CHAPTER 24
"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. Ahand was laid, with a powerful pressure, on his arm, and the low voiceof Uncas muttered in his ear:
"The Hurons are dogs. The sight of a coward's blood can never make awarrior tremble. The 'Gray Head' and the Sagamore are safe, and therifle of Hawkeye is not asleep. Go--Uncas and the 'Open Hand' are nowstrangers. It is enough."
Heyward would gladly have heard more, but a gentle push from his friendurged him toward the door, and admonished him of the danger that mightattend the discovery of their intercourse. Slowly and reluctantlyyielding to the necessity, he quitted the place, and mingled with thethrong that hovered nigh. The dying fires in the clearing cast a dim anduncertain light on the dusky figures that were silently stalking toand fro; and occasionally a brighter gleam than common glanced into thelodge, and exhibited the figure of Uncas still maintaining its uprightattitude near the dead body of the Huron.
A knot of warriors soon entered the place again, and reissuing,they bore the senseless remains into the adjacent woods. After thistermination of the scene, Duncan wandered among the lodges, unquestionedand unnoticed, endeavoring to find some trace of her in whose behalf heincurred the risk he ran. In the present temper of the tribe it wouldhave been easy to have fled and rejoined his companions, had such awish crossed his mind. But, in addition to the never-ceasing anxiety onaccount of Alice, a fresher though feebler interest in the fate of Uncasassisted to chain him to the spot. He continued, therefore, to strayfrom hut to hut, looking into each only to encounter additionaldisappointment, until he had made the entire circuit of the village.Abandoning a species of inquiry that proved so fruitless, he retracedhis steps to the council-lodge, resolved to seek and question David, inorder to put an end to his doubts.
On reaching the building, which had proved alike the seat of judgmentand the place of execution, the young man found that the excitementhad already subsided. The warriors had reassembled, and were now calmlysmoking, while they conversed gravely on the chief incidents of theirrecent expedition to the head of the Horican. Though the return ofDuncan was likely to remind them of his character, and the suspiciouscircumstances of his visit, it produced no visible sensation. So far,the terrible scene that had just occurred proved favorable to his views,and he required no other prompter than his own feelings to convince himof the expediency of profiting by so unexpected an advantage.
Without seeming to hesitate, he walked into the lodge, and took his seatwith a gravity that accorded admirably with the deportment of his hosts.A hasty but searching glance sufficed to tell him that, though Uncasstill remained where he had left him, David had not reappeared. No otherrestraint was imposed on the former than the watchful looks of a youngHuron, who had placed himself at hand; though an armed warrior leanedagainst the post that formed one side of the narrow doorway. In everyother respect, the captive seemed at liberty; still he was excluded fromall participation in the discourse, and possessed much more of the airof some finely molded statue than a man having life and volition.
Heyward had too recently witnessed a frightful instance of the promptpunishments of the people into whose hands he had fallen to hazard anexposure by any officious boldness. He would greatly have preferredsilence and meditation to speech, when a discovery of his realcondition might prove so instantly fatal. Unfortunately for this prudentresolution, his entertainers appeared otherwise disposed. He had notlong occupied the seat wisely taken a little in the shade, when anotherof the elder warriors, who spoke the French language, addressed him:
"My Canada father does not forget his children," said the chief; "Ithank him. An evil spirit lives in the wife of one of my young men. Canthe cunning stranger frighten him away?"
Heyward possessed some knowledge of the mummery practised among theIndians, in the cases of such supposed visitations. He saw, at a glance,that the circumstance might possibly be improved to further his ownends. It would, therefore, have been difficult, just then to haveuttered a proposal that would have given him more satisfaction. Awareof the necessity of preserving the dignity of his imaginary character,however, he repressed his feelings, and answered 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 willtry?"
