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

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Speaker 1: Chapter one, quote mine ear is open, and my heart prepared.
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Speaker 1: The worst is worldly lost. Thou canst unfold say is
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Speaker 1: my kingdom lost? Unquote Shakespeare. It was a feature peculiar
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Speaker 1: to the colonial wars of North America that the toils
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Speaker 1: and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before
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Speaker 1: the adverse host could meet. A wide and apparently and
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Speaker 1: impervious boundary of forests severed the possessions of the hostile
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Speaker 1: provinces of France and England. The hearty colonist and the
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Speaker 1: trained European who fought at his side frequently expended months
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Speaker 1: in struggling against the rapids of the streams, or in
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Speaker 1: effecting the rugged passes of the mountains, in quest of
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Speaker 1: an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a more martial conflict.
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Speaker 1: But emulating thenations and self denial of the practiced native warriors,
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Speaker 1: they learned to overcome every difficulty, and it would seem
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Speaker 1: that in time there was no recess of the woods
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Speaker 1: so dark, nor any secret place so lovely that it
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Speaker 1: might claim exemption from the inroads of those who had
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Speaker 1: pledged their blood to satiate their vengeance or uphold the
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Speaker 1: cold and selfish policy of the distant monarchs of Europe.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate
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Speaker 1: frontiers can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and
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Speaker 1: fierceness of the savage warfare of those periods. Then the
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Speaker 1: country which lies between the headwaters of the Hudson and
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Speaker 1: the adjacent lakes. The facilities which nature had there offered
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Speaker 1: to the march of the combatants were too obvious to
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Speaker 1: be neglected. The lengthened sheet of the Champlain stretched from
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Speaker 1: the frontiers of Canada within the borders of the neighbouring
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Speaker 1: province of New York, forming a natural passage across half
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Speaker 1: the distance that the French were compelled to master in
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Speaker 1: order to strike their enemies. Near its southern termination, it
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Speaker 1: received the contributions of another lake, whose waters were so
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Speaker 1: limpid as to be exclusively selected by the Jesuit missionaries
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Speaker 1: to perform the typical purification of baptism, and to obtain
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Speaker 1: for it the title of Lake du Saint Sacrament. The
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Speaker 1: less zealous English thought they conferred a sufficient honour on
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Speaker 1: its unsullied fountains when they bestowed the name of their
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Speaker 1: reigning prince the second of the House of Hanover. The
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Speaker 1: two united to rob the untutored possessors of its wooded
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Speaker 1: scenery of their native right to perpetuate its original appellation
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Speaker 1: of Horican footnote. As each nation of the Indians had
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Speaker 1: its language or its dialect, they usually gave different names
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Speaker 1: to the same places, though nearly all of their appellations
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Speaker 1: were descriptive of the object. Thus, a literal translation of
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Speaker 1: the name of this beautiful sheet of water used by
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Speaker 1: the tribe that dwelt on its banks would be the
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Speaker 1: tail of the lake. Lake George, as it is vulgarly
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Speaker 1: and now indeed legally called, forms a sort of tail
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Speaker 1: to Lake Champlain when viewed on the map, hence the
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Speaker 1: name and a footnote. Winding its way among countless islands
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Speaker 1: and embedded in mountains, the Holy Lake extended a dozen
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Speaker 1: leagues still further to the south, with the high Plain
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Speaker 1: that there interposed itself to the further passage of water
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Speaker 1: commenced a portage of as many miles, which conducted the
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Speaker 1: adventure to the banks of the Hudson, at a point
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Speaker 1: where the usual obstructions of the rapids or riffs as
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Speaker 1: they were termed in the language of the country. The
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Speaker 1: river became navigable to the tide. While in the pursuit
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Speaker 1: of their daring plans of annoyance, the restless enterprise of
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Speaker 1: the French even attempted the distant and difficult gorges of
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Speaker 1: the Allegheny. It may easily be imagined that their proverbial
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Speaker 1: acuteness would not overlook the natural advantages of the district
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Speaker 1: we have just described. It became emphatically the bloody arena
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Speaker 1: in which most of the battles for the mastery of
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Speaker 1: the colonies were contested. Forts were erected at the different
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Speaker 1: points that commanded the facilities of the route, and were
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Speaker 1: taken and retaken, raised and rebuilt as victory alighted on
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Speaker 1: the hostile batters. While the husbandmen shrank back from the
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Speaker 1: dangerous passes within the safer boundaries of the more ancient settlements.
