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11 - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper · Thrilling Adventures - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter eleven. Quote cursed be my tribe, if I forgive
0:07
Speaker 1: him quote Shylock. The Indian had selected for this desirable
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Speaker 1: purpose one of those steep pyramidal hills which bear a
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Speaker 1: strong resemblance to artificial mounds, and which so frequently occur
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Speaker 1: in the valleys of America. The one in question was
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Speaker 1: high and precipitous, its top flattened as usual, but with
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Speaker 1: one of its sides more than ordinarily irregular. It possessed
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Speaker 1: no other apparent advantage for a resting place than in
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Speaker 1: its elevation and form, which might render defense easy and
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Speaker 1: surprise nearly impossible. As Hayward, however, no longer expected that rescue,
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Speaker 1: which time and distance now rendered so improbable. He regarded
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Speaker 1: these little peculiarities with an eye devoid of interest, voting
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Speaker 1: himself entirely to the comfort and condolence of his feebler companions.
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Speaker 1: The Narragansets were suffered to browse on the branches of
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Speaker 1: the trees and shrubs that were thinly scattered over the
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Speaker 1: summit of the hill, while the remains of their provisions
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Speaker 1: were spread under the shade of a beach that stretched
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Speaker 1: its horizontal limbs like a canopy. Above them. Notwithstanding the
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Speaker 1: swiftness of their flight, one of the Indians had found
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Speaker 1: an opportunity to strike a straggling fawn with an arrow,
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Speaker 1: and had borne the more preferable fragments of the victim
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Speaker 1: patiently on his shoulders to the stopping place. Without any
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Speaker 1: aid from the science of cookery. He was immediately employed,
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Speaker 1: in common with his fellows, in gorging himself with this
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Speaker 1: digestible sustenance. Magua alone sat apart, without participating in the
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Speaker 1: revolting meal, and apparently buried in the deepest thought. This abstinence,
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Speaker 1: so remarkable in an Indian, when he possessed the means
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Speaker 1: of satisfying hunger at length, attracted the notice of Heyward.
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Speaker 1: The young man willingly believed that the Huron deliberated on
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Speaker 1: the most eligible manner of eluding the vigilance of his associates,
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Speaker 1: with a view to assist his plans by any suggestion
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Speaker 1: of his own, and to strengthen the temptation. He left
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Speaker 1: the beach and straggled as if without an object to
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Speaker 1: the spot worthy Renard was seated. Has not Margua kept
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Speaker 1: the sun in his face long enough to escape all
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Speaker 1: danger from the Canadians. He asked, as though no longer
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Speaker 1: doubtful of the good intelligence established between them, And will
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Speaker 1: not the chief of William Henry be better pleased to
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Speaker 1: see his daughters before another night may have hardened his
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Speaker 1: heart to their loss, to make him less liberal in
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Speaker 1: his reward?
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Speaker 2: Do the pale faces love their children less in the
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Speaker 2: morning than at night?
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Speaker 1: Asked the Indian coldly, by no means return earned Heyward,
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Speaker 1: anxious to recall his heir if he had made one.
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Speaker 1: The white man may and does, often forget the burial
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Speaker 1: place of his father's. He sometimes ceases to remember those
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Speaker 1: he should love and is promised to cherish. But the
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Speaker 1: affection of a parent for his child is never permitted
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Speaker 1: to die. And is the heart are the white headed chief?
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Speaker 3: Soft?
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Speaker 2: And will he think of the babes that his squaws
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Speaker 2: have given him? He is hard on his warriors, and
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Speaker 2: his eyes are made of stone.
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Speaker 1: He is severe to the idol and wicked, but to
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Speaker 1: the sober and deserving he is a leader both just
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Speaker 1: and humane. I have known many fond and tender parents,
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Speaker 1: but never have I seen a man whose heart was
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Speaker 1: softer toward his child. You have seen the gray head
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Speaker 1: in front of his warriors Makua. But I have seen
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Speaker 1: his eyes swimming in water when he spoke of those
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Speaker 1: children who are now in your power. Heyward paused, for
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Speaker 1: he knew not how to construe the remarkable expression that
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Speaker 1: gleamed across the swarthy features of the attentive Indian. At first,
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Speaker 1: it seemed as if the remembrance of the promised reward
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Speaker 1: grew vivid in his mind while he listened to the
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Speaker 1: sources of parental feeling which were to assure its possession.
