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

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Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen. Quote why anything an honorable murderer, if you
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Speaker 1: will for naught I did in hate, but all in
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Speaker 1: honor unquote from Othello. The bloody and inhuman scene, rather
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Speaker 1: incidentally mentioned than described in the preceding chapter, is conspicuous
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Speaker 1: in the pages of colonial history by the merited title
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Speaker 1: of the massacre of William Henry. It so far deepened
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Speaker 1: the stain which a previous and very similar event had
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Speaker 1: left upon the reputation of the French commander, that it
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Speaker 1: was not entirely erased by his early and glorious death.
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Speaker 1: It is now becoming obscured by time, and thousands who
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Speaker 1: know that Mount Calm died like a hero in the
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Speaker 1: Plains of Abraham, have yet to learn how much he
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Speaker 1: was deficient in that moral courage without which no man
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Speaker 1: can be truly great. Pages might yet be written to
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Speaker 1: prove from his illustrious example the defects of human excellence,
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Speaker 1: to show how easy it is for generous sentiments, high courtesy,
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Speaker 1: and chivalrous courage to lose their influence beneath the chilling
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Speaker 1: blight of selfishness, and to exhibit to the world a
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Speaker 1: man who was great in all the minor attributes of character,
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Speaker 1: but who was found wanting when it became necessary to
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Speaker 1: prove how much principle is superior to policy, But the
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Speaker 1: task would exceed our prerogatives. And as history, like love,
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Speaker 1: is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere
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Speaker 1: of imaginary brightness, it is probable that Louis de Saint
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Speaker 1: Veran will be viewed by posterity only as the gallant
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Speaker 1: defender of his country, while his cruel apathy on the
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Speaker 1: shores of the Oswego and of the Horican will be forgotten. Deeply,
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Speaker 1: regretting this weakness on the part of a sister Muse,
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Speaker 1: we shall at once retire from her sacred precincts, within
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Speaker 1: the proper limits of our own humble vocation. The third
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Speaker 1: day from the capture of the fort was drawing to
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Speaker 1: a close, but the busyness of the narrative must still
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Speaker 1: detain the reader. On the shores of the Holy Lake,
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Speaker 1: when last seen the environs of the works were filled
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Speaker 1: with violence and uproar, they were now possessed by stillness
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Speaker 1: and death. The bloodstained conquerors had departed, and their camp,
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Speaker 1: which had so lately rung with the merry rejoicings of
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Speaker 1: a victorious army lay a silent and deserted city of huts.
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Speaker 1: The fortress was a smoldering ruin, charred rafters, fragments of
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Speaker 1: exploded artillery, and rent mason work covering its earthen mounds
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Speaker 1: in confused disorder. A frightful change had also occurred in
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Speaker 1: the season. The sun had hid its warmth behind an
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Speaker 1: impenetrable mass of vapor, and hundreds of human forms, which
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Speaker 1: had blackened beneath the fierce heats of August, were stiffening
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Speaker 1: in their deformity before the blast of a premature November.
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Speaker 1: The curling and spotless mist which had been sailing above
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Speaker 1: the hills toward the north, were now returning to an
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Speaker 1: interminable dusky sheet, which was urged along by the fury
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Speaker 1: of a tempest. The crowded mirror of the Horican was gone,
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Speaker 1: and in its place, the green and angry waters lashed
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Speaker 1: the shores, as if indignantly casting back its impurities to
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Speaker 1: the polluted strand. Still, the clear Fountain retained a portion
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Speaker 1: of its charmed influence, but it reflected only the somber
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Speaker 1: gloom that fell from the impending heavens that humid and
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Speaker 1: congenial atmosphere which commonly adorned the view, veiling its harshness
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Speaker 1: and softening its asperities, had disappeared. The northern air poured
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Speaker 1: across the waste of water, so harsh and unmingled that
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Speaker 1: nothing was left to be conjectured by the eye. The
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Speaker 1: fiercer element had cropped the vender of the plain, which
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Speaker 1: looked as though it were scathed by consuming lightning. But
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Speaker 1: here and there a dark green, tough rose in the
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Speaker 1: midst of the desolation, the earliest fruits of a soil
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Speaker 1: that had been fattened with human blood. The whole landscape,
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Speaker 1: which seen by a favoring light and in a genial temperature,
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Speaker 1: had been so lovely, appeared now like some pictured allegory
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Speaker 1: of life, in which objects were arrayed in their harshest
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Speaker 1: but truest colors, and without the relief of any shadowing.
