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18 - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper · Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter eighteen. Quote why anything an honorable murderer, if you will for naught
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I did in hate, but all in honor unquote from Othello. The bloody
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and inhuman scene, rather incidentally mentioned than described in the preceding chapter, is
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conspicuous in the pages of colonial history by the merited title of the massacre of
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William Henry. It so far deepened the stain which a previous and very similar
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event had left upon the reputation of the French commander, that it was not
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entirely erased by his early and glorious death. It is now becoming obscured by
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time, and thousands who know that Mount Calm died like a hero in the
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Plains of Abraham, have yet to learn how much he was deficient in that
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moral courage without which no man can be truly great. Pages might yet be
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written to prove from his illustrious example the defects of human excellence, to show
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how easy it is for generous sentiments, high courtesy, and chivalrous courage to
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lose their influence beneath the chilling blight of selfishness, and to exhibit to the
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world a man who was great in all the minor attributes of character, but
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who was found wanting when it became necessary to prove how much principle is superior
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to policy, But the task would exceed our prerogatives. And as history,
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like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary
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brightness, it is probable that Louis de Saint Veran will be viewed by posterity
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only as the gallant defender of his country, while his cruel apathy on the
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shores of the Oswego and of the Horican will be forgotten. Deeply, regretting
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this weakness on the part of a sister Muse, we shall at once retire
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from her sacred precincts, within the proper limits of our own humble vocation.
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The third day from the capture of the fort was drawing to a close,
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but the busyness of the narrative must still detain the reader. On the shores
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of the Holy Lake, when last seen the environs of the works were filled
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with violence and uproar, they were now possessed by stillness and death. The
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bloodstained conquerors had departed, and their camp, which had so lately rung with
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the merry rejoicings of a victorious army lay a silent and deserted city of huts.
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The fortress was a smoldering ruin, charred rafters, fragments of exploded artillery,
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and rent mason work covering its earthen mounds in confused disorder. A frightful
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change had also occurred in the season. The sun had hid its warmth behind
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an impenetrable mass of vapor, and hundreds of human forms, which had blackened
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beneath the fierce heats of August, were stiffening in their deformity before the blast
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of a premature November. The curling and spotless mist which had been sailing above
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the hills toward the north, were now returning to an interminable dusky sheet,
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which was urged along by the fury of a tempest. The crowded mirror of
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the Horican was gone, and in its place, the green and angry waters
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lashed the shores, as if indignantly casting back its impurities to the polluted strand.
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Still, the clear Fountain retained a portion of its charmed influence, but
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it reflected only the somber gloom that fell from the impending heavens that humid and
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congenial atmosphere which commonly adorned the view, veiling its harshness and softening its asperities,
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had disappeared. The northern air poured across the waste of water, so
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harsh and unmingled that nothing was left to be conjectured by the eye. The
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fiercer element had cropped the vender of the plain, which looked as though it
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were scathed by consuming lightning. But here and there a dark green, tough
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rose in the midst of the desolation, the earliest fruits of a soil that
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had been fattened with human blood. The whole landscape, which seen by a
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favoring light and in a genial temperature, had been so lovely, appeared now
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like some pictured allegory of life, in which objects were arrayed in their harshest
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but truest colors, and without the relief of any shadowing. The solitary and
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arid blades of grass arose from the passing gust, fearfully perceptible. The bold
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and rocky mountains were too distinct in their barrenness, and the eye even sought
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relief in by attempting to pierce the illimitable void of heaven. Which was shut
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to its gaze by the dusky sheet of ragged and driving vapor. The wind
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blew unequally, sometimes sweeping heavily along the ground, seeming to whisper its moanings
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in the coldiers of the dead. Then rising in a shrill and mournful whistling,
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it entered the forest with a rush that filled the air with the leaves
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and branches it scattered in its path. Amid the unnatural shower. A few
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hungry ravens struggled with the gale, but no sooner was the green ocean of
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woods which stretched beneath them passed, than they gladly stopped at random to their
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hideous bank. In short, it was a scene of wildness and desolation,
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and it appeared as if all who had profanely entered it had been stricken at
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a blow by the relentless arm of death. But the prohibition had ceased,
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and for the first time since the perpetrators of those foul deeds which had assisted
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to disfigure the scene were gone. Living human beings had now presumed to approach
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the place. About an hour before the setting of the sun on the day
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already mentioned, the forms of five men might have been seen issuing from the
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narrow vista of trees where the path through the Hudson entered the forest, and
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advancing in the direction of the ruined works. At first, their progress was
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slow and guarded, as though they entered with reluctance amid the horrors of the
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post or dreaded the renewal of its frightful incidents. A light figure preceded the
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rest of the party with the caution and activity of a native, ascending every
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hillock to reconnoiter, and indicating by gestures to his companions the route he deemed
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it most prudent to pursue. Nor were those in the rear, wanting in
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every caution and foresight known to forest warfare. One among them, he also
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was an Indian, moved a little on one flank, and watched the margin
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of the woods with eyes long accustomed to read the smallest sign of danger.