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Speaker 1: But as Duncan proceeded, the expression of joy became so
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Speaker 1: fiercely malignant that it was impossible not to apprehend it
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Speaker 1: proceeded from some passion more sinister than avarice Goat, said
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Speaker 1: the Huron, suppressing the alarming exhibition in an instant, in
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Speaker 1: a deathlike calmness of Countmans.
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Speaker 2: Go to the dark haired daughter and say, Machl wants
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Speaker 2: to speak. The father will remember what the child promises.
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Speaker 1: Duncan, who interpreted this speech to express a wish for
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Speaker 1: some additional pledge that the promised gifts should not be withheld,
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Speaker 1: slowly and reluctantly, repaired to the place where the sisters
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Speaker 1: were now resting from their fatigue to communicate its purport
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Speaker 1: to Cora. You understand the nature of an Indian's wishes,
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Speaker 1: he concluded, as he led her toward the place where
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Speaker 1: she was expected, and must be prodigal of your offers
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Speaker 1: of powder and blankets. Ardent spirits are, however, the most
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Speaker 1: prized by such as he. Nor would it be amiss
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Speaker 1: to add some boon from your own hand with that
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Speaker 1: grace you so well know how to practice. Remember Cora,
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Speaker 1: that on your presence of mind an ingenuity, even your life,
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Speaker 1: as well as that of Alice, may in some measure
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Speaker 1: depend Heyward, and yours. Mine is of little moment. It
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Speaker 1: is already sold to my king, and is apprized to
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Speaker 1: be seized by any enemy who may possess the power.
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Speaker 1: I have no father to expect me, and but few
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Speaker 1: friends to lament a fate which I have corded with
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Speaker 1: the insatiable longings of youth after distinction. But hush, we
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Speaker 1: approached the Indian Maqua. The lady with whom you wish
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Speaker 1: to speak is here. The Indian rose slowly from his
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Speaker 1: seat and stood for near a minute, silent and motionless.
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Speaker 1: He then signed with his hand for Heyward to retire
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Speaker 1: saying coldly, when the.
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Speaker 2: Huron talks to the women, his tribes shut their ears.
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Speaker 1: Duncan, still lingering, as if refusing to comply, Corus said,
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Speaker 1: with a calm smile.
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Speaker 3: You hear, Heyward, and delicacy at least should urge you
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Speaker 3: to retire. Go to Alice and comfort her with our
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Speaker 3: reviving process.
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Speaker 1: She waited until he had departed, and then, turning to
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Speaker 1: the Native, with a dignity of her sex in her
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Speaker 1: voice and manner, she added.
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Speaker 3: What would la Renhard say to the daughter of Monroe.
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Speaker 1: Listen, said the Indian, laying his hand firmly upon her arm,
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Speaker 1: as if willing to draw her utmost attention to his words,
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Speaker 1: a movement that Cora As firmly but quietly repulsed by
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Speaker 1: extricating the limb.
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Speaker 2: From his grasp. Maquall was born a chief and a
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Speaker 2: warrior among the Red Hurons of the Lakes. He saw
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Speaker 2: the sons of twenty summers make the snows of twenty
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Speaker 2: winters run off in the streams before he saw a
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Speaker 2: pale face, and he was happy. Then his Canadian fathers
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Speaker 2: came into the woods and taught him to drink the
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Speaker 2: fire water, and he became a rascal. The Urons drove
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Speaker 2: him from the grace of his father's as they would
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Speaker 2: chase the hunted buffalo. He ran down the shores of
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Speaker 2: the lakes and followed their outlet to the city of Cannon.
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Speaker 2: There he hunted and fished till the people chased him
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Speaker 2: again through the woods into the arms of his enemies.
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Speaker 2: The chief, who was born a Huron, was at last
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Speaker 2: a warrior among the mohawks.
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Speaker 1: Something like this I had heard before, said Cora, observing
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Speaker 1: that he paused to suppress those passions which began to
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Speaker 1: burn with too bright a flame as he recalled the
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Speaker 1: recollection of his supposed injuries.
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Speaker 2: Was it the thought of le Renard that his head
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Speaker 2: was not made of rock? Who gave him the fire water?
