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

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Speaker 1: Chapter twelve quote Klo, I am gone, sire, and Anon, sire,
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Speaker 1: I'll be with you again unquote from twelfth night. The
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Speaker 1: Hurons stood aghast of this sudden visitation of death on
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Speaker 1: one of their band, But as they regarded the fatal
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Speaker 1: accuracy of an aim which had dared to immolate an
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Speaker 1: enemy at so much hazard to a friend, the name
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Speaker 1: of Le l'ereben burst simultaneously from every lip, and was
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Speaker 1: succeeded by a wild and sort of plaintive howl. The
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Speaker 1: cry was answered by a loud shout from a little
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Speaker 1: thicket where the incautious party had piled their arms, and
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Speaker 1: at the next moment, Hawkeye, too eager to load the
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Speaker 1: rifle he had regained, was seen advancing upon them, brandishing
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Speaker 1: the clubbed weapon and cutting the air with wide and
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Speaker 1: powerful sweeps. Bold and rapid was the progress of the scout,
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Speaker 1: it was exceeded by that of a light and vigorous form, which,
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Speaker 1: bounding past him, leaped with incredible activity and daring into
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Speaker 1: the very center of the Hurons, where it stood, whirling
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Speaker 1: a tomahawk and flourishing a glittering knife with fearful menaces
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Speaker 1: in front of Cora Quicker than the thoughts could follow
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Speaker 1: those unexpected on audacious movements. An image armed in the
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Speaker 1: emblematic panoply of death, glided before their eyes and assumed
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Speaker 1: a threatening attitude. At the other side, the savage tormentors
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Speaker 1: recoiled before these warlike intruders and uttered as they appeared
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Speaker 1: in such quick succession, the often repeated and peculiar exclamations
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Speaker 1: of surprise followed by the well known and dreaded appellations
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Speaker 1: of lay Serfagiu, lay gross serpent. But the wary and
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Speaker 1: vigilant leader of the Hurons was not so easily disconcerted.
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Speaker 1: Casting his keen eyes around the little plane, he comprehended
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Speaker 1: the nature of the assault at a glance, and encouraging
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Speaker 1: his followers by his voice as well as by his example,
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Speaker 1: he unsheathed his long and dangerous knife and rushed with
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Speaker 1: a loud hoop upon the expected chinkotchkook. It was the
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Speaker 1: signal of a general combat. Neither party had firearms, and
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Speaker 1: the contest was to be decided in the deadliest manner,
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Speaker 1: hand to hand, with weapons of offense and none of defense.
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Speaker 1: Uncas answered the hoop and leaping on an enemy with
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Speaker 1: a single well directed blow of his tomahawk cleft him
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Speaker 1: to the brain. Heyward tore the weapon of Makua from
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Speaker 1: the sapling and rushed equally toward the fray. As the
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Speaker 1: combatants were now equal in number, each singled an opponent
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Speaker 1: from the adverse band. The rush and blows passed with
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Speaker 1: the fury of a whirlwind and the swiftness of lightning.
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Speaker 1: Hawkeye soon got another enemy within reach of his arm,
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Speaker 1: and with one sweep of his formidable weapon, he beat
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Speaker 1: down the slight and inartificial defenses of his antagonist, crushing
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Speaker 1: him to earth. With the blow, Heyward ventured to hurl
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Speaker 1: the palmahawk he had seized, too ardent to await the
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Speaker 1: moment of closing, it struck the Indian he had selected
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Speaker 1: on the forehead and checked for an instant his onward rush.
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Speaker 1: Encouraged by this slight advantage, the impetuous young man continued
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Speaker 1: his onset and sprang upon his enemy with naked hands.
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Speaker 1: A single instant was enough to assure him of the
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Speaker 1: rashness of the major, for he immediately found himself fully
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Speaker 1: engaged with all his activity and courage in endeavoring to ward.
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Speaker 1: The desperate thrust made with the knife of the Huron.
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Speaker 1: Unable longer to foil an enemy so alert and vigilant,
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Speaker 1: threw his arms about him and succeeded in pinning the
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Speaker 1: limbs of the other to his side with an iron grasp,
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Speaker 1: but one that was far too exhausting to himself to
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Speaker 1: continue long in this extremity. He heard a voice near him, shouting,
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Speaker 1: extarminate the violets, no quarter to an accursed mingo. At
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Speaker 1: the next moment, the breach of Hawkeye's rifle fell on
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Speaker 1: the naked head of his adversary, whose muscles appeared to
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Speaker 1: wither under the shock as he sank from the arms
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Speaker 1: of Duncan, flexible and motionless. When Uncas had brained his
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Speaker 1: first antagonist, he turned like a hungry lion to seek another.
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Speaker 1: The fifth and only Huron, disengaged at the first onset,
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Speaker 1: had paused a moment, and, then, seeing that all around
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Speaker 1: him were employed in the deadly strife he had sought
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Speaker 1: with hellish vengeance to complete the baffled work of revenge.
