CHAPTER XXXII
"But plagues shall spread, and funeral fires increase, Till the great king, without a ransom paid, To her own Chrysa send the black-eyed maid."
POPE.
During the time Uncas was making this disposition of his forces, thewoods were still, and, with the exception of those who had met incouncil, apparently as much untenanted, as when they came fresh from thehands of their Almighty Creator. The eye could range, in everydirection, through the long and shadowed vistas of the trees; butnowhere was any object to be seen that did not properly belong to thepeaceful and slumbering scenery. Here and there a bird was heardfluttering among the branches of the beeches, and occasionally asquirrel dropped a nut, drawing the startled looks of the party, for amoment, to the place; but the instant the casual interruption ceased,the passing air was heard murmuring above their heads, along thatverdant and undulating surface of forest, which spread itself unbroken,unless by stream or lake, over such a vast region of country. Across thetract of wilderness, which lay between the Delawares and the village oftheir enemies, it seemed as if the foot of man had never trodden, sobreathing and deep was the silence in which it lay. But Hawkeye, whoseduty led him foremost in the adventure, knew the character of those withwhom he was about to contend too well to trust the treacherous quiet.
When he saw his little band collected, the scout threw "Killdeer" intothe hollow of his arm, and making a silent signal that he would befollowed, he led them many rods towards the rear, into the bed of alittle brook which they had crossed in advancing. Here he halted; andafter waiting for the whole of his grave and attentive warriors to closeabout him, he spoke in Delaware, demanding--
"Do any of my young men know whither this run will lead us?"
A Delaware stretched forth a hand, with the two fingers separated, andindicating the manner in which they were joined at the root, heanswered,--
"Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be inthe big." Then he added, pointing in the direction of the place hementioned, "the two make enough for the beavers."
"I thought as much," returned the scout, glancing his eye upwards at theopening in the tree-tops, "from the course it takes, and the bearings ofthe mountains. Men, we will keep within the cover of its banks till wescent the Hurons."
His companions gave the usual brief exclamation of assent, butperceiving that their leader was about to lead the way in person, one ortwo made signs that all was not as it should be. Hawkeye, whocomprehended their meaning glances, turned, and perceived that his partyhad been followed thus far by the singing-master.
"Do you know, friend," asked the scout gravely, and perhaps with alittle of the pride of conscious deserving in his manner, "that this isa band of rangers chosen for the most desperate service, and put underthe command of one who, though another might say it with a better face,will not be apt to leave them idle. It may not be five, it cannot bethirty minutes before we tread on the body of a Huron, living or dead."
"Though not admonished of your intentions in words," returned David,whose face was a little flushed, and whose ordinarily quiet andunmeaning eyes glimmered with an expression of unusual fire, "your menhave reminded me of the children of Jacob going out to battle againstthe Shechemites, for wickedly aspiring to wedlock with a woman of a racethat was favored of the Lord. Now, I have journeyed far, and sojournedmuch in good and evil with the maiden ye seek; and though not a man ofwar, with my loins girded and my sword sharpened, yet would I gladlystrike a blow in her behalf."
The scout hesitated, as if weighing the chances of such a strangeenlistment in his mind before he answered,--
"You know not the use of any we'pon. You carry no rifle; and believe me,what the Mingos take they will freely give again."
"Though not a vaunting and bloodily disposed Goliath," returned David,drawing a sling from beneath his parti-colored and uncouth attire, "Ihave not forgotten the example of the Jewish boy. With this ancientinstrument of war have I practised much in my youth, and peradventurethe skill has not entirely departed from me."
"Ay!" said Hawkeye, considering the deer-skin thong and apron, with acold and discouraging eye; "the thing might do its work among arrows, oreven knives; but these Mengwe have been furnished by the Frenchers witha good grooved barrel a man. However, it seems to be your gift to gounharmed amid fire; and as you have hitherto been favored--major, youhave left your rifle at a cock; a single shot before the time would bejust twenty scalps lost to no purpose--singer, you can follow; we mayfind use for you in the shoutings."
