University of Virginia Library

13. CHAPTER XIII.

The route taken by Hawk-eye lay across those
sandy plains, relieved by occasional valleys and
swells of land, which had been traversed by their party
on the morning of the same day, with the baffled
Magua for their guide. The sun had now fallen
low towards the distant mountains, and as their journey
lay through the interminable forest, the heat was
no longer oppressive. Their progress, in consequence,
was proportionate, and long before the twilight
gathered about them, they had made good many
toilsome miles, on their return path.

The hunter, like the savage whose place he filled,
seemed to select among the blind signs of their wild
route with a species of instinct, seldom abating in his
speed, and never pausing to deliberate. A rapid
and oblique glance at the moss on the trees, with an
occasional upward gaze towards the setting sun, or a
steady but passing look at the direction of the numerous
water courses, through which he waded,
were sufficient to determine his path, and remove
his greatest difficulties. In the mean time, the forest

began to change its hues, losing that lively green
which had embellished its arches, in the graver light,
which is the usual precursor of the close of day.

While the eyes of the sisters were endeavouring to
catch glimpses, through the trees, of the flood of
golden glory, which formed a glittering halo around
the sun, tinging here and there, with ruby streaks,
or bordering with narrow edgings of shining yellow,
a mass of clouds that lay piled at no great distance
above the western hills, Hawk-eye turned suddenly,
and pointing upward towards the gorgeous heavens,
he spoke.

“Yonder is the signal given to man to seek his
food and natural rest,” he said; “better and wiser
would it be, if he could understand the signs of
nature, and take a lesson from the fowls of the air,
and the beasts of the fields! Our night, however,
will soon be over, for, with the moon, we must be
up and moving again. I remember to have fout
the Maquas hereaways, in the first war in which I
ever drew blood from man; and we threw up a work
of blocks, to keep the ravenous varments from handling
our scalps. If my marks do not fail me, we
shall find the place a few rods further to our left.”

Without waiting for an assent, or, indeed, for any
reply, the sturdy hunter moved boldly into a dense
thicket of young chestnuts, shoving aside the branches
of the exuberant shoots which nearly covered the
ground, like a man who expected, at each step, to
discover some object he had formerly known. The
recollection of the scout did not deceive him. After
penetrating through the brush, matted as it was

with briars, for a few hundred feet, he entered into
an open space, that surrounded a low, green hillock,
which was crowned by the decayed block-house in
question. This rude and neglected building was
one of those deserted works, which, having been
thrown up on an emergency, had been abandoned
with the disappearance of danger, and was now
quietly crumbling in the solitude of the forest, neglected,
and nearly forgotten, like the circumstances
which had caused it to be reared. Such
memorials of the passage and struggles of man are
yet frequent throughout the broad barrier of wilderness,
which once separated the hostile provinces,
and form a species of ruins, that are intimately associated
with the recollections of colonial history, and
which are in appropriate keeping with the gloomy
character of the surrounding scenery. The roof
of bark had long since fallen and mingled with
the soil, but the huge logs of pine, which had been
hastily thrown together, still preserved their relative
positions, though one angle of the work had given
way under the pressure, and threatened a speedy
downfall to the remainder of the rustic edifice.
While Heyward and his companions hesitated to approach
a building of such a decayed appearance,
Hawk-eye and the Indians entered within the low
walls, not only without fear, but with obvious interest.
While the former surveyed the ruins, both internally
and externally, with the curiosity of one
whose recollections were reviving at each moment,
Chingachgook related to his son, in the language of
the Delawares, and with the pride of a conqueror,
the brief history of the skirmish which had been
fought in his youth, in that secluded spot. A strain
of melancholy, however, blended with his triumph,
rendering his voice, as usual, soft and musical.

In the mean time, the sisters gladly dismounted,
and prepared to enjoy their halt in the coolness of
the evening, and in a security which they believed
nothing but the beasts of the forest could invade.

“Would not our resting-place have been more retired,
my worthy friend,” demanded the more vigilant
Duncan, perceiving that the scout had already
finished his short survey, “had we chosen a spot less
known, and one more rarely visited than this?”

