The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 Read online

  CHAPTER 7

  "They do not sleep, On yonder cliffs, a grizzly band, I see them sit."--Gray

  "'Twould be neglecting a warning that is given for our good to lie hidany longer," said Hawkeye "when such sounds are raised in the forest.These gentle ones may keep close, but the Mohicans and I will watch uponthe rock, where I suppose a major of the Sixtieth would wish to keep uscompany."

  "Is, then, our danger so pressing?" asked Cora.

  "He who makes strange sounds, and gives them out for man's information,alone knows our danger. I should think myself wicked, unto rebellionagainst His will, was I to burrow with such warnings in the air! Eventhe weak soul who passes his days in singing is stirred by the cry,and, as he says, is 'ready to go forth to the battle' If 'twere only abattle, it would be a thing understood by us all, and easily managed;but I have heard that when such shrieks are atween heaven and 'arth, itbetokens another sort of warfare!"

  "If all our reasons for fear, my friend, are confined to such as proceedfrom supernatural causes, we have but little occasion to be alarmed,"continued the undisturbed Cora, "are you certain that our enemies havenot invented some new and ingenious method to strike us with terror,that their conquest may become more easy?"

  "Lady," returned the scout, solemnly, "I have listened to all the soundsof the woods for thirty years, as a man will listen whose life and deathdepend on the quickness of his ears. There is no whine of the panther,no whistle of the catbird, nor any invention of the devilish Mingoes,that can cheat me! I have heard the forest moan like mortal men in theiraffliction; often, and again, have I listened to the wind playingits music in the branches of the girdled trees; and I have heard thelightning cracking in the air like the snapping of blazing brush as itspitted forth sparks and forked flames; but never have I thought that Iheard more than the pleasure of him who sported with the things of hishand. But neither the Mohicans, nor I, who am a white man without across, can explain the cry just heard. We, therefore, believe it a signgiven for our good."

  "It is extraordinary!" said Heyward, taking his pistols from the placewhere he had laid them on entering; "be it a sign of peace or a signalof war, it must be looked to. Lead the way, my friend; I follow."

  On issuing from their place of confinement, the whole party instantlyexperienced a grateful renovation of spirits, by exchanging the pentair of the hiding-place for the cool and invigorating atmosphere whichplayed around the whirlpools and pitches of the cataract. A heavyevening breeze swept along the surface of the river, and seemed to drivethe roar of the falls into the recesses of their own cavern, whence itissued heavily and constant, like thunder rumbling beyond the distanthills. The moon had risen, and its light was already glancing here andthere on the waters above them; but the extremity of the rock where theystood still lay in shadow. With the exception of the sounds producedby the rushing waters, and an occasional breathing of the air, as itmurmured past them in fitful currents, the scene was as still as nightand solitude could make it. In vain were the eyes of each individualbent along the opposite shores, in quest of some signs of life, thatmight explain the nature of the interruption they had heard. Theiranxious and eager looks were baffled by the deceptive light, or restedonly on naked rocks, and straight and immovable trees.

  "Here is nothing to be seen but the gloom and quiet of a lovelyevening," whispered Duncan; "how much should we prize such a scene, andall this breathing solitude, at any other moment, Cora! Fancy yourselvesin security, and what now, perhaps, increases your terror, may be madeconducive to enjoyment--"

  "Listen!" interrupted Alice.

  The caution was unnecessary. Once more the same sound arose, as if fromthe bed of the river, and having broken out of the narrow bounds of thecliffs, was heard undulating through the forest, in distant and dyingcadences.

  "Can any here give a name to such a cry?" demanded Hawkeye, when thelast echo was lost in the woods; "if so, let him speak; for myself, Ijudge it not to belong to 'arth!"

  "Here, then, is one who can undeceive you," said Duncan; "I know thesound full well, for often have I heard it on the field of battle, andin situations which are frequent in a soldier's life. 'Tis the horridshriek that a horse will give in his agony; oftener drawn from him inpain, though sometimes in terror. My charger is either a prey to thebeasts of the forest, or he sees his danger, without the power to avoidit. The sound might deceive me in the cavern, but in the open air I knowit too well to be wrong."

  The scout and his companions listened to this simple explanation withthe interest of men who imbibe new ideas, at the same time that they getrid of old ones, which had proved disagreeable inmates. The two latteruttered their usual expressive exclamation, "hugh!" as the truth firstglanced upon their minds, while the former, after a short, musing pause,took upon himself to reply.