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Speaker 1: The solitary and arid blades of grass arose from the
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Speaker 1: passing gust, fearfully perceptible. The bold and rocky mountains were
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Speaker 1: too distinct in their barrenness, and the eye even sought
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Speaker 1: relief in by attempting to pierce the illimitable void of heaven.
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Speaker 1: Which was shut to its gaze by the dusky sheet
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Speaker 1: of ragged and driving vapor. The wind blew unequally, sometimes
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Speaker 1: sweeping heavily along the ground, seeming to whisper its moanings
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Speaker 1: in the coldiers of the dead. Then rising in a
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Speaker 1: shrill and mournful whistling, it entered the forest with a
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Speaker 1: rush that filled the air with the leaves and branches
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Speaker 1: it scattered in its path. Amid the unnatural shower. A
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Speaker 1: few hungry ravens struggled with the gale, but no sooner
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Speaker 1: was the green ocean of woods which stretched beneath them passed,
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Speaker 1: than they gladly stopped at random to their hideous bank.
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Speaker 1: In short, it was a scene of wildness and desolation,
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Speaker 1: and it appeared as if all who had profanely entered
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Speaker 1: it had been stricken at a blow by the relentless
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Speaker 1: arm of death. But the prohibition had ceased, and for
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Speaker 1: the first time since the perpetrators of those foul deeds
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Speaker 1: which had assisted to disfigure the scene were gone. Living
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Speaker 1: human beings had now presumed to approach the place. About
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Speaker 1: an hour before the setting of the sun on the
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Speaker 1: day already mentioned, the forms of five men might have
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Speaker 1: been seen issuing from the narrow vista of trees where
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Speaker 1: the path through the Hudson entered the forest, and advancing
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Speaker 1: in the direction of the ruined works. At first, their
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Speaker 1: progress was slow and guarded, as though they entered with
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Speaker 1: reluctance amid the horrors of the post or dreaded the
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Speaker 1: renewal of its frightful incidents. A light figure preceded the
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Speaker 1: rest of the party with the caution and activity of
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Speaker 1: a native, ascending every hillock to reconnoiter, and indicating by
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Speaker 1: gestures to his companions the route he deemed it most
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Speaker 1: prudent to pursue. Nor were those in the rear, wanting
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Speaker 1: in every caution and foresight known to forest warfare. One
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Speaker 1: among them, he also was an Indian, moved a little
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Speaker 1: on one flank, and watched the margin of the woods
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Speaker 1: with eyes long accustomed to read the smallest sign of danger.
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Speaker 1: The remaining three were white, though clad investments, adapted both
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Speaker 1: in quality and color to their present hazardous pursuit, that
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Speaker 1: of hanging on the skirts of a retiring army in
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Speaker 1: the wilderness. The effects produced by the appalling sights that
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Speaker 1: constantly arose in their path to the lake shore were
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Speaker 1: as different as the characters of the respective individuals who
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Speaker 1: composed the party. The youth in front through serious but
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Speaker 1: furtive glances at the mangled victims as he stepped lightly
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Speaker 1: across the plain, afraid to exhibit his feelings, and yet
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Speaker 1: too inexperienced to quell entirely their sudden and powerful influence.
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Speaker 1: His red associate, however, was perior to such a weakness.
