CHAPTER 32
"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, thewoods were as still, and, with the exception of those who had met incouncil, apparently as much untenanted as when they came fresh fromthe hands of their Almighty Creator. The eye could range, in everydirection, through the long and shadowed vistas of the trees; butnowhere was any object to be seen that did not properly belong to thepeaceful and slumbering scenery.
Here and there a bird was heard fluttering among the branches of thebeeches, and occasionally a squirrel dropped a nut, drawing the startledlooks of the party for a moment to the place; but the instant the casualinterruption ceased, the passing air was heard murmuring above theirheads, along that verdant and undulating surface of forest, which spreaditself unbroken, unless by stream or lake, over such a vast region ofcountry. Across the tract of wilderness which lay between the Delawaresand the village of their enemies, it seemed as if the foot of man hadnever trodden, so breathing and deep was the silence in which it lay.But Hawkeye, whose duty led him foremost in the adventure, knew thecharacter of those with whom he was about to contend too well to trustthe treacherous quiet.
When he saw his little band collected, the scout threw "killdeer" intothe 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 alittle brook which they had crossed in advancing. Here he halted, andafter waiting for the whole of his grave and attentive warriors to closeabout him, he spoke in Delaware, 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,and indicating the manner in which they were joined at the root, heanswered:
"Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be inthe big." Then he added, pointing in the direction of the place hementioned, "the two make enough for the beavers."
"I thought as much," returned the scout, glancing his eye upward at theopening in the tree-tops, "from the course it takes, and the bearings ofthe mountains. Men, we will keep within the cover of its banks till wescent the Hurons."
His companions gave the usual brief exclamation of assent, but,perceiving that their leader was about to lead the way in person, oneor two made signs that all was not as it should be. Hawkeye, whocomprehended their meaning glances, turned and perceived that his partyhad been followed thus far by the singing-master.
"Do you know, friend," asked the scout, gravely, and perhaps with alittle of the pride of conscious deserving in his manner, "that this isa band of rangers chosen for the most desperate service, and put underthe command of one who, though another might say it with a better face,will not be apt to leave them idle. It may not be five, it cannot bethirty minutes, before we tread on the body of a Huron, living or dead."
"Though not admonished of your intentions in words," returned David,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 againstthe Shechemites, for wickedly aspiring to wedlock with a woman of a racethat was favored of the Lord. Now, I have journeyed far, and sojournedmuch in good and evil with the maiden ye seek; and, though not a manof war, with my loins girded and my sword sharpened, yet would I gladlystrike a blow in her behalf."
The scout hesitated, as if weighing the chances of such a strangeenlistment in his mind before he answered:
"You know not the use of any we'pon. You carry no rifle; and believe me,what the Mingoes take they will freely give again."
"Though not a vaunting and bloodily disposed Goliath," returned David,drawing a sling from beneath his parti-colored and uncouth attire, "Ihave not forgotten the example of the Jewish boy. With this ancientinstrument of war have I practised much in my youth, and peradventurethe skill has not entirely departed from me."
"Ay!" said Hawkeye, considering the deer-skin thong and apron, with acold and discouraging eye; "the thing might do its work among arrows, oreven knives; but these Mengwe have been furnished by the Frenchers witha good grooved barrel a man. However, it seems to be your gift to gounharmed amid fire; and as you have hitherto been favored--major, youhave left your rifle at a cock; a single shot before the time would bejust twenty scalps lost to no purpose--singer, you can follow; we mayfind use for you in the shoutings."
"I thank you, friend," returned David, supplying himself, like his royalnamesake, 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 on thatspot where Gamut was yet sore, "we come to fight, and not to musickate.Until the general whoop is given, nothing speaks but the rifle."
David nodded, as much to signify his acquiescence with the terms; andthen Hawkeye, casting another observant glance over his followers madethe signal to proceed.
Their route lay, for the distance of a mile, along the bed of thewater-course. Though protected from any great danger of observation bythe precipitous banks, and the thick shrubbery which skirted the stream,no precaution known to an Indian attack was neglected. A warrior rathercrawled than walked on each flank so as to catch occasional glimpsesinto the forest; and every few minutes the band came to a halt, andlistened for hostile sounds, with an acuteness of organs that would bescarcely conceivable to a man in a less natural state. Their march was,however, unmolested, and they reached the point where the lesser streamwas lost in the greater, without the smallest evidence that theirprogress had been noted. Here the scout again halted, to consult thesigns of the forest.
"We are likely to have a good day for a fight," he said, in English,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;they have the wind, which will bring down their noises and their smoke,too, no little matter in itself; whereas, with us it will be firsta shot, and then a clear view. But here is an end to our cover; thebeavers have had the range of this stream for hundreds of years, andwhat atween their food and their dams, there is, as you see, many agirdled stub, but few living trees."
Hawkeye had, in truth, in these few words, given no bad description ofthe prospect that now lay in their front. The brook was irregular in itswidth, sometimes shooting through narrow fissures in the rocks, and atothers spreading over acres of bottom land, forming little areas thatmight be termed ponds. Everywhere along its bands were the molderingrelics of dead trees, in all the stages of decay, from those thatgroaned on their tottering trunks to such as had recently been robbed ofthose rugged coats that so mysteriously contain their principle of life.A few long, low, and moss-covered piles were scattered among them, likethe memorials of a former and long-departed generation.
All these minute particulars were noted by the scout, with a gravity andinterest that they probably had never before attracted. He knew thatthe Huron encampment lay a short half mile up the brook; and, withthe characteristic anxiety of one who dreaded a hidden danger, he wasgreatly troubled at not finding the smallest trace of the presence ofhis enemy. Once or twice he felt induced to give the order for a rush,and to attempt the village by surprise; but his experience quicklyadmonished him of the danger of so useless an experiment. Then helistened intently, and with painful uncertainty, for the sounds ofhostility in the quarter where Uncas was left; but nothing was audibleexcept the sighing of the wind, that began to sweep over the bosom ofthe forest in gusts which threatened a tempest. At length, yieldingrather to his unusual impatience than taking counsel from his knowledge,he determined to bring matters to an issue, by unmasking his force, andproceeding cautiously, but steadily, up the stream.