  "I cannot deny your words," he said, "for I am little skilled in horses,though born where they abound. The wolves must be hovering above theirheads on the bank, and the timorsome creatures are calling on manfor help, in the best manner they are able. Uncas"--he spoke inDelaware--"Uncas, drop down in the canoe, and whirl a brand among thepack; or fear may do what the wolves can't get at to perform, and leaveus without horses in the morning, when we shall have so much need tojourney swiftly!"

  The young native had already descended to the water to comply, when along howl was raised on the edge of the river, and was borne swiftlyoff into the depths of the forest, as though the beasts, of theirown accord, were abandoning their prey in sudden terror. Uncas, withinstinctive quickness, receded, and the three foresters held another oftheir low, earnest conferences.

  "We have been like hunters who have lost the points of the heavens, andfrom whom the sun has been hid for days," said Hawkeye, turning awayfrom his companions; "now we begin again to know the signs of ourcourse, and the paths are cleared from briers! Seat yourselves in theshade which the moon throws from yonder beech--'tis thicker than thatof the pines--and let us wait for that which the Lord may choose tosend next. Let all your conversation be in whispers; though it would bebetter, and, perhaps, in the end, wiser, if each one held discourse withhis own thoughts, for a time."

  The manner of the scout was seriously impressive, though no longerdistinguished by any signs of unmanly apprehension. It was evident thathis momentary weakness had vanished with the explanation of a mysterywhich his own experience had not served to fathom; and though he nowfelt all the realities of their actual condition, that he was preparedto meet them with the energy of his hardy nature. This feeling seemedalso common to the natives, who placed themselves in positions whichcommanded a full view of both shores, while their own persons wereeffectually concealed from observation. In such circumstances, commonprudence dictated that Heyward and his companions should imitate acaution that proceeded from so intelligent a source. The young man drewa pile of the sassafras from the cave, and placing it in the chasm whichseparated the two caverns, it was occupied by the sisters, who werethus protected by the rocks from any missiles, while their anxietywas relieved by the assurance that no danger could approach withouta warning. Heyward himself was posted at hand, so near that he mightcommunicate with his companions without raising his voice to a dangerouselevation; while David, in imitation of the woodsmen, bestowed hisperson in such a manner among the fissures of the rocks, that hisungainly limbs were no longer offensive to the eye.

  In this manner hours passed without further interruption. The moonreached the zenith, and shed its mild light perpendicularly on thelovely sight of the sisters slumbering peacefully in each other's arms.Duncan cast the wide shawl of Cora before a spectacle he so much lovedto contemplate, and then suffered his own head to seek a pillow on therock. David began to utter sounds that would have shocked his delicateorgans in more wakeful moments; in short, all but Hawkeye and theMohicans lost every idea of consciousness, in uncontrollable drowsiness.But the watchfulness of these vigilant protectors neither tired norslumbered. Immovable as that rock, of which each appeared to form apart, they lay
, with their eyes roving, without intermission, along thedark margin of trees, that bounded the adjacent shores of the narrowstream. Not a sound escaped them; the most subtle examination couldnot have told they breathed. It was evident that this excess of cautionproceeded from an experience that no subtlety on the part of theirenemies could deceive. It was, however, continued without any apparentconsequences, until the moon had set, and a pale streak above thetreetops, at the bend of the river a little below, announced theapproach of day.

  Then, for the first time, Hawkeye was seen to stir. He crawled along therock and shook Duncan from his heavy slumbers.

  "Now is the time to journey," he whispered; "awake the gentle ones, andbe ready to get into the canoe when I bring it to the landing-place."

  "Have you had a quiet night?" said Heyward; "for myself, I believe sleephas got the better of my vigilance."

  "All is yet still as midnight. Be silent, but be quick."

  By this time Duncan was thoroughly awake, and he immediately lifted theshawl from the sleeping females. The motion caused Cora to raise herhand as if to repulse him, while Alice murmured, in her soft, gentlevoice, "No, no, dear father, we were not deserted; Duncan was with us!"

  "Yes, sweet innocence," whispered the youth; "Duncan is here, and whilelife continues or danger remains, he will never quit thee. Cora! Alice!awake! The hour has come to move!"