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Speaker 1: He passed the groups of dead with a steadiness of
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Speaker 1: purpose and an eye so calm that nothing but long
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Speaker 1: and invertate practice could enable him to maintain The sensations
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Speaker 1: produced in the minds of even the white men were different,
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Speaker 1: though uniformly sorrowful, one whose gray locks and frowed lineaments
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Speaker 1: blending with a martial air, and tread betrayed in spite
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Speaker 1: of the disguise of a woodsman's dress. A man long
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Speaker 1: experienced in scenes of war was not ashamed to groan
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Speaker 1: aloud whenever a spectacle of more than usual horror came
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Speaker 1: under his view. The young man at his elbow shuddered,
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Speaker 1: but seemed to suppress his feelings in tenderness to his companion.
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Speaker 1: Of them all, the straggler who brought up the rear
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Speaker 1: appeared alone to betray his real thoughts, without fear of
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Speaker 1: observation or dread of consequences. He gazed on the most
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Speaker 1: appalling sight, with eyes and muscles that knew not how
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Speaker 1: to waver, but with execrations so bitter and deep as
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Speaker 1: to denote how much he denounced the crime of his enemies.
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Speaker 1: The reader will perceive at once in these respective characters,
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Speaker 1: the Mohicans and their white friend the Scout, together with
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Speaker 1: Munroe and Heyward, it was in truth the father in
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Speaker 1: quest of his children, attended by the youth who felt
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Speaker 1: so deep a stake in their happiness, and those brave
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Speaker 1: and trusty foresters who had already proved their skill and
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Speaker 1: fidelity through the trying scenes related. When Uncas, who moved
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Speaker 1: in front, had reached the center of the plain, he
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Speaker 1: raised a cry that drew his companions in a body
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Speaker 1: to the spot the young warrior had halted over a
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Speaker 1: group of females who lay in a cluster, a confused
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Speaker 1: mass of dead. Notwithstanding the revolting horror of the exhibition,
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Speaker 1: Monroe and Heyward flew toward the festering heap, endeavoring with
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Speaker 1: a love that no uneasiness could extinguish to discover whether
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Speaker 1: any vestiges of those they sought were to be seen
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Speaker 1: among the tattered and many colored garments. The father and
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Speaker 1: the lover found instant relief in the search, though each
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Speaker 1: was condemned again to experience the misery of an uncertainty
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Speaker 1: that was hardly less insupportable than the most revolting truth.
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Speaker 1: They were standing silent and thoughtful around the melancholy pile
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Speaker 1: when the scout approached, eyeing the sad spectacle with an
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Speaker 1: angry countenance, the sturdy woodsman, for the first time since
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Speaker 1: his entering the plane, spoke intelligibly and aloud. I have
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Speaker 1: been on many a shocking field, and have followed a
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Speaker 1: trail of blood for weary miles, he said, But never
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Speaker 1: have I found the head of the devil so plain
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Speaker 1: as it is here to be seen revenges an Indian feeling.
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Speaker 1: And all who know me know that there is no
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Speaker 1: cross in my veins. But this much will I say here,
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Speaker 1: in the face of Heaven, and with the power of
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Speaker 1: the Lord so manifest in this howling wilderness, that should
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Speaker 1: these frenchers ever trust themselves again with within the rage
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Speaker 1: of a ragged bullet, there is one rifle, which shall
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Speaker 1: play its part, so long as flint will fire or
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Speaker 1: powder burn. I leave the tomahawk and knife to such
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Speaker 1: as have a natural gift to use them. What say you,
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Speaker 1: chinge gotchkoky added in Delaware, shall the Hurons boast of
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Speaker 1: this to their women when the deep snows come. A
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Speaker 1: gleam of resentment flashed across the dark lineaments of the
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Speaker 1: Mohican chief. He loosened his knife in his sheath, and then,
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Speaker 1: turning calmly from the sight, his countenance settled into a
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Speaker 1: repose as deep as if he knew the instigation of passion.
