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

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