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Speaker 1: Armies larger than those that had it often deposed of
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Speaker 1: the scepters of the mother countries were seen to bury
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Speaker 1: themselves in these forests. Whence they rarely returned, but in
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Speaker 1: skeleton bands that were haggard with care or dejected by defeat.
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Speaker 1: Though the arts of peace were unknown to this fatal region,
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Speaker 1: its forest were alive with men, Its shades and glens
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Speaker 1: rang with the sounds of martial music, and the echoes
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Speaker 1: of its mountains threw back the laugh or repeated the
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Speaker 1: wanton cry of many a gallant and reckless youth, as
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Speaker 1: he hurried by them in the noontide of his spirits
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Speaker 1: to slumber in a long night of forgetfulness. It was
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Speaker 1: in this scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents
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Speaker 1: we shall attempt to relate occurred during the third year
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Speaker 1: of the war which England and France last waged for
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Speaker 1: the possession of a country that neither was destined to retain.
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Speaker 1: The imbecility of her military life leads abroad, and the
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Speaker 1: fatal one of energy in her councils at home, had
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Speaker 1: lowered the character of Great Britain from the proud elevation
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Speaker 1: on which it had been placed by the talents and
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Speaker 1: enterprise of her former warriors and statesmen. No longer dreaded
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Speaker 1: by her enemies, her servants were fast losing the confidence
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Speaker 1: of self respect in this mortifying abasement. The colonists, the
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Speaker 1: innocent of her imbecility and too humble to be the
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Speaker 1: agents of her blunders, were but the natural participators. They
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Speaker 1: had recently seen a chosen army from that country, which,
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Speaker 1: reverencing as a mother, they had blindly believed invincible, an
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Speaker 1: army led by a chief who had been selected from
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Speaker 1: a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military endowments,
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Speaker 1: disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and
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Speaker 1: only saved from annihilation by the coolness and spirit of
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Speaker 1: a Virginia boy whose ripe or fame has since diffused
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Speaker 1: itself with the steady influence of moral truth to the
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Speaker 1: uttermost confines of Christendom. Footnote Washington, who, after uselessly admonishing
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Speaker 1: the European general of the danger into which he was
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Speaker 1: heedlessly running, saved the remnants of the British army on
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Speaker 1: this occasion by his decision and courage. The reputation earned
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Speaker 1: by Washington in this battle was the principal cause of
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Speaker 1: his being selected to command the American armies at a
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Speaker 1: later day. It is a circumstance worthy of observation that,
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Speaker 1: while all America rang with his well merited reputation, his
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Speaker 1: name does not occur in any European account of the battle.
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Speaker 1: At least the author is searched for it without success.
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Speaker 1: In this manner does the mother country absorb even the
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Speaker 1: fame under that system of rule and footnote. A wide
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Speaker 1: frontier had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster, and
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Speaker 1: more substantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and
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Speaker 1: imaginary dangers. The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of
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Speaker 1: the savages mingled with every fitful gust of wind that
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Speaker 1: issued from the interminable forest of the west, the terrific
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Speaker 1: character of their merciless enemies increased immeasurably. The natural horrors
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Speaker 1: of warfare numberless. Recent massacres were still vivid in their recollections.
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Speaker 1: Nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf
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Speaker 1: as not to have drunk in with avidity the narrative
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Speaker 1: of some fearful tale of midnight murder, in which the
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Speaker 1: natives of the forest were the principal and barbarous actors.
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Speaker 1: As the credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances
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Speaker 1: of the wilderness, the blood of the timid curdled with terror,
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Speaker 1: and mothers cast anxious glances even at those children which
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Speaker 1: slumbered within the security of the largest towns. In short,
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Speaker 1: the magnifying influence of fear began to set it not
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Speaker 1: the calculations of reason, and to render those who should
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Speaker 1: have remembered their manhood the slaves of the basest passions.
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Speaker 1: Even the most confident and stoutest hearts began to think
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Speaker 1: the issue of the contest was becoming doubtful, and that
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Speaker 1: abject class was hourly increasing in numbers, who thought they
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Speaker 1: foresaw all the possessions of the English crown in America
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Speaker 1: subdued by their Christian foes, or laid waste by the
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Speaker 1: inroads of their relentless allies. When therefore, intelligence was received
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Speaker 1: at the fort which covered the southern termination of the
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Speaker 1: portage between the Hudson and the Lakes, that Montcalm had
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Speaker 1: been seen moving up the Champlain with an army numerous
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Speaker 1: as the leaves on the trees. Its truth was admitted
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Speaker 1: with more of the craven reluctance of fear than with
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Speaker 1: the stern joy that a warrior should feel in finding
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Speaker 1: an enemy within reach of his blow. The news had
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Speaker 1: been brought toward the decline of a day in midsummer
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Speaker 1: by an Indian runner, who also bore an urgent request
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Speaker 1: from Monroe, the commander of a work on the shore
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Lake, for a speedy and powerful reinforcement.
