son of the great Unamis.”^[1]

[1]Turtle.

“The hour of Tamenund is nigh!” exclaimed the sage; “the dayis come, at last, to the night! I thank the Manitou, that one is here to fillmy place at the council-fire. Uncas, the child of Uncas, is found! Let the eyesof a dying eagle gaze on the rising sun.”

The youth stepped lightly, but proudly on the platform, where he became visibleto the whole agitated and wondering multitude. Tamenund held him long at thelength of his arm and read every turn in the fine lineaments of hiscountenance, with the untiring gaze of one who recalled days of happiness.

“Is Tamenund a boy?” at length the bewildered prophet exclaimed.“Have I dreamed of so many snows—that my people were scattered likefloating sands—of Yengeese, more plenty than the leaves on the trees! Thearrow of Tamenund would not frighten the fawn; his arm is withered like thebranch of a dead oak; the snail would be swifter in the race; yet is Uncasbefore him as they went to battle against the pale faces! Uncas, the panther ofhis tribe, the eldest son of the Lenape, the wisest Sagamore of the Mohicans!Tell me, ye Delawares, has Tamenund been a sleeper for a hundredwinters?”

The calm and deep silence which succeeded these words sufficiently announcedthe awful reverence with which his people received the communication of thepatriarch. None dared to answer, though all listened in breathless expectationof what might follow. Uncas, however, looking in his face with the fondness andveneration of a favored child, presumed on his own high and acknowledged rank,to reply.

“Four warriors of his race have lived and died,” he said,“since the friend of Tamenund led his people in battle. The blood of theturtle has been in many chiefs, but all have gone back into the earth fromwhence they came, except Chingachgook and his son.”

“It is true—it is true,” returned the sage, a flash ofrecollection destroying all his pleasing fancies, and restoring him at once toa consciousness of the true history of his nation. “Our wise men haveoften said that two warriors of the unchanged race were in the hills of theYengeese; why have their seats at the council-fires of the Delawares been solong empty?”

At these words the young man raised his head, which he had still kept bowed alittle, in reverence; and lifting his voice so as to be heard by the multitude,as if to explain at once and forever the policy of his family, he said aloud:

“Once we slept where we could hear the salt lake speak in its anger. Thenwe were rulers and Sagamores over the land. But when a pale face was seen onevery brook, we followed the deer back to the river of our nation. TheDelawares were gone. Few warriors of them all stayed to drink of the streamthey loved. Then said my fathers, ‘Here will we hunt. The waters of theriver go into the salt lake. If we go toward the setting sun, we shall findstreams that run into the great lakes of sweet water; there would a Mohicandie, like fishes of the sea, in the clear springs. When the Manitou is readyand shall say “Come,” we will follow the river to the sea, and takeour own again.’ Such, Delawares, is the belief of the children of theTurtle. Our eyes are on the rising and not toward the setting sun. We knowwhence he comes, but we know not whither he goes. It is enough.”

The men of the Lenape listened to his words with all the respect thatsuperstition could lend, finding a secret charm even in the figurative languagewith which the young Sagamore imparted his ideas. Uncas himself watched theeffect of his brief explanation with intelligent eyes, and gradually droppedthe air of authority he had assumed, as he perceived that his auditors werecontent. Then, permitting his looks to wander over the silent throng thatcrowded around the elevated seat of Tamenund, he first perceived Hawkeye in hisbonds. Stepping eagerly from his stand, he made way for himself to the side ofhis friend; and cutting his thongs with a quick and angry stroke of his ownknife, he motioned to the crowd to divide. The Indians silently obeyed, andonce more they stood ranged in their circle, as before his appearance amongthem. Uncas took the scout by the hand, and led him to the feet of thepatriarch.

“Father,” he said, “look at this pale face; a just man, andthe friend of the Delawares.”

“Is he a son of Minquon?”

“Not so; a warrior known to the Yengeese, and feared by theMaquas.”

“What name has he gained by his deeds?”

“We call him Hawkeye,” Uncas replied, using the Delaware phrase;“for his sight never fails. The Mingoes know him better by the death hegives their warriors; with them he is ‘The Long Rifle’.”

“La Longue Carabine!” exclaimed Tamenund, opening his eyes, andregarding the scout sternly. “My son has not done well to call himfriend.”

“I call him so who proves himself such,” returned the young chief,with great calmness, but with a steady mien. “If Uncas is welcome amongthe Delawares, then is Hawkeye with his friends.”

“The pale face has slain my young men; his name is great for the blows hehas struck the Lenape.”

“If a Mingo has whispered that much in the ear of the Delaware, he hasonly shown that he is a singing-bird,” said the scout, who now believedthat it was time to vindicate himself from such offensive charges, and whospoke as the man he addressed, modifying his Indian figures, however, with hisown peculiar notions. “That I have slain the Maquas I am not the man todeny, even at their own council-fires; but that, knowingly, my hand has neverharmed a Delaware, is opposed to the reason of my gifts, which is friendly tothem, and all that belongs to their nation.”

A low exclamation of applause passed among the warriors who exchanged lookswith each other like men that first began to perceive their error.

“Where is the Huron?” demanded Tamenund. “Has he stopped myears?”

Magua, whose feelings during that scene in which Uncas had triumphed may bemuch better imagined than described, answered to the call by stepping boldly infront of the patriarch.

“The just Tamenund,” he said, “will not keep what a Huron haslent.”

“Tell me, son of my brother,” returned the sage, avoiding the darkcountenance of Le Subtil, and turning gladly to the more ingenuous features ofUncas, “has the stranger a conqueror’s right over you?”

“He has none. The panther may get into snares set by the women; but he isstrong, and knows how to leap through them.”

“La Longue Carabine?”

“Laughs at the Mingoes. Go, Huron, ask your squaws the color of abear.”

“The stranger and white maiden that come into my camp together?”

“Should journey on an open path.”

“And the woman that Huron left with my warriors?”

Uncas made no reply.

“And the woman that the Mingo has brought into my camp?” repeatedTamenund, gravely.

“She is mine,” cried Magua, shaking his hand in triumph at Uncas.“Mohican, you know that she is mine.”

“My son is silent,” said Tamenund, endeavoring to read theexpression of the face that the youth turned from him in sorrow.

“It is so,” was the low answer.

A short and impressive pause succeeded, during which it was very apparent withwhat reluctance the multitude admitted the justice of the Mingo’s claim.At length the sage, on whom alone the decision depended, said, in a firm voice:

“Huron, depart.”

“As he came, just Tamenund,” demanded the wily Magua, “orwith hands filled with the faith of the Delawares? The wigwam of Le RenardSubtil is empty. Make him strong with his own.”

The aged man mused with himself for a time; and then, bending his head towardone of his venerable companions, he asked:

“Are my ears open?”

“It is true.”

“Is this Mingo a chief?”

“The first in his nation.”

“Girl, what wouldst thou? A great warrior takes thee to wife. Go! thyrace will not end.”

“Better, a thousand times, it should,” exclaimed the horror-struckCora, “than meet with such a degradation!”

“Huron, her mind is in the tents of her fathers. An unwilling maidenmakes an unhappy wigwam.”

“She speaks with the tongue of her people,” returned Magua,regarding his victim with a look of bitter irony.

“She is of a race of traders, and will bargain for a bright look. LetTamenund speak the words.”

“Take you the wampum, and our love.”

“Nothing hence but what Magua brought hither.”

“Then depart with thine own. The Great Manitou forbids that a Delawareshould be unjust.”

Magua advanced, and seized his captive strongly by the arm; the Delawares fellback, in silence; and Cora, as if conscious that remonstrance would be useless,prepared to submit to her fate without resistance.

“Hold, hold!” cried Duncan, springing forward; “Huron, havemercy! her ransom shall make thee richer than any of thy people were ever yetknown to be.”

“Magua is a red-skin; he wants not the beads of the pale faces.”

“Gold, silver, powder, lead—all that a warrior needs shall be inthy wigwam; all that becomes the greatest chief.”

“Le Subtil is very strong,” cried Magua, violently shaking the handwhich grasped the unresisting arm of Cora; “he has his revenge!”

“Mighty ruler of Providence!” exclaimed Heyward, clasping his handstogether in agony, “can this be suffered! To you, just Tamenund, I appealfor mercy.”

“The words of the Delaware are said,” returned the sage, closinghis eyes, and dropping back into his seat, alike wearied with his mental andhis bodily exertion. “Men speak not twice.”

“That a chief should not misspend his time in unsaying what has once beenspoken is wise and reasonable,” said Hawkeye, motioning to Duncan to besilent; “but it is also prudent in every warrior to consider well beforehe strikes his tomahawk into the head of his prisoner. Huron, I love you not;nor can I say that any Mingo has ever received much favor at my hands. It isfair to conclude that, if this war does not soon end, many more of yourwarriors will meet me in the woods. Put it to your judgment, then, whether youwould prefer taking such a prisoner as that into your encampment, or one likemyself, who am a man that it would greatly rejoice your nation to see withnaked hands.”

“Will ‘The Long Rifle’ give his life for the woman?”demanded Magua, hesitatingly; for he had already made a motion toward quittingthe place with his victim.

“No, no; I have not said so much as that,” returned Hawkeye,drawing back with suitable discretion, when he noted the eagerness with whichMagua listened to his proposal. “It would be an unequal exchange, to givea warrior, in the prime of his age and usefulness, for the best woman on thefrontiers. I might consent to go into winter quarters, now —at least sixweeks afore the leaves will turn—on condition you will release themaiden.”

Magua shook his head, and made an impatient sign for the crowd to open.

“Well, then,” added the scout, with the musing air of a man who hadnot half made up his mind; “I will throw ‘killdeer’ into thebargain. Take the word of an experienced hunter, the piece has not its equalatween the provinces.”

Magua still disdained to reply, continuing his efforts to disperse the crowd.

“Perhaps,” added the scout, losing his dissembled coolness exactlyin proportion as the other manifested an indifference to the exchange,“if I should condition to teach your young men the real virtue of thewe’pon, it would smoothe the little differences in our judgments.”

Le Renard fiercely ordered the Delawares, who still lingered in an impenetrablebelt around him, in hopes he would listen to the amicable proposal, to open hispath, threatening, by the glance of his eye, another appeal to the infalliblejustice of their “prophet.”

