CHAPTER XII
"_Clo._--I am gone, sir, And anon, sir, I'll be with you again."
_Twelfth Night._
The Hurons stood aghast at this sudden visitation of death on one oftheir band. But, as they regarded the fatal accuracy of an aim which haddared to immolate an enemy at so much hazard to a friend, the name of"La Longue Carabine" burst simultaneously from every lip, and wassucceeded by a wild and a sort of plaintive howl. The cry was answeredby a loud shout from a little thicket, where the incautious party hadpiled their arms; and at the next moment, Hawkeye, too eager to load therifle he had regained, was seen advancing upon them, brandishing theclubbed weapon, and cutting the air with wide and powerful sweeps. Boldand rapid as was the progress of the scout, it was exceeded by that of alight and vigorous form which, bounding past him, leaped, withincredible activity and daring, into the very centre of the Hurons,where it stood, whirling a tomahawk, and flourishing a glittering knife,with fearful menaces, in front of Cora. Quicker than the thoughts couldfollow these unexpected and audacious movements, an image, armed in theemblematic panoply of death, glided before their eyes, and assumed athreatening attitude at the other's side. The savage tormentors recoiledbefore these warlike intruders, and uttered as they appeared in suchquick succession, the often repeated and peculiar exclamation ofsurprise, followed by the well known and dreaded appellations of--
"Le Cerf Agile! Le Gros Serpent!"
But the wary and vigilant leader of the Hurons was not so easilydisconcerted. Casting his keen eyes around the little plain, hecomprehended the nature of the assault at a glance, and encouraging hisfollowers by his voice as well as by his example, he unsheathed his longand dangerous knife, and rushed with a loud whoop upon the expectingChingachgook. It was the signal for a general combat. Neither party hadfire-arms, and the contest was to be decided in the deadliest manner;hand to hand, with weapons of offence, and none of defence.
Uncas answered the whoop, and leaping on an enemy, with a single, welldirected blow of his tomahawk, cleft him to the brain. Heyward tore theweapon of Magua from the sapling, and rushed eagerly towards the fray.As the combatants were now equal in number, each singled an opponentfrom the adverse band. The rush and blows passed with the fury of awhirlwind, and the swiftness of lightning. Hawkeye soon got anotherenemy within reach of his arm, and with one sweep of his formidableweapon he beat down the slight and inartificial defences of hisantagonist, crushing him to the earth with the blow. Heyward ventured tohurl the tomahawk he had seized, too ardent to await the moment ofclosing. It struck the Indian he had selected on the forehead, andchecked for an instant his onward rush. Encouraged by this slightadvantage, the impetuous young man continued his onset, and sprang uponhis enemy with naked hands. A single instant was enough to assure him ofthe rashness of the measure, for he immediately found himself fullyengaged, with all his activity and courage, in endeavoring to ward thedesperate thrusts made with the knife of the Huron. Unable longer tofoil an enemy so alert and vigilant, he threw his arms about him, andsucceeded in pinning the limbs of the other to his side, with an irongrasp, but one that was far too exhausting to himself to continue long.In this extremity he heard a voice near him, shouting--
"Extarminate the varlets! no quarter to an accursed Mingo!"
At the next moment, the breech of Hawkeye's rifle fell on the naked headof his adversary, whose muscles appeared to wither under the shock, ashe sank from the arms of Duncan, flexible and motionless.
