The Last of the Mohicans

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"Ay," returned the composed scout, "the Indians have hid the beasts with
the judgment of natives! Water leaves no trail, and an owl's eyes would
be blinded by the darkness of such a hole."

The whole party was soon reunited, and another consultation was held
between the scout and his new comrades, during which, they, whose fates
depended on the faith and ingenuity of these unknown foresters, had a
little leisure to observe their situation more minutely.

The river was confined between high and cragged rocks, one of which
impended above the spot where the canoe rested. As these, again, were
surmounted by tall trees, which appeared to totter on the brows of the
precipice, it gave the stream the appearance of running through a deep
and narrow dell. All beneath the fantastic limbs and ragged tree tops,
which were, here and there, dimly painted against the starry zenith,
lay alike in shadowed obscurity. Behind them, the curvature of the banks
soon bounded the view by the same dark and wooded outline; but in front,
and apparently at no great distance, the water seemed piled against
the heavens, whence it tumbled into caverns, out of which issued those
sullen sounds that had loaded the evening atmosphere. It seemed, in
truth, to be a spot devoted to seclusion, and the sisters imbibed a
soothing impression of security, as they gazed upon its romantic though
not unappalling beauties. A general movement among their conductors,
however, soon recalled them from a contemplation of the wild charms that
night had assisted to lend the place to a painful sense of their real
peril.

The horses had been secured to some scattering shrubs that grew in the
fissures of the rocks, where, standing in the water, they were left to
pass the night. The scout directed Heyward and his disconsolate fellow
travelers to seat themselves in the forward end of the canoe, and took
possession of the other himself, as erect and steady as if he floated
in a vessel of much firmer materials. The Indians warily retraced their
steps toward the place they had left, when the scout, placing his pole
against a rock, by a powerful shove, sent his frail bark directly into
the turbulent stream. For many minutes the struggle between the light
bubble in which they floated and the swift current was severe and
doubtful. Forbidden to stir even a hand, and almost afraid to breath,
lest they should expose the frail fabric to the fury of the stream,
the passengers watched the glancing waters in feverish suspense.
Twenty times they thought the whirling eddies were sweeping them to
destruction, when the master-hand of their pilot would bring the bows of
the canoe to stem the rapid. A long, a vigorous, and, as it appeared
to the females, a desperate effort, closed the struggle. Just as Alice
veiled her eyes in horror, under the impression that they were about
to be swept within the vortex at the foot of the cataract, the canoe
floated, stationary, at the side of a flat rock, that lay on a level
with the water.

"Where are we, and what is next to be done!" demanded Heyward,
perceiving that the exertions of the scout had ceased.

"You are at the foot of Glenn's," returned the other, speaking aloud,
without fear of consequences within the roar of the cataract; "and the
next thing is to make a steady landing, lest the canoe upset, and you
should go down again the hard road we have traveled faster than you came
up; 'tis a hard rift to stem, when the river is a little swelled; and
five is an unnatural number to keep dry, in a hurry-skurry, with a
little birchen bark and gum. There, go you all on the rock, and I will
bring up the Mohicans with the venison. A man had better sleep without
his scalp, than famish in the midst of plenty."

His passengers gladly complied with these directions. As the last foot
touched the rock, the canoe whirled from its station, when the tall form
of the scout was seen, for an instant, gliding above the waters, before
it disappeared in the impenetrable darkness that rested on the bed of
the river. Left by their guide, the travelers remained a few minutes in
helpless ignorance, afraid even to move along the broken rocks, lest a
false step should precipitate them down some one of the many deep and
roaring caverns, into which the water seemed to tumble, on every side
of them. Their suspense, however, was soon relieved; for, aided by the
skill of the natives, the canoe shot back into the eddy, and floated
again at the side of the low rock, before they thought the scout had
even time to rejoin his companions.

"We are now fortified, garrisoned, and provisioned," cried Heyward
cheerfully, "and may set Montcalm and his allies at defiance. How, now,
my vigilant sentinel, can see anything of those you call the Iroquois,
on the main land!"

