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

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Speaker 1: Chapter nine, quote be gay securely dispel my faith with
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Speaker 1: smiles the timorous clouds that hang on my clear brow unquote.
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Speaker 1: From Death of Agrippina. The sudden and almost magical change
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Speaker 1: from the stirring incidents of the combat to the stillness
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Speaker 1: that now reigned around him acted on the heated imagination
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Speaker 1: of Heyward, like some exciting dream. While all the images
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Speaker 1: and events he had witnessed remained deeply impressed on his memory,
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Speaker 1: he felt a difficulty in persuading him of their truth.
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Speaker 1: Still ignorant of the fate of those who had trusted
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Speaker 1: to the aid of the swift current, he at first
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Speaker 1: listened intently to any signal or sounds of alarm, which
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Speaker 1: might announce the good or evil fortune of their hazardous undertaking.
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Speaker 1: His attention, however, was bestowed in vain, for with the
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Speaker 1: disappearance of uncas, every sign of the advances had been lost,
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Speaker 1: leaving him in total uncertainty of their fate. In a
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Speaker 1: moment of such painful doubt, Duncan did not hesitate to
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Speaker 1: look around him without consulting that protection from the rocks
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Speaker 1: which just before had been so necessary to his safety.
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Speaker 1: Every effort, however, to detect the least evidence of the
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Speaker 1: approach of their hidden enemies was as fruitless as the inquiry.
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Speaker 1: After his late companions, the wooded banks of the river
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Speaker 1: seemed again deserted by everything possessing animal life. The uproar
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Speaker 1: which had so lately echoed through the vaults of the
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Speaker 1: forest was gone, leaving the rush of the waters to
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Speaker 1: swell and sink on the currents of the air in
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Speaker 1: the unmingled sweetness of nature. A fishhawk, which secure on
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Speaker 1: the topmost branches of a dead pine, had been a
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Speaker 1: distant spectator of the fray, now swooped from his high
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Speaker 1: and ragged perch and soared in wide sweeps above his press.
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Speaker 1: While a jay, whose noisy voice had been stilled by
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Speaker 1: the hoarser cries of the savages, ventured again to open
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Speaker 1: his discordant throat, as though once more in undisturbed possession
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Speaker 1: of his wild domains. Duncan caught from these natural accompaniments
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Speaker 1: of the solitary scene a glimmering of hope, and he
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Speaker 1: began to rally his facilities to renewed exertions with something
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Speaker 1: like a reviving confidence of success. The Hurons are not
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Speaker 1: to be seen, he said, addressing David, who had by
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Speaker 1: no means recovered from the effects of the stunning blow
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Speaker 1: he had received. Let us conceal ourselves in the cavern,
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Speaker 1: and trust the rest to providence. I remember to have
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Speaker 1: united with two comely maidens in lifting up our voices
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Speaker 1: in praise and thanksgiving, returned the bewildered singing master, Since
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Speaker 1: which time I have been visited by heavy judgment for
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Speaker 1: my sins. I have been mocked with the likeness of sleep,
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Speaker 1: while sounds of discord have rent my ears, such as
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Speaker 1: might manifest the fullness of time, and that nature had
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Speaker 1: forgotten her harmony. Poor fellow, thine own period was in
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Speaker 1: truth near its accomplishment. But arouse and come with me.
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Speaker 1: I will lead you where all other sounds but those
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Speaker 1: from your own psalmoy, shall be excluded. There is melody
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Speaker 1: in the fall of the cataract, and the rushing of
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Speaker 1: many waters is sweet to the senses, said David, pressing
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Speaker 1: his hand confusedly on his brow. Is not the air
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Speaker 1: yet filled with shrieks and cries? As though the departed
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Speaker 1: spirits of the damned not now not now interrupted? The
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Speaker 1: impatient Heyward, they have ceased, and they who raised them.
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Speaker 1: I trust in God They are gone too. Everything but
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Speaker 1: the water is still and at peace in them, where
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Speaker 1: you may create those sounds you love so well to hear.
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Speaker 1: David smiled sadly, though not without a momentary gleam of
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Speaker 1: pleasure at this allusion to his beloved vocation. He no
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Speaker 1: longer hesitated to be led to a spot which promised
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Speaker 1: such unalloyed gratification to his wearied senses, And, leaning on
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Speaker 1: the arm of his companion, he entered the narrow mouth
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Speaker 1: of the cave. Duncan seized a pollo sassyfrass, which he
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Speaker 1: drew before the passage, studiously concealing every appearance of an aperture.