When Uncas had brained his first antagonist, he turned, like a hungrylion, to seek another. The fifth and only Huron disengaged at the firstonset had paused a moment, and then seeing that all around him wereemployed in the deadly strife, he sought, with hellish vengeance, tocomplete the baffled work of revenge. Raising a shout of triumph, hesprang towards the defenceless Cora, sending his keen axe, as thedreadful precursor of his approach. The tomahawk grazed her shoulder,and cutting the withes which bound her to the tree, left the maiden atliberty to fly. She eluded the grasp of the savage, and reckless of herown safety, threw herself on the bosom of Alice, striving withconvulsed and ill-directed fingers, to tear asunder the twigs whichconfined the person of her sister. Any other than a monster would haverelented at such an act of generous devotion to the best and purestaffection; but the breast of the Huron was a stranger to sympathy.Seizing Cora by the rich tresses which fell in confusion about her form,he tore her from her frantic hold, and bowed her down with brutalviolence to her knees. The savage drew the flowing curls through hishand, and raising them on high with an outstretched arm, he passed theknife around the exquisitely moulded head of his victim, with a tauntingand exulting laugh. But he purchased this moment of fierce gratificationwith the loss of the fatal opportunity. It was just then the sightcaught the eye of Uncas. Bounding from his footsteps he appeared for aninstant darting through the air, and descending in a ball he fell on thechest of his enemy, driving him many yards from the spot, headlong andprostrate. The violence of the exertion cast the young Mohican at hisside. They arose together, fought, and bled, each in his turn. But theconflict was soon decided; the tomahawk of Heyward and the rifle ofHawkeye descended on the skull of the Huron, at the same moment that theknife of Uncas reached his heart.
The battle was now entirely terminated, with the exception of theprotracted struggle between Le Renard Subtil and Le Gros Serpent. Welldid these barbarous warriors prove that they deserved those significantnames which had been bestowed for deeds in former wars. When theyengaged, some little time was lost in eluding the quick and vigorousthrusts which had been aimed at their lives. Suddenly darting on eachother, they closed, and came to the earth, twisted together like twiningserpents, in pliant and subtle folds. At the moment when the victorsfound themselves unoccupied, the spot where these experienced anddesperate combatants lay, could only be distinguished by a cloud of dustand leaves which moved from the centre of the little plain towards itsboundary, as if raised by the passage of a whirlwind. Urged by thedifferent motives of filial affection, friendship, and gratitude,Heyward and his companions rushed with one accord to the place,encircling the little canopy of dust which hung above the warriors. Invain did Uncas dart around the cloud, with a wish to strike his knifeinto the heart of his father's foe; the threatening rifle of Hawkeye wasraised and suspended in vain, while Duncan endeavored to seize thelimbs of the Huron with hands that appeared to have lost their power.Covered, as they were, with dust and blood, the swift evolutions of thecombatants seemed to incorporate their bodies into one. The death-likelooking figure of the Mohican, and the dark form of the Huron, gleamedbefore their eyes in such quick and confused succession, that thefriends of the former knew not where nor when to plant the succoringblow. It is true there were short and fleeting moments, when the fieryeyes of Magua were seen glittering, like the fabled organs of thebasilisk, through the dusty wreath by which he was enveloped, and heread by those short and deadly glances the fate of the combat in thepresence of his enemies; ere, however, any hostile hand could descend onhis devoted head, its place was filled by the scowling visage ofChingachgook. In this manner the scene of the combat was removed fromthe centre of the little plain to its verge. The Mohican now found anopportunity to make a powerful thrust with his knife; Magua suddenlyrelinquished his grasp, and fell backward without motion, and seeminglywithout life. His adversary leaped on his feet, making the arches of theforest ring with the sounds of triumph.
"Well done for the Delawares! victory to the Mohican!" cried Hawkeye,once more elevating the butt of the long and fatal rifle; "a finishingblow from a man without a cross will never tell against his honor, norrob him of his right to the scalp."
But, at the very moment when the dangerous weapon was in the act ofdescending, the subtle Huron rolled swiftly from beneath the danger,over the edge of the precipice, and falling on his feet, was seenleaping, with a single bound, into the centre of a thicket of lowbushes, which clung along its sides. The Delawares, who had believedtheir enemy dead, uttered their exclamat
ion of surprise, and werefollowing with speed and clamor, like hounds in open view of the deer,when a shrill and peculiar cry from the scout instantly changed theirpurpose, and recalled them to the summit of the hill.