"I call them Iroquois, because to me every native, who speaks a foreign
tongue, is accounted an enemy, though he may pretend to serve the king!
If Webb wants faith and honesty in an Indian, let him bring out the
tribes of the Delawares, and send these greedy and lying Mohawks and
Oneidas, with their six nations of varlets, where in nature they belong,
among the French!"

"We should then exchange a warlike for a useless friend! I have heard
that the Delawares have laid aside the hatchet, and are content to be
called women!"

"Aye, shame on the Hollanders and Iroquois, who circumvented them by
their deviltries, into such a treaty! But I have known them for twenty
years, and I call him liar that says cowardly blood runs in the veins
of a Delaware. You have driven their tribes from the seashore, and would
now believe what their enemies say, that you may sleep at night upon an
easy pillow. No, no; to me, every Indian who speaks a foreign tongue
is an Iroquois, whether the castle* of his tribe be in Canada, or be in
York."

* The principal villages of the Indians are still called
"castles" by the whites of New York. "Oneida castle" is no
more than a scattered hamlet; but the name is in general
use.

Heyward, perceiving that the stubborn adherence of the scout to the
cause of his friends the Delawares, or Mohicans, for they were branches
of the same numerous people, was likely to prolong a useless discussion,
changed the subject.

"Treaty or no treaty, I know full well that your two companions are
brave and cautious warriors! have they heard or seen anything of our
enemies!"

"An Indian is a mortal to be felt afore he is seen," returned the scout,
ascending the rock, and throwing the deer carelessly down. "I trust to
other signs than such as come in at the eye, when I am outlying on the
trail of the Mingoes."

"Do your ears tell you that they have traced our retreat?"

"I should be sorry to think they had, though this is a spot that stout
courage might hold for a smart scrimmage. I will not deny, however,
but the horses cowered when I passed them, as though they scented the
wolves; and a wolf is a beast that is apt to hover about an Indian
ambushment, craving the offals of the deer the savages kill."

"You forget the buck at your feet! or, may we not owe their visit to the
dead colt? Ha! what noise is that?"

"Poor Miriam!" murmured the stranger; "thy foal was foreordained to
become a prey to ravenous beasts!" Then, suddenly lifting up his voice,
amid the eternal din of the waters, he sang aloud: "First born of Egypt,
smite did he, Of mankind, and of beast also: O, Egypt! wonders sent
'midst thee, On Pharaoh and his servants too!"

"The death of the colt sits heavy on the heart of its owner," said the
scout; "but it's a good sign to see a man account upon his dumb friends.
He has the religion of the matter, in believing what is to happen will
happen; and with such a consolation, it won't be long afore he submits
to the rationality of killing a four-footed beast to save the lives of
human men. It may be as you say," he continued, reverting to the purport
of Heyward's last remark; "and the greater the reason why we should cut
our steaks, and let the carcass drive down the stream, or we shall have
the pack howling along the cliffs, begrudging every mouthful we swallow.
Besides, though the Delaware tongue is the same as a book to the
Iroquois, the cunning varlets are quick enough at understanding the
reason of a wolf's howl."

The scout, while making his remarks, was busied in collecting certain
necessary implements; as he concluded, he moved silently by the group
of travelers, accompanied by the Mohicans, who seemed to comprehend his
intentions with instinctive readiness, when the whole three
disappeared in succession, seeming to vanish against the dark face of
a perpendicular rock that rose to the height of a few yards, within as
many feet of the water's edge.




CHAPTER 6

"Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide;
He wales a portion with judicious care;
And 'Let us worship God', he says, with solemn air."--Burns

Heyward and his female companions witnessed this mysterious movement
with secret uneasiness; for, though the conduct of the white man had
hitherto been above reproach, his rude equipments, blunt address,
and strong antipathies, together with the character of his silent
associates, were all causes for exciting distrust in minds that had been
so recently alarmed by Indian treachery.

The stranger alone disregarded the passing incidents. He seated
himself on a projection of the rocks, whence he gave no other signs
of consciousness than by the struggles of his spirit, as manifested in
frequent and heavy sighs. Smothered voices were next heard, as though
men called to each other in the bowels of the earth, when a sudden light
flashed upon those without, and laid bare the much-prized secret of the
place.

