Chapter 12

"Clo.--I am gone, sire, And anon, sire, I'll be with you

again."--Twelfth Night

The Hurons stood aghast at this sudden visitation of death

on one of their band. But as they regarded the fatal

accuracy of an aim which had dared to immolate an enemy at

so much hazard to a friend, the name of "La Longue Carabine"

burst simultaneously from every lip, and was succeeded by a

wild and a sort of plaintive howl. The cry was answered by

a loud shout from a little thicket, where the incautious

party had piled their arms; and at the next moment, Hawkeye,

too eager to load the rifle he had regained, was seen

advancing upon them, brandishing the clubbed weapon, and

cutting the air with wide and powerful sweeps. Bold and

rapid as was the progress of the scout, it was exceeded by

that of a light and vigorous form which, bounding past him,

leaped, with incredible activity and daring, into the very

center 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 could follow those

unexpected and audacious movements, an image, armed in the

emblematic panoply of death, glided before their eyes, and

assumed a threatening attitude at the other's side. The

savage tormentors recoiled before these warlike intruders,

and uttered, as they appeared in such quick succession, the

often repeated and peculiar exclamations of surprise,

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

easily disconcerted. Casting his keen eyes around the

little plain, he comprehended the nature of the assault at a

glance, and encouraging his followers by his voice as well

as by his example, he unsheathed his long and dangerous

knife, and rushed with a loud whoop upon the expected

Chingachgook. It was the signal for a general combat.

Neither party had firearms, and the contest was to be

decided in the deadliest manner, hand to hand, with weapons

of offense, and none of defense.

Uncas answered the whoop, and leaping on an enemy, with a

single, well-directed blow of his tomahawk, cleft him to the

brain. Heyward tore the weapon of Magua from the sapling,

and rushed eagerly toward the fray. As the combatants were

now equal in number, each singled an opponent from the

adverse band. The rush and blows passed with the fury of a

whirlwind, and the swiftness of lightning. Hawkeye soon got

another enemy within reach of his arm, and with one sweep of

his formidable weapon he beat down the slight and

inartificial defenses of his antagonist, crushing him to the

earth with the blow. Heyward ventured to hurl the tomahawk

he had seized, too ardent to await the moment of closing.

It struck the Indian he had selected on the forehead, and

checked for an instant his onward rush. Encouraged by this

slight advantage, the impetuous young man continued his

onset, and sprang upon his enemy with naked hands. A single

instant was enough to assure him of the rashness of the

measure, for he immediately found himself fully engaged,

with all his activity and courage, in endeavoring to ward

the desperate thrusts made with the knife of the Huron.

Unable longer to foil an enemy so alert and vigilant, he

threw his arms about him, and succeeded in pinning the limbs

of the other to his side, with an iron grasp, 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 head of his adversary, whose muscles appeared to

wither under the shock, as he sank from the arms of Duncan,

flexible and motionless.

When Uncas had brained his first antagonist, he turned, like

a hungry lion, to seek another. The fifth and only Huron

disengaged at the first onset had paused a moment, and then

seeing that all around him were employed in the deadly

strife, he had sought, with hellish vengeance, to complete

the baffled work of revenge. Raising a shout of triumph, he

sprang toward the defenseless Cora, sending his keen axe as

the dreadful precursor of his approach. The tomahawk grazed

her shoulder, and cutting the withes which bound her to the

tree, left the maiden at liberty to fly. She eluded the

grasp of the savage, and reckless of her own safety, threw

herself on the bosom of Alice, striving with convulsed and

ill-directed fingers, to tear asunder the twigs which

confined the person of her sister. Any other than a monster

would have relented at such an act of generous devotion to

the best and purest affection; 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 brutal

violence to her knees. The savage drew the flowing curls

through his hand, and raising them on high with an

outstretched arm, he passed the knife around the exquisitely

molded head of his victim, with a taunting and exulting

laugh. But he purchased this moment of fierce gratification

with the loss of the fatal opportunity. It was just then

the sight caught the eye of Uncas. Bounding from his

footsteps he appeared for an instant darting through the air

and descending in a ball he fell on the chest of his enemy,

driving him many yards from the spot, headlong and

prostrate. The violence of the exertion cast the young

Mohican at his side. They arose together, fought, and bled,

each in his turn. But the conflict was soon decided; the

tomahawk of Heyward and the rifle of Hawkeye descended on

the skull of the Huron, at the same moment that the knife of

Uncas reached his heart.