"'Twas like himself," cried the inveterate forester, whose prejudicescontributed so largely to veil his natural sense of justice in allmatters which concerned the Mingos; "a lying and deceitful varlet as heis. An honest Delaware now, being fairly vanquished, would have lainstill, and been knocked on the head, but these knavish Maquas cling tolife like so many cats-o'-the-mountain. Let him go--let him go; 'tis butone man, and he without rifle or bow, many a long mile from his Frenchcommerades; and, like a rattler that has lost his fangs, he can do nofurther mischief, until such time as he, and we too, may leave theprints of our moccasins over a long reach of sandy plain. See, Uncas,"he added, in Delaware, "your father is flaying the scalps already. Itmay be well to go round and feel the vagabonds that are left, or we mayhave another of them loping through the woods, and screeching like a jaythat has been winged."
_Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_
THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST
_The battle was now entirely terminated, with the exception of theprotracted struggle between Le Renard Subtil and Le Gros Serpent_]
So saying, the honest, but implacable scout, made the circuit of thedead, into whose senseless bosoms he thrust his long knife, with as muchcoolness as though they had been so many brute carcasses. He had,however, been anticipated by the elder Mohican, who had already torn theemblems of victory from the unresisting heads of the slain.
But Uncas, denying his habits, we had almost said his nature, flew withinstinctive delicacy, accompanied by Heyward, to the assistance of thefemales, and quickly releasing Alice, placed her in the arms of Cora. Weshall not attempt to describe the gratitude to the Almighty Disposer ofevents which glowed in the bosoms of the sisters, who were thusunexpectedly restored to life and to each other. Their thanksgivingswere deep and silent; the offerings of their gentle spirits, burningbrightest and purest on the secret altars of their hearts; and theirrenovated and more earthly feelings exhibiting themselves in long andfervent, though speechless caresses. As Alice rose from her knees, whereshe had sunk by the side of Cora, she threw herself on the bosom of thelatter; and sobbed aloud the name of their aged father, while her soft,dove-like eyes sparkled with the rays of hope.
"We are saved! we are saved!" she murmured; "to return to the arms ofour dear, dear father, and his heart will not be broken with grief. Andyou too, Cora, my sister; my more than sister, my mother; you too arespared. And Duncan," she added, looking round upon the youth with asmile of ineffable innocence, "even our own brave and noble Duncan hasescaped without a hurt."
To these ardent and nearly incoherent words Cora made no other answerthan by straining the youthful speaker to her heart, as she bent overher, in melting tenderness. The manhood of Heyward felt no shame indropping tears over this spectacle of affectionate rapture; and Uncasstood, fresh and blood-stained from the combat, a calm, and, apparently,an unmoved looker-on, it is true, but with eyes that had already losttheir fierceness, and were beaming with a sympathy that elevated him farabove the intelligence, and advanced him probably centuries before thepractices of his nation.
During this display of emotions so natural in their situation, Hawkeye,whose vigilant distrust had satisfied itself that the Hurons, whodisfigured the heavenly scene, no longer possessed the power tointerrupt its harmony, approached David, and liberated him from thebonds he had, until that moment, endured with the most exemplarypatience.
"There," exclaimed the scout, casting the last withe behind him, "youare once more master of your own limbs, though you seem not to use themwith greater judgment than that in which they were first fashioned. Ifadvice from one who is not older than yourself, but who having livedmost of his time in the wilderness, may be said to have experiencebeyond his years, will give no offence, you are welcome to my thoughts;and these are, to part with the little tooting instrument in your jacketto the first fool you meet with, and buy some useful we'pon with themoney, if it be only the barrel of a horseman's pistol. By industry andcare, you might thus come to some prefarment; for by this time, I shouldthink, your eyes would plainly tell you that a carrion crow is a betterbird than a mocking thresher. The one will, at least, remove foul sightsfrom before the face of man, while the other is only good to brewdisturbances in the woods, by cheating the ears of all that hear them."