“Few live who know the block-house was ever
raised,” was the slow and musing answer; “ 'tis not
often that books are made, and narratives written, of
such a skrimmage as was here fout atween the
Mohicans and the Mohawks, in a war of their own
waging. I was then a younker, and went out with
the Delawares, because I know'd they were a scandalized
and wronged race. Forty days and forty
nights did the imps crave our blood around this pile
of logs, which I designed and partly reared, being, as
you'll remember, no Indian myself, but a man without
a cross. The Delawares lent themselves to the
work, and we made it good, ten to twenty, until our
numbers were nearly equal, and then we sallied out
upon the hounds, and not a man of them ever got back
to tell the fate of his party. Yes, yes; I was then
young, and new to the sight of blood, and not relishing
the thought that creatures who had spirits like
myself, should lay on the naked ground, to be torn

asunder by beasts, or to bleach in the rains, I buried
the bead with my own hands, under that very little
hillock, where you have placed yourselves; and no
bad seat does it make either, though it be raised by
the bones of mortal men.”

Heyward and the sisters arose on the instant from
the grassy sepulchre; nor could the two latter, notwithstanding
the terrific scenes they had so recently
passed through, entirely suppress an emotion of natural
horror, when they found themselves in such
familiar contact with the grave of the dead Mohawks.
The gray light, the gloomy little area of
dark grass, surrounded by its border of brush, beyond
which the pines rose, in breathing silence, apparently,
into the very clouds, and the death-like stillness of the
vast forest, were all in unison to deepen such a sensation.

“They are gone, and they are harmless,” continued
Hawk-eye, waving his hand, with a melancholy
smile, at their manifest alarm; “they'll never shout
the warwhoop, nor strike a blow with the tomahawk,
again! And of all those who aided in placing them
where they lie, Chingachgook and I only are living!
The brothers and family of the Mohican formed our
war party, and you see before you, all that are now
left of his race.”

The eyes of the listeners involuntarily sought the
forms of the Indians, with a compassionate interest in
their desolate fortune. Their dark persons were
still to be seen within the shadows of the block-house,
the son listening to the relation of his father, with
that sort of intenseness, which would be created by a
narrative, that redounded so much to the honour of

those, whose names he had long revered for their
courage and savage virtues.

“I had thought the Delawares a pacific people,”
said Duncan, “and that they never waged war in
person; trusting the defence of their lands to those
very Mohawks that you slew!”

“'Tis true in part,” returned the scout, “and
yet, at the bottom, 'tis a wicked lie. Such a treaty
was made in ages gone by, through the deviltries of
the Dutchers, who wished to disarm the natives that
had the best right to the country, where they had
settled themselves. The Mohicans, though a part
of the same nation, having to deal with the English,
never entered into the silly bargain, but kept to their
manhood; as in truth did the Delawares, when their
eyes were opened to their folly. You see before
you, a chief of the great Mohican Sagamores! Once
his family could chase their deer over tracts of country
wider than that which belongs to the Albany
Patteroon, without crossing brook or hill, that was
not their own; but what is left to their descendant!
He may find his six feet of earth, when
God chooses; and eep it in peace, perhaps, if he has
a friend who will take the pains to sink his head so
low, that the ploughshares cannot reach it!”

“Enough!” said Heyward, apprehensive that
the subject might lead to a discussion that would
interrupt the harmony, so necessary to the preservation
of his fair companions; “we have journeyed
far, and few among us are blest with forms like
that of yours, which seems to know neither fatigue
nor weakness.”

“The sinews and bones of a man carry me through
it all,” said the hunter, surveying his muscular limbs
with a simplicity that betrayed the honest pleasure
the compliment afforded him; “there are larger and
heavier men to be found in the settlements, but you
might travel many days in a city, before you could
meet one able to walk fifty miles without stopping to
take breath, or who has kept the hounds within
hearing during a chase of hours. However, as flesh
and blood are not always the same, it is quite reasonable
to suppose, that the gentle ones are willing to
rest, after all they have seen and done this day.
Uncas, clear out the spring, while your father and I
make a cover for their tender heads of these chestnut
shoots, and a bed of grass and leaves.”