A gesture of assent was the answer. The Huron was content with theassurance, and, resuming his pipe, he awaited the proper moment tomove. The impatient Heyward, inwardly execrating the cold customs ofthe savages, which required such sacrifices to appearance, was fain toassume an air of indifference, equal to that maintained by the chief,who was, in truth, a near relative of the afflicted woman. The minuteslingered, and the delay had seemed an hour to the adventurer inempiricism, when the Huron laid aside his pipe and drew his robe acrosshis 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 thelow pile of brush which sustained Duncan. The latter cast an impatientlook at his neighbor, and felt his flesh creep with uncontrollablehorror when he found himself 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, werelighted again; while the newcomer, without speaking a word, drew histomahawk from his girdle, and filling the bowl on its head began toinhale the vapors of the weed through the hollow handle, with as muchindifference as if he had not been absent two weary days on a long andtoilsome hunt. Ten minutes, which appeared so many ages to Duncan, mighthave passed in this manner; and the warriors were fairly enveloped in acloud of white smoke before any of them spoke.
"Welcome!" one at length uttered; "has my friend found the moose?"
"The young men stagger under their burdens," returned Magua. "Let'Reed-that-bends' go on the hunting path; he will meet them."
A deep and awful silence succeeded the utterance of the forbidden name.Each pipe dropped from the lips of its owner as though all had inhaledan impurity at the same instant. The smoke wreathed above their heads inlittle eddies, and curling in a spiral form it ascended swiftly throughthe opening in the roof of the lodge, leaving the place beneath clear ofits fumes, and each dark visage distinctly visible. The looks of most ofthe warriors were riveted on the earth; though a few of the younger andless gifted of the party suffered their wild and glaring eyeballs toroll in the direction of a white-headed savage, who sat between two ofthe most venerated chiefs of the tribe. There was nothing in the airor attire of this Indian that would seem to entitle him to such adistinction. The former was rather depressed, than remarkable for thebearing of the natives; and the latter was such as was commonly wornby the ordinary men of the nation. Like most around him for more thana minute his look, too, was on the ground; but, trusting his eyes atlength to steal a glance aside, he perceived that he was becoming anobject of general attention. Then he arose and lifted his voice in thegeneral silence.
"It was a lie," he said; "I had no son. He who was called by that nameis 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,that the family of Wiss-entush should end; he is happy who knows thatthe evil of his race dies with himself. I have done."
The speaker, who was the father of the recreant young Indian, lookedround and about him, as if seeking commendation of his stoicism in theeyes of the auditors. But the stern customs of his people had made toosevere an exaction of the feeble old man. The expression of his eyecontradicted his figurative and boastful language, while every muscle inhis wrinkled visage was working with anguish. Standing a single minuteto enjoy his bitter triumph, he turned away, as if sickening at the gazeof men, and, veiling his face in his blanket, he w
alked from the lodgewith the noiseless step of an Indian seeking, in the privacy of his ownabode, the sympathy of one like himself, aged, forlorn and childless.
The Indians, who believe in the hereditary transmission of virtues anddefects in character, suffered him to depart in silence. Then, with anelevation of breeding that many in a more cultivated state of societymight profitably emulate, one of the chiefs drew the attention of theyoung men from the weakness they had just witnessed, by saying, in acheerful voice, addressing himself in courtesy to Magua, as the newestcomer:
"The Delawares have been like bears after the honey pots, prowlingaround my village. But who has ever found a Huron asleep?"