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Speaker 1: Within this fragile barrier, he arranged the blankets abandoned by
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Speaker 1: the foresters, darking the inner extremity of the cavern, while
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Speaker 1: its outer receive a chastened light from the narrow ravine
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Speaker 1: through which one arm of the river rushed to form
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Speaker 1: the junction with its sister branch a few rods below.
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Speaker 1: I like not the principle of the natives, which teaches
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Speaker 1: them to submit without a struggle in emergencies that appeared desperate,
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Speaker 1: he said, while busied in his employment, our own maxim
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Speaker 1: which says, while life remains, there is hope is more
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Speaker 1: consoling and better suited to a soldier's templament. To you, Cora,
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Speaker 1: I will urge no words of idle encouragement. Your own
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Speaker 1: fortitude and undisturbed reason will teach you all that may
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Speaker 1: become your sex. But cannot we drive the tears of
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Speaker 1: that trembling weeper on your bosom. I am calmer, duncan,
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Speaker 1: said Alice, raising herself from the arms of her sister
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Speaker 1: and forcing an appearance of composure through her tears. Much
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Speaker 1: calmer now, surely in this hidden spot we are safe,
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Speaker 1: We are secret free from injury. We will hope everything
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Speaker 1: from those generous men who have risked so much already
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Speaker 1: in our behalf. Now does our gentle Alice speak like
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Speaker 1: the daughter of Monroe, said Heyward, pausing to press her
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Speaker 1: hand as he passed toward the outer entrance of the cavern.
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Speaker 1: With two such examples of courage before him, a man
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Speaker 1: would be ashamed to prove other than a hero. He
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Speaker 1: then seated himself in the center of the cavern, grasping
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Speaker 1: his remaining pistol with a hand convulsively clenched while his
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Speaker 1: contracted and frowning eye announced the sollen desperation of his purpose.
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Speaker 1: The Hurons, if they come, may not gain or position
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Speaker 1: so easily as they think. He slowly muttered, and propping
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Speaker 1: his head back against the rock, he seemed to await
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Speaker 1: the result in patience, though his gaze was unceasingly bent
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Speaker 1: on the open avenue to their place of retreat. With
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Speaker 1: the last sound of his voice, a deep, a long,
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Speaker 1: and almost breathless silence succeeded. The fresh air of the
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Speaker 1: morning had penetrated the recess, and its influence was gradually
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Speaker 1: felt on the spirits of its inmates. As minute after
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Speaker 1: minute passed by, leaving them in undisturbed security. The insinuating
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Speaker 1: feeling of hope was gradually gaining possession of every bosom,
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Speaker 1: though each one felt reluctant to give utterance to expectations
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Speaker 1: that the next moment might so fearfully destroy. David alone
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Speaker 1: formed an exception to these varying emotions. A gleam of
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Speaker 1: light from the opening crossed his wan countenance and fell
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Speaker 1: upon the pages of the little volume, whose leaves he
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Speaker 1: was again occupied in, turning, as if searching for some
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Speaker 1: song more fitted to their condition than any one had
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Speaker 1: yet met. Their eye. He was most probably acting all
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Speaker 1: this time under a confused recollection of the promised consolation
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Speaker 1: of Duncan. At length, it would seem his patient industry
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Speaker 1: found its reward, for without explanation or apology, he pronounced
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Speaker 1: aloud the words oh over wit, drew a long, sweet
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Speaker 1: sound from his pitch pipe, and then ran through the
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Speaker 1: preliminary modulations of the air whose name he had just mentioned,
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Speaker 1: with the sweeter tones of his own musical voice. May
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Speaker 1: this not prove dangerous, asked Cora, glancing her dark eye
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Speaker 1: at Major Heyward, Poor fellow, his voice is too feeble
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Speaker 1: to be heard above the din of the falls, was
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Speaker 1: the answer. Beside the cavern will prove his friend. Let
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Speaker 1: him indulge his passions, since it may be done without
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Speaker 1: hazard oil of weight, repeated David, looking about him with
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Speaker 1: that dignity with which he had long been wont to
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Speaker 1: silence the whispering echoes of his school. Tis a brave tune,
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Speaker 1: and set to solemn words, Let it be sung with
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Speaker 1: meat respect. After allowing a moment of stillness to enforce
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Speaker 1: his discipline, the voice of the singer was heard in low,
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Speaker 1: murmuring syllables, gradually stealing on the ear, until it filled
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Speaker 1: the narrow vault with sounds rendered trebly thrilling by the
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Speaker 1: feeble and tremulous utterance produced by his debility. The melody,
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Speaker 1: which no weakness could destroy, gradually wrought its sweet influence
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Speaker 1: on the senses of those who heard it. It even