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Speaker 1: It has already been mentioned that the distance between these
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Speaker 1: two posts was less than five leagues. The rude path
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Speaker 1: which originally formed their line of communication, had been widened
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Speaker 1: for the passage of wagons, so that the distance which
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Speaker 1: had been t traveled by the Son of the Forest
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Speaker 1: in two hours, might easily be effected by a detachment
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Speaker 1: of troops with their necessary baggage between the rising and
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Speaker 1: setting of a summer sun. The loyal servants of the
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Speaker 1: British Crown had given to one of these forest fastnesses
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Speaker 1: the name of William Henry, and to the other that
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Speaker 1: of Fort Edward, calling each after a favorite prince of
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Speaker 1: the reigning family. The veteran scotchman just named held the
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Speaker 1: first with a regiment of regulars and a few provincials,
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Speaker 1: a force really by far too small to make head
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Speaker 1: against the formidable power that Montcalm was leading to the
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Speaker 1: foot of his earthen mounds. At the latter, however, lay
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Speaker 1: General Webb, who commanded the armies of the King in
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Speaker 1: the northern provinces, with a body of more than five
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Speaker 1: thousand men. By uniting the several detachments of his command,
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Speaker 1: this officer might have arrayed nearly double that number of
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Speaker 1: combatants against the enterprising Frenchmen, who had ventured so far
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Speaker 1: from his reinforcements, with an army but little superior in number.
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Speaker 1: But under the influence of their degraded fortunes, both officers
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Speaker 1: and men appeared better disposed to weight the approach of
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Speaker 1: their formidable antagonists within their works than to resist the
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Speaker 1: progress of their march by emulating the successful example of
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Speaker 1: the French at Fort Ducaine and striking a blow on
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Speaker 1: their advance. After the first surprise of the intelligence had
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Speaker 1: a little abated, a rumour was spread through the entrenched camp,
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Speaker 1: which stretched along the margin of the Hudson, forming a
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Speaker 1: chain of outworks to the body of the fort itself,
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Speaker 1: that a chosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to
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Speaker 1: depart with the dawn for William Henry, the post at
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Speaker 1: the northern extremity of the portage. That which at first
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Speaker 1: was only a rus humour soon became certainty as orders
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Speaker 1: passed from the quarters of the commander in chief to
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Speaker 1: the several corps he had selected for his service. To
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Speaker 1: prepare for their speedy departure all doubts, as the intention
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Speaker 1: of Webb now vanished, and an hour or two of
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Speaker 1: hurried footsteps and anxious faces succeeded. The novice in the
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Speaker 1: military art flew from point to point, retarding his own
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Speaker 1: preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal,
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Speaker 1: while the more practiced veteran made his arrangements with the
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Speaker 1: deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste, though his sober
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Speaker 1: lineaments and anxious eye sufficiently betrayed that he had no
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Speaker 1: very strong professional relish for the yet untried and dreaded
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Speaker 1: warfare of the wilderness. At length, the sun set in
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Speaker 1: a flood of glory behind the distant western hills, and
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Speaker 1: as darkness drew its veil around the secluded spot, the
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Speaker 1: sounds of preparation diminished. The last light finally disappeared from
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Speaker 1: the log cabin of some officer. The trees cast their
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Speaker 1: deeper shadows over the mounds and the rippling stream, and
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Speaker 1: a silence soon pervaded the camp, as deep as that
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Speaker 1: which rained in the vast forest by which it was environed.
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Speaker 1: According to the orders of the preceding night. The heavy
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Speaker 1: sleep of the army was broken by the rolling of
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Speaker 1: the warning drums, whose rattling echoes were heard issuing on
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Speaker 1: the damp morning air out of every vista of the woods,
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Speaker 1: just as day began to draw the shaggy outlines of
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Speaker 1: some tall pines of the vicinity on the opening brightness
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Speaker 1: of a soft and cloudless eastern sky. In an instant,
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Speaker 1: the whole camp was in motion, the meanest soldier rising
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Speaker 1: from his lair to witness the departure of his comrades
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Speaker 1: and to share the excitement and incidents of the hour.