"I thank you, friend," returned David, supplying himself, like his royalnamesake, from among the pebbles of the brook; "though not given to thedesire to kill, had you sent me away my spirit would have beentroubled."
"Remember," added the scout, tapping his own head significantly on thatspot where Gamut was yet sore, "we come to fight, and not to musickate.Until the general whoop is given, nothing speaks but the rifle."
David nodded, as much as to signify his acquiescence with the terms; andthen Hawkeye, casting another observant glance over his followers, madethe signal to proceed.
Their route lay, for the distance of a mile, along the bed of thewater-course. Though protected from any great danger of observation bythe precipitous banks, and the thick shrubbery which skirted the stream,no precaution known to an Indian attack was neglected. A warrior rathercrawled than walked on each flank, so as to catch occasional glimpsesinto the forest; and every few minutes the band came to a halt, andlistened for hostile sounds, with an acuteness of organs that would bescarcely conceivable to a man in a less natural state. Their march was,however, unmolested, and they reached the point where the lesser streamwas lost in the greater, without the smallest evidence that theirprogress had been noted. Here the scout again halted, to consult thesigns of the forest.
"We are likely to have a good day for a fight," he said, in English,addressing Heyward, and glancing his eye upwards at the clouds, whichbegan to move in broad sheets across the firmament; "a bright sun and aglittering barrel are no friends to true sight. Everything is favorable;they have the wind, which will bring down their noises and their smoketoo, no little matter in itself; whereas, with us it will be first ashot, and then a clear view. But here is an end of our cover; thebeavers have had the range of this stream for hundreds of years, andwhat atween their food and their dams, there is, as you see, many agirdled stub, but few living trees."
Hawkeye had, in truth, in these few words, given no bad description ofthe prospect that now lay in their front. The brook was irregular in itswidth, sometimes shooting through narrow fissures in the rocks, and atothers spreading over acres of bottom land, forming little areas thatmight be termed ponds. Everywhere along its banks were the moulderingrelics of dead trees, in all the stages of decay, from those thatgroaned on their tottering trunks to such as had recently been robbed ofthose rugged coats that so mysteriously contain their principle of life.A few long, low, and moss-covered piles were scattered among them, likethe memorials of a former and long-departed generation.
All these minute particulars were noted by the scout, with a gravity andinterest that they probably had never before attracted. He knew that theHuron encampment lay a short half mile up the brook; and, with thecharacteristic anxiety of one who dreaded a hidden danger, he wasgreatly troubled at not finding the smallest trace of the presence ofhis enemy. Once or twice he felt induced to give the order for a rush,and to attempt the village by surprise; but his experience quicklyadmonished him of the danger of so useless an experiment. Then helistened intently, and with painful uncertainty, for the sounds ofhostility in the quarter where Uncas was left; but nothing was audibleexcept the sighing of the wind, that began to sweep over the bosom ofthe forest in gusts which threatened a tempest. At length, yieldingrather to his unusual impatience than taking counsel from his knowledge,he determined to bring matters to an issue, by unmasking his force, andproceeding cautiously, but steadily, up the stream.
The scout had stood
, while making his observations, sheltered by abrake, and his companions still lay in the bed of the ravine, throughwhich the smaller stream debouched; but on hearing his low, thoughintelligible signal, the whole party stole up the bank, like so manydark spectres, and silently arranged themselves around him. Pointing inthe direction he wished to proceed, Hawkeye advanced, the band breakingoff in single files, and following so accurately in his footsteps, as ifto leave it, if we except Heyward and David, the trail of but a singleman.
The party was, however, scarcely uncovered before a volley from a dozenrifles was heard in their rear; and a Delaware leaping high into theair, like a wounded deer, fell at his whole length, perfectly dead.
"Ah! I feared some deviltry like this!" exclaimed the scout, in English;adding, with the quickness of thought, in his adopted tongue, "To cover,men, and charge!"
The band dispersed at the word, and before Heyward had well recoveredfrom his surprise, he found himself standing alone with David. Luckily,the Hurons had already fallen back, and he was safe from their fire. Butthis state of things was evidently to be of short continuance; for thescout set the example of pressing on their retreat, by discharging hisrifle, and darting from tree to tree, as his enemy slowly yieldedground.