The scout had stoo
d, while making his observations, sheltered by abrake, and his companions still lay in the bed of the ravine, throughwhich the smaller stream debouched; but on hearing his low, thoughintelligible, signal the whole party stole up the bank, like so manydark specters, and silently arranged themselves around him. Pointing inthe direction he wished to proceed, Hawkeye advanced, the band breakingoff in single files, and following so accurately in his footsteps, as toleave it, if we except Heyward and David, the trail of but a single man.
The party was, however, scarcely uncovered before a volley from a dozenrifles was heard in their rear; and a Delaware leaping high in to theair, like a wounded deer, fell at his whole length, dead.
"Ah, I feared some deviltry like this!" exclaimed the scout, in English,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 recoveredfrom his surprise, he found himself standing alone with David. Luckilythe Hurons had already fallen back, and he was safe from their fire. Butthis state of things was evidently to be of short continuance; for thescout set the example of pressing on their retreat, by discharging hisrifle, and darting from tree to tree as his enemy slowly yielded ground.
It would seem that the assault had been made by a very small party ofthe Hurons, which, however, continued to increase in numbers, as itretired on its friends, until the return fire was very nearly, if notquite, equal to that maintained by the advancing Delawares. Heywardthrew himself among the combatants, and imitating the necessary cautionof his companions, he made quick discharges with his own rifle. Thecontest now grew warm and stationary. Few were injured, as both partieskept their bodies as much protected as possible by the trees; never,indeed, exposing any part of their persons except in the act of takingaim. But the chances were gradually growing unfavorable to Hawkeye andhis band. The quick-sighted scout perceived his danger without knowinghow to remedy it. He saw it was more dangerous to retreat than tomaintain his ground: while he found his enemy throwing out men on hisflank; which rendered the task of keeping themselves covered so verydifficult to the Delawares, as nearly to silence their fire. At thisembarrassing moment, when they began to think the whole of the hostiletribe was gradually encircling them, they heard the yell of combatantsand the rattling of arms echoing under the arches of the wood at theplace where Uncas was posted, a bottom which, in a manner, lay beneaththe ground on which Hawkeye and his party were contending.
The effects of this attack were instantaneous, and to the scout and hisfriends greatly relieving. It would seem that, while his own surprisehad been anticipated, and had consequently failed, the enemy, in theirturn, having been deceived in its object and in his numbers, had lefttoo small a force to resist the impetuous onset of the young Mohican.This fact was doubly apparent, by the rapid manner in which the battlein the forest rolled upward toward the village, and by an instantfalling off in the number of their assailants, who rushed to assist inmaintaining the front, and, as it now proved to be, the principal pointof defense.
Animating his followers by his voice, and his own example, Hawkeye thengave the word to bear down upon their foes. The charge, in that rudespecies of warfare, consisted merely in pushing from cover to cover,nigher to the enemy; and in this maneuver he was instantly andsuccessfully obeyed. The Hurons were compelled to withdraw, and thescene of the contest rapidly changed from the more open ground, on whichit had commenced, to a spot where the assailed found a thicket torest upon. Here the struggle was protracted, arduous and seemingly ofdoubtful issue; the Delawares, though none of them fell, beginning tobleed freely, in consequence of the disadvantage at which they wereheld.
In this crisis, Hawkeye found means to get behind the same tree as thatwhich served for a cover to Heyward; most of his own combatants beingwithin call, a little on his right, where they maintained rapid, thoughfruitless, discharges on 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 little fatiguedwith his previous industry; "and it may be your gift to lead armies,at some future day, ag'in these imps, the Mingoes. You may here see thephilosophy of an Indian fight. It consists mainly in ready hand, a quickeye 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*," continuedthe scout, shaking his head, like one who mused; "horse, I am ashamed tosay must sooner or later decide these scrimmages. The brutes are betterthan 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 neverstop to load it again."
* The American forest admits of the passage of horses, there being little underbrush, and few tangled brakes. The plan of Hawkeye is the one which has always proved the most successful in the battles between the whites and the Indians. Wayne, in his celebrated campaign on the Miami, received the fire of his 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 of the most conspicuous of the chiefs who fought in the battle of Miami assured the writer, that the red men could not fight the warriors with "long knives and leather stockings"; meaning the dragoons with their sabers and boots.
"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, I littlerelish 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 hisIndians, in their own language. His words were answered by a shout;and, at a given signal, each warrior made a swift movement around hisparticular tree. The sight of so many dark bodies, glancing before theireyes at the same instant, drew a hasty and consequently an ineffectualfire from the Hurons. Without stopping to breathe, the Delawares leapedin long bounds toward the wood, like so many panthers springing upontheir prey. Hawkeye was in front, brandishing his terrible rifle andanimating his followers by his example. A few of the older and morecunning Hurons, who had not been deceived by the artifice which had beenpracticed to draw their fire, now made a close and deadly discharge oftheir pieces and justified the apprehensions of the scout by fellingthree of his foremost warriors. But the shock was insufficient to repelthe impetus of the charge. The Delawares broke into the cover with theferocity of their natures and swept away every trace of resistance bythe fury of the onset.