The dialogue ceased, while the hunter and his
companions busied themselves in preparations for
the comfort and protection of those they guided. A
spring, which many long years before had induced the
natives to select the place for their temporary fortification,
was soon cleared of leaves, and a fountain of
crystal gushed from the bed, diffusing its waters
over the verdant hillock. A corner of the building
was then roofed in such a manner, as to exclude the
heavy dew of the climate, and piles of sweet shrubs
and dried leaves were laid beneath it, for the sisters
to repose on.

While the diligent woodsmen were employed in
this manner, Cora and Alice partook of that refreshment,
which duty required, much more than inclination
prompted, them to accept. They then retired
within the walls, and first offering up their thanks-givings

for past mercies, and petitioning for a continuance
of the Divine favour throughout the coming
night, they laid their tender forms on the fragrant
couch, and in spite of recollections and forebodings,
soon sunk into those slumbers which nature so imperiously
demanded, and which were sweetened by hopes
for the morrow. Duncan had prepared himself
to pass the night in watchfulness, near them, just
without the ruin; but the scout, perceiving his intention,
pointed towards Chingachgook, as he coolly
disposed his own person on the grass, and said—

“The eyes of a white man are too heavy, and too
blind, for such a watch as this! The Mohican will
be our sentinel; therefore, let us sleep.”

“I proved myself a sluggard on my post during the
past night,” said Heyward, “and have less need of
repose than you, who did more credit to the character
of a soldier. Let all the party seek their rest,
then, while I hold the guard.”

“If we lay among the white tents of the 60th, and
in front of an enemy like the French, I could not ask
for a better watchman,” returned the scout; “but in
the darkness, and among the signs of the wilderness,
your judgment would be like the folly of a child, and
your vigilance thrown away. Do, then, like Uncas
and myself; sleep, and sleep in safety.”

Heyward perceived, in truth, that the younger Indian
had thrown his form on the side of the hillock,
while they were talking, like one who sought to make
the most of the time allotted to rest, and that his example
had been followed by David, whose voice literally
`clove to his jaws' with the fever of his wound,

heightened, as it was, by their toilsome march. Unwilling
to prolong a useless discussion, the young
man affected to comply, by posting his back against
the logs of the block-house, in a half-recumbent posture,
though resolutely determined, in his own mind,
not to close an eye until he had delivered his precious
charge into the arms of Munro himself. Hawk-eye,
believing he had prevailed, soon fell asleep, and a silence
as deep as the solitude in which they had found
it, pervaded the retired spot.

For many minutes Duncan succeeded in keeping his
senses on the alert, and alive to every moaning sound
that arose from the forest. His vision became more
acute, as the shades of evening settled on the place,
and even after the stars were glimmering above his
head, he was able to distinguish the recumbent forms of
his companions, as they lay stretched on the grass, and
to note the person of Chingachgook, who sat upright,
and motionless as one of the trees, which formed the
dark barrier on every side of them. He still heard the
gentle breathings of the sisters, who lay within a few
feet of him, and not a leaf was ruffled by the passing
air, of which his ear did not detect the whispering
sound. At length, however, the mournful notes of a
whip-poor-will, became blended with the moanings of
an owl; his heavy eyes occasionally sought the bright
rays of the stars, and then he fancied he saw them
through the fallen lids. At instants of momentary wakefulness,
he mistook a bush for his associate sentinel;
his head next sunk upon his shoulder, which, in its
turn, sought the support of the round; and, finally,
his whole person became relaxed and pliant, and the

young man sunk into a deep sleep, dreaming that he
was a knight of ancient chivalry, holding his midnight
vigils before the tent of a re-captured princess, whose
favour he did not despair of gaining, by such a proof
of devotion and watchfulness.

How long the tired Duncan lay in this insensible
state he never knew himself, but his slumbering visions
had been long lost in total forgetfulness, when
he was awakened by a light tap on the shoulder.
Aroused by this signal, slight as it was, he sprang
upon his feet, with a confused recollection of the
self-imposed duty he had assumed with the commencement
of the night—

“Who comes?” he demanded, feeling for his
sword, at the place where it was usually suspended.
“Speak! friend or enemy?”

“Friend,” replied the low voice of Chingachgook;
who, pointing upward at the luminary which was
shedding its mild light through the opening in the
trees, directly on their bivouac, immediately added,
in his rude English, “moon comes, and white man's
fort far—far off; time to move, when sleep shuts both
eyes of the Frenchman!”