“What is ordered must sooner or later arrive,” continued Hawkeye,turning with a sad and humbled look to Uncas. “The varlet knows hisadvantage and will keep it! God bless you, boy; you have found friends amongyour natural kin, and I hope they will prove as true as some you have met whohad no Indian cross. As for me, sooner or later, I must die; it is, therefore,fortunate there are but few to make my death-howl. After all, it is likely theimps would have managed to master my scalp, so a day or two will make no greatdifference in the everlasting reckoning of time. God bless you,” addedthe rugged woodsman, bending his head aside, and then instantly changing itsdirection again, with a wistful look toward the youth; “I loved both youand your father, Uncas, though our skins are not altogether of a color, and ourgifts are somewhat different. Tell the Sagamore I never lost sight of him in mygreatest trouble; and, as for you, think of me sometimes when on a lucky trail,and depend on it, boy, whether there be one heaven or two, there is a path inthe other world by which honest men may come together again. You’ll findthe rifle in the place we hid it; take it, and keep it for my sake; and,harkee, lad, as your natural gifts don’t deny you the use of vengeance,use it a little freely on the Mingoes; it may unburden griefs at my loss, andease your mind. Huron, I accept your offer; release the woman. I am yourprisoner!”

A suppressed, but still distinct murmur of approbation ran through the crowd atthis generous proposition; even the fiercest among the Delaware warriorsmanifesting pleasure at the manliness of the intended sacrifice. Magua paused,and for an anxious moment, it might be said, he doubted; then, casting his eyeson Cora, with an expression in which ferocity and admiration were strangelymingled, his purpose became fixed forever.

He intimated his contempt of the offer with a backward motion of his head, andsaid, in a steady and settled voice:

“Le Renard Subtil is a great chief; he has but one mind. Come,” headded, laying his hand too familiarly on the shoulder of his captive to urgeher onward; “a Huron is no tattler; we will go.”

The maiden drew back in lofty womanly reserve, and her dark eye kindled, whilethe rich blood shot, like the passing brightness of the sun, into her verytemples, at the indignity.

“I am your prisoner, and, at a fitting time shall be ready to follow,even to my death. But violence is unnecessary,” she coldly said; andimmediately turning to Hawkeye, added: “Generous hunter! from my soul Ithank you. Your offer is vain, neither could it be accepted; but still you mayserve me, even more than in your own noble intention. Look at that droopinghumbled child! Abandon her not until you leave her in the habitations ofcivilized men. I will not say,” wringing the hard hand of the scout,“that her father will reward you—for such as you are above therewards of men—but he will thank you and bless you. And, believe me, theblessing of a just and aged man has virtue in the sight of Heaven. Would to GodI could hear one word from his lips at this awful moment!” Her voicebecame choked, and, for an instant, she was silent; then, advancing a stepnigher to Duncan, who was supporting her unconscious sister, she continued, inmore subdued tones, but in which feeling and the habits of her sex maintained afearful struggle: “I need not tell you to cherish the treasure you willpossess. You love her, Heyward; that would conceal a thousand faults, thoughshe had them. She is kind, gentle, sweet, good, as mortal may be. There is nota blemish in mind or person at which the proudest of you all would sicken. Sheis fair—oh! how surpassingly fair!” laying her own beautiful, butless brilliant, hand in melancholy affection on the alabaster forehead ofAlice, and parting the golden hair which clustered about her brows; “andyet her soul is pure and spotless as her skin! I could say much—more,perhaps, than cooler reason would approve; but I will spare you andmyself—” Her voice became inaudible, and her face was bent over theform of her sister. After a long and burning kiss, she arose, and with featuresof the hue of death, but without even a tear in her feverish eye, she turnedaway, and added, to the savage, with all her former elevation of manner:“Now, sir, if it be your pleasure, I will follow.”

“Ay, go,” cried Duncan, placing Alice in the arms of an Indiangirl; “go, Magua, go. These Delawares have their laws, which forbid themto detain you; but I—I have no such obligation. Go, malignantmonster—why do you delay?”

It would be difficult to describe the expression with which Magua listened tothis threat to follow. There was at first a fierce and manifest display of joy,and then it was instantly subdued in a look of cunning coldness.

“The words are open,” he was content with answering,“‘The Open Hand’ can come.”

“Hold,” cried Hawkeye, seizing Duncan by the arm, and detaining himby violence; “you know not the craft of the imp. He would lead you to anambushment, and your death—”

“Huron,” interrupted Uncas, who submissive to the stern customs ofhis people, had been an attentive and grave listener to all that passed;“Huron, the justice of the Delawares comes from the Manitou. Look at thesun. He is now in the upper branches of the hemlock. Your path is short andopen. When he is seen above the trees, there will be men on your trail.”

“I hear a crow!” exclaimed Magua, with a taunting laugh.“Go!” he added, shaking his hand at the crowd, which had slowlyopened to admit his passage. “Where are the petticoats of the Delawares!Let them send their arrows and their guns to the Wyandots; they shall havevenison to eat, and corn to hoe. Dogs, rabbits, thieves—I spit onyou!”

His parting gibes were listened to in a dead, boding silence, and, with thesebiting words in his mouth, the triumphant Magua passed unmolested into theforest, followed by his passive captive, and protected by the inviolable lawsof Indian hospitality.

CHAPTER XXXI.

“Flue.—Kill the poys and the luggage! ’Tis expressly againstthe law of arms; ’tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now, as canbe offered in the ’orld.”
—King Henry V.

So long as their enemy and his victim continued in sight, the multituderemained motionless as beings charmed to the place by some power that wasfriendly to the Huron; but, the instant he disappeared, it became tossed andagitated by fierce and powerful passion. Uncas maintained his elevated stand,keeping his eyes on the form of Cora, until the colors of her dress wereblended with the foliage of the forest; when he descended, and, moving silentlythrough the throng, he disappeared in that lodge from which he had so recentlyissued. A few of the graver and more attentive warriors, who caught the gleamsof anger that shot from the eyes of the young chief in passing, followed him tothe place he had selected for his meditations. After which, Tamenund and Alicewere removed, and the women and children were ordered to disperse. During themomentous hour that succeeded, the encampment resembled a hive of troubledbees, who only awaited the appearance and example of their leader to take somedistant and momentous flight.

A young warrior at length issued from the lodge of Uncas; and, movingdeliberately, with a sort of grave march, toward a dwarf pine that grew in thecrevices of the rocky terrace, he tore the bark from its body, and then turnedwhence he came without speaking. He was soon followed by another, who strippedthe sapling of its branches, leaving it a naked and blazed^[1]trunk. A third colored the post with stripes of a dark red paint; all whichindications of a hostile design in the leaders of the nation were received bythe men without in a gloomy and ominous silence. Finally, the Mohican himselfreappeared, divested of all his attire, except his girdle and leggings, andwith one-half of his fine features hid under a cloud of threatening black.

[1]A tree which has been partially or entirely stripped of its bark is said, inthe language of the country, to be “blazed.” The term is strictlyEnglish, for a horse is said to be blazed when it has a white mark.

Uncas moved with a slow and dignified tread toward the post, which heimmediately commenced encircling with a measured step, not unlike an ancientdance, raising his voice, at the same time, in the wild and irregular chant ofhis war song. The notes were in the extremes of human sounds; being sometimesmelancholy and exquisitely plaintive, even rivaling the melody ofbirds—and then, by sudden and startling transitions, causing the auditorsto tremble by their depth and energy. The words were few and often repeated,proceeding gradually from a sort of invocation, or hymn, to the Deity, to anintimation of the warrior’s object, and terminating as they commencedwith an acknowledgment of his own dependence on the Great Spirit. If it werepossible to translate the comprehensive and melodious language in which hespoke, the ode might read something like the following: “Manitou!Manitou! Manitou! Thou art great, thou art good, thou art wise: Manitou!Manitou! Thou art just. In the heavens, in the clouds, oh, I see manyspots—many dark, many red: In the heavens, oh, I see many clouds.”

“In the woods, in the air, oh, I hear the whoop, the long yell, and thecry: In the woods, oh, I hear the loud whoop!”

“Manitou! Manitou! Manitou! I am weak—thou art strong; I am slow;Manitou! Manitou! Give me aid.”

At the end of what might be called each verse he made a pause, by raising anote louder and longer than common, that was peculiarly suited to the sentimentjust expressed. The first close was solemn, and intended to convey the idea ofveneration; the second descriptive, bordering on the alarming; and the thirdwas the well-known and terrific war-whoop, which burst from the lips of theyoung warrior, like a combination of all the frightful sounds of battle. Thelast was like the first, humble and imploring. Three times did he repeat thissong, and as often did he encircle the post in his dance.

At the close of the first turn, a grave and highly esteemed chief of the Lenapefollowed his example, singing words of his own, however, to music of a similarcharacter. Warrior after warrior enlisted in the dance, until all of any renownand authority were numbered in its mazes. The spectacle now became wildlyterrific; the fierce-looking and menacing visages of the chiefs receivingadditional power from the appalling strains in which they mingled theirguttural tones. Just then Uncas struck his tomahawk deep into the post, andraised his voice in a shout, which might be termed his own battle cry. The actannounced that he had assumed the chief authority in the intended expedition.

It was a signal that awakened all the slumbering passions of the nation. Ahundred youths, who had hitherto been restrained by the diffidence of theiryears, rushed in a frantic body on the fancied emblem of their enemy, andsevered it asunder, splinter by splinter, until nothing remained of the trunkbut its roots in the earth. During this moment of tumult, the most ruthlessdeeds of war were performed on the fragments of the tree, with as much apparentferocity as if they were the living victims of their cruelty. Some werescalped; some received the keen and trembling axe; and others suffered bythrusts from the fatal knife. In short, the manifestations of zeal and fiercedelight were so great and unequivocal, that the expedition was declared to be awar of the nation.

The instant Uncas had struck the blow, he moved out of the circle, and cast hiseyes up to the sun, which was just gaining the point, when the truce with Maguawas to end. The fact was soon announced by a significant gesture, accompaniedby a corresponding cry; and the whole of the excited multitude abandoned theirmimic warfare, with shrill yells of pleasure, to prepare for the more hazardousexperiment of the reality.