The combat endured only for an instant, hand to hand, and then theassailed yielded ground rapidly, until they reached the oppositemargin of the thicket, where they clung to the cover, with the sort ofobstinacy that is so often witnessed in hunted brutes. At this criticalmoment, when the success of the struggle was again becoming doubtful,the crack of a rifle was heard behind the Hurons, and a bullet camewhizzing from among some beaver lodges, which were situated in theclearing, in their rear, and was followed by the fierce and appallingyell of the war-whoop.
"There speaks the Sagamore!" shouted Hawkeye, answering the cry with hisown stentorian voice; "we have them now in face and back!"
The effect on the Hurons was instantaneous. Discouraged by an assaultfrom a quarter that left them no opportunity for cover, the warriorsuttered a common yell of disappointment, and breaking off in abody, they spread themselves across the opening, heedless of everyconsideration but flight. Many fell, in making the experiment, under thebullets and the blows of the pursuing Delawares.
We shall not pause to detail the meeting betwe
en the scout andChingachgook, or the more touching interview that Duncan held withMunro. A few brief and hurried words served to explain the state ofthings to both parties; and then Hawkeye, pointing out the Sagamore tohis band, resigned the chief authority into the hands of the Mohicanchief. Chingachgook assumed the station to which his birth andexperience gave him so distinguished a claim, with the grave dignitythat always gives force to the mandates of a native warrior. Followingthe footsteps of the scout, he led the party back through the thicket,his men scalping the fallen Hurons and secreting the bodies of their owndead as they proceeded, until they gained a point where the former wascontent to make a halt.
The warriors, who had breathed themselves freely in the precedingstruggle, were now posted on a bit of level ground, sprinkled withtrees in sufficient numbers to conceal them. The land fell away ratherprecipitately in front, and beneath their eyes stretched, for severalmiles, a narrow, dark, and wooded vale. It was through this dense anddark forest that Uncas was still contending with the main body of theHurons.
The Mohican and his friends advanced to the brow of the hill, andlistened, with practised ears, to the sounds of the combat. A fewbirds hovered over the leafy bosom of the valley, frightened from theirsecluded nests; and here and there a light vapory cloud, which seemedalready blending with the atmosphere, arose above the trees, andindicated some spot where the struggle had been fierce 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," saidthe 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 young men.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,without the notice of 'killdeer'."
The Indian chief paused another moment to consider the signs of thecontest, which was now rolling rapidly up the ascent, a certain evidencethat the Delawares triumphed; nor did he actually quit the place untiladmonished of the proximity of his friends, as well as enemies, by thebullets of the former, which began to patter among the dried leaves onthe ground, like the bits of falling hail which precede the bursting ofthe tempest. Hawkeye and his three companions withdrew a few paces toa shelter, and awaited the issue with calmness that nothing but greatpractise could impart in such a scene.
It was not long before the reports of the rifles began to lose theechoes of the woods, and to sound like weapons discharged in the openair. Then a warrior appeared, here and there, driven to the skirts ofthe forest, and rallying as he entered the clearing, as at the placewhere the final stand was to be made. These were soon joined by others,until a long line of swarthy figures was to be seen clinging tothe cover with the obstinacy of desperation. Heyward began togrow impatient, and turned his eyes anxiously in the direction ofChingachgook. The chief was seated on a rock, with nothing visible buthis calm visage, considering the spectacle with an eye as deliberate asif he were posted 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 his friends, hewill let them know that he is here. See, see; the knaves are getting inthat 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 adischarge from Chingachgook and his band. The shout that followed wasanswered by a single war-cry from the forest, and a yell passed throughthe air that sounded as if a thousand throats were united in a commoneffort. The Hurons staggered, deserting the center of their line, andUncas issued from the forest through the opening they left, at the headof a hundred warriors.
Waving his hands right and left, the young chief pointed out the enemyto his followers, who separated in pursuit. The war now divided, bothwings of the broken Hurons seeking protection in the woods again, hotlypressed by the victorious warriors of the Lenape. A minute might havepassed, but the sounds were already receding in different directions,and gradually losing their distinctness beneath the echoing arches ofthe woods. One little knot of Hurons, however, had disdained to seek acover, and were retiring, like lions at bay, slowly and sullenly up theacclivity which Chingachgook and his band had just deserted, to minglemore closely in the fray. Magua was conspicuous in this party, both byhis fierce and savage mien, and by the air of haughty authority he yetmaintained.
In his eagerness to expedite the pursuit, Uncas had left himself nearlyalone; but the moment his eye caught the figure of Le Subtil, everyother consideration was forgotten. Raising his cry of battle, whichrecalled some six or seven warriors, and reckless of the disparity oftheir numbers, he rushed upon his enemy. Le Renard, who watched themovement, paused to receive him with secret joy. But at the moment whenhe thought the rashness of his impetuous young assailant had left himat his mercy, another shout was given, and La Longue Carabine was seenrushing to the rescue, attended by all his white associates. The Huroninstantly turned, and commenced a rapid retreat up the ascent.
There was no time for greetings or congratulations; for Uncas, thoughunconscious of the presence of his friends, continued the pursuit withthe velocity of the wind. In vain Hawkeye called to him to respect thecovers; the young Mohican braved the dangerous fire of his enemies, andsoon compelled them to a flight as swift as his own headlong speed. Itwas fortunate that the race was of short continuance, and that the whitemen were much favored by their position, or the Delaware would soon haveoutstripped all his companions, and fallen a victim to his own temerity.But, ere such a calamity could happen, the pursuers and pursued enteredthe Wyandot village, within striking distance of each other.
Excited by the presence of their dwellings, and tired of the chase, theHurons now made a stand, and fought around their council-lodge withthe fury of despair. The onset and the issue were like the passage anddestruction of a whirlwind. The tomahawk of Uncas, the blows of Hawkeye,and even the still nervous arm of Munro were all busy for that passingmoment, and the ground was quickly strewed with their enemies. StillMagua, though daring and much exposed, escaped from every effort againsthis life, with that sort of fabled protection that was made to overlookthe fortunes of favored heroes in the legends of ancient poetry. Raisinga yell that spoke volumes of anger and disappointment, the subtle chief,when he saw his comrades fallen, darted away from the place, attendedby his two only surviving friends, leaving the Delawares engaged instripping the dead of the bloody trophies of their victory.
