The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757
commenced a hymn that might have worked a miracle, had faith in its efficacy
been of much avail. He was allowed to proceed to the close, the Indians
respecting his imaginary infirmity, and Duncan too glad of the delay to hazard
the slightest interruption. As the dying cadence of his strains was falling on
the ears of the latter, he started aside at hearing them repeated behind him,
in a voice half human and half sepulchral. Looking around, he beheld the shaggy
monster seated on end in a shadow of the cavern, where, while his restless body
swung in the uneasy manner of the animal, it repeated, in a sort of low growl,
sounds, if not words, which bore some slight resemblance to the melody of the
singer.
The effect of so strange an echo on David may better be imagined than
described. His eyes opened as if he doubted their truth; and his voice became
instantly mute in excess of wonder. A deep-laid scheme, of communicating some
important intelligence to Heyward, was driven from his recollection by an
emotion which very nearly resembled fear, but which he was fain to believe was
admiration. Under its influence, he exclaimed aloud: “She expects you,
and is at hand”; and precipitately left the cavern.
CHAPTER XXV.
“Snug.—Have you the lion’s part written? Pray you, if it be,
give it to me, for I am slow of study.
Quince.—You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but
roaring.”
—Midsummer Night’s Dream.
There was a strange blending of the ridiculous with that which was solemn in
this scene. The beast still continued its rolling, and apparently untiring
movements, though its ludicrous attempt to imitate the melody of David ceased
the instant the latter abandoned the field. The words of Gamut were, as has
been seen, in his native tongue; and to Duncan they seem pregnant with some
hidden meaning, though nothing present assisted him in discovering the object
of their allusion. A speedy end was, however, put to every conjecture on the
subject, by the manner of the chief, who advanced to the bedside of the
invalid, and beckoned away the whole group of female attendants that had
clustered there to witness the skill of the stranger. He was implicitly, though
reluctantly, obeyed; and when the low echo which rang along the hollow, natural
gallery, from the distant closing door, had ceased, pointing toward his
insensible daughter, he said:
“Now let my brother show his power.”
Thus unequivocally called on to exercise the functions of his assumed
character, Heyward was apprehensive that the smallest delay might prove
dangerous. Endeavoring, then, to collect his ideas, he prepared to perform that
species of incantation, and those uncouth rites, under which the Indian
conjurers are accustomed to conceal their ignorance and impotency. It is more
than probable that, in the disordered state of his thoughts, he would soon have
fallen into some suspicious, if not fatal, error had not his incipient attempts
been interrupted by a fierce growl from the quadruped. Three several times did
he renew his efforts to proceed, and as often was he met by the same
unaccountable opposition, each interruption seeming more savage and threatening
than the preceding.
“The cunning ones are jealous,” said the Huron; “I go.
Brother, the woman is the wife of one of my bravest young men; deal justly by
her. Peace!” he added, beckoning to the discontented beast to be quiet;
“I go.”
The chief was as good as his word, and Duncan now found himself alone in that
wild and desolate abode with the helpless invalid and the fierce and dangerous
brute. The latter listened to the movements of the Indian with that air of
sagacity that a bear is known to possess, until another echo announced that he
had also left the cavern, when it turned and came waddling up to Duncan before
whom it seated itself in its natural attitude, erect like a man. The youth
looked anxiously about him for some weapon, with which he might make a
resistance against the attack he now seriously expected.
It seemed, however, as if the humor of the animal had suddenly changed. Instead
of continuing its discontented growls, or manifesting any further signs of
anger, the whole of its shaggy body shook violently, as if agitated by some
strange internal convulsion. The huge and unwieldy talons pawed stupidly about
the grinning muzzle, and while Heyward kept his eyes riveted on its movements
with jealous watchfulness, the grim head fell on one side and in its place
appeared the honest sturdy countenance of the scout, who was indulging from the
bottom of his soul in his own peculiar expression of merriment.
“Hist!” said the wary woodsman, interrupting Heyward’s
exclamation of surprise; “the varlets are about the place, and any sounds
that are not natural to witchcraft would bring them back upon us in a
body.”
“Tell me the meaning of this masquerade; and why you have attempted so
desperate an adventure?”
“Ah, reason and calculation are often outdone by accident,”
returned the scout. “But, as a story should always commence at the
beginning, I will tell you the whole in order. After we parted I placed the
commandant and the Sagamore in an old beaver lodge, where they are safer from
the Hurons than they would be in the garrison of Edward; for your high
north-west Indians, not having as yet got the traders among them, continued to
venerate the beaver. After which Uncas and I pushed for the other encampment as
was agreed. Have you seen the lad?”
“To my great grief! He is captive, and condemned to die at the rising of
the sun.”