"Arms and the clarion for the battle, but the song of thanksgiving tothe victory!" answered the liberated David. "Friend," he added,thrusting forth his lean, delicate hand towards Hawkeye, in kindness,while his eyes twinkled and grew moist, "I thank thee that the hairs ofmy head still grow where they were first rooted by Providence; for,though those of other men may be more glossy and curling, I have everfound mine own well suited to the brain they shelter. That I did notjoin myself to the battle, was less owing to disinclination, than to thebonds of the heathen. Valiant and skilful hast thou proved thyself inthe conflict, and I hereby thank thee, before proceeding to dischargeother and more important duties, because thou hast proved thyself wellworthy of a Christian's praise."
"The thing is but a trifle, and what you may often see, if you tarrylong among us," returned the scout, a good deal softened towards theman of song, by this unequivocal expression of gratitude. "I have gotback my old companion, 'Killdeer,'" he added, striking his hand on thebreech of his rifle; "and that in itself is a victory. These Iroquoisare cunning, but they outwitted themselves when they placed theirfire-arms out of reach; and had Uncas or his father been gifted withonly their common Indian patience, we should have come in upon theknaves with three bullets instead of one, and that would have made afinish of the whole pack; yon loping varlet, as well as his commerades.But 'twas all foreordered, and for the best."
"Thou sayest well," returned David, "and hast caught the true spirit ofChristianity. He that is to be saved will be saved, and he that ispredestined to be damned will be damned. This is the doctrine of truth,and most consoling and refreshing it is to the true believer."
The scout, who by this time was seated, examining into the state of hisrifle with a species of parental assiduity, now looked up at the otherin a displeasure that he did not affect to conceal, roughly interruptingfurther speech.
"Doctrine, or no doctrine," said the sturdy woodsman, "'tis the beliefof knaves, and the curse of an honest man. I can credit that yonderHuron was to fall by my hand, for with my own eyes I have seen it; butnothing short of being a witness will cause me to think he had met withany reward, or that Chingachgook, there, will be condemned at the finalday."
"You have no warranty for such an audacious doctrine, nor any covenantto support it," cried David, who was deeply tinctured with the subtledistinctions which, in his time, and more especially in his province,had been drawn around the beautiful simplicity of revelation, byendeavoring to penetrate the awful mystery of the divine nature,supplying faith by self-sufficiency, and by consequence, involving thosewho reasoned from such human dogmas in absurdities and doubt; "yourtemple is reared on the sands, and the first tempest will wash away itsfoundation. I demand your authorities for such an uncharitable assertion(like other advocates of a system, David was not always accurate in hisuse of terms). Name chapter and verse; in which of the holy books do youfind language to support you?"
"Book!" repeated Hawkeye, with singular and ill-concealed disdain; "doyou take me for a whimpering boy at the apron-string of one of your oldgals; and this good rifle on my knee for the feather of a goose's wing,my ox's horn for a bottle of ink, and my leathern pouch for across-barred handkercher to carry my dinner? Book! what have such as I,who am a warrior of the wilderness, though a man without a cross, to dowith books? I never read but in one, and the words that are writtenthere are too simple and too plain to need much schooling; though I mayboast that of forty long and hard-working years."
"What call you the volume?" said David, misconceiving the oth
er'smeaning.
"Tis open before your eyes," returned the scout; "and he who owns it isnot a niggard of its use. I have heard it said that there are men whoread in books to convince themselves there is a God. I know not but manmay so deform his works in the settlement, as to leave that which is soclear in the wilderness a matter of doubt among traders and priests. Ifany such there be, and he will follow me from sun to sun, through thewindings of the forest, he shall see enough to teach him that he is afool, and that the greatest of his folly lies in striving to rise to thelevel of One he can never equal, be it in goodness, or be it in power."