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Speaker 1: Mont Calm. Mont Calm continued the deeply resentful and less
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Speaker 1: self restrained scout. They say a time must come when
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Speaker 1: all the deeds done in the flesh will be seen
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Speaker 1: at a single look, and that by eyes cleared from
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Speaker 1: mortal infirmities. Woe betide the wretch who is born to
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Speaker 1: behold this plain with a judgment hanging about his soul.
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Speaker 1: Has I am a man of white blood, yonder lies
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Speaker 1: a red skin without the hair of his head where
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Speaker 1: nature rooted it. Look to him, delaware, it may be
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Speaker 1: one of your missing people, and he should have burial
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Speaker 1: like a stout warrior. I see it in your eye,
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Speaker 1: sagamore a huron pays for this. Afore the fall winds
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Speaker 1: have blown away the scent of the blood Chinegotchkook approached
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Speaker 1: the mutilated form, and turning it over, he found the
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Speaker 1: distinguishing marks of one of those six Allied tribes or
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Speaker 1: nations as they were called, who, while they fought in
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Speaker 1: the English ranks, were so deadly hostile to his own people.
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Speaker 1: Spurning the loathsome object with his foot, he turned from
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Speaker 1: it with the same difference he would have quitted a
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Speaker 1: brute carcass. The scout comprehended the action, and very deliberately
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Speaker 1: pursued his own way, continuing, however, his denunciations against the
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Speaker 1: French commander in the same resentful strain. Nothing but vast
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Speaker 1: wisdom and unlimited power should dare to sweep off men
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Speaker 1: in multitudes, he added, For it is only the one
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Speaker 1: that can know the necessity of the judgment. And what
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Speaker 1: is there short of the other, that can replace the
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Speaker 1: creatures of the lord. I hold it a sin to
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Speaker 1: kill the second buck before the first is eaten, unless
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Speaker 1: a march in front or an ambushment be contemplated. It
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Speaker 1: is a different matter for a few warriors in open
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Speaker 1: and rugged fight. For tis their gift to die with
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Speaker 1: the rifle or the tomahawk in hand, according as their
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Speaker 1: natures may happen to be red or white. Uncas, come
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Speaker 1: this way, lad, and let the ravens settle upon the mingo.
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Speaker 1: I know from often seeing it that they are craving
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Speaker 1: for the flesh of anoneida. And it is well to
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Speaker 1: let the bird follow the gift of its natural appetite. Huh,
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Speaker 1: exclaimed the young Mohican, rising on the extremities of his
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Speaker 1: feet and gazing intently in his front, frightening the ravens
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Speaker 1: to some other prey by the sound of the action.
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Speaker 1: What is it, boy, whispered the scout, lowering his tall
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Speaker 1: form into a crouching attitude, like a panther about to
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Speaker 1: take his leap. God send it be a tardy french
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Speaker 1: er sulking for plunder. I do believe kildeer would have
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Speaker 1: uncommon range today. Uncas, without making any reply, bounded away
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Speaker 1: from the spot, and in the next instant he was
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Speaker 1: seen tearing from a boy bush and waving in triumph
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Speaker 1: a fragment from the green riding veil of Cora. The movement,
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Speaker 1: the exhibition, and the cry, which again burst from the
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Speaker 1: lips of the young Mohican, instantly drew the whole party
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Speaker 1: about him. My child, said Monroe, speaking quickly and wildly,
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Speaker 1: Give me my child. Uncas we'll try, was the short
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Speaker 1: and touching answer. The simple but meaning assurance was lost
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Speaker 1: on the father, who seized the piece of gauze and
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Speaker 1: crushed it in his hand, while his eyes roamed fearfully
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Speaker 1: among the bushes, as if he equally dreaded and hoped
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Speaker 1: for the secrets they might reveal. Here are no dead,
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Speaker 1: said Heyward. The storm seems not to have passed this way.