The battle was now entirely terminated with the exception of

the protracted struggle between "Le Renard Subtil" and "Le

Gros Serpent." Well did these barbarous warriors prove that

they deserved those significant names which had been

bestowed for deeds in former wars. When they engaged, some

little time was lost in eluding the quick and vigorous

thrusts which had been aimed at their lives. Suddenly

darting on each other, they closed, and came to the earth,

twisted together like twining serpents, in pliant and subtle

folds. At the moment when the victors found themselves

unoccupied, the spot where these experienced and desperate

combatants lay could only be distinguished by a cloud of

dust and leaves, which moved from the center of the little

plain toward its boundary, as if raised by the passage of a

whirlwind. Urged by the different 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. In

vain did Uncas dart around the cloud, with a wish to strike

his knife into the heart of his father's foe; the

threatening rifle of Hawkeye was raised and suspended in

vain, while Duncan endeavored to seize the limbs of the

Huron with hands that appeared to have lost their power.

Covered as they were with dust and blood, the swift

evolutions of the combatants seemed to incorporate their

bodies into one. The death-like looking figure of the

Mohican, and the dark form of the Huron, gleamed before

their eyes in such quick and confused succession, that the

friends of the former knew not where to plant the succoring

blow. It is true there were short and fleeting moments,

when the fiery eyes of Magua were seen glittering, like the

fabled organs of the basilisk through the dusty wreath by

which he was enveloped, and he read by those short and

deadly glances the fate of the combat in the presence of his

enemies; ere, however, any hostile hand could descend on his

devoted head, its place was filled by the scowling visage of

Chingachgook. In this manner the scene of the combat was

removed from the center of the little plain to its verge.

The Mohican now found an opportunity to make a powerful

thrust with his knife; Magua suddenly relinquished his

grasp, and fell backward without motion, and seemingly

without life. His adversary leaped on his feet, making the

arches of the forest ring with the sounds of triumph.

"Well done for the Delawares! victory to the Mohicans!"

cried Hawkeye, once more elevating the butt of the long and

fatal rifle; "a finishing blow from a man without a cross

will never tell against his honor, nor rob him of his right

to the scalp."

But at the very moment when the dangerous weapon was in the

act of descending, the subtle Huron rolled swiftly from

beneath the danger, over the edge of the precipice, and

falling on his feet, was seen leaping, with a single bound,

into the center of a thicket of low bushes, which clung

along its sides. The Delawares, who had believed their

enemy dead, uttered their exclamation of surprise, and were

following with speed and clamor, like hounds in open view of

the deer, when a shrill and peculiar cry from the scout

instantly changed their purpose, and recalled them to the

summit of the hill.

"'Twas like himself!" cried the inveterate forester, whose

prejudices contributed so largely to veil his natural sense

of justice in all matters which concerned the Mingoes; "a

lying and deceitful varlet as he is. An honest Delaware

now, being fairly vanquished, would have lain still, and

been knocked on the head, but these knavish Maquas cling to

life like so many cats-o'-the-mountain. Let him go--let

him go; 'tis but one man, and he without rifle or bow, many

a long mile from his French commerades; and like a rattler

that lost his fangs, he can do no further mischief, until

such time as he, and we too, may leave the prints of our

moccasins over a long reach of sandy plain. See, Uncas," he

added, in Delaware, "your father if flaying the scalps

already. It may be well to go round and feel the vagabonds

that are left, or we may have another of them loping through

the woods, and screeching like a jay that has been winged."

So saying the honest but implacable scout made the circuit

of the dead, into whose senseless bosoms he thrust his long

knife, with as much coolness as though they had been so many

brute carcasses. He had, however, been anticipated by the

elder Mohican, who had already torn the emblems of victory

from the unresisting heads of the slain.

