_"Snug._--Have you the lion's part written? Pray you, if it be, give
it me, for I am slow of study."
_"Quince_.--You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring."
_Midsummer Night's Dream._
There was a strange blending of the ridiculous with that which was
solemn in this scene. The beast still continued its rolling, and
apparently untiring movements, though its ludicrous attempt to imitate
the melody of David ceased the instant the latter abandoned the field.
The words of Gamut were, as has been seen, in his native tongue; and to
Duncan they seemed pregnant with some hidden meaning, though nothing
present assisted him in discovering the object of their illusion. A
speedy end was, however, put to every conjecture on the subject, by the
manner of the chief, who advanced to the bedside of the invalid, and
beckoned away the whole group of female attendants that had clustered
there to witness the skill of the stranger. He was implicitly, though
reluctantly, obeyed; and when the low echo which rang along the hollow
natural gallery from the distant closing door had ceased, pointing
towards his insensible daughter, he said,--
"Now let my brother show his power."
Thus unequivocally called on to exercise the functions of his assumed
character, Heyward was apprehensive that the smallest delay might prove
dangerous. Endeavoring then to collect his ideas, he prepared to perform
that species of incantation, and those uncouth rites, under which the
Indian conjurers are accustomed to conceal their ignorance and
impotency. It is more than probable that, in the disordered state of his
thoughts, he would soon have fallen into some suspicious, if not fatal
error, had not his incipient attempts been interrupted by a fierce growl
from the quadruped. Three several times did he renew his efforts to
proceed, and as often was he met by the same unaccountable opposition,
each interruption seeming more savage and threatening than the
preceding.
"The cunning ones are jealous," said the Huron; "I go. Brother, the
woman is the wife of one of my bravest young men; deal justly by her.
Peace!" he added, beckoning to the discontented beast to be quiet; "I
go."
The chief was as good as his word, and Duncan now found himself alone in
that wild and desolate abode, with the helpless invalid, and the fierce
and dangerous brute. The latter listened to the movements of the Indian
with that air of sagacity that a bear is known to possess, until another
echo announced that he had also left the cavern, when it turned and came
waddling up to Duncan, before whom it seated itself, in its natural
attitude, erect like a man. The youth looked anxiously about him for
some weapon, with which he might make a resistance against the attack he
now seriously expected.
It seemed, however, as if the humor of the animal had suddenly changed.
Instead of continuing its discontented growls, or manifesting any
further signs of anger, the whole of its shaggy body shook violently, as
if agitated by some strange internal convulsion. The huge and unwieldy
talons pawed stupidly about the grinning muzzle, and while Heyward kept
his eyes riveted on its movements with jealous watchfulness, the grim
head fell on one side, and in its place appeared the honest, sturdy
countenance of the scout, who was indulging from the bottom of his soul,
in his own peculiar expression of merriment.
"Hist!" said the wary woodsman, interrupting Heyward's exclamation of
surprise; "the varlets are about the place, and any sounds that are not
natural to witchcraft would bring them back upon us in a body."
"Tell me the meaning of this masquerade; and why you have attempted so
desperate an adventure."
"Ah! reason and calculation are often outdone by accident," returned the
scout. "But as a story should always commence at the beginning, I will
tell you the whole in order. After we parted I placed the commandant and
the Sagamore in an old beaver lodge, where they are safer from the
Hurons than they would be in the garrison of Edward, for your high
northwest Indians, not having as yet got the traders among them,
continue to venerate the beaver. After which Uncas and I pushed for the
other encampment, as was agreed; have you seen the lad?"
"To my great grief! he is captive, and condemned to die at the rising of
the sun."
[Illustration: _Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_
THE MASQUERADER
_The grim head fell on one side, and in its place appeared the honest,
sturdy countenance of the scout_]
"I had misgivings that such would be his fate," resumed the scout, in a
less confident and joyous tone. But soon regaining his naturally firm
voice, he continued: "His bad fortune is the true reason of my being
here, for it would never do to abandon such a boy to the Hurons. A rare
time the knaves would have of it, could they tie The Bounding Elk and
The Long Carabine, as they call me, to the same stake! Though why they
have given me such a name I never knew, there being as little likeness
between the gifts of 'Killdeer,' and the performance of one of your real
Canada carabynes, as there is between the natur' of a pipe-stone and a
flint!"