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Speaker 1: That's manifest and clearer than the heavens above our heads,
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Speaker 1: returned the undisturbed scout. But either she or they that
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Speaker 1: have robbed her have passed the bush. For I remembered
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Speaker 1: the rags she wore to hide, a face that all
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Speaker 1: did love to look upon. Uncas, you are right the wood,
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Speaker 1: None who could fly would remain to be murdered. Let
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Speaker 1: us search for the marks she left. For to Indian eyes,
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Speaker 1: I sometimes think a humming bird leaves his trail in
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Speaker 1: the air. The young Mohican darted away at the suggestion,
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Speaker 1: and the scout had hardly done speaking before the former
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Speaker 1: raised a cry of success from the margin in the forest.
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Speaker 1: On reaching the spot, the anxious party perceived another portion
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Speaker 1: of the veil fluttering on the lower branch of a beach. Softly, softly,
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Speaker 1: said the scout, extending his long rifle in front of
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Speaker 1: the eager heyward, we know now our work, but the
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Speaker 1: beauty of the trail must not be deformed. A step
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Speaker 1: too soon may give us hours of trouble. We have them,
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Speaker 1: though that much is beyond denial. Bless ye, bless ye,
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Speaker 1: worthy man, exclaimed Monroe. Whither then have they fled? And
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Speaker 1: where are my babes? The path they have taken depends
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Speaker 1: on many chances. If they have gone alone, they are
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Speaker 1: quite as likely to move in a circle as straight,
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Speaker 1: and they may be within a dozen miles of us.
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Speaker 1: But if the Hurons or any of the French Indians
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Speaker 1: have laid hands on them, tis probably they are now
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Speaker 1: near the borders of the Canadas. But what matters that,
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Speaker 1: continued the deliberate scout, observing the powerful anxiety and disappointment
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Speaker 1: the listeners exhibited. Here are the Mohicans and I on
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Speaker 1: one end of the trail, and rely on it we
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Speaker 1: find the other, though they should be a hundred leagues
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Speaker 1: asunder gently, Gently, Uncas, you are as impatient as a
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Speaker 1: man in the settlements. You forget that light feet leave
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Speaker 1: but faint marks. Huh, exclaimed Chindrochkok, who had been occupied
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Speaker 1: in examining an opening that had been evidently made through
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Speaker 1: the low underbugs which skirted the forest, and who now
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Speaker 1: stood erect as he pointed downward in the attitude with
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Speaker 1: an air of a man who beheld a disgusting serpent.
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Speaker 1: Here is the palpable impression of the footstep of a man,
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Speaker 1: cried heyward, bending over the indicated spot. He is trod
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Speaker 1: in the margin of this pool, and the mark cannot
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Speaker 1: be mistaken. They are captives, better so than left to
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Speaker 1: starve in the wilderness, returned the scout, and they will
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Speaker 1: leave a wider trail. I would wager fifty beaver skins
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Speaker 1: against as many flints that the Mohicans and I enter
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Speaker 1: their wigwams within the month. Stoop to it, Uncas, and
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Speaker 1: try what you can make of the moccasin. For moccasin
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Speaker 1: it plainly is, and no shoe. The young Mohican bent
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Speaker 1: over the track, and removing the scattered leaves from around
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Speaker 1: the place. He examined it with much of that sort
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Speaker 1: of scrutiny that any dealer in these days of pecuniary
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Speaker 1: doubts would bestow on unsuspected do bill. At length he
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Speaker 1: arose from his knees. Satisfied with the result of the examination,
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Speaker 1: well Boy demanded the attentive scout, What does it say?
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Speaker 1: Can you make anything of the tail tale layer or not?