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Speaker 1: Raising a shout of triumph, he sprang toward the defenseless Cora,
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Speaker 1: sending his keen axe as the dreadful precursor of his approach,
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Speaker 1: the tomahawk raised her shoulder, and cutting the wives which
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Speaker 1: bound her to the tree, left the maiden at liberty
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Speaker 1: to fly. She eluded the grasp of the savage, and,
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Speaker 1: reckless of her own safety, threw herself on the bosom
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Speaker 1: of Alice, striving with convulsed and ill directed fingers to
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Speaker 1: tear asunder the twigs which confined the person of her sister.
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Speaker 1: Any other than a monster would have relented at such
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Speaker 1: an act of generous devotion to the best and purest affection.
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Speaker 1: But the breast of the yuron was a stranger to sympathy.
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Speaker 1: Seizing Cora by the rich tresses, which fell in confusion
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Speaker 1: about her form, he tore her from her frantic hold
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Speaker 1: and bowed her down with brutal violence to her knees.
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Speaker 1: The savage drew the flowing curls through his hand, and
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Speaker 1: raising them on high with an outstretched arm, he passed
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Speaker 1: the knife around the exquisitely molded head of his victim
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Speaker 1: with a taunting and exulting laugh. But he purchased this
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Speaker 1: moment of fierce gratification with the loss of the fatal opportunity.
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Speaker 1: It was just then the sight caught the eye of Uncas.
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Speaker 1: Bounding from his footsteps, he appeared for an instant, darting
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Speaker 1: through the air and descending in a ball. He fell
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Speaker 1: on the chest of his enemy, driving him many yards
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Speaker 1: from the spot, headlong and prostrate. The violence of the
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Speaker 1: exertion cast the young Mohican at his side. They arose together,
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Speaker 1: fought and bled, each in his turn, but the conflict
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Speaker 1: was soon decided. The tomahawk of Heyward and the rifle
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Speaker 1: of Hawkeye descended on the skull of the Huron at
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Speaker 1: the same moment that the knife of Uncas reached his heart.
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Speaker 1: The battle was now entirely terminated, with the exception of
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Speaker 1: the protracted struggle between le Renod Sebtadu and Ligross Serpent.
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Speaker 1: Well did these barbarous warriors prove that they deserved those
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Speaker 1: significant names which had been bestowed for deeds in former wars.
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Speaker 1: When they engaged, some little time was lost in eluding
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Speaker 1: the quick and vigorous thrust which had been aimed at
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Speaker 1: their lives. Suddenly darting on each other, they closed and
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Speaker 1: came to the earth, twisted together like twining serpents in
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Speaker 1: pliant and subtle folds. At the moment when the victors
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Speaker 1: found themselves unoccupied. The spot where these experienced and desperate
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Speaker 1: combatants lay could only be distinguished by cloud of dust
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Speaker 1: and leaves, which moved from the center of the little
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Speaker 1: plain toward its boundary, as if raised by the passage
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Speaker 1: of a whirlwind. Urged by the different motives of filial, affection, friendship,
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Speaker 1: and gratitude, Heyward and his companions rushed with one accord
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Speaker 1: to the place, encircling the little canopy of dust which
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Speaker 1: hung above the warriors. In vain did Uncas dart around
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Speaker 1: the cloud with a wish to strike his knife into
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Speaker 1: the heart of his father foe. The threatening rifle of
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Speaker 1: Hawkeye was raised and suspended in Vain, while Duncan endeavored
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Speaker 1: to seize the limbs of the Huron with hands that
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Speaker 1: had appeared to have lost their power, Covered as they
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Speaker 1: were with dust and blood, the swift evolutions of the
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Speaker 1: combatants seemed to incorporate their bodies into one. The deathlike
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Speaker 1: looking figure of the Mohican and the dark form of
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Speaker 1: the Huron gleamed before their eyes in such quick and
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Speaker 1: confused succession that the friends of the former knew not
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Speaker 1: where to plant the succoring blow. It is true that
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Speaker 1: there were short and fleeting moments when the fiery eyes
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Speaker 1: of Mawkward were seen glittering like fabled organs of the
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Speaker 1: basilisk through the dusty wreath by which he was enveloped,
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Speaker 1: and he read by those short and deadly glances the
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Speaker 1: fate of the combat. In the presence of his enemies
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Speaker 1: ere However, any hostile hand that could decend on his
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Speaker 1: devoted head, its place was filled by the scowling visage
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Speaker 1: of Chinotschkok. In this manner, the scene of the combat
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Speaker 1: was removed from the center of the little plain to
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Speaker 1: its verge. Though Mohikan now found an opportunity to make
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Speaker 1: a powerful thrust with his knife, Maka suddenly relinquished his
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Speaker 1: grasp and fell backward, without motion and seemingly without life.