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Speaker 1: The simple array of the chosen band was soon completed.
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Speaker 1: While the regular and trained hirelings of the king marched
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Speaker 1: with haughtiness to the right of the line, the less
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Speaker 1: pretending colonists took their humbler position on its left, with
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Speaker 1: the docility that long practice had rendered easy. The scouts departed.
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Speaker 1: Strong guards preceded and followed the lumbering vehicles that bore
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Speaker 1: the baggage, and before the great light of morning was
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Speaker 1: mellowed by the rays of the sun, the main body
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Speaker 1: of the combatants wheeled into column and left the encampment
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Speaker 1: with a show of high military bearing that served to
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Speaker 1: drown the slumbering apprehensions of many of Novice, who was
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Speaker 1: now about to make his first essay in arms, while
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Speaker 1: in view of their admiring comrades the same proud front,
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Speaker 1: an ordered array was observed until the notes of their
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Speaker 1: fifes growing fainter in distance, the forest at length appeared
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Speaker 1: to swallow up the living mass which had slowly entered
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Speaker 1: its bosom. The deepest sounds of the retiring and invisible
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Speaker 1: column had ceased to be borne in the breeze of
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Speaker 1: the listeners, and the latest straggler had already disappeared in pursuit.
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Speaker 1: But there still remained the signs of another departure before
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Speaker 1: a log cabin of unusual size and accommodations, in front
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Speaker 1: of which those sentinels placed their rounds who were known
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Speaker 1: to guard the person of the English General. At this
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Speaker 1: spot were gathered some half dozen horses, comparisoned in a
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Speaker 1: manner which showed that two at least were destined to
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Speaker 1: bear the persons of females of a rank that was
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Speaker 1: not usual to meet so far in the wilds of
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Speaker 1: the country. A third were trapping in arms of an
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Speaker 1: officer of the staff, while the rest from the plainness
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Speaker 1: of the housing and the traveling males with which they
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Speaker 1: were encumbered were evidently fitted for the reception of his
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Speaker 1: many menials, who were seemingly already waiting the pleasure of
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Speaker 1: those they served. At a respectful distance from this unusual
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Speaker 1: show were gathered diverse groups of curious idlers, some admiring
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Speaker 1: the blood and bone of the high metaled military charger,
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Speaker 1: and others gazing at the preparations with a dull wonder
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Speaker 1: of vulgar curiosity. There was one man, however, who, by
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Speaker 1: his countenance and actions, formed a marked exception to those
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Speaker 1: who composed the latter class of spectators, Being neither idle
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Speaker 1: nor seemingly very ignorant, The person of this individual was
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Speaker 1: to the last degree ungainly, without being in any particular
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Speaker 1: manner deformed. He had all the bones and joints of
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Speaker 1: other men, without any of their proportions erect. His stature
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Speaker 1: s are passed that of his fellows. Though seated, he
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Speaker 1: appeared reduced within the ordinary limits of the race. The
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Speaker 1: same contrarity of his members seemed to exist throughout the
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Speaker 1: whole man. His head was large, his shoulders narrow, his
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Speaker 1: arms long and dangling, While his hands were small, if
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Speaker 1: not delicate, his legs and thighs were thin, nearly to emaciation,
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Speaker 1: but of extraordinary length, and his knees would have been
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Speaker 1: considered tremendous had they not been outdone by the broader
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Speaker 1: foundation on which this false superstructure of blended human orders
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Speaker 1: was so profanely reared. The ill assorted and injudicious attire
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Speaker 1: of the individual only served to render his awkwardness more conspicuous.