It would seem that the assault had been made by a very small party ofthe Hurons, which, however, continued to increase in numbers, as itretired on its friends, until the return fire was very nearly, if notquite, equal to that maintained by the advancing Delawares. Heywardthrew himself among the combatants, and imitating the necessary cautionof his companions, he made quick discharges with his own rifle. Thecontest now grew warm and stationary. Few were injured, as both partieskept their bodies as much protected as possible by the trees; never,indeed, exposing any part of their persons except in the act of takingaim. But the chances were gradually growing unfavorable to Hawkeye andhis band. The quick-sighted scout perceived his danger, without knowinghow to remedy it. He saw it was more dangerous to retreat than tomaintain his ground; while he found his enemy throwing out men on hisflank, which rendered the task of keeping themselves covered so verydifficult to the Delawares, as nearly to silence their fire. At thisembarrassing moment, when they began to think the whole of the hostiletribe was gradually encircling them, they heard the yell of combatants,and the rattling of arms, echoing under the arches of the wood, at theplace where Uncas was posted; a bottom which, in a manner, lay beneaththe ground on which Hawkeye and his party were contending.
The effects of this attack were instantaneous, and to the scout and hisfriends greatly relieving. It would seem that, while his own surprisehad been anticipated, and had consequently failed, the enemy, in theirturn, having been deceived in its object and in his numbers, had lefttoo small a force to resist the impetuous onset of the young Mohican.This fact was doubly apparent, by the rapid manner in which the battlein the forest rolled upwards towards the village, and by an instantfalling off in the number of their assailants, who rushed to assist inmaintaining the front, and, as it now proved to be, the principal pointof defence.
Animating his followers by his voice, and his own example, Hawkeye thengave the word to bear down upon their foes. The charge, in that rudespecies of warfare, consisted merely in pushing from cover to cover,nigher to the enemy; and in this manoeuvre he was instantly andsuccessfully obeyed. The Hurons were compelled to withdraw, and thescene of the contest rapidly changed from the more open ground on whichit had commenced, to a spot where the assailed found a thicket to restupon. Here the struggle was protracted, arduous, and seemingly ofdoubtful issue; the Delawares, though none of them fell, beginning tobleed freely, in consequence of the disadvantage at which they wereheld.
In this crisis, Hawkeye found means to get behind the same tree as thatwhich served for a cover to Heyward; most of his own combatants beingwithin call, a little on his right, where they maintained rapid, thoughfruitless, discharges on their sheltered enemies.
"You are a young man, major," said the scout, dropping the butt of"Killdeer" to the earth, and leaning on the barrel, a little fatiguedwith his previous industry; "and it may be your gift to lead armies atsome future day ag'in these imps the Mingos, You may here see thephilosophy of an Indian fight. It consists mainly in a ready hand, aquick eye, and a good cover. Now, if you had a company of the RoyalAmericans here, in what manner would you set them to work in thisbusiness?"
"The bayonet would make a road."
"Ay, there is white reason in what you say; but a man must ask himself,in this wilderness, how many lives he can spare. No--horse,"[29]continued the scout, shaking his head, like one who mused; "horse, I amashamed to say, must, sooner or later, decide these scrimmages. Thebrutes are better than men, and to horse must we come at last. Put ashodden hoof on the moccasin of a redskin; and if his rifle be onceemptied, he will never stop to load it again."
"This is a subject that might better be discussed at another time,"returned Heyward; "shall we charge?"
"I see no contradiction to the gifts of any man, in passing hisbreathing spells in useful reflections," the scout replied. "As to arush, I little relish such a measure; for a scalp or two must be thrownaway in the attempt. And yet," he added, bending his head aside, tocatch the sounds of the distant combat, "if we are to be of use toUncas, these knaves in our front must be got rid of!"