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Speaker 2: Who made him a villain? Twas the pale faces the
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Speaker 2: people of your own color, am I answerable? The thoughtless
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Speaker 2: and unprincipled men exist whose shades of countenance may resemble mine?
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Speaker 2: Cora calm, he demanded of the excited savage. No, Maqua
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Speaker 2: is a man and not a fool such as you
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Speaker 2: never opened their lips to the burning stream. The great
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Speaker 2: Spirit has given you wisdom.
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Speaker 3: What then have I to do or say? In the
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Speaker 3: matter of your misfortunes, not to say of your errors.
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Speaker 1: Listen, repeated the Indian, resuming his earnest attitude.
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Speaker 2: When his English and French fathers dug up the hatchet,
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Speaker 2: le Renard struck the war posts of the Mohawks and
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Speaker 2: went out against his own nation. The pale faces have
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Speaker 2: driven the redskins from their hunting grounds, and now when
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Speaker 2: they fight, a white man leads the way. The old
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Speaker 2: chief at Horican, your father was the great captain of
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Speaker 2: our war party. He said to the Mohawks, do this
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Speaker 2: and do that, And he was minded. He made a
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Speaker 2: law that if an Indian swallowed the fire water and
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Speaker 2: came into the cloth wigwams of his warriors, it should
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Speaker 2: not be forgotten. Makwa, foolish opened his mouth, and the
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Speaker 2: hot liquor led him into the cabin of Monroe. What
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Speaker 2: did the gray head let his daughter say?
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Speaker 3: He forgot not his words, and it justice, but punishing
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Speaker 3: the offender.
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Speaker 1: Said the undoald daughter. Justice, repeated the Indian, casting an
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Speaker 1: oblique glance of the most ferocious expression at her unyielding countenance.
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Speaker 2: Is it justice to make evil and then punish for it?
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Speaker 2: Maqua was not himself, It was the fire water that
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Speaker 2: spoke and acted for him, But Monroe did believe it.
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Speaker 2: The Iran chief was tied up before all the pale
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Speaker 2: face wereriors, and whipped like a dog.
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Speaker 1: Cora remained silent, for she knew not how to palliate
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Speaker 1: this imprudent severity on the part of her father in
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Speaker 1: a manner to suit the comprehension of an Indian see,
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Speaker 1: continued Makua, tearing aside the slight calico that very imperfectly
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Speaker 1: concealed his painted breast.
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Speaker 2: Here are scars given by knives and bullets. Of these
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Speaker 2: a warrior may boast before his nation. But the gray
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Speaker 2: head has left marks on the back of the Huron chief,
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Speaker 2: that he must hide like a squaw under this painted
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Speaker 2: cloth of the whites.
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Speaker 3: I had thought, resumed Cora that an Indian warrior was patient,
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Speaker 3: and that his spirit felt not and knew not the
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Speaker 3: pain his body suffered.
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Speaker 2: When the Chippewas tied Makua to the stake and cut
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Speaker 2: this gash, said the other, laying his finger on a
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Speaker 2: deep scar, the Huron laughed in their faces and told
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Speaker 2: them women struck so light. His spirit was then in
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Speaker 2: the clouds, But when he felt the blowsom and row.
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Speaker 2: His spirit lay under the birch. The spirit of a
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Speaker 2: huron is never drunk.
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Speaker 3: It remembers forever, but it may be appeased. If my
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Speaker 3: father has done you this injustice, show him how an
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Speaker 3: Indian can forgive an injury and take back his daughters.
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Speaker 3: You have heard from Major.
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Speaker 1: Heyward makwas shook his head forbidding the repetition of offers
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Speaker 1: he so much despised.
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Speaker 3: What would you have?
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Speaker 1: Continued Cora, after a most painful pause, while the conviction
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Speaker 1: forced itself on her mind that the too sanguine and
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Speaker 1: generous Duncan had been cruelly deceived by the cunning Savage.
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Speaker 2: What a huron loves good for good, bad for bad?
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Speaker 3: You would then revenge the injury inflicted by Monroe on
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Speaker 3: his helpless daughters. Would it not be more like a
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Speaker 3: man to go before his face and take the satisfaction
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Speaker 3: of a warrior?
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Speaker 2: The arms of a pale face are long and their
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Speaker 2: knives sharp, returned the savage with a malignant laugh. Why
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Speaker 2: should let Renard go among the muskets of his warriors
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Speaker 2: when he holds the spirit of the gray head in
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Speaker 2: his hand?
