Latest / Thrilling Adventures - Daily / 33 - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter thirty three. Quote. They fought like brave men, long
- 0:06Speaker 1: and well. They piled that ground with Moslem slain they conquered.
- 0:12Speaker 1: But Bozares fell bleeding at every vein his few surviving
- 0:18Speaker 1: comrade saw his smile when rang their loud hurraw and
- 0:23Speaker 1: the red field was won. They saw in death his
- 0:27Speaker 1: eyelids close calmly as to a knight's repose, like flowers
- 0:33Speaker 1: at set of sun end quote from Halleck. The sun
- 0:40Speaker 1: found the Lenape on the seceding day a nation of mourners.
- 0:45Speaker 1: The sounds of the battle were over, and they had
- 0:49Speaker 1: fed fat their ancient grudge, and had avenged their recent
- 0:53Speaker 1: quarrel with the Mengue by the destruction of a whole community.
- 0:59Speaker 1: The black and murky atmosphere that floated around the spot
- 1:02Speaker 1: where the Hurons had encamped sufficiently announced of itself the
- 1:06Speaker 1: fate of that wandering tribe, while hundreds of ravens that
- 1:12Speaker 1: struggled above the summits of the mountains or swept in
- 1:16Speaker 1: noisy flocks across the wide ranges of the woods, furnished
- 1:20Speaker 1: a frightful direction to the scene of the combat. In short,
- 1:25Speaker 1: any eye at all practiced in the signs of a
- 1:29Speaker 1: frontier warfare might easily have traced all those unerring evidences
- 1:34Speaker 1: of the ruthless results which attend an Indian vengeance. Still,
- 1:41Speaker 1: the sun rose on the Lenape a nation of mourners.
- 1:45Speaker 1: No shouts of success, no songs of triumph, were heard
- 1:49Speaker 1: in rejoicings for their victory. The latest straggler had returned
- 1:53Speaker 1: from his fell employment only to strip himself of the
- 1:57Speaker 1: terrific emblems of his bloody calling, and to join in
- 2:01Speaker 1: the lamentations of his countrymen as a stricken people. Pride
- 2:06Speaker 1: and exultation were supplanted by humility, and the fierceness of
- 2:11Speaker 1: human passions was already succeeded by the most profound and
- 2:16Speaker 1: unequivocable demonstrations of grief. The lodges were deserted, but a
- 2:23Speaker 1: broad belt of earnest faces encircled a spot in their vicinity,
- 2:28Speaker 1: whither everything possessing life had repaired, and where all were
- 2:33Speaker 1: now collected in deep and awful silence. Though beings of
- 2:39Speaker 1: every rank and age, of both sexes, and of all
- 2:43Speaker 1: pursuits had united to form this breathing wall of bodies,
- 2:47Speaker 1: they were influenced by a single emotion. Each eye was
- 2:51Speaker 1: riveted on the center of that ring which contained the
- 2:55Speaker 1: objects of so much and of so common an interest.
- 3:01Speaker 1: Six delaware girls, with their long, dark flowing tresses falling
- 3:05Speaker 1: loosely across their bosoms, stood apart and only gave proof
- 3:10Speaker 1: of their existence as they occasionally strewed sweet scented herbs
- 3:14Speaker 1: and forest flowers on a litter of fragrant plants that,
- 3:19Speaker 1: under a pall of Indian robes supported all that remained
- 3:23Speaker 1: of the ardent, high, souled, and generous Cora. Her form
- 3:27Speaker 1: was concealed in many wrappers of the same simple manufacture,
- 3:32Speaker 1: and her face was shut forever from the gaze of men.
- 3:37Speaker 1: At her feet was seated the desolate Monroe. His aged
- 3:41Speaker 1: head was bowed nearly to the earth in compelled submission
- 3:46Speaker 1: to the stroke of providence, but a hidden anguish struggled
- 3:51Speaker 1: about his furrowed brow that was only partially concealed by
- 3:55Speaker 1: the careless locks of gray that had fallen neglected on
- 3:58Speaker 1: his temples. Gamut stood at his side, his meek head
- 4:03Speaker 1: bared to the rays of the sun, while his eyes,
- 4:07Speaker 1: wandering and concerned, seemed to be equally divided between that
- 4:11Speaker 1: little volume which contained so many quaint but holy maxims
- 4:16Speaker 1: and the being in whose behalf his soul yearned to
- 4:19Speaker 1: administer consolation. Heyward was also nigh supporting himself against the
- 4:25Speaker 1: tree and endeavoring to keep down those sudden risings of
- 4:29Speaker 1: sorrow that required his utmost manhood to subdue. But sad
- 4:35Speaker 1: and melancholy as this group may easily be imagined, it
- 4:39Speaker 1: was far less touching than another that occupied the opposite
- 4:43Speaker 1: space of the same area. Seated as in life, with
- 4:48Speaker 1: his form and limbs arranged in grave and decent composure,
- 4:53Speaker 1: Uncas appeared, arrayed in the most gorgeous ornaments that the
- 4:56Speaker 1: wealth of the tribe could furnish. Rich plume nodded before
- 5:01Speaker 1: his head, wampum gorgets, bracelets, and metals adorn his person
- 5:07Speaker 1: in profusion, though his dull eye and vacant lineaments too
- 5:12Speaker 1: strongly contradicted the idle tale of pride they would convey.