The instant David discovered that he battled with a disputant whoimbibed his faith from the lights of nature, eschewing all subtleties ofdoctrine, he willingly abandoned a controversy from which he believedneither profit nor credit was to be derived. While the scout wasspeaking, he had also seated himself, and producing the ready littlevolume and the iron-rimmed spectacles, he prepared to discharge a duty,which nothing but the unexpected assault he had received in hisorthodoxy could have so long suspended. He was, in truth, a minstrel ofthe western continent--of a much later day, certainly, than those giftedbards, who formerly sang the profane renown of baron and prince, butafter the spirit of his own age and country; and he was now prepared toexercise the cunning of his craft, in celebration of, or rather inthanksgiving for, the recent victory. He waited patiently for Hawkeye tocease, then lifting his eyes, together with his voice, he said, aloud,--
"I invite you, friends, to join in praise for this signal deliverancefrom the hands of barbarians and infidels, to the comfortable and solemntones of the tune, called 'Northampton.'"
He next named the page and verse where the rhymes selected were to befound, and applied the pitch-pipe to his lips, with the decent gravitythat he had been wont to use in the temple. This time he was, however,without any accompaniment, for the sisters were just then pouring outthose tender effusions of affection which have been already alluded to.Nothing deterred by the smallness of his audience, which, in truth,consisted only of the discontented scout, he raised his voice,commencing and ending the sacred song without accident or interruptionof any kind.
Hawkeye listened, while he coolly adjusted his flint and reloaded hisrifle; but the sounds, wanting the extraneous assistance of scene andsympathy, failed to awaken his slumbering emotions. Never minstrel, orby whatever more suitable name David should be known, drew upon histalents in the presence of more insensible auditors; though consideringthe singleness and sincerity of his motive, it is probable that no bardof profane song ever uttered notes that ascended so near to that thronewhere all homage and praise is due. The scout shook his head, andmuttering some unintelligible words, among which "throat" and"Iroquois," were alone audible, he walked away, to collect, and toexamine into, the state of the captured arsenal of the Hurons. In thisoffice he was now joined by Chingachgook, who found his own, as well asthe rifle of his son, among the arms. Even Heyward and David werefurnished with weapons; nor was ammunition wanting to render them alleffectual.
When the foresters had made their selection, and distributed theirprizes, the scout announced that the hour had arrived when it wasnecessary to move. By this time the song of Gamut had ceased, and thesisters had learned to still the exhibition of their emotions. Aided byDuncan and the younger Mohican, the two latter descended the precipitoussides of that hill which they had so lately ascended under so verydifferent auspices, and whose summit had so nearly proved the scene oftheir massacre. At the foot, they found the Narragansetts browsing theherbage of the bushes; and having mounted, they followed the movementsof a guide, who, in the most deadly straits, had so often proved himselftheir friend. The journey was, however, short. Hawkeye, leaving theblind path that the Hurons had followed, turned short to his right, andentering the thicket, he crossed a babbling brook, and halted in anarrow dell, under the shade of a few water elms. Their distance fromthe base of the fatal hill was but a few rods, and the steeds had beenserviceable only in crossing the shallow stream.
The scout and the Indians appeared to be familiar with the sequesteredplace where they now were; for, leaning their rifles against the trees,they commenced throwing aside the dried leaves, and opening the blueclay, out of which a clear and sparkling spring of bright, glancingwater, quickly bubbled. The white man then looked about him, as thoughseeking for some object, which was not to be found as readily as heexpected:--
"Them careless imps, the Mohawks, with their Tuscarora and Onondagabrethren, have been here slaking their thirst," he muttered, "and thevagabonds have thrown away the gourd! This is the way with benefits,when they are bestowed on such disremembering hounds! Here has the Lordlaid his hand, in the midst of the howling wilderness, for their good,and raised a fountain of water from the bowels of the 'arth, that mightlaugh at the richest shop of apothecary's ware in all the colonies; andsee! the knaves have trodden in the clay, and deformed the cleanlinessof the place, as though they were brute beasts, instead of human men."