But Uncas, who had vainly sought him in the melee, bounded forward inpursuit; Hawkeye, Heyward and David still pressing on his footsteps. Theutmost that the scout could effect, was to keep the muzzle of his riflea little in advance of his friend, to whom, however, it answered everypurpose of a charmed shield. Once Magua appeared disposed to makeanother and a final effort to revenge his losses; but, abandoning hisintention as soon as demonstrated, he leaped into a thicket of bushes,through which he was followed by his enemies, and suddenly entered themouth of the cave already known to the reader. Hawkeye, who had onlyforborne to fire in tenderness to Uncas, raised a shout of success, andproclaimed aloud that now they were certain of their game. The pursuersdashed into the long and narrow entrance, in time to catch a glimpse ofthe retreating forms of the Hurons. Their passage through the naturalgalleries and subterraneous apartments of the cavern was preceded by theshrieks and cries of hundreds of women and children. The place, seen byits dim and uncertain light, appeared like the shades of the infernalregions, across which unhappy ghosts and savage demons were flitting inmultitudes.
Still Uncas kept his eye on Magua, as if life to him possessed buta single object. Heyward and the scout still pressed on his rear,actuated, though possibly in a less degree, by a common feeling. Buttheir way was becoming intricate, in those dar
k and gloomy passages, andthe glimpses of the retiring warriors less distinct and frequent; andfor a moment the trace was believed to be lost, when a white robe wasseen fluttering in the further extremity of a passage that seemed tolead up the mountain.
"'Tis Cora!" exclaimed Heyward, in a voice in which horror and delightwere 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 encouragingby this glimpse of the captive. But the way was rugged, broken, and inspots nearly impassable. Uncas abandoned his rifle, and leaped forwardwith headlong precipitation. Heyward rashly imitated his example, thoughboth were, a moment afterward, admonished of his madness by hearing thebellowing of a piece, that the Hurons found time to discharge down thepassage in the rocks, the bullet from which even gave the young Mohicana 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 wasfollowed by his companions, who, by incredible exertions, got nearenough to the fugitives to perceive that Cora was borne along betweenthe two warriors while Magua prescribed the direction and manner oftheir flight. At this moment the forms of all four were strongly drawnagainst an opening in the sky, and they disappeared. Nearly frantic withdisappointment, Uncas and Heyward increased efforts that already seemedsuperhuman, and they issued from the cavern on the side of the mountain,in time to note the route of the pursued. The course lay up the ascent,and still continued hazardous and laborious.
Encumbered by his rifle, and, perhaps, not sustained by so deep aninterest in the captive as his companions, the scout suffered the latterto precede him a little, Uncas, in his turn, taking the lead of Heyward.In this manner, rocks, precipices and difficulties were surmounted inan incredibly short space, that at another time, and under othercircumstances, would have been deemed almost insuperable. But theimpetuous 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 a ledgeof 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 theimpious joy that fiends are thought to take in mischief, but Maguastayed the uplifted arms. The Huron chief, after casting the weaponshe had wrested from his companions over the rock, drew his knife,and turned to his captive, with a look in which conflicting passionsfiercely contended.
"Woman," he said, "chose; the wigwam or the knife of Le Subtil!"
Cora regarded him not, but dropping on her knees, she raised her eyesand stretched her arms toward heaven, saying in a meek and yet confidingvoice:
"I am thine; do with me as thou seest best!"
"Woman," repeated Magua, hoarsely, and endeavoring in vain to catch aglance from her serene and beaming eye, "choose!"
But Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand. The form of the Hurontrembled in every fibre, and he raised his arm on high, but droppedit again with a bewildered air, like one who doubted. Once more hestruggled with himself and lifted the keen weapon again; but just thena piercing cry was heard above them, and Uncas appeared, leapingfrantically, from a fearful height, upon the ledge. Magua recoiled astep; and one of his assistants, profiting by the chance, sheathed hisown knife in the bosom of Cora.
The Huron sprang like a tiger on his offending and already retreatingcountry man, but the falling form of Uncas separated the unnaturalcombatants. Diverted from his object by this interruption, and maddenedby the murder he had just witnessed, Magua buried his weapon in the backof the prostrate Delaware, uttering an unearthly shout as he committedthe dastardly deed. But Uncas arose from the blow, as the woundedpanther turns upon his foe, and struck the murderer of Cora to his feet,by an effort in which the last of his failing strength was expended.Then, with a stern and steady look, he turned to Le Subtil, andindicated by the expression of his eye all that he would do had notthe power deserted him. The latter seized the nerveless arm of theunresisting Delaware, and passed his knife into his bosom three severaltimes, before his victim, still keeping his gaze riveted on his enemy,with a look of inextinguishable scorn, fell dead at his feet.
"Mercy! mercy! Huron," cried Heyward, from above, in tones nearly chokedby horror; "give mercy, and thou shalt receive from it!"
Whirling the bloody knife up at the imploring youth, the victoriousMagua uttered a cry so fierce, so wild, and yet so joyous, that itconveyed the sounds of savage triumph to the ears of those who fought inthe valley, a thousand feet below. He was answered by a burst from thelips of the scout, whose tall person was just then seen moving swiftlytoward him, along those dangerous crags, with steps as bold and recklessas if he possessed the power to move in air. But when the hunter reachedthe scene of the ruthless massacre, the ledge was tenanted only by thedead.