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Speaker 1: A sky blue coat with short and broad skirts and
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Speaker 1: a low cape exposed a long, thin neck and longer
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Speaker 1: in thinner legs to the worst anima versions of the
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Speaker 1: evil disposed. His nether garment was a yellow nankeen, closely
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Speaker 1: fitted to the shape, and tied at his bunches of
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Speaker 1: knees by large knots of white ribbon, A good deal
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Speaker 1: sullied by use clouded cotton stockings and shoes on one
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Speaker 1: of the latter of which was a plaited spur, completed
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Speaker 1: the costume of the lower extremity of this figure, no
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Speaker 1: curve or angle of which was concealed, but on the
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Speaker 1: other hand, studiously exhibited through the vanity or simplicity of
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Speaker 1: its owner. From Beneath the flap of an enormous pocket
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Speaker 1: of a soiled vest of embossed silk, heavily ornamented with
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Speaker 1: tarnished silver lace, projected an instrument which, from being seen
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Speaker 1: in such martial company, might have been easily mistaken for
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Speaker 1: some mischievous and unknown implement of war. Small as it was,
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Speaker 1: this uncommon engine had excited the curiosity of most of
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Speaker 1: the Europeans in the camp, though several of the provincials
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Speaker 1: were seen to handle it not only without fear, but
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Speaker 1: with the utmost familiarity. A large civil cocked hat, like
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Speaker 1: those worn by clergymen within the last thirty years, surmounted
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Speaker 1: the whole, furnishing dignity to a good natured and somewhat
20:11
Speaker 1: vacant countenance that apparently needed such artificial aid to support
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Speaker 1: the gravity of some high and extraordinary trust. While the
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Speaker 1: common herd stood aloof in deference to the quarters of Webb,
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Speaker 1: the figure we described stalked into the center of the domestics,
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Speaker 1: freely expressing his censures and commendations on the merits of
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Speaker 1: the horses, as by chance they displeased or satisfied his judgment.
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Speaker 1: This beast, I rather conclude friend, is not of home, raising,
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Speaker 1: buts from foreign lands, or perhaps from the little island
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Speaker 1: itself over the blue water, he said, in a voice
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Speaker 1: as remarkable for the softness and sweetness of its tones
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Speaker 1: as was his person, for its rare proportions. I may
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Speaker 1: speak of these things and be no braggart, For I
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Speaker 1: have been down at both havens, that which is situate
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Speaker 1: at the mouth of Thames, and is named after the
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Speaker 1: capital of Old England, and that which is called Haven
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Speaker 1: with the addition of the word new, and have seen
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Speaker 1: the scowls and bricotines collecting their droves like the gathering
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Speaker 1: to the ark being outward bound to the island of
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Speaker 1: Jamaica for the purpose of barter and traffic in four
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Speaker 1: footed animals. But never before have I beheld a beast
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Speaker 1: which verified the true scripture. War horse like this, he
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Speaker 1: pathe in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength. He
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Speaker 1: goeth on to meet the armed men. He saith among
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Speaker 1: the trumpets, ha ha, and he smelleth the battle afar off,
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Speaker 1: the thunder of the captains and the shouting. It would
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Speaker 1: seem that the stock of the horse of Israel had
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Speaker 1: to descended to our time, would it not friend. Receiving
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Speaker 1: no reply to this extraordinary appeal, which, in truth, as
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Speaker 1: it was delivered with the vigor of full and sonorous tones,
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Speaker 1: merited some sort of notice. He who had thus sung
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Speaker 1: forth the language of the Holy Book, turned to the
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Speaker 1: silent figure to whom he had unwittingly addressed himself, and
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Speaker 1: found a new and more powerful subject of admiration in
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Speaker 1: the object that encountered his gaze. His eyes fell on
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Speaker 1: the still upright and rigid form of the Indian runner
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Speaker 1: who had borne to the camp the unwelcome tidings of
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Speaker 1: the preceding evening, Although in a state of perfect repose
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Speaker 1: and apparently disregarding with characteristic stoicism the excitement and bustle
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Speaker 1: around him, there was a sullen fierceness mingled with the
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Speaker 1: quiet of the savage, that was likely to arrest the
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Speaker 1: attention of much more experienced eyes than those which now
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Speaker 1: scanned him in unconcealed amazement. The native Borboa the tomahawk
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Speaker 1: and knife of his tribe, And yet his appearance was
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Speaker 1: not altogether that of a warrior. On the contrary, there
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Speaker 1: was an air of neglect about this person, like that
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Speaker 1: which might have proceeded from great and recent exertion, which
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Speaker 1: he had not yet found leisure to repair. The colors
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Speaker 1: of the war pain had blended in dark confusion about
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Speaker 1: his fierce countenance, and rendered his swarthy lineaments still more
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Speaker 1: savage and repulsive than if Art had attempted an effect
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Speaker 1: which had been thus produced by chance. His eye alone,
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Speaker 1: which glistened like a fiery starmid lowering clouds, was to
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Speaker 1: be seen in its state of native wildness. For a
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Speaker 1: single instant, his searching.
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Speaker 2: And yet wary glance met the wondering look of the other,
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Speaker 2: and then changing its direction, partly in cunning and partly
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Speaker 2: in disdain, it remained fixed, as if penetrating the distant air.