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Speaker 1: prevailed over the miserable travesty of the song of David,
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Speaker 1: which the singer had selected from a volume of similar effusions,
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Speaker 1: and caused the sense to be forgotten in the insinuating
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Speaker 1: harmony of the sounds. Alice unconsciously dried her tears and
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Speaker 1: bent her melting eyes on the pallid features of Gamut,
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Speaker 1: with an expression of chastened delight that she neither affected
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Speaker 1: nor wished to conceal Cora bestowed an approving smile on
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Speaker 1: the pious efforts of the namesake of the Jewish Prince,
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Speaker 1: and Heyward soon turned his steady, stern look from the
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Speaker 1: outlet of the cavern to fasten it with a milder
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Speaker 1: character on the face of day David, or to meet
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Speaker 1: the wandering beams which at moments strayed from the humid
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Speaker 1: eyes of Alice. The open sympathy of the listeners stirred
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Speaker 1: the spirit of the votary of music, whose voice regained
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Speaker 1: its richness and volume without losing that touching softness which
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Speaker 1: proved its secret charm. Exerting his renovated powers to their utmost,
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Speaker 1: he was yet feeling the arches of the cave with
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Speaker 1: long and full tones, when a yell burst into the
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Speaker 1: air without that instantly stilled his pious strains, choking his voice. Suddenly,
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Speaker 1: as though his heart had literally bounded into the passage
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Speaker 1: of his throat. We are lost, exclaimed Alice, throwing herself
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Speaker 1: into the arms of Cora. No not yet returned the
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Speaker 1: agitated but undaunted heyward. The sound came from the center
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Speaker 1: of the island, and it has been produced by the
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Speaker 1: sight of their dead companions. We are not yet discovered,
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Speaker 1: and there is still hope. Faint and almost despairing, as
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Speaker 1: was the prospect of escape, the words of Duncan were
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Speaker 1: not thrown away, for it awakened the powers of the
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Speaker 1: sisters in such a manner that they awaited the results
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Speaker 1: in silence. A second yell soon followed the first. Then
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Speaker 1: a rush of voices was heard, pouring down the island
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Speaker 1: from its upper to its lower extremity, until they reached
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Speaker 1: the naked rock above the caverns, where after a shout
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Speaker 1: of savage triumph, the air continued full of horrible cries
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Speaker 1: and screams, such as man alone can utter, and he
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Speaker 1: only went in a state of the fiercest barbarity. The
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Speaker 1: sounds quickly spread around them in every direction. Some called
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Speaker 1: to their fellows from the water's edge, and were answered
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Speaker 1: from the heights above. Cries were heard in the startling
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Speaker 1: vicinity of the chasm between the two caves, which mingled
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Speaker 1: with horser yells that arose out of the abyss of
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Speaker 1: the deep ravine. In short, so rapidly had the savage
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Speaker 1: sounds diffused themselves over the barren rock that it was
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Speaker 1: not difficult for the anxious listeners to imagine they could
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Speaker 1: be heard beneath, as in truth they were above on
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Speaker 1: every side of them. In the midst of this tumult,
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Speaker 1: a triumphant yell was raised within a few yards of
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Speaker 1: the hidden entrance to the cave. Heyward abandoned every hope
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Speaker 1: with the belief it was the signal that they were
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Speaker 1: discovered again. The impression passed away as he heard the
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Speaker 1: voices collect near the spot where the white man had
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Speaker 1: so reluctantly abandoned his rifle. Amid the jargon of Indian
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Speaker 1: dialects that he now plainly heard, it was easy to
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Speaker 1: distinguish not only words, but sentences in the petois of
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Speaker 1: the Canadas. A burst of voices had shouted simultaneously the
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Speaker 1: long Carabine, causing the opposite woods to re echo with
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Speaker 1: the name, which Heyward well remembered had been given by
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Speaker 1: his enemies to a celebrated hunter and scout of the
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Speaker 1: English camp, and who he now learned for the first time,
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Speaker 1: had been his late companion, La long Caribine. La Long
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Speaker 1: Caribine passed from mouth to mouth until the whole band
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Speaker 1: appeared to be collected around a trophy which would seem
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Speaker 1: to announce the death of its formidable owner. After a
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Speaker 1: vociferous consultation, which was at time deafened by bursts of
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Speaker 1: savage joy, they again separated, filling the air with the
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Speaker 1: name of a foe whose body Hayward could collect from
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Speaker 1: their expressions they hoped to find concealed in some crevice
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Speaker 1: of the island. Now, he whispered to the trembling sisters,
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Speaker 1: Now is the moment of uncertainty. If our place of
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Speaker 1: retreat escape this scrutiny. We are still safe in every event.