At the further extremity of a narrow, deep cavern in the rock, whose
length appeared much extended by the perspective and the nature of the
light by which it was seen, was seated the scout, holding a blazing
knot of pine. The strong glare of the fire fell full upon his sturdy,
weather-beaten countenance and forest attire, lending an air of romantic
wildness to the aspect of an individual, who, seen by the sober light of
day, would have exhibited the peculiarities of a man remarkable for the
strangeness of his dress, the iron-like inflexibility of his frame,
and the singular compound of quick, vigilant sagacity, and of exquisite
simplicity, that by turns usurped the possession of his muscular
features. At a little distance in advance stood Uncas, his whole person
thrown powerfully into view. The travelers anxiously regarded the
upright, flexible figure of the young Mohican, graceful and unrestrained
in the attitudes and movements of nature. Though his person was more
than usually screened by a green and fringed hunting-shirt, like that of
the white man, there was no concealment to his dark, glancing, fearless
eye, alike terrible and calm; the bold outline of his high, haughty
features, pure in their native red; or to the dignified elevation of his
receding forehead, together with all the finest proportions of a noble
head, bared to the generous scalping tuft. It was the first opportunity
possessed by Duncan and his companions to view the marked lineaments of
either of their Indian attendants, and each individual of the party felt
relieved from a burden of doubt, as the proud and determined, though
wild expression of the features of the young warrior forced itself on
their notice. They felt it might be a being partially benighted in the
vale of ignorance, but it could not be one who would willingly devote
his rich natural gifts to the purposes of wanton treachery. The
ingenuous Alice gazed at his free air and proud carriage, as she would
have looked upon some precious relic of the Grecian chisel, to which
life had been imparted by the intervention of a miracle; while Heyward,
though accustomed to see the perfection of form which abounds among
the uncorrupted natives, openly expressed his admiration at such an
unblemished specimen of the noblest proportions of man.

"I could sleep in peace," whispered Alice, in reply, "with such a
fearless and generous-looking youth for my sentinel. Surely, Duncan,
those cruel murders, those terrific scenes of torture, of which we read
and hear so much, are never acted in the presence of such as he!"

"This certainly is a rare and brilliant instance of those natural
qualities in which these peculiar people are said to excel," he
answered. "I agree with you, Alice, in thinking that such a front and
eye were formed rather to intimidate than to deceive; but let us not
practice a deception upon ourselves, by expecting any other exhibition
of what we esteem virtue than according to the fashion of the savage.
As bright examples of great qualities are but too uncommon among
Christians, so are they singular and solitary with the Indians; though,
for the honor of our common nature, neither are incapable of producing
them. Let us then hope that this Mohican may not disappoint our wishes,
but prove what his looks assert him to be, a brave and constant friend."

"Now Major Heyward speaks as Major Heyward should," said Cora; "who that
looks at this creature of nature, remembers the shade of his skin?"

A short and apparently an embarrassed silence succeeded this remark,
which was interrupted by the scout calling to them, aloud, to enter.

"This fire begins to show too bright a flame," he continued, as they
complied, "and might light the Mingoes to our undoing. Uncas, drop the
blanket, and show the knaves its dark side. This is not such a supper
as a major of the Royal Americans has a right to expect, but I've
known stout detachments of the corps glad to eat their venison raw, and
without a relish, too*. Here, you see, we have plenty of salt, and can
make a quick broil. There's fresh sassafras boughs for the ladies to sit
on, which may not be as proud as their my-hog-guinea chairs, but which
sends up a sweeter flavor, than the skin of any hog can do, be it of
Guinea, or be it of any other land. Come, friend, don't be mournful for
the colt; 'twas an innocent thing, and had not seen much hardship. Its
death will save the creature many a sore back and weary foot!"

* In vulgar parlance the condiments of a repast are called
by the American "a relish," substituting the thing for its
effect. These provincial terms are frequently put in the
mouths of the speakers, according to their several
conditions in life. Most of them are of local use, and
others quite peculiar to the particular class of men to
which the character belongs. In the present instance, the
scout uses the word with immediate reference to the "salt,"
with which his own party was so fortunate as to be provided.

Uncas did as the other had directed, and when the voice of Hawkeye
ceased, the roar of the cataract sounded like the rumbling of distant
thunder.