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The remaining three were white, though clad investments, adapted both in quality and
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color to their present hazardous pursuit, that of hanging on the skirts of a
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retiring army in the wilderness. The effects produced by the appalling sights that constantly
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arose in their path to the lake shore were as different as the characters of
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the respective individuals who composed the party. The youth in front through serious but
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furtive glances at the mangled victims as he stepped lightly across the plain, afraid
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to exhibit his feelings, and yet too inexperienced to quell entirely their sudden and
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powerful influence. His red associate, however, was perior to such a weakness.
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He passed the groups of dead with a steadiness of purpose and an eye
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so calm that nothing but long and invertate practice could enable him to maintain The
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sensations produced in the minds of even the white men were different, though uniformly
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sorrowful, one whose gray locks and frowed lineaments blending with a martial air,
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and tread betrayed in spite of the disguise of a woodsman's dress. A man
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long experienced in scenes of war was not ashamed to groan aloud whenever a spectacle
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of more than usual horror came under his view. The young man at his
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elbow shuddered, but seemed to suppress his feelings in tenderness to his companion.
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Of them all, the straggler who brought up the rear appeared alone to betray
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his real thoughts, without fear of observation or dread of consequences. He gazed
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on the most appalling sight, with eyes and muscles that knew not how to
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waver, but with execrations so bitter and deep as to denote how much he
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denounced the crime of his enemies. The reader will perceive at once in these
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respective characters, the Mohicans and their white friend the Scout, together with Munroe
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and Heyward, it was in truth the father in quest of his children,
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attended by the youth who felt so deep a stake in their happiness, and
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those brave and trusty foresters who had already proved their skill and fidelity through the
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trying scenes related. When Uncas, who moved in front, had reached the
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center of the plain, he raised a cry that drew his companions in a
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body to the spot the young warrior had halted over a group of females who
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lay in a cluster, a confused mass of dead. Notwithstanding the revolting horror
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of the exhibition, Monroe and Heyward flew toward the festering heap, endeavoring with
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a love that no uneasiness could extinguish to discover whether any vestiges of those they
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sought were to be seen among the tattered and many colored garments. The father
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and the lover found instant relief in the search, though each was condemned again
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to experience the misery of an uncertainty that was hardly less insupportable than the most
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revolting truth. They were standing silent and thoughtful around the melancholy pile when the
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scout approached, eyeing the sad spectacle with an angry countenance, the sturdy woodsman,
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for the first time since his entering the plane, spoke intelligibly and aloud.
