The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757
ones, which had proved disagreeable inmates. The two latter uttered their usual
expressive exclamation, “hugh!” as the truth first glanced upon
their minds, while the former, after a short, musing pause, took upon himself
to reply.
“I cannot deny your words,” he said, “for I am little skilled
in horses, though born where they abound. The wolves must be hovering above
their heads on the bank, and the timorsome creatures are calling on man for
help, in the best manner they are able. Uncas”—he spoke in
Delaware—“Uncas, drop down in the canoe, and whirl a brand among
the pack; or fear may do what the wolves can’t get at to perform, and
leave us without horses in the morning, when we shall have so much need to
journey swiftly!”
The young native had already descended to the water to comply, when a long howl
was raised on the edge of the river, and was borne swiftly off into the depths
of the forest, as though the beasts, of their own accord, were abandoning their
prey in sudden terror. Uncas, with instinctive quickness, receded, and the
three foresters held another of their low, earnest conferences.
“We have been like hunters who have lost the points of the heavens, and
from whom the sun has been hid for days,” said Hawkeye, turning away from
his companions; “now we begin again to know the signs of our course, and
the paths are cleared from briers! Seat yourselves in the shade which the moon
throws from yonder beech—’tis thicker than that of the
pines—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 longer
distinguished by any signs of unmanly apprehension. It was evident that his
momentary weakness had vanished with the explanation of a mystery which his own
experience had not served to fathom; and though he now felt all the realities
of their actual condition, that he was prepared to meet them with the energy of
his hardy nature. This feeling seemed also common to the natives, who placed
themselves in positions which commanded a full view of both shores, while their
own persons were effectually concealed from observation. In such circumstances,
common prudence dictated that Heyward and his companions should imitate a
caution that proceeded from so intelligent a source. The young man drew a pile
of the sassafras from the cave, and placing it in the chasm which separated the
two caverns, it was occupied by the sisters, who were thus protected by the
rocks from any missiles, while their anxiety was relieved by the assurance that
no danger could approach without a warning. Heyward himself was posted at hand,
so near that he might communicate with his companions without raising his voice
to a dangerous elevation; while David, in imitation of the woodsmen, bestowed
his person in such a manner among the fissures of the rocks, that his ungainly
limbs were no longer offensive to the eye.
In this manner hours passed without further interruption. The moon reached the
zenith, and shed its mild light perpendicularly on the lovely sight of the
sisters slumbering peacefully in each other’s arms. Duncan cast the wide
shawl of Cora before a spectacle he so much loved to contemplate, and then
suffered his own head to seek a pillow on the rock. David began to utter sounds
that would have shocked his delicate organs in more wakeful moments; in short,
all but Hawkeye and the Mohicans lost every idea of consciousness, in
uncontrollable drowsiness. But the watchfulness of these vigilant protectors
neither tired nor slumbered. Immovable as that rock, of which each appeared to
form a part, they lay, with their eyes roving, without intermission, along the
dark 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 they
breathed. It was evident that this excess of caution proceeded from an
experience 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 rock
and shook Duncan from his heavy slumbers.
“Now is the time to journey,” he whispered; “awake the gentle
ones, and be ready to get into the canoe when I bring it to the
landing-place.”
“Have you had a quiet night?” said Heyward; “for myself, I
believe 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 shawl
from the sleeping females. The motion caused Cora to raise her hand as if to
repulse 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 other
standing upright before him, in bewildered horror, was the unexpected answer he
received.
While the words were still on the lips of Heyward, there had arisen such a
tumult of yells and cries as served to drive the swift currents of his own
blood 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 air
about them, and were venting their savage humors in barbarous sounds. The cries
came from no particular direction, though it was evident they filled the woods,
and, as the appalled listeners easily imagined, the caverns of the falls, the
rocks, the bed of the river, and the upper air. David raised his tall person in
the midst of the infernal din, with a hand on either ear, exclaiming:
“Whence comes this discord! Has hell broke loose, that man should utter
sounds like these!”