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Speaker 1: His adversary leaped on his feet, making the arches of
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Speaker 1: the forest ring with the shouts of triumph. Well done
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Speaker 1: for the Delawares. Victory to the Mohicans, cried Hawkeye, once more,
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Speaker 1: elevating the butt of the long and fatal rifle. A
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Speaker 1: finishing blow from a man without a cross will never
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Speaker 1: tell against his honor, nor rob him of his right
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Speaker 1: to the scalp. But at the very moment when the
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Speaker 1: dangerous weapon was in the act of descending, The subtle
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Speaker 1: rolled swiftly from beneath the danger, over the edge of
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Speaker 1: the precipice, and falling on his feet, was seen leaping
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Speaker 1: with a single bound into the center of a thicket
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Speaker 1: of low bushes that clung along its sides. The delawares,
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Speaker 1: who had believed their enemy dead, uttered their exclamation of surprise,
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Speaker 1: and were following with speed and clamor like hounds in
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Speaker 1: open view of the deer, when a shrill and peculiar
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Speaker 1: cry from the scout instantly changed their purpose and recalled
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Speaker 1: them to the summit of the hill. Twas like himself,
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Speaker 1: cried the inveterate forester, whose prejudice contributed so largely to
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Speaker 1: veil his natural sense of justice in all matters which
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Speaker 1: concerned the mingoes. A lying and deceitful violet, as he is,
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Speaker 1: an honest delaware now being fairly vanquished, would have lain
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Speaker 1: still and been knocked on the head. But these navies
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Speaker 1: Schmock was cling to life like so many cats of
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Speaker 1: the mountain. Let him go, Let him go. 'tis but
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Speaker 1: one man, and he without rifle or bow, many a
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Speaker 1: long mile from his French comrades, and like a rattler
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Speaker 1: that lost his fangs, he can do no further mischief
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Speaker 1: until such time as he and we too may leave
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Speaker 1: the prints of our moccasins over a long reach of
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Speaker 1: sandy plain. See Uncas, he added in Delaware, your father
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Speaker 1: is flaying the scalps already. It may be well to
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Speaker 1: go around and fill the vagabonds that are left, or
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Speaker 1: we may have another of them, loping through the woods
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Speaker 1: and screeching like a jay that has been winged. So saying,
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Speaker 1: the honest but implacable Scalp made the circuit of the dead,
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Speaker 1: into whose senseless bosoms he thrust his long knife with
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Speaker 1: as much coolness as though they had been so many
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Speaker 1: brute carcasses. He had, however, been anticipated by the elder Mohican,
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Speaker 1: who had already torn the emblems of victory from the
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Speaker 1: unresisting heads of the slain. But Uncas, denying his habits,
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Speaker 1: we had almost said, his nature flew with instinctive delicacy,
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Speaker 1: accompanied by Heyward, to the assistance of the females, and
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Speaker 1: quickly releasing Alice, placed her in the arms of Cora.
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Speaker 1: We shall not attempt to describe the gratitude of the
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Speaker 1: almighty disposer of events, which glowed in the bosoms of
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Speaker 1: the sisters, who were thus unexpectedly restored to life and
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Speaker 1: to each other. Their thanksgivings were deep and silent, the
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Speaker 1: offerings of their gentle spirits burning brightest and purest on
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Speaker 1: the secret altars of their hearts, and their renovated and
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Speaker 1: more earthly feelings exhibiting themselves in long and fervent, though
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Speaker 1: speechless caresses. As Alice rose from her knees where she
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Speaker 1: had sunk by the side of Cora, she threw herself
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Speaker 1: on the bosom of the latter and sobbed aloud the
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Speaker 1: name of their aged father, while her soft and dove
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Speaker 1: like eyes sparkled with rays of hope. We are saved,
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Speaker 1: We are saved, she murmured, to return to the arms
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Speaker 1: of our dear, dear father, and his heart will not
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Speaker 1: be broken with grief. And you too, Cora, my sister,
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Speaker 1: my more than sister, my mother, you too are spared.
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Speaker 1: And Duncan, she added, looking around upon the youth with
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Speaker 1: a smile of ineffable innocence. Even our own brave and
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Speaker 1: double Duncan has escaped without a hurt to these ardent
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Speaker 1: and nearly innocent words, Cora made no other answer than
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Speaker 1: by straining the youthful speaker to her heart as she
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Speaker 1: bent over her in melting tenderness. The manhood of Heyward
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Speaker 1: felt no shame in dropping tears over the spectacle of
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Speaker 1: affectionate rapture, and Uncas stood fresh and blood stained from
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Speaker 1: the combat, a calm and apparently an unmoved looker on,
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Speaker 1: it is true, but with eyes that had already lost
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Speaker 1: their fierceness, and which were beaming with a sympathy that
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Speaker 1: elevated him far above the intelligence and advanced him probably
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Speaker 1: centuries before the practices of his nation. During this display
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Speaker 1: of emotions so natural in their situation, Hawkeye, whose vigilant
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Speaker 1: distrust had satisfied itself that the Hurons who disfigured the
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Speaker 1: heavenly scene no longer possessed the power to interrupt its harmony,
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Speaker 1: approached David and liberated him from the bons he had
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Speaker 1: until that moment endured with the most exemplary patience. There,
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Speaker 1: exclaimed the scout, casting the last wive behind him. You
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Speaker 1: are once more mass sure of your own limbs, though
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Speaker 1: you seem not to use them with much greater judgment
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Speaker 1: than that in which they were first fashioned. If advice
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Speaker 1: from one who is not older than yourself, but who
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Speaker 1: having lived most of his time in the wilderness, may
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Speaker 1: be said to have experience beyond his years, will give
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Speaker 1: no offense. You are welcome to my thoughts, and these
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Speaker 1: are to part with the little tooting instrument in your
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Speaker 1: jacket to the first full you meet with, and buy
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Speaker 1: some weapon with the money, if it only be the
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Speaker 1: barrel of a horseman's pistol. By industry and care, you
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Speaker 1: might thus come to some preformant. For by this time,
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Speaker 1: I should think your eyes would plainly tell you that
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Speaker 1: a carrion crow is a better bird than a mocking thresher.
