CHAPTER XIV
"_Guard._--Qui est la?
_Puc._--Paisans, pauvres gens de France."
_King Henry VI._
During the rapid movement from the block-house, and until the party wasdeeply buried in the forest, each individual was too much interested inthe escape to hazard a word even in whispers. The scout resumed his postin the advance, though his steps, after he had thrown a safe distancebetween himself and his enemies, were more deliberate than in theirprevious march, in consequence of his utter ignorance of the localitiesof the surrounding woods. More than once he halted to consult with hisconfederates, the Mohicans, pointing upwards at the moon, and examiningthe barks of the trees with care. In these brief pauses, Heyward and thesisters listened, with senses rendered doubly acute by the danger, todetect any symptoms which might announce the proximity of their foes. Atsuch moments, it seemed as if a vast range of country lay buried ineternal sleep; not the least sound arising from the forest, unless itwas the distant and scarcely audible rippling of a water-course. Birds,beasts, and man, appeared to slumber alike, if, indeed, any of thelatter were to be found in that wide tract of wilderness. But the soundsof the rivulet, feeble and murmuring as they were, relieved the guidesat once from no trifling embarrassment, and towards it they immediatelyheld their way.
When the banks of the little stream were gained, Hawkeye made anotherhalt; and, taking the moccasins from his feet, he invited Heyward andGamut to follow his example. He then entered the water, and for near anhour they travelled in the bed of the brook, leaving no trail. The moonhad already sunk into an immense pile of black clouds, which layimpending above the western horizon, when they issued from the low anddevious water-course to rise again to the light and level of the sandybut wooded plain. Here the scout seemed to be once more at home, for heheld on his way with the certainty and diligence of a man who moved inthe security of his own knowledge. The path soon became more uneven, andthe travellers could plainly perceive that the mountains drew nigher tothem on each hand, and that they were, in truth, about entering one oftheir gorges. Suddenly, Hawkeye made a pause, and waiting until he wasjoined by the whole party, he spoke, though in tones so low andcautious, that they added to the solemnity of his words, in the quietand darkness of the place.
"It is easy to know the pathways, and to find the licks andwater-courses of the wilderness," he said; "but who that saw this spotcould venture to say, that a mighty army was at rest among yonder silenttrees and barren mountains?"
"We are then at no great distance from William Henry?" said Heyward,advancing nigher to the scout.
"It is yet a long and weary path, and when and where to strike it, isnow our greatest difficulty. See," he said, pointing through the treestowards a spot where a little basin of water reflected the stars fromits placid bosom, "here is the 'bloody pond'; and I am on the groundthat I have not only often travelled, but over which I have fou't theenemy, from the rising to the setting sun."
"Ha! that sheet of dull and dreary water, then, is the sepulchre of thebrave men who fell in the contest. I have heard it named, but never haveI stood on its banks before."
"Three battles did we make with the Dutch-Frenchman[20] in a day,"continued Hawkeye, pursuing the train of his own thoughts, rather thanreplying to the remark of Duncan. "He met us hard by, in our outwardmarch to ambush his advance, and scattered us, like driven deer, throughthe defile, to the shores of Horican. Then we rallied behind our fallentrees, and made head against him, under Sir William--who was made SirWilliam for that very deed; and well did we pay him for the disgrace ofthe morning! Hundreds of Frenchmen saw the sun that day for the lasttime; and even the leader, Dieskau himself, fell into our hands so cutand torn with the lead, that he has gone back to his own country, unfitfor further acts in war."
"'Twas a noble repulse!" exclaimed Heyward, in the heat of his youthfulardor; "the fame of it reached us early, in our southern army."
"Ay! but it did not end there. I was sent by Major Effingham, at SirWilliam's own bidding, to outflank the French, and carry the tidings oftheir disaster across the portage, to the fort on the Hudson. Justhereaway, where you see the trees rise into a mountain swell, I met aparty coming down to our aid, and I led them where the enemy were takingtheir meal, little dreaming that they had not finished the bloody workof the day."
"And you surprised them?"
"If death can be a surprise to men who are thinking only of the cravingsof their appetites. We gave them but little breathing time, for they hadborne hard upon us in the fight of the morning, and there were few inour party who had not lost friend or relative by their hands. When allwas over, the dead, and some say the dying, were cast into that littlepond. These eyes have seen its waters colored with blood, as naturalwater never yet flowed from the bowels of the 'arth."