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Speaker 1: Name your intention, Margua said Cora, struggling with herself to
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Speaker 1: speak with steady calmness. Is it to lead us prisoners
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Speaker 1: to the woods, or do you contemplate some greater evil?
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Speaker 1: Is there no reward, no means of palliating the injury,
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Speaker 1: and of softening your heart? At least release my gentle sister,
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Speaker 1: and pour out your malice on me. Purchase wealth by
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Speaker 1: her safety, and satisfy your revenge with a single victim.
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Speaker 1: The loss of both his daughters might bring the aged
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Speaker 1: man to his grave. And where would then be the
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Speaker 1: satisfaction of le renard lessen, said the Indian again.
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Speaker 2: The light eyes go back to the Horican and tell
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Speaker 2: the old chief what has been done. If the dark
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Speaker 2: haired woman will swear, by the great spirit of her
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Speaker 2: father's to tell no lie.
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Speaker 1: What must I promise? Demanded Cora, still maintaining a secret
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Speaker 1: ascendancy over the fierce native by the collected and feminine
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Speaker 1: dignity of her presence. When Maqua left his people, his
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Speaker 1: wife was given to another chief. He has now made
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Speaker 1: friends with the Hurons and will go back to the
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Speaker 1: graves of his tribe on the shars of the great Lake.
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Speaker 1: Let the daughter of the English chief follow and live
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Speaker 1: in his wigwam forever. However revolting a proposal of such
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Speaker 1: a character might prove to Cora, she retained, notwithstanding her
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Speaker 1: powerful disgust, sufficient self command to reply without betraying the weakness.
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Speaker 3: And what pleasure would Makua find in sharing his cabin
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Speaker 3: with a wife he did not love, one who would
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Speaker 3: be of a nation and color different from his own.
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Speaker 3: It would be better to take the gold of Monroe,
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Speaker 3: and by the heart of some Uron made with his gifts.
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Speaker 1: The Indian made no reply for nearer minute, but bent
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Speaker 1: his fierce looks on the countenance of Cora, in such
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Speaker 1: wavering glances that her eye sank with shame, under an
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Speaker 1: impression that for the first time they had encountered, an
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Speaker 1: expression that no chase female might endure. While she was
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Speaker 1: shrinking within herself in dread of having her ears wounded
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Speaker 1: by some proposal still more shocking than the last, the
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Speaker 1: voice of Makua answered, in its tones of deepest malignancy.
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Speaker 2: When the blows scorched the back of the Uran, he
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Speaker 2: would know where to find a woman to feel the
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Speaker 2: smart The daughter of Munroe would draw his water, o
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Speaker 2: his corn, and cock his venison. The body of the
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Speaker 2: gray head would sleep among his cannon, but his heart
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Speaker 2: would lie within reach of the knife. A less till.
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Speaker 3: Monster. Well dost thou deserve thy tread's name.
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Speaker 1: Cried Cora in an ungovernable burst of filial indignation.
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Speaker 3: None but a fiend could mediate such a vengeance. But
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Speaker 3: thou overraatest thy power, you shall find it is in
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Speaker 3: truth the heart of Monroe you hold, and that it
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Speaker 3: will defy your utmost malice.
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Speaker 1: The Indian answered this bold defiance by a ghastly smile
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Speaker 1: that showed an unaltered purpose, while he motioned her away
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Speaker 1: as if to close the conference forever. Cora, already regretting
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Speaker 1: her precipitation, was obliged to comply, for Maqua instantly left
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Speaker 1: the spot and approached his gluttonous comrades. Heyward flew to
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Speaker 1: the side of the agitated female and demanded the result
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Speaker 1: of a dialog that he had watched at a distance
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Speaker 1: with so much interest. But unwilling to alarm the fears
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Speaker 1: of Alice, she evaded a direct reply, betraying only by
18:01
Speaker 1: her anxious looks fastened on the slightest movements of her
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Speaker 1: captors to the reiterated and earnest questions of her sister
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Speaker 1: concerning their probable destination. She made no other answer than
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Speaker 1: by pointing toward the dark group with an agitation she
18:17
Speaker 1: could not control, and murmuring as she folded alice to
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Speaker 1: her bosom.
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Speaker 3: There there read our fortunes in their faces. We shall see,
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Speaker 3: we shall see.