The whole face of the encampment was instantly changed. The warriors, who werealready armed and painted, became as still as if they were incapable of anyuncommon burst of emotion. On the other hand, the women broke out of thelodges, with the songs of joy and those of lamentation so strangely mixed thatit might have been difficult to have said which passion preponderated. None,however, was idle. Some bore their choicest articles, others their young, andsome their aged and infirm, into the forest, which spread itself like a verdantcarpet of bright green against the side of the mountain. Thither Tamenund alsoretired, with calm composure, after a short and touching interview with Uncas;from whom the sage separated with the reluctance that a parent would quit along lost and just recovered child. In the meantime, Duncan saw Alice to aplace of safety, and then sought the scout, with a countenance that denoted howeagerly he also panted for the approaching contest.

But Hawkeye was too much accustomed to the war song and the enlistments of thenatives, to betray any interest in the passing scene. He merely cast anoccasional look at the number and quality of the warriors, who, from time totime, signified their readiness to accompany Uncas to the field. In thisparticular he was soon satisfied; for, as has been already seen, the power ofthe young chief quickly embraced every fighting man in the nation. After thismaterial point was so satisfactorily decided, he despatched an Indian boy inquest of “killdeer” and the rifle of Uncas, to the place where theyhad deposited their weapons on approaching the camp of the Delawares; a measureof double policy, inasmuch as it protected the arms from their own fate, ifdetained as prisoners, and gave them the advantage of appearing among thestrangers rather as sufferers than as men provided with means of defense andsubsistence. In selecting another to perform the office of reclaiming hishighly prized rifle, the scout had lost sight of none of his habitual caution.He knew that Magua had not come unattended, and he also knew that Huron spieswatched the movements of their new enemies, along the whole boundary of thewoods. It would, therefore, have been fatal to himself to have attempted theexperiment; a warrior would have fared no better; but the danger of a boy wouldnot be likely to commence until after his object was discovered. When Heywardjoined him, the scout was coolly awaiting the result of this experiment.

The boy, who had been well instructed, and was sufficiently crafty, proceeded,with a bosom that was swelling with the pride of such a confidence, and all thehopes of young ambition, carelessly across the clearing to the wood, which heentered at a point at some little distance from the place where the guns weresecreted. The instant, however, he was concealed by the foliage of the bushes,his dusky form was to be seen gliding, like that of a serpent, toward thedesired treasure. He was successful; and in another moment he appeared flyingacross the narrow opening that skirted the base of the terrace on which thevillage stood, with the velocity of an arrow, and bearing a prize in each hand.He had actually gained the crags, and was leaping up their sides withincredible activity, when a shot from the woods showed how accurate had beenthe judgment of the scout. The boy answered it with a feeble but contemptuousshout; and immediately a second bullet was sent after him from another part ofthe cover. At the next instant he appeared on the level above, elevating hisguns in triumph, while he moved with the air of a conqueror toward the renownedhunter who had honored him by so glorious a commission.

Notwithstanding the lively interest Hawkeye had taken in the fate of hismessenger, he received “killdeer” with a satisfaction that,momentarily, drove all other recollections from his mind. After examining thepiece with an intelligent eye, and opening and shutting the pan some ten orfifteen times, and trying sundry other equally important experiments on thelock, he turned to the boy and demanded with great manifestations of kindness,if he was hurt. The urchin looked proudly up in his face, but made no reply.

“Ah! I see, lad, the knaves have barked your arm!” added the scout,taking up the limb of the patient sufferer, across which a deep flesh wound hadbeen made by one of the bullets; “but a little bruised alder will actlike a charm. In the meantime I will wrap it in a badge of wampum! You havecommenced the business of a warrior early, my brave boy, and are likely to beara plenty of honorable scars to your grave. I know many young men that havetaken scalps who cannot show such a mark as this. Go!” having bound upthe arm; “you will be a chief!”

The lad departed, prouder of his flowing blood than the vainest courtier couldbe of his blushing ribbon; and stalked among the fellows of his age, an objectof general admiration and envy.

But, in a moment of so many serious and important duties, this single act ofjuvenile fortitude did not attract the general notice and commendation it wouldhave received under milder auspices. It had, however, served to apprise theDelawares of the position and the intentions of their enemies. Accordingly aparty of adventurers, better suited to the task than the weak though spiritedboy, was ordered to dislodge the skulkers. The duty was soon performed; formost of the Hurons retired of themselves when they found they had beendiscovered. The Delawares followed to a sufficient distance from their ownencampment, and then halted for orders, apprehensive of being led into anambush. As both parties secreted themselves, the woods were again as still andquiet as a mild summer morning and deep solitude could render them.

The calm but still impatient Uncas now collected his chiefs, and divided hispower. He presented Hawkeye as a warrior, often tried, and always founddeserving of confidence. When he found his friend met with a favorablereception, he bestowed on him the command of twenty men, like himself, active,skillful and resolute. He gave the Delawares to understand the rank of Heywardamong the troops of the Yengeese, and then tendered to him a trust of equalauthority. But Duncan declined the charge, professing his readiness to serve asa volunteer by the side of the scout. After this disposition, the young Mohicanappointed various native chiefs to fill the different situations ofresponsibility, and, the time pressing, he gave forth the word to march. He wascheerfully, but silently obeyed by more than two hundred men.

Their entrance into the forest was perfectly unmolested; nor did they encounterany living objects that could either give the alarm, or furnish theintelligence they needed, until they came upon the lairs of their own scouts.Here a halt was ordered, and the chiefs were assembled to hold a“whispering council.”

At this meeting divers plans of operation were suggested, though none of acharacter to meet the wishes of their ardent leader. Had Uncas followed thepromptings of his own inclinations, he would have led his followers to thecharge without a moment’s delay, and put the conflict to the hazard of aninstant issue; but such a course would have been in opposition to all thereceived practises and opinions of his countrymen. He was, therefore, fain toadopt a caution that in the present temper of his mind he execrated, and tolisten to advice at which his fiery spirit chafed, under the vivid recollectionof Cora’s danger and Magua’s insolence.

After an unsatisfactory conference of many minutes, a solitary individual wasseen advancing from the side of the enemy, with such apparent haste, as toinduce the belief he might be a messenger charged with pacific overtures. Whenwithin a hundred yards, however, of the cover behind which the Delaware councilhad assembled, the stranger hesitated, appeared uncertain what course to take,and finally halted. All eyes were turned now on Uncas, as if seeking directionshow to proceed.

“Hawkeye,” said the young chief, in a low voice, “he mustnever speak to the Hurons again.”

“His time has come,” said the laconic scout, thrusting the longbarrel of his rifle through the leaves, and taking his deliberate and fatalaim. But, instead of pulling the trigger, he lowered the muzzle again, andindulged himself in a fit of his peculiar mirth. “I took the imp for aMingo, as I’m a miserable sinner!” he said; “but when my eyeranged along his ribs for a place to get the bullet in—would you thinkit, Uncas—I saw the musicianer’s blower; and so, after all, it isthe man they call Gamut, whose death can profit no one, and whose life, if thistongue can do anything but sing, may be made serviceable to our own ends. Ifsounds have not lost their virtue, I’ll soon have a discourse with thehonest fellow, and that in a voice he’ll find more agreeable than thespeech of ‘killdeer’.”

So saying, Hawkeye laid aside his rifle; and, crawling through the bushes untilwithin hearing of David, he attempted to repeat the musical effort, which hadconducted himself, with so much safety and eclat, through the Huron encampment.The exquisite organs of Gamut could not readily be deceived (and, to say thetruth, it would have been difficult for any other than Hawkeye to produce asimilar noise), and, consequently, having once before heard the sounds, he nowknew whence they proceeded. The poor fellow appeared relieved from a state ofgreat embarrassment; for, pursuing the direction of the voice—a task thatto him was not much less arduous that it would have been to have gone up in theface of a battery—he soon discovered the hidden songster.

“I wonder what the Hurons will think of that!” said the scout,laughing, as he took his companion by the arm, and urged him toward the rear.“If the knaves lie within earshot, they will say there are twonon-compossers instead of one! But here we are safe,” he added, pointingto Uncas and his associates. “Now give us the history of the Mingoinventions in natural English, and without any ups and downs of voice.”

David gazed about him, at the fierce and wild-looking chiefs, in mute wonder;but assured by the presence of faces that he knew, he soon rallied hisfaculties so far as to make an intelligent reply.

“The heathen are abroad in goodly numbers,” said David; “and,I fear, with evil intent. There has been much howling and ungodly revelry,together with such sounds as it is profanity to utter, in their habitationswithin the past hour, so much so, in truth, that I have fled to the Delawaresin search of peace.”

“Your ears might not have profited much by the exchange, had you beenquicker of foot,” returned the scout a little dryly. “But let thatbe as it may; where are the Hurons?”

“They lie hid in the forest, between this spot and their village in suchforce, that prudence would teach you instantly to return.”

Uncas cast a glance along the range of trees which concealed his own band andmentioned the name of:

“Magua?”

“Is among them. He brought in the maiden that had sojourned with theDelawares; and, leaving her in the cave, has put himself, like a raging wolf,at the head of his savages. I know not what has troubled his spirit sogreatly!”

“He has left her, you say, in the cave!” interrupted Heyward;“’tis well that we know its situation! May not something be donefor her instant relief?”

Uncas looked earnestly at the scout, before he asked:

“What says Hawkeye?”

“Give me twenty rifles, and I will turn to the right, along the stream;and, passing by the huts of the beaver, will join the Sagamore and the colonel.You shall then hear the whoop from that quarter; with this wind one may easilysend it a mile. Then, Uncas, do you drive in the front; when they come withinrange of our pieces, we will give them a blow that, I pledge the good name ofan old frontiersman, shall make their line bend like an ashen bow. After which,we will carry the village, and take the woman from the cave; when the affairmay be finished with the tribe, according to a white man’s battle, by ablow and a victory; or, in the Indian fashion, with dodge and cover. There maybe no great learning, major, in this plan, but with courage and patience it canall be done.”

“I like it very much,” cried Duncan, who saw that the release ofCora was the primary object in the mind of the scout; “I like it much.Let it be instantly attempted.”

After a short conference, the plan was matured, and rendered more intelligibleto the several parties; the different signals were appointed, and the chiefsseparated, each to his allotted station.

CHAPTER XXXII.

“But plagues shall spread, and funeral fires increase,
Till the great king, without a ransom paid,
To her own Chrysa send the black-eyed maid.”
—Pope.