Then turning, with a prompt and decided air, he called aloud to hisIndians, in their own language. His words were answered by a shout; and,at a given signal, each warrior made a swift movement around hisparticular tree. The sight of so many dark bodies, glancing before theireyes at the same instant, drew a hasty, and consequently an ineffectualfire from the Hurons. Without stopping to breathe, the Delawares leaped,in long bounds, towards the wood, like so many panthers springing upontheir prey. Hawkeye was in front, brandishing his terrible rifle, andanimating his followers by his example. A few of the older and morecunning Hurons, who had not been deceived by the artifice which had beenpractised to draw their fire, now made a close and deadly discharge oftheir pieces, and justified the apprehensions of the scout, by fellingthree of his foremost warriors. But the shock was insufficient to repelthe impetus of the charge. The Delawares broke into the cover with theferocity of their natures, and swept away every trace of resistance bythe fury of the onset.
The combat endured only for an instant, hand to hand, and then theassailed yielded ground rapidly, until they reached the opposite marginof the thicket, where they clung to the cover, with the sort ofobstinacy that is so often witnessed in hunted brutes. At this criticalmoment, when the success of the struggle was again becoming doubtful,the crack of the rifle was heard behind the Hurons, and a bullet camewhizzing from among some beaver lodges, which were situated in theclearing, in their rear, and was followed by the fierce and appallingyell of the war-whoop.
"There speaks the Sagamore!" shouted Hawkeye, answering the cry withhis own stentorian voice; "we have them now in face and back!"
The effect on the Hurons was instantaneous. Discouraged by an assaultfrom a quarter that left them no opportunity for cover, their warriorsuttered a common yell of disappointment, and breaking off in a body,they spread themselves across the opening, heedless of everyconsideration but flight. Many fell, in making the experiment, under thebullets and the blows of the pursuing Delawares.
We shall not pause to detail the meeting between the scout andChingachgook, or the more touching interview that Duncan held withMunro. A few brief and hurried words served to explain the state ofthings to both parties; and then Hawkeye pointing out the Sagamore tohis band, resigned the chief authority into the hands of the Mohicanchief. Chingachgook assumed the station to which his birth andexperience gave him so distinguished a claim, with the grave dignitythat always gives force to the mandates of a native warrior. Followingthe footsteps of the scout, he led the party back through the thicket,his men scalping the fallen Hurons, and secreting the bodies of theirown dead as they proceeded, until they gained a point where the formerwas content to make a halt.
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The warriors, who had breathed themselves freely in the precedingstruggle, were now posted on a bit of level ground, sprinkled with treesin sufficient numbers to conceal them. The land fell away ratherprecipitately in front, and beneath their eyes stretched, for severalmiles, a narrow, dark, and wooded vale. It was through this dense anddark forest that Uncas was still contending with the main body of theHurons.
The Mohican and his friends advanced to the brow of the hill, andlistened, with practised ears, to the sounds of the combat. A few birdshovered over the leafy bosom of the valley, frightened from theirsecluded nests; and here and there a light vapory cloud, which seemedalready blending with the atmosphere, arose above the trees, andindicated some spot where the struggle had been fierce and stationary.
"The fight is coming up the ascent," said Duncan, pointing in thedirection of a new explosion of fire-arms; "we are too much in thecentre of their line to be effective."
"They will incline into the hollow, where the cover is thicker," saidthe scout, "and that will leave us well on their flank. Go, Sagamore;you will hardly be in time to give the whoop, and lead on the young men.I will fight this scrimmage with warriors of my own color. You know me,Mohican; not a Huron of them all shall cross the swell, into your rear,without the notice of 'Killdeer.'"
The Indian chief paused another moment to consider the signs of thecontest, which was now rolling rapidly up the ascent, a certain evidencethat the Delawares triumphed; nor did he actually quit the place untiladmonished of the proximity of his friends, as well as enemies, by thebullets of the former, which began to patter among the dried leaves onthe ground, like the bits of falling hail which precede the bursting ofthe tempest. Hawkeye and his three companions withdrew a few paces to ashelter, and awaited the issue with calmness, that nothing but greatpractice could impart in such a scene.