Uncas silently extended towards him the desired gourd, which the spleenof Hawkeye had hitherto prevented him from observing, on a branch of anelm. Filling it with water, he retired a short distance, to a placewhere the ground was more firm and dry; here he coolly seated himself,and after taking a long, and, apparently, a grateful draught, hecommenced a very strict examination of the fragments of food left by theHurons, which had hung in a wallet on his arm.
"Thank you, lad!" he continued, returning the empty gourd to Uncas; "nowwe will see how these rampaging Hurons lived, when outlying inambushments. Look at this! The varlets know the better pieces of thedeer; and one would think they might carve and roast a saddle, equal tothe best cook in the land! But everything is raw, for the Iroquois arethorough savages. Uncas, take my steel, and kindle a fire; a mouthful ofa tender broil will give natur' a helping hand, after so long a trail."
Heyward, perceiving that their guides now set about their repast insober earnest, assisted the ladies to alight, and placed himself attheir side, not unwilling to enjoy a few moments of grateful rest, afterthe bloody scene he had just gone through. While the culinary processwas in hand, curiosity induced him to inquire into the circumstanceswhich had led to their timely and unexpected rescue:--
"How is it that we see you so soon, my generous friend," he asked, "andwithout aid from the garrison of Edward?"
"Had we gone to the bend in the river, we might have been in time torake the leaves over your bodies, but too late to have saved yourscalps," coolly answered the scout. "No, no; instead of throwing awaystrength and opportunity by crossing to the fort, we lay by, under thebank of the Hudson, waiting to watch the movements of the Hurons."
"You were, then, witnesses of all that passed?"
"Not of all; for Indian sight is too keen to be easily cheated, and wekept close. A difficult matter it was, too, to keep this Mohican boysnug in the ambushment. Ah! Uncas, Uncas, your behavior was more likethat of a curious woman than of a warrior on his scent."
Uncas permitted his eyes to turn for an instant on the sturdycountenance of the speaker, but he neither spoke nor gave any indicationof repentance. On the contrary, Heyward thought the manner of the youngMohican was disdainful, if not a little fierce, and that he suppressedpassions that were ready to explode, as much in compliment to thelisteners, as from the deference he usually paid to his white associate.
"You saw our capture?" Heyward next demanded.
"We heard it," was the significant answer. "An Indian yell is plainlanguage to men who have passed their days in the woods. But when youlanded, we were driven to crawl, like sarpents, beneath the leaves; andthen we lost sight of you entirely, until we placed eyes on you again,trussed to the trees, and ready bound for an Indian massacre."
"Our rescue was the deed of Providence. It was nearly a miracle that youdid not mistake the path, for the Hurons divided, and each band had itshorses."
"Ay! there we were thrown off the scent, and might, indeed, have lostthe trail, had it not been for
Uncas; we took the path, however, thatled into the wilderness; for we judged, and judged rightly, that thesavages would hold that course with their prisoners. But when we hadfollowed it for many miles, without finding a single twig broken, as Ihad advised, my mind misgave me; especially as all the footsteps had theprints of moccasins."
"Our captors had the precaution to see us shod like themselves," saidDuncan, raising a foot, and exhibiting the buckskin he wore.
"Ay, 'twas judgmatical, and like themselves; though we were too expartto be thrown from a trail by so common an invention."
"To what, then, are we indebted for our safety?"
"To what, as a white man who has no taint of Indian blood, I should beashamed to own; to the judgment of the young Mohican, in matters which Ishould know better than he, but which I can now hardly believe to betrue, though my own eyes tell me it is so."
"'Tis extraordinary! will you not name the reason?"
"Uncas was bold enough to say, that the beasts ridden by the gentleones," continued Hawkeye, glancing his eyes, not without curiousinterest, on the fillies of the ladies, "planted the legs of one side onthe ground at the same time, which is contrary to the movements of alltrotting four-footed animals of my knowledge, except the bear. And yethere are horses that always journey in this manner, as my own eyes haveseen, and as their trail has shown for twenty long miles."