During the time Uncas was making this disposition of his forces, the woods wereas still, and, with the exception of those who had met in council, apparentlyas much untenanted as when they came fresh from the hands of their AlmightyCreator. The eye could range, in every direction, through the long and shadowedvistas of the trees; but nowhere was any object to be seen that did notproperly belong to the peaceful and slumbering scenery.

Here and there a bird was heard fluttering among the branches of the beeches,and occasionally a squirrel dropped a nut, drawing the startled looks of theparty for a moment to the place; but the instant the casual interruptionceased, the passing air was heard murmuring above their heads, along thatverdant and undulating surface of forest, which spread itself unbroken, unlessby stream or lake, over such a vast region of country. Across the tract ofwilderness which lay between the Delawares and the village of their enemies, itseemed as if the foot of man had never trodden, so breathing and deep was thesilence in which it lay. But Hawkeye, whose duty led him foremost in theadventure, knew the character of those with whom he was about to contend toowell to trust the treacherous quiet.

When he saw his little band collected, the scout threw “killdeer”into the hollow of his arm, and making a silent signal that he would befollowed, he led them many rods toward the rear, into the bed of a little brookwhich they had crossed in advancing. Here he halted, and after waiting for thewhole of his grave and attentive warriors to close about him, he spoke inDelaware, demanding:

“Do any of my young men know whither this run will lead us?”

A Delaware stretched forth a hand, with the two fingers separated, andindicating the manner in which they were joined at the root, he answered:

“Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be in thebig.” Then he added, pointing in the direction of the place he mentioned,“the two make enough for the beavers.”

“I thought as much,” returned the scout, glancing his eye upward atthe opening in the tree-tops, “from the course it takes, and the bearingsof the mountains. Men, we will keep within the cover of its banks till we scentthe Hurons.”

His companions gave the usual brief exclamation of assent, but, perceiving thattheir leader was about to lead the way in person, one or two made signs thatall was not as it should be. Hawkeye, who comprehended their meaning glances,turned and perceived that his party had been followed thus far by thesinging-master.

“Do you know, friend,” asked the scout, gravely, and perhaps with alittle of the pride of conscious deserving in his manner, “that this is aband of rangers chosen for the most desperate service, and put under thecommand of one who, though another might say it with a better face, will not beapt to leave them idle. It may not be five, it cannot be thirty minutes, beforewe tread on the body of a Huron, living or dead.”

“Though not admonished of your intentions in words,” returnedDavid, whose face was a little flushed, and whose ordinarily quiet andunmeaning eyes glimmered with an expression of unusual fire, “your menhave reminded me of the children of Jacob going out to battle against theShechemites, for wickedly aspiring to wedlock with a woman of a race that wasfavored of the Lord. Now, I have journeyed far, and sojourned much in good andevil with the maiden ye seek; and, though not a man of war, with my loinsgirded and my sword sharpened, yet would I gladly strike a blow in herbehalf.”

The scout hesitated, as if weighing the chances of such a strange enlistment inhis mind before he answered:

“You know not the use of any we’pon. You carry no rifle; andbelieve me, what the Mingoes take they will freely give again.”

“Though not a vaunting and bloodily disposed Goliath,” returnedDavid, drawing a sling from beneath his parti-colored and uncouth attire,“I have not forgotten the example of the Jewish boy. With this ancientinstrument of war have I practised much in my youth, and peradventure the skillhas not entirely departed from me.”

“Ay!” said Hawkeye, considering the deer-skin thong and apron, witha cold and discouraging eye; “the thing might do its work among arrows,or even knives; but these Mengwe have been furnished by the Frenchers with agood grooved barrel a man. However, it seems to be your gift to go unharmedamid fire; and as you have hitherto been favored—major, you have leftyour rifle at a cock; a single shot before the time would be just twenty scalpslost to no purpose—singer, you can follow; we may find use for you in theshoutings.”

“I thank you, friend,” returned David, supplying himself, like hisroyal namesake, from among the pebbles of the brook; “though not given tothe desire to kill, had you sent me away my spirit would have beentroubled.”

“Remember,” added the scout, tapping his own head significantly onthat spot where Gamut was yet sore, “we come to fight, and not tomusickate. Until the general whoop is given, nothing speaks but therifle.”

David nodded, as much to signify his acquiescence with the terms; and thenHawkeye, casting another observant glance over his followers made the signal toproceed.

Their route lay, for the distance of a mile, along the bed of the water-course.Though protected from any great danger of observation by the precipitous banks,and the thick shrubbery which skirted the stream, no precaution known to anIndian attack was neglected. A warrior rather crawled than walked on each flankso as to catch occasional glimpses into the forest; and every few minutes theband came to a halt, and listened for hostile sounds, with an acuteness oforgans that would be scarcely conceivable to a man in a less natural state.Their march was, however, unmolested, and they reached the point where thelesser stream was lost in the greater, without the smallest evidence that theirprogress had been noted. Here the scout again halted, to consult the signs ofthe forest.

“We are likely to have a good day for a fight,” he said, inEnglish, addressing Heyward, and glancing his eyes upward at the clouds, whichbegan to move in broad sheets across the firmament; “a bright sun and aglittering barrel are no friends to true sight. Everything is favorable; theyhave the wind, which will bring down their noises and their smoke, too, nolittle matter in itself; whereas, with us it will be first a shot, and then aclear view. But here is an end to our cover; the beavers have had the range ofthis stream for hundreds of years, and what atween their food and their dams,there is, as you see, many a girdled stub, but few living trees.”

Hawkeye had, in truth, in these few words, given no bad description of theprospect that now lay in their front. The brook was irregular in its width,sometimes shooting through narrow fissures in the rocks, and at othersspreading over acres of bottom land, forming little areas that might be termedponds. Everywhere along its bands were the moldering relics of dead trees, inall the stages of decay, from those that groaned on their tottering trunks tosuch as had recently been robbed of those rugged coats that so mysteriouslycontain their principle of life. A few long, low, and moss-covered piles werescattered among them, like the memorials of a former and long-departedgeneration.

All these minute particulars were noted by the scout, with a gravity andinterest that they probably had never before attracted. He knew that the Huronencampment lay a short half mile up the brook; and, with the characteristicanxiety of one who dreaded a hidden danger, he was greatly troubled at notfinding the smallest trace of the presence of his enemy. Once or twice he feltinduced to give the order for a rush, and to attempt the village by surprise;but his experience quickly admonished him of the danger of so useless anexperiment. Then he listened intently, and with painful uncertainty, for thesounds of hostility in the quarter where Uncas was left; but nothing wasaudible except the sighing of the wind, that began to sweep over the bosom ofthe forest in gusts which threatened a tempest. At length, yielding rather tohis unusual impatience than taking counsel from his knowledge, he determined tobring matters to an issue, by unmasking his force, and proceeding cautiously,but steadily, up the stream.

The scout had stood, while making his observations, sheltered by a brake, andhis companions still lay in the bed of the ravine, through which the smallerstream debouched; but on hearing his low, though intelligible, signal the wholeparty stole up the bank, like so many dark specters, and silently arrangedthemselves around him. Pointing in the direction he wished to proceed, Hawkeyeadvanced, the band breaking off in single files, and following so accurately inhis footsteps, as to leave it, if we except Heyward and David, the trail of buta single man.

The party was, however, scarcely uncovered before a volley from a dozen rifleswas heard in their rear; and a Delaware leaping high in to the air, like awounded deer, fell at his whole length, dead.

“Ah, I feared some deviltry like this!” exclaimed the scout, inEnglish, adding, with the quickness of thought, in his adopted tongue:“To cover, men, and charge!”

The band dispersed at the word, and before Heyward had well recovered from hissurprise, he found himself standing alone with David. Luckily the Hurons hadalready fallen back, and he was safe from their fire. But this state of thingswas evidently to be of short continuance; for the scout set the example ofpressing on their retreat, by discharging his rifle, and darting from tree totree as his enemy slowly yielded ground.

It would seem that the assault had been made by a very small party of theHurons, which, however, continued to increase in numbers, as it retired on itsfriends, until the return fire was very nearly, if not quite, equal to thatmaintained by the advancing Delawares. Heyward threw himself among thecombatants, and imitating the necessary caution of his companions, he madequick discharges with his own rifle. The contest now grew warm and stationary.Few were injured, as both parties kept their bodies as much protected aspossible by the trees; never, indeed, exposing any part of their persons exceptin the act of taking aim. But the chances were gradually growing unfavorable toHawkeye and his band. The quick-sighted scout perceived his danger withoutknowing how to remedy it. He saw it was more dangerous to retreat than tomaintain his ground: while he found his enemy throwing out men on his flank;which rendered the task of keeping themselves covered so very difficult to theDelawares, as nearly to silence their fire. At this embarrassing moment, whenthey began to think the whole of the hostile tribe was gradually encirclingthem, they heard the yell of combatants and the rattling of arms echoing underthe arches of the wood at the place where Uncas was posted, a bottom which, ina manner, lay beneath the ground on which Hawkeye and his party werecontending.

The effects of this attack were instantaneous, and to the scout and his friendsgreatly relieving. It would seem that, while his own surprise had beenanticipated, and had consequently failed, the enemy, in their turn, having beendeceived in its object and in his numbers, had left too small a force to resistthe impetuous onset of the young Mohican. This fact was doubly apparent, by therapid manner in which the battle in the forest rolled upward toward thevillage, and by an instant falling off in the number of their assailants, whorushed to assist in maintaining the front, and, as it now proved to be, theprincipal point of defense.

Animating his followers by his voice, and his own example, Hawkeye then gavethe word to bear down upon their foes. The charge, in that rude species ofwarfare, consisted merely in pushing from cover to cover, nigher to the enemy;and in this maneuver he was instantly and successfully obeyed. The Hurons werecompelled to withdraw, and the scene of the contest rapidly changed from themore open ground, on which it had commenced, to a spot where the assailed founda thicket to rest upon. Here the struggle was protracted, arduous and seeminglyof doubtful issue; the Delawares, though none of them fell, beginning to bleedfreely, in consequence of the disadvantage at which they were held.

In this crisis, Hawkeye found means to get behind the same tree as that whichserved for a cover to Heyward; most of his own combatants being within call, alittle on his right, where they maintained rapid, though fruitless, dischargeson their sheltered enemies.