"Are we quite safe in this cavern?" demanded Heyward. "Is there no
danger of surprise? A single armed man, at its entrance, would hold us
at his mercy."

A spectral-looking figure stalked from out of the darkness behind the
scout, and seizing a blazing brand, held it toward the further extremity
of their place of retreat. Alice uttered a faint shriek, and even Cora
rose to her feet, as this appalling object moved into the light; but
a single word from Heyward calmed them, with the assurance it was only
their attendant, Chingachgook, who, lifting another blanket, discovered
that the cavern had two outlets. Then, holding the brand, he crossed
a deep, narrow chasm in the rocks which ran at right angles with the
passage they were in, but which, unlike that, was open to the heavens,
and entered another cave, answering to the description of the first, in
every essential particular.

"Such old foxes as Chingachgook and myself are not often caught in a
barrow with one hole," said Hawkeye, laughing; "you can easily see the
cunning of the place--the rock is black limestone, which everybody knows
is soft; it makes no uncomfortable pillow, where brush and pine wood is
scarce; well, the fall was once a few yards below us, and I dare to say
was, in its time, as regular and as handsome a sheet of water as any
along the Hudson. But old age is a great injury to good looks, as these
sweet young ladies have yet to l'arn! The place is sadly changed! These
rocks are full of cracks, and in some places they are softer than at
othersome, and the water has worked out deep hollows for itself, until
it has fallen back, ay, some hundred feet, breaking here and wearing
there, until the falls have neither shape nor consistency."

"In what part of them are we?" asked Heyward.

"Why, we are nigh the spot that Providence first placed them at, but
where, it seems, they were too rebellious to stay. The rock proved
softer on each side of us, and so they left the center of the river bare
and dry, first working out these two little holes for us to hide in."

"We are then on an island!"

"Ay! there are the falls on two sides of us, and the river above and
below. If you had daylight, it would be worth the trouble to step up
on the height of this rock, and look at the perversity of the water. It
falls by no rule at all; sometimes it leaps, sometimes it tumbles;
there it skips; here it shoots; in one place 'tis white as snow, and in
another 'tis green as grass; hereabouts, it pitches into deep hollows,
that rumble and crush the 'arth; and thereaways, it ripples and sings
like a brook, fashioning whirlpools and gullies in the old stone, as if
'twas no harder than trodden clay. The whole design of the river seems
disconcerted. First it runs smoothly, as if meaning to go down the
descent as things were ordered; then it angles about and faces the
shores; nor are there places wanting where it looks backward, as if
unwilling to leave the wilderness, to mingle with the salt. Ay, lady,
the fine cobweb-looking cloth you wear at your throat is coarse,
and like a fishnet, to little spots I can show you, where the river
fabricates all sorts of images, as if having broke loose from order, it
would try its hand at everything. And yet what does it amount to! After
the water has been suffered so to have its will, for a time, like a
headstrong man, it is gathered together by the hand that made it, and a
few rods below you may see it all, flowing on steadily toward the sea,
as was foreordained from the first foundation of the 'arth!"

While his auditors received a cheering assurance of the security of
their place of concealment from this untutored description of Glenn's,*
they were much inclined to judge differently from Hawkeye, of its wild
beauties. But they were not in a situation to suffer their thoughts to
dwell on the charms of natural objects; and, as the scout had not found
it necessary to cease his culinary labors while he spoke, unless to
point out, with a broken fork, the direction of some particularly
obnoxious point in the rebellious stream, they now suffered their
attention to be drawn to the necessary though more vulgar consideration
of their supper.

* Glenn's Falls are on the Hudson, some forty or fifty miles
above the head of tide, or that place where the river
becomes navigable for sloops. The description of this
picturesque and remarkable little cataract, as given by the
scout, is sufficiently correct, though the application of
the water to uses of civilized life has materially injured
its beauties. The rocky island and the two caverns are known
to every traveler, since the former sustains the pier of a
bridge, which is now thrown across the river, immediately
above the fall. In explanation of the taste of Hawkeye, it
should be remembered that men always prize that most which
is least enjoyed. Thus, in a new country, the woods and
other objects, which in an old country would be maintained
at great cost, are got rid of, simply with a view of
"improving" as it is called.