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I have been on many a shocking field, and have followed a trail
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of blood for weary miles, he said, But never have I found the
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head of the devil so plain as it is here to be seen revenges an
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Indian feeling. And all who know me know that there is no cross in
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my veins. But this much will I say here, in the face of
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Heaven, and with the power of the Lord so manifest in this howling wilderness,
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that should these frenchers ever trust themselves again with within the rage of a
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ragged bullet, there is one rifle, which shall play its part, so
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long as flint will fire or powder burn. I leave the tomahawk and knife
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to such as have a natural gift to use them. What say you,
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chinge gotchkoky added in Delaware, shall the Hurons boast of this to their women
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when the deep snows come. A gleam of resentment flashed across the dark lineaments
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of the Mohican chief. He loosened his knife in his sheath, and then,
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turning calmly from the sight, his countenance settled into a repose as deep
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as if he knew the instigation of passion. Mont Calm. Mont Calm continued
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the deeply resentful and less self restrained scout. They say a time must come
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when all the deeds done in the flesh will be seen at a single look,
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and that by eyes cleared from mortal infirmities. Woe betide the wretch who
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is born to behold this plain with a judgment hanging about his soul. Has
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I am a man of white blood, yonder lies a red skin without the
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hair of his head where nature rooted it. Look to him, delaware,
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it may be one of your missing people, and he should have burial like
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a stout warrior. I see it in your eye, sagamore a huron pays
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for this. Afore the fall winds have blown away the scent of the blood
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Chinegotchkook approached the mutilated form, and turning it over, he found the distinguishing
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marks of one of those six Allied tribes or nations as they were called,
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who, while they fought in the English ranks, were so deadly hostile to
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his own people. Spurning the loathsome object with his foot, he turned from
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it with the same difference he would have quitted a brute carcass. The scout
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comprehended the action, and very deliberately pursued his own way, continuing, however,
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his denunciations against the French commander in the same resentful strain. Nothing but
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vast wisdom and unlimited power should dare to sweep off men in multitudes, he
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added, For it is only the one that can know the necessity of the
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judgment. And what is there short of the other, that can replace the
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creatures of the lord. I hold it a sin to kill the second buck
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before the first is eaten, unless a march in front or an ambushment be
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contemplated. It is a different matter for a few warriors in open and rugged
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fight. For tis their gift to die with the rifle or the tomahawk in
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hand, according as their natures may happen to be red or white. Uncas,
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come this way, lad, and let the ravens settle upon the mingo.
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I know from often seeing it that they are craving for the flesh of
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anoneida. And it is well to let the bird follow the gift of its
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natural appetite. Huh, exclaimed the young Mohican, rising on the extremities of
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his feet and gazing intently in his front, frightening the ravens to some other
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prey by the sound of the action. What is it, boy, whispered
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the scout, lowering his tall form into a crouching attitude, like a panther
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about to take his leap. God send it be a tardy french er sulking
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for plunder. I do believe kildeer would have uncommon range today. Uncas,
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without making any reply, bounded away from the spot, and in the next
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instant he was seen tearing from a boy bush and waving in triumph a fragment
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from the green riding veil of Cora. The movement, the exhibition, and
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the cry, which again burst from the lips of the young Mohican, instantly
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drew the whole party about him. My child, said Monroe, speaking quickly
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and wildly, Give me my child. Uncas we'll try, was the short
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and touching answer. The simple but meaning assurance was lost on the father,
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who seized the piece of gauze and crushed it in his hand, while his
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eyes roamed fearfully among the bushes, as if he equally dreaded and hoped for
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the secrets they might reveal. Here are no dead, said Heyward. The
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storm seems not to have passed this way. That's manifest and clearer than the
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heavens above our heads, returned the undisturbed scout. But either she or they
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that have robbed her have passed the bush. For I remembered the rags she
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wore to hide, a face that all did love to look upon. Uncas,
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you are right the wood, None who could fly would remain to be
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murdered. Let us search for the marks she left. For to Indian eyes,
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I sometimes think a humming bird leaves his trail in the air. The
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young Mohican darted away at the suggestion, and the scout had hardly done speaking
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before the former raised a cry of success from the margin in the forest.
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On reaching the spot, the anxious party perceived another portion of the veil fluttering
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on the lower branch of a beach. Softly, softly, said the scout,
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extending his long rifle in front of the eager heyward, we know now
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our work, but the beauty of the trail must not be deformed. A
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step too soon may give us hours of trouble. We have them, though
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that much is beyond denial. Bless ye, bless ye, worthy man,
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exclaimed Monroe. Whither then have they fled? And where are my babes?
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The path they have taken depends on many chances. If they have gone alone,
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they are quite as likely to move in a circle as straight, and
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they may be within a dozen miles of us. But if the Hurons or
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any of the French Indians have laid hands on them, tis probably they are
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now near the borders of the Canadas. But what matters that, continued the
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deliberate scout, observing the powerful anxiety and disappointment the listeners exhibited. Here are
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the Mohicans and I on one end of the trail, and rely on it
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we find the other, though they should be a hundred leagues asunder gently,
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Gently, Uncas, you are as impatient as a man in the settlements.
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You forget that light feet leave but faint marks. Huh, exclaimed Chindrochkok,
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who had been occupied in examining an opening that had been evidently made through the
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low underbugs which skirted the forest, and who now stood erect as he pointed
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downward in the attitude with an air of a man who beheld a disgusting serpent.