"It was a convenient, and, I trust, will prove a peaceful grave for asoldier. You have, then, seen much service on this frontier?"
"I!" said the scout, erecting his tall person with an air of militarypride; "there are not many echoes among these hills that haven't rungwith the crack of my rifle, nor is there the space of a square mileatwixt Horican and the river, that 'Killdeer' hasn't dropped a livingbody on, be it an enemy or be it a brute beast. As for the grave, there,being as quiet as you mention, it is another matter. There are them inthe camp who say and think, man, to lie still, should not be buriedwhile the breath is in the body; and certain it is that in the hurry ofthat evening, the doctors had but little time to say who was living andwho was dead. Hist! see you nothing walking on the shore of the pond?"
"'Tis not probable that any are as houseless as ourselves, in thisdreary forest."
"Such as he may care but little for house or shelter, and night dew cannever wet a body that passes its days in the water," returned the scout,grasping the shoulder of Heyward with such convulsive strength as tomake the young soldier painfully sensible how much superstitious terrorhad got the mastery of a man usually so dauntless.
"By heaven! there is a human form, and it approaches! Stand to yourarms, my friends; for we know not whom we encounter."
"Qui vive?" demanded a stern, quick voice, which sounded like achallenge from another world, issuing out of that solitary and solemnplace.
"What says it?" whispered the scout; "it speaks neither Indian norEnglish!"
"Qui vive?" repeated the same voice, which was quickly followed by therattling of arms, and a menacing attitude.
"France!" cried Heyward, advancing from the shadow of the trees to theshore of the pond, within a few yards of the sentinel.
"D'ou venez-vous--ou allez-vous, d'aussi bonne heure?" demanded thegrenadier, in the language and with the accent of a man from old France.
"Je viens de la decouverte, et je vais me coucher."
"Etes-vous officier du roi?"
"Sans doute, mon camarade; me prends-tu pour un provincial! Je suiscapitaine de chasseurs (Heyward well knew that the other was of aregiment in the line); j'ai ici, avec moi, les filles du commandant dela fortification. Aha! tu en as entendu parler! je les ai faitprisonnieres pres de l'autre fort, et je les conduis au general."
"Ma foi! mesdames; j'en suis fache pour vous," exclaimed the youngsoldier, touching his cap with grace; "mais--fortune de guerre! voustrouverez notre general un brave homme, et bien poli avec les dames."
"C'est le caractere des gens de guerre," said Cora, with admirableself-possession. "Adieu, mon ami; je vous souhaiterais un devoir plusagreable a remplir."
The soldier made a low and humble acknowledgment for her civility; andHeyward adding a "Bonne nuit, mon camarade," they moved deliberatelyforward, leaving the sentinel pacing the banks of the silent pond,little suspecting an enemy of so much effrontery, and humming to himselfthose words, which were recalled to his mind by the sight of women, andperhaps by recollections of his own distant and beautiful France--
"Vive le vin, l'amour," etc., etc.
"'Tis well you understood the knave!" whispered the scout, when they had
gained a little distance from the place, and letting his rifle fall intothe hollow of his arm again; "I soon saw that he was one of them uneasyFrenchers; and well for him it was that his speech was friendly and hiswishes kind, or a place might have been found for his bones among thoseof his countrymen."
He was interrupted by a long and heavy groan which arose from the littlebasin, as though, in truth, the spirits of the departed lingered abouttheir watery sepulchre.
"Surely it was of flesh!" continued the scout; "no spirit could handleits arms so steadily!"
"It _was_ of flesh; but whether the poor fellow still belongs to thisworld may well be doubted," said Heyward, glancing his eyes around him,and missing Chingachgook from their little band. Another groan morefaint than the former, was succeeded by a heavy and sullen plunge intothe water, and all was as still again as if the borders of the drearypool had never been awakened from the silence of creation. While theyyet hesitated in uncertainty, the form of the Indian was seen glidingout of the thicket. As the chief rejoined them, with one hand heattached the reeking scalp of the unfortunate young Frenchman to hisgirdle, and with the other he replaced the knife and tomahawk that haddrunk his blood. He then took his wonted station, with the air of a manwho believed he had done a deed of merit.