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Speaker 1: The one will at least remove file sights from before
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Speaker 1: the face of man, while the other is only good
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Speaker 1: to brew disturbances in the woods by cheating the ears
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Speaker 1: of all that he them lurmbs and clarion for the battle.
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Speaker 1: But the song of thanksgiving to the victory, answered the
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Speaker 1: deliberated david friend. He added, thrusting forth his lean, delicate
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Speaker 1: hand toward hawkeye in kindness, while his eyes twinkled and
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Speaker 1: grew moist. I thank thee that the hairs of my
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Speaker 1: head still grow were they first rooted by providence? For
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Speaker 1: though those of other men may be more glossy and curling,
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Speaker 1: I have ever found mine own well suited to the brain.
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Speaker 1: They shelter. That I did not join myself in the
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Speaker 1: battle was less owing to disinclination than to the bonds
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Speaker 1: of the heathen. Valiant and skillful, hast thou proved thyself
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Speaker 1: in the conflict. And I hereby thank THEE before proceeding
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Speaker 1: to discharge other and more important duties. Because thou hast
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Speaker 1: proved thyself well worthy of a Christian's praise. The thing
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Speaker 1: is but a trifle, and what you may often see
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Speaker 1: if you tarry long among us, returned the scout, A
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Speaker 1: good deal softened toward the man of song by this
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Speaker 1: unequivocal expression of gratitude, I have got my old companion
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Speaker 1: kill deer, he added, striking his hand on the breach
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Speaker 1: of his rifle, And that in itself is a victory.
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Speaker 1: These Iroquois are cunning, but they outwitted themselves when they
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Speaker 1: placed their firearms out of reach. And had Uncas or
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Speaker 1: his father been gifted with only their common Indian patience,
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Speaker 1: we should have come in upon the knaves with three
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Speaker 1: bullets instead of one, and that would have made a
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Speaker 1: finish of the whole pack Yon Loping Varlet, as well
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Speaker 1: as his comrades. But twas all forewordered, and for the
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Speaker 1: best thou sayest will returned David and has caught the
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Speaker 1: true spirit of Christianity. He that is to be saved
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Speaker 1: will be saved, and he that is predestined to be
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Speaker 1: damned will be damned. This is the doctrine of truth,
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Speaker 1: and most consoling and refreshing it is to the true believer.
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Speaker 1: The scout, who by this time was seated examining into
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Speaker 1: the state of his rifle with a species of parental assiduity,
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Speaker 1: now looked up at the other in a displeasure that
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Speaker 1: he did not effect to conceal, roughly interrupting further speech.
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Speaker 1: Doctrine or no doctrine, said the sturdy woodsman. 'tis the
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Speaker 1: belief of knaves and the curse of an honest man.
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Speaker 1: I can credit that yonder huron was to fall by
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Speaker 1: my hand, for with my own eyes I have seen it.
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Speaker 1: But nothing short of being a witness will cause me
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Speaker 1: to think he has met with any reward or that
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Speaker 1: chinkotchkok there will be condemned at the final day. You
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Speaker 1: have no warranty for such an audacious doctrine, nor any
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Speaker 1: covenant to support it, cried David, who was deeply tinctured
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Speaker 1: with the subtle distinctions which, in his time, and more
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Speaker 1: especially in his province, had been drawn around the beautiful
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Speaker 1: simplicity of revelation, by endeavoring to penetrate the awful mystery
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Speaker 1: of the divine nature, supplying faith by self sufficiency, and
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Speaker 1: by consequence, involving those who reason from such human dogmas
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Speaker 1: in absurdities and doubt. Your temple is reared on the sands,
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Speaker 1: and the first tempest will wash away its foundation. I
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Speaker 1: demand your authorities for such an uncharitable assertion. Like other
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Speaker 1: advocates of a system, David was not always accurate in
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Speaker 1: his use of terms. Verse in which of the Holy
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Speaker 1: books do you find language to support you? Book? Repeated
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Speaker 1: Hawkeye with singular and ill concealed disdain. Do you take
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Speaker 1: me for a whimpering boy at the apron string of
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Speaker 1: one of your old gals, And this good rifle on
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Speaker 1: my knee for the feather of a goose's wing, my
20:25
Speaker 1: ox's horned for a bottle of ink, And my leathern
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Speaker 1: pouch for a crossbarred handkerchief to carry my dinner book.
