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05 - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper · Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter five, quote in such a night did this be fearfully? O'ertrip the
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dew and saw the lion's shadow ere himself unquote Merchant of Venice. The suddenness
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of the flight of his guide and the wild cries of the pursuers caused Hayward
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to remain fixed for a few moments in inactive surprise. Then, recollecting the
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importance of securing the fugitive, he dashed aside the surrounding bushes and pressed eagerly
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forward to lend his aid in the chase. Before he had, however,
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proceeded a hundred yards, he met the three foresters, already returning from their
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unsuccessful pursuit. Why so soon? Disheartened, he exclaimed, the scoundrel must
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be concealed behind some of these trees, and may yet be secured. We
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are not safe while he goes at large? Would you set a cloud to
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chase? The wind, returned the disappointed scout. I heard the imbrushing over
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the dry leaves like a black snake, and blinking a glimpse of him just
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over again, Yon big pine, I pulled, as it might be on
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the scent, but twouldn't do. And yet for a reasoning aim. If
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anybody but myself had touched the trigger, I should call it a quick sight,
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and I may be accounted to have experience in these matters. And one
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who ought to know. Look at the sumac. Its leaves are red,
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though everybody knows the fruit is yellow blossom in the month of July. Is
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the blood of some two. He is hurt and may yet fall. No
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no returned the scout, in decided disappropriation of his opinion. I rubbed the
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bark off a limb, perhaps, but the creature leaped the longer for it.
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A rifle bullet acts like a running animal when it barks him, much
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the same as one of your spurs on a horse. That is, it
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quickens motion and puts life into the flesh instead of taking it away. But
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when it cuts the ragged hole after a bound or two, there is commonly
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a stagnation of further leaping. Be it Indian or be it deer, we
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are four able bodies to one wounded man. Is life grievous to you?
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Interrupted? The scout yon red devil would draw you within swing of the tomahawks
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of his comrades before you were heated in the chase. It was an unthoughtful
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act in a man who has so often slept with the war, whoop ringing
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in the air to let off his piece within sound of ambushment. But then
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it was a natural temptation. Twas very natural, come, friends, let
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us move our station, and in such fashion too, as will throw the
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cunning of a mingo on a wrong scent, or our scalps will be drying
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in the wind in front of Montcalm's marquis again this hour tomorrow. This appalling
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declaration, which the scout uttered with the cool assurance of a man who fully
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comprehended, while he did not fear to face the danger, served to remind
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Heyward of the importance of the charge with which he himself had been entrusted.
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Glancing his eyes around with a vain effort to pierce the gloom that was thickening
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beneath the leafy arches of the forest, he felt as if cut off from
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human aid, his unresisting companions would soon lie at the entire mercy of those
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barbarous enemies, who, like beasts of prey, only waited till the gathering
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darkness might render their blows more fatally certain, his awakened imagination, deluded by
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the deceptive light, converted each waving bush or the fragment of some fallen tree
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into human forms. And twenty times he fancied he could distinguish the horrid visages
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of his lurking foes, peering from their hiding places in never ceasing watchfulness of
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the movements of his party. Looking upward, he found that the thin,
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fleecy clouds which Evening had painted on the blue sky were already losing their faintest
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tints of rose color, while the embedded stream which glided past the spot where
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he stood, was to be traced only by the dark boundary of its wooded
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banks. What is to be done, he said, feeling the utter helplessness
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of doubt in such a pressing strait. Dessert me not, for God's sake,
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remain to defend those I escort, and freely name your own reward.
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His companions, who conversed a part in the language of their tribe, heeded
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not his sudden and earnest appeal, though their dialog was maintained in low and
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cautious sounds, but little above a whisper. Heyward, who now approached,
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could easily distinguish the earnest tones of the younger warrior from the more deliberate speeches
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of his seniors. It was evident that they debated on the propriet of some
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measure that nearly concerned the welfare of the travelers. Yielding to his powerful interest
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in the subject, and impatient of a delay that seemed fraught with so much
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additional danger, Heyward drew still nigher to the dusky group, with an intention
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of making his offers of compensation more definite. When the white man, motioning
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with his hand as if he conceded the disputed point, turned away, saying,
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in a sort of soliloquy, and in the English tongue, uncas is
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right. It would not be the act of men to leave such harmless things
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to their fate, even though it breaks up the harboring place forever. If
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you would save these tender blossoms from the fangs of the worst serpents, gentlemen,
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you have neither time to lose nor resolution to throw away. How can
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such a wish be doubted? Have I not already offered? Offer your prayers
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to him who can give us wisdom to circumvent the cunning of the devils who
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feel these woods calmly interrupted the scout. But spare your offers of money,
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which neither you may live to realize, nor I to profit by these mohicans.