The scout dropped one end of his rifle to the earth, and leaning hishands on the other, he stood musing in profound silence. Then shakinghis head in a mournful manner, he muttered,--
"'T would have been a cruel and an unhuman act for a white-skin; but'tis the gift and natur' of an Indian, and I suppose it should not bedenied. I could wish, though, it had befallen an accursed Mingo, ratherthan that gay young boy from the old countries."
"Enough!" said Heyward, apprehensive the unconscious sisters mightcomprehend the nature of the detention, and conquering his disgust by atrain of reflections very much like that of the hunter; "'tis done; andthough better it were left undone, cannot be amended. You see we are,too obviously, within the sentinels of the enemy; what course do youpropose to follow?"
"Yes," said Hawkeye, rousing himself again, "'tis as you say, too lateto harbor further thoughts about it. Ay, the French have gathered aroundthe fort in good earnest, and we have a delicate needle to thread inpassing them."
"And but little time to do it in," added Heyward, glancing his eyesupward, toward the bank of vapor that concealed the setting moon.
"And little time to do it in!" repeated the scout. "The thing may bedone in two fashions, by the help of Providence, without which it maynot be done at all."
"Name them quickly, for time presses."
"One would be to dismount the gentle ones, and let their beasts rangethe plain; by sending the Mohicans in front, we might then cut a lanethrough their sentries, and enter the fort over the dead bodies."
"It will not do--it will not do!" interrupted the generous Heyward; "asoldier might force his way in this manner, but never with such aconvoy."
"'Twould be, indeed, a bloody path for tender feet to wade in," returnedthe equally reluctant scout; "but I thought it befitting my manhood toname it. We must then turn on our trail and get without the line oftheir look-outs, when we will bend short to the west, and enter themountains; where I can hide you, so that all the devil's hounds inMontcalm's pay would be thrown off the scent, for months to come."
"Let it be done, and that instantly."
Further words were unnecessary; for Hawkeye, merely uttering the mandateto "follow," moved along the route by which they had just entered theirpresent critical and even dangerous situation. Their progress, liketheir late dialogue, was guarded, and without noise; for none knew atwhat moment a passing patrol, or a crouching picket of the enemy, mightrise upon their path. As they held their silent way along the margin ofthe pond, again Heyward and the scout stole furtive glances at itsappalling dreariness. They looked in vain for the form they had sorecently seen stalking along its silent shores, while a low and regularwash of the little waves, by announcing that the waters were not yetsubsided, furnished a frightful memorial of the deed of blood they hadjust witnessed. Like all that passing and gloomy scene, the low basin,however, quickly melted in the darkness, and became blended with themass of black objects in the rear of the travellers.
Hawkeye soon deviated from the line of their retreat, and striking offtowards the mountains which form the western boundary of the narrowplain, he led his followers, with swift steps, deep within the shadowsthat were cast from their high and broken summits. The route was nowpainful; lying over ground ragged with rocks, and intersected withravines, and their progress proportionately slow. Bleak and black hillslay on every side of them, compensating in some degree for theadditional toil of the march, by the sense of security they imparted. Atlength the party began slowly to climb a steep and rugged ascent by apath that curiously wound among rocks and trees, avoiding the one, andsupported by the other, in a manner that showed it had been devised bymen long practised in the arts of the wilderness. As they gradually rosefrom the level of the valleys, the thick darkness which usually precedesthe approach of day began to disperse, and objects were seen in theplain and palpable colors with which they had been gifted by nature.When they issued from the stunted woods which clung to the barren sidesof the mountain, upon a flat and mossy rock that formed its summit, theymet the morning, as it came blushing above the green pines of a hillthat lay on the opposite side of the valley of the Horican.
The scout now told the sisters to dismount; and taking the bridles fromthe mouths, and the saddles off the backs of the jaded beasts, he turnedthem loose, to glean a scanty subsistence among the shrubs and meagreherbage of that elevated region.
"Go," he said, "and seek your food where natur' gives it you; and bewarethat you become not food to ravenous wolves yourselves, among thesehills."
"Have we no further need of them?" demanded Heyward.