The repast, which was greatly aided by the addition of a few delicacies
that Heyward had the precaution to bring with him when they left their
horses, was exceedingly refreshing to the weary party. Uncas acted as
attendant to the females, performing all the little offices within his
power, with a mixture of dignity and anxious grace, that served to amuse
Heyward, who well knew that it was an utter innovation on the
Indian customs, which forbid their warriors to descend to any menial
employment, especially in favor of their women. As the rights of
hospitality were, however, considered sacred among them, this little
departure from the dignity of manhood excited no audible comment. Had
there been one there sufficiently disengaged to become a close observer,
he might have fancied that the services of the young chief were not
entirely impartial. That while he tendered to Alice the gourd of sweet
water, and the venison in a trencher, neatly carved from the knot of the
pepperidge, with sufficient courtesy, in performing the same offices
to her sister, his dark eye lingered on her rich, speaking countenance.
Once or twice he was compelled to speak, to command her attention
of those he served. In such cases he made use of English, broken and
imperfect, but sufficiently intelligible, and which he rendered so mild
and musical, by his deep, guttural voice, that it never failed to cause
both ladies to look up in admiration and astonishment. In the course
of these civilities, a few sentences were exchanged, that served to
establish the appearance of an amicable intercourse between the parties.

In the meanwhile, the gravity of Chingcachgook remained immovable. He
had seated himself more within the circle of light, where the frequent,
uneasy glances of his guests were better enabled to separate the natural
expression of his face from the artificial terrors of the war paint.
They found a strong resemblance between father and son, with the
difference that might be expected from age and hardships. The fierceness
of his countenance now seemed to slumber, and in its place was to be
seen the quiet, vacant composure which distinguishes an Indian warrior,
when his faculties are not required for any of the greater purposes
of his existence. It was, however, easy to be seen, by the occasional
gleams that shot across his swarthy visage, that it was only necessary
to arouse his passions, in order to give full effect to the terrific
device which he had adopted to intimidate his enemies. On the other
hand, the quick, roving eye of the scout seldom rested. He ate and
drank with an appetite that no sense of danger could disturb, but his
vigilance seemed never to desert him. Twenty times the gourd or the
venison was suspended before his lips, while his head was turned aside,
as though he listened to some distant and distrusted sounds--a movement
that never failed to recall his guests from regarding the novelties
of their situation, to a recollection of the alarming reasons that had
driven them to seek it. As these frequent pauses were never followed by
any remark, the momentary uneasiness they created quickly passed away,
and for a time was forgotten.

"Come, friend," said Hawkeye, drawing out a keg from beneath a cover of
leaves, toward the close of the repast, and addressing the stranger
who sat at his elbow, doing great justice to his culinary skill, "try
a little spruce; 'twill wash away all thoughts of the colt, and quicken
the life in your bosom. I drink to our better friendship, hoping that
a little horse-flesh may leave no heart-burnings atween us. How do you
name yourself?"

"Gamut--David Gamut," returned the singing master, preparing to wash
down his sorrows in a powerful draught of the woodsman's high-flavored
and well-laced compound.

"A very good name, and, I dare say, handed down from honest forefathers.
I'm an admirator of names, though the Christian fashions fall far below
savage customs in this particular. The biggest coward I ever knew as
called Lyon; and his wife, Patience, would scold you out of hearing
in less time than a hunted deer would run a rod. With an Indian 'tis a
matter of conscience; what he calls himself, he generally is--not that
Chingachgook, which signifies Big Sarpent, is really a snake, big or
little; but that he understands the windings and turnings of human
natur', and is silent, and strikes his enemies when they least expect
him. What may be your calling?"

"I am an unworthy instructor in the art of psalmody."

"Anan!"

"I teach singing to the youths of the Connecticut levy."

"You might be better employed. The young hounds go laughing and singing
too much already through the woods, when they ought not to breathe
louder than a fox in his cover. Can you use the smoothbore, or handle
the rifle?"

"Praised be God, I have never had occasion to meddle with murderous
implements!"

"Perhaps you understand the compass, and lay down the watercourses and
mountains of the wilderness on paper, in order that they who follow may
find places by their given names?"