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Speaker 1: It is impossible to say what unlooked for remark this
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Speaker 1: short and silent communication between two such singular men might
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Speaker 1: have elicited from the white Man, had not his active
24:06
Speaker 1: curiosity been again drawn to other objects. A general movement
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Speaker 1: among the domestics, and a low sound of gentle voices
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Speaker 1: announced the approach of those whose presence alone was wanted
24:20
Speaker 1: to enable the cavalcade to move. The simple admirer of
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Speaker 1: the war horse instantly fell back to a low, gaunt,
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Speaker 1: switch tailed mare, which was unconsciously gleaning the faded herbage
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Speaker 1: of the camp nigh by, where, leaning with one elbow
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Speaker 1: on the blanket that concealed an apology for a saddle,
24:42
Speaker 1: he became a spectator of the departure. While a foal
24:46
Speaker 1: was quietly making its morning repast. On the opposite side
24:50
Speaker 1: of the same animal, a young man in the dress
24:53
Speaker 1: of an officer conducted to their steeds. Two females, who,
24:58
Speaker 1: as it was apparent by their dresses, were prepared to
25:01
Speaker 1: encounter the fatigues of a journey in the woods. One
25:06
Speaker 1: and she was the more juvenile in her appearance, though
25:09
Speaker 1: both were young, permitted glimpses of her dazzling complexion, fair
25:14
Speaker 1: golden hair, and bright blue eyes to be caught as
25:18
Speaker 1: she artlessly suffered the morning air to blow aside the
25:22
Speaker 1: green veil which descended low from her beaver. The flush,
25:26
Speaker 1: which still lingered above the pines of the western sky,
25:29
Speaker 1: was not more bright nor delicate than the bloom of
25:32
Speaker 1: her cheek, nor was the opening day more cheering than
25:36
Speaker 1: the animated smile which she bestowed on the youth as
25:39
Speaker 1: he assisted her into the saddle. The other, who appeared
25:44
Speaker 1: to share equally in the attention of the young officer,
25:47
Speaker 1: concealed her charms from the gaze of the soldiery with
25:51
Speaker 1: a care that seemed better fitted to the experience of
25:54
Speaker 1: four or five additional years. It could be seen, however,
25:58
Speaker 1: that her person, though molded with the same exquisite proportions,
26:03
Speaker 1: of which none of the graces were lost by the
26:05
Speaker 1: traveling dress she wore, was rather fuller and more mature
26:10
Speaker 1: than that of her companion. No sooner were these females
26:13
Speaker 1: seated than their attendants sprang lightly into the saddle of
26:16
Speaker 1: the war horse. When the whole three bowed to Webb,
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Speaker 1: who in courtesy, awaited their parting on the threshold of
26:23
Speaker 1: his cabin, and turning their horses heads, they proceeded at
26:29
Speaker 1: a slow amble, followed by their train, toward the northern
26:32
Speaker 1: entrance of the encampment. As they traversed that short distance,
26:37
Speaker 1: not a voice was heard among them, but a slight
26:40
Speaker 1: exclamation proceeded from the younger of the females as the
26:44
Speaker 1: Indian runner glided by her unexpectedly and led the way
26:47
Speaker 1: along the military road in her front. Though this sudden
26:51
Speaker 1: and startling movement of the Indian produced no sound from
26:54
Speaker 1: the other in the surprise, Her veil also was allowed
26:58
Speaker 1: to open its folds and betrayed an indescribable look of pity, admiration,
27:04
Speaker 1: and horror as her dark eye followed the easy motions
27:08
Speaker 1: of the savage. The tresses of this lady were shining
27:12
Speaker 1: and black, like the plumage of a raven. Her complexion
27:16
Speaker 1: was not brown, but it rather appeared charged with the
27:20
Speaker 1: color of the rich blood that seemed ready to burst
27:23
Speaker 1: its bounds. And yet there was neither coarseness nor one
27:27
Speaker 1: of shadowing, in a countenance that was exquisitely regular and
27:32
Speaker 1: dignified and surpassingly beautiful. She smiled, as if in pity
27:38
Speaker 1: at her own momentary forgetfulness, discovering by the act a
27:42
Speaker 1: row of teeth that would have shamed the purest ivory.
27:46
Speaker 1: When replacing the veil, she bowed her face and rode
27:50
Speaker 1: in silence, like one whose thoughts were abstracted from the
27:54
Speaker 1: scene around her. End of chapter one,