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Here is the palpable impression of the footstep of a man, cried heyward,
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bending over the indicated spot. He is trod in the margin of this
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pool, and the mark cannot be mistaken. They are captives, better so
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than left to starve in the wilderness, returned the scout, and they will
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leave a wider trail. I would wager fifty beaver skins against as many flints
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that the Mohicans and I enter their wigwams within the month. Stoop to it,
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Uncas, and try what you can make of the moccasin. For moccasin
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it plainly is, and no shoe. The young Mohican bent over the track,
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and removing the scattered leaves from around the place. He examined it with
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much of that sort of scrutiny that any dealer in these days of pecuniary doubts
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would bestow on unsuspected do bill. At length he arose from his knees.
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Satisfied with the result of the examination, well Boy demanded the attentive scout,
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What does it say? Can you make anything of the tail tale layer or
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not? In some til ha, that rampaging devil again, There will never
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be an end of his loping till kildeer has said a friendly word to him.
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Hayward reluctantly admitted the truth of this intelligence, and now expressed rather his
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hopes than his doubts. By saying one moccasin is so much like another,
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it is probable there is some mistake one moccasin like another. You may as
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well say that one foot is like another. Though we all know that some
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are long and other short, some broad and others narrowed, some with high
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and some with low end steps, some in toad and some out. One
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moccasin is no more like another than one book is like another, though they
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who can read in one are seldom able to tell the marks of the other,
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which is all ordered for the best, giving to every man his natural
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advantages. Let me go down to it, uncas neither book nor moccasin is
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the worse for having two opinions instead of one. The scout stooped to the
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task and instantly added, you're right, boy, here's the patch we saw
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so often in the other chase. And the fellow will drink when he can
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get an opportunity. Your drinking Indian always learns to walk with a wider toe
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than the natural savage, it being the gift of a drunker to straddle,
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whether of white or red skin.'tis just the length and bread too.
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Look at it, sagamore. You measured the prince more than once when we
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hunted the varmints from the glens to the health springs. Chinecotchkook complied, and
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after finishing his shor examination, he arose, and with a quiet demainer,
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he merely pronounced the word maqua, I tis a settled thing. Here then
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have passed the dark hair and maqua, and not Alice demanded heyward of her.
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We have not yet seen the signs, returned the scout, looking closely
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around the trees, the bushes, and the ground. What have we there,
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Uncas, Bring hither the thing you see dangling from yonder thorn bush.
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When the Indian had complied, the scout received the prize, and holding it
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on high, he laughed in his silent but heartfelt manner. Tis the tooting
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weapon of this singer. Now we shall have a trail a priest might travel,
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He said, Uncas, look for the marks of a shoe that is
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long enough to uphold six feet two of tottering human flesh. I begin to
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have some hopes of the fellow, since he has given up squalling to follow
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some trade. At least he has been faithful to his trust, said Heyward.
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And Cora and Alice are not without a friend. Yes, said Hawkeye,
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dropping his rifle and leaning on it with an air of visible contempt.
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He will do their singing. Can he slay a bock for their dinner journey
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by the moss on the beaches? Or cut the throat of a huron?
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If not, the first catbird he meets is the cleverer of the two footnote
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The powers of the American mocking bird are generally known, but the true mocking
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bird is not found so far north as the state of New York, where
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it has, however, two substitutes of inferior excellence, the catbird, so
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often named by the scout, and the bird vulgarly called ground thresher. Either
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these last two birds is superior to the nightingale or the lark, though in
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general the American birds are less musical than those of Europe. And footnote,
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well, boy, any signs of such a foundation? Here is something like
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the footstep of one who has worn a shoe? Can that be our friend?
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Touch the leaves lightly, or you'll disconcert the formation. That that is
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the print of a foot? But tis the dark hairs and small it is
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too for one of such a noble height and grand appearance. The singer would
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cover it with his heel. Where let me look on the footsteps of my
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child, said Monroe, shoving the bushes aside and bending fondly over the nearly
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obliterated impression. Though the tread which had left the mark had been light and
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rapid, it was still plainly visible. The aged soldier examined it with eyes
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that grew dim as he gazed. Nor did he rise from his stooping posture
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till Heyward saw that he had watered the trace of his daughter's passage with a
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scalding tear. Willing to divert a distress which threatened each moment to break through
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the restrain of appearances by giving the veterans something to do, the young man
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said to the scout, as we now possess these infallible signs, let us
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commence our march. A moment at such a time will appear in age to
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the captives. It is not the swiftest leaping deer that gives the longest chase,
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returned Hawkeye, without moving his eye from the different marks that had come
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under his view. We know that the rampaging huron has passed, and the
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dark hair and the singer. But where is she of the yellow locks and
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blue eyes? They're little, and far from being as bold as her sister.