"See, and judge with your own eyes," said the scout, advancing towardsthe eastern brow of the mountain, whither he beckoned for the wholeparty to follow; "if it was as easy to look into the heart of man as itis to spy out the nakedness of Montcalm's camp from this spot,hypocrites would grow scarce, and the cunning of a Mingo might prove alosing game, compared to the honesty of a Delaware."
When the travellers reached the verge of the precipice, they saw, at aglance, the truth of the scout's declaration, and the admirableforesight with which he had led them to their commanding station.
The mountain on which they stood, elevated, perhaps, a thousand feet inthe air, was a high cone that rose a little in advance of that rangewhich stretches for miles along the western shores of the lake, untilmeeting its sister piles, beyond the water, it ran off towards theCanadas, in confused and broken masses of rock, thinly sprinkled withevergreens. Immediately at the feet of the party, the southern shore ofthe Horican swept in a broad semicircle, from mountain to mountain,marking a wide strand, that soon rose into an uneven and somewhatelevated plain. To the north stretched the limpid, and, as it appearedfrom that dizzy height, the narrow sheet of the "holy lake," indentedwith numberless bays, embellished by fantastic headlands, and dottedwith countless islands. At the distance of a few leagues, the bed of thewaters became lost among mountains, or was wrapped in the masses ofvapor that came slowly rolling along their bosom, before a light morningair. But a narrow opening between the crests of the hills pointed outthe passage by which they found their way still farther north, to spreadtheir pure and ample sheets again, before pouring out their tribute intothe distant Champlain. To the south stretched the defile, or ratherbroken plain, so often mentioned. For several miles in this direction,the mountains appeared reluctant to yield their dominion, but withinreach of the eye they diverged, and finally melted into the level andsandy lands, across which we have accompanied our adventurers in theirdouble journey. Along both ranges of hills, which bounded the oppositesides of the lake and valley, clouds of light vapor were rising inspiral wreaths from the uninhabited woods, looking like the smokes ofhidden cottages; or rolled lazily down the
declivities, to mingle withthe fogs of the lower land. A single, solitary, snow-white cloud floatedabove the valley, and marked the spot beneath which lay the silent poolof the "bloody pond."
Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its western than to itseastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts and low buildings ofWilliam Henry. Two of the sweeping bastions appeared to rest on thewater which washed their bases, while a deep ditch and extensivemorasses guarded its other sides and angles. The land had been clearedof wood for a reasonable distance around the work, but every other partof the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except where the limpidwater mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their black and nakedheads above the undulating outline of the mountain ranges. In its frontmight be seen the scattered sentinels, who held a weary watch againsttheir numerous foes; and within the walls themselves, the travellerslooked down upon men still drowsy with a night of vigilance. Towards thesoutheast, but in immediate contact with the fort, was an entrenchedcamp, posted on a rocky eminence, that would have been far more eligiblefor the work itself, in which Hawkeye pointed out the presence of thoseauxiliary regiments that had so recently left the Hudson in theircompany. From the woods, a little farther to the south, rose numerousdark and lurid smokes, that were easily to be distinguished from thepurer exhalations of the springs, and which the scout also showed toHeyward, as evidences that the enemy lay in force in that direction.
But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was on thewestern bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern termination.On a strip of land, which appeared, from his stand, too narrow tocontain such an army, but which, in truth, extended many hundreds ofyards from the shores of the Horican to the base of the mountain, wereto be seen the white tents and military engines of an encampment of tenthousand men. Batteries were already thrown up in their front, and evenwhile the spectators above them were looking down, with such differentemotions, on a scene which lay like a map beneath their feet, the roarof artillery rose from the valley, and passed off in thundering echoes,along the eastern hills.
"Morning is just touching them below," said the deliberate and musingscout, "and the watchers have a mind to wake up the sleepers by thesound of cannon. We are a few hours too late? Montcalm has alreadyfilled the woods with his accursed Iroquois."
"The place is, indeed, invested," returned Duncan, "but is there noexpedient by which we may enter? capture in the works would be farpreferable to falling again into the hands of roving Indians."
"See!" exclaimed the scout, unconsciously directing the attention ofCora to the quarters of her own father, "how that shot has made thestones fly from the side of the commandant's house! Ay! these Frencherswill pull it to pieces faster than it was put together, solid and thickthough it be."