“I had misgivings that such would be his fate,” resumed the scout,
in a less confident and joyous tone. But soon regaining his naturally firm
voice, he continued: “His bad fortune is the true reason of my being
here, for it would never do to abandon such a boy to the Hurons. A rare time
the knaves would have of it, could they tie ‘The Bounding Elk’ and
‘The Long Carabine’, as they call me, to the same stake! Though why
they have given me such a name I never knew, there being as little likeness
between the gifts of ‘killdeer’ and the performance of one of your
real Canada carabynes, as there is between the natur’ of a pipe-stone and
a flint.”
“Keep to your tale,” said the impatient Heyward; “we know not
at what moment the Hurons may return.”
“No fear of them. A conjurer must have his time, like a straggling priest
in the settlements. We are as safe from interruption as a missionary would be
at the beginning of a two hours’ discourse. Well, Uncas and I fell in
with a return party of the varlets; the lad was much too forward for a scout;
nay, for that matter, being of hot blood, he was not so much to blame; and,
after all, one of the Hurons proved a coward, and in fleeing led him into an
ambushment.”
“And dearly has he paid for the weakness.”
The scout significantly passed his hand across his own throat, and nodded, as
if he said, “I comprehend your meaning.” After which he continued,
in a more audible though scarcely more intelligible language:
“After the loss of the boy I turned upon the Hurons, as you may judge.
There have been scrimmages atween one or two of their outlyers and myself; but
that is neither here nor there. So, after I had shot the imps, I got in pretty
nigh to the lodges without further commotion. Then what should luck do in my
favor but lead me to the very spot where one of the most famous conjurers of
the tribe was dressing himself, as I well knew, for some great battle with
Satan—though why should I call that luck, which it now seems was an
especial ordering of Providence. So a judgmatical rap over the head stiffened
the lying impostor for a time, and leaving him a bit of walnut for his supper,
to prevent an uproar, and stringing him up atween two saplings, I made free
with his finery, and took the part of the bear on myself, in order that the
operations might proceed.”
“And admirably did you enact the character; the animal itself might have
been shamed by the representation.”
“Lord, major,” returned the flattered woodsman, “I should be
but a poor scholar for one who has studied so long in the wilderness, did I not
know how to set forth the movements or natur’ of such a beast. Had it
been now a catamount, or even a full-size panther, I would have embellished a
performance for you worth regarding. But it is no such marvelous feat to
exhibit the feats of so dull a beast; though, for that matter, too, a bear may
be overacted. Yes, yes; it is not every imitator that knows natur’ may be
outdone easier than she is equaled. But all our work is yet before us. Where is
the gentle one?”
“Heaven knows. I have examined every lodge in the village, without
discovering the slightest trace of her presence in the tribe.”
“You heard what the singer said, as he left us: ‘She is at hand,
and expects you’?”
“I have been compelled to believe he alluded to this unhappy
woman.”
“The simpleton was frightened, and blundered through his message; but he
had a deeper meaning. Here are walls enough to separate the whole settlement. A
bear ought to climb; therefore will I take a look above them. There may be
honey-pots hid in these rocks, and I am a beast, you know, that has a hankering
for the sweets.”
The scout looked behind him, laughing at his own conceit, while he clambered up
the partition, imitating, as he went, the clumsy motions of the beast he
represented; but the instant the summit was gained he made a gesture for
silence, and slid down with the utmost precipitation.
“She is here,” he whispered, “and by that door you will find
her. I would have spoken a word of comfort to the afflicted soul; but the sight
of such a monster might upset her reason. Though for that matter, major, you
are none of the most inviting yourself in your paint.”
Duncan, who had already swung eagerly forward, drew instantly back on hearing
these discouraging words.
“Am I, then, so very revolting?” he demanded, with an air of
chagrin.
“You might not startle a wolf, or turn the Royal Americans from a
discharge; but I have seen the time when you had a better favored look; your
streaked countenances are not ill-judged of by the squaws, but young women of
white blood give the preference to their own color. See,” he added,
pointing to a place where the water trickled from a rock, forming a little
crystal spring, before it found an issue through the adjacent crevices;
“you may easily get rid of the Sagamore’s daub, and when you come
back I will try my hand at a new embellishment. It’s as common for a
conjurer to alter his paint as for a buck in the settlements to change his
finery.”
The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to enforce
his advice. He was yet speaking when Duncan availed himself of the water. In a
moment every frightful or offensive mark was obliterated, and the youth
appeared again in the lineaments with which he had been gifted by nature. Thus
prepared for an interview with his mistress, he took a hasty leave of his
companion, and disappeared through the indicated passage. The scout witnessed
his departure with complacency, nodding his head after him, and muttering his
good wishes; after which he very coolly set about an examination of the state
of the larder, among the Hurons, the cavern, among other purposes, being used
as a receptacle for the fruits of their hunts.
Duncan had no other guide than a distant glimmering light, which served,
however, the office of a polar star to the lover. By its aid he was enabled to
enter the haven of his hopes, which was merely another apartment of the cavern,
that had been solely appropriated to the safekeeping of so important a prisoner
as a daughter of the commandant of William Henry. It was profusely strewed with