- 5:17Speaker 1: Directly in front of the corpse, Chinchcotchkok was placed without arms, paint,
- 5:22Speaker 1: or adornment of any sort, except the bright blue blazonry
- 5:26Speaker 1: of his race that was indelibly impressed on his naked bosom.
- 5:32Speaker 1: During the long period that the tribe had thus been collected.
- 5:36Speaker 1: The Mohican warrior had kept a steady, anxious look on
- 5:40Speaker 1: the cold and senseless countenance of his son. So riveted
- 5:45Speaker 1: and intense had been that gaze, and so changeless his attitude,
- 5:50Speaker 1: that a stranger might not have told the living from
- 5:53Speaker 1: the dead, but for the occasional bleamings of a troubled
- 5:57Speaker 1: spirit that shot athwart the dark visage of one, and
- 6:01Speaker 1: the deathlike calm that forever settled on the lineaments of
- 6:06Speaker 1: the other. The scout was hard by leaning in a
- 6:10Speaker 1: pensive posture on his own fatal and avenging weapon, while tamenund,
- 6:16Speaker 1: supported by the elders of his nation, occupied a high
- 6:20Speaker 1: place at hand, whence he might look down on the
- 6:23Speaker 1: mute and sorrowful assemblage of his people. Just within the
- 6:28Speaker 1: inner edge of the circle stood a soldier in the
- 6:31Speaker 1: military attire of a strange nation, and without it was
- 6:36Speaker 1: his warhorse, in the center of a collection of mounted domestics,
- 6:41Speaker 1: seemingly in readiness to undertake some distant journey. The vestments
- 6:46Speaker 1: of the stranger announced him to be one who held
- 6:48Speaker 1: a responsible situation near the person of the Captain of
- 6:51Speaker 1: the Canadas, and who, as it would now seem, finding
- 6:56Speaker 1: his errand of peace frustrated by the fierce impetuosity of
- 7:00Speaker 1: his allies, was to content to become a silent and
- 7:04Speaker 1: sad spectator of the fruits of a contest that he
- 7:08Speaker 1: arrived too late to anticipate. The day was drawing to
- 7:13Speaker 1: the close of its first quarter, and yet had the
- 7:16Speaker 1: multitude maintained its breathing silence since its dawn. No sound
- 7:22Speaker 1: louder than a stifled sob had been heard among them,
- 7:25Speaker 1: Nor had even a limb been moved throughout that long
- 7:28Speaker 1: and painful period, except to perform the touching offerings that
- 7:32Speaker 1: were made from time to time in commemoration of the dead.
- 7:37Speaker 1: The patience and forbearance of the Indian fortitude could alone
- 7:42Speaker 1: support such an appearance of abstraction as seemed now to
- 7:46Speaker 1: have turned each dark and motionless figure into stone. At length,
- 7:52Speaker 1: the Sage of the Delaware stretched forth an arm, and,
- 7:55Speaker 1: leaning on the shoulders of his attendants, he arose with
- 7:58Speaker 1: an air as feeble as if another age had already
- 8:02Speaker 1: intervened between the man who had met his nation the
- 8:06Speaker 1: preceding day and him who now tottered on his elevated stand.
- 8:12Speaker 1: Men of the Lenape, He said, in low, hollow tones
- 8:19Speaker 1: that sounded like a voice charged with some prophetic mission.
- 8:23Speaker 2: The face of Magneto is behind a cloud. His eye
- 8:31Speaker 2: is turned from you, his ears are shut. His tongue
- 8:40Speaker 2: gives no answer. You see him that, yet his judgments
- 8:47Speaker 2: are before you. Let your hearts be open, and your
- 8:54Speaker 2: spirits tell no lie. Men of the Lenape. The face
- 9:02Speaker 2: of the Manitou is behind a cloud.