“You are a young man, major,” said the scout, dropping the butt of“killdeer” to the earth, and leaning on the barrel, a littlefatigued with his previous industry; “and it may be your gift to leadarmies, at some future day, ag’in these imps, the Mingoes. You may heresee the philosophy of an Indian fight. It consists mainly in ready hand, aquick eye and a good cover. Now, if you had a company of the Royal Americanshere, in what manner would you set them to work in this business?”

“The bayonet would make a road.”

“Ay, there is white reason in what you say; but a man must ask himself,in this wilderness, how many lives he can spare. No—horse^[1],”continued the scout, shaking his head, like one who mused; “horse, I amashamed to say must sooner or later decide these scrimmages. The brutes arebetter than men, and to horse must we come at last. Put a shodden hoof on themoccasin of a red-skin, and, if his rifle be once emptied, he will never stopto load it again.”

[1]The American forest admits of the passage of horses, there being littleunderbrush, and few tangled brakes. The plan of Hawkeye is the one which hasalways proved the most successful in the battles between the whites and theIndians. Wayne, in his celebrated campaign on the Miami, received the fire ofhis enemies in line; and then causing his dragoons to wheel round his flanks,the Indians were driven from their covers before they had time to load. One ofthe most conspicuous of the chiefs who fought in the battle of Miami assuredthe writer, that the red men could not fight the warriors with “longknives and leather stockings”; meaning the dragoons with their sabers andboots.

“This is a subject that might better be discussed at another time,”returned Heyward; “shall we charge?”

“I see no contradiction to the gifts of any man in passing his breathingspells in useful reflections,” the scout replied. “As to rush, Ilittle relish such a measure; for a scalp or two must be thrown away in theattempt. And yet,” he added, bending his head aside, to catch the soundsof the distant combat, “if we are to be of use to Uncas, these knaves inour front must be got rid of.”

Then, turning with a prompt and decided air, he called aloud to his Indians, intheir own language. His words were answered by a shout; and, at a given signal,each warrior made a swift movement around his particular tree. The sight of somany dark bodies, glancing before their eyes at the same instant, drew a hastyand consequently an ineffectual fire from the Hurons. Without stopping tobreathe, the Delawares leaped in long bounds toward the wood, like so manypanthers springing upon their prey. Hawkeye was in front, brandishing histerrible rifle and animating his followers by his example. A few of the olderand more cunning Hurons, who had not been deceived by the artifice which hadbeen practiced to draw their fire, now made a close and deadly discharge oftheir pieces and justified the apprehensions of the scout by felling three ofhis foremost warriors. But the shock was insufficient to repel the impetus ofthe charge. The Delawares broke into the cover with the ferocity of theirnatures and swept away every trace of resistance by the fury of the onset.

The combat endured only for an instant, hand to hand, and then the assailedyielded ground rapidly, until they reached the opposite margin of the thicket,where they clung to the cover, with the sort of obstinacy that is so oftenwitnessed in hunted brutes. At this critical moment, when the success of thestruggle was again becoming doubtful, the crack of a rifle was heard behind theHurons, and a bullet came whizzing from among some beaver lodges, which weresituated in the clearing, in their rear, and was followed by the fierce andappalling yell of the war-whoop.

“There speaks the Sagamore!” shouted Hawkeye, answering the crywith his own stentorian voice; “we have them now in face and back!”

The effect on the Hurons was instantaneous. Discouraged by an assault from aquarter that left them no opportunity for cover, the warriors uttered a commonyell of disappointment, and breaking off in a body, they spread themselvesacross the opening, heedless of every consideration but flight. Many fell, inmaking the experiment, under the bullets and the blows of the pursuingDelawares.

We shall not pause to detail the meeting between the scout and Chingachgook, orthe more touching interview that Duncan held with Munro. A few brief andhurried words served to explain the state of things to both parties; and thenHawkeye, pointing out the Sagamore to his band, resigned the chief authorityinto the hands of the Mohican chief. Chingachgook assumed the station to whichhis birth and experience gave him so distinguished a claim, with the gravedignity that always gives force to the mandates of a native warrior. Followingthe footsteps of the scout, he led the party back through the thicket, his menscalping the fallen Hurons and secreting the bodies of their own dead as theyproceeded, until they gained a point where the former was content to make ahalt.

The warriors, who had breathed themselves freely in the preceding struggle,were now posted on a bit of level ground, sprinkled with trees in sufficientnumbers to conceal them. The land fell away rather precipitately in front, andbeneath their eyes stretched, for several miles, a narrow, dark, and woodedvale. It was through this dense and dark forest that Uncas was still contendingwith the main body of the Hurons.

The Mohican and his friends advanced to the brow of the hill, and listened,with practised ears, to the sounds of the combat. A few birds hovered over theleafy bosom of the valley, frightened from their secluded nests; and here andthere a light vapory cloud, which seemed already blending with the atmosphere,arose above the trees, and indicated some spot where the struggle had beenfierce and stationary.

“The fight is coming up the ascent,” said Duncan, pointing in thedirection of a new explosion of firearms; “we are too much in the centerof their line to be effective.”

“They will incline into the hollow, where the cover is thicker,”said the scout, “and that will leave us well on their flank. Go,Sagamore; you will hardly be in time to give the whoop, and lead on the youngmen. I will fight this scrimmage with warriors of my own color. You know me,Mohican; not a Huron of them all shall cross the swell, into your rear, withoutthe notice of ‘killdeer’.”

The Indian chief paused another moment to consider the signs of the contest,which was now rolling rapidly up the ascent, a certain evidence that theDelawares triumphed; nor did he actually quit the place until admonished of theproximity of his friends, as well as enemies, by the bullets of the former,which began to patter among the dried leaves on the ground, like the bits offalling hail which precede the bursting of the tempest. Hawkeye and his threecompanions withdrew a few paces to a shelter, and awaited the issue withcalmness that nothing but great practise could impart in such a scene.

It was not long before the reports of the rifles began to lose the echoes ofthe woods, and to sound like weapons discharged in the open air. Then a warriorappeared, here and there, driven to the skirts of the forest, and rallying ashe entered the clearing, as at the place where the final stand was to be made.These were soon joined by others, until a long line of swarthy figures was tobe seen clinging to the cover with the obstinacy of desperation. Heyward beganto grow impatient, and turned his eyes anxiously in the direction ofChingachgook. The chief was seated on a rock, with nothing visible but his calmvisage, considering the spectacle with an eye as deliberate as if he wereposted there merely to view the struggle.

“The time has come for the Delaware to strike!” said Duncan.

“Not so, not so,” returned the scout; “when he scents hisfriends, he will let them know that he is here. See, see; the knaves aregetting in that clump of pines, like bees settling after their flight. By theLord, a squaw might put a bullet into the center of such a knot of darkskins!”

At that instant the whoop was given, and a dozen Hurons fell by a dischargefrom Chingachgook and his band. The shout that followed was answered by asingle war-cry from the forest, and a yell passed through the air that soundedas if a thousand throats were united in a common effort. The Hurons staggered,deserting the center of their line, and Uncas issued from the forest throughthe opening they left, at the head of a hundred warriors.

Waving his hands right and left, the young chief pointed out the enemy to hisfollowers, who separated in pursuit. The war now divided, both wings of thebroken Hurons seeking protection in the woods again, hotly pressed by thevictorious warriors of the Lenape. A minute might have passed, but the soundswere already receding in different directions, and gradually losing theirdistinctness beneath the echoing arches of the woods. One little knot ofHurons, however, had disdained to seek a cover, and were retiring, like lionsat bay, slowly and sullenly up the acclivity which Chingachgook and his bandhad just deserted, to mingle more closely in the fray. Magua was conspicuous inthis party, both by his fierce and savage mien, and by the air of haughtyauthority he yet maintained.

In his eagerness to expedite the pursuit, Uncas had left himself nearly alone;but the moment his eye caught the figure of Le Subtil, every otherconsideration was forgotten. Raising his cry of battle, which recalled some sixor seven warriors, and reckless of the disparity of their numbers, he rushedupon his enemy. Le Renard, who watched the movement, paused to receive him withsecret joy. But at the moment when he thought the rashness of his impetuousyoung assailant had left him at his mercy, another shout was given, and LaLongue Carabine was seen rushing to the rescue, attended by all his whiteassociates. The Huron instantly turned, and commenced a rapid retreat up theascent.

There was no time for greetings or congratulations; for Uncas, thoughunconscious of the presence of his friends, continued the pursuit with thevelocity of the wind. In vain Hawkeye called to him to respect the covers; theyoung Mohican braved the dangerous fire of his enemies, and soon compelled themto a flight as swift as his own headlong speed. It was fortunate that the racewas of short continuance, and that the white men were much favored by theirposition, or the Delaware would soon have outstripped all his companions, andfallen a victim to his own temerity. But, ere such a calamity could happen, thepursuers and pursued entered the Wyandot village, within striking distance ofeach other.

Excited by the presence of their dwellings, and tired of the chase, the Huronsnow made a stand, and fought around their council-lodge with the fury ofdespair. The onset and the issue were like the passage and destruction of awhirlwind. The tomahawk of Uncas, the blows of Hawkeye, and even the stillnervous arm of Munro were all busy for that passing moment, and the ground wasquickly strewed with their enemies. Still Magua, though daring and muchexposed, escaped from every effort against his life, with that sort of fabledprotection that was made to overlook the fortunes of favored heroes in thelegends of ancient poetry. Raising a yell that spoke volumes of anger anddisappointment, the subtle chief, when he saw his comrades fallen, darted awayfrom the place, attended by his two only surviving friends, leaving theDelawares engaged in stripping the dead of the bloody trophies of theirvictory.

But Uncas, who had vainly sought him in the melee, bounded forward in pursuit;Hawkeye, Heyward and David still pressing on his footsteps. The utmost that thescout could effect, was to keep the muzzle of his rifle a little in advance ofhis friend, to whom, however, it answered every purpose of a charmed shield.Once Magua appeared disposed to make another and a final effort to revenge hislosses; but, abandoning his intention as soon as demonstrated, he leaped into athicket of bushes, through which he was followed by his enemies, and suddenlyentered the mouth of the cave already known to the reader. Hawkeye, who hadonly forborne to fire in tenderness to Uncas, raised a shout of success, andproclaimed aloud that now they were certain of their game. The pursuers dashedinto the long and narrow entrance, in time to catch a glimpse of the retreatingforms of the Hurons. Their passage through the natural galleries andsubterraneous apartments of the cavern was preceded by the shrieks and cries ofhundreds of women and children. The place, seen by its dim and uncertain light,appeared like the shades of the infernal regions, across which unhappy ghostsand savage demons were flitting in multitudes.