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Speaker 1: The action and the choked utterance of Cora spoke more
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Speaker 1: impressively than any words, and quickly drew the attention of
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Speaker 1: her companions on that spot where her own was riveted
18:44
Speaker 1: with an intenseness that nothing but the importance of the
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Speaker 1: state could create. When Maukl reached the cluster of lulling savages,
18:54
Speaker 1: who gorged with their disgusting meal, lay stretched on the
18:58
Speaker 1: earth in brutal indulgence, he commenced, speaking with the dignity
19:02
Speaker 1: of an Indian chief. The first syllables he uttered had
19:07
Speaker 1: the effect to cause his listeners to raise themselves at
19:09
Speaker 1: attitudes of respectful attention. As the Huron used his native language,
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Speaker 1: the prisoners, notwithstanding the caution of the natives, had kept
19:19
Speaker 1: them within swing of their tomahawks, could only conjecture the
19:24
Speaker 1: substance of his harangue from the nature of those significant
19:28
Speaker 1: gestures with which an Indian always illustrates his eloquence. At first,
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Speaker 1: the language, as well as the action of Maqua, appeared
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Speaker 1: calm and deliberative. When he had succeeded in sufficiently awakening
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Speaker 1: the attention of his comrades, Heyward fancied by his pointing
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Speaker 1: so frequently toward the direction of the Great Lakes, that
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Speaker 1: he spoke of the land of their fathers and of
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Speaker 1: their distant tribe. Frequent indications of applause escaped the listeners, who,
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Speaker 1: as they uttered the express of Hugh, looked at each
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Speaker 1: other in commendation to the speaker. Le Renaud was too
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Speaker 1: skillful to neglect his advantage. He now spoke of the
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Speaker 1: long and painful route by which they had left those
20:16
Speaker 1: spacious grounds and happy villages to come in battle against
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Speaker 1: the enemies of their Canadian fathers. He enumerated the warriors
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Speaker 1: of the party, their several merits, their frequent services to
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Speaker 1: the nation, their wounds, the number of scalps they had taken.
20:34
Speaker 1: Whenever he alluded to any present, and the subtle Indian
20:39
Speaker 1: neglected none. The dark countenance of the flattered individual gleamed
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Speaker 1: with exultation, nor did he even hesitate to assert the
20:49
Speaker 1: truth of the words by gestures of applause and confirmation.
20:54
Speaker 1: Then the voice of the speaker fell and lost the loud,
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Speaker 1: animated tones of triumph with which he had enumerated their
21:01
Speaker 1: deeds of success and victory. He described the Cataract of Glens,
21:06
Speaker 1: the impregnable position of its rocky island, with its caverns,
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Speaker 1: and its numerous rapids and whirlpools. He named the name
21:15
Speaker 1: of La Longue Carabine, and paused until the forest beneath
21:20
Speaker 1: them had sent up the last echo of a loud
21:23
Speaker 1: and long yell, with which the hated appellation was received.
21:29
Speaker 1: He pointed toward the youthful military captive and described the
21:33
Speaker 1: death of a favorite warrior had been precipitated into the
21:37
Speaker 1: deep ravine by his hand. He not only mentioned the
21:41
Speaker 1: fate of him, who, hanging between heaven and Earth, had
21:44
Speaker 1: presented such a spectacle of horror to the whole band,
21:48
Speaker 1: but he acted anew the terrors of his situation, his resolution,
21:54
Speaker 1: and his death on the branches of a sapling, And
21:58
Speaker 1: finally he rapped. But he recounted the manner in which
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Speaker 1: each of their friends had fallen, never failing to touch
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Speaker 1: upon their courage, and their most acknowledged virtues. When this
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Speaker 1: recital of events was ended, his voice once more changed
22:15
Speaker 1: and became plaintive and even musical. In its low guttural sounds.
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Speaker 1: He now spoke of the wives and children of the slain,
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Speaker 1: their destitution, their misery both physical and moral, their distance,
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Speaker 1: and at last, of their unavenged wrongs. Then, suddenly, lifting
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Speaker 1: his voice through a pitch of terrific energy, he concluded
22:42
Speaker 1: by demanding, are the.