- 9:09Speaker 1: As this simple and yet terrible enunciation stole on the
- 9:12Speaker 1: ears of the multitude, a stillness as deep and awful succeeded,
- 9:18Speaker 1: as if the venerated spirit they worshiped had uttered the
- 9:21Speaker 1: words without the aid of human organs, and even the
- 9:25Speaker 1: inanimate uncas appeared a being of life compared with the
- 9:31Speaker 1: humbled and submissive throng by whom he was surrounded. As
- 9:36Speaker 1: the immediate effect, however, gradually passed away. A low murmur
- 9:41Speaker 1: of voices commenced, a sort of chant in honor of
- 9:43Speaker 1: the dead. The sounds were those of females and were thrillingly,
- 9:49Speaker 1: soft and wailing. The words were connected by no regular continuation,
- 9:55Speaker 1: but as one ceased, another took up the eulogy or lamentation,
- 10:00Speaker 1: whichever it might be called, and gave vent to her
- 10:04Speaker 1: emotions in such language as was suggested by her feelings,
- 10:08Speaker 1: and the occasion at intervals the speaker was interrupted by
- 10:12Speaker 1: general and loud bursts of sorrow, during which the girls
- 10:17Speaker 1: around the bier of Cora plucked the plants and flowers
- 10:20Speaker 1: blindly from her body, as if bewildered with grief. But
- 10:24Speaker 1: in the milder moments of their plains, these emblems of
- 10:29Speaker 1: purity and sweetness were cast back to their places with
- 10:33Speaker 1: every sign of tenderness and regret. Though rendered less connected
- 10:38Speaker 1: by many in general interruptions and outbreakings, a translation of
- 10:43Speaker 1: their language would have contained a regular descant, which, in
- 10:46Speaker 1: substance might have proved to possess a train of consecutive ideas,
- 10:52Speaker 1: a girl selected for the task by her rank and qualifications,
- 10:57Speaker 1: commenced by modest delusions to the qualities of the deceased warrior,
- 11:01Speaker 1: embellishing her expressions with those oriental images that the Indians
- 11:06Speaker 1: have probably brought with them from the extremes of the
- 11:09Speaker 1: other continent, and which form of themselves a link to
- 11:13Speaker 1: connect the ancient history of the two worlds. She called
- 11:16Speaker 1: him the panther of his tribe, and described him as
- 11:21Speaker 1: one whose moccasin left no trail on the dews, whose
- 11:25Speaker 1: bound was like the leap of a young fawn, whose
- 11:29Speaker 1: eye was brighter than a star in the dark night,
- 11:33Speaker 1: and whose voice in battle was loud as the thunder
- 11:38Speaker 1: of Manitoau. She reminded him of the mother who bore him,
- 11:44Speaker 1: and dealt forcibly on the happiness she must feel in
- 11:48Speaker 1: possessing such a son. She bade him tell her, when
- 11:52Speaker 1: they met in the world of spirits, that the Delawares
- 11:56Speaker 1: had shed tears above the grave of her child, called
- 12:00Speaker 1: her blessed. Then, they who succeeded, changing their tones to
- 12:07Speaker 1: a milder and still more tender strain, alluded with the
- 12:11Speaker 1: delicacy and sensitiveness of women to the stranger maiden, who
- 12:16Speaker 1: had left the upper Earth at a time so near
- 12:19Speaker 1: his own departure as to render the will of the
- 12:22Speaker 1: great Spirit too manifest to be disregarded. They admonished him
- 12:27Speaker 1: to be kind to her, and to have consideration for
- 12:30Speaker 1: her ignorance of those arts which were so necessary to
- 12:35Speaker 1: the comfort of a warrior like himself. They dwelt upon
- 12:39Speaker 1: her matchless beauty and on her noble resolution, without the
- 12:43Speaker 1: taint of envy, and as angels may be thought to
- 12:47Speaker 1: delight in superior excellence, adding that these endowments should prove
- 12:53Speaker 1: more than equivalent for any little imperfection in her education,
- 12:59Speaker 1: after which which others, again in due succession, spoke to
- 13:03Speaker 1: the maiden herself in the low, soft language of tenderness
- 13:06Speaker 1: and love. They exhorted her to be of cheerful mind,
- 13:11Speaker 1: and to fear nothing for her future welfare. A hunter
- 13:15Speaker 1: would be her companion, who knew how to provide for
- 13:19Speaker 1: her smallest ones, and a warrior was at her side
- 13:24Speaker 1: who was able to protect her against every danger. They
- 13:29Speaker 1: promised that her path should be pleasant and her burden light.