  A loud shriek from the younger of the sisters, and the form of the otherstanding upright before him, in bewildered horror, was the unexpectedanswer he received.

  While the words were still on the lips of Heyward, there had arisen sucha tumult of yells and cries as served to drive the swift currents of hisown blood back from its bounding course into the fountains of his heart.It seemed, for near a minute, as if the demons of hell had possessedthemselves of the air about them, and were venting their savage humorsin barbarous sounds. The cries came from no particular direction, thoughit was evident they filled the woods, and, as the appalled listenerseasily imagined, the caverns of the falls, the rocks, the bed of theriver, and the upper air. David raised his tall person in the midst ofthe infernal din, with a hand on either ear, exclaiming:

  "Whence comes this discord! Has hell broke loose, that man should uttersounds like these!"

  The bright flashes and the quick reports of a dozen rifles, from theopposite banks of the stream, followed this incautious exposure of hisperson, and left the unfortunate singing master senseless on that rockwhere he had been so long slumbering. The Mohicans boldly sent back theintimidating yell of their enemies, who raised a shout of savage triumphat the fall of Gamut. The flash of rifles was then quick and closebetween them, but either party was too well skilled to leave even a limbexposed to the hostile aim. Duncan listened with intense anxiety for thestrokes of the paddle, believing that flight was now their only refuge.The river glanced by with its ordinary velocity, but the canoe wasnowhere to be seen on its dark waters. He had just fancied they werecruelly deserted by their scout, as a stream of flame issued from therock beneath them, and a fierce yell, blended with a shriek of agony,announced that the messenger of death sent from the fatal weapon ofHawkeye, had found a victim. At this slight repulse the assailantsinstantly withdrew, and gradually the place became as still as beforethe sudden tumult.

  Duncan seized the favorable moment to spring to the body of Gamut,which he bore within the shelter of the narrow chasm that protected thesisters. In another minute the whole party was collected in this spot ofcomparative safety.

  "The poor fellow has saved his scalp," said Hawkeye, coolly passing hishand over the head of David; "but he is a proof that a man may be bornwith too long a tongue! 'Twas downright madness to show six feet offlesh and blood, on a naked rock, to the raging savages. I only wonderhe has escaped with life."

  "Is he not dead?" demanded Cora, in a voice whose husky tones showed howpowerfully natural horror struggled with her assumed firmness. "Can wedo aught to assist the wretched man?"

  "No, no! the life is in his heart yet, and after he has slept awhile hewill come to himself, and be a wiser man for it, till the hour of hisreal time shall come," returned Hawkeye, casting another oblique glanceat the insensible body, while he filled his charger with admirablenicety. "Carry him in, Uncas, and lay him on the sassafras. The longerhis nap lasts the better it will be for him, as I doubt whether he canfind a proper cover for such a shape on these rocks; and singing won'tdo any good with the Iroquois."

  "You believe, then, the attack will be renewed?" asked Heyward.

  "Do I expect a hungry wolf will satisfy his craving with a mouthful!They have lost a man, and 'tis their fashion, when they meet a loss,and fail in the surprise, to fall back; but we shall have them on again,with new expedients to circumvent us, and master our scalps. Our mainhope," he continued, raising his rugged countenance, across which ashade of anxiety just then passed like a darkening cloud, "will be tokeep the rock until Munro can send a party to our help! God send it maybe soon and under a leader that knows the Indian customs!"

  "You hear our probable fortunes, Cora," said Duncan, "and you know wehave everything to hope from the anxiety and experience of your father.Come, then, with Alice, into this cavern, where you, at least, will besafe from the murderous rifles of our enemies, and where you may bestowa care suited to your gentle natures on our unfortunate comrade."

  The sisters followed him into the outer cave, where David was beginning,by his sighs, to give symptoms of returning consciousness, and thencommending the wounded man to their attention, he immediately preparedto leave them.

  "Duncan!" said the tremulous voice of Cora, when he had reached themouth of the cavern. He turned and beheld the speaker, whose color hadchanged to a deadly paleness, and whose lips quivered, gazing after him,with an expression of interest which immediately recalled him to herside. "Remember, Duncan, how necessary your safety is to our own--howyou bear a father's sacred trust--how much depends on your discretionand care--in short," she added, while the telltale blood stole over herfeatures, crimsoning her very temples, "how very deservedly dear you areto all of the name of Munro."