"Keep to your tale," said the impatient Heyward; "we know not at what
moment the Hurons may return."
"No fear of them. A conjurer must have his time, like a straggling
priest in the settlements. We are as safe from interruption as a
missionary would be at the beginning of a two hours' discourse. Well,
Uncas and I fell in with a return party of the varlets; the lad was much
too forward for a scout; nay, for that matter, being of hot blood, he
was not so much to blame; and, after all, one of the Hurons proved a
coward, and in fleeing led him into an ambushment."
"And dearly has he paid for the weakness!"
The scout significantly passed his hand across his own throat, and
nodded, as if he said, "I comprehend your meaning." After which he
continued, in a more audible though scarcely more intelligible
language,--
"After the loss of the boy I turned upon the Hurons, as you may judge.
There have been scrimmages atween one or two of their outlyers and
myself; but that is neither here nor there. So, after I had shot the
imps, I got in pretty nigh to the lodges without further commotion. Then
what should luck do in my favor, but lead me to the very spot where one
of the most famous conjurers of the tribe was dressing himself, as I
well knew, for some great battle with Satan--though why should I call
that luck, which it now seems was an especial ordering of Providence! So
a judgmatical rap over the head stiffened the lying impostor for a time,
and leaving him a bit of walnut for his supper, to prevent an uproar,
and stringing him up atween two sapplings, I made free with his finery,
and took the part of the bear on myself, in order that the operations
might proceed."
"And admirably did you enact the character; the animal itself might have
been shamed by the representation."
"Lord, major," returned the flattered woodsman, "I should be but a poor
scholar for one who has studied so long in the wilderness, did I not
know how to set forth the movements and natur' of such a beast. Had it
been now a catamount, or even a full-sized panther, I would have
embellished a performance for you worth regarding. But it is no such
marvellous feat to exhibit the feats of so dull a beast; though, for
that matter too, a bear may be overacted. Yes, yes; it is not every
imitator that knows natur' may be outdone easier than she is equalled.
But all our work is yet before us: where is the gentle one?"
"Heaven knows; I have examined every lodge in the village, without
discovering the slightest trace of her presence in the tribe."
"You heard what the singer said, as he left us,--'She is at hand, and
expects you'?"
"I have been compelled to believe he alluded to this unhappy woman."
"The simpleton was frightened, and blundered through his message; but he
had a deeper meaning. Here are walls enough to separate the whole
settlement. A bear ought to climb; therefore will I take a look above
them. There may be honey-pots hid in these rocks, and I am a beast you
know, that has a hankering for the sweets."
The scout looked behind him, laughing at his own conceit, while he
clambered up the partition, imitating, as he went, the clumsy motions of
the beast he represented; but the instant the summit was gained he made
a gesture for silence, and slid down with the utmost precipitation.
"She is here," he whispered, "and by that door you will find her. I
would have spoken a word of comfort to the afflicted soul; but the sight
of such a monster might upset her reason. Though for that matter, major,
you are none of the most inviting yourself in your paint."
Duncan, who had already sprung eagerly forward, drew instantly back on
hearing these discouraging words.
"Am I, then, so very revolting?" he demanded, with an air of chagrin.
"You might not startle a wolf, or turn the Royal Americans from a
charge; but I have seen the time when you had a better-favored look;
your streaked countenances are not ill-judged of by the squaws, but
young women of white blood give the preference to their own color. See,"
he added, pointing to a place where the water trickled from a rock,
forming a little crystal spring before it found an issue through the
adjacent crevices; "you may easily get rid of the Sagamore's daub, and
when you come back I will try my hand at a new embellishment. It's as
common for a conjurer to alter his paint as for a buck in the
settlements to change his finery."