- 13:34Speaker 1: They cautioned her against unavailing regrets for the friends of
- 13:38Speaker 1: her youth and the scenes where her father had dwelt,
- 13:42Speaker 1: assuring her that the blessed hunting grounds of the Lenape
- 13:47Speaker 1: contained veils as pleasant, streams as pure, and flowers as
- 13:52Speaker 1: sweet as the heaven of the pale faces. They advised
- 13:57Speaker 1: her to be attentive to the wants of her companion,
- 14:00Speaker 1: and never to forget the distinction which the Manateeau had
- 14:05Speaker 1: so wisely established between them. Then, in a wild burst
- 14:10Speaker 1: of their chant, they sang with united voices the temper
- 14:14Speaker 1: of the Mohegan's mind. They pronounced him noble, manly, and generous,
- 14:21Speaker 1: all that became a warrior, and all that a maid
- 14:24Speaker 1: might love. Clothing their ideas. In the most remote and
- 14:29Speaker 1: subtle images, they betrayed that, in the short period of
- 14:33Speaker 1: their intercourse they had discovered, with the intuitive perception of
- 14:37Speaker 1: their sex, the truant disposition of his inclinations. The Delaware
- 14:44Speaker 1: girls had found no favor in his eyes. He was
- 14:48Speaker 1: of a race that had once been lords on the
- 14:50Speaker 1: shores of the Salt Lake, and his wishes had led
- 14:54Speaker 1: him back to a people who dwelt about the graves
- 14:57Speaker 1: of his fathers. Why should would not such a predilection
- 15:01Speaker 1: be encouraged. That she was a blood purer and richer
- 15:05Speaker 1: than the rest of her nation. Any eye might have
- 15:08Speaker 1: seen that she was equal to the dangers and daring
- 15:13Speaker 1: of a life in the woods. Her conduct had proved,
- 15:17Speaker 1: And now they added, the wise one of the earth
- 15:21Speaker 1: had transplanted her to a place where she would find
- 15:24Speaker 1: congenial spirits and might be forever happy. Then, with another
- 15:30Speaker 1: transition in voice and subject, allusions were made to the
- 15:34Speaker 1: virgin who wept in the adjacent lodge. They compared her
- 15:38Speaker 1: to flakes of snow, as pure, as white, as brilliant,
- 15:45Speaker 1: and as liable to melt in the fierce heats of summer,
- 15:50Speaker 1: or congeal in the frost of winter. They doubted not
- 15:54Speaker 1: that she was lovely in the eyes of the young chief,
- 15:57Speaker 1: whose skin and whose sorrow seemed so like her own,
- 16:02Speaker 1: But the far from expressing such a preference, it was
- 16:05Speaker 1: evident they deemed her less excellent than the maid they mourned. Still,
- 16:11Speaker 1: they denied her no need. Her rare charms might properly claim.
- 16:16Speaker 1: Her ringlets were compared to the exuberant tendrils of the vine,
- 16:20Speaker 1: her eye to the blue vault of heavens, and the
- 16:24Speaker 1: most spotless cloud, with its glowing flush of the sun,
- 16:28Speaker 1: was admitted to be less attractive than her bloom. During
- 16:32Speaker 1: these and similar songs, nothing was audible but the murmurs
- 16:36Speaker 1: of the music, relieved as it was, or rather rendered
- 16:40Speaker 1: terrible by those occasional burst of grief which might be
- 16:44Speaker 1: called its choruses. The Delawares themselves listened like charmed men,
- 16:50Speaker 1: and it was very apparent by the variations of their
- 16:54Speaker 1: speaking countenances how deep and true was their sympathy. Even
- 17:00Speaker 1: David was not reluctant to lend his ears to the
- 17:03Speaker 1: tones of voices so sweet and long ere the chant
- 17:07Speaker 1: was ended, his gaze announced that his soul was enthralled.
- 17:12Speaker 1: The scout, to whom alone, of all the white men,
- 17:16Speaker 1: the words were intelligible, suffered himself to be a little
- 17:20Speaker 1: aroused from his meditative posture, and bent his face aside
- 17:24Speaker 1: to catch their meaning as the girls proceeded. But when
- 17:29Speaker 1: they spoke of the future prospects of Cora and Uncas,
- 17:33Speaker 1: he shook his head like one who knew the error
- 17:35Speaker 1: of their simple creed, and resuming his reclining attitude, he
- 17:40Speaker 1: maintained it until the ceremony, if that might be called
- 17:44Speaker 1: a ceremony in which feeling was so deeply imbued, was
- 17:47Speaker 1: finished happily for the self command of both Heyward and Monroe.
- 17:52Speaker 1: They knew not the meaning of the wild sounds they heard.
- 17:57Speaker 1: Chinegotchkook was the solitary exception to the interests manifested by
- 18:01Speaker 1: the native part of the audience. His look never changed
- 18:05Speaker 1: throughout the whole of the scene, nor did a muscle
- 18:08Speaker 1: move in his rigid countenance, even at the wildest or
- 18:12Speaker 1: most pathetic parts of the lamentation. The cold and senseless
- 18:17Speaker 1: remains of his son was all to him, and every
- 18:21Speaker 1: other sense, but that of sight, seemed frozen, in order
- 18:26Speaker 1: that his eyes might take their final gaze at those
- 18:29Speaker 1: lineaments which he had so long loved, and which were
- 18:33Speaker 1: now about to be closed forever from his view. In
- 18:39Speaker 1: this stage of arbescues a warrior much renowned for deed
- 18:43Speaker 1: in arms, and more especially for services in the recent combat.
- 18:48Speaker 1: A man of stern and grave demeanor advanced slowly from
- 18:53Speaker 1: the crowd and placed himself nigh the person of the dead.
- 18:58Speaker 1: Why hast thou liftus pride of the wapanatch Ki, he said,
- 19:03Speaker 1: addressing himself to the dull ears of uncas, as if
- 19:07Speaker 1: the empty clay retained the faculties of the animated man.
- 19:12Speaker 1: Thy time has been like that of the sun, when
- 19:16Speaker 1: in the trees thy.
- 19:18Speaker 3: Glory brighter than his light at noonday. Thou art gone,
- 19:25Speaker 3: youthful warrior, But a hundred Wian dots are clearing the
- 19:30Speaker 3: briars from thy path to the world of the spirits.
- 19:34Speaker 3: Who that saw.