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Speaker 1: In some til ha, that rampaging devil again, There will
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Speaker 1: never be an end of his loping till kildeer has
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Speaker 1: said a friendly word to him. Hayward reluctantly admitted the
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Speaker 1: truth of this intelligence, and now expressed rather his hopes
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Speaker 1: than his doubts. By saying one moccasin is so much
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Speaker 1: like another, it is probable there is some mistake one
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Speaker 1: moccasin like another. You may as well say that one
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Speaker 1: foot is like another. Though we all know that some
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Speaker 1: are long and other short, some broad and others narrowed,
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Speaker 1: some with high and some with low end steps, some
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Speaker 1: in toad and some out. One moccasin is no more
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Speaker 1: like another than one book is like another, though they
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Speaker 1: who can read in one are seldom able to tell
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Speaker 1: the marks of the other, which is all ordered for
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Speaker 1: the best, giving to every man his natural advantages. Let
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Speaker 1: me go down to it, uncas neither book nor moccasin
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Speaker 1: is the worse for having two opinions instead of one.
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Speaker 1: The scout stooped to the task and instantly added, you're right, boy,
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Speaker 1: here's the patch we saw so often in the other chase.
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Speaker 1: And the fellow will drink when he can get an opportunity.
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Speaker 1: Your drinking Indian always learns to walk with a wider
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Speaker 1: toe than the natural savage, it being the gift of
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Speaker 1: a drunker to straddle, whether of white or red skin.
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Speaker 1: 'tis just the length and bread too. Look at it, sagamore.
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Speaker 1: You measured the prince more than once when we hunted
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Speaker 1: the varmints from the glens to the health springs. Chinecotchkook complied,
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Speaker 1: and after finishing his shor examination, he arose, and with
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Speaker 1: a quiet demainer, he merely pronounced the word maqua, I
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Speaker 1: tis a settled thing. Here then have passed the dark
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Speaker 1: hair and maqua, and not Alice demanded heyward of her.
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Speaker 1: We have not yet seen the signs, returned the scout,
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Speaker 1: looking closely around the trees, the bushes, and the ground.
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Speaker 1: What have we there, Uncas, Bring hither the thing you
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Speaker 1: see dangling from yonder thorn bush. When the Indian had complied,
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Speaker 1: the scout received the prize, and holding it on high,
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Speaker 1: he laughed in his silent but heartfelt manner. Tis the
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Speaker 1: tooting weapon of this singer. Now we shall have a
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Speaker 1: trail a priest might travel, He said, Uncas, look for
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Speaker 1: the marks of a shoe that is long enough to
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Speaker 1: uphold six feet two of tottering human flesh. I begin
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Speaker 1: to have some hopes of the fellow, since he has
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Speaker 1: given up squalling to follow some trade. At least he
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Speaker 1: has been faithful to his trust, said Heyward. And Cora
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Speaker 1: and Alice are not without a friend. Yes, said Hawkeye,
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Speaker 1: dropping his rifle and leaning on it with an air
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Speaker 1: of visible contempt. He will do their singing. Can he
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Speaker 1: slay a bock for their dinner journey by the moss
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Speaker 1: on the beaches? Or cut the throat of a huron?
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Speaker 1: If not, the first catbird he meets is the cleverer
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Speaker 1: of the two footnote The powers of the American mocking
22:32
Speaker 1: bird are generally known, but the true mocking bird is
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Speaker 1: not found so far north as the state of New York,
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Speaker 1: where it has, however, two substitutes of inferior excellence, the catbird,
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Speaker 1: so often named by the scout, and the bird vulgarly
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Speaker 1: called ground thresher. Either these last two birds is superior
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Speaker 1: to the nightingale or the lark, though in general the
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Speaker 1: American birds are less musical than those of Europe. And footnote, well, boy,
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Speaker 1: any signs of such a foundation? Here is something like
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Speaker 1: the footstep of one who has worn a shoe? Can
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Speaker 1: that be our friend? Touch the leaves lightly, or you'll
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Speaker 1: disconcert the formation. That that is the print of a foot?
23:16
Speaker 1: But tis the dark hairs and small it is too
23:20
Speaker 1: for one of such a noble height and grand appearance.