“You say true! call up your friends, and bridle
the horses, while I prepare my own companions for
the march.”

“We are awake, Duncan,” said the soft, silvery
tones of Alice within the building, “and ready to
travel very fast, after so refreshing a sleep; but you
have watched through the tedious night, in our behalf,
after having endured so much fatigue the livelong
day!”

“Say, rather, I would have watched, but my
treacherous eyes betrayed me; twice have I proved
myself unfit for the trust I bear.”

“Nay, Duncan, deny it not,” interrupted the smiling
Alice, issuing from the shadows of the building
into the light of the moon, in all the loveliness of her
freshened beauty; “I know you to be a heedless
one, when self is the object of your care, and but too
vigilant in favour of others. Can we not tarry here
a little longer, while you find the rest you need.
Cheerfully, most cheerfully, will Cora and I keep
the vigils, while you, and all these brave men, endeavour
to snatch a little sleep!”

“If shame could cure me of my drowsiness, I
should never close an eye again,” said the uneasy
youth, gazing at the ingenuous countenance of Alice,
where, however, in its sweet solicitude, he read
nothing to confirm his half awakened suspicion.
“It is but too true, that after leading you into danger
by my heedlessness, I have not even the merit of
guarding your pillows, as should became a soldier.”

“No one but Duncan himself, should accuse Duncan
of such a weakness!” returned the confiding
Alice; who lent herself, with all a woman's confidence
to that generous delusion which painted the
perfection of her youthful admirer. “Go, then, and
sleep; believe me, neither of us, weak girls as we are,
will betray our watch.”

The young man was relieved from the awkwardness
of making any further protestations of his own
demerits, by an exclamation from Chingachgook,

and the attitude of riveted attention assumed by his
son.

“The Mohicans hear an enemy!” whispered Hawk-eye,
who, by this time, in common with the whole
party, was awake and stirring. “They scent some
danger in the wind!”

“God forbid!” exclaimed Heyward. “Surely,
we have had enough of bloodshed!”

While he spoke, however, the young soldier seized
his rifle, and advancing towards the front, prepared
to atone for his venial remissness, by freely exposing
his life in defence of those he attended.

“'Tis some creature of the forest prowling around
us in quest of food!” he said, in a whisper, as soon as
the low, and, apparently, distant sounds, which had
startled the Mohicans, reached his own ears.

“Hist!” returned the attentive scout; “'tis man;
even I can now tell his tread, poor as my senses are,
when compared to an Indian's! That scampering
Huron has fallen in with one of Montcalm's outlying
parties, and they have struck upon our trail. I
shouldn't like myself to spill more human blood in this
spot,” he added, looking around with anxiety in his features,
at the dim objects by which he was surrounded;
“but what must be, must! Lead the horses into the
block-house, Uncas; and, friends, do you follow to
the same shelter. Poor and old as it is, it offers a
cover, and has rung with the crack of a rifle afore to
night!”

He was instantly obeyed, the Mohicans leading the
Narragansets within the ruin, whither the whole party
repaired, with the most guarded silence.

The sounds of approaching footsteps was now too
distinctly audible, to leave any doubts as to the nature
of the interruption. They were soon mingled
with voices, calling to each other, in an Indian dialect,
which the hunter, in a whisper, affirmed to Heyward,
was the language of the Hurons. When the
party reached the point where the horses had entered
the thicket which surrounded the block-house, they
were evidently at fault, having lost those marks which,
until that moment, had directed their pursuit.

It would seem by the voices that twenty men were
soon collected at that one spot, mingling their different
opinions and advice, in noisy clamour.

“The knaves know our weakness,” whispered
Hawk-eye, who stood by the side of Heyward, in
deep shade, looking through an opening in the logs,
“or they wouldn't indulge their idleness in such a
squaw's march. Listen to the reptiles! each man
among them seems to have two tongues, and but a
single leg!”