The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to
enforce his advice. He was yet speaking when Duncan availed himself of
the water. In a moment every frightful or offensive mark was
obliterated, and the youth appeared again in the lineaments with which
he had been gifted by nature. Thus prepared for an interview with his
mistress, he took a hasty leave of his companion, and disappeared
through the indicated passage. The scout witnessed his departure with
complacency, nodding his head after him, and muttering his good wishes;
after which he very coolly set about an examination of the state of the
larder, among the Hurons--the cavern, among other purposes, being used
as a receptacle for the fruits of their hunts.
Duncan had no other guide than a distant glimmering light, which served,
however, the office of a polar star to the lover. By its aid he was
enabled to enter the haven of his hopes, which was merely another
apartment of the cavern, that had been solely appropriated to the
safe-keeping of so important a prisoner as a daughter of the commandant
of William Henry. It was profusely strewed with the plunder of that
unlucky fortress. In the midst of this confusion he found her he sought,
pale, anxious, and terrified, but lovely. David had prepared her for
such a visit.
"Duncan!" she exclaimed, in a voice that seemed to tremble at the sounds
created by itself.
"Alice" he answered, leaping carelessly among trunks, boxes, arms, and
furniture, until he stood at her side.
"I knew that you would never desert me," she said, looking up with a
momentary glow on her otherwise dejected countenance. "But you are
alone! grateful as it is to be thus remembered, I could wish to think
you are not entirely alone."
Duncan, observing that she trembled in a manner which betrayed her
inability to stand, gently induced her to be seated, while he recounted
those leading incidents which it has been our task to record. Alice
listened with breathless interest; and though the young man touched
lightly on the sorrows of the stricken father, taking care, however, not
to wound the self-love of his auditor, the tears ran as freely down the
cheeks of the daughter as though she had never wept before. The soothing
tenderness of Duncan, however, soon quieted the first burst of her
emotions, and she then heard him to the close with undivided attention,
if not with composure.
"And now, Alice," he added, "you will see how much is still expected of
you. By the assistance of our experienced and invaluable friend, the
scout, we may find our way from this savage people, but you will have to
exert your utmost fortitude. Remember that you fly to the arms of your
venerable parent, and how much his happiness, as well as your own,
depends on those exertions."
"Can I do otherwise for a father who has done so much for me?"
"And for me too," continued the youth, gently pressing the hand he held
in both his own.
The look of innocence and surprise which he received in return convinced
Duncan of the necessity of being more explicit.
"This is neither the place nor the occasion to detain you with selfish
wishes," he added; "but what heart loaded like mine would not wish to
cast its burden? They say misery is the closest of all ties; our common
suffering in your behalf left but little to be explained between your
father and myself."
"And dearest Cora, Duncan; surely Cora was not forgotten?"
"Not forgotten! no; regretted, as woman was seldom mourned before. Your
venerable father knew no difference between his children; but I--Alice,
you will not be offended when I say, that to me her worth was in a
degree obscured--"
"Then you knew not the merit of my sister," said Alice, withdrawing her
hand; "of you she ever speaks as of one who is her nearest friend."
"I would gladly believe her such," returned Duncan, hastily; "I could
wish her to be even more; but with you, Alice, I have the permission of
your father to aspire to a still nearer and dearer tie."
Alice trembled violently, and there was an instant during which she bent
her face aside, yielding to the emotions common to her sex; but they
quickly passed away, leaving her mistress of her deportment, if not of
her affections.
"Heyward," she said, looking him full in the face with a touching
expression of innocence and dependency, "give me the sacred presence
and the holy sanction of that parent before you urge me further."
"Though more I should not, less I could not say," the youth was about to
answer, when he was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder. Starting
to his feet, he turned, and, confronting the intruder, his looks fell on
the dark form and malignant visage of Magua. The deep guttural laugh of
the savage sounded, at such a moment, to Duncan like the hellish taunt
of a demon. Had he pursued the sudden and fierce impulse of the instant,
he would have cast himself on the Huron, and committed their fortunes to
the issue of a deadly struggle. But, without arms of any description,
ignorant of what succor his subtle enemy could command, and charged with
the safety of one who was just then dearer than ever to his heart, he no
sooner entertained than he abandoned the desperate intention.