The bright flashes and the quick reports of a dozen rifles, from the opposite
banks of the stream, followed this incautious exposure of his person, and left
the unfortunate singing master senseless on that rock where he had been so long
slumbering. The Mohicans boldly sent back the intimidating yell of their
enemies, who raised a shout of savage triumph at the fall of Gamut. The flash
of rifles was then quick and close between them, but either party was too well
skilled to leave even a limb exposed to the hostile aim. Duncan listened with
intense anxiety for the strokes of the paddle, believing that flight was now
their only refuge. The river glanced by with its ordinary velocity, but the
canoe was nowhere to be seen on its dark waters. He had just fancied they were
cruelly deserted by their scout, as a stream of flame issued from the rock
beneath them, and a fierce yell, blended with a shriek of agony, announced that
the messenger of death sent from the fatal weapon of Hawkeye, had found a
victim. At this slight repulse the assailants instantly withdrew, and gradually
the place became as still as before the sudden tumult.
Duncan seized the favorable moment to spring to the body of Gamut, which he
bore within the shelter of the narrow chasm that protected the sisters. In
another minute the whole party was collected in this spot of comparative
safety.
“The poor fellow has saved his scalp,” said Hawkeye, coolly passing
his hand over the head of David; “but he is a proof that a man may be
born with too long a tongue! ’Twas downright madness to show six feet of
flesh and blood, on a naked rock, to the raging savages. I only wonder he has
escaped with life.”
“Is he not dead?” demanded Cora, in a voice whose husky tones
showed 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 he
will come to himself, and be a wiser man for it, till the hour of his real time
shall come,” returned Hawkeye, casting another oblique glance at the
insensible body, while he filled his charger with admirable nicety.
“Carry him in, Uncas, and lay him on the sassafras. The longer his nap
lasts the better it will be for him, as I doubt whether he can find a proper
cover for such a shape on these rocks; and singing won’t do any good with
the Iroquois.”
“You believe, then, the attack will be renewed?” asked Heyward.
“Do I expect a hungry wolf will satisfy his craving with a mouthful! They
have lost a man, and ’tis their fashion, when they meet a loss, and fail
in the surprise, to fall back; but we shall have them on again, with new
expedients to circumvent us, and master our scalps. Our main hope,” he
continued, raising his rugged countenance, across which a shade of anxiety just
then passed like a darkening cloud, “will be to keep the rock until Munro
can send a party to our help! God send it may be soon and under a leader that
knows the Indian customs!”
“You hear our probable fortunes, Cora,” said Duncan, “and you
know 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 safe
from the murderous rifles of our enemies, and where you may bestow a care
suited to your gentle natures on our unfortunate comrade.”
The sisters followed him into the outer cave, where David was beginning, by his
sighs, to give symptoms of returning consciousness, and then commending the
wounded man to their attention, he immediately prepared to leave them.
“Duncan!” said the tremulous voice of Cora, when he had reached the
mouth of the cavern. He turned and beheld the speaker, whose color had changed
to a deadly paleness, and whose lips quivered, gazing after him, with an
expression of interest which immediately recalled him to her side.
“Remember, Duncan, how necessary your safety is to our own—how you
bear a father’s sacred trust—how much depends on your discretion
and care—in short,” she added, while the telltale blood stole over
her features, crimsoning her very temples, “how very deservedly dear you
are 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 silent
Alice, “it would be so kind an assurance. As major of the Sixtieth, our
honest host will tell you I must take my share of the fray; but our task will
be 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 of
the 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 disconcerts
your aim! Little powder, light lead, and a long arm, seldom fail of bringing
the death screech from a Mingo! At least, such has been my experience with the
creatur’s. Come, friends: let us to our covers, for no man can tell when
or where a Maqua[1]
will strike his blow.”
[1]
Mingo was the Delaware term of the Five Nations. Maquas was the name given
them by the Dutch. The French, from their first intercourse with them, called
them Iroquois.
The Indians silently repaired to their appointed stations, which were fissures
in the rocks, whence they could command the approaches to the foot of the
falls. In the center of the little island, a few short and stunted pines had