"'Tis the merit of the animal! They come from the shores ofNarragansett Bay, in the small province of Providence Plantations, andare celebrated for their hardihood, and the ease of this peculiarmovement; though other horses are not unfrequently trained to the same."
"It may be--it may be," said Hawkeye, who had listened with singularattention to this explanation; "though I am a man who has the full bloodof the whites, my judgment in deer and beaver is greater than in beastsof burden. Major Effingham has many noble chargers, but I have neverseen one travel after such a sideling gait."
"True; for he would value the animals for very different properties.Still is this a breed highly esteemed, and as you witness, much honoredwith the burdens it is often destined to bear."
The Mohicans had suspended their operations about the glimmering fire,to listen; and when Duncan had done, they looked at each othersignificantly, the father uttering the never-failing exclamation ofsurprise. The scout ruminated, like a man digesting his newly acquiredknowledge, and once more stole a curious glance at the horses.
"I dare to say there are even stranger sights to be seen in thesettlements!" he said, at length; "natur' is sadly abused by man, whenhe once gets the mastery. But, go sideling or go straight, Uncas hadseen the movement, and their trail led us on to the broken bush. Theouter branch, near the prints of one of the horses, was bent upward, asa lady breaks a flower from its stem, but all the rest were ragged andbroken down, as if the strong hand of a man had been tearing them! So Iconcluded that the cunning varmints had seen the twig bent, and had tornthe rest, to make us believe a buck had been feeling the boughs with hisantlers."
"I do believe your sagacity did not deceive you; for some such thingoccurred!"
"That was easy to see," added the scout, in no degree conscious ofhaving exhibited any extraordinary sagacity; "and a very differentmatter it was from a waddling horse! It then struck me the Mingos wouldpush for this spring, for the knaves well know the vartue of itswaters!"
"Is it, then, so famous?" demanded Heyward, examining, with a morecurious eye, the secluded dell, with its bubbling fountain, surrounded,as it was, by earth of a deep dingy brown.
"Few redskins, who travel south and east of the great lakes, but haveheard of its qualities. Will you taste for yourself?"
Heyward took the gourd, and after swallowing a little of the water,threw it aside with grimaces of discontent. The scout laughed in hissilent, but heartfelt manner, and shook his head with vast satisfaction.
"Ah! you want the flavor that one gets by habit; the time was when Iliked it as little as yourself; but I have come to my taste, and I nowcrave it, as a deer does the licks.[17] Your high spiced wines are notbetter liked than a redskin relishes this water; especially when hisnatur' is ailing. But Uncas has made his fire, and it is time we thinkof eating, for our journey is long, and all before us."
Interrupting the dialogue by this abrupt transition, the scout hadinstant recourse to the fragments of food which had escaped the voracityof the Hurons. A very summary process completed the simple cookery, whenhe and the Mohicans commenced their humble meal, with the silence andcharacteristic diligence of men who ate in order to enable themselvesto endure great and unremitting toil.
When this necessary, and, happily, grateful duty had been performed,each of the foresters stooped and took a long and parting draught atthat solitary and silent spring,[18] around which and its sisterfountains, within fifty years, the wealth, beauty, and talents of ahemisphere were to assemble in throngs, in pursuit of health andpleasure. Then Hawkeye announced his determination to proceed. Thesisters resumed their saddles; Duncan and David grasped their rifles,and followed on their footsteps; the scout leading the advance, and theMohicans bringing up the rear. The whole party moved swiftly through thenarrow path, towards the north, leaving the healing waters to mingleunheeded with the adjacent brook, and the bodies of the dead to festeron the neighboring mount, without the rites of sepulture; a fate but toocommon to the warriors of the woods to excite either commiseration orcomment.
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