"What is your purpose?" said Alice, meekly folding her arms on her
bosom, and struggling to conceal an agony of apprehension in behalf of
Heyward, in the usual cold and distant manner with which she received
the visits of her captor.
The exulting Indian had resumed his austere countenance, though he drew
warily back before the menacing glance of the young man's fiery eye. He
regarded both his captives for a moment with a steady look, and then
stepping aside, he dropped a log of wood across a door different from
that by which Duncan had entered. The latter now comprehended the manner
of his surprise, and believing himself irretrievably lost, he drew Alice
to his bosom, and stood prepared to meet a fate which he hardly
regretted, since it was to be suffered in such company. But Magua
meditated no immediate violence. His first measures were very evidently
taken to secure his new captive; nor did he even bestow a second glance
at the motionless forms in the centre of the cavern, until he had
completely cut off every hope of retreat through the private outlet he
had himself used. He was watched in all his movements by Heyward, who,
however, remained firm, still folding the fragile form of Alice to his
heart, at once too proud and too hopeless to ask favor of an enemy so
often foiled. When Magua had effected his object he approached his
prisoners, and said in English,--
"The pale-faces trap the cunning beavers; but the redskins know how to
take the Yengeese."
"Huron, do your worst!" exclaimed the excited Heyward, forgetful that a
double stake was involved in his life; "you and your vengeance are alike
despised."
"Will the white man speak these words at the stake?" asked Magua;
manifesting, at the same time, how little faith he had in the other's
resolution by the sneer that accompanied his words.
"Here; singly to your face, or in the presence of your nation."
"Le Renard Subtil is a great chief!" returned the Indian; "he will go
and bring his young men to see how bravely a pale-face can laugh at the
tortures."
He turned away while speaking, and was about to leave the place through
the avenue by which Duncan had approached, when a growl caught his ear,
and caused him to hesitate. The figure of the bear appeared in the door,
where it sat, rolling from side to side in its customary restlessness.
Magua, like the father of the sick woman, eyed it keenly for a moment,
as if to ascertain its character. He was far above the more vulgar
superstitions of his tribe, and so soon as he recognized the well-known
attire of the conjurer, he prepared to pass it in cool contempt. But a
louder and more threatening growl caused him again to pause. Then he
seemed as if suddenly resolved to trifle no longer, and moved resolutely
forward. The mimic animal, which had advanced a little, retired slowly
in his front, until it arrived again at the pass, when rearing on its
hinder legs it beat the air with its paws, in the manner practised by
its brutal prototype.
"Fool!" exclaimed the chief, in Huron, "go play with the children and
squaws; leave men to their wisdom."
He once more endeavored to pass the supposed empiric, scorning even the
parade of threatening to use the knife, or tomahawk, that was pendent
from his belt. Suddenly the beast extended its arms, or rather legs, and
inclosed him in a grasp that might have vied with the far-famed power of
the "bear's hug" itself. Heyward had watched the whole procedure, on the
part of Hawkeye, with breathless interest. At first he relinquished his
hold of Alice; then he caught up a thong of buckskin, which had been
used around some bundle, and when he beheld his enemy with his two arms
pinned to his side by the iron muscles of the scout, he rushed upon him,
and effectually secured them there. Arms, legs, and feet were encircled
in twenty folds of the thong, in less time than we have taken to record
the circumstance. When the formidable Huron was completely pinioned, the
scout released his hold, and Duncan laid his enemy on his back, utterly
helpless.
Throughout the whole of this sudden and extraordinary operation, Magua,
though he had struggled violently, until assured he was in the hands of
one whose nerves were far better strung than his own, had not uttered
the slightest exclamation. But when Hawkeye, by way of making a summary
explanation of his conduct, removed the shaggy jaws of the beast, and
exposed his own rugged and earnest countenance to the gaze of the Huron,
the philosophy of the latter was so far mastered as to permit him to
utter the never-failing,--
"Hugh!"