  "If anything could add to my own base love of life," said Heyward,suffering his unconscious eyes to wander to the youthful form ofthe silent Alice, "it would be so kind an assurance. As major of theSixtieth, our honest host will tell you I must take my share of thefray; but our task will be easy; it is merely to keep these blood-houndsat bay for a few hours."

  Without waiting for a reply, he tore himself from the presence of thesisters, and joined the scout and his companions, who still lay withinthe protection of the little chasm between the two caves.

  "I tell you, Uncas," said the former, as Heyward joined them, "you arewasteful of your powder, and the kick of the rifle disconcerts your aim!Little powder, light lead, and a long arm, seldom fail of bringing thedeath screech from a Mingo! At least, such has been my experience withthe creatur's. Come, friends: let us to our covers, for no man can tellwhen or where a Maqua* will strike his blow."

  * Mingo was the Delaware term of the Five Nations. Maquas was the name given them by the Dutch. The French, from their first intercourse with them, called them Iroquois.

  The Indians silently repaired to their appointed stations, which werefissures in the rocks, whence they could command the approaches to thefoot of the falls. In the center of the little island, a few short andstunted pines had found root, forming a thicket, into which Hawkeyedarted with the swiftness of a deer, followed by the active Duncan. Herethey secured themselves, as well as circumstances would permit, amongthe shrubs and fragments of stone that were scattered about the place.Above them was a bare, rounded rock, on each side of which the waterplayed its gambols, and plunged into the abysses beneath, in the manneralready described. As the day had now dawned, the opposite shores nolonger presented a confused outline, but they were able to look into thewoods, and distinguish objects beneath a canopy of gloomy pines.

  A long and anxious watch succeeded, but without any further e
videncesof a renewed attack; and Duncan began to hope that their fire hadproved more fatal than was supposed, and that their enemies had beeneffectually repulsed. When he ventured to utter this impression to hiscompanions, it was met by Hawkeye with an incredulous shake of the head.

  "You know not the nature of a Maqua, if you think he is so easilybeaten back without a scalp!" he answered. "If there was one of the impsyelling this morning, there were forty! and they know our number andquality too well to give up the chase so soon. Hist! look into the waterabove, just where it breaks over the rocks. I am no mortal, if the riskydevils haven't swam down upon the very pitch, and, as bad luck wouldhave it, they have hit the head of the island. Hist! man, keep close! orthe hair will be off your crown in the turning of a knife!"

  Heyward lifted his head from the cover, and beheld what he justlyconsidered a prodigy of rashness and skill. The river had worn away theedge of the soft rock in such a manner as to render its first pitchless abrupt and perpendicular than is usual at waterfalls. With no otherguide than the ripple of the stream where it met the head of the island,a party of their insatiable foes had ventured into the current, andswam down upon this point, knowing the ready access it would give, ifsuccessful, to their intended victims.

  As Hawkeye ceased speaking, four human heads could be seen peering abovea few logs of drift-wood that had lodged on these naked rocks, and whichhad probably suggested the idea of the practicability of the hazardousundertaking. At the next moment, a fifth form was seen floating over thegreen edge of the fall, a little from the line of the island. The savagestruggled powerfully to gain the point of safety, and, favored by theglancing water, he was already stretching forth an arm to meet the graspof his companions, when he shot away again with the shirling current,appeared to rise into the air, with uplifted arms and starting eyeballs,and fell, with a sudden plunge, into that deep and yawning abyss overwhich he hovered. A single, wild, despairing shriek rose from thecavern, and all was hushed again as the grave.

  The first generous impulse of Duncan was to rush to the rescue of thehapless wretch; but he felt himself bound to the spot by the iron graspof the immovable scout.

  "Would ye bring certain death upon us, by telling the Mingoes where welie?" demanded Hawkeye, sternly; "'Tis a charge of powder saved, andammunition is as precious now as breath to a worried deer! Freshen thepriming of your pistols--the midst of the falls is apt to dampen thebrimstone--and stand firm for a close struggle, while I fire on theirrush."

  He placed a finger in his mouth, and drew a long, shrill whistle, whichwas answered from the rocks that were guarded by the Mohicans. Duncancaught glimpses of heads above the scattered drift-wood, as this signalrose on the air, but they disappeared again as suddenly as they hadglanced upon his sight. A low, rustling sound next drew his attentionbehind him, and turning his head, he beheld Uncas within a few feet,creeping to his side. Hawkeye spoke to him in Delaware, when the youngchief took his position with singular caution and undisturbed coolness.To Heyward this was a moment of feverish and impatient suspense; thoughthe scout saw fit to select it as a fit occasion to read a lectureto his more youthful associates on the art of using firearms withdiscretion.