But Uncas, denying his habits, we had almost said his

nature, flew with instinctive delicacy, accompanied by

Heyward, to the assistance of the females, and quickly

releasing Alice, placed her in the arms of Cora. We shall

not attempt to describe the gratitude to the Almighty

Disposer of Events which glowed in the bosoms of the

sisters, who were thus unexpectedly restored to life and to

each other. Their thanksgivings were deep and silent; the

offerings of their gentle spirits burning brightest and

purest on the secret altars of their hearts; and their

renovated and more earthly feelings exhibiting themselves in

long and fervent though speechless caresses. As Alice rose

from her knees, where she had sunk by the side of Cora, she

threw herself on the bosom of the latter, 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 of our dear, dear father, and his heart will not be

broken with grief. And you, too, Cora, my sister, my more

than sister, my mother; you, too, are spared. And Duncan,"

she added, looking round upon the youth with a smile of

ineffable innocence, "even our own brave and noble Duncan

has escaped without a hurt."

To these ardent and nearly innocent words Cora made no other

answer than by straining the youthful speaker to her heart,

as she bent over her in melting tenderness. The manhood of

Heyward felt no shame in dropping tears over this spectacle

of affectionate rapture; and Uncas stood, fresh and blood-

stained from the combat, a calm, and, apparently, an unmoved

looker-on, it is true, but with eyes that had already lost

their fierceness, and were beaming with a sympathy that

elevated him far above the intelligence, and advanced him

probably centuries before, the practises of his nation.

During this display of emotions so natural in their

situation, Hawkeye, whose vigilant distrust had satisfied

itself that the Hurons, who disfigured the heavenly scene,

no longer possessed the power to interrupt its harmony,

approached David, and liberated him from the bonds he had,

until that moment, endured with the most exemplary patience.

"There," exclaimed the scout, casting the last withe behind

him, "you are once more master of your own limbs, though you

seem not to use them with much greater judgment than that in

which they were first fashioned. If advice from one who is

not older than yourself, but who, having lived most of his

time in the wilderness, may be said to have experience

beyond his years, will give no offense, you are welcome to

my thoughts; and these are, to part with the little tooting

instrument in your jacket to the first fool you meet with,

and buy some we'pon with the money, if it be only the barrel

of a horseman's pistol. By industry and care, you might

thus come to some prefarment; for by this time, I should

think, your eyes would plainly tell you that a carrion crow

is a better bird than a mocking-thresher. The one will, at

least, remove foul sights from before the face of man, while

the other is only good to brew disturbances in the woods, by

cheating the ears of all that hear them."

"Arms and the clarion for the battle, but the song of

thanksgiving to the victory!" answered the liberated David.

"Friend," he added, thrusting forth his lean, delicate hand

toward Hawkeye, in kindness, while his eyes twinkled and

grew moist, "I thank thee that the hairs of my head still

grow where they were first rooted by Providence; for, though

those of other men may be more glossy and curling, I have

ever found mine own well suited to the brain they shelter.

That I did not join myself to the battle, was less owing to

disinclination, than to the bonds of the heathen. Valiant

and skillful hast thou proved thyself in the conflict, and I

hereby thank thee, before proceeding to discharge other and

more important duties, because thou hast proved thyself well

worthy of a Christian's praise."

"The thing is but a trifle, and what you may often see if

you tarry long among us," returned the scout, a good deal

softened toward the man of song, by this unequivocal

expression of gratitude. "I have got back my old companion,

'killdeer'," he added, striking his hand on the breech of

his rifle; "and that in itself is a victory. These Iroquois

are cunning, but they outwitted themselves when they placed

their firearms out of reach; and had Uncas or his father

been gifted with only their common Indian patience, we

should have come in upon the knaves with three bullets

instead of one, and that would have made a finish of the

whole pack; yon loping varlet, as well as his commerades.

But 'twas all fore-ordered, and for the best."

"Thou sayest well," returned David, "and hast caught the

true spirit of Christianity. He that is to be saved will be

saved, and he that is predestined 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 his rifle with a species of parental assiduity, now

looked up at the other in a displeasure that he did not

affect to conceal, roughly interrupting further speech.