22:44
Speaker 2: Iran's dogs to bear this? Who shall say to the
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Speaker 2: wife of Monoqua, that the fishes have his scalp and
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Speaker 2: that his nation have not taken revenge? Who will dare
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Speaker 2: meet the mother of wassn't to me that scornful woman
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Speaker 2: with his an clean? What shall be said to the
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Speaker 2: old men when they ask us for scalps and we
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Speaker 2: have not a hair from a white head to give him?
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Speaker 2: The women will point their fingers at us. There is
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Speaker 2: a dark spot on the name of the Rans, and
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Speaker 2: it must be hid in blood.
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Speaker 1: His voice was no longer audible in the burst of rage,
23:23
Speaker 1: which now broke into the air, as if the wood,
23:26
Speaker 1: instead of containing so small a band, was filled with
23:30
Speaker 1: the nation. During the foregoing address. The progress of the
23:33
Speaker 1: speaker was too plainly read by those most interested in
23:36
Speaker 1: his success through the medium of the countenances of the
23:39
Speaker 1: men he addressed. They had answered his melancholy in mourning
23:43
Speaker 1: by sympathy and sorrow, his assertions by gestures of confirmation,
23:48
Speaker 1: and his boasting with the exultation of savages. When he
23:53
Speaker 1: spoke of courage, their looks were firm and responsive. When
23:57
Speaker 1: he alluded to their injuries, their eyes kindled with fury.
24:02
Speaker 1: When he mentioned the taunts of the women, they dropped
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Speaker 1: their heads in shame. But when he pointed out their
24:08
Speaker 1: means of vengeance, he struck a chord which never failed
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Speaker 1: to thrill in the breast of an Indian. With the
24:16
Speaker 1: first intimation that it was within their reach, the whole
24:21
Speaker 1: band sprang upon their feet as one man, giving utterance
24:25
Speaker 1: to their rage. In the most frantic cries, they rushed
24:28
Speaker 1: upon their prisoners in a body with drawn knives and
24:31
Speaker 1: uplifted tomahawks. Heyward threw himself between the sisters and the foremost,
24:36
Speaker 1: whom he grappled with a desperate strength that for a
24:39
Speaker 1: moment checked his violence. The unexpected resistance gave Makwa time
24:44
Speaker 1: to interpose and with rapid nunciation and animated gesture, he
24:48
Speaker 1: drew the attention of the band again to himself. In
24:52
Speaker 1: that language he knew so well how to assume, he
24:55
Speaker 1: diverted his comrades from their instant purpose and invited them
24:59
Speaker 1: to prolong along the misery of their victims. His proposal
25:03
Speaker 1: was received with acclamations and executed with the swiftness of thought.
25:08
Speaker 1: Two powerful warriors cast themselves on Heyward, while another was
25:13
Speaker 1: occupied in securing the less active singing master. Neither of
25:18
Speaker 1: the captives, however, submitted without a desperate though fruitless struggle.
25:23
Speaker 1: Even David hurled his assailant to the earth. Nor was
25:27
Speaker 1: Heyward secured until the victory over his companion enabled the
25:32
Speaker 1: Indians to direct their united force on that object. He
25:37
Speaker 1: was then bound and fastened to the body of the
25:40
Speaker 1: sapling on whose branches Maqua had acted the pantomime of
25:44
Speaker 1: the falling Huron. When the young soldier regained his recollection,
25:49
Speaker 1: he had the painful certainty before his eyes that a
25:53
Speaker 1: common fate was intended for the whole party. On his
25:57
Speaker 1: right was Cora in a durance. Snam were to his own,
26:02
Speaker 1: pale and agitated, but with an eye whose steady look
26:07
Speaker 1: still read the proceedings of their enemies. On his left.
26:11
Speaker 1: The wives, which bound her to a pine, performed that
26:14
Speaker 1: office for Alice, which her trembling limbs refused, and alone
26:19
Speaker 1: kept her fragile form from sinking. Her hands were clasped
26:23
Speaker 1: before her in prayer, but instead of looking upward toward
26:28
Speaker 1: the power which alone could rescue them, her unconscious looks
26:33
Speaker 1: wandered to the countenance of Duncan. With infantile dependency. David
26:38
Speaker 1: had contended, and the novelty of the circumstance held him
26:42
Speaker 1: silent in deliberation of the propriety of the unusual currents.