Still Uncas kept his eye on Magua, as if life to him possessed but a singleobject. Heyward and the scout still pressed on his rear, actuated, thoughpossibly in a less degree, by a common feeling. But their way was becomingintricate, in those dark and gloomy passages, and the glimpses of the retiringwarriors less distinct and frequent; and for a moment the trace was believed tobe lost, when a white robe was seen fluttering in the further extremity of apassage that seemed to lead up the mountain.

“’Tis Cora!” exclaimed Heyward, in a voice in which horrorand delight were wildly mingled.

“Cora! Cora!” echoed Uncas, bounding forward like a deer.

“’Tis the maiden!” shouted the scout. “Courage, lady;we come! we come!”

The chase was renewed with a diligence rendered tenfold encouraging by thisglimpse of the captive. But the way was rugged, broken, and in spots nearlyimpassable. Uncas abandoned his rifle, and leaped forward with headlongprecipitation. Heyward rashly imitated his example, though both were, a momentafterward, admonished of his madness by hearing the bellowing of a piece, thatthe Hurons found time to discharge down the passage in the rocks, the bulletfrom which even gave the young Mohican a slight wound.

“We must close!” said the scout, passing his friends by a desperateleap; “the knaves will pick us all off at this distance; and see, theyhold the maiden so as to shield themselves!”

Though his words were unheeded, or rather unheard, his example was followed byhis companions, who, by incredible exertions, got near enough to the fugitivesto perceive that Cora was borne along between the two warriors while Maguaprescribed the direction and manner of their flight. At this moment the formsof all four were strongly drawn against an opening in the sky, and theydisappeared. Nearly frantic with disappointment, Uncas and Heyward increasedefforts that already seemed superhuman, and they issued from the cavern on theside of the mountain, in time to note the route of the pursued. The course layup the ascent, and still continued hazardous and laborious.

Encumbered by his rifle, and, perhaps, not sustained by so deep an interest inthe captive as his companions, the scout suffered the latter to precede him alittle, Uncas, in his turn, taking the lead of Heyward. In this manner, rocks,precipices and difficulties were surmounted in an incredibly short space, thatat another time, and under other circumstances, would have been deemed almostinsuperable. But the impetuous young men were rewarded by finding that,encumbered with Cora, the Hurons were losing ground in the race.

“Stay, dog of the Wyandots!” exclaimed Uncas, shaking his brighttomahawk at Magua; “a Delaware girl calls stay!”

“I will go no further!” cried Cora, stopping unexpectedly on aledge of rock, that overhung a deep precipice, at no great distance from thesummit of the mountain. “Kill me if thou wilt, detestable Huron; I willgo no further.”

The supporters of the maiden raised their ready tomahawks with the impious joythat fiends are thought to take in mischief, but Magua stayed the upliftedarms. The Huron chief, after casting the weapons he had wrested from hiscompanions over the rock, drew his knife, and turned to his captive, with alook in which conflicting passions fiercely contended.

“Woman,” he said, “chose; the wigwam or the knife of LeSubtil!”

Cora regarded him not, but dropping on her knees, she raised her eyes andstretched her arms toward heaven, saying in a meek and yet confiding voice:

“I am thine; do with me as thou seest best!”

“Woman,” repeated Magua, hoarsely, and endeavoring in vain to catcha glance from her serene and beaming eye, “choose!”

But Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand. The form of the Huron trembled inevery fibre, and he raised his arm on high, but dropped it again with abewildered air, like one who doubted. Once more he struggled with himself andlifted the keen weapon again; but just then a piercing cry was heard abovethem, and Uncas appeared, leaping frantically, from a fearful height, upon theledge. Magua recoiled a step; and one of his assistants, profiting by thechance, sheathed his own knife in the bosom of Cora.

The Huron sprang like a tiger on his offending and already retreating countryman, but the falling form of Uncas separated the unnatural combatants. Divertedfrom his object by this interruption, and maddened by the murder he had justwitnessed, Magua buried his weapon in the back of the prostrate Delaware,uttering an unearthly shout as he committed the dastardly deed. But Uncas arosefrom the blow, as the wounded panther turns upon his foe, and struck themurderer of Cora to his feet, by an effort in which the last of his failingstrength was expended. Then, with a stern and steady look, he turned to LeSubtil, and indicated by the expression of his eye all that he would do had notthe power deserted him. The latter seized the nerveless arm of the unresistingDelaware, and passed his knife into his bosom three several times, before hisvictim, still keeping his gaze riveted on his enemy, with a look ofinextinguishable scorn, fell dead at his feet.

“Mercy! mercy! Huron,” cried Heyward, from above, in tones nearlychoked by horror; “give mercy, and thou shalt receive from it!”

Whirling the bloody knife up at the imploring youth, the victorious Maguauttered a cry so fierce, so wild, and yet so joyous, that it conveyed thesounds of savage triumph to the ears of those who fought in the valley, athousand feet below. He was answered by a burst from the lips of the scout,whose tall person was just then seen moving swiftly toward him, along thosedangerous crags, with steps as bold and reckless as if he possessed the powerto move in air. But when the hunter reached the scene of the ruthless massacre,the ledge was tenanted only by the dead.

His keen eye took a single look at the victims, and then shot its glances overthe difficulties of the ascent in his front. A form stood at the brow of themountain, on the very edge of the giddy height, with uplifted arms, in an awfulattitude of menace. Without stopping to consider his person, the rifle ofHawkeye was raised; but a rock, which fell on the head of one of the fugitivesbelow, exposed the indignant and glowing countenance of the honest Gamut. ThenMagua issued from a crevice, and, stepping with calm indifference over the bodyof the last of his associates, he leaped a wide fissure, and ascended the rocksat a point where the arm of David could not reach him. A single bound wouldcarry him to the brow of the precipice, and assure his safety. Before takingthe leap, however, the Huron paused, and shaking his hand at the scout, heshouted:

“The pale faces are dogs! the Delawares women! Magua leaves them on therocks, for the crows!”

Laughing hoarsely, he made a desperate leap, and fell short of his mark, thoughhis hands grasped a shrub on the verge of the height. The form of Hawkeye hadcrouched like a beast about to take its spring, and his frame trembled soviolently with eagerness that the muzzle of the half-raised rifle played like aleaf fluttering in the wind. Without exhausting himself with fruitless efforts,the cunning Magua suffered his body to drop to the length of his arms, andfound a fragment for his feet to rest on. Then, summoning all his powers, herenewed the attempt, and so far succeeded as to draw his knees on the edge ofthe mountain. It was now, when the body of his enemy was most collectedtogether, that the agitated weapon of the scout was drawn to his shoulder. Thesurrounding rocks themselves were not steadier than the piece became, for thesingle instant that it poured out its contents. The arms of the Huron relaxed,and his body fell back a little, while his knees still kept their position.Turning a relentless look on his enemy, he shook a hand in grim defiance. Buthis hold loosened, and his dark person was seen cutting the air with its headdownward, for a fleeting instant, until it glided past the fringe of shrubberywhich clung to the mountain, in its rapid flight to destruction.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

“They fought, like brave men, long and well,
They piled that ground with Moslem slain,
They conquered—but Bozzaris fell,
Bleeding at every vein.
His few surviving comrades saw
His smile when rang their loud hurrah,
And the red field was won;
Then saw in death his eyelids close
Calmly, as to a night’s repose,
Like flowers at set of sun.”
—Halleck.

The sun found the Lenape, on the succeeding day, a nation of mourners. Thesounds of the battle were over, and they had fed fat their ancient grudge, andhad avenged their recent quarrel with the Mengwe, by the destruction of a wholecommunity. The black and murky atmosphere that floated around the spot wherethe Hurons had encamped, sufficiently announced of itself, the fate of thatwandering tribe; while hundreds of ravens, that struggled above the summits ofthe mountains, or swept, in noisy flocks, across the wide ranges of the woods,furnished a frightful direction to the scene of the combat. In short, any eyeat all practised in the signs of a frontier warfare might easily have tracedall those unerring evidences of the ruthless results which attend an Indianvengeance.

Still, the sun rose on the Lenape a nation of mourners. No shouts of success,no songs of triumph, were heard, in rejoicings for their victory. The lateststraggler had returned from his fell employment, only to strip himself of theterrific emblems of his bloody calling, and to join in the lamentations of hiscountrymen, as a stricken people. Pride and exultation were supplanted byhumility, and the fiercest of human passions was already succeeded by the mostprofound and unequivocal demonstrations of grief.

The lodges were deserted; but a broad belt of earnest faces encircled a spot intheir vicinity, whither everything possessing life had repaired, and where allwere now collected, in deep and awful silence. Though beings of every rank andage, of both sexes, and of all pursuits, had united to form this breathing wallof bodies, they were influenced by a single emotion. Each eye was riveted onthe center of that ring, which contained the objects of so much and of socommon an interest.

Six Delaware girls, with their long, dark, flowing tresses falling looselyacross their bosoms, stood apart, and only gave proof of their existence asthey occasionally strewed sweet-scented herbs and forest flowers on a litter offragrant plants that, under a pall of Indian robes, supported all that nowremained of the ardent, high-souled, and generous Cora. Her form was concealedin many wrappers of the same simple manufacture, and her face was shut foreverfrom the gaze of men. At her feet was seated the desolate Munro. His aged headwas bowed nearly to the earth, in compelled submission to the stroke ofProvidence; but a hidden anguish struggled about his furrowed brow, that wasonly partially concealed by the careless locks of gray that had fallen,neglected, on his temples. Gamut stood at his side, his meek head bared to therays of the sun, while his eyes, wandering and concerned, seemed to be equallydivided between that little volume, which contained so many quaint but holymaxims, and the being in whose behalf his soul yearned to administerconsolation. Heyward was also nigh, supporting himself against a tree, andendeavoring to keep down those sudden risings of sorrow that it required hisutmost manhood to subdue.