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Speaker 1: We are assured by what has fallen from our enemies,
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Speaker 1: that our friends have escaped, and in two short hours
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Speaker 1: we may look for succor from Webb. There were now
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Speaker 1: a few minutes of fearful stay illness, during which Heyward
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Speaker 1: Well knew that the savages conducted their search with greater
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Speaker 1: vigilance and method. More than once he could distinguish their
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Speaker 1: footsteps as they brushed the sassyfrass, causing the faded leaves
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Speaker 1: to rustle and the branches to snap. At length, the
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Speaker 1: pile yielded a little, A corner of a blanket fell,
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Speaker 1: and a faint ray of light gleamed into the inner
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Speaker 1: part of the cave. Cora folded Alice to her bosom
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Speaker 1: and Agony, and Duncan sprang to his feet. A shout
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Speaker 1: was at that moment, heard as if issuing from the
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Speaker 1: center of the rock, announcing that the neighboring cavern had
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Speaker 1: at length been entered. In a minute, the number and
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Speaker 1: loudness of the voices indicated that the whole party was
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Speaker 1: collected in and around that secret place. As the inner
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Speaker 1: passages of the two caves were so close to each other. Duncan,
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Speaker 1: believing that escape was no longer possible, passed David and
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Speaker 1: the sisters to place himself between the land and the
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Speaker 1: first onset of the terrible meaning. Grown desperate by his situation,
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Speaker 1: he drew nigh the slight barrier which separated him only
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Speaker 1: a few feet from his relentless pursuers, and placing his
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Speaker 1: face to the casual opening, he even looked out with
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Speaker 1: a sort of desperate indifference on their movements. Within reach
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Speaker 1: of his arm was the brawny shoulder of a gigantic Indian,
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Speaker 1: whose deep and authoritative voice appeared to give directions to
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Speaker 1: the proceedings of his fellows. Beyond him, Again, Duncan could
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Speaker 1: look into the vault opposite, which was filled with savages,
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Speaker 1: upturning and rifling the humble furniture of the scout. The
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Speaker 1: wound of David had dyed the leaves of sassyfras with
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Speaker 1: a color that the native new well as anticipating the season.
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Speaker 1: Over this sign of their success, they sent up a
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Speaker 1: howl like an opening from so many hounds who had
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Speaker 1: recovered a lost trail. After this yellow victory, they tore
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Speaker 1: up the fragrant bed of the cavern, and bore the
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Speaker 1: branches into the chasm, scattering the bowels, as if they
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Speaker 1: suspected them of concealing the person of the man they
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Speaker 1: had so long hated and feared. One fierce and wild
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Speaker 1: looking warrior approached the chief, bearing a load of the brush, and,
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Speaker 1: pointing exultingly to the deep red stains with which it
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Speaker 1: was sprinkled, uttered his joy in Indian yells, whose meaning
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Speaker 1: Heyward was only enabled to comprehend by the frequent repetition
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Speaker 1: of the name La longue Carabine. When his triumph had ceased,
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Speaker 1: he cast the brush onto the slight heap Duncan had
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Speaker 1: made before the entrance of the second cavern, and closed
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Speaker 1: the view. His example was followed by others, who, as
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Speaker 1: they drew the branches from the cave of the scout,
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Speaker 1: threw them into one pile, adding unconsciously to the security
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Speaker 1: of those they sought. The very slightness of the defense
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Speaker 1: was its chief merit, for no one thought of disturbing
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Speaker 1: a mass of brush, which all of them believed, in
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Speaker 1: that moment of hurry and confusion, had been accidentally raised
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Speaker 1: by the hands of their own party. As the blankets
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Speaker 1: yielded before the outward pressure, and the branches settled in
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Speaker 1: the fissure of the rock by their own weight, forming
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Speaker 1: a compact body. Duncan once more breathed freely, with a
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Speaker 1: light step and a lighter heart. He returned to the
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Speaker 1: center of the cave and took the place he had left,
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Speaker 1: where he could command a view of the opening next
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Speaker 1: the river. While he was in the act of making
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Speaker 1: this movement, the Indians, as if changing their purpose by
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Speaker 1: a common impulse, broke away from the chasm in a body,
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Speaker 1: and were heard rushing up the island again toward the
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Speaker 1: point whence they had originally descended. Here, another wailing cry
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Speaker 1: betrayed that they were again collected around the bodies of
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Speaker 1: their dead comrades. Duncan now ventured to look at his companions,
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Speaker 1: for during most of the critical moments of their danger,
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Speaker 1: he had been apprehensive that the anxiety of his countenance
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Speaker 1: might communicate some additional alarm to those who were so
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Speaker 1: little able to sustain it. They are gone, Cora, he whispered, alice.