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She is fair to the view and pleasant in discourse. Has she no
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friend that none cared for her? God forbid she should ever want? Hundreds?
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Are we not now in their pursuit? For one, I will never
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cease the search till she be found. In that case, we may have
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to journey by different paths, For here she has not passed. Light and
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little as her footsteps would be. Heyward drew back all his ardor to proceed,
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seeming to vanish on the instant. Without attending to this sudden change in
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the other's humor, the scout, after musing a moment, continued, there
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is no woman in this wilderness could leave such a print as that, but
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the dark hair or her sister. We know that the first has been here,
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but where are the signs of the other. Let us push deeper on
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the trail, and if nothing offers, we must go back to the plain
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and strike another scent. Move on, Uncas, and keep your eyes on
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the dried leaves. I will watch the bushes, while your father shall run
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with a low nose to the ground. Move on, friends, the sun
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is getting behind the hills. Is there nothing that I can do? Demanded
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the anxious Heyward. You, repeated the scout, who with his red friends
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was already advancing in the order he had prescribed. Yes, you can keep
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in our rear and be careful not to cross the trail. Before they had
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proceeded many rods, the Indians stopped and appeared to gaze at some signs on
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the earth with more than their usual keenness. Both father and son spoke quick
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and loud, now looking at the object of their mutual admiration, and now
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regarding each other with the most unequivocable pleasure. They have found the little foot,
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exclaimed the scout, moving forward, without attending further to his own portion
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of the duty. What have we here? An ambush has been planted in
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the spot. No, by the truest rifle of the frontiers. Here have
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been them one sided horses again. Now the whole secret is out, and
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all as plain as the north star at midnight. Yes, here they have
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mounted. There the beast have been bound to a sapling in waiting, and
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yonder runs the broad path away to the north, in full sweep for the
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cannadas. But still there are no signs of Elis of the younger miss Rowe,
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said Duncan. Unless the shining boble of Uncas has just lifted from the
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ground, should prove one pass it this way, lad, that we may
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look at it. Heyward instantly knew it for a trinket that Alice was fond
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of wearing, and which he recollected with a tenacious memory of a lover,
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to have seen on the fatal morning of the massacre. Dangling from the fair
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neck of his mistress, he seized the highly prized jewel, and, as
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he proclaimed the fact, it vanished from the eyes of the wandering scout,
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who in vain looked for it on the ground long after it was warmly pressed
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against the beating heart of Duncan. Shaw, said the disappointed hawkeye, ceasing
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to breake the leaves with the breach of his rifle.'tis a sign of
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age when the sight begins to weaken, such a glittering gigaw and not to
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be seen. Well, well, I can squint along a clouded barrel yet,
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and that is enough to settle all disputes between me and the mingoes.
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I should like to find the thing too, if it were only to carry
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it to the right owner, and that would be bringing the two ends of
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what I call a long trail together. For by this time the broad Saint
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Lawrence, or perhaps the great lakes themselves are between us. So much the
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more reason why we should not delay our march. Returned, Heyward, let
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us proceed. Young blood and hot blood, they say, are much the
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same thing. We are not about to start on a squirrel hunt, or
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to drive a deer into the Horican, but to outlie for days and nights,
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and to stretch across a wilderness where the feet of men seldom go,
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and where no bookish knowledge would carry you through harmless. And India never starts
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on such an exhibition without smoking over his council far. And though a man
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of white blood, I honor their customs in this particular, seeing that they
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are deliberate and wise. We will therefore go back and light our fire tonight
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in the ruins of the old fort, and in the morning we shall be
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fresh and ready to undertake our work like men, and not like babbling women
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or eager boys. Heyward saw by the manner of the scalp that altercation would
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be useless. Monroe had again sunk into that sort of apathy which had beset
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him since his late overwhelming misfortunes, and from which he was apparently to be
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roused only by some new and powerful excitement. Making a merit of necessity,
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the young man took the veteran by the arm and followed in the footsteps of
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the Indians and the Scout, who had already begun to retrace the path which
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conducted them to the plain. End of Chapter eighteen,