23:23
Speaker 1: The singer would cover it with his heel. Where let
23:28
Speaker 1: me look on the footsteps of my child, said Monroe,
23:31
Speaker 1: shoving the bushes aside and bending fondly over the nearly
23:34
Speaker 1: obliterated impression. Though the tread which had left the mark
23:38
Speaker 1: had been light and rapid, it was still plainly visible.
23:42
Speaker 1: The aged soldier examined it with eyes that grew dim
23:45
Speaker 1: as he gazed. Nor did he rise from his stooping
23:48
Speaker 1: posture till Heyward saw that he had watered the trace
23:51
Speaker 1: of his daughter's passage with a scalding tear. Willing to
23:55
Speaker 1: divert a distress which threatened each moment to break through
23:58
Speaker 1: the restrain of appearances by giving the veterans something to do,
24:02
Speaker 1: the young man said to the scout, as we now
24:05
Speaker 1: possess these infallible signs, let us commence our march. A
24:10
Speaker 1: moment at such a time will appear in age to
24:13
Speaker 1: the captives. It is not the swiftest leaping deer that
24:17
Speaker 1: gives the longest chase, returned Hawkeye, without moving his eye
24:22
Speaker 1: from the different marks that had come under his view.
24:26
Speaker 1: We know that the rampaging huron has passed, and the
24:29
Speaker 1: dark hair and the singer. But where is she of
24:33
Speaker 1: the yellow locks and blue eyes? They're little, and far
24:37
Speaker 1: from being as bold as her sister. She is fair
24:41
Speaker 1: to the view and pleasant in discourse. Has she no
24:45
Speaker 1: friend that none cared for her? God forbid she should
24:49
Speaker 1: ever want? Hundreds? Are we not now in their pursuit?
24:53
Speaker 1: For one, I will never cease the search till she
24:57
Speaker 1: be found. In that case, we may have to journey
25:00
Speaker 1: by different paths, For here she has not passed. Light
25:04
Speaker 1: and little as her footsteps would be. Heyward drew back
25:09
Speaker 1: all his ardor to proceed, seeming to vanish on the instant.
25:13
Speaker 1: Without attending to this sudden change in the other's humor,
25:16
Speaker 1: the scout, after musing a moment, continued, there is no
25:20
Speaker 1: woman in this wilderness could leave such a print as that,
25:23
Speaker 1: but the dark hair or her sister. We know that
25:26
Speaker 1: the first has been here, but where are the signs
25:30
Speaker 1: of the other. Let us push deeper on the trail,
25:33
Speaker 1: and if nothing offers, we must go back to the
25:36
Speaker 1: plain and strike another scent. Move on, Uncas, and keep
25:41
Speaker 1: your eyes on the dried leaves. I will watch the bushes,
25:45
Speaker 1: while your father shall run with a low nose to
25:47
Speaker 1: the ground. Move on, friends, the sun is getting behind
25:51
Speaker 1: the hills. Is there nothing that I can do? Demanded
25:56
Speaker 1: the anxious Heyward. You, repeated the scout, who with his
26:00
Speaker 1: red friends was already advancing in the order he had prescribed. Yes,
26:06
Speaker 1: you can keep in our rear and be careful not
26:09
Speaker 1: to cross the trail. Before they had proceeded many rods,
26:12
Speaker 1: the Indians stopped and appeared to gaze at some signs
26:15
Speaker 1: on the earth with more than their usual keenness. Both
26:18
Speaker 1: father and son spoke quick and loud, now looking at
26:22
Speaker 1: the object of their mutual admiration, and now regarding each
26:25
Speaker 1: other with the most unequivocable pleasure. They have found the
26:29
Speaker 1: little foot, exclaimed the scout, moving forward, without attending further
26:34
Speaker 1: to his own portion of the duty. What have we here?