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Speaker 1: They are returned whence they came, and we are saved
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Speaker 1: to heaven that has alone delivered us from the grasp
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Speaker 1: of so merciless an enemy, be all praise, then do Heaven,
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Speaker 1: I will return my thanks exclaimed the younger sister, rising
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Speaker 1: from the encircling arm of Cora, and casting herself with
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Speaker 1: enthusiastic gratitude on the naked rock, to that heaven which
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Speaker 1: had spared the tears of a gray headed father, has
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Speaker 1: saved the lives of those I so much love. Both
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Speaker 1: Heyward and the more tempered Cora witnessed the act of
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Speaker 1: involuntary emotion with powerful sympathy, the former secretly believing that
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Speaker 1: piety had never worn a formed so lovely as it
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Speaker 1: had now assumed in the youthful person of Alice. Her
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Speaker 1: eyes were radiant with the glow of grateful feelings. The
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Speaker 1: flush of her beauty was again seated on her cheeks,
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Speaker 1: and her whole soul seemed ready and anxious to pour
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Speaker 1: out its thanksgiving through the medium of her eloquent features.
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Speaker 1: But when her lips moved, the words they should have
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Speaker 1: uttered appeared frozen by some new and sudden chill. Her
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Speaker 1: bloom gave place to the paleness of death. Her soft
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Speaker 1: and melting eyes grew hard and seemed contracting with horror,
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Speaker 1: while those hands which she had raised clasped in each
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Speaker 1: other toward Heaven, dropped in horizontal lines before her, the
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Speaker 1: fingers pointed forward in convulse motion. Heyward turned the instant
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Speaker 1: she gave a direction to his suspicions, and, peering just
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Speaker 1: above the ledge which formed the threshold of the open
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Speaker 1: outlet of the cavern, he beheld the malignant, fierce, and
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Speaker 1: savage features of lurinhard subtill in that moment of surprise,
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Speaker 1: the self possession of Hayward did not desert him. He
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Speaker 1: observed by the vacant expression of the Indian's countenance that
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Speaker 1: his eye, accustomed to the open air, had not yet
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Speaker 1: been able to penetrate the dusky light which pervaded the
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Speaker 1: depth of the cavern. He had even thought of retreating
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Speaker 1: beyond a curvature in the natural wall, which might still
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Speaker 1: conceal him and his companions, when by the sudden gleam
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Speaker 1: of intelligence that shot across the features of the savage,
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Speaker 1: he saw it was too late, and that they were betrayed.
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Speaker 1: The look of exaltation and brutal triumph which announced this
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Speaker 1: terrible truth was irresistibly irritating, forgetful of everything but the
20:49
Speaker 1: impulses of his hot blood, Duncan leveled his pistol and fired.
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Speaker 1: The report of the weapon made the cavern below like
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Speaker 1: an eruption from a volcano, and when the smoke it
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Speaker 1: vomited had been driven away before the current of air
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Speaker 1: which issued from the ravine, the place so lately occupied
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Speaker 1: by the features of his treacherous guide was vacant. Rushing
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Speaker 1: to the outlet, Heyward caught a glimpse of his dark
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Speaker 1: figure stealing around a low and narrow ledge, which soon
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Speaker 1: hid him entirely from sight. Among the savages, a frightful
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Speaker 1: stillness succeeded the explosion which had just been heard bursting
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Speaker 1: from the bowels of the rock. But when Les Renard
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Speaker 1: raised his voice in the long and intelligible hoop, it
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Speaker 1: was answered by a spontaneous yell from the mouth of
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Speaker 1: every Indian within hearing of the sound. The clamorous noises
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Speaker 1: again rushed down the island, and before Duncan had time
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Speaker 1: to recover from the shock, his feeble barrier of brush
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Speaker 1: was scattered to the winds. The cavern was entered at
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Speaker 1: both its extremities, and he and his companions were dragged
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Speaker 1: from their shelter and born into the day, where they
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Speaker 1: stood surrounded by the whole band of the triumphant Hurons.
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Speaker 1: End of chapter nine,