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Speaker 1: What have such as I, who am a warrior of
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Speaker 1: the wilderness, though a man without a cross to two
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Speaker 1: with books. I never read but in one, And the
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Speaker 1: words that are written there are too simple and too
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Speaker 1: plain to need much schooling. Though I may boast that
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Speaker 1: of forty long and hard working years would call you.
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Speaker 1: The volume, said David, misconceiving the other's me, tis open
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Speaker 1: before your eyes returned the scout, and he who owns
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Speaker 1: it is not a niggard of its use. I have
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Speaker 1: heard it said that there are men who read in
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Speaker 1: books to convince themselves there is a god. I know naught.
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Speaker 1: But man may so deform his works in the settlement
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Speaker 1: as to leave that which is so clear in the
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Speaker 1: wilderness a matter of doubt among traitors and priests, if
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Speaker 1: any such there be. And he will follow me from
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Speaker 1: son to son, through the windings of the forest, he
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Speaker 1: shall see enough to teach him that he is a fool.
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Speaker 1: And the greatest of his follies lies in striving to
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Speaker 1: rise to the level of one he can never equal,
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Speaker 1: be it in goodness or be it in power. The instant,
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Speaker 1: David discovered that he battled with a disputant who imbibed
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Speaker 1: his faith from the lights of nature, eskewing all subtleties
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Speaker 1: of doctrine. He willingly abandoned the controversy, from which he
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Speaker 1: believed neither profit nor credit was to be derived. While
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Speaker 1: the scout was speaking, he had also seated himself, and
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Speaker 1: producing the ready little volume and the iron rimmed spectacles,
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Speaker 1: he prepared to discharge a duty which nothing but the
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Speaker 1: unexpected assault he had received in his orthodoxy could have
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Speaker 1: so long suspended. He was, in truth a minstrel of
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Speaker 1: the Western continent of a much later day, certainly than
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Speaker 1: those gifted barges who formerly sang the profane renown of
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Speaker 1: baron and prince. But after the spirit of his own
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Speaker 1: age and country, he was now prepared to exercise the
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Speaker 1: cunning of his craft in celebration of, or in rather
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Speaker 1: thanksgiving of the recent victory. He waited patiently for hawkeye
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Speaker 1: to cease. Then, lifting his eyes together the other with
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Speaker 1: his voice, he said, aloud, I invite you friends to
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Speaker 1: join in praise for the signal deliverance from the hands
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Speaker 1: of barbarians and infidels through the comfortable and solemn tones
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Speaker 1: of the tune called Northampton. Next, he named the page
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Speaker 1: and verse where the rhymes selected were to be found,
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Speaker 1: and applied the pitch pipe to his lips with the
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Speaker 1: decent gravity that he had been wont to use in
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Speaker 1: the temple. This time he was, however, without any accompaniment,
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Speaker 1: for the sisters were just then pouring out those tender
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Speaker 1: effusions of affections which have already been alluded to. Nothing.
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Speaker 1: Deterred by the smallness of his audience, which in truth
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Speaker 1: consisted only of the discontented scout, he raised his voice,
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Speaker 1: commencing and ending the sacred song without accident or interruption
23:56
Speaker 1: of any kind. Hawkeye listened while he coolly adjusted his
24:01
Speaker 1: flint and reloaded his rifle. But the sounds, wanting the
24:06
Speaker 1: extraneous assistance of scene and sympathy, failed to awaken his
24:10
Speaker 1: slumbering emotions. Never Minstrel, or by whatever more suitable name,
24:15
Speaker 1: David should be known, drew upon his talents in the
24:18
Speaker 1: presence of more insensible auditors. Though considering the singleness and
24:24
Speaker 1: sincerity of his motive, it is probable that no barred
24:28
Speaker 1: of profane song ever uttered notes that ascended so near
24:32
Speaker 1: to that throne where all homage and praise is due.
24:37
Speaker 1: The scout shook his head, and, muttering some unintelligible words,
24:42
Speaker 1: among which throat and Iroquois were alone audible, he walked
24:48
Speaker 1: away to collect and to examine into the state of
24:52
Speaker 1: the captured arsenal of the Hurons. In this office he
24:56
Speaker 1: was now joined by ching Gootchkok, who found his own
25:00
Speaker 1: as well as the rifle of his son among the arms.
25:03
Speaker 1: Even Heyward and David were furnished with weapons, nor was ammunition,
25:09
Speaker 1: wanting to render them all effectual. When the foresters had
25:13
Speaker 1: made their selection and distributed the prizes, the scout announced
25:17
Speaker 1: that the hour had arrived when it was necessary to move.
25:22
Speaker 1: By this time the song of Gamut had ceased, and
25:25
Speaker 1: the sisters had learned to steal the exhibition of their emotions.