The darkness of the impending cloud which precedes a burst of thunderwas not blacker 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 thesight of a captive from a people he was known to have so much reason tohate, Magua continued to smoke, with the meditative air that he usuallymaintained, when there was no immediate call on his cunning or hiseloquence. Although secretly amazed at the facts communicated by thespeech of the aged father, he permitted himself to ask no questions,reserving his inquiries for a more suitable moment. It was only after asufficient interval that he shook the ashes from his pipe, replaced thetomahawk, tightened his girdle, and arose, casting for the first time aglance in the direction of the prisoner, who stood a little behind him.The wary, though seemingly abstracted Uncas, caught a glimpse of themovement, and turning suddenly to the light, their looks met. Near aminute these two bold and untamed spirits stood regarding one anothersteadily in the eye, neither quailing in the least before the fiercegaze he encountered. The form of Uncas dilated, and his nostrils openedlike those of a tiger at bay; but so rigid and unyielding was hisposture, that he might easily have been converted by the imaginationinto an exquisite and faultless representation of the warlike deity ofhis tribe. The lineaments of the quivering features of Magua proved moreductile; his countenance gradually lost its character of defiance in anexpression of ferocious joy, and heaving a breath from the very bottomof 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 stoicalconstancy of the natives was completely conquered by surprise. The hatedand yet respected name was repeated as by one voice, carrying thesound even beyond the limits of the lodge. The women and children, wholingered around the entrance, took up the words in an echo, which wassucceeded by another shrill and plaintive howl. The latter was not yetended, when the sensation among the men had entirely abated. Each one inpresence seated himself, as though ashamed of his precipitation; but itwas many minutes before their meaning eyes ceased to roll toward theircaptive, in curious examination of a warrior who had so often provedhis 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 thecaptive, the light silver ornaments attached to his bracelet rattlingwith the trembling agitation of the limb, as, in a tone of vengeance, heexclaimed, in English:
"Mohican, you die!"
"The healing waters will never bring the dead Hurons to life," returnedUncas, in the music of the Delawares; "the tumbling river washes theirbones; their men are squaws: their women owls. Go! call together theHuron dogs, that they may look upon a warrior, My nostrils are offended;they scent the blood of a coward."
The latter allusion struck deep, and the injury rankled. Many of theHurons understood the strange tongue in which the captive spoke, amongwhich number was Magua. This cunning savage beheld, and instantlyprofited by his advantage. Dropping the light robe of skin from hisshoulder, he stretched forth his arm, and commenced a burst of hisdangerous and artful eloquence. However much his influence among hispeople had been impaired by his occasional and besetting weakness, aswell as by his desertion of the tribe, his courage and his fame as anorator were undeniable. He never spoke without auditors, and rarelywithout making converts to his opinions. On the present occasion, hisnative powers were stimulated by the thirst of revenge.
He again recounted the events of the attack on the island at Glenn's,the death of his associates and the escape of their most formidableenemies. Then he described the nature and position of the mount whitherhe had led such captives as had fallen into their hands. Of his ownbloody intentions toward the maidens, and of his baffled malice he madeno mention, but passed rapidly on to the surprise of the party by "LaLongue Carabine," and its fatal termination. Here he paused, and lookedabout him, in affected veneration for the departed, but, in truth,to note the effect of his opening narrative. As usual, every eye wasriveted on his face. Each dusky figure seemed a breathing statue, somotionless was the posture, so intense the attention of the individual.
Then Magua dropped his voice which had hitherto been clear, strong andelevated, and touched upon the merits of the dead. No quality that waslikely to command the sympathy of an Indian escaped his notice. Onehad never been known to follow the chase in vain; another had beenindefatigable on the trail of their enemies. This was brave, thatgenerous. In short, he so managed his allusions, that in a nation whichwas composed of so few families, he contrived to strike every chord thatmight find, in its turn, some breast in which to vibrate.
"Are the bones of my young men," he concluded, "in the burial-place ofthe Hurons? You know they are not. Their spirits are gone toward thesetting 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 their souls to enter the land of the just like hungry Iroquois orunmanly Delawares, or shall they meet their friends with arms in theirhands and robes on their backs? What will our fathers think the tribesof the Wyandots have become? They will look on their children with adark eye, and say, 'Go! a Chippewa has come hither with the name of aHuron.' Brothers, we must not forget the dead; a red-skin never ceasesto remember. We will load the back of this Mohican until he staggersunder our bounty, and dispatch him after my young men. They call to usfor aid, though our ears are not open; they say, 'Forget us not.' Whenthey see the spirit of this Mohican toiling after them with his burden,they will know we are of that mind. Then will they go on happy; and ourchildren will say, 'So did our fathers to their friends, so must we doto them.' What is a Yengee? we have slain many, but the earth is stillpale. A stain on the name of Huron can only be hid by blood that comesfrom the veins of an Indian. Let this Delaware die."