- 19:36Speaker 1: THEE in battle would believe that thou couldst die. Who
- 19:41Speaker 1: before THEE has ever shown artowis the way into the fight.
- 19:48Speaker 1: Thy feet were like the wings of eagles, thine arm
- 19:54Speaker 1: heavier than falling branches from the pine, and thy voice
- 20:00Speaker 1: like the manateau when he speaks in the clouds. The
- 20:05Speaker 1: tongue of Attou is weak, he added, looking about him
- 20:13Speaker 1: with a melancholy gaze, And his heart is exceeding heavy
- 20:20Speaker 1: bride of the wappaatchi ki. Why hast thou left us?
- 20:26Speaker 1: He was succeeded by others in due order, until the
- 20:30Speaker 1: most high and gifted men of the nation had sung
- 20:34Speaker 1: or spoken their tribute of praise over the mains of
- 20:37Speaker 1: the deceased chief. When each had ended, another deep and
- 20:42Speaker 1: breathing silence reigned in all the place. Then a low,
- 20:49Speaker 1: deep sound was heard, like the suppressed accompaniment of distant music,
- 20:54Speaker 1: rising just high enough on the air to be audible,
- 20:58Speaker 1: and yet so indistinctly as to leave its character and
- 21:04Speaker 1: the place. Whence it proceeded alike matters of conjecture. It was, however,
- 21:12Speaker 1: succeeded by another and another strain, each in a higher key,
- 21:18Speaker 1: until they grew on the ear, first in long drawn
- 21:22Speaker 1: and often repeated interjections, and finally in words. The lips
- 21:28Speaker 1: of Chinggotchkook had so far parted as to announce that
- 21:33Speaker 1: it was the monody of the Father. Though not an
- 21:37Speaker 1: eye was turned toward him, nor the smallest sign of
- 21:40Speaker 1: impatience exhibited. It was apparent by the manner in which
- 21:45Speaker 1: the multitude elevated their heads to listen, that they drank
- 21:49Speaker 1: in the sounds with an intenseness of attention that none
- 21:54Speaker 1: but Tamenun himself had ever before commanded. But they listened
- 22:01Speaker 1: in vain. Their strains rose just so loud as to
- 22:06Speaker 1: become intelligible, and then grew fainter and more trembling, until
- 22:12Speaker 1: they finally sank on the ear, as if borne away
- 22:16Speaker 1: by a passing breath of wind. The lips of the
- 22:20Speaker 1: Sagon were closed, and he remained silent in his seat,
- 22:24Speaker 1: looking with his riveted eye and motionless form, like some
- 22:27Speaker 1: creature that had been turned from the almighty hand, with
- 22:30Speaker 1: the form but without the spirit of a man. The Delawares,
- 22:35Speaker 1: who knew by these symptoms that their mind to their
- 22:37Speaker 1: friend was not prepared for so mighty an effort of fortitude,
- 22:41Speaker 1: relaxed their attention, and with innate delicacy, seemed to bestow
- 22:48Speaker 1: all their thoughts on the ambescues of the stranger maiden.
- 22:54Speaker 1: A signal was given by one of the elder chiefs
- 22:56Speaker 1: through the women, who crowded that part of the circle
- 22:59Speaker 1: near which the body of Cora lay. Obedient to the sign,
- 23:04Speaker 1: the girls raised the bier to the elevation of their
- 23:06Speaker 1: heads and advanced with slow and regulated steps, chanting as
- 23:12Speaker 1: they proceeded, another wailing song in praise the deceased. Gimut,
- 23:17Speaker 1: who had been a close observer of the rites he
- 23:20Speaker 1: deemed so heathenish, now bent his head over the shoulder
- 23:24Speaker 1: of the unconscious father, whispering.
- 23:28Speaker 2: They move with the remnants of thy child, Shall we
- 23:32Speaker 2: not follow and see them in turned with Christian.