But sad and melancholy as this group may easily be imagined, it was far lesstouching than another, that occupied the opposite space of the same area.Seated, as in life, with his form and limbs arranged in grave and decentcomposure, Uncas appeared, arrayed in the most gorgeous ornaments that thewealth of the tribe could furnish. Rich plumes nodded above his head; wampum,gorgets, bracelets, and medals, adorned his person in profusion; though hisdull eye and vacant lineaments too strongly contradicted the idle tale of pridethey would convey.

Directly in front of the corpse Chingachgook was placed, without arms, paint oradornment of any sort, except the bright blue blazonry of his race, that wasindelibly impressed on his naked bosom. During the long period that the tribehad thus been collected, the Mohican warrior had kept a steady, anxious look onthe cold and senseless countenance of his son. So riveted and intense had beenthat gaze, and so changeless his attitude, that a stranger might not have toldthe living from the dead, but for the occasional gleamings of a troubledspirit, that shot athwart the dark visage of one, and the deathlike calm thathad forever settled on the lineaments of the other. The scout was hard by,leaning in a pensive posture on his own fatal and avenging weapon; whileTamenund, supported by the elders of his nation, occupied a high place at hand,whence he might look down on the mute and sorrowful assemblage of his people.

Just within the inner edge of the circle stood a soldier, in the militaryattire of a strange nation; and without it was his warhorse, in the center of acollection of mounted domestics, seemingly in readiness to undertake somedistant journey. The vestments of the stranger announced him to be one who helda responsible situation near the person of the captain of the Canadas; and who,as it would now seem, finding his errand of peace frustrated by the fierceimpetuosity of his allies, was content to become a silent and sad spectator ofthe fruits of a contest that he had arrived too late to anticipate.

The day was drawing to the close of its first quarter, and yet had themultitude maintained its breathing stillness since its dawn.

No sound louder than a stifled sob had been heard among them, nor had even alimb been moved throughout that long and painful period, except to perform thesimple and touching offerings that were made, from time to time, incommemoration of the dead. The patience and forbearance of Indian fortitudecould alone support such an appearance of abstraction, as seemed now to haveturned each dark and motionless figure into stone.

At length, the sage of the Delawares stretched forth an arm, and leaning on theshoulders of his attendants, he arose with an air as feeble as if another agehad already intervened between the man who had met his nation the precedingday, and him who now tottered on his elevated stand.

“Men of the Lenape!” he said, in low, hollow tones, that soundedlike a voice charged with some prophetic mission: “the face of theManitou is behind a cloud! His eye is turned from you; His ears are shut; Histongue gives no answer. You see him not; yet His judgments are before you. Letyour hearts be open and your spirits tell no lie. Men of the Lenape! the faceof the Manitou is behind a cloud.”

As this simple and yet terrible annunciation stole on the ears of themultitude, a stillness as deep and awful succeeded as if the venerated spiritthey worshiped had uttered the words without the aid of human organs; and eventhe inanimate Uncas appeared a being of life, compared with the humbled andsubmissive throng by whom he was surrounded. As the immediate effect, however,gradually passed away, a low murmur of voices commenced a sort of chant inhonor of the dead. The sounds were those of females, and were thrillingly softand wailing. The words were connected by no regular continuation, but as oneceased another took up the eulogy, or lamentation, whichever it might becalled, and gave vent to her emotions in such language as was suggested by herfeelings and the occasion. At intervals the speaker was interrupted by generaland loud bursts of sorrow, during which the girls around the bier of Coraplucked the plants and flowers blindly from her body, as if bewildered withgrief. But, in the milder moments of their plaint, these emblems of purity andsweetness were cast back to their places, with every sign of tenderness andregret. Though rendered less connected by many and general interruptions andoutbreakings, a translation of their language would have contained a regulardescant, which, in substance, might have proved to possess a train ofconsecutive ideas.

A girl, selected for the task by her rank and qualifications, commenced bymodest allusions to the qualities of the deceased warrior, embellishing herexpressions with those oriental images that the Indians have probably broughtwith them from the extremes of the other continent, and which form ofthemselves a link to connect the ancient histories of the two worlds. Shecalled him the “panther of his tribe”; and described him as onewhose moccasin left no trail on the dews; whose bound was like the leap of ayoung fawn; whose eye was brighter than a star in the dark night; and whosevoice, in battle, was loud as the thunder of the Manitou. She reminded him ofthe mother who bore him, and dwelt forcibly on the happiness she must feel inpossessing such a son. She bade him tell her, when they met in the world ofspirits, that the Delaware girls had shed tears above the grave of her child,and had called her blessed.

Then, they who succeeded, changing their tones to a milder and still moretender strain, alluded, with the delicacy and sensitiveness of women, to thestranger maiden, who had left the upper earth at a time so near his owndeparture, as to render the will of the Great Spirit too manifest to bedisregarded. They admonished him to be kind to her, and to have considerationfor her ignorance of those arts which were so necessary to the comfort of awarrior like himself. They dwelled upon her matchless beauty, and on her nobleresolution, without the taint of envy, and as angels may be thought to delightin a superior excellence; adding, that these endowments should prove more thanequivalent for any little imperfection in her education.

After which, others again, in due succession, spoke to the maiden herself, inthe low, soft language of tenderness and love. They exhorted her to be ofcheerful mind, and to fear nothing for her future welfare. A hunter would beher companion, who knew how to provide for her smallest wants; and a warriorwas at her side who was able to protect he against every danger. They promisedthat her path should be pleasant, and her burden light. They cautioned heragainst unavailing regrets for the friends of her youth, and the scenes whereher father had dwelt; assuring her that the “blessed hunting grounds ofthe Lenape,” contained vales as pleasant, streams as pure; and flowers assweet, as the “heaven of the pale faces.” They advised her to beattentive to the wants of her companion, and never to forget the distinctionwhich the Manitou had so wisely established between them. Then, in a wild burstof their chant they sang with united voices the temper of the Mohican’smind. They pronounced him noble, manly and generous; all that became a warrior,and all that a maid might love. Clothing their ideas in the most remote andsubtle images, they betrayed, that, in the short period of their intercourse,they had discovered, with the intuitive perception of their sex, the truantdisposition of his inclinations. The Delaware girls had found no favor in hiseyes! He was of a race that had once been lords on the shores of the salt lake,and his wishes had led him back to a people who dwelt about the graves of hisfathers. Why should not such a predilection be encouraged! That she was of ablood purer and richer than the rest of her nation, any eye might have seen;that she was equal to the dangers and daring of a life in the woods, herconduct had proved; and now, they added, the “wise one of theearth” had transplanted her to a place where she would find congenialspirits, and might be forever happy.

Then, with another transition in voice and subject, allusions were made to thevirgin who wept in the adjacent lodge. They compared her to flakes of snow; aspure, as white, as brilliant, and as liable to melt in the fierce heats ofsummer, or congeal in the frosts of winter. They doubted not that she waslovely in the eyes of the young chief, whose skin and whose sorrow seemed solike her own; but though far from expressing such a preference, it was evidentthey deemed her less excellent than the maid they mourned. Still they deniedher no need her rare charms might properly claim. Her ringlets were compared tothe exuberant tendrils of the vine, her eye to the blue vault of heavens, andthe most spotless cloud, with its glowing flush of the sun, was admitted to beless attractive than her bloom.

During these and similar songs nothing was audible but the murmurs of themusic; relieved, as it was, or rather rendered terrible, by those occasionalbursts of grief which might be called its choruses. The Delawares themselveslistened like charmed men; and it was very apparent, by the variations of theirspeaking countenances, how deep and true was their sympathy. Even David was notreluctant to lend his ears to the tones of voices so sweet; and long ere thechant was ended, his gaze announced that his soul was enthralled.

The scout, to whom alone, of all the white men, the words were intelligible,suffered himself to be a little aroused from his meditative posture, and benthis face aside, to catch their meaning, as the girls proceeded. But when theyspoke of the future prospects of Cora and Uncas, he shook his head, like onewho knew the error of their simple creed, and resuming his reclining attitude,he maintained it until the ceremony, if that might be called a ceremony, inwhich feeling was so deeply imbued, was finished. Happily for the self-commandof both Heyward and Munro, they knew not the meaning of the wild sounds theyheard.

Chingachgook was a solitary exception to the interest manifested by the nativepart of the audience. His look never changed throughout the whole of the scene,nor did a muscle move in his rigid countenance, even at the wildest or the mostpathetic parts of the lamentation. The cold and senseless remains of his sonwas all to him, and every other sense but that of sight seemed frozen, in orderthat his eyes might take their final gaze at those lineaments he had so longloved, and which were now about to be closed forever from his view.

In this stage of the obsequies, a warrior much renowned for deed in arms, andmore especially for services in the recent combat, a man of stern and gravedemeanor, advanced slowly from the crowd, and placed himself nigh the person ofthe dead.

“Why hast thou left us, pride of the Wapanachki?” he said,addressing himself to the dull ears of Uncas, as if the empty clay retained thefaculties of the animated man; “thy time has been like that of the sunwhen in the trees; thy glory brighter than his light at noonday. Thou art gone,youthful warrior, but a hundred Wyandots are clearing the briers from thy pathto the world of the spirits. Who that saw thee in battle would believe thatthou couldst die? Who before thee has ever shown Uttawa the way into the fight?Thy feet were like the wings of eagles; thine arm heavier than falling branchesfrom the pine; and thy voice like the Manitou when He speaks in the clouds. Thetongue of Uttawa is weak,” he added, looking about him with a melancholygaze, “and his heart exceeding heavy. Pride of the Wapanachki, why hastthou left us?”

He was succeeded by others, in due order, until most of the high and gifted menof the nation had sung or spoken their tribute of praise over the manes of thedeceased chief. When each had ended, another deep and breathing silence reignedin all the place.