His keen eye took a single look at the victims, and then shot itsglances over the difficulties of the ascent in his front. A form stoodat the brow of the mountain, on the very edge of the giddy height,with uplifted arms, in an awful attitude of menace. Without stopping toconsider his person, the rifle of Hawkeye was raised; but a rock, whichfell on the head of one of the fugitives below, exposed the indignantand glowing countenance of the honest Gamut. Then Magua issued from acrevice, and, stepping with calm indifference over the body of the lastof his associates, he leaped a wide fissure, and ascended the rocks ata 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. Beforetaking the leap, however, the Huron paused, and shaking his hand at thescout, he shouted:
"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,though his hands grasped a shrub on the verge of the height. The formof Hawkeye had crouched like a beast about to take its spring, andhis frame trembled so violently with eagerness that the muzzle of thehalf-raised rifle played like a leaf fluttering in the wind. Withoutexhausting himself with fruitless efforts, the cunning Magua sufferedhis body to drop to the length of his arms, and found a fragment for hisfeet to rest on. Then, summoning all his powers, he renewed the attempt,and so far succeeded as to draw his knees on the edge of the mountain.It was now, when the body of his enemy was most collected together,that the agitated weapon of the scout was drawn to his shoulder. Thesurrounding rocks themselves were not steadier than the piece became,for the single instant that it poured out its contents. The arms of theHuron relaxed, and his body fell back a little, while his knees stillkept their position. Turning a relentless look on his enemy, he shooka hand in grim defiance. But his hold loosened, and his dark person wasseen cutting the air with its head downward, for a fleeting instant,until it glided past the fringe of shrubbery which clung to themountain, in its rapid flight to destruction.
CHAPTER 33
"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.The sounds of the battle were over, and they had fed fat their ancientgrudge, and had avenged their recent quarrel with the Mengwe, by thedestruction of a whole community. The black and murky atmosphere thatfloated around the spot where the Hurons had encam
ped, sufficientlyannounced of itself, the fate of that wandering tribe; while hundreds ofravens, that struggled above the summits of the mountains, or swept, innoisy flocks, across the wide ranges of the woods, furnished a frightfuldirection to the scene of the combat. In short, any eye at all practisedin the signs of a frontier warfare might easily have traced all thoseunerring evidences of the ruthless results which attend an Indianvengeance.
Still, the sun rose on the Lenape a nation of mourners. No shoutsof success, no songs of triumph, were heard, in rejoicings for theirvictory. The latest straggler had returned from his fell employment,only to strip himself of the terrific emblems of his bloody calling,and to join in the lamentations of his countrymen, as a stricken people.Pride and exultation were supplanted by humility, and the fiercestof human passions was already succeeded by the most profound andunequivocal demonstrations of grief.
The lodges were deserted; but a broad belt of earnest faces encircled aspot in their vicinity, whither everything possessing life had repaired,and where all were now collected, in deep and awful silence. Thoughbeings of every rank and age, of both sexes, and of all pursuits, hadunited to form this breathing wall of bodies, they were influenced by asingle emotion. Each eye was riveted on the center of that ring, whichcontained the objects of so much and of so common an interest.
Six Delaware girls, with their long, dark, flowing tresses fallingloosely across their bosoms, stood apart, and only gave proof of theirexistence as they occasionally strewed sweet-scented herbs and forestflowers on a litter of fragrant plants that, under a pall of Indianrobes, supported all that now remained of the ardent, high-souled,and generous Cora. Her form was concealed in many wrappers of the samesimple manufacture, and her face was shut forever from the gaze ofmen. At her feet was seated the desolate Munro. His aged head wasbowed nearly to the earth, in compelled submission to the stroke ofProvidence; but a hidden anguish struggled about his furrowed brow,that was only partially concealed by the careless locks of gray thathad fallen, neglected, on his temples. Gamut stood at his side, hismeek head bared to the rays of the sun, while his eyes, wandering andconcerned, seemed to be equally divided between that little volume,which contained so many quaint but holy maxims, and the being in whosebehalf his soul yearned to administer consolation. Heyward was alsonigh, supporting himself against a tree, and endeavoring to keep downthose sudden risings of sorrow that it required his utmost manhood tosubdue.
But sad and melancholy as this group may easily be imagined, it was farless touching than another, that occupied the opposite space of the samearea. Seated, as in life, with his form and limbs arranged in grave anddecent composure, Uncas appeared, arrayed in the most gorgeous ornamentsthat the wealth of the tribe could furnish. Rich plumes nodded abovehis head; wampum, gorgets, bracelets, and medals, adorned his personin profusion; though his dull eye and vacant lineaments too stronglycontradicted the idle tale of pride they would convey.
Directly in front of the corpse Chingachgook was placed, without arms,paint or adornment of any sort, except the bright blue blazonry of hisrace, that was indelibly impressed on his naked bosom. During the longperiod that the tribe had thus been collected, the Mohican warrior hadkept a steady, anxious look on the cold and senseless countenance of hisson. So riveted and intense had been that gaze, and so changeless hisattitude, that a stranger might not have told the living from the dead,but for the occasional gleamings of a troubled spirit, that shot athwartthe dark visage of one, and the deathlike calm that had forever settledon the lineaments of the other. The scout was hard by, leaning in apensive posture on his own fatal and avenging weapon; while Tamenund,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 hispeople.
Just within the inner edge of the circle stood a soldier, in themilitary attire of a strange nation; and without it was his warhorse, inthe center of a collection of mounted domestics, seemingly in readinessto undertake some distant journey. The vestments of the strangerannounced him to be one who held a responsible situation near the personof the captain of the Canadas; and who, as it would now seem, findinghis errand of peace frustrated by the fierce impetuosity of his allies,was content to become a silent and sad spectator of the fruits of acontest 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 hadeven a limb been moved throughout that long and painful period, exceptto perform the simple and touching offerings that were made, from timeto time, in commemoration of the dead. The patience and forbearance ofIndian fortitude could alone support such an appearance of abstraction,as seemed now to have turned each dark and motionless figure into stone.