The effect of such an harangue, delivered in the nervous language andwith the emphatic manner of a Huron orator, could scarcely be mistaken.Magua had so artfully blended the natural sympathies with the religioussuperstition of his auditors, that their minds, already prepared bycustom to sacrifice a victim to the manes of their countrymen, lostevery vestige of humanity in a wish for revenge. One warrior inparticular, a man of wild and ferocious mien, had been conspicuous forthe attention he had given to the words of the speaker. His countenancehad changed with each passing emotion, until it settled into a lookof deadly malice. As Magua ended he arose and, uttering the yell of ademon, his polished little axe was seen glancing in the torchlight ashe whirled it above his head. The motion and the cry were too suddenfor words to interrupt his bloody intention. It appeared as if a brightgleam shot from his hand, which was crossed at the same moment by adark and powerful line. The former was the tomahawk in its passage; the
latter the arm that Magua darted forward to divert its aim. The quickand ready motion of the chief was not entirely too late. The keen weaponcut the war plume from the scalping tuft of Uncas, and passed throughthe frail wall of the lodge as though it were hurled from someformidable engine.
Duncan had seen the threatening action, and sprang upon his feet, witha heart which, while it leaped into his throat, swelled with the mostgenerous resolution in behalf of his friend. A glance told him that theblow had failed, and terror changed to admiration. Uncas stood still,looking his enemy in the eye with features that seemed superior toemotion. Marble could not be colder, calmer, or steadier than thecountenance he put upon this sudden and vindictive attack. Then, as ifpitying a want of skill which had proved so fortunate to himself, hesmiled, and muttered a few words of contempt in his own tongue.
"No!" said Magua, after satisfying himself of the safety of the captive;"the sun must shine on his shame; the squaws must see his flesh tremble,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 themorning die."
The young men whose duty it was to guard the prisoner instantly passedtheir ligaments of bark across his arms, and led him from the lodge,amid a profound and ominous silence. It was only as the figure of Uncasstood in the opening of the door that his firm step hesitated. There heturned, and, in the sweeping and haughty glance that he threw aroundthe circle of his enemies, Duncan caught a look which he was glad toconstrue into an expression that he was not entirely 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, andfolding it on his bosom, he also quitted the place, without pursuing asubject which might have proved so fatal to the individual at his elbow.Notwithstanding his rising resentment, his natural firmness, and hisanxiety on behalf of Uncas, Heyward felt sensibly relieved by theabsence of so dangerous and so subtle a foe. The excitement producedby the speech gradually subsided. The warriors resumed their seats andclouds of smoke once more filled the lodge. For near half an hour, nota syllable was uttered, or scarcely a look cast aside; a grave andmeditative silence being the ordinary succession to every scene ofviolence and commotion among these beings, who were alike so impetuousand yet so self-restrained.
When the chief, who had solicited the aid of Duncan, finished his pipe,he made a final and successful movement toward departing. A motion of afinger was the intimation he gave the supposed physician to follow; andpassing through the clouds of smoke, Duncad was glad, on more accountsthan one, to be able at last to breathe the pure air of a cool andrefreshing summer evening.
Instead of pursuing his way among those lodges where Heyward had alreadymade his unsuccessful search, his companion turned aside, and proceededdirectly toward the base of an adjacent mountain, which overhung thetemporary village. A thicket of brush skirted its foot, and it becamenecessary to proceed through a crooked and narrow path. The boys hadresumed their sports in the clearing, and were enacting a mimic chaseto the post among themselves. In order to render their games as like thereality as possible, one of the boldest of their number had conveyed afew brands into some piles of tree-tops that had hitherto escaped theburning. The blaze of one of these fires lighted the way of the chiefand Duncan, and gave a character of additional wildness to the rudescenery. At a little distance from a bald rock, and directly in itsfront, they entered a grassy opening, which they prepared to cross. Justthen fresh fuel was added to the fire, and a powerful light penetratedeven to that distant spot. It fell upon the white surface of themountain, and was reflected downward upon a dark and mysterious-lookingbeing that arose, unexpectedly, in their path. The Indian paused, as ifdoubtful whether to proceed, and permitted his companion to approach hisside. A large black ball, which at first seemed stationary, now beganto move in a manner that to the latter was inexplicable. Again the firebrightened and its glare fell more distinctly on the object. Then evenDuncan knew it, by its restless and sidling attitudes, which kept theupper part of its form in constant motion, while the animal itselfappeared seated, to be a bear. Though it growled loudly and fiercely,and there were instants when its glistening eyeballs might be seen,it gave no other indications of hostility. The Huron, at least, seemedassured that the intentions of this singular intruder were peaceable,for after giving it an attentive examination, he quietly pursued hiscourse.
Duncan, who knew that the animal was often domesticated among theIndians, followed the example of his companion, believing that somefavorite of the tribe had found its way into the thicket, in searchof food. They passed it unmolested. Though obliged to come nearlyin contact with the monster, the Huron, who had at first so warilydetermined the character of his strange visitor, was now content withproceeding without wasting a moment in further examination; but Heywardwas unable to prevent his eyes from looking backward, in salutarywatchfulness against attacks in the rear. His uneasiness was in nodegree diminished when he perceived the beast rolling along their path,and following their footsteps. He would have spoken, but the Indian atthat moment shoved aside a door of bark, and entered a cavern in thebosom of the mountain.
Profiting by so easy a method of retreat, Duncan stepped after him,and was gladly closing the slight cover to the opening, when he felt itdrawn from his hand by the beast, whose shaggy form immediately darkenedthe passage. They were now in a straight and long gallery, in a chasm ofthe rocks, where retreat without encountering the animal was impossible.Making the best of the circumstances, the young man pressed forward,keeping as close as possible to his conductor. The bear growledfrequently at his heels, and once or twice its enormous paws were laidon his person, as if disposed to prevent his further passage into theden.
How long the nerves of Heyward would have sustained him in thisextraordinary situation, it might be difficult to decide, for, happily,he soon found relief. A glimmer of light had constantly been in theirfront, and they now arrived at the place whence it proceeded.
A large cavity in the rock had been rudely fitted to answer the purposesof many apartments. The subdivisions were simple but ingenious, beingcomposed of stone, sticks, and bark, intermingled. Openings aboveadmitted the light by day, and at night fires and torches supplied theplace of the sun. Hither the Hurons had brought most of their valuables,especially those which more particularly pertained to the nation; andhither, as it now appeared, the sick woman, who was believed to bethe victim of supernatural power, had been transported also, under animpression that her tormentor would find more difficulty in making hisassaults through walls of stone than through the leafy coverings of thelodges. The apartment into which Duncan and his guide first entered, hadbeen exclusively devoted to her accommodation. The latter approached herbedside, which was surrounded by females, in the center of whom Heywardwas surprised to find his missing friend David.
A single look was sufficient to apprise the pretended leech that theinvalid was far beyond his powers of healing. She lay in a sort ofparalysis, indifferent to the objects which crowded before her sight,and happily unconscious of suffering. Heyward was far from regrettingthat his mummeries were to be performed on one who was much too illto take an interest in their failure or success. The slight qualmof conscience which had been excited by the intended deception wasinstantly appeased, and he began to collect his thoughts, in order toenact his part with suitable spirit, when he found he was about to beanticipated 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,and commenced a hymn that might have worked a miracle, had faith in itsefficacy been of much avail. He was allowed to proceed to the close, theIndians respecting his imaginary infirmity, and Duncan too glad of thedelay to hazard the slightest interruption. As the dying cadence ofhis strains was falling on the ears of the latter, he started asideat hearing them repeated behind him, in a voice half human and h
alfsepulchral. Looking around, he beheld the shaggy monster seated on endin a shadow of the cavern, where, while his restless body swung inthe uneasy manner of the animal, it repeated, in a sort of low growl,sounds, if not words, which bore some slight resemblance to the melodyof the singer.
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 voicebecame instantly mute in excess of wonder. A deep-laid scheme, ofcommunicating some important intelligence to Heyward, was driven fromhis recollection by an emotion which very nearly resembled fear, butwhich he was fain to believe was admiration. Under its influence, heexclaimed aloud: "She expects you, and is at hand"; and precipitatelyleft the cavern.