  "Of all we'pons," he commenced, "the long barreled, true-grooved,soft-metaled rifle is the most dangerous in skillful hands, though itwants a strong arm, a quick eye, and great judgment in charging, to putforth all its beauties. The gunsmiths can have but little insight intotheir trade when they make their fowling-pieces and short horsemen's--"

  He was interrupted by the low but expressive "hugh" of Uncas.

  "I see them, boy, I see them!" continued Hawkeye; "they are gatheringfor the rush, or they would keep their dingy backs below the logs. Well,let them," he added, examining his flint; "the leading man certainlycomes on to his death, though it should be Montcalm himself!"

  At that moment the woods were filled with another burst of cries, and atthe signal four savages sprang from the cover of the driftwood. Heywardfelt a burning desire to rush forward to meet them, so intense was thedelirious anxiety of the moment; but he was restrained by the deliberateexamples of the scout and Uncas.

  When their foes, who had leaped over the black rocks that divided them,with long bounds, uttering the wildest yells, were within a few rods,the rifle of Hawkeye slowly rose among the shrubs, and poured out itsfatal contents. The foremost Indian bounded like a stricken deer, andfell headlong among the clefts of the island.

  "Now, Uncas!" cried the scout, drawing his long knife, while his quickeyes began to flash with ardor, "take the last of the screeching imps;of the other two we are sartain!"

  He was obeyed; and but two enemies remained to be overcome. Heyward hadgiven one of his pistols to Hawkeye, and together they rushed down alittle declivity toward their foes; they discharged their weapons at thesame instant, and equally without success.

  "I know'd it! and I said it!" muttered the scout, whirling the despisedlittle implement over the falls with bitter disdain. "Come on, ye bloodyminded hell-hounds! ye meet a man without a cross!"

  The words were barely uttered, when he encountered a savage of giganticstature, of the fiercest mien. At the same moment, Duncan found himselfengaged with the other, in a similar contest of hand to hand. With readyskill, Hawkeye and his antagonist each grasped that uplifted arm ofthe other which held the dangerous knife. For near a minute they stoodlooking one another in the eye, and gradually exerting the power oftheir muscles for the mastery.

  At length, the toughened sinews of the white man prevailed over the lesspracticed limbs of the native. The arm of the latter slowly gave waybefore the increasing force of the scout, who, suddenly wresting hisarmed hand from the grasp of the foe, drove the sharp weapon through hisnaked bosom to the heart. In the meantime, Heyward had been pressed ina more deadly struggle. His slight sword was snapped in the firstencounter. As he was destitute of any other means of defense, hissafety now depended entirely on bodily strength and resolution. Thoughdeficient in neither of these qualities, he had met an enemy every wayhis equal. Happily, he soon succeeded in disarming his adversary, whoseknife fell on the rock at their feet; and from this moment it became afierce struggle who should cast the other over the dizzy height into aneighboring cavern of the falls. Every successive struggle brought themnearer to the verge, where Duncan perceived the final and conqueringeffort must be made. Each of the combatants threw all his energies intothat effort, and the result was, that both tottered on the brink of theprecipice. Heyward felt the grasp of the other at his throat, andsaw the grim smile the savage gave, under the revengeful hope that hehurried his enemy to a fate similar to his own, as he felt his bodyslowly yielding to a resistless power, and the young man experienced thepassing agony of such a moment in all its horrors. At that instant ofextreme danger, a dark hand and glancing knife appeared before him; theIndian released his hold, as the blood flowed freely from around thesevered tendons of the wrist; and while Duncan was drawn backward by thesaving hand of Uncas, his charmed eyes still were riveted on thefierce and disappointed countenance of his foe, who fell sullenly anddisappointed down the irrecoverable precipice.

  "To cover! to cover!" cried Hawkeye, who just then had despatched theenemy; "to cover, for your lives! the work is but half ended!"

  The young Mohican gave a shout of triumph, and followed by Duncan, heglided up the acclivity they had descended to the combat, and sought thefriendly shelter of the rocks and shrubs.