- 23:36Speaker 1: Burial, Monroe started as if the last trumpet had sounded
- 23:41Speaker 1: in his ear, and, bestowing one anxious and hurried glance
- 23:45Speaker 1: around him, he arose and followed in the simple train
- 23:49Speaker 1: with the mien of a soldier, but bearing the full
- 23:53Speaker 1: burden of apparent suffering. His friends pressed around him with
- 23:58Speaker 1: a sorrow that was too stroll strong to be termed sympathy,
- 24:02Speaker 1: even the young frenchmen joining in the procession, with the
- 24:07Speaker 1: air of a man who was sensibly touched at the
- 24:10Speaker 1: early and melancholy fate of one so lovely. But when
- 24:15Speaker 1: the last and humblest female of the tribe had joined
- 24:18Speaker 1: in the wild and yet ordered array, the men of
- 24:21Speaker 1: the Lenapee contracted their circle and formed again around the
- 24:25Speaker 1: person of Uncas, as silent as grave, and as motionless
- 24:31Speaker 1: as before. The place that had been chosen for the
- 24:34Speaker 1: grave of Cora was a little knoll where a cluster
- 24:38Speaker 1: of young and healthful pines had taken root, forming of
- 24:42Speaker 1: themselves a melancholy and appropriate shade over the spot. On
- 24:47Speaker 1: reaching it, the girls deposited their burden and continued for
- 24:51Speaker 1: many minutes, waiting, with characteristic patients and native timidity, for
- 24:56Speaker 1: some evidence that they whose feelings were most concerned, were
- 24:59Speaker 1: content with the the arrangement. At length, the scout, who
- 25:03Speaker 1: alone understood their habits, said, in their own language, my
- 25:07Speaker 1: daughters have done well. The white men thanked them. Satisfied
- 25:12Speaker 1: with this testimony in their favor, the girls proceeded to
- 25:16Speaker 1: deposit the body in a shell ingeniously and not inelegantly
- 25:21Speaker 1: fabricated of the bark of the birch, after which they
- 25:25Speaker 1: lowered it into its dark and final abode. The ceremony
- 25:29Speaker 1: of covering the remains, and concealing the marks of the
- 25:32Speaker 1: fresh earth by leaves and other natural and customary objects
- 25:36Speaker 1: was conducted with the same simple and silent forms. But
- 25:40Speaker 1: when the labors of the kind beings who had performed
- 25:43Speaker 1: these sad and friendly offices were so far completed, they
- 25:48Speaker 1: hesitated in a way to show that they knew not
- 25:51Speaker 1: how much further they might proceed. It was in this
- 25:55Speaker 1: stage of the rites that the scout again dressed them.
- 26:00Speaker 1: Women have done enough, he said. The spirit of the
- 26:03Speaker 1: pale face has no need of food or raiment, their
- 26:06Speaker 1: gifts being according to the heaven of their color. I see,
- 26:11Speaker 1: he added, glancing an eye at David, who was preparing
- 26:14Speaker 1: his book in a manner that indicated an intention to
- 26:17Speaker 1: lead the way in sacred song that one who better
- 26:21Speaker 1: knows the Christian fashions is about to speak. The female
- 26:25Speaker 1: stood modestly aside, and from having been the principal actors
- 26:30Speaker 1: in the scene, they now became the meek and attentive
- 26:34Speaker 1: observers of that which followed. During the time David occupied
- 26:39Speaker 1: in pouring out the pious feelings of his spirits in
- 26:42Speaker 1: this manner, not a sign of surprise nor a look
- 26:46Speaker 1: of impatience escaped them. They listened like those who knew
- 26:50Speaker 1: the meaning of the strange word, and appeared as if
- 26:54Speaker 1: they felt the mingled emotions of sorrow, hope, and resignation
- 26:58Speaker 1: they were intended to convey. Excited by the scene he
- 27:03Speaker 1: had just witnessed, and perhaps influenced by his own secret emotions,
- 27:08Speaker 1: the Master of Song exceeded his usual efforts. His full,
- 27:14Speaker 1: rich voice was not found to suffer by a comparison
- 27:18Speaker 1: with the soft tones of the girls, and his more
- 27:21Speaker 1: modulated strains possessed, at least for the ears of those
- 27:24Speaker 1: to whom they were peculiarly addressed, the additional power of intelligence.
- 27:30Speaker 1: He ended the anthem as he had commenced it, in
- 27:33Speaker 1: the midst of a grave and solemn stillness, when, however,
- 27:39Speaker 1: the clothes and cadence had fallen on the ears of
- 27:42Speaker 1: his auditors, The secret, timorous glances of the eyes and
- 27:47Speaker 1: the general and yet subdued movement of the assemblage betrayed
- 27:51Speaker 1: that something was expected from the father of the deceased.
- 27:56Speaker 1: When Rose seemed sensible that the time was come for
- 27:59Speaker 1: him to to exert what is perhaps the greatest effort
- 28:03Speaker 1: of which human nature is capable, he bared his gray
- 28:07Speaker 1: locks and looked around the timid and quiet throng by
- 28:11Speaker 1: which he was encircled with a firm and collected countenance. Then,
- 28:16Speaker 1: motioning with his hands for the scout to listen, he said,
- 28:21Speaker 1: say to.
- 28:21Speaker 4: These kind and gentle females that a heart broken and
- 28:26Speaker 4: failing men returns them his thanks. Tell them that the
- 28:31Speaker 4: being we all worshiped under different names, we will be
- 28:35Speaker 4: mindful of their charity, and that the time shall not
- 28:40Speaker 4: be distant when we may assemble around his throne without
- 28:46Speaker 4: distinction of sex, rank, or calor. The scout listened to
- 28:52Speaker 4: the tremulous voice in which the veteran delivered these words,
- 28:56Speaker 4: and shook his head slowly when they were ended, as
- 28:59Speaker 4: one who doubted their efficacy. To tell them this, he said,
- 29:04Speaker 4: would be to tell them that the snows come not
- 29:07Speaker 4: in the winter, or that the sun shines fiercest when
- 29:10Speaker 4: the trees are stripped of their leaves. Then, turning to
- 29:14Speaker 4: the women, he made such a communication of the other's
- 29:17Speaker 4: gratitude as he deemed most suited to the capabilities of
- 29:21Speaker 4: his listeners. The head of Monroe had already sunk upon
- 29:25Speaker 4: his chest, and he was again fast relapsing into melancholy
- 29:30Speaker 4: when the young Frenchman before named ventured to touch him
- 29:33Speaker 4: lightly on the elbow. As soon as he had gained
- 29:37Speaker 4: the attention of the morning old man, he pointed toward
- 29:40Speaker 4: a group of young Indians who approached with a light
- 29:45Speaker 4: but closely covered litter, and then pointed upward toward the sun.
