"_Clo._--I am gone, sir,
And anon, sir,
I'll be with you again."
_Twelfth Night._
The Hurons stood aghast at this sudden visitation of death on one 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 centre of the Hurons,
where it stood, whirling a tomahawk, and flourishing a glittering knife,
with fearful menaces, in front of Cora. Quicker than the thoughts could
follow these 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 exclamation 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 expecting
Chingachgook. It was the signal for a general combat. Neither party had
fire-arms, and the contest was to be decided in the deadliest manner;
hand to hand, with weapons of offence, and none of defence.
Uncas answered the whoop, and leaping on an enemy, with a single, well
directed blow of his tomahawk, cleft him to the brain. Heyward tore the
weapon of Magua from the sapling, and rushed eagerly towards 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 defences 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 sought, with hellish vengeance, to
complete the baffled work of revenge. Raising a shout of triumph, he
sprang towards the defenceless 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 moulded 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 centre of the little plain towards 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 nor when 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 centre 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 Mohican!" 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 centre 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 Mingos; "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 has 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 is 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."
[Illustration: _Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_
THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST
_The battle was now entirely terminated, with the exception of the
protracted struggle between Le Renard Subtil and Le Gros Serpent_]
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 incoherent 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
practices 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 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 offence, 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 useful 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 towards 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 skilful 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 towards 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
fire-arms 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 foreordered, 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 had 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 apron-string 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 probable 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 rifles 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 towards 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.
"Ay, '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
Narragansett 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 sideling gait."
"True; for he would value the animals for very different properties.
Still is this a breed highly esteemed, and as you witness, much 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 curious 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 sideling 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 varmints 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 Mingos 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 redskins, 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.[17] Your high spiced wines are not
better liked than a redskin 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."
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,[18] 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 grasped their rifles,
and followed on their footsteps; the scout leading the advance, and the
Mohicans bringing up the rear. The whole party moved swiftly through the
narrow path, towards the north, leaving the healing waters to mingle
unheeded with the adjacent brook, 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.