"Heyward, I sicken at the sight of danger that I cannot share," said theundaunted, but anxious daughter. "Let us go to Montcalm, and demandadmission: he dare not deny a child the boon."
"You would scarce find the tent of the Frenchman with the hair on yourhead," said the blunt scout. "If I had but one of the thousand boatswhich lie empty along that shore, it might be done. Ha! here will soonbe an end of the firing, for yonder comes a fog that will turn day tonight, and make an Indian arrow more dangerous than a moulded cannon.Now, if you are equal to the work, and will follow, I will make a push;for I long to get down into that camp, if it be only to scatter someMingo dogs that I see lurking in the skirts of yonder thicket of birch."
"We are equal," said Cora, firmly: "on such an errand we will follow toany danger."
The scout turned to her with a smile of honest and cordial approbationas he answered,--
"I would I had a thousand men, of brawny limbs and quick eyes, thatfeared death as little as you! I'd send them jabbering Frenchers backinto their den again, afore the week was ended, howling like so manyfettered hounds or hungry wolves. But stir," he added, turning from herto the rest of the party, "the fog comes rolling down so fast, we shallhave but just the time to meet it on the plain, and use it as a cover.Remember, if any accident should befall me, to keep the air blowing onyour left cheeks--or rather, follow the Mohicans; they'd scent theirway, be it in day or be it at night."
He then waved his hand for them to follow, and threw himself down thesteep declivity, with free, but careful footsteps. Heyward assisted thesisters to descend, and in a few minutes they were all far down amountain whose sides they had climbed with so much toil and pain.
The direction taken by Hawkeye soon brought the travellers to the levelof the plain, nearly opposite to a sally-port in the western curtain ofthe fort, which lay, itself, at the distance of about half a mile fromthe point where he halted to allow Duncan to come up with his charge. Intheir eagerness, and favored by the nature of the ground, they hadanticipated the fog, which was rolling heavily down the lake, and itbecame necessary to pause, until the mists had wrapped the camp of theenemy in their fleecy mantle. The Mohicans profited by the delay, tosteal out of the woods, and to make a survey of surrounding objects.They were followed at a little distance by the scout, with a view toprofit early by their report, and to obtain some faint knowledge forhimself of the more immediate localities.
In a very few moments he returned, his face reddened with vexation,while he muttered his disappointment in words of no very gentle import.
"Here has the cunning Frenchman been posting a picket directly in ourpath," he said; "redskins and whites; and we shall be as likely to fallinto their midst as to pass them in the fog!"
"Cannot we make a circuit to avoid the danger," asked Heyward, "and comeinto our path again when it is passed?"
"Who that once bends from the line of his march in a fog can tell whenor how to turn to find it again! The mists of Horican are not like thecurls from a peace-pipe, or the smoke which settles above a mosquitofire."
He was yet speaking, when a crashing sound was heard, and a cannon-ballentered the thicket, striking the body of a sapling, and rebounding tothe earth, its force being much expended by previous resistance. TheIndians followed instantly like busy attendants on the terriblemessenger, and Uncas commenced speaking earnestly and with much action,in the Delaware tongue.
"It may be so, lad," muttered the scout, when he had ended; "fordesperate fevers are not to be treated like a toothache. Come, then, thefog is shutting in."
"Stop!" cried Heyward; "first explain your expectations."
"'Tis soon done, and a small hope it is; but it is better than nothing.This shot that you see," added the scout, kicking the harmless iron withhis foot, "has ploughed the 'arth in its road from the fort, and weshall hunt for the furrow it has made, when all other signs may fail. Nomore words, but follow, or the fog may leave us in the middle of ourpath, a mark for both armies to shoot at."
Heyward perceiving that, in fact, a crisis had arrived when acts weremore required than words, placed himself between the sisters, and drewthem swiftly forward, keeping the dim figure of their leader in his eye.It was soon apparent that Hawkeye had not magnified the power of thefog, for before they had proceeded twenty yards, it was difficult forthe different individuals of the party to distinguish each other, in thevapor.
They had made their little circuit to the left, and were alreadyinclining again towards the right, having, as Heyward thought, got overnearly half the distance to the friendly works, when his ears weresaluted with the fierce summons, apparently within twenty feet of them,of--
"Qui va la?"