It was not long before the reports of the rifles began to lose theechoes of the woods, and to sound like weapons discharged in the openair. Then a warrior appeared, here and there, driven to the skirts ofthe forest, and rallying as he entered the clearing, as at the placewhere the final stand was to be made. These were soon joined by theothers, until a long line of swarthy figures was to be seen clinging tothe cover with the obstinacy of desperation. Heyward began to growimpatient, and turned his eyes anxiously in the direction ofChingachgook. The chief was seated on a rock, with nothing visible buthis calm visage, considering the spectacle with an eye as deliberate asif he were posted there merely to view the struggle.
"The time is come for the Delawares to strike!" said Duncan.
"Not so, not so," returned the scout; "when he scents his friends, hewill let them know that he is here. See, see; the knaves are getting inthat clump of pines, like bees settling after their flight. By the Lord,a squaw might put a bullet into the centre of such a knot of darkskins!"
At that instant the whoop was given, and a dozen Hurons fell by adischarge from Chingachgook and his band. The shout that followed wasanswered by a single war-cry from the forest, and a yell passed throughthe air that sounded as if a thousand throats were united in a commoneffort. The Hurons staggered, deserting the centre of their line, andUncas issued from the forest through the opening they left, at the headof a hundred warriors.
Waving his hands right and left, the young chief pointed out the enemyto his followers, who separated in pursuit. The war now divided, bothwings of the broken Hurons seeking protection in the woods again, hotlypressed by the victorious warriors of the Lenape. A minute might havepassed, but the sounds were already receding in different directions,and gradually losing their distinctness beneath the echoing arches ofthe woods. One little knot of Hurons, however, had disdained to seek acover, and were retiring, like lions at bay, slowly and sullenly up theacclivity which Chingachgook and his band had just deserted, to minglemore closely in the fray. Magua was conspicuous in this party, both byhis fierce and savage mien, and by the air of haughty authority he yetmaintained.
In his eagerness to expedite the pursuit, Uncas had left himself nearlyalone; but the moment his eyes caught the figure of Le Subtil, everyother consideration was forgotten. Raising his cry of battle, whichrecalled some six or seven warriors, and reckless of the disparity oftheir numbers, he rushed upon his enemy. Le Renard, who watched themovement, paused to receive him with secret joy. But at the moment whenhe thought the rashness of his impetuous young assailant had left him athis mercy, another shout was given, and La Longue Carabine was seenrushing to the rescue, attended by all his white associates. The Huroninstantly turned, and commenced a rapid retreat up the ascent.
There was no time for greetings or congratulations; for Uncas, thoughunconscious of the presence of his friends, continued the pursuit withthe velocity of the wind. In vain Hawkeye called to him to respect thecovers; the young Mohican braved the dangerous fire of his enemies, andsoon compelled them to a flight as swift as his own headlong speed. Itwas fortunate that the race was of short continuance, and that the whitemen were much favored by their position, or the Delaware would soon haveoutstripped all his companions, and fallen a victim to his own temerity.But ere such a calamity could happen, the pursuers and pursued enteredthe Wyandot village, within striking distance of each other.
Excited by the presence of their dwellings, and tired of the chase, theHurons now made a stand, and fought around their council-lodge with thefury of despair. The onset and the issue were like the passage anddestruction of a whirlwind. The tomahawk of Uncas, the blows ofHawkeye, and even the still nervous arm of Munro, were all busy for thatpassing moment, and the ground was quickly strewed with their enemies.Still Magua, though daring and much exposed, escaped from every effortagainst his life, with that sort of fabled protection that was made tooverlook the fortunes of favored heroes in the legends of ancientpoetry. Raising a yell that spoke volumes of anger and disappointment,the subtle chief, when he saw his comrades fallen, darted away from theplace, attended by his two only surviving friends, leaving the Delawaresengaged in stripping the dead of the bloody trophies of their victory.