25:30
Speaker 1: Aided by Duncan and the younger Mohican, the two latter
25:34
Speaker 1: descended the precipitous sides of that hill which they had
25:37
Speaker 1: so lately ascended under so very different auspices, and whose
25:41
Speaker 1: summit had so nearly proved the scene of their massacre.
25:45
Speaker 1: At the foot, they found the Narragansets browsing the herbage
25:48
Speaker 1: of the bushes and Having mounted, they followed the movements
25:52
Speaker 1: of a guide, who, in the most deadly straits had
25:56
Speaker 1: so often proved himself their friend. The journey was, however, short. Hawkeye,
26:03
Speaker 1: leaving the blind path that the Hurons had followed, turned
26:06
Speaker 1: short to his right, and entering the thicket. He crossed
26:10
Speaker 1: a babbling brook and halted in a narrow dell under
26:14
Speaker 1: the shade of a few water elms. Their distance from
26:18
Speaker 1: the base of the fatal hill was but a few rods,
26:21
Speaker 1: and the steeds had been serviceable only in crossing the
26:25
Speaker 1: shallow stream. The scout and the Indians appeared to be
26:28
Speaker 1: familiar with the sequestered place where they now were for
26:34
Speaker 1: leaning the rifle against the trees, they commenced, throwing aside
26:38
Speaker 1: the dried leaves and opening the blue clay, out of
26:41
Speaker 1: which a clear and sparkling spring of bright, glancing water
26:44
Speaker 1: quickly bubbled. The white men then looked about him, as
26:48
Speaker 1: though seeking for some object which was not to be
26:52
Speaker 1: found as readily as he expected them careless imps. The
26:56
Speaker 1: Mohawks with their Tuscarora and Onondaga brethren have been here
27:00
Speaker 1: slaking their thirst, he muttered, And the vagabonds have thrown
27:05
Speaker 1: away the gourd. This is the way with benefits when
27:09
Speaker 1: they are bestowed on such dismembering hounds. Here has the
27:14
Speaker 1: Lord laid his hand in the midst of the howling
27:17
Speaker 1: wilderness for their good, and raised a fountain of water
27:21
Speaker 1: from the bowels of the earth, that might laugh at
27:25
Speaker 1: the richest shop of apothecaries where in all the colonies,
27:28
Speaker 1: and see the knaves of trodden in the clay, and
27:32
Speaker 1: deformed the cleanliness of the place, as though they were
27:37
Speaker 1: brute beasts instead of human men. Uncas silently extended toward
27:41
Speaker 1: him the desired gourd, which the spleen of Hawkeye had
27:45
Speaker 1: hitherto prevented him from observing, on a branch of unelm.
27:50
Speaker 1: Filling it with water, he retired a short distance to
27:53
Speaker 1: a place where the ground was more firm and dry.
27:56
Speaker 1: Here he coolly seated himself, and after take making a
28:00
Speaker 1: long and apparently a grateful draft, he commenced a very
28:04
Speaker 1: strict examination of the fragments of food left by the hurons,
28:08
Speaker 1: which had hung in a wallet on his arm. Thank you, lad,
28:13
Speaker 1: He continued, returning the empty gourd to Uncas. Now we
28:17
Speaker 1: will see how these rampaging hurons lived when outlying in ambushments.
28:22
Speaker 1: Look at this, The varlets know the better pieces of
28:25
Speaker 1: the deer, and one would think they might carve and
28:29
Speaker 1: roast a saddle equal to the best cook in the land.
28:33
Speaker 1: But everything is raw, for the Iroquois are thorough savages. Uncas,
28:39
Speaker 1: take my steel and kin to a fire. A mouthful
28:43
Speaker 1: of tender boil will give nature a helping hand. After
28:47
Speaker 1: so long a trail, Heyward, perceiving that their guides now
28:51
Speaker 1: set about their repast and sober earnest, assisted the ladies
28:55
Speaker 1: to alight, and placed himself at their side, Not unwilling
29:00
Speaker 1: to enjoy a few moments of grateful rest after the
29:03
Speaker 1: bloody scene he had just gone through. While the culinary
29:07
Speaker 1: process was in hand, curiosity induced him to inquire into
29:12
Speaker 1: this circumstances which had led to their timely and unexpected rescue.
29:17
Speaker 1: How is it that we see you so soon, my
29:19
Speaker 1: generous friend, he asked, and without aid from the garrison
29:24
Speaker 1: of Edward, had we gone to the bend of the river,
29:28
Speaker 1: we might have been in time to rake the leaves
29:30
Speaker 1: over your bodies, but too late to have saved your scalps.
29:34
Speaker 1: Coolly answered the scout, No, No, Instead of throwing away
29:39
Speaker 1: strength and opportunity by crossing to the fort. We lay
29:43
Speaker 1: by under the bank of the Hudson, waiting to watch
29:47
Speaker 1: the movements of the Hurons. You were then witnesses of
29:51
Speaker 1: all that passed, not of all, for Indian sight is
29:56
Speaker 1: too keen to be easily cheated. Kept close a difficult matter.