"Push on!" whispered the scout, once more bending to the left.
"Push on!" repeated Heyward; when the summons was renewed by a dozenvoices, each of which seemed charged with menace.
"C'est moi," cried Duncan, dragging, rather than leading those hesupported, swiftly onward.
"Bete!--qui?--moi!"
"Ami de la France."
"Tu m'as plus l'air d'un _ennemi_ de la France; arrete! ou pardieu je teferai ami du diable. Non! feu, camarades, feu!"
The order was instantly obeyed, and t
he fog was stirred by the explosionof fifty muskets. Happily, the aim was bad, and the bullets cut the airin a direction a little different from that taken by the fugitives;though still so nigh them, that to the unpractised ears of David and thetwo females, it appeared as if they whistled within a few inches of theorgans. The outcry was renewed, and the order, not only to fire again,but to pursue, was too plainly audible. When Heyward briefly explainedthe meaning of the words they heard, Hawkeye halted, and spoke withquick decision and great firmness.
"Let us deliver our fire," he said; "they will believe it a sortie, andgive way, or they will wait for reinforcements."
The scheme was well conceived, but failed in its effect. The instant theFrench heard the pieces, it seemed as if the plain was alive with men,muskets rattling along its whole extent, from the shores of the lake tothe farthest boundary of the woods.
"We shall draw their entire army upon us, and bring on a generalassault," said Duncan: "lead on, my friend, for your own life, andours."
The scout seemed willing to comply; but, in the hurry of the moment, andin the change of position, he had lost the direction. In vain he turnedeither cheek towards the light air; they felt equally cool. In thisdilemma, Uncas lighted on the furrow of the cannon-ball, where it hadcut the ground in three adjacent ant-hills.
"Give me the range!" said Hawkeye, bending to catch a glimpse of thedirection, and then instantly moving onward.
Cries, oaths, voices calling to each other, and the reports of muskets,were now quick and incessant, and, apparently, on every side of them.Suddenly, a strong glare of light flashed across the scene, the fogrolled upwards in thick wreaths, and several cannon belched across theplain, and the roar was thrown heavily back from the bellowing echoes ofthe mountain.
"'Tis from the fort!" exclaimed Hawkeye, turning short on his tracks;"and we, like stricken fools, were rushing to the woods, under the veryknives of the Maquas."
The instant their mistake was rectified, the whole party retraced theerror with the utmost diligence. Duncan willingly relinquished thesupport of Cora to the arm of Uncas, and Cora as readily accepted thewelcome assistance. Men, hot and angry in pursuit, were evidently ontheir footsteps, and each instant threatened their capture, if not theirdestruction.
"Point de quartier aux coquins!" cried an eager pursuer, who seemed todirect the operations of the enemy.
"Stand firm, and be ready, my gallant 60ths!" suddenly exclaimed a voiceabove them; "wait to see the enemy,--fire low, and sweep the glacis."
"Father! father!" exclaimed a piercing cry from out the mist; "it is I!Alice! thy own Elsie! spare, O! save your daughters!"
"Hold!" shouted the former speaker, in the awful tones of parentalagony, the sound reaching even to the woods, and rolling back in solemnecho. "'Tis she! God has restored me my children! Throw open thesally-port; to the field, 60ths, to the field; pull not a trigger, lestye kill my lambs! Drive off these dogs of France with your steel."
Duncan heard the grating of the rusty hinges, and darting to the spot,directed by the sound, he met a long line of dark red warriors, passingswiftly towards the glacis. He knew them for his own battalion of theroyal Americans, and flying to their head, soon swept every trace of hispursuers from before the works.
For an instant, Cora and Alice had stood trembling and bewildered bythis unexpected desertion; but, before either had leisure for speech, oreven thought, an officer of gigantic frame whose locks were bleachedwith years and service, but whose air of military grandeur had beenrather softened than destroyed by time, rushed out of the body of themist, and folded them to his bosom, while large scalding tears rolleddown his pale and wrinkled cheeks, and he exclaimed, in the peculiaraccent of Scotland,--
"For this I thank thee, Lord! Let danger come as it will, thy servant isnow prepared!"
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 Page 14