"Ay! you've found your tongue," said his undisturbed conqueror; "now, in
order that you shall not use it to our ruin, I must make free to stop
your mouth."
As there was no time to be lost, the scout immediately set about
effecting so necessary a precaution; and when he had gagged the Indian,
his enemy might safely have been considered as _hors de combat_.
"By what place did the imp enter?" asked the industrious scout, when his
work was ended. "Not a soul has passed my way since you left me."
Duncan pointed out the door by which Magua had come, and which now
presented too many obstacles to a quick retreat.
"Bring on the gentle one, then," continued his friend; "we must make a
push for the woods by the other outlet."
"'Tis impossible!" said Duncan; "fear has overcome her, and she is
helpless. Alice! my sweet, my own Alice, arouse yourself; now is the
moment to fly. 'Tis in vain! she hears, but is unable to follow. Go,
noble and worthy friend; save yourself, and leave me to my fate!"
"Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!"
returned the scout. "There, wrap her in them Indian cloths. Conceal all
of her little form. Nay, that foot has no fellow in the wilderness; it
will betray her. All, every part. Now take her in your arms, and follow.
Leave the rest to me."
Duncan, as may be gathered from the words of his companion, was eagerly
obeying; and as the other finished speaking, he took the light person of
Alice in his arms, and followed on the footsteps of the scout. They
found the sick woman as they had left her, still alone, and passed
swiftly on, by the natural gallery, to the place of entrance. As they
approached the little door of bark, a murmur of voices without announced
that the friends and relatives of the invalid were gathered about the
place, patiently awaiting a summons to re-enter.
"If I open my lips to speak," Hawkeye whispered, "my English, which is
the genuine tongue of a white-skin, will tell the varlets that an enemy
is among them. You must give 'em your jargon, major; and say that we
have shut the evil spirit in the cave, and are taking the woman to the
woods in order to find strengthening roots. Practyse all your cunning,
for it is a lawful undertaking."
The door opened a little, as if one without was listening to the
proceedings within, and compelled the scout to cease his directions. A
fierce growl repelled the eavesdropper, and then the scout boldly threw
open the covering of bark, and left the place, enacting the character of
the bear as he proceeded. Duncan kept close at his heels, and so found
himself in the centre of a cluster of twenty anxious relatives and
friends.
The crowd fell back a little, and permitted the father, and one who
appeared to be the husband of the woman, to approach.
"Has my brother driven away the evil spirit?" demanded the former. "What
has he in his arms?"
"Thy child," returned Duncan, gravely; "the disease has gone out of her;
it is shut up in the rocks. I take the woman to a distance, where I will
strengthen her against any further attacks. She shall be in the wigwam
of the young man when the sun comes again."
When the father had translated the meaning of the stranger's words into
the Huron language, a suppressed murmur announced the satisfaction with
which the intelligence was received. The chief himself waved his hand
for Duncan to proceed, saying aloud, in a firm voice, and with a lofty
manner,--
"Go; I am a man, and I will enter the rock and fight the wicked one."
Heyward had gladly obeyed, and was already past the little group, when
these startling words arrested him.
"Is my brother mad?" he exclaimed; "is he cruel! He will meet the
disease, and it will enter him; or he will drive out the disease, and it
will chase his daughter into the woods. No; let my children wait
without, and if the spirit appears beat him down with clubs. He is
cunning, and will bury himself in the mountain, when he sees how many
are ready to fight him."
This singular warning had the desired effect. Instead of entering the
cavern, the father and husband drew their tomahawks, and posted
themselves in readiness to deal their vengeance on the imaginary
tormentor of their sick relative, while the women and children broke
branches from the bushes, or seized fragments of the rock, with a
similar intention. At this favorable moment the counterfeit conjurers
disappeared.