At length, the sage of the Delawares stretched forth an arm, and leaningon the shoulders of his attendants, he arose with an air as feeble asif another age had already intervened between the man who had met hisnation the preceding day, and him who now tottered on his elevatedstand.
"Men of the Lenape!" he said, in low, hollow tones, that sounded like avoice charged with some prophetic mission: "the face of the Manitouis 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 beforeyou. Let your hearts be open and your spirits tell no lie. Men of theLenape! the face of 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 veneratedspirit they worshiped had uttered the words without the aid of humanorgans; and even the inanimate Uncas appeared a being of life, comparedwith the humbled and submissive throng by whom he was surrounded. As theimmediate effect, however, gradually passed away, a low murmur of voicescommenced a sort of chant in honor of the dead. The sounds were those offemales, and were thrillingly soft and wailing. The words were connectedby no regular continuation, but as one ceased another took up theeulogy, or lamentation, whichever it might be called, and gave vent toher emotions in such language as was suggested by her feelings and theoccasion. At intervals the speaker was interrupted by general and loudbursts of sorrow, during which the girls around the bier of Cora pluckedthe plants and flowers blindly from her body, as if bewildered withgrief. But, in the milder moments of their plaint, these emblems ofpurity and sweetness were cast back to their places, with every signof tenderness and regret. Though rendered less connected by many andgeneral interruptions and outbreakings, a translation of their languagewould have contained a regular descant, which, in substance, might haveproved to possess a train of consecutive ideas.
A girl, selected for the task by her rank and qualifications,commenced by modest allusions to the qualities of the deceased warrior,embellishing her expressions with those oriental images that theIndians have probably brought with them from the extremes of the othercontinent, and which form of themselves a link to connect the ancienthistories of the two worlds. She called him the "panther of his tribe";and described him as one whose moccasin left no trail on the dews; whosebound was like the leap of a young fawn; whose eye was brighter thana star in the dark night; and whose voice, in battle, was loud as thethunder of the Manitou. She reminded him of the mother who bore him, anddwelt forcibly on the happiness she must feel in possessing such a son.She bade him tell her, when they met in the world of spirits, that theDelaware girls had shed tears above the grave of her child, and hadcalled her blessed.
Then, they who succeeded, changing their tones to a milder and stillmore tender strain, alluded, with the delicacy and sensitiveness ofwomen, to the stranger maiden, who had left the upper earth at a timeso near his own departure, as to render the will of the Great Spirit toomanifest to be disregarded. They admonished him to be kind to her, andto have consideration for her ignorance of those arts which were sonecessary to the comfort of a warrior like himself. They dwelled uponher matchless beau
ty, and on her noble resolution, without the taint ofenvy, and as angels may be thought to delight in a superior excellence;adding, that these endowments should prove more than equivalent for anylittle imperfection in her education.
After which, others again, in due succession, spoke to the maidenherself, in the low, soft language of tenderness and love. They exhortedher to be of cheerful mind, and to fear nothing for her future welfare.A hunter would be her companion, who knew how to provide for hersmallest wants; and a warrior was at her side who was able to protecthe against every danger. They promised that her path should be pleasant,and her burden light. They cautioned her against unavailing regrets forthe friends of her youth, and the scenes where her father had dwelt;assuring her that the "blessed hunting grounds of the Lenape," containedvales as pleasant, streams as pure; and flowers as sweet, as the "heavenof the pale faces." They advised her to be attentive to the wants of hercompanion, and never to forget the distinction which the Manitou had sowisely established between them. Then, in a wild burst of their chantthey sang with united voices the temper of the Mohican's mind. Theypronounced him noble, manly and generous; all that became a warrior, andall that a maid might love. Clothing their ideas in the most remoteand subtle images, they betrayed, that, in the short period of theirintercourse, they had discovered, with the intuitive perception of theirsex, the truant disposition of his inclinations. The Delaware girls hadfound no favor in his eyes! He was of a race that had once been lords onthe shores of the salt lake, and his wishes had led him back to apeople who dwelt about the graves of his fathers. Why should not sucha predilection be encouraged! That she was of a blood purer and richerthan the rest of her nation, any eye might have seen; that she wasequal to the dangers and daring of a life in the woods, her conducthad proved; and now, they added, the "wise one of the earth" hadtransplanted her to a place where she would find congenial spirits, andmight be forever happy.
Then, with another transition in voice and subject, allusions weremade to the virgin who wept in the adjacent lodge. They compared her toflakes of snow; as pure, as white, as brilliant, and as liable to meltin the fierce heats of summer, or congeal in the frosts of winter. Theydoubted not that she was lovely in the eyes of the young chief, whoseskin and whose sorrow seemed so like her own; but though far fromexpressing such a preference, it was evident they deemed her lessexcellent than the maid they mourned. Still they denied her no needher rare charms might properly claim. Her ringlets were compared to theexuberant tendrils of the vine, her eye to the blue vault of heavens,and the most spotless cloud, with its glowing flush of the sun, wasadmitted to be less attractive than her bloom.
During these and similar songs nothing was audible but the murmurs ofthe music; relieved, as it was, or rather rendered terrible, by thoseoccasional bursts of grief which might be called its choruses. TheDelawares themselves listened like charmed men; and it was veryapparent, by the variations of their speaking countenances, how deep andtrue was their sympathy. Even David was not reluctant to lend his earsto the tones of voices so sweet; and long ere the chant was ended, hisgaze announced that his soul was enthralled.