"Doctrine or no doctrine," said the sturdy woodsman, "'tis

the belief of knaves, and the curse of an honest man. I can

credit that yonder Huron was to fall by my hand, for with my

own eyes I have seen it; but nothing short of being a

witness will cause me to think he has met with any reward,

or that Chingachgook there will be condemned at the final

day."

"You have no warranty for such an audacious doctrine, nor

any covenant to support it," cried David who was deeply

tinctured with the subtle distinctions which, in his time ,

and more especially in his province, had been drawn around

the beautiful simplicity of revelation, by endeavoring to

penetrate the awful mystery of the divine nature, supplying

faith by self-sufficiency, and by consequence, involving

those who reasoned from such human dogmas in absurdities and

doubt; "your temple is reared on the sands, and the first

tempest will wash away its foundation. I demand your

authorities for such an uncharitable assertion (like other

advocates of a system, David was not always accurate in his

use of terms). Name chapter and verse; in which of the holy

books do you find language to support you?"

"Book!" repeated Hawkeye, with singular and ill-concealed

disdain; "do you take me for a whimpering boy at the

apronstring of one of your old gals; 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 a cross-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 do with books? I never read but in one, and the

words that are written there are too simple and too plain to

need much schooling; though I may boast that of forty long

and hard-working years."

"What call you the volume?" said David, misconceiving the

other's meaning.

"'Tis open before your eyes," returned the scout; "and he

who owns it is not a niggard of its use. I have heard it

said that there are men who read in books to convince

themselves there is a God. I know not but man may so deform

his works in the settlement, as to leave that which is so

clear in the wilderness a matter of doubt among traders and

priests. If any such there be, and he will follow me from

sun to sun, through the windings of the forest, he shall see

enough to teach him that he is a fool, and that the greatest

of his folly lies in striving to rise to the level 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 who imbibed his faith from the lights of nature,

eschewing all subtleties of doctrine, he willingly abandoned

a controversy from which he believed neither profit nor

credit was to be derived. While the scout was speaking, he

had also seated himself, and producing the ready little

volume and the iron-rimmed spectacles, he prepared to

discharge a duty, which nothing but the unexpected assault

he had received in his orthodoxy could have so long

suspended. He was, in truth, a minstrel of the western

continent--of a much later day, certainly, than those

gifted bards, who formerly sang the profane renown of baron

and prince, but after the spirit of his own age and country;

and he was now prepared to exercise the cunning of his

craft, in celebration of, or rather in thanksgiving for, the

recent victory. He waited patiently for Hawkeye to cease,

then lifting his eyes, together with his voice, he said,

aloud:

"I invite you, friends, to join in praise for this signal

deliverance from the hands of barbarians and infidels, to

the comfortable and solemn tones of the tune called '

Northampton'."

He next named the page and verse where the rhymes selected

were to be found, and applied the pitch-pipe to his lips,

with the decent gravity that he had been wont to use in the

temple. This time he was, however, without any

accompaniment, for the sisters were just then pouring out

those 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 interruption of

any kind.

Hawkeye listened while he coolly adjusted his flint and

reloaded his rifle; but the sounds, wanting the extraneous

assistance of scene and sympathy, failed to awaken his

slumbering emotions. Never minstrel, or by whatever more

suitable name David should be known, drew upon his talents

in the presence of more insensible auditors; though

considering the singleness and sincerity of his motive, it

is probably that no bard of profane song ever uttered notes

that ascended so near to that throne where all homage and

praise is due. The scout shook his head, and muttering some

unintelligible words, among which "throat" and "Iroquois"

were alone audible, he walked away, to collect and to

examine into the state of the captured arsenal of the

Hurons. In this office he was now joined by Chingachgook,

who found his own, as well as the rifle of his son, among

the arms. Even Heyward and David were furnished with

weapons; nor was ammunition wanting to render them all

effectual.

When the foresters had made their selection, and distributed

their prizes, the scout announced that the hour had arrived

when it was necessary to move. By this time the song of

Gamut had ceased, and the sisters had learned to still the

exhibition of their emotions. Aided by Duncan and the

younger Mohican, the two latter descended the precipitous

sides of that hill which they had so lately ascended under

so very different auspices, and whose summit had so nearly

proved the scene of their massacre. At the foot they found

the Narragansetts browsing the herbage of the bushes, and

having mounted, they followed the movements of a guide, who,

in the most deadly straits, had so often proved himself

their friend. The journey was, however, short. Hawkeye,

leaving the blind path that the Hurons had followed, turned

short to his right, and entering the thicket, he crossed a

babbling brook, and halted in a narrow dell, under the shade

of a few water elms. Their distance from the base of the

fatal hill was but a few rods, and the steeds had been

serviceable only in crossing the shallow stream.

The scout and the Indians appeared to be familiar with the

sequestered place where they now were; for, leaning their

rifle against the trees, they commenced throwing aside the

dried leaves, and opening the blue clay, out of which a

clear and sparkling spring of bright, glancing water,

quickly bubbled. The white man then looked about him, as

though seeking for some object, which was not to be found as

readily as he expected.

"Them careless imps, the Mohawks, with their Tuscarora and

Onondaga brethren, have been here slaking their thirst," he

muttered, "and the vagabonds have thrown away the gourd!

This is the way with benefits, when they are bestowed on

such disremembering hounds! Here has the Lord laid 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 might laugh at the richest shop of apothecary's

ware in all the colonies; and see! the knaves have trodden

in the clay, and deformed the cleanliness of the place, as

though they were brute beasts, instead of human men."

Uncas silently extended toward him the desired gourd, which

the spleen of Hawkeye had hitherto prevented him from

observing on a branch of an elm. Filling it with water, he

retired a short distance, to a place where the ground was

more firm and dry; here he coolly seated himself, and after

taking a long, and, apparently, a grateful draught, he

commenced a very strict examination of the fragments of food

left by the Hurons, which had hung in a wallet on his arm.

"Thank you, lad!" he continued, returning the empty gourd to

Uncas; "now we will see how these rampaging Hurons lived,

when outlying in ambushments. Look at this! The varlets

know the better pieces of the deer; and one would think they

might carve and roast a saddle, equal to the best cook in

the land! But everything is raw, for the Iroquois are

thorough savages. Uncas, take my steel and kindle a fire; a

mouthful of a tender broil will give natur' a helping hand,

after so long a trail."

Heyward, perceiving that their guides now set about their

repast in sober earnest, assisted the ladies to alight, and

placed himself at their side, not unwilling to enjoy a few

moments of grateful rest, after the bloody scene he had just

gone through. While the culinary process was in hand,

curiosity induced him to inquire into the circumstances

which had led to their timely and unexpected rescue:

"How is it that we see you so soon, my generous friend," he

asked, "and without aid from the garrison of Edward?"

"Had we gone to the bend in the river, we might have been in

time to rake the leaves over your bodies, but too late to

have saved your scalps," coolly answered the scout. "No,

no; instead of throwing away strength and opportunity by

crossing to the fort, we lay by, under the bank 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 we kept close. A difficult matter it was, too,

to keep this Mohican boy snug in the ambushment. Ah! Uncas,

Uncas, your behavior was more like that of a curious woman

than of a warrior on his scent."

Uncas permitted his eyes to turn for an instant on the

sturdy countenance of the speaker, but he neither spoke nor

gave any indication of repentance. On the contrary, Heyward

thought the manner of the young Mohican was disdainful, if

not a little fierce, and that he suppressed passions that

were ready to explode, as much in compliment to the

listeners, 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 plain language to men who have passed their days in the

woods. But when you landed, we were driven to crawl like

sarpents, beneath the leaves; and then 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 you did not mistake the path, for the Hurons

divided, and each band had its horses."

"Ay! there we were thrown off the scent, and might, indeed,

have lost the trail, had it not been for Uncas; we took the

path, however, that led into the wilderness; for we judged,

and judged rightly, that the savages would hold that course

with their prisoners. But when we had followed it for many

miles, without finding a single twig broken, as I had

advised, my mind misgave me; especially as all the footsteps

had the prints of moccasins."

"Our captors had the precaution to see us shod like

themselves," said Duncan, raising a foot, and exhibiting the

buckskin he wore.

"Aye, 'twas judgmatical and like themselves; though we were

too expart to 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 be ashamed to own; to the judgment of the young

Mohican, in matters which I should know better than he, but

which I can now hardly believe to be true, 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

gentle ones," continued Hawkeye, glancing his eyes, not

without curious interest, on the fillies of the ladies,

"planted the legs of one side on the ground at the same

time, which is contrary to the movements of all trotting

four-footed animals of my knowledge, except the bear. And

yet here are horses that always journey in this manner, as

my own eyes have seen, and as their trail has shown for

twenty long miles."

"'Tis the merit of the animal! They come from the shores of

Narrangansett Bay, in the small province of Providence

Plantations, and are celebrated for their hardihood, and the

ease of this peculiar movement; though other horses are not

unfrequently trained to the same."

"It may be--it may be," said Hawkeye, who had listened

with singular attention to this explanation; "though I am a

man who has the full blood of the whites, my judgment in

deer and beaver is greater than in beasts of burden. Major

Effingham has many noble chargers, but I have never seen one

travel after such a sidling gait."

"True; for he would value the animals for very different

properties. Still is this a breed highly esteemed and, as

you witness, much honored with 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 other significantly, the father uttering the

never-failing exclamation of surprise. The scout ruminated,

like a man digesting his newly-acquired knowledge, and once

more stole a glance at the horses.

"I dare to say there are even stranger sights to be seen in

the settlements!" he said, at length "natur' is sadly abused

by man, when he once gets the mastery. But, go sidling or

go straight, Uncas had seen the movement, and their trail

led us on to the broken bush. The outer branch, near the

prints of one of the horses, was bent upward, as a lady

breaks a flower from its stem, but all the rest were ragged

and broken down, as if the strong hand of a man had been

tearing them! So I concluded that the cunning varments had

seen the twig bent, and had torn the rest, to make us

believe a buck had been feeling the boughs with his

antlers."

"I do believe your sagacity did not deceive you; for some

such thing occurred!"

"That was easy to see," added the scout, in no degree

conscious of having exhibited any extraordinary sagacity;

"and a very different matter it was from a waddling horse!

It then struck me the Mingoes would push for this spring,

for the knaves well know the vartue of its waters!"

"Is it, then, so famous?" demanded Heyward, examining, with

a more curious eye, the secluded dell, with its bubbling

fountain, surrounded, as it was, by earth of a deep, dingy

brown.

"Few red-skins, who travel south and east of the great lakes

but have heard 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 his silent but heartfelt manner, and shook

his head with vast satisfaction.

"Ah! you want the flavor that one gets by habit; the time

was when I liked it as little as yourself; but I have come

to my taste, and I now crave it, as a deer does the licks*.

Your high-spiced wines are not better liked than a red-skin

relishes this water; especially when his natur' is ailing.

But Uncas has made his fire, and it is time we think of

eating, for our journey is long, and all before us."

* Many of the animals of the American forests resort

to those spots where salt springs are found. These are

called "licks" or "salt licks," in the language of the

country, from the circumstance that the quadruped is often

obliged to lick the earth, in order to obtain the saline

particles. These licks are great places of resort with the

hunters, who waylay their game near the paths that lead to

them.

Interrupting the dialogue by this abrupt transition, the

scout had instant recourse to the fragments of food which

had escaped the voracity of the Hurons. A very summary

process completed the simple cookery, when he and the

Mohicans commenced their humble meal, with the silence and

characteristic diligence of men who ate in order to enable

themselves to 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 at that solitary and silent spring*, around

which and its sister fountains, within fifty years, the

wealth, beauty and talents of a hemisphere were to assemble

in throngs, in pursuit of health and pleasure. Then Hawkeye

announced his determination to proceed. The sisters resumed

their saddles; Duncan and David grapsed their rifles, and

followed on footsteps; the scout leading the advance, and

the Mohicans bringing up the rear. The whole party moved

swiftly through the narrow path, toward the north, leaving

the healing waters to mingle unheeded with the adjacent

brooks and the bodies of the dead to fester on the

neighboring mount, without the rites of sepulture; a fate

but too common to the warriors of the woods to excite either

commiseration or comment.

* The scene of the foregoing incidents is on the spot

where the village of Ballston now stands; one of the two

principal watering places of America.

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