26:48
Speaker 1: The vengeance of the Hurons had not taken a new direction,
26:51
Speaker 1: and they prepared to execute it with that barbarous ingenuity
26:55
Speaker 1: with which they were familiarized by the practice of centuries.
27:00
Speaker 1: Some sought knots to raise the blazing pile. One was
27:04
Speaker 1: riving the splinters of pine in order to pierce the
27:07
Speaker 1: flesh of their captives with the burning fragments, and others
27:11
Speaker 1: bent the tops of two samplings to the earth in
27:15
Speaker 1: order to suspend Heyward by the arms between the recoiling branches.
27:20
Speaker 1: But the vengeance of Makua sought a deeper and more
27:22
Speaker 1: malignant enjoyment, while the less refined monsters of the band
27:27
Speaker 1: prepared before the eyes of those who were to suffer
27:31
Speaker 1: those well known and vulgar means of torture. He approached
27:35
Speaker 1: Cora and pointed out, with the most malign expression of countenance,
27:41
Speaker 1: the speedy fate that awaited her a He added.
27:46
Speaker 2: What says the daughter of Monreau, Her head is too
27:50
Speaker 2: good to find a pillow in the wigwam of le Renard.
27:53
Speaker 2: Will she like it better when it rolls about this
27:56
Speaker 2: hill a plaything for the wolves. Her bosom cannot nurse
28:02
Speaker 2: the children of a Uron. She will see it spit
28:05
Speaker 2: upon by Indians.
28:08
Speaker 1: What means the monster, demanded the astonished Heyward. Nothing, was
28:15
Speaker 1: the firm reply.
28:16
Speaker 3: He is a savage, a barbarous and ignorant savage, and
28:21
Speaker 3: knows not what he does. Let us find leisure with
28:25
Speaker 3: our dying breath to ask for him penitence and pardon.
28:30
Speaker 1: Pardon, echoed the fierce Chiron, mistaking in his anger the
28:35
Speaker 1: meaning of her words.
28:37
Speaker 2: The memory of an Indian is no longer than the
28:40
Speaker 2: arm of the pale faces, his mercy shorter than their justice.
28:45
Speaker 2: Say shall I send the yellow hair to her father,
28:49
Speaker 2: and will you follow Makua to the Great Lakes to
28:51
Speaker 2: carry his flater and feed him with corn.
28:55
Speaker 1: Cora beckoned him away with an emotion of disgust she
28:58
Speaker 1: could not control. Leave me, She said, with a solemnity
29:03
Speaker 1: that for a moment checked the barbarity of the Indian.
29:07
Speaker 1: You mingle bitterness with my prayers. You stand between.
29:11
Speaker 3: Me and my God.
29:13
Speaker 1: The slight impression produced on the savage was, however, soon forgotten,
29:17
Speaker 1: and he continued pointing with taunting irony toward Alice.
29:22
Speaker 2: Look, the child weeps, she's too young to die. Send
29:27
Speaker 2: her to Monroe to comb his gray hairs and keep
29:31
Speaker 2: life in the heart of the old man.
29:33
Speaker 1: Cora could not resist the desire to look upon her
29:35
Speaker 1: youthful sister, in whose eyes she met an imploring glance
29:40
Speaker 1: that betrayed the longings of nature. What says he dear is,
29:44
Speaker 1: Cora asked the trembling voice of Alice.
29:48
Speaker 3: Did he speak of sending me to her father?
29:52
Speaker 1: For many moments, the elder sister looked upon the younger
29:56
Speaker 1: with a countenance that wavered with powerful and contending emotions.
30:00
Speaker 1: At length, she spoke, though her tones had lost their
30:03
Speaker 1: rich and calm fulness. In an expression of tenderness that
30:07
Speaker 1: seemed maternal, Alice, she said, the Huron offers us both life,
30:15
Speaker 1: nay more than both. He offers to restore Duncan. Are
30:19
Speaker 1: invaluable Duncan as well as you, to our friends, to
30:24
Speaker 1: our father, to our heart stricken, childless father. If I
30:31
Speaker 1: would bow down this rebellious, stubborn pride of mine and consent,
30:37
Speaker 1: Her voice became choked, and clasping her hands, she looked upward,
30:41
Speaker 1: as if seeking in her agony intelligence from a wisdom
30:45
Speaker 1: that was infinite. Say On, cried Alice, to what, dearest Cora, Oh,
30:52
Speaker 1: that the proffer were made to me to save you,
30:55
Speaker 1: to cheer our aged father, to restore Duncan. How cheerfully
30:59
Speaker 1: would I die?