30:03
Speaker 1: It was too to keep this Mahican boy snug in
30:06
Speaker 1: the ambushment, ah Uncus Uncas, your behavior was more like
30:12
Speaker 1: that of a curious woman than of a warrior. On
30:15
Speaker 1: his scent, Uncas permitted his eyes to turn for an
30:19
Speaker 1: instant on the sturdy countenance of the speaker, but he
30:22
Speaker 1: neither spoke nor gave any indication of repentance. On the contrary,
30:28
Speaker 1: Heyward thought the manner of the young Mohican was disdainful,
30:32
Speaker 1: if not a little fierce, and that he suppressed passion
30:36
Speaker 1: that were ready to explode, as much in compliment to
30:40
Speaker 1: the listeners as from the deference he usually paid to
30:43
Speaker 1: his white associate. You saw our capture, Heyward next demanded,
30:48
Speaker 1: We heard it was the significant answer. An Indian yell
30:52
Speaker 1: is plain language to men who have passed their days
30:55
Speaker 1: in the woods. But when you landed, we were driven
30:59
Speaker 1: to crawl like serpents beneath the leaves, and then we
31:02
Speaker 1: lost sight of you entirely until we placed eyes on
31:06
Speaker 1: you again, trust to the trees, and ready bound for
31:10
Speaker 1: an Indian massacre, our rescue was the deed of providence.
31:15
Speaker 1: It was nearly a miracle that you did not mistake
31:17
Speaker 1: the path, for the Hurons divided, and each band had
31:22
Speaker 1: its horses. I there we were thrown off the scent,
31:27
Speaker 1: and might indeed have lost the trail had it not
31:31
Speaker 1: been for Uncas. We took the path, however, that led
31:36
Speaker 1: into the wilderness, for we judged, and judged rightly, that
31:42
Speaker 1: the savages would hold that course with their prisoners. But
31:46
Speaker 1: when we had followed it for many miles without finding
31:49
Speaker 1: a single twig broken, as I had advised, my mind
31:53
Speaker 1: misgave me, especially as all the footsteps had the prints
31:59
Speaker 1: of moccasins. Our captors had their precaution to see us
32:03
Speaker 1: shod like themselves, said Duncan, raising a foot and exhibiting
32:07
Speaker 1: the buckskin he wore. I twas judgmatical and like themselves.
32:13
Speaker 1: Though we were too expert to be thrown from a
32:15
Speaker 1: trail by so common an invention. To what then are
32:21
Speaker 1: we indebted for our safety to what as a white
32:26
Speaker 1: man who is no taine of Indian blood, I should
32:29
Speaker 1: be ashamed to own to the judgment of the young
32:32
Speaker 1: Mohican in matters which I should know better than he,
32:37
Speaker 1: but which I can now hardly believe to be true,
32:40
Speaker 1: though my own eyes tell me it is so. Tis extraordinary.
32:45
Speaker 1: Will you not name the reason? Uncas was bold enough
32:49
Speaker 1: to say that the beast ridden by the gentle ones
32:52
Speaker 1: continued hawkeye, glancing his eyes not without curious interest, on
32:57
Speaker 1: the fillies of the ladies planted the legs of one
33:01
Speaker 1: side on the ground at the same time, which is
33:05
Speaker 1: contrary to the movements of all trotting four footed animals
33:08
Speaker 1: of my knowledge, except the bear. And yet here are
33:13
Speaker 1: horses that always journey in this manner, as my own
33:17
Speaker 1: eyes have seen, and as their trail has shone for
33:21
Speaker 1: twenty long miles, tis the merit of the animal. They
33:27
Speaker 1: come from the shores of Nardanset Bay in the small
33:31
Speaker 1: province of Providence Plantations, and are celebrated for their hardihood
33:38
Speaker 1: and the ease of this peculiar movement. The other horses
33:42
Speaker 1: are not unfrequently trained to the same. It may be,
33:48
Speaker 1: it may be, said Hawkeye, who had listened with singular
33:51
Speaker 1: attention to this explanation. Though I am a man who
33:55
Speaker 1: has the full blood of the whites, my judgment in
33:59
Speaker 1: deer and beef is greater than in beast of burden.
34:03
Speaker 1: Major Effingham has many noble charges, but I have never
34:07
Speaker 1: seen one travel with such a siding gait. True, for
34:12
Speaker 1: he would value the animals for very different properties. Still,
34:17
Speaker 1: is this a breed highly esteemed, and, as you witness,
34:21
Speaker 1: much honored. With the burdens it is often destined to bear.
34:26
Speaker 1: The Mohicans had suspended their operations about the glimmering fire
34:30
Speaker 1: to listen, and when Duncan had done, they looked at
34:34
Speaker 1: each other significantly, the father uttering the never failing exclamation
34:39
Speaker 1: of surprise. The scout ruminated like a man digesting his
34:44
Speaker 1: newly acquired knowledge, and once more stole a glance at
34:49
Speaker 1: the horses. I dare say there are even stranger sights
34:53
Speaker 1: to be seen in the settlements, he said at length.