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And I will do what man's thoughts can invent to keep such flowers,
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which those so sweet were never made for the wilderness, from harm, and
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that without hope of any other recompense, but such as God always gives to
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upright dealings. First, you must promise two things, both in your own
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name and for your friends, or without serving you, we shall only endure
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ourselves name them. The one is to be still as these sleeping woods,
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let what will happen. And the other is to keep the place where we
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shall take you forever a secret from all mortal men. I will do my
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utmost to see both these conditions fulfilled. Then follow, for we are losing
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moments that are as precious as the heart's blood to a stricken deer. Heyward
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could distinguish the impatient gesture of the scout through the increasing shadows of the evening,
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and he moved in his footsteps swiftly toward the place where he had left
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the remainder of the party. When they rejoined, the expecting and anxious females,
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he briefly acquainted them with the conditions of their new guide, and with
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the necessity that existed for their hushing every apprehension in instant and serious exertions.
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Although his alarming communication was not received without much secret terror by the listeners,
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his earnest and impressive manner, aided perhaps by the nature of the danger,
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succeeded in bracing their nerves to undergo some unlooked for and unusual trial. Silently
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and without a moment's delay, they permitted him to assist them from their saddles,
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and when they descended quickly to the water's edge, where the scout had
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collected the rest of the party more by the agency of expressive gestures than by
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any use of words. What to do with these dumb creatures, muttered the
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white man, on whom the soul control of their future movements appeared to devolve.
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It would be time loss to cut their throats and cast them into the
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river, And to leave them here would be to tell the mingoes that they
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have not far to seek to find their owners. Then give them their bridles
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and let them range in the woods. Heyward ventured to suggest, no,
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it would be better to mislead the imps and make them believe they must equal
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a horse's speed to run down their chase. Aye. Aye, that will
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blind their fireballs of eyes. Jinkotch itch, what stars in the bush?
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The coat? That coat, at least must die, muttered the scout,
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grasping at the mane of the nimble beasts, which easily eluded his hand.
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Uncas your arrows hold, exclaimed the proprietor of the condemned animal aloud, without
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regard to the whispering tones used by the others. Spare the fall of Miriam.
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It is the comely offspring of a faithful dame, and would willingly injure
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not when men struggle for the single life God has given them, said the
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scouts sternly. Even their own kind seemed no more than the beast of the
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wood. If you speak again, I shall leave you at the mercy of
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the maquas. Draw to your arrowshead, uncas we have no time for second
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blows. The low muttering sounds of his threatening voice were still audible when the
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wounded full first, rearing on its hinder legs, plunged forward to its knees.
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It was met by chinchkotchkook, whose knife passed across its throat quicker than
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thought, and then, precipitating the motions of the struggling victim, he dashed
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into the river, down whose stream it glided away, gasping audibly for breath
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with its ebbing life. This deed, of apparent cruelty but of real necessity,
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fell upon the spirits of the travelers like a terrific warning of the peril
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in which they stood, Heightened as it was, by the calm, though
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steady resolution of the actors in the scene. The sisters shuddered and clung closer
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to each other, while Heyward instinctively laid his hand on one of his pistols
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he had just drawn from their holsters, as he placed himself between his charge
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and those dense shadows that seemed to draw an impenetrable veil before the bosom of
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the forest. The Indians, however, hesitated not a moment, but taking
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the bridles, they led the frightened and reluctant horses into the bed of the
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river. At a short distance from the shore, they turned and were soon
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concealed by the projection of the bank, under the brow of which they moved
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in a direction opposite to the course of the waters. In the meantime,
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the scout drew a canoe of bark from its place of concealment, beneath some
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low bushes, whose branches were waving with the eddies of the current, into
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which he silently motioned for the females to enter. They complied without hesitation,
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though many a fearful and anxious glance was thrown behind them toward the thickening gloom,
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which now lay like a dark barrier along the margin of the stream.