31:01
Speaker 3: Die?
31:02
Speaker 1: Repeated Cora, with a calmer and firmer voice.
31:06
Speaker 3: That were easy. Perhaps the alternative may not be less,
31:10
Speaker 3: so he would have me.
31:13
Speaker 1: She continued her accents, sinking under a deep consciousness of
31:18
Speaker 1: the degradation of the proposal.
31:21
Speaker 3: Follow him to the wilderness, go to the habitations of
31:25
Speaker 3: the Urons, to remain there, in short, to become his wife. Speak, then, Alice,
31:35
Speaker 3: child of my affections, sister of my love, and you too,
31:40
Speaker 3: Major Heyward aid, my weak reason with your counsel is
31:46
Speaker 3: life to be purchased by such a sacrifice? Will you, Alice,
31:53
Speaker 3: receive it at my hands at such a price? And you,
31:57
Speaker 3: duncan guide me control between you? For I am wholly
32:03
Speaker 3: yours would I echoed the indignant and astonished youth, Cora. Cora,
32:11
Speaker 3: you jest with her misery name not the horrid alternative again,
32:17
Speaker 3: the thought itself is worse than a follow than death.
32:21
Speaker 3: That such would be your answer I well knew.
32:24
Speaker 1: Exclaimed Cora, her cheeks flushing and her dark eyes once
32:28
Speaker 1: more sparkling with the lingering emotions of a woman.
32:32
Speaker 3: What says my alice for her? I will submit without
32:37
Speaker 3: another murmur.
32:38
Speaker 1: Although both Heyward and Cora listened with painful suspense and
32:43
Speaker 1: the deepest attention, no sounds were heard in reply. It
32:49
Speaker 1: appeared as if the delicate and sensitive form of Alice
32:52
Speaker 1: would shrink into itself. As she listened to this proposal.
32:57
Speaker 1: Her arms had fallen lengthwise before her, the fingers moving
33:01
Speaker 1: in slight convulsions. Her head dropped upon her bosom, and
33:06
Speaker 1: her whole person seemed suspended against the tree, looking like
33:10
Speaker 1: some beautiful emblem of the wounded delicacy of her sex,
33:15
Speaker 1: devoid of animation and yet keenly conscious. In a few moments, however,
33:22
Speaker 1: her head began to move slowly in a deep sign
33:25
Speaker 1: of unconquerable disapprobation.
33:29
Speaker 3: No, no, no better than retire as we have lived together.
33:35
Speaker 1: Then die, shouted Makua, hurling his tomahawk with violence at
33:40
Speaker 1: the unresisting speaker and gnashing his teeth with a rage
33:44
Speaker 1: that could no longer be bridled at this sudden exhibition
33:47
Speaker 1: of firmness in the one he believed the weakest of
33:50
Speaker 1: the party. The axe cleaved the air in front of Heyward,
33:53
Speaker 1: and cutting some of the flowing ringlets of alice quivered
33:57
Speaker 1: in the tree above her head. The sight maddened Duncan
34:00
Speaker 1: to desperation. Collecting all his energies in one effort, he
34:04
Speaker 1: snapped the twigs which bound him and rushed upon another savage,
34:08
Speaker 1: who was preparing, with loud yells and a more deliberate
34:11
Speaker 1: aim to repeat the blow. They encountered, grappled, and fell
34:16
Speaker 1: to the earth together. The naked body of his antagonists
34:20
Speaker 1: afforded Heyward no means of holding his adversary, who glided
34:24
Speaker 1: from his grasp and rose again, with one knee on
34:27
Speaker 1: his chest, pressing him down with the weight of a giant.
34:31
Speaker 1: Duncan already saw the knife gleaming in the air. When
34:35
Speaker 1: a whistling sound swept past him and was rather accompanying
34:38
Speaker 1: than followed by the sharp crack of a rifle. He
34:41
Speaker 1: felt his breast relieved from the load it had endured.
34:45
Speaker 1: He saw the savage expression of his adversary's countenance changed
34:49
Speaker 1: to a look of vacant wildness when the Indian fell
34:52
Speaker 1: dead on the faded leaves by his side. End of
34:57
Speaker 1: Chapter eleven.