34:56
Speaker 1: Nature is sadly abused by man when he once gets
35:01
Speaker 1: the mastery, but go siding, or go straight. Uncass has
35:06
Speaker 1: seen the movement, and their trail led us on to
35:10
Speaker 1: the broken bush. The outer branch knear, the prince of
35:14
Speaker 1: one of the horses was bent upward as a lady
35:17
Speaker 1: breaks a flower from its stem. But all the rest
35:21
Speaker 1: were ragged and broken down, as if the strong hand
35:25
Speaker 1: of a man had been tearing them. So I concluded
35:29
Speaker 1: that the cunning varmints had seen the twig bent and
35:33
Speaker 1: had torn the rest to make us believe a buck
35:35
Speaker 1: had been feeling the bowels with his antlers. I do
35:39
Speaker 1: believe your sagacity did not deceive you, for some such
35:44
Speaker 1: thing occurred that was easy to see, added the scout,
35:51
Speaker 1: in no degree conscious of having exhibited any extraordinary sagacity,
35:56
Speaker 1: and a very different matter, it was from a waddling horse.
36:01
Speaker 1: It then struck me the mingoes would push for this spring,
36:06
Speaker 1: for the knaves well know the virtue of its waters.
36:11
Speaker 1: It is thin, so famous, demanded Heyward, examining with a
36:16
Speaker 1: more curious eye the secluded dell, with its bubbling fountain,
36:20
Speaker 1: surrounded as it was by earth of a deep, dingy brown.
36:25
Speaker 1: Few redskins who travel south and east of the Great
36:28
Speaker 1: Lakes but have heard of its qualities. Will you taste
36:32
Speaker 1: for yourself? Heyward took the gourd, and, after swallowing a
36:37
Speaker 1: little of the water threw it aside with grimaces of discontent.
36:42
Speaker 1: The scout laughed in his silent but heartfelt manner, and
36:46
Speaker 1: shook his head with vast satisfaction. Ah, you want the
36:50
Speaker 1: flavor that one gets by habit. The time was when
36:54
Speaker 1: I liked it as little as yourself. But I have
36:58
Speaker 1: come to my taste, and I now crave it as
37:01
Speaker 1: a deer does the lixe footnote. Many of the animals
37:06
Speaker 1: of the American forest resort to those spots where salt
37:09
Speaker 1: springs are found. These are called licks or salt licks
37:14
Speaker 1: in the language of the country for the circumstances that
37:18
Speaker 1: the quaterped is often obliged to lick the earth in
37:22
Speaker 1: order to obtain the sailing particles. These licks are great
37:26
Speaker 1: places of resort with the hunters who waylay their game
37:30
Speaker 1: near the paths that lead to them. End. Your high
37:37
Speaker 1: spiced wines are not better like than a redskin relish
37:40
Speaker 1: as this water, especially when his nature is ailing. But
37:45
Speaker 1: Uncas has made his fire, and it is time we
37:48
Speaker 1: think of eating, for our journey is long and all
37:52
Speaker 1: before us. Interrupting the dialog. By this abrupt transition, the
37:57
Speaker 1: scout had instant recourse to the fragments of food which
38:00
Speaker 1: had escaped the veracity of the Hurons. A very summary
38:04
Speaker 1: process completed the simple cookery when he and the Mohicans
38:09
Speaker 1: commenced their humble meal with the silence and characteristic diligence
38:13
Speaker 1: of men who ate in order to enable themselves to
38:16
Speaker 1: endure great and unremitting toil. When this necessary and happily
38:23
Speaker 1: grateful duty had been performed, each of the foresters stooped
38:27
Speaker 1: and took a long and parting draft at that solitary
38:31
Speaker 1: and silent spring. Footnote. The scene of the foregoing incidents
38:36
Speaker 1: is on the spot where the village of Boston now stands,
38:39
Speaker 1: one of the two principal watering places of America, and
38:44
Speaker 1: footnote around which and its sister fountains. Within fifty years,
38:48
Speaker 1: the wealth, beauty, and talents of a hemisphere were to
38:52
Speaker 1: assemble in throngs in pursuit of health and pleasure. Then
38:58
Speaker 1: Hawkeye announced his dear determination to proceed. The sisters resumed
39:03
Speaker 1: their saddles, Duncan and David grasped their rifles and followed
39:07
Speaker 1: on footsteps, the Scout leading the advance and the Mohicans
39:12
Speaker 1: bringing up the rear. The whole party moved swiftly through
39:15
Speaker 1: the narrow path toward the north, leaving the healing waters
39:19
Speaker 1: to mingle unheeded with the adjacent brooks, and the bodies
39:22
Speaker 1: of the dead to fester on the neighboring mount without
39:26
Speaker 1: the rights of sepulcher, a fate but too common to
39:30
Speaker 1: the warriors of the woods to excite either commiseration or comment.
39:36
Speaker 1: End of Chapter twelve.