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So soon as Cora and Alice were seated, the scout, without regarding the
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element, directed Hayward to support one side of the frail vessel, and posting
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himself at the other, they bore it up against the stream, followed by
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the dejected owner of the dead full. In this manner, they proceeded for
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many rods, in a silence that was only interrupted by the rippling of the
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water as its eddies played around them, or the low dash made by their
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own cautious footsteps. Heyward yielded the guidance of the canoe implicitly to the scout,
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who approached or receded from the shore to avoid the fragments of rocks or
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deeper parts of the river, with a readiness that showed his knowledge of the
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route they held. Occasionally he would stop, and, in the midst of
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a breathing stillness that the dull but increasing war of the waterfall only served to
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render more impressive. He would listen with painful intenseness to catch any sounds that
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might arise from the slumbering forest. When assured that all was still and unable
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to detect, even by the aid of his practiced senses, any sign of
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his approaching foes, he would deliberately resume his slow and guarded progress. At
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length, they reached a point in the river where the roving eye of Heyward
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became riveted on a cluster of black objects collected at a spot where the high
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banks threw a deeper shadow than usual on the dark waters. Hesitating to advance,
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he pointed out the place to the attention of his companion. I returned
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the composed scout. The Indians have hid the beast with the judgment of natives.
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Water leaves no trail, and an owl's eyes would be blinded by the
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darkness of such a hole. The whole party was soon reunited, and another
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consultation was held between the scout and his new comrades, during which they,
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whose fates depended on the faith and ingenuity of these unknown foresters, had a
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little leisure to observe their situation. More minutely. The river was confined between
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high and cragged rocks, one of which impended above the spot where the canoe
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rested. As these again were surmounted by tall trees which appeared to totter on
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the brows of the precipice, it gave the stream the appearance of running through
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a deep and narrow dell, all beneath the fantastic limbs and ragged tree tops,
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which were here and there dimly painted against the starry zenith, lay alike
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in shadowed obscurity behind them. The curvature of the bank soon bounded the view
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by the same dark and wooded outline, but in front, and apparently at
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no great distance, the water seemed piled against the heavens, whence it tumbled
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into caverns, out of which issued those sullen sounds which had loaded the evening
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atmosphere. It seemed, in truth to be a spot devoted to seclusion,
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and the sisters imbibed a soothing impression of security as they gazed upon its romantic,
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though not on appalling beauties. A general movement among their conductors, however,
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soon recalled them from a contemplation of the wild charms that night had assisted
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to lend the place to a painful sense of their real peril had been secured
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to some scattering shrubs that grew in the fissures in the rocks, where,
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standing in the water, they were left to pass the night. The scout
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directed Heyward and his disconsolate fellow travelers to seat themselves in the forward end of
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the canoe, and took possession of the other, himself as erecked and steady
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as if he flowed in a vessel of much firmer materials. The Indians warily
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retraced their steps toward the place they had left, when the scout, placing
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his pole against a rock by a powerful shove, sent his frail bark directly
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into the turbulent stream. For many minutes, the struggle between the light bubble
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in which they floated and the swift current was severe and doubtful, forbidden to
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stir even a hand, and almost afraid to breathe lest they should expose the
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frail fabric to the fury of the stream. The passengers watched the glancing waters
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in feverish suspense. Twenty times they thought the whirling eddies were sweeping them to
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destruction. When the master hand of their pilot would bring the bowels of the
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canoe to stem the rapid along a vigorous and as it appeared to the females,
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a desperate effort closed the struggle, just as Alice veiled her eyes in
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horror under the impression that they were about to be swept within the vortex.
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At the foot of the cataract, the canoe floated stationary at the side of
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a flat rock that lay on a level with the water. Where are we
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and what is to be done? Demanded Heyward, perceiving that the exertions of
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the scout had ceased. You are at the foot of Glen's, returned the
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other, speaking aloud without fear of consequences within the roar of the cataract.
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And the next thing is to make a steady landing lest the canoe upset,
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and you should go down again the hard road. We have traveled faster than
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you came up.'tis a hard rift to stem when the river is a
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little swelled, and five is an unnatural number to keep dry. In a
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hurry, scurry with a little birch and bark and gum. There go you
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all on the rock, and I will bring up the Mohicans with the venison.
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A man had better sleep without his scalp than famish in the midst of
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plenty. His passengers gladly complied with these directions. As the last foot touched
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the rock, the canoe whirled from its stations when the tall form of the
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scout was seen for an instant gliding above the waters, before it disappeared in
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the impenetrable darkness that rested on the bed of the river. Left by their
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guide, the travelers remained a few minutes in helpless ignorance, afraid even to
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move among the broken rocks lest a false step should precipitate them down some one
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of the many deep and roaring caverns into which the water seemed to tumble on
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every side of them. Their suspense, however, was soon relieved four aided
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by the skill of the natives, the canoe shot back into the eddy and
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floated again at the side of the low rock. Before they thought the scout
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had time to even rejoin his companions. We are now fortified, garrison and
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provisioned, cried Heyward, cheerfully, and may set Montcalm and his allies at
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defiance. How now, my vigilant sentinel can see anything of those you call
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the Iroquois on the mainland. I call them Iroquois because to me, every
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native who speaks a foreign tongue is accounted an enemy, though he may pretend
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to serve the king. If Webb wants faith and honesty in an Indian,
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let him bring out the tribes of the Delawares and send these greedy and lying
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Mohawks and Oneidas with their six nations of varlets where in nature they belong among
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the French. We should then exchange a warlike for a useless friend. I
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have heard that Delawares have laid aside the hatchet and are content to be called
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women. I shame on the Hollanders and Iroquois who circumvented them by their deviltries
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into such a treaty. But I have known them for twenty years, and
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I call him liar that says cowardly blood runs in the veins of a Delaware.
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You have driven their tribes from the sea shore, and would now believe
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what their enemies say, that you may sleep at night upon an easy pillow.
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No, no to me. Every Indian who speaks a foreign tongue is
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in Iroquois, whether the castle of his tribe be in Canada or be in
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York. Footnote, the principal villages of the Indians are still called castles by
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the Whites of New York. Oneida castle is no more than a scattered hamlet,
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but the name is in general use. And footnote Heyward, perceiving the
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stubborn adherence of the scout to the cause of his friends, the Delawares or
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Mohicans, for they were branch of the same numerous people, was likely to
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prolong a useless discussion. Change the subject, treaty or no treaty. I
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know full well that your two companions are brave and cautious warriors. Have they
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heard or seen anything of our enemies? An Indian is immortal to be felt
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afore he is seen returned the scout ascending the rock and throwing the deer carelessly
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down. I trust to other signs than such as come in at the eye
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when am outlying on the trail of the mingoes. Do your ears tell you
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that they have traced our retreat? I should be sorry to think they had,
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though this is a spot that stout courage might hold for a smart scrimmage.
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I will not deny, however, But the horses cowered when I passed
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them, as though they scented the wolves. And a wolf is a beast
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that is apt to hover about it. Indian ambushment, craving the awfuls of
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the deer. The savages kill you, forget the buck at your feet?
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Or may we not owe their visit to the dead colt? Huh, what
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noise is that? Poor Miriam? Murmured the stranger, Thy fool is fordainned
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to become prey to ravenous beast. Then, suddenly, lifting up his voice
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amid the eternal din of the waters, he sang aloud, first born of
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Egypt, smite, did he of mankind and of beast? Also, Oh
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Egypt, wondercent amidst thee om Faro and his servants too. The death of
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the colt sits heavy on the heart of its owner, said the scout.
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But it's a good sign to see a man account upon his dumb friends.
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He has the religion of the matter, in believing what is to happen will
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happen. And with such a consolation, it won't be long before he submits
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to the rationality of killing a four footed beast to save the lives of human
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men. It may be as you say, he continued, reverting to the
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purport of Heyward's last remark, And the greater the reason why we should cut
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our stakes and let the carcass drive down the stream, or we shall have
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the pack howling along the cliffs, begrudging every mouthful we swallow. Besides,
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though the delaware tongue is the same as a book to the Iroquois, the
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cunning varlets are quick enough in understanding the reason of a wolf's howl. The
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scout, while making his remarks, was busied in collecting certain necessary implements.
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As he concluded, he moved silently by the group of travelers accompanied by the
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Mohicans, who seemed to comprehend his intentions with instinctive readiness. When the whole
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three disappeared in succession, seeming to vanish against the dark face of a perpendicular
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rock that rose to the height of a few yards within as many feet of
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the water's edge, end of chapter five,