26:38
Speaker 1: An ambush has been planted in the spot. No, by
26:42
Speaker 1: the truest rifle of the frontiers. Here have been them
26:46
Speaker 1: one sided horses again. Now the whole secret is out,
26:50
Speaker 1: and all as plain as the north star at midnight. Yes,
26:55
Speaker 1: here they have mounted. There the beast have been bound
26:58
Speaker 1: to a sapling in waiting, and yonder runs the broad
27:01
Speaker 1: path away to the north, in full sweep for the cannadas.
27:05
Speaker 1: But still there are no signs of Elis of the
27:08
Speaker 1: younger miss Rowe, said Duncan. Unless the shining boble of
27:12
Speaker 1: Uncas has just lifted from the ground, should prove one
27:16
Speaker 1: pass it this way, lad, that we may look at it.
27:19
Speaker 1: Heyward instantly knew it for a trinket that Alice was
27:22
Speaker 1: fond of wearing, and which he recollected with a tenacious
27:26
Speaker 1: memory of a lover, to have seen on the fatal
27:28
Speaker 1: morning of the massacre. Dangling from the fair neck of
27:32
Speaker 1: his mistress, he seized the highly prized jewel, and, as
27:36
Speaker 1: he proclaimed the fact, it vanished from the eyes of
27:39
Speaker 1: the wandering scout, who in vain looked for it on
27:42
Speaker 1: the ground long after it was warmly pressed against the
27:46
Speaker 1: beating heart of Duncan. Shaw, said the disappointed hawkeye, ceasing
27:51
Speaker 1: to breake the leaves with the breach of his rifle.
27:53
Speaker 1: 'tis a sign of age when the sight begins to weaken,
27:57
Speaker 1: such a glittering gigaw and not to be seen. Well, well,
28:01
Speaker 1: I can squint along a clouded barrel yet, and that
28:05
Speaker 1: is enough to settle all disputes between me and the mingoes.
28:08
Speaker 1: I should like to find the thing too, if it
28:10
Speaker 1: were only to carry it to the right owner, and
28:13
Speaker 1: that would be bringing the two ends of what I
28:15
Speaker 1: call a long trail together. For by this time the
28:19
Speaker 1: broad Saint Lawrence, or perhaps the great lakes themselves are
28:23
Speaker 1: between us. So much the more reason why we should
28:26
Speaker 1: not delay our march. Returned, Heyward, let us proceed. Young
28:31
Speaker 1: blood and hot blood, they say, are much the same thing.
28:35
Speaker 1: We are not about to start on a squirrel hunt,
28:38
Speaker 1: or to drive a deer into the Horican, but to
28:41
Speaker 1: outlie for days and nights, and to stretch across a
28:44
Speaker 1: wilderness where the feet of men seldom go, and where
28:48
Speaker 1: no bookish knowledge would carry you through harmless. And India
28:52
Speaker 1: never starts on such an exhibition without smoking over his
28:56
Speaker 1: council far. And though a man of white blood, I
29:00
Speaker 1: honor their customs in this particular, seeing that they are
29:03
Speaker 1: deliberate and wise. We will therefore go back and light
29:08
Speaker 1: our fire tonight in the ruins of the old fort,
29:11
Speaker 1: and in the morning we shall be fresh and ready
29:14
Speaker 1: to undertake our work like men, and not like babbling
29:17
Speaker 1: women or eager boys. Heyward saw by the manner of
29:21
Speaker 1: the scalp that altercation would be useless. Monroe had again
29:25
Speaker 1: sunk into that sort of apathy which had beset him
29:28
Speaker 1: since his late overwhelming misfortunes, and from which he was
29:33
Speaker 1: apparently to be roused only by some new and powerful excitement.
29:37
Speaker 1: Making a merit of necessity, the young man took the
29:40
Speaker 1: veteran by the arm and followed in the footsteps of
29:43
Speaker 1: the Indians and the Scout, who had already begun to
29:46
Speaker 1: retrace the path which conducted them to the plain. End
29:51
Speaker 1: of Chapter eighteen,