- 29:50Speaker 4: I understand you, sir, returned Monroe, with a voice of
- 29:55Speaker 4: forced firmness. I understand you. It is will of Heaven,
- 30:01Speaker 4: and I submit Coral, my child. If the prayers of
- 30:09Speaker 4: a heart broken father could availed the now, how blessed
- 30:14Speaker 4: should stell be?
- 30:16Speaker 1: Come, gentlemen, he added, looking about him with an air
- 30:20Speaker 1: of lofty composure, though the anguish that quivered in his
- 30:24Speaker 1: faded countenance was far too powerful to be concealed. Our
- 30:29Speaker 1: duty here is ended. Let us depart, Heyward gladly obeyed
- 30:35Speaker 1: a summons that took them for a spot where each
- 30:39Speaker 1: instant he felt his self control was about to desert him.
- 30:45Speaker 1: While his companions were mounting, however, he found time to
- 30:50Speaker 1: press the hand of the scout and to repeat the
- 30:53Speaker 1: terms of an engagement they had made to meet again
- 30:56Speaker 1: within the post of the British army. Then, gladly, throwing
- 31:01Speaker 1: himself into the saddle, he spurred his charger to the
- 31:04Speaker 1: side of the litter, whence, low and stifled sobs alone
- 31:08Speaker 1: announced the presence of Alice. In this manner, the head
- 31:13Speaker 1: of Monroe again drooping on his bosom, with Hayward and
- 31:16Speaker 1: David following in sorrowing silence, and attended by the aid
- 31:21Speaker 1: of Montcalm with his guard. All the white men, with
- 31:24Speaker 1: the exception of Hawkeye, passed before the eyes of the Delawares,
- 31:29Speaker 1: and were buried in the vast forests of that region.
- 31:33Speaker 1: But the tie which through their common calamity, had united
- 31:37Speaker 1: the feelings of these simple dwellers of the woods with
- 31:40Speaker 1: the strangers who had thus transiently visited them, was not
- 31:44Speaker 1: so easily broken. Years passed away before the traditionary tale
- 31:50Speaker 1: of the White Maiden and of the young Warrior. The
- 31:53Speaker 1: Mohicans ceased to beguile the long night's in tedious marches,
- 31:57Speaker 1: or to animate their youthful and brave with a desire
- 32:00Speaker 1: for vengeance. Neither were the secondary actors in these momentous
- 32:04Speaker 1: incidents forgotten. Through the medium of the scout, who served
- 32:08Speaker 1: for years afterwards as a link between them and civilized life.
- 32:12Speaker 1: They learned in answer of their inquiries that the gray
- 32:16Speaker 1: head was speedily gathered to his father's worn down, as
- 32:21Speaker 1: was erroneously believed by his military misfortunes, and that the
- 32:26Speaker 1: open hand had conveyed his surviving daughter far into the
- 32:31Speaker 1: settlements of the pale faces, where her tears had at
- 32:34Speaker 1: last ceased to flow, and had been succeeded by the
- 32:38Speaker 1: bright smiles, which were better suited to her joyous nature.
- 32:43Speaker 1: But these events were of a time ladder than which
- 32:46Speaker 1: concerns our tale. Deserted by all of his color, Hawkeye
- 32:52Speaker 1: returned to the spot where his sympathies led him with
- 32:55Speaker 1: a force that no ideal bond of union could destroy.
- 33:01Speaker 1: He was just in time to catch a parting look
- 33:04Speaker 1: of the features of Uncas, who the Delawares were already
- 33:08Speaker 1: enclosing in his last vestment of skins. They paused to
- 33:13Speaker 1: permit the longing and lingering gaze of the sturdy woodsman,
- 33:17Speaker 1: and when it was ended, the body was enveloped, never
- 33:21Speaker 1: to be unclosed again. Then came a procession like the other,
- 33:28Speaker 1: and the whole nation was collected about the temporary grave
- 33:31Speaker 1: of the Chief, temporary because it was proper that at
- 33:36Speaker 1: some future day his bone should rest among those of
- 33:40Speaker 1: his own people. The movement, like the feeling, had been
- 33:44Speaker 1: simultaneous and general. The same grave expression of grief, the
- 33:49Speaker 1: same rigid silence, and the same deference to the principal
- 33:54Speaker 1: mourner were observed around the place of interment. As have
- 33:58Speaker 1: been already described, the body was deposited in an attitude
- 34:03Speaker 1: of repose, facing the rising sun, with the implements of
- 34:08Speaker 1: war and of the chase at hand, in readiness for
- 34:12Speaker 1: the final journey. An opening was left in the shell,
- 34:16Speaker 1: by which it was protected from the soil, for the
- 34:18Speaker 1: spirit to communicate with its earthly tenement when necessary, and
- 34:23Speaker 1: the whole was concealed from the instinct and protected from
- 34:27Speaker 1: the ravages of the beast of prey, with an ingenuity
- 34:30Speaker 1: peculiar to the natives. The manual rites then ceased, and
- 34:35Speaker 1: all present reverted to the more spiritual part of the ceremonies.