But Uncas, who had vainly sought him in the _melee_ bounded forward inpursuit; Hawkeye, Heyward, and David still pressing on his footsteps.The utmost that the scout could effect, was to keep the muzzle of hisrifle a little in advance of his friend, to whom, however, it answeredevery purpose of a charmed shield. Once Magua appeared disposed to makeanother and a final effort to revenge his losses; but, abandoning hisintention as soon as demonstrated, he leaped into a thicket of bushes,through which he was followed by his enemies, and suddenly entered themouth of the cave already known to the reader. Hawkeye, who had onlyforborne to fire in tenderness to Uncas, raised a shout of success, andproclaimed aloud, that now they were certain of their game. The pursuersdashed into the long and narrow entrance, in time to catch a glimpse ofthe retreating forms of the Hurons. Their passage through the naturalgalleries and subterraneous apartments of the cavern was preceded by theshrieks and cries of hundreds of women and children. The place, seen byits dim and uncertain light, appeared like the shades of the infernalregions, across which unhappy ghosts and savage demons were flitting inmultitudes.
Still Uncas kept his eye on Magua, as if life to him possessed but asingle object. Heyward and the scout still pressed on his rear,actuated, though possibly in a less degree, by a common feeling. Buttheir way was becoming intricate, in those dark and gloomy passages, andthe glimpses of the retiring warriors less distinct and frequent; andfor a moment the trace was believed to be lost, when a white robe wasseen fluttering in the farther extremity of a passage that seemed tolead up the mountain.
"'Tis Cora!" exclaimed Heyward, in a voice in which horror and delightwere wildly mingled.
"Cora! Cora!" echoed Uncas, bending forward like a deer.
"'Tis the maiden!" shouted the scout, "Courage, lady; we come!--wecome!"
The chase was renewed with a diligence rendered tenfold encouraging bythis glimpse of the captive. But the way was rugged, broken, and inspots nearly impassable. Unc
as abandoned his rifle, and leaped forwardwith headlong precipitation. Heyward rashly imitated his example, thoughboth were, a moment afterwards, admonished of its madness, by hearingthe bellowing of a piece, that the Hurons found time to discharge downthe passage in the rocks, the bullet from which even gave the youngMohican a slight wound.
"We must close!" said the scout, passing his friends by a desperateleap; "the knaves will pick us all off at this distance; and see, theyhold the maiden so as to shield themselves!"
Though his words were unheeded, or rather unheard, his example wasfollowed by his companions, who, by incredible exertions, got nearenough to the fugitives to perceive that Cora was borne along betweenthe two warriors, while Magua prescribed the direction and manner oftheir flight. At this moment the forms of all four were strongly drawnagainst an opening in the sky, and they disappeared. Nearly frantic withdisappointment, Uncas and Heyward increased efforts that already seemedsuper-human, and they issued from the cavern on the side of themountain, in time to note the route of the pursued. The course lay upthe ascent, and still continued hazardous and laborious.
Encumbered by his rifle, and, perhaps, not sustained by so deep aninterest in the captive as his companions, the scout suffered the latterto precede him a little, Uncas, in his turn, taking the lead of Heyward.In this manner, rocks, precipices, and difficulties were surmounted inan incredibly short space, that at another time, and under othercircumstances, would have been deemed almost insuperable. But theimpetuous young men were rewarded, by finding that, encumbered withCora, the Hurons were losing ground in the race.
"Stay, dog of the Wyandots!" exclaimed Uncas, shaking his brighttomahawk at Magua; "a Delaware girl calls stay!"
"I will go no farther," cried Cora, stepping unexpectedly on a ledge ofrocks, that overhung a deep precipice, at no great distance from thesummit of the mountain. "Kill me if thou wilt, detestable Huron; I willgo no farther."
The supporters of the maiden raised their ready tomahawks with theimpious joy that fiends are thought to take in mischief, but Maguastayed the uplifted arms. The Huron chief, after casting the weapons hehad wrested from his companions over the rock, drew his knife, andturned to his captive, with a look in which conflicting passionsfiercely contended.
"Woman," he said, "choose; the wigwam or the knife of Le Subtil!"
Cora regarded him not, but dropping on her knees, she raised her eyesand stretched her arms towards heaven, saying, in a meek and yetconfiding voice,--
"I am thine! do with me as thou seest best!"
"Woman," repeated Magua, hoarsely, and endeavoring in vain to catch aglance from her serene and beaming eye, "choose!"
But Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand. The form of the Hurontrembled in every fibre, and he raised his arm on high, but dropped itagain with a bewildered air, like one who doubted. Once more hestruggled with himself and lifted the keen weapon again; but just then apiercing cry was heard above them, and Uncas appeared, leapingfrantically, from a fearful height, upon the ledge. Magua recoiled astep; and one of his assistants, profiting by the chance, sheathed hisown knife in the bosom of Cora.
The Huron sprang like a tiger on his offending and already retreatingcountryman, but the falling form of Uncas separated the unnaturalcombatants. Diverted from his object by this interruption, and maddenedby the murder he had just witnessed, Magua buried his weapon in the backof the prostrate Delaware, uttering an unearthly shout as he committedthe dastardly deed. But Uncas arose from the blow, as the woundedpanther turns upon his foe, and struck the murderer of Cora to his feet,by an effort in which the last of his failing strength was expended.Then, with a stern and steady look, he turned to Le Subtil, andindicated by the expression of his eye, all that he would do, had notthe power deserted him. The latter seized the nerveless arm of theunresisting Delaware, and passed his knife into his bosom three severaltimes, before his victim, still keeping his gaze riveted on his enemywith a look of inextinguishable scorn, fell dead at his feet.
"Mercy! mercy! Huron," cried Heyward, from above, in tones nearlychoked by horror; "give mercy, and thou shalt receive it!"
Whirling the bloody knife up at the imploring youth, the victoriousMagua uttered a cry so fierce, so wild, and yet so joyous, that itconveyed the sounds of savage triumph to the ears of those who fought inthe valley, a thousand feet below. He was answered by a burst from thelips of the scout, whose tall person was just then seen moving swiftlytowards him, along those dangerous crags, with steps as bold andreckless as if he possessed the power to move in air. But when thehunter reached the scene of the ruthless massacre, the ledge wastenanted only by the dead.
His keen eye took a single look at the victims, and then shot itsglances over the difficulties of the ascent in his front. A form stoodat the brow of the mountain, on the very edge of the giddy height, withuplifted arms, in an awful attitude of menace. Without stopping toconsider his person, the rifle of Hawkeye was raised; but a rock, whichfell on the head of one of the fugitives below exposed the indignant andglowing countenance of the honest Gamut. Then Magua issued from acrevice, and stepping with calm indifference over the body of the lastof his associates, he leaped a wide fissure, and ascended the rocks at apoint where the arm of David could not reach him. A single bound wouldcarry him to the brow of the precipice, and assure his safety. Beforetaking the leap, however, the Huron paused, and shaking his hand at thescout, he shouted,--
"The pale-faces are dogs! the Delawares women! Magua leaves them on therocks, for the crows!"
Laughing hoarsely, he made a desperate leap, and fell short of his mark;though his hand grasped a shrub on the verge of the height. The form ofHawkeye had crouched like a beast about to take its spring, and hisframe trembled so violently with eagerness, that the muzzle of thehalf-raised rifle played like a leaf fluttering in the wind. Withoutexhausting himself with fruitless efforts, the cunning Magua sufferedhis body to drop to the length of his arms, and found a fragment for hisfeet to rest on. Then summoning all his powers, he renewed the attempt,and so far succeeded, as to draw his knees on the edge of the mountain.It was now, when the body of his enemy was most collected together, thatthe agitated weapon of the scout was drawn to his shoulder. Thesurrounding rocks themselves were not steadier than the piece became,for the single instant that it poured out its contents. The arms of theHuron relaxed, and his body fell back a little, while his knees stillkept their position. Turning a relentless look on his enemy, he shook ahand in grim defiance. But his hold loosened, and his dark person wasseen cutting the air with its head downwards, for a fleeting instant,until it glided past the fringe of shrubbery which clung to themountain, in its rapid flight to destruction.