Then a low, deep sound was heard, like the suppressed accompaniment of distantmusic, rising just high enough on the air to be audible, and yet soindistinctly, as to leave its character, and the place whence it proceeded,alike matters of conjecture. It was, however, succeeded by another and anotherstrain, each in a higher key, until they grew on the ear, first in long drawnand often repeated interjections, and finally in words. The lips ofChingachgook had so far parted, as to announce that it was the monody of thefather. Though not an eye was turned toward him nor the smallest sign ofimpatience exhibited, it was apparent, by the manner in which the multitudeelevated their heads to listen, that they drank in the sounds with anintenseness of attention, that none but Tamenund himself had ever beforecommanded. But they listened in vain. The strains rose just so loud as tobecome intelligible, and then grew fainter and more trembling, until theyfinally sank on the ear, as if borne away by a passing breath of wind. The lipsof the Sagamore closed, and he remained silent in his seat, looking with hisriveted eye and motionless form, like some creature that had been turned fromthe Almighty hand with the form but without the spirit of a man. The Delawareswho knew by these symptoms that the mind of their friend was not prepared forso mighty an effort of fortitude, relaxed in their attention; and, with aninnate delicacy, seemed to bestow all their thoughts on the obsequies of thestranger maiden.

A signal was given, by one of the elder chiefs, to the women who crowded thatpart of the circle near which the body of Cora lay. Obedient to the sign, thegirls raised the bier to the elevation of their heads, and advanced with slowand regulated steps, chanting, as they proceeded, another wailing song inpraise of the deceased. Gamut, who had been a close observer of rites he deemedso heathenish, now bent his head over the shoulder of the unconscious father,whispering:

“They move with the remains of thy child; shall we not follow, and seethem interred with Christian burial?”

Munro started, as if the last trumpet had sounded in his ear, and bestowing oneanxious and hurried glance around him, he arose and followed in the simpletrain, with the mien of a soldier, but bearing the full burden of aparent’s suffering. His friends pressed around him with a sorrow that wastoo strong to be termed sympathy—even the young Frenchman joining in theprocession, with the air of a man who was sensibly touched at the early andmelancholy fate of one so lovely. But when the last and humblest female of thetribe had joined in the wild and yet ordered array, the men of the Lenapecontracted their circle, and formed again around the person of Uncas, assilent, as grave, and as motionless as before.

The place which had been chosen for the grave of Cora was a little knoll, wherea cluster of young and healthful pines had taken root, forming of themselves amelancholy and appropriate shade over the spot. On reaching it the girlsdeposited their burden, and continued for many minutes waiting, withcharacteristic patience, and native timidity, for some evidence that they whosefeelings were most concerned were content with the arrangement. At length thescout, who alone understood their habits, said, in their own language:

“My daughters have done well; the white men thank them.”

Satisfied with this testimony in their favor, the girls proceeded to depositthe body in a shell, ingeniously, and not inelegantly, fabricated of the barkof the birch; after which they lowered it into its dark and final abode. Theceremony of covering the remains, and concealing the marks of the fresh earth,by leaves and other natural and customary objects, was conducted with the samesimple and silent forms. But when the labors of the kind beings who hadperformed these sad and friendly offices were so far completed, they hesitated,in a way to show that they knew not how much further they might proceed. It wasin this stage of the rites that the scout again addressed them:

“My young women have done enough,” he said: “the spirit ofthe pale face has no need of food or raiment, their gifts being according tothe heaven of their color. I see,” he added, glancing an eye at David,who was preparing his book in a manner that indicated an intention to lead theway in sacred song, “that one who better knows the Christian fashions isabout to speak.”

The females stood modestly aside, and, from having been the principal actors inthe scene, they now became the meek and attentive observers of that whichfollowed. During the time David occupied in pouring out the pious feelings ofhis spirit in this manner, not a sign of surprise, nor a look of impatience,escaped them. They listened like those who knew the meaning of the strangewords, and appeared as if they felt the mingled emotions of sorrow, hope, andresignation, they were intended to convey.

Excited by the scene he had just witnessed, and perhaps influenced by his ownsecret emotions, the master of song exceeded his usual efforts. His full richvoice was not found to suffer by a comparison with the soft tones of the girls;and his more modulated strains possessed, at least for the ears of those towhom they were peculiarly addressed, the additional power of intelligence. Heended the anthem, as he had commenced it, in the midst of a grave and solemnstillness.

When, however, the closing cadence had fallen on the ears of his auditors, thesecret, timorous glances of the eyes, and the general and yet subdued movementof the assemblage, betrayed that something was expected from the father of thedeceased. Munro seemed sensible that the time was come for him to exert whatis, perhaps, the greatest effort of which human nature is capable. He bared hisgray locks, and looked around the timid and quiet throng by which he wasencircled, with a firm and collected countenance. Then, motioning with his handfor the scout to listen, he said:

“Say to these kind and gentle females, that a heart-broken and failingman returns them his thanks. Tell them, that the Being we all worship, underdifferent names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall notbe distant when we may assemble around His throne without distinction of sex,or rank, or color.”

The scout listened to the tremulous voice in which the veteran delivered thesewords, and shook his head slowly when they were ended, as one who doubted theirefficacy.

“To tell them this,” he said, “would be to tell them that thesnows come not in the winter, or that the sun shines fiercest when the treesare stripped of their leaves.”

Then turning to the women, he made such a communication of the other’sgratitude as he deemed most suited to the capacities of his listeners. The headof Munro had already sunk upon his chest, and he was again fast relapsing intomelancholy, when the young Frenchman before named ventured to touch him lightlyon the elbow. As soon as he had gained the attention of the mourning old man,he pointed toward a group of young Indians, who approached with a light butclosely covered litter, and then pointed upward toward the sun.

“I understand you, sir,” returned Munro, with a voice of forcedfirmness; “I understand you. It is the will of Heaven, and I submit.Cora, my child! if the prayers of a heart-broken father could avail thee now,how blessed shouldst thou be! Come, gentlemen,” he added, looking abouthim with an air of lofty composure, though the anguish that quivered in hisfaded countenance was far too powerful to be concealed, “our duty here isended; let us depart.”

Heyward gladly obeyed a summons that took them from a spot where, each instant,he felt his self-control was about to desert him. While his companions weremounting, however, he found time to press the hand of the scout, and to repeatthe terms of an engagement they had made to meet again within the posts of theBritish army. Then, gladly throwing himself into the saddle, he spurred hischarger to the side of the litter, whence low and stifled sobs alone announcedthe presence of Alice. In this manner, the head of Munro again drooping on hisbosom, with Heyward and David following in sorrowing silence, and attended bythe aide of Montcalm with his guard, all the white men, with the exception ofHawkeye, passed from before the eyes of the Delawares, and were buried in thevast forests of that region.

But the tie which, through their common calamity, had united the feelings ofthese simple dwellers in the woods with the strangers who had thus transientlyvisited them, was not so easily broken. Years passed away before thetraditionary tale of the white maiden, and of the young warrior of the Mohicansceased to beguile the long nights and tedious marches, or to animate theiryouthful and brave with a desire for vengeance. Neither were the secondaryactors in these momentous incidents forgotten. Through the medium of the scout,who served for years afterward as a link between them and civilized life, theylearned, in answer to their inquiries, that the “Gray Head” wasspeedily gathered to his fathers—borne down, as was erroneously believed,by his military misfortunes; and that the “Open Hand” had conveyedhis surviving daughter far into the settlements of the pale faces, where hertears had at last ceased to flow, and had been succeeded by the bright smileswhich were better suited to her joyous nature.

But these were events of a time later than that which concerns our tale.Deserted by all of his color, Hawkeye returned to the spot where his sympathiesled him, with a force that no ideal bond of union could destroy. He was just intime to catch a parting look of the features of Uncas, whom the Delawares werealready inclosing in his last vestment of skins. They paused to permit thelonging and lingering gaze of the sturdy woodsman, and when it was ended, thebody was enveloped, never to be unclosed again. Then came a procession like theother, and the whole nation was collected about the temporary grave of thechief—temporary, because it was proper that, at some future day, hisbones should rest among those of his own people.

The movement, like the feeling, had been simultaneous and general. The samegrave expression of grief, the same rigid silence, and the same deference tothe principal mourner, were observed around the place of interment as have beenalready described. The body was deposited in an attitude of repose, facing therising sun, with the implements of war and of the chase at hand, in readinessfor the final journey. An opening was left in the shell, by which it wasprotected from the soil, for the spirit to communicate with its earthlytenement, when necessary; and the whole was concealed from the instinct, andprotected from the ravages of the beasts of prey, with an ingenuity peculiar tothe natives. The manual rites then ceased and all present reverted to the morespiritual part of the ceremonies.

Chingachgook became once more the object of the common attention. He had notyet spoken, and something consolatory and instructive was expected from sorenowned a chief on an occasion of such interest. Conscious of the wishes ofthe people, the stern and self-restrained warrior raised his face, which hadlatterly been buried in his robe, and looked about him with a steady eye. Hisfirmly compressed and expressive lips then severed, and for the first timeduring the long ceremonies his voice was distinctly audible. “Why do mybrothers mourn?” he said, regarding the dark race of dejected warriors bywhom he was environed; “why do my daughters weep? that a young man hasgone to the happy hunting-grounds; that a chief has filled his time with honor?He was good; he was dutiful; he was brave. Who can deny it? The Manitou hadneed of such a warrior, and He has called him away. As for me, the son and thefather of Uncas, I am a blazed pine, in a clearing of the pale faces. My racehas gone from the shores of the salt lake and the hills of the Delawares. Butwho can say that the serpent of his tribe has forgotten his wisdom? I amalone—”

“No, no,” cried Hawkeye, who had been gazing with a yearning lookat the rigid features of his friend, with something like his own self-command,but whose philosophy could endure no longer; “no, Sagamore, not alone.The gifts of our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as tojourney in the same path. I have no kin, and I may also say, like you, nopeople. He was your son, and a red-skin by nature; and it may be that yourblood was nearer—but, if ever I forget the lad who has so oftenfou’t at my side in war, and slept at my side in peace, may He who madeus all, whatever may be our color or our gifts, forget me! The boy has left usfor a time; but, Sagamore, you are not alone.”

Chingachgook grasped the hand that, in the warmth of feeling, the scout hadstretched across the fresh earth, and in an attitude of friendship these twosturdy and intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together, while scalding tearsfell to their feet, watering the grave of Uncas like drops of falling rain.

In the midst of the awful stillness with which such a burst of feeling, comingas it did, from the two most renowned warriors of that region, was received,Tamenund lifted his voice to disperse the multitude.

“It is enough,” he said. “Go, children of the Lenape, theanger of the Manitou is not done. Why should Tamenund stay? The pale faces aremasters of the earth, and the time of the red men has not yet come again. Myday has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy andstrong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived to see the lastwarrior of the wise race of the Mohicans.”

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