Duncan, brave, and even fierce as he sometimes
was in the combat, could not, in such a moment of
painful suspense, make any reply to the cool and
characteristic remark of the scout. He only grasped
his rifle more firmly, and fastened his eyes upon
the narrow opening, through which he gazed upon
the moonlight view with increasing intenseness. The
deeper tones of one who spoke as having authority,
were next heard, amid a silence that denoted the
respect with which his orders, or rather advice, was
received. After which, by the rustling of leaves,
and cracking of dried twigs, it was apparent the savages

were separating in pursuit of the lost trail.
Fortunately for the pursued, the light of the moon,
while it shed a flood of mild lustre, upon the little
area around the ruin, was not sufficiently strong to
penetrate the deep arches of the forest, where the
objects still lay in dim and deceptive shadow. The
search proved fruitless; for so short and sudden had
been the passage from the faint path the travellers
had journeyed into the thicket, that every trace of
their footsteps was lost in the obscurity of the woods.

It was not long, however, before the restless savages
were heard beating the brush, and gradually
approaching the inner edge of that dense border of
young chestnuts, which encircled the little area.

“They are coming!” muttered Heyward, endeavouring
to thrust his rifle through the chink in the
logs; “let us fire on their approach!”

“Keep every thing in the shade,” returned the
scout; “the snapping of a flint, or even the smell of a
single karnel of the brimstone, would bring the hungry
varlets upon us in a body. Should it please
God, that we must give battle for the scalps, trust to
the experience of men who know the ways of the savages,
and who are not often backward when the warwhoop
is howled.”

Duncan cast his eyes anxiously behind him, and
saw that the trembling sisters were cowering in the
far corner of the building, while the Mohicans stood
in the shadow, like two upright posts, ready, and apparently
willing, to strike, when the blow should be
needed. Curbing his impatience, he again looked
out upon the area, and awaited the result in silence.

At that instant the thicket opened, and a tall and
armed Huron advanced a few paces into the open
space. As he gazed upon the silent block-house,
the moon fell full upon his swarthy countenance, and
betrayed its surprise and curiosity. He made the
exclamation, which usually accompanies the former
emotion in an Indian, and calling in a low voice, soon
drew a companion to his side.

These children of the woods stood together for several
moments, pointing at the crumbling edifice,
and conversing in the unintelligible language of their
tribe. They then approached, though with slow
and cautious steps, pausing every instant to look at
the building, like startled deer, whose curiosity struggled
powerfully with their awakened apprehensions
for the mastery. The foot of one of them suddenly
rested on the mound, and he stooped to examine
its nature. At this moment, Heyward observed
that the scout loosened his knife in its sheath,
and lowered the muzzle of his rifle. Imitating these
movements, the young man prepared himself for the
struggle, which now seemed inevitable.

The savages were so near, that the least motion
in one of the horses, or even a breath louder
than common, would have betrayed the fugitives.
But, in discovering the character of the mound, the
attention of the Hurons appeared directed to a different
object. They spoke together, and the sounds
of their voices were low and solemn, as if influenced
by a reverence that was deeply blended with awe.
Then they drew warily back, keeping their eyes riveted
on the ruin, as if they expected to see the apparitions

of the dead issue from its silent walls, until
having reached the boundary of the area, they
moved slowly into the thicket, and disappeared.

Hawk-eye dropped the breech of his rifle to the
earth, and drawing a long, free breath, exclaimed,
in an audible whisper—

“Ay! they respect the dead, and it has this time
saved their own lives, and it may be, the lives of better
men too!”

Heyward lent his attention, for a single moment,
to his companion, but without replying, he again
turned towards those who just then interested him
more. He heard the two Hurons leave the bushes,
and it was soon plain that all the pursuers were
gathered about them, in deep attention to their report.
After a few minutes of earnest and solemn dialogue,
altogether different from the noisy clamour with
which they had first collected about the spot, the
sounds grew fainter, and more distant, and finally
were lost in the depths of the forest.

Hawk-eye waited until a signal from the listening
Chingachgook assured him that every sound from
the retiring party was completely swallowed by the
distance, when he motioned to Heyward to lead
forth the horses, and to assist the sisters into their
saddles. The instant this was done, they issued
through the broken gate-way, and stealing out by a
direction opposite to the one by which they had entered,
they quitted the spot, the sisters casting furtive
glances at the silent grave and crumbling ruin, as
they left the soft light of the moon, to bury themselves
in the deep gloom of the woods.