The scout, to whom alone, of all the white men, the words wereintelligible, suffered himself to be a little aroused from hismeditative posture, and bent his face aside, to catch their meaning, asthe girls proceeded. But when they spoke of the future prospects ofCora and Uncas, he shook his head, like one who knew the error of theirsimple creed, and resuming his reclining attitude, he maintained ituntil the ceremony, if that might be called a ceremony, in which feelingwas so deeply imbued, was finished. Happily for the self-command of bothHeyward and Munro, they knew not the meaning of the wild sounds theyheard.
Chingachgook was a solitary exception to the interest manifested by thenative part of the audience. His look never changed throughout the wholeof the scene, nor did a muscle move in his rigid countenance, even atthe wildest or the most pathetic parts of the lamentation. The cold andsenseless remains of his son was all to him, and every other sense butthat of sight seemed frozen, in order that his eyes might take theirfinal gaze at those lineaments he had so long loved, and which were nowabout to be closed forever from his view.
In this stage of the obsequies, a warrior much renowned for deed inarms, and more especially for services in the recent combat, a man ofstern and grave demeanor, advanced slowly from the crowd, and placedhimself nigh the person of the dead.
"Why hast thou left us, pride of the Wapanachki?" he said, addressinghimself 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. Thouart gone, youthful warrior, but a hundred Wyandots are clearing thebriers from thy path to the world of the spirits. Who that saw thee inbattle would believe that thou couldst die? Who before thee has evershown Uttawa the way into the fight? Thy feet were like the wings ofeagles; thine arm heavier than falling branches from the pine; andthy voice like the Manitou when He speaks in the clouds. The tongue ofUttawa is weak," he added, looking about him with a melancholy gaze,"and his heart exceeding heavy. Pride of the Wapanachki, why hast thouleft us?"
He was succeeded by others, in due order, until most of the high andgifted men of the nation had sung or spoken their tribute of praise overthe manes of the deceased chief. When each had ended, another deep andbreathing silence reigned in all the place.
Then a low, deep sound was heard, like the suppressed accompaniment ofdistant music, rising just high enough on the air to be audible, andyet so indistinctly, as to leave its character, and the place whence itproceeded, alike matters of conjecture. It was, however, succeeded byanother and another strain, each in a higher key, until they grew on theear, first in long drawn and often repeated interjections, and finallyin words. The lips of Chingachgook had so far parted, as to announcethat it was the monody of the father. Though not an eye was turnedtoward him nor the smallest sign of impatience exhibited, it wasapparent, by the manner in which the multitude elevated their heads tolisten, that they drank in the sounds with an intenseness of attention,that none but Tamenund himself had ever before commanded. Butthey listened in vain. The strains rose just so loud as to becomeintelligible, and then grew fainter and more trembling, until theyfinally sank on the ear, as if borne away by a passing breath of wind.The lips of the Sagamore closed, and he remained silent in his seat,looking with his riveted eye and motionless form, like some creaturethat had been turned from the Almighty hand with the form but withoutthe spirit of a man. The Delawares who knew by these symptoms thatthe mind of their friend was not prepared for so mighty an effort offortitude, relaxed in their attention; and, with an innate delicacy,seemed to bestow all their thoughts on the obsequies of the strangermaiden.
A signal was given, by one of the elder chiefs, to the women who crowdedthat part of the circle near which the body of Cora lay. Obedient tothe sign, the girls raised the bier to the elevation of their heads,and advanced with slow and regulated steps, chanting, as they proceeded,another wailing song in praise of the deceased. Gamut, who had been aclose observer of rites he deemed so heathenish, now bent his head overthe 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, andbestowing one anxious and hurried glance around him, he arose andfollowed in the simple train, with the mien of a soldier, but bearingthe full burden of a parent's suffering. His friends pressed around himwith a sorrow that was too strong to be termed sympathy--even the youngFrenchman joining in the procession, with the air of a man who wassensibly touched at the early and melancholy fate of one so lovely. Butwhen the last and humblest female of the tribe had joined in the wildand yet ordered array, the men of the Lenape contracted their circle,and formed again around the person of Uncas, as silent, as grave, and asmotionless as before.
The place which had been chose
n for the grave of Cora was a littleknoll, where a cluster of young and healthful pines had taken root,forming of themselves a melancholy and appropriate shade over the spot.On reaching it the girls deposited their burden, and continued for manyminutes waiting, with characteristic patience, and native timidity, forsome evidence that they whose feelings were most concerned were contentwith the arrangement. At length the scout, who alone understood theirhabits, said, in their own language:
"My daughters have done well; the white men thank them."
Satisfied with this testimony in their favor, the girls proceededto deposit the body in a shell, ingeniously, and not inelegantly,fabricated of the bark of the birch; after which they lowered it intoits dark and final abode. The ceremony of covering the remains, andconcealing the marks of the fresh earth, by leaves and other natural andcustomary objects, was conducted with the same simple and silent forms.But when the labors of the kind beings who had performed these sad andfriendly offices were so far completed, they hesitated, in a way to showthat they knew not how much further they might proceed. It was in thisstage of the rites that the scout again addressed them:
"My young women have done enough," he said: "the spirit of the paleface has no need of food or raiment, their gifts being according to theheaven of their color. I see," he added, glancing an eye at David, whowas preparing his book in a manner that indicated an intention tolead the way in sacred song, "that one who better knows the Christianfashions is about to speak."
The females stood modestly aside, and, from having been the principalactors in the scene, they now became the meek and attentive observers ofthat which followed. During the time David occupied in pouring out thepious feelings of his spirit in this manner, not a sign of surprise, nora look of impatience, escaped them. They listened like those who knewthe meaning of the strange words, and appeared as if they felt themingled emotions of sorrow, hope, and resignation, they were intended toconvey.