- 34:40Speaker 1: Chinkotchkok became once more the object of the common attention
- 34:45Speaker 1: he had not yet spoken, and something consolidatory and instructive
- 34:51Speaker 1: was expected from so renowned a chief on an occasion
- 34:54Speaker 1: of such interests, Conscious of the wishes of the people.
- 34:59Speaker 1: The stern and self restrained warrior raised his face, which
- 35:04Speaker 1: had latterly been buried in his robe, and looked about
- 35:08Speaker 1: him with a steady eye. His firmly compressed and expressive
- 35:12Speaker 1: lips then severed, and for the first time during the
- 35:16Speaker 1: long ceremonies, his voice was distinctly audible.
- 35:21Speaker 3: Why do my brothers mourn.
- 35:23Speaker 1: He said, regarding the dark race of dejected warriors by
- 35:27Speaker 1: whom he was environed. Why do my daughters weep that
- 35:32Speaker 1: a young man has gone to the happy hunting grounds,
- 35:36Speaker 1: that a chief has.
- 35:37Speaker 3: Filled his time with honor? He was good, he was dutiful,
- 35:44Speaker 3: he was brave. Who can deny it? The Manitoe had
- 35:50Speaker 3: need of such a warrior, and he has called him away.
- 35:55Speaker 3: As for me, the son and the father of Ungus,
- 35:59Speaker 3: I am a blazed pine in a clearing of the
- 36:02Speaker 3: pale faces. My race has gone from the shores of
- 36:05Speaker 3: the Salt Lake and the hills of the Delawares. But
- 36:09Speaker 3: who can say that the serpent of his tribe has
- 36:14Speaker 3: forgotten his wisdom?
- 36:17Speaker 1: I am alone? No, No, cried Hawkeye, who had been
- 36:22Speaker 1: gazing with a yearning look at the rigid features of
- 36:25Speaker 1: his friend, with something like his own self command, but
- 36:28Speaker 1: whose philosophy could endure no longer. No, Sagamore, not alone.
- 36:36Speaker 1: The gifts of our colors made me different, but God
- 36:40Speaker 1: so placed us as to journey in the same path.
- 36:44Speaker 1: I have no kin, and I may also say, like
- 36:48Speaker 1: you no people. He was your son and a red
- 36:54Speaker 1: skin by nature, and it may be that your blood
- 36:58Speaker 1: was near. But if ever I forget the lad who
- 37:02Speaker 1: has so often fought at my side in war and
- 37:07Speaker 1: slept at my side in peace, may he who made
- 37:11Speaker 1: us all, whatever may be our color or our gifts,
- 37:15Speaker 1: forget me. The boy has left us for a time.
- 37:20Speaker 1: But Sagmore, you are not alone. Chinchkotchkok grasped the hand that,
- 37:28Speaker 1: in the warmth of feeling the scout had stretched across
- 37:30Speaker 1: the fresh earth, and in an attitude of friendship, those
- 37:34Speaker 1: two sturdy and intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together while
- 37:39Speaker 1: scalding tears. While scalding tears fell to their feet, watering
- 37:44Speaker 1: the grave of Uncas like drops of falling rain in
- 37:49Speaker 1: the midst of the awful stillness with which such a
- 37:52Speaker 1: burst of feeling, coming as it did from the two
- 37:55Speaker 1: most renowned warriors of that region, was received and lifted
- 38:00Speaker 1: his voice to disperse the multitude. It is enough, he said, go,
- 38:10Speaker 1: children of the Lennape. The anger of Manitou is not done.
- 38:18Speaker 1: Why should come on stay? The pale faces are masters
- 38:26Speaker 1: of the.
- 38:26Speaker 3: Earth, and the time of the red men has not
- 38:32Speaker 3: yet come again.
- 38:35Speaker 2: My day has been too long.
- 38:39Speaker 1: In the morning I saw the suns of Unamus happy
- 38:46Speaker 1: and strolled.
- 38:48Speaker 5: And yet before the night has come have I lived
- 38:53Speaker 5: to see the last warrior of the wise race of
- 39:01Speaker 5: the Mohicans.
- 39:04Speaker 1: End of Chapter thirty three. End of the Last of
- 39:09Speaker 1: the Mohicans, a narrative of seventeen fifty seven by James
- 39:14Speaker 1: Fenimore Cooper,