Hawkeye, at the same time that he had presumed so far on the nature of
the Indian superstitions, was not ignorant that they were rather
tolerated than relied on by the wisest of the chiefs. He well knew the
value of time in the present emergency. Whatever might be the extent of
the self-delusion of his enemies, and however it had tended to assist
his schemes, the slightest cause of suspicion, acting on the subtle
nature of an Indian, would be likely to prove fatal. Taking the path,
therefore, that was most likely to avoid observation, he rather skirted
than entered the village. The warriors were still to be seen in the
distance, by the fading light of the fires, stalking from lodge to
lodge. But the children had abandoned their sports for their beds of
skins, and the quiet of night was already beginning to prevail over the
turbulence and excitement of so busy and important an evening.
Alice revived under the renovating influence of the open air, and as her
physical rather than her mental powers had been the subject of weakness,
she stood in no need of any explanation of that which had occurred.
"Now let me make an effort to walk," she said, when they had entered the
forest, blushing, though unseen, that she had not been sooner able to
quit the arms of Duncan; "I am indeed restored."
"Nay, Alice, you are yet too weak."
The maiden struggled gently to release herself, and Heyward was
compelled to part with his precious burden. The representative of the
bear had certainly been an entire stranger to the delicious emotions of
the lover while his arms encircled his mistress; and he was, perhaps, a
stranger also to the nature of that feeling of ingenuous shame that
oppressed the trembling Alice. But when he found himself at a suitable
distance from the lodges he made a halt, and spoke on a subject of which
he was thoroughly the master.
"This path will lead you to the brook," he said; "follow its northern
bank until you come to a fall; and mount the hill on your right, and you
will see the fires of the other people. There you must go and demand
protection; if they are true Delawares, you will be safe. A distant
flight with that gentle one, just now, is impossible. The Hurons would
follow up our trail, and master our scalps, before we had got a dozen
miles. Go, and Providence be with you."
"And you!" demanded Heyward, in surprise; "surely we part not here?"
"The Hurons hold the pride of the Delawares; the last of the high blood
of the Mohicans is in their power," returned the scout; "I go to see
what can be done in his favor. Had they mastered your scalp, major, a
knave should have fallen for every hair it held, as I promised; but if
the young Sagamore is to be led to the stake, the Indians shall see also
how a man without a cross can die."
Not in the least offended with the decided preference that the sturdy
woodsman gave to one who might, in some degree, be called the child of
his adoption, Duncan still continued to urge such reasons against so
desperate an effort as presented themselves. He was aided by Alice, who
mingled her entreaties with those of Heyward that he would abandon a
resolution that promised so much danger, with so little hope of success.
Their eloquence and ingenuity were expended in vain. The scout heard
them attentively, but impatiently, and finally closed the discussion, by
answering, in a tone that instantly silenced Alice, while it told
Heyward how fruitless any further remonstrances would be,--
"I have heard," he said, "that there is a feeling in youth which binds
man to woman closer than the father is tied to the son. It may be so. I
have seldom been where women of my color dwell; but such may be the
gifts of nature in the settlements. You have risked life, and all that
is dear to you, to bring off this gentle one, and I suppose that some
such disposition is at the bottom of it all. As for me, I taught the lad
the real character of a rifle; and well has he paid me for it. I have
fou't at his side in many a bloody scrimmage; and so long as I could
hear the crack of his piece in one ear, and that of the Sagamore in the
other, I knew no enemy was on my back. Winters and summers, nights and
days, have we roved the wilderness in company, eating of the same dish,
one sleeping while the other watched; and afore it shall be said that
Uncas was taken to the torment, and I at hand--There is but a single
Ruler of us all, whatever may be the color of the skin; and Him I call
to witness, that before the Mohican boy shall perish for the want of a
friend, good faith shall depart the 'arth, and 'Killdeer' become as
harmless as the tooting we'pon of the singer!"
[Illustration: _Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_
THE LOVERS
_Heyward and Alice took their way together towards the distant village
of the Delawares_]
Duncan released his hold on the arm of the scout, who turned, and
steadily retraced his steps towards the lodges. After pausing a moment
to gaze at his retiring form, the successful and yet sorrowful Heyward,
and Alice, took their way together towards the distant village of the
Delawares.