Excited by the scene he had just witnessed, and perhaps influenced byhis own secret emotions, the master of song exceeded his usual efforts.His full rich voice was not found to suffer by a comparison with thesoft tones of the girls; and his more modulated strains possessed, atleast for the ears of those to whom they were peculiarly addressed,the additional power of intelligence. He ended the anthem, as he hadcommenced it, in the midst of a grave and solemn stillness.
When, however, the closing cadence had fallen on the ears of hisauditors, the secret, timorous glances of the eyes, and the generaland yet subdued movement of the assemblage, betrayed that something wasexpected from the father of the deceased. Munro seemed sensible that thetime was come for him to exert what is, perhaps, the greatest effortof which human nature is capable. He bared his gray locks, and lookedaround the timid and quiet throng by which he was encircled, with a firmand collected countenance. Then, motioning with his hand for the scoutto 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,under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that thetime shall not be distant when we may assemble around His throne withoutdistinction of sex, or rank, or color."
The scout listened to the tremulous voice in which the veteran deliveredthese words, and shook his head slowly when they were ended, as one whodoubted their efficacy.
"To tell them this," he said, "would be to tell them that the snows comenot in the winter, or that the sun shines fiercest when the trees arestripped 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 head of Munro had already sunk upon his chest, and he was againfast relapsing into melancholy, when the young Frenchman before namedventured to touch him lightly on the elbow. As soon as he had gained theattention of the mourning old man, he pointed toward a group of youngIndians, who approached with a light but closely covered litter, andthen 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 theenow, how blessed shouldst thou be! Come, gentlemen," he added, lookingabout him with an air of lofty composure, though the anguish thatquivered in his faded countenance was far too powerful to be concealed,"our duty here is ended; let us depart."
Heyward gladly obeyed a summons that took them from a spot where, eachinstant, he felt his self-control was about to desert him. While hiscompanions were mounting, however, he found time to press the hand ofthe scout, and to repeat the terms of an engagement they had made tomeet again within the posts of the British army. Then, gladly throwinghimself into the saddle, he spurred his charger to the side of thelitter, whence low and stifled sobs alone announced the presence ofAlice. In this manner, the head of Munro again drooping on his bosom,with Heyward and David following in sorrowing silence, and attendedby the aide of Montcalm with his guard, all the white men, with theexception of Hawkeye, passed from before the eyes of the Delawares, andwere buried in the vast forests of that region.
But the tie which, through their common calamity, had united thefeelings of these simple dwellers in the woods with the strangers whohad thus transiently visited them, was not so easily broken. Yearspassed away before the traditionary tale of the white maiden, and ofthe young warrior of the Mohicans ceased to beguile the long nights andtedious marches, or to animate their youthful and brave with a desirefor vengeance. Neither were the secondary actors in these momentousincidents forgotten. Through the medium of the scout, who served foryears afterward as a link between them and civilized life, they learned,in answer to their inquiries, that the "Gray Head" was speedily gatheredto his fathers--borne down, as was erroneously believed, by his militarymisfortunes; and that the "Open Hand" had conveyed his survivingdaughter far into the settlements of the pale faces, where her tearshad 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 hissympathies led him, with a force that no ideal bond of union coulddestroy. He was just in time to catch a parting look of the features ofUncas, whom the Delawares were already inclosing in his last vestmentof skins. They paused to permit the longing and lingering gaze of thesturdy woodsman, and when it was ended, the body was enveloped, never tobe unclosed again. Then came a procession like the other, and the wholenation was collected about the temporary grave of the chief--temporary,because it was proper that, at some future day, his bones should restamong those of his own people.
The movement, like the feeling, had been simultaneous and general. Thesame grave expression of grief, the same rigid silence, and the samedeference to the principal mourner, were observed around the place ofinterment as have been already described. The body was deposited in anattitude of repose, facing the rising sun, with the implements of warand of the chase at hand, in readiness for the final journey. An openingwas left in the shell, by which it was protected from the soil, for thespirit to communicate with its earthly tenement, when necessary; and thewhole was concealed from the instinct, and protected from the ravagesof the beasts of prey, with an ingenuity peculiar to the natives. Themanual rites then ceased and all present reverted to the more spiritualpart of the ceremonies.
Chingachgook became once more the object of the common attention. He hadnot yet spoken, and something consolatory and instructive was expectedfrom so renowned a chief on an occasion of such interest. Conscious ofthe wishes of the people, the stern and self-restrained warrior raisedhis face, which had latterly been buried in his robe, and looked abouthim with a steady eye. His firmly compressed and expressive lips thensevered, and for the first time during the long ceremonies his voice wasdistinctly audible. "Why do my brothers mourn?" he said, regarding thedark race of dejected warriors by
whom he was environed; "why do mydaughters weep? that a young man has gone to the happy hunting-grounds;that a chief has filled his time with honor? He was good; he wasdutiful; he was brave. Who can deny it? The Manitou had need of such awarrior, and He has called him away. As for me, the son and the fatherof Uncas, I am a blazed pine, in a clearing of the pale faces. Myrace has gone from the shores of the salt lake and the hills of theDelawares. But who can say that the serpent of his tribe has forgottenhis wisdom? I am alone--"
"No, no," cried Hawkeye, who had been gazing with a yearning look at therigid 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,no people. He was your son, and a red-skin by nature; and it may be thatyour blood 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 hasleft us for a time; but, Sagamore, you are not alone."
Chingachgook grasped the hand that, in the warmth of feeling, the scouthad stretched across the fresh earth, and in an attitude of friendshipthese two sturdy and intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together, whilescalding tears fell to their feet, watering the grave of Uncas likedrops of falling rain.
In the midst of the awful stillness with which such a burst of feeling,coming as 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, the anger ofthe 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 comeagain. My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unamishappy and strong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived tosee the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans."
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends