 Introduction to The Last of the Mohicans A Narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Introduction It is believed that the scene of this tale and most of the information necessary to understand its illusions are rendered sufficiently obvious to the reader in the text itself or in the accompanying notes. Still, there is so much obscurity in the Indian traditions and so much confusion in the Indian names to render some explanation useful. Few men exhibit greater diversity or, if we may so express it, greater antithesis of character than the native warrior of North America. In war, he is daring, boastful, cunning, ruthless, self-denying and self-devoted in peace, just, generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest and commonly chaste. These are qualities that is true which do not distinguish all alike but they are so far the predominating traits of these remarkable people as to be characteristic. It is generally believed that the aborigines of the American continent have an Asiatic origin. There are many physical as well as moral facts which corroborate this opinion and some few that would seem to weigh against it. The color of the Indian the writer believes is peculiar to himself and while his cheekbones have a very striking indication of tartar origin his eyes have not. Climate may have had great influence on the former but it is difficult to see how it can have produced the substantial difference which exists in the latter. The imagery of the Indian both in his poetry and his oratory is oriental, chastened and perhaps improved by the limited range of his practical knowledge. He draws his metaphors from the clouds, the seasons, the birds, the beast and the vegetable world. In this perhaps he does know more than any other energetic and imaginative race would do being compelled to set bounds to fancy by experience. But the North American Indian clothes his ideas in a dress which is different from that of the African and is oriental in itself. His language has the richness and sententious fullness of the Chinese. He will express a phrase in a word and he will qualify the meaning of an entire sentence by a syllable. He will even convey different significations by the simplest inflections of the voice. Philologists have said that there are but two or three languages properly speaking among all the numerous tribes which formerly occupied the country that now composes the United States. They ascribe the known difficulty one people have to understand another to corruptions and dialects. The writer remembers to have been present at an interview between two chiefs of the Great Prairies west of the Mississippi and when an interpreter was in attendance who spoke both their languages. The warriors appeared to be on the most friendly terms and seemingly conversed much together. Yet according to the account of the interpreter each was absolutely ignorant of what the other said. They were of hostile tribes brought together by the influence of the American government and it is worthy of remark that a common policy led them both to adopt the same subject. They mutually exhorted each other to be of use in the event of the chances of war throwing either of the parties into the hands of his enemies. Whatever may be the truth as respects the root and genius of the Indian tongues it is quite certain they are now so distinct in their words as to possess most of the disadvantages of strange languages. Hence much of the embarrassment that has arisen in learning their histories and most of the uncertainty which exists in their traditions. Like nations of higher pretensions the American Indian gives a very different account of his own tribal race from that which is given by other people. He is much addicted to overestimating his own perfections and to undervaluing those of his rival or his enemy. A trait which may possibly be thought corroborative of the mosaic account of the creation. The whites have assisted greatly in rendering the traditions of the aborigines more obscure by their own manner of corrupting names. Thus the term used in the title of this book has undergone the changes of Mihikini, Mohicans and Mohigans. The latter being the word commonly used by the whites. When it is remembered that the Dutch who first settled New York, the English and the French all gave appellations to the tribes that dwelt within the country which is the scene of this story and that the Indians not only gave different names to their enemies but frequently to themselves the cause of the confusion will be understood. In these pages Lenny Lenopy, Lenopy, Delaware's, Wapanachke and Mohicans all mean the same people or tribes of the same stock. The Mengue, the Makwas, the Mingoes and the Iroquois, though not all strictly the same are identified frequently by the speakers being politically confederated and opposed to those just named. Mingo was a term of peculiar reproach as were Mengue and Makwa to a less degree. The Mohicans were the possessors of the country first occupied by the Europeans in this portion of the continent. They were consequently the first dispossessed and the seemingly inevitable fate of all these people who disappear before the advances or it might be termed the inroads of civilization as the vendor of their native forest falls before the nipping frost is represented as having already befallen them. There is sufficient historical truth in the picture to justify the use that has been made of it. In point of fact the country which is the scene of the following tale has undergone as little change since the historical events alluded to had place as almost any other district of equal extent within the whole limits of the United States. There are fashionable and well attended watering places at and near the spring or Hawkeye halted to drink and roads traversed the forest where he and his friends were compelled to journey without even a path. Glens has a large village and while William Henry and even a fortress of later date are only to be traced as ruins there is another village on the shores of the hurricane. But beyond this the enterprise and energy of a people who have done so much in other places have done little here. The whole of that wilderness in which the later incidents of the legend occurred is nearly a wilderness still though the red man has entirely deserted this part of the state. Of all the tribes named in these pages there exist only a few half civilized beings of the United's on the reservations of their people in New York. The rest have disappeared either from the regions in which their fathers dwelt or altogether from the earth. There is one point on which we would wish to say a word before closing this preface. Hawkeye calls the lock to St. Sacrament the Horekin. As we believe this to be an appropriation of the name that has its origin with ourselves the time has arrived perhaps when the fact should be frankly admitted. While writing this book fully a quarter of a century since it occurred to us that the French name of this lake was too complicated the American too commonplace and the Indian too unpronounceable for either to be used familiarly in a work of fiction. Looking over an ancient map it was ascertained that a tribe of Indians called Lace Horekins by the French existed in the neighborhood of this beautiful sheet of water. As every word uttered by Natty Bumpo was not to be received as rigid truth. We took the liberty of putting the Horekin into his mouth as the substitute for Lake George. The name has appeared to find favor and all things considered it may possibly be quite as well to let it stand instead of going back to the house of Hanover for the appellation of our finest sheet of water. We relieve our conscience by the confession. All events leaving it to exercise its authority as it may see fit. End of introduction. This recording by Gary W. Sherwin of Yukon, Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007. Chapter 1 of The Last of the Mohicans. A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter 1. Quote, My ear is open and my heart prepared. The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold. Say, is my kingdom lost? Shakespeare. It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse host could meet. A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forest severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. The hardy colonist and the trained European who fought at his side frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids of the streams or in affecting the rugged passes of the mountains in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a more martial conflict. But emulating the patience and self-denial of the practiced native warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty and it would seem that in time there was no recess of the woods so dark nor any secret place so lovely that it might claim exemption from the inroads of those who had pledged their blood to satiate their vengeance or uphold the cold and selfish policy of the distant monarchs of Europe. Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate frontiers can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage warfare of those periods than the country which lies between the headwaters of the Hudson and the adjacent lakes. The facilities which nature had there offered to the march of the combatants were too obvious to be neglected. The lengthened sheet of the Champlain stretched from the frontiers of Canada deep within the borders of the neighboring province of New York forming a natural passage across half the distance that the French were compelled to master in order to strike their enemies. Near its southern termination it received the contributions of another lake whose waters were so limpid as to been exclusively selected by the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism and to obtain for it the title of Lake du Saint-Sacrament. The less zealous English thought they conferred a sufficient honour on its unsullied fountains when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the second of the House of Hanover. The two united to rob the untutored possessors of its wooded scenery of their native right to perpetuate its original appellation of Horekin. Footnote. As each nation of the Indians had its language or its dialect they usually gave different names to the same places though nearly all of their appellations were descriptive of the object. Thus a literal translation of the name of this beautiful sheet of water used by the tribe that dwell on its banks would be the tail of the lake. Lake George as it is vulgarly and now indeed legally called forms a sort of tail to Lake Champlain when viewed on the map. Hence the name. And a footnote. Winding its way among countless islands and embedded in mountains the Holy Lake extended a dozen leagues still further to the south. With the high plain that there interposed itself to the further passage of water commenced a portage of as many miles which conducted the adventure to the banks of the Hudson at a point where the usual obstructions of the rapids or rifts as they were termed in the language of the country the river became navigable to the tide. While in the pursuit of their daring plans of annoyance the restless enterprise of the French even attempted the distant and difficult gorges of the Allegheny. It may easily be imagined that their proverbial acuteness would not overlook the natural advantages of the district we have just described it became emphatically the bloody arena in which most of the battles for the mastery of the colonies were contested. Forks were erected at the different points that commanded the facilities of the route and were taken and retaken raised and rebuilt as victory elighted on the hostile batters. While the husband men shrank back from the dangerous passes within the safer boundaries of the more ancient settlements armies larger than those that had often deposed of theceptors of the mother countries were seen to bury themselves in these forests whence they rarely returned but in skeleton bands that were haggard with care or dejected by defeat. Though the arts of peace were unknown to this fatal region its forests were alive with men, its shades and glens rang with the sounds of martial music and the echoes of its mountains through back the laugh or repeated the wanton cry of many a gallant and reckless youth as he hurried by them in the noontide of his home to slumber in a long night of forgetfulness. It was in this scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents we shall attempt to relate occurred during the third year of the war which England and France last waged for the possession of a country that neither was destined to retain. The imbecility of her military leaders abroad and the fatal one of energy in her councils at home had lowered the character of Great Britain from the proud elevation on which it had been placed by the talents and enterprise of her former warriors and statesmen. No longer dreaded by her enemies her servants were fast losing the confidence of self-respect. In this mortifying abasement the colonists, the innocent of her imbecility and too humble to be the agents of her blunders were but the natural participators. They had recently seen a chosen army from that country which, reverencing as a mother, they had blindly believed invincible. An army led by a chief who had been selected from a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military endowments disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and only saved from annihilation by the coolness and spirit of a Virginia boy whose rape or fame has since diffused itself with the steady influence of moral truth to the uttermost confines of Christendom. Washington, who after uselessly admonishing the European general of the danger into which he was heedlessly running, saved the remnants of the British army on this occasion by his decision and courage. The reputation earned by Washington in this battle was the principal cause of his being selected to command the American armies at a later day. It is a circumstance worthy of observation that while all America rang with his well merited reputation, his name does not occur in any European account of the battle. At least the author has searched for it without success. In this manner does the mother country absorb even the fame under that system and rule. A wide frontier had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster, and more substantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and imaginary dangers. The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of the savages mingled with every fitful gust of wind that issued from the interminable forest of the West. The terrific character of their merciless enemies increased immeasurably the natural horrors of warfare. Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their recollections. Nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not to have drunk in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnight murder in which the natives of the forest were the principal and barbarous actors. As the credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances of the wilderness, the blood of the timid curled with terror, and mothers cast anxious glances even if those children were slumbered within the security of the largest towns. In short, the magnifying influence of fear began to set it not to calculations of reason and to render those who should have remembered their manhood the slaves of the basest passions. Even the most confident and stoutest hearts began to think the issue of the contest was becoming doubtful. And that abject class was hourly increasing in numbers who thought they foresaw all the possessions of the English crown in America, subdued by their Christian foes, or laid waste by the inroads of their relentless allies. When, therefore, intelligence was received at the fort which covered the southern termination of the portage between the Hudson and the banks, that Montcombe had been seen moving up the Champlain with an army numerous as the leaves on the trees. His truth was admitted with more of the craven reluctance of fear than with the stern joy that a warrior should feel in finding an enemy within reach of his blow. The news had been brought toward the decline of a day in mid-summer by an Indian runner who also bore an urgent request from Monroe, the commander of a work on the shore of the Holy Lake, for a speedy and powerful reinforcement. It has already been mentioned that the distance between these two posts was less than five leagues. The rude path which originally formed their line of communication had been widened for the passage of wagons, so that the distance which had been traveled by the sun of the forest in two hours might easily be affected by detachment of troops with their necessary baggage between the rising and setting of a summer sun. The loyal servants of the British Crown had given to one of these forest fastnesses the name of William Henry and to the other that of Fort Edward, calling each after a favorite prince of the reigning family. The veteran Scotchman just named held the first with a regiment of regulars and a few provincials. A force really by far too small to make head against the formidable power that Montcalm was leading to the foot of his earthen mounds. At the latter, however, lay General Webb, who commanded the armies of the king in the northern provinces, with a body of more than five thousand men. By uniting the several detachments of his command, this officer might have arrayed nearly double that number of combatants against the enterprising Frenchmen who had ventured so far from his reinforcements with an army but little superior in numbers. But under the influence of their degraded fortunes, both officers and men appeared better disposed to wait the approach of their formidable antagonists within their works than to resist the progress of their march by emulating the successful example of the French at Fort Duquesne and striking a blow on their advance. After the first surprise of the intelligence had a little abated, a rumor was spread through the entrenched camp which stretched along the margin of the Hudson, forming a chain of outworks to the body of the fort itself that a chosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to depart with the dawn for William Henry, the post at the northern extremity of the portage. That, which at first was only a rumor, soon became certainty. As orders passed from the quarters of the commander-in-chief to the several corps he had selected for his service to prepare for their speedy departure. All doubts as the intention of Webb now vanished, and an hour or two of hurried footsteps and anxious faces succeeded. The novice in the military art flew from point to point, retarding his own preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal, while the more-practiced veteran made his arrangements with the deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste. Though his sober liniments and anxious eye sufficiently betrayed that he had no very strong professional relish for the yet untried and dreaded warfare of the wilderness, at length the sun set in a flood of glory behind the distant western hills, and as darkness drew its veil around the secluded spot the sounds of preparation diminished. The last light finally disappeared from the log cabin of some officer. The trees cast their deeper shadows over the mounds and the rippling stream, and a silent soon pervaded the camp, as deep as that which reigned in the vast forest by which it was environed. According to the orders of the preceding night, the heavy sleep of the army was broken by the rolling of the warning drums, whose rattling echoes were heard issuing on the damp morning air, out of every vista of the woods. Just as day began to draw the shaggy outlines of some tall pines of the vicinity, on the opening brightness of a soft and cloudless eastern sky. In an instant the whole camp was in motion, the meanest soldier arising from his lair to witness the departure of his comrades, and to share the excitement and incidents of the hour. The simple array of the chosen band was soon completed. While the regular entrained hirelings of the King marched with haughtiness to the right of the line, the less pretending colonists took their humbler position on its left, with the docility that long practice had rendered easy. The scouts departed. Strong guards proceeded and followed the lumbering vehicles that bore the baggage, and before the great light of mourning was mellowed by the rays of the sun, the main body of the combatants wheeled into column and left the encampment with a show of high military bearing that served to drown the slumbering apprehensions of many of novice who was now about to make his first essay in arms. While in view of their admiring comrades, the same proud front and ordered array was observed until the notes of their fives growing fainter in distance, the forest at length appeared to swallow up the living mass which had slowly entered its bosom. The deepest sounds of the retiring and invisible column had ceased to be born in the breeze of the listeners, and the latest straggler had already disappeared in pursuit. But there still remained the signs of another departure before a long cabin of unusual size and accommodations in front of which those setinels placed their rounds who were known to guard the person of the English general. At this spot were gathered some half-dozen horses, comparison in a manner which showed that two at least were destined to bear the persons of females of a rank that was not usual to meet so far in the wilds of the country. A third were trapping in arms of an officer of the staff, while the rest, from the plainness of the housing and the traveling males with which they were encumbered, were evidently fitted for the reception of as many menials who were seemingly already waiting the pleasure of those they served. Their respectful distance from this unusual show were gathered diverse groups of curious idlers, some admiring the blood and bone of the high-metal military charger, and others gazing at the preparations with the dull wonder of vulgar curiosity. There was one man, however, who by his countenance and actions formed a marked exception to those who composed the latter class of spectators, being neither idle nor seemingly very ignorant. The person of this individual was to the last degree ungainly without being in any particular manner deformed. He had all the bones and joints of other men without any of their proportions. Erect? His statues are past that of his fellows. Though seated, he appeared reduced within the ordinary limits of the race. The same contrarity of his members seemed to exist throughout the whole man. His head was large, his shoulders narrow, his arms long and dangling, while his hands were small, if not delicate. His legs and thighs were thin, nearly to maciation, but of extraordinary length. And his knees would have been considered tremendous had they not been outdone by the broader foundation on which this false superstructure of blended human orders was so profanely reared. The ill assorted and injudicious attire of the individual only served to render his awkwardness more conspicuous. A sky-blue coat with short and broad skirts and a low cape exposed a long, thin neck and longer and thinner legs to the worst anima versions of the evil disposed. His nether garment was a yellow nankeen closely fitted to the shape and tied at his bunches of knees by large knots of white ribbon. A good deal sullied by use. Clouded cotton stockings and shoes on one of the latter of which was a plated spur completed the costume of the lower extremity of this figure, no curve or angle of which was concealed, but on the other hand studiously exhibited through the vanity or vanity of its owner. From beneath the flap of an enormous pocket of a soiled vest of embossed silk, heavily ornamented with tarnished silver lace, projected in instrument, which from being seen in such martial company might have been easily mistaken for some mischievous and unknown implement of war. Small as it was, this uncommon engine had excited the curiosity of most of the Europeans in the camp. Though several of the provincials were seen to handle it, not only without fear, but with the utmost familiarity. A large civil cocked hat, like those worn by clergymen within the last 30 years, surmounted the whole, furnishing dignity to a good natured and somewhat vacant countenance that apparently needed such artificial aid to support the gravity of some high and extraordinary trust. While the common herd stood a loof, in deference to the quarters of web, the figure we described stalked into the center of the domestics, freely expressing his censures and commendations on the merits of the horses, as, by chance they displeased or satisfied his judgment. This beast, I rather conclude, friend, is not of home-raising, but is from foreign lands or perhaps from the little island itself over the blue water? He said, in a voice as remarkable for the softness and sweetness of its tones, as was his person for its rare proportions, I may speak of these things and be no braggart, for I have been down at both havens that which is situate at the mouth of Thames, and is named after the capital of Old England, and that which is called Haven with the addition of the word new, and have seen the scowls and brigatines collecting their droves, like the gathering to the ark, being outward bound to the island of Jamaica for the purpose of barter and traffic in four-footed animals, but never before have I beheld a beast which verified the true scripture warhorse like this. He pawth in the valley and rejoices in his strength, he goeth on to meet the armed men. He saith among the trumpets, ha-ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. It would seem that the stalk of the horse of Israel had descended to our time, would it not, friend? Receiving no reply to this extraordinary appeal, which in truth, as it was delivered with the vigor of full and sonorous tones, merited some sort of notice, he who had thus sung forth the language of the holy book, turned to the silent figure to whom he had unwittingly addressed himself, and found a new and more powerful subject of admiration in the object that encountered his gaze. His eyes fell on the still upright and rigid form of the Indian runner who had borne to the camp the unwelcome tidings of the preceding evening. Although in a state of perfect repose, and apparently disregarding with characteristic stoicism the excitement and bustle around him, there was a solemn fierceness mingled with the quiet of the savage that was likely to arrest the attention of much more experienced eyes than those which now scanned him in unconcealed amazement. The native bore both the tomahawk and knife of his tribe, and yet his appearance was not altogether that of a warrior. On the contrary, there was an air of neglect about this person, like that which might have proceeded from great and recent exertion, which he had not yet found leisure to repair. The colors of the war paint had blended in dark confusion about his fierce countenance, and rendered his swarthy liniments still more savage and repulsive than if art had attempted an effect which had been thus produced by chance. His eye alone, which listened like a fiery star mid-lowering clouds, was to be seen in its state of native wildness. For a single instant his searching and yet worry-glance met the wondering look of the other, and then, changing its direction, partly in cunning and partly in disdain, it remained fixed as if penetrating the distant air. It is impossible to say what unlooked for remark this short silent communication between two such singular men might have elicited from the white man, had not his active curiosity been again drawn to other objects. A general movement among the domestics and a low sound of gentle voices announced the approach of those whose presence alone was wanted to enable the cabalcade to move. The simple admirer of the warhorse instantly fell back to a low, gaunt, switched-tailed mare, which was unconsciously gleaning the faded herbage of the camp nighby, where, leaning with one elbow on the blanket that concealed an apology for a saddle, he became expectator of the departure, while a foal was quietly making its morning repast on the opposite side of the same animal. A young man in the dress of an officer conducted to their steeds two females, who, as it was apparent by their dresses, were prepared to encounter the fatigues of a journey in the woods. One, and she was the more juvenile in her parents, though both were young, permitted glimpses of her dazzling complexion, fair golden hair and bright blue eyes, to be caught as she artlessly suffered the morning air to blow aside the green veil which descended low from her beaver. The flush which still lingered above the pines of the western sky was not more bright nor delicate than the bloom of her cheek, nor was the opening day more cheering than the animated smile which she bestowed on the youth as he assisted her into the saddle. The other, who appeared to share equally in the attention of the young officer, concealed her charms from the gaze of the soldiery, with a care that seemed better fitted to the experience of four or five additional years. It could be seen, however, that her person, though molded with the same exquisite proportions of which none of the graces were lost by the traveling dress she wore, was rather fuller and more mature than that of her companion. No sooner were these females seated than their attendance sprang lightly into the saddle of the warhorse. When the whole three bowed to Webb, who in courtesy awaited their parting on the threshold of his cabin, and turning their horse's heads, they proceeded at a slow amble followed by their train toward the northern entrance of the encampment. As they traversed that short distance not a voice was heard among them, but a slight exclamation proceeded from the younger of the females, as the Indian runner glided by her unexpectedly, and led the way along the military road in her front. Though this sudden and startling movement of the Indian produced no sound from the other, in the surprise her veil also was allowed to open its folds, and betrayed an indescribable look of pity, admiration, and horror, as her dark eye followed the easy motions of the savage. The tresses of this lady were shining in black like the plumage of a raven. Her complexion was not brown, but it rather appeared charged with the color of the rich blood that seemed ready to burst its bounds, and yet there was neither coarseness nor one of shadowing in accountants that was exquisitely regular, and dignified, and surpassingly beautiful. She smiled as if in pity at her own momentary forgetfulness, discovering by the act a row of teeth that would have shamed the purest ivory. When replacing the veil she bowed her face and rode in silence, like one whose thoughts were abstracted from the scene around her. The Last of the Mohicans By Shakespeare If the latter, gratitude must close our mouths. But if the former, both Korra and I shall have need to draw largely on that stock of hereditary courage which we boast, even before we were made to encounter the redoubtable Montcom. Yon Indian is a runner of the army, and after the fashion of his people he may be accounted a hero returned the officer. He volunteered to guide us to the lake by a path but little known, sooner than if we followed the tardy movements of the column, and by a consequence more agreeably. I like him not, said the lady shuddering, partly unassumed yet more in real terror. You know him, Duncan? Or would you not trust yourself so freely to his keeping? Say rather, Alice, that I would not trust you. I do know him, or he would not have my confidence. And least of all at this moment. He is said to be a Canadian too, and yet he served with our friends the Mohawks, who, as you know, are one of the six allied nations. He was brought among us, as I have heard, by some strange accident in which your father was interested and in which the savage was rigidly dealt by. But I forget the idle tale. It is enough he is now our friend. If he has been my father's enemy, I like him still less, exclaimed the now really anxious girl. Will you not speak to him, Major Hayward, that I may hear his tones? Foolish though it may be, you have often heard me avow my faith in the tones of the human voice. It would be in vain and answered most probably by an ejaculation. Though he may understand it, he affects like most of his people to be ignorant of the English. And least of all will he condescend to speak it, now that the war demands the utmost exercise of his dignity. But he stops. The private path by which we are to journey is doubtless at hand. The conjecture of Major Hayward was true. When they reached the spot where the Indians stood pointing into the thicket that fringed the military road, a narrow and blind path which might with some little inconvenience receive one person at a time, became visible. Here, then, lilies are away. Said the young man in a low voice. Manifest no distress, or you may invite the danger you appear to apprehend. Cora, what think you, as the reluctant fair one, if we journey with the troops, though we may find their presence irksome, shall we not feel better assurance of our safety? Being little accustomed to the practices of the savages, Alice, you mistake the place of real danger, said Hayward. If enemies have reached the portage at all, a thing by no means probable, as our scouts are abroad. They will surely be found skirting the column where scalps abound most. The rout of the detachment is known. While ours, having been determined within the hour, must still be secret. Should we distrust the man, because his manners are not our manners, and that his skin is dark, coldly asked Cora. Alice hesitated no longer. But giving her Narragansett a smart cut of the whip, she was the first to dash aside the slight branches of the bushes and to follow the runner along the dark entangled pathway. Footnote. In the state of Rhode Island there is a bay called Narragansett, so named after a powerful tribe of Indians which formerly dwelt on its banks. Accident, or one of those unaccountable freaks which nature sometimes plays in the animal world, gave rise to a breed of horses which were once well known in America, and distinguished by their habit of pacing. Horses of this race were, and are still, in much request as saddle horses on account of their hardiness and the ease of their movements. As they were also sure of foot, the Narragansett were greatly sought for by females who were obliged to travel over the roots and holes in the new countries. And a footnote. The young man regarded the last speaker in open admiration and even permitted her fair, though certainly not more beautiful companion, to proceed unattended while he said eulously, opened the way himself for the passage of her who has been called Cora. It would seem that the domestics had been previously instructed, for, instead of penetrating the thicket, they followed the route of the column. A measure which Hayward stated had been dictated by the sagacity of their guide in order to diminish the marks of their trail, if happily the Canadian savages should be lurking so far in advance of their army. For many minutes the intricacy of the route admitted of no further dialogue, after which they emerged from the broad border of underbrush which grew along the line of the highway and entered under the high but dark arches of the forest. Here their progress was less interrupted. And the instant the guide perceived that the females could command their steeds, he moved on at a pace between a trot and a walk, and at a rate which kept surefooted and peculiar animals they rode at a fast yet easy amble. The youth had turned to speak to the dark-eyed Cora when the distant sound of horses' hooves clattering over the roots of the broken way in its rear caused him to check his charger. And, as his companions drew their reins at the same instant, the whole party came to a halt in order to obtain an explanation of the unlooked-for interruption. In a few moments a cult was seen gliding like a fallow deer among the straight trunks of the pines, and in another instant the person of the ungainly man described in the preceding chapter came into view, with as much rapidity as he could excite his meager beast to endure without coming to an open rupture. Until now his personage had escaped the observation of the travelers. If he possessed the power to arrest any wandering eye when exhibiting the glories of his altitude on foot, his equestrian graces were still more likely to attract attention. Notwithstanding a constant application of his one armed heel to the flanks of the mare, the most confirmed gait that he could establish was a Canterbury Gallop with the hind legs, in which those more forward assisted for doubtful moments, and generally content to maintain a loping trot. Perhaps the rapidity of the changes from one of these paces to the other created an optical illusion which might thus magnify the powers of the beast. For it is certain that Hayward, who possessed a true eye for the merits of a horse, was unable with his utmost ingenuity to decide by what sort of movement his pursuer worked his sinuous way on his footsteps with such persevering hardy-hood. The industry and the movements of the rider were not less remarkable than those of the ridden. At each change in the evolutions of the latter the former raised as tall person in the stirrups, producing in this matter by the undue elongation of his legs such sudden growths and diminishings of the stature as baffled every conjecture that might be made as to his dimensions. If to this be added the fact, in consequence of the ex parte application of the spur, one side of the mare appeared to journey faster than the other, and that the aggrieved flank was resolutely indicated by unremitted flourishes of a bushy tail. We finish the picture of both horse and man. The frown which had gathered around the handsome open and manly brow of Hayward gradually relaxed and his lips curled into a slight smile as he regarded the stranger. Alice made no very powerful effort to control her merriment, and even the dark-thoughtful eye delighted with the humor that it would seem the habit rather than nature of its mistress repressed. Seek you any here? demanded Hayward when the other had arrived sufficiently nigh to obey his speed. I trust you are no messenger of evil tidings. Even so replied the stranger, making diligent use of his triangular caster to produce a circulation in the close air of the woods and leaving his ears in doubt to which of the young man's he responded when, however, he had cooled his face and recovered his breath he continued. I hear you are riding to William Henry. As I am journeying thitherward myself I concluded good company would seem consistent to the wishes of both parties. You appear to possess the privilege of a casting vote, returned Hayward. We are three while you have consulted no one but yourself. Even so, the first point to be obtained is to know one's own mind. One sure of that and where women are concerned it is not easy. The next is to act up to the decision. I have endeavored to do both and here I am. If you make the journey to the lake you have mistaken your route, said Hayward haughtily, the highway thither is at least a half a mile behind you. Even so replied the stranger, nothing daunted is called reception. I have tarried at Edward a week, and I should be dumb not to have inquired the road I was to journey, and if dumb there would be an end to my calling. After simpering in a small way like one whose modesty prohibited a more open expression of his admiration of a witticism that was perfectly unintelligible to his hears he continued, is it not prudent for any one of my profession to be too familiar with those he has to instruct, for which reason I follow not the line of the army, besides which I conclude that a gentleman of your character is the best judgment in matters of wayfaring. I have therefore decided to join company in order that the ride may be made agreeable and partake of social communion. A most arbitrary, if not a hasty decision exclaimed Hayward undecided whether to give vent to his growing anger or to laugh in the other's face. But you speak of instruction, and of a profession. Are you an adjunct to the provincial corps, as a master of the noble science of defense and offense, or perhaps you're the one who draws lines and angles under the pretense of expounding the mathematics? The stranger regarded his interrogator for a moment in wonder, and then losing every mark of self-satisfaction in an expression of solemn humility he answered. Of offense I hope there is none to either party. Of defense I make none. By God's good mercy having committed no palpable sin since last in treating his pardon and grace. I understand not your illusions about lines and angles, and I leave expounding to those who have been called and set apart for that holy office. I lay claim to no higher gift than a small insight into the glorious art of petitioning and thanksgiving as practice in psalmody. This man is most manifestly a disciple of Apollo, cried the amused Alice, and I take him under my own especial protection. Nay, throw aside that frown hayward, and then pity to my longing years suffer him to journey in our trade besides—she added in a low and hurried voice, casting a glance at the distant Quora, who slowly followed the footsteps of their silent but sullen guide. It may be a friend added to her strength in the time of need. Think you, Alice, that I would trust those I love by the secret path? Did I imagine such need could happen? Nay, nay, I think not of it now, but this strange man amuses me, and if he hath music in his soul, let us not couragely reject his company. She pointed persuasively along the path with her riding-whip, while her eyes met in a look and then lingered a moment to prolong. Then, yielding to her gentle influence, he clapped his spurs to his charger, and in a few bounds was again at the side of Quora. I am glad to encounter the friend, continued the maiden, waving her hand to the stranger to proceed, as she urged her near against it to renew its amble. Partial relatives have almost persuaded me that I am not entirely convinced, and we may enliven our wayfaring by indulging in our favorite pursuit. It might be of signal advantage to one ignorant as I, to hear the opinions and experience of a master of the art. It is refreshing both to the spirits and the body to indulge in somedy, in befitting seasons, returned the master of song, unhesitatingly complying with her intimation to follow, and nothing would happen. But four parts are altogether necessary for the perfection of melody. You have all the manifestations of a soft and rich treble. I can by a special aid carry a full tenor to the highest letter, but we lack counter and base. You are an officer of the king who hesitated to admit me to his company, might fill the letter, if one may judge from the intonations of his voice in common dialogue. At least the indeceptive appearances, said the lady smiling. Though major Hayward can assume such deep notes on occasion, believe me, his natural tones are better fitted to a mellow tenor than the bass you heard. Is he then much practised in the art of somedy? demanded her simple companion. Alice felt disposed to laugh, though she succeeded in suppressing her merriment, ere she addicted to profane song. The chances of a soldier's life are but little fitted to the encouragement of more sober inclinations. Man's voice was given to him like his other talents to be used, and not to be abused. None can say they have ever known me to neglect my gifts. I am thankful that through my boyhood may be said to have been set apart, like the youth of the royal David for music. No syllable of rude verse has ever profaned my lips. You have then limited your efforts to sacred song? Even so. As the Psalms of David exceed all other language, so does the somedy that has been fitted to them by the divines and sages of the land surpass all vain poetry. Happily I may say that I utter nothing but the thoughts and thoughts of myself. For though the times may call for some slight changes, yet does this version which we use in the colonies of no England, so much exceed all other versions that by its richness, its exactness, and its spiritual simplicity, it approaches as near as may be the great work of the inspired writer. I never abide in any place sleeping or waking without an example to the sixth and twentieth edition, promulgated at Boston on your Dominic 1744, and is entitled The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New Testaments, faithfully translated into English meter for the use, edification, and comfort of the saints in public and private, especially in New England. During his euloquium on the rare production of his native poets, the stranger had drawn the book from his pocket, and fitting a pair of iron rim spectacles to his nose, opened the volume with a care and veneration suited to its sacred purposes. Then, without circumlocution or apology, first pronounced the word standish, and placing the unknown engine already described to his mouth from which he drew a high shrill sound that was heard. He commenced singing the following words in full, sweet, and melodious tones that set the music, the poetry, and even the uneasy motion of his ill-trained beast at defiance. How good it is, O. C., and how it pleaseth well, together in unity, for brethren so to dwell. It's like the choice ointment from the head to the beard to go, down Aaron's head that downward went, whose garment skirts unto. The delivery of these skillful rhymes was accompanied on the part of the stranger by a regular rise and fall of his right hand, which terminated at the descent by suffering the fingers to dwell a moment on the leaves of the little volume, and on assent by a flourish of the member, as none but the initiated my ever hope to imitate. It would seem long practice had rendered this manual accompaniment necessary, for it did not cease until the version which the poet had selected for the close of his verse had been duly delivered, like a word of two syllables. Such an innovation on the silence and the retirement of the force could not fail to enlist the ears of those who journeyed at so short a distance in advance. The Indian muttered a few words in broken English to Hayward, who in his turn spoke to the stranger at once interrupting and for the time closing his musical efforts. Though danger, common prudence would teach us to journey through this wilderness in as quiet a manner as possible. You will then pardon me, Alice, should I diminish your enjoyments by requesting this gentleman to postpone his chant until a safer opportunity. You will diminish them indeed, returned the arch-girl, for never did I hear a more unworthy conjunction of execution and language than that to which I have been listening. And I was far gone in a learned inquiry into the causes of such an imminent fitness between sound and sense when you broke the charm of my musing by that base of yours, Duncan. I know not what you call my base, said Hayward, peaked at her remark, but I know that your safety in that of horror is far dearer to me than could be any orchestra of Handel's music. He paused and turned his head quickly toward a thicket, and then bent his eyes suspiciously on another guide who continued his steady base in undisturbed gravity. The young man smiled to himself, for he believed he had mistaken some shining berry of the woods for the glistening eyeballs of a prowling savage as he rode forward continuing the conversation which had been interrupted by the passing thought. Major Hayward was mistaken only in suffering his youthful and generous pride to suppress his act of watchfulness. He passed before the branches of the bushes that formed the thicket were cautiously moved asunder and a human visage as fiercely wild as savage art and unbridled passions could make it peered out on the retiring footsteps of the travelers. A gleam of exaltation shot across the darkly painted liniments of the inhabitant of the forest as he traced the route of his intended victims who rode unconsciously onward. The light and graceful forms of the females of the trees in the curvatures of their path followed at each bend by the manly figure of Hayward until finally the shapeless person of the singing master was concealed behind the numberless trunks of trees that rose in dark lines in the intermediate space. End of Chapter 2 This reading by Gary W. Sherwin of UConn, Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007. Chapter 3 of The Last of the Mohicans A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 3 Quote These fields were shorn and tilled full to the brim our rivers flowed. The melody of waters filled the fresh and boundless wood and torrents dashed and rivulets played and fountains spouted in the shade. Quote by Bryant Leaving the unsuspecting Hayward and his confiding companions to penetrate still deeper into a forest that contains such treacherous inmates, we must use an author's privilege and shift the scene a few miles to the westward of the place where we have last seen them. On that day two men were lingering on the banks of a small but rapid stream within an hour's journey of the encampment of Webb like those who awaited the appearance of an absent person or the approach of some expected event. The vast canopy of woods spread itself to the margin of the river overhanging the water and shadowing its dark current with a deeper hue. The rays of the sun were beginning to grow less fierce and the intense heat of the day was lessened as the cooler vapors of the springs and fountains rose above their leafy beds and rested in the atmosphere. Still that breathing silence which marks the drowsy sultriness of an American landscape in July pervaded the secluded spot interrupted only by the low voices of the men the occasional and lazy tap of a woodpecker the discordant cry of some gaudy jay or a swelling on the ear from the dull roar of a distant waterfall. These feeble and broken sounds were, however, too familiar to the foresters to draw their attention from the more interesting matter of their dialogue. While one of these loiters showed the red skin and wild accoutrements of a native of the woods the other exhibited through the mask of his rude and nearly savage equipments the brighter, though sunburned and long-faced complexion of one who might claim descent from a European parentage. The former was seated on the end of a mossy log in a posture that permitted him to heighten the effect of his earnest language by the calm but expressive gestures of an Indian engaged in debate. His body which was nearly naked presented a terrific emblem of death drawn in intermingled colors of white and black. His closely shaved head on which no other hair than the well-known and chivalrous scalping tuft was preserved was without ornament of any kind with the exception of a solitary eagle's plume who lost his crown and depended over the left shoulder footnote the North American warrior caused the hair to be plucked from his whole body a small tuft was left on the crown of his head in order that his enemy might avail himself of it in the wrenching off the scalp in the event of his fall the scalp was the only admissible trophy of victory thus it was deemed more important to the scalp than to kill the man. Some tribes lay great stress on the honor of striking a dead body these practices have nearly disappeared among the Indians of the Atlantic states and footnote a tomahawk and scalping knife of English manufacture were in his girdle while a short military rifle of that sort with which the policy of the whites armed their savage allies lay carelessly across his bare and sinewy knee the expanded chest full formed limbs and grave countenance of this warrior would denote that he had reached the vigor of his days though no symptoms of decay appeared to have yet weakened his manhood the frame of the white man judging from such parts as were not concealed by his clothes was like that of one who had known hardships and exertion from his earliest youth his person though muscular was rather attenuated than full but every nerve and muscle appeared strong and indurated by unremitted exposure and toil he wore a hunting shirt of forest green fringed with faded yellow and a summer cap of skins which had been shorn of their fur footnote the hunting shirt is a picturesque smock frock being shorter and ornamented with fringes and tassels the colors are intended to imitate the hues of the wood with a view to concealment many corps of American riflemen have been thus attired and the dress is one of the most striking of modern times the hunting shirt is frequently white he also bore a knife in a girdle of wampum like that which can find the scanty garments of the Indian but no tomahawk his moccasins were ornamented after the gay fashion of the natives while the only part of his underdress which appeared below the hunting frock was a pair of buckskin leggings that laced at the sides and which were gartered above the knees with the sinews of a deer a pouch and horn completed his personal accoutrements the rifle of great length which the theory of the more ingenious whites had taught them was the most dangerous of all firearms leaned against a neighboring sapling footnote the rifle of the army is short that of the hunter is always long and footnote the eye of the hunter or scout whichever he might be was small, quick, keen and restless roving while he spoke on every side of him as if in quest of game or distrusting the sudden approach of some lurking enemy notwithstanding the symptoms of habitual suspicion his countenance was not only without guile but at the moment at which he is introduced it was charged with an expression of sturdy honesty even your traditions make the case in my favor chinch-gotch-cook speaking in the tongue which was known to all the natives who formerly inhabited the country between the Hudson and the Potomac and of which we shall give a free translation for the benefit of the reader endeavoring at the same time to preserve some of the peculiarities both of the individual and of the language your fathers came from the setting sun crossed the big river fought the people of the country and took the land came from the red sky of the morning over the Salt Lake and did their work much after the fashion that had been set them by yours then let God judge the matter between us and friends spare their words footnote the Mississippi the scout alludes to a tradition which is very popular among the tribes of the Atlantic states evidence of their Asiatic origin is deduced from the circumstances the great uncertainty hangs over the whole history of the Indians and footnote my fathers fought with the naked red man returned the Indian sternly in the same language is there no difference Hawkeye between the stone headed arrow of the warrior and the leaden bullet with which you kill there is reason in an Indian though nature has made him with a red skin the white man shaking his head like one on whom such appeal to his justice was not thrown away for a moment he appeared to be conscious of having the worst of the argument then rallying again he answered the objection of his antagonist in the best manner his limited information would allow I am no scholar and I care not who knows it but judging from what I've seen with the deer chases and squirrel hunts of the sparks below I should think a rifle in the hands of their grandfathers was not so dangerous as a hickory bow and a good flint head might be if drawn with Indian judgment and sent by an Indian eye you have told the story told by your fathers return the other coldly waving his hand what say you old men warriors that the pale faces met the red men painted for war and armed with the stone hatchet and wooden gun I am not a prejudiced man nor one who vaunts himself on his natural privileges though the worst enemy I have on earth and he is an Iroquois dare deny I am genuine white the scout replied surveying with secret satisfaction the faded color of my and sinewy hand and I am willing to own that my people have many ways of which as an honest man I can't prove it is one of their customs to write in books what they have done and seen instead of telling them in their villages where the lie can be given to the face of a cowardly boaster and a brave soldier can call on his comrades to witness for the truth of his words in consequence of this bad fashion a man who is too conscientious to misspent his days among the women in learning the names of black marks may never hear the deeds of his fathers nor feel a pride in striving to outdo them for myself I conclude the bumpers could shoot for I have a natural turn with a rifle which must have been handed down from generation to generation as our holy commandments tell us all good and evil gifts are bestowed though I should be loathed to answer for other people in such a matter but every story has its two sides so I ask you Chinchuchuk what passed according to the traditions of the red men when our fathers first met a silence of a minute during which the Indians sat mute then full of the dignity of his office he commenced his brief tale with a solemnity that served to heighten its appearance of truth listen Hawkeye and your ear shall drink no lie tis what my fathers have said and what the Mohicans have done he hesitated a single instant and bending a cautious glance toward his companion he continued in a manner that was divided between interrogation and assertion does not this stream at our feet run toward the summer until its waters grow salt and the current flows upward it can't be denied that your traditions tell you true in both these matters said the white man for I have been there I have seen them the white water which is so sweet in the shade should become bitter in the sun is an alteration for which I have never been able to account and the current demanded the Indian who expected his reply with that sort of interest that a man feels in the confirmation of testimony at which he marvels even while he respects it the fathers of Chinchuchuk have not lied the holy Bible is not more true and that is the truest thing in nature they call this upstream current the tide which is a thing soon explained and clear enough six hours the waters run in and six hours they run out and the reason is this when there is higher water in the sea than in the river they run in until the river gets to be highest and then it runs out again the waters in the woods and on the great lakes run downward until they lie like my hand said the Indian stretching the limb horizontally before him and then they run no more no honest man will deny it said the scout a little nettle at the implied distrust of his explanation on the mystery of the tides and I grant that it is true on the small scale and where the land is level but everything depends on what scale you look at things now on the small scale the earth is level but on the large scale it is round in this manner pools and ponds and even the great freshwater lakes may be stagnant as you and I both know they are having seen them but when you come to spread water over a great tract like the sea where the earth is round how in reason can the water be quiet you might as well expect the river to lie still on the brink of those black rocks a mile above us though our own ears tell you that it is tumbling over them but if unsatisfied by the philosophy of his companion the Indian was far too dignified to betray his unbelief he listened like one who was convinced and resumed his narrative in his former solemn manner we came from the place where the sun is hit at night over great plains where the buffaloes live until we reached the big river there we fought the Alegui till the ground was red with their blood from the banks of the big river to the shores of the salt lake there was none to meet us the maquas followed at a distance we said the country should be ours from the place where the water runs up no longer on this stream to a river 20 suns journey toward the summer we drove the maquas into the woods with the bears they only tasted salt at the lakes they drew no fish from the great lake we threw them the bones all this I have heard and believe said the white man observing that the Indian paused but it was long before the English came into the country a pine grew then where this chestnut now stands the first pale faces who came among us spoke no English they came in a large canoe when my fathers had buried the tomahawk with the red men around them then Hawkeye he continued betraying his deep emotion only by permitting his voice to fall to those low guttural tones which render his language as spoken at times so very musical then Hawkeye we were one people and we were happy the salt lake gave us its fish the wood its deer and the air its birds we took wise who bore us children we worshiped the great spirit and we kept the maquas beyond the sound of our songs of triumph know you anything of your own family at that time? demanded the white but you are just a man for an Indian and I suppose you hold their gifts your fathers must have been brave warriors and wise men at the council fire my tribe is the grandfather of nations but I am an unmixed man the blood of chiefs is in my veins where it must stay forever the Dutch landed and gave my people the fire water they drank until the heavens and earth seemed to meet and they foolishly thought they had found the great spirit then they parted with their land foot by foot they were driven back from the shores until I that I am a chief and a sagamore have never seen the sunshine but through the trees and have never visited the graves of my fathers graves bring solemn feelings to my mind returned the scout a good deal touched at the calm suffering of his companion and they often aid a man in his good intentions though for myself I expect to leave my own bones unburied to bleach in the woods or be torn asunder by the wolves but where are to be found those of your race who came to their kin in the Delaware country the symptoms of those summers fallen one by one so all of my family departed each in his turn to the land of spirits I am on the hill top and must go down into the valley and when Uncus follows in my footsteps there will no longer be any of the blood of the sagamores for my boy is the last of the Mohicans Uncus is here said another voice in the same soft guttural tones near his valbo who speaks for Uncus the white man loosened his knife in his leather and sheath and made an involuntary movement of the hand toward his rifle at this sudden interruption but the Indians sat composed and without turning his head at the next instant a youthful warrior passed between them with a noiseless step and seated himself on the bank of the rapid stream no exclamation of surprise escaped the father nor was any question asked or reply given for several minutes each appearing to await the moment when he might speak without betraying womanish curiosity or childish impatience the white man seemed to take counsel from their customs and relinquishing his grasp of the rifle he also remained silent and reserved at length turned his eyes slowly toward his son and demanded do the maquis dare to leave the print of their moccasins in these woods I have been on their trail replied the young Indian know that they number as many as the fingers of my two hands but they lie hid like cowards the thieves are outlying for scalps and plunder said the white man whom we shall call Hawkeye after the manner of his companions that busy Frenchman Montcom will send his spies into our very camp but he will know what road we travel tis enough to return the father glancing his eye toward the setting sun they shall be driven like deer from their bushes Hawkeye let us eat tonight and show the maquis that we are men tomorrow I am as ready to do one as the other but to fight the Iroquois tis necessary to find the Sculkers and to eat tis necessary to get the game talk of the devil and he will come there is a pair of the biggest antlers I have seen this season moving the bushes below the hill now Uncus he continued in a half whisper and laughing with the kind of inward sound like one who had learned to be watchful I will bet my charger three times full of powder against a foot of wampum that I take him at wicks the eyes and near to the right then the left it cannot be it cannot be said the young indian springing to his feet with youthful eagerness oh but the tips of his horns are hid he's a boy said the white man shaking his head while he spoke and addressing the father does he think when a hunter sees a part of a creature he can't tell where the rest of him should be adjusting his rifle he was about to make an exhibition of that skill on which he so much valued himself when the warrior struck up the piece with his hand saying Hawkeye will you fight the maquis these indians know the nature of the woods as it might be by instinct returned the scout dropping his rifle and turning away like a man convinced of his error I must leave the buck to your arrow Uncus or we may kill a deer for them thieves the Eroquoid to eat the instant the father seconded this intimation by an expressive gesture of the hand Uncus threw himself on the ground and approached the animal with worry movements when within a few yards of the cover he fitted an arrow to his bow with the utmost care while the antlers moved as if their owner snuffed an enemy in the tainted air in another moment the twang of the cord was heard a white streak was seen glancing into the bushes and the wounded buck plunged from the cover to the very feet of his hidden enemy avoiding the horns of the infuriated animal Uncus darted to his side and passed his knife across the throat when bounding to the edge of the river it fell dying the water with its blood was done with indian skill said the scout laughing inwardly but with vast satisfaction ant was a pretty sight to behold though an arrow is a near shot and needs a knife to finish the work ejaculated his companion turning quickly like a hound who sent a game by the lord there is a drove of them exclaimed the scout whose eyes began to glisten with the ardor of his usual occupation if they come with in range of a bullet I will drop one vaccination should be lurking within sound what do you hear chinch gajkuk for to my ears the woods are dumb there is but one deer and he is dead said the indian Ben his body to his ear nearly touched the earth I hear the sounds of feet perhaps the wolves have driven the buck to shelter and are following on his trail no the horses of white men are coming returned the other to his dignity and resuming his seat on the log with his former composure Hawkeye they are your brothers speak to them that I will and in English that the king needn't be ashamed to answer returned the hunter speaking in the language of which he boasted but I see nothing nor do I hear the sounds of man or beast it is strange that an indian should hear the sounds better than a man whose very enemies will own has no cross in his blood although he may have lived with the redskins long enough to be suspected ha there goes something like the crackling of a dry stick too now I hear the bushes move yes yes there is a trampling that I mistook for the falls and but here they come themselves God keep them from the Iroquois end of chapter 3 this recording by Gary W. Sherwin of Yukon, Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007 chapter 4 of The Last of the Mohicans a narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org chapter 4 quote well go thy way thou shalt not from this grove till I torment thee for this injury unquote mid-summer night stream the words were still in the mouth of the scout when the leader of the party whose approaching footsteps had caught near the Indian came openly into view a beaten path such as those made by the periodical passage of deer wound through a little glen at no great distance and struck the river at the point where the white man and his red companions had posted themselves along this track the travelers who had produced a surprise so unusual in the depths of the forest advance slowly toward the hunter who was in front of his associates in readiness to receive them who comes demanded the scout throwing his rifle carelessly across his left arm and keeping the forefinger of his right hand on the trigger though he avoided all appearance of menace in the act who comes hither through the beast and dangers of the wilderness believers in religion and friends of the law and to the king returned he who wrote for most men who have journeyed since the rising sun in the shades of this forest without nourishment and are sadly tired of their wayfaring you were then lost interrupted the hunter and have found how helpless it is not to know whether to take the right hand or the left even so sucking babes are not more dependent on those who guide them than we who are of larger growth and who may now be said to possess the stature without the knowledge of men know you the distance to a post of the crown called William Henry who shouted the scout who did not spare his open laughter though instantly checking the dangerous sound he indulged his merriment at risk of being overhead by any lurking enemies you are as much off the scent as a hound would be with Horekin it twitched him in the deer William Henry, man if you are friends to the king and have business with the army your way would be to follow the river down to Edward and lay the matter before a web who tarries there instead of pushing into the defiles and driving this saucy Frenchman back across Champlain into his den again before the stranger could make any reply to this unexpected proposition another horseman dashed the bushes ahead and leaped his charger into the pathway in front of his companion what then may be our distance from Fort Edward demanded a new speaker the place you advise us to seek we left this morning and our destination is the head of the lake then you must have lost your eyesight before losing your way for the road across the portage is cut to a good two rods and is as grand as the path I calculate as any that runs into London or even before the palace of the king himself we will not dispute concerning the excellence of the passage returned Hayward smiling for as the reader has anticipated it was he it was enough for the present that we trusted to an Indian guide to take us by a near though blinder path and that we are deceived in his knowledge in plain words we know not where we are Indian lost in the woods said the scout shaking his head doubtingly when the sun is scorching the treetops and the water courses are full when the moss on every beach he sees will tell him when what quarter the north star will shine at night the woods are full of deer paths which run to the streams and licks places well known to everybody nor have the geese done their flight to the canada waters altogether to strange that an indian should be lost a twist hurricane and the bend in the river is he a mohawk not by birth though adopted by that tribe I think his birthplace was farther north and he is one of those you call Huron huh exclaimed the two companions of the scout who had continued until this part of the dialogue seated immovable and apparently indifferent to what passed but who now sprang to their feet with an activity and interest that had evidently got the better of their reserve by surprise a Huron repeated the sturdy scout once more shaking his head in open distrust they are a thievish race nor do I care by whom they are adopted you can never make anything of them but skulls and vagabonds since you trusted yourself to the care of one of that nation I only wonder that you have not fallen in with more of that there is little danger since William Henry is so many miles in our front you forgot that I have told you our guide is now a mohawk and that he serves with our forces as a friend and I tell you a mohawk no give me a Delaware or a Mohican for honesty and when they will fight which they won't all do having suffered their cunning enemies the mock was to make them women but when they will fight at all look to a Delaware or a Mohican for a warrior enough of this I wish not to inquire the character of a man that I know and to whom you must be a stranger you have not yet answered my question what is our distance from the main army at Edward it seems that may depend on who is your guide one would think such a horse as that might get over a good deal of ground to twist sun up and sun down I wish no contention of idle words with you friend said Hayward serving his dissatisfied manner and speaking in a more gentle voice if you will tell me the distance to Fort Edward and conduct me thither your labor shall not go without its reward and in doing so how know I that I don't guide an enemy and a spy of Montcom to the works of the army it is not every man who can speak the English tongue that isn't on a subject if you serve with the troops of whom I judge you to be a scout you should know of such a regiment of the king as the sixtieth the sixtieth you can tell me little of the royal Americans that I don't know though I do wear a hunting shirt instead of a scarlet jacket well then among other things you may know the name of its major its major interrupted the hunter elevating his body like one who was proud of his trust if there is a man in the country who knows major Effingham he stands before you it is a corps which has many majors the gentleman you name is the senior but I speak of the junior of them all he who commands the companies in Garrison at William Henry yes yes I have heard that a young gentleman of vast riches from one of the provinces far south has got the place he is over young too for such rank and to be put above men whose heads are beginning to bleach and yet they say he is a soldier in his knowledge and a gallant gentleman whatever he may be or however he may be qualified for his rank he now speaks to you and of course can be no enemy to dread the scout regarded Hayward in surprise and then lifting his cap he answered in a tone less confident than before though still expressing doubt I have heard a party was to leave the encampment this morning for the lake shore you have heard the truth but I preferred a nearer route trusting to the knowledge of the Indian I mentioned and he deceived you and then deserted neither as I believe certainly not the latter for he is to be found in the rear I should like to look at the creature if it is a true Iroquois I can tell him by his navy schluck and by his paint said the scout stepping past the charger of Hayward and entering the path behind the mare of the singing master whose foe had taken advantage of the halt to extract the maternal contribution after shoving aside the bushes and proceeding a few paces he encountered the females who awaited the result of the conference with anxiety entirely without apprehension behind these the runner leaned against a tree where he stood the close examination of the scout with an air unmoved though with a look so dark and savage that it might in itself excite fear satisfied with his scrutiny the hunter soon left him as he repast the females he paused a moment to gaze upon their beauty answering to the smile annoyed of Alice with a look of open pleasure thence he went to the side of the motherly animal and spending a minute in a fruitless inquiry into the character of her rider he shook his head and turned to Hayward a mingo is a mingo and God having made him so neither the mohawks nor any other tribe can alter him he said when he had regained his former position if we were alone we would leave that noble horse at the mercy of the wolves tonight I could show you the way to Edward myself within an hour Fort lies only about an hour's journey hence but with such ladies in your company tis impossible and why they are fatigued but they are quite equal to a ride of a few more miles tis a natural impossibility repeated the scout went and walked a mile in these woods after night gets into them in company with that runner for the best rifle in the colonies they are full of outlying Iroquois and your mongrel mohawk knows where to find them too well to be my companion thank you so said Hayward leading forward in the saddle and dropping his voice nearly to a whisper I confess my own suspicions though I have endeavored to conceal them and affected a confidence I have not always felt on account of my companions it was because I suspected him that I would follow no longer making him as you see follow me I knew he was one of the cheats as soon as I laid eyes on him returned the scout placing a finger on his nose in sign of caution the thief is leaning against the foot of the sugar sapling that you can see over them bushes his right leg is in a line with the bark of the tree and tapping his rifle I can take him from where I stand between the ankle and the knee with a single shot putting an end to his tramping through the woods for at least a month to come if I should go back to him the cunning varmint would suspect something and be dodging through the trees like a frightened deer it will not do innocent and I dislike the act though if I felt confident of his treachery it is a safe thing to calculate on the navery of an Iroquois said the scout throwing his rifle forward by a sort of instinctive movement hold interrupted Hayward it will not do we must think of some other scheme and yet I have much reason to believe the rascal has deceived me the hunter who had already abandoned his attention of maiming the runner mused for a moment and then made a gesture which instantly brought his two red companions to his side they spoke together earnestly in the Delaware language though in an undertone and by the gestures of the white man which were frequently directed toward the top of the sapling it was evident he pointed out the situation of their hidden enemy his companions were not long in comprehending his wishes and laying aside their firearms they parted taking opposite sides of the path and burying themselves in the thicket with such cautious movements that their steps were inaudible now go you back said the hunter speaking again to Hayward and hold the imp in talk these Mohicans here will take him without breaking his paint nay said Hayward proudly I will seize him myself his what could you do mounted against an Indian in the bushes I will dismount and thank you when he saw one of your feet out of the stirrup he would wait for the other to be free whoever comes into the woods to deal with the natives must use Indian fashions if he would wish to prosper in his undertakings go then talk openly to the miscreant and seem to believe him the truest friend you have on earth Hayward prepared to comply though with strong disgust that the nature of the office he was compelled to execute each moment however pressed upon him a conviction of the critical situation in which he had suffered his invaluable trust to be involved through his own confidence the sun had already disappeared and the woods suddenly deprived of his light were assuming a dusky hue which keenly reminded him that the hour of the savage usually chews for his most barbarous and remorseless acts of vengeance or hostility was speedily drawing near footnote the scene of this tale was in the 42nd degree of latitude where the twilight is never of long continuation end footnote stimulated by apprehension he left the scout who immediately entered into a loud conversation with the stranger who had so unceremoniously enlisted himself in the party of the travelers that morning in passing his gentler companions Hayward uttered a few words of encouragement and was pleased to find that though fatigued with the exercise of the day they appeared to entertain no suspicion that their present embarrassment was other than the result of accident giving them reason to believe he was merely employed in the consultation concerning the future route he spurred his charger and drew the reins again when the animal had carried him within a few yards of the place where the sullenrunner still stood leaning against the tree you may see Marquois he said endeavoring to assume an air of freedom and confidence closing around us and yet we are no near to William Henry than when we left the encampment of Webb with the rising sun you have missed the way nor have I been more fortunate but happily we have fallen in with a hunter he whom you hear talking to the singer that is acquainted with the deer paths and byways of the woods and who promises to lead us to a place where they rest securely till the morning the Indian riveted his glowing eyes on Hayward as he asked in his imperfect English is he alone? alone? hesitatingly answered Hayward? to whom deception was too new to be assumed without embarrassment oh, not alone surely Marquois for you know that we are with him then Lérenard Septille would go returned the runner raising his little wallet from the place where it had lain at his feet and the pale faces will see none but their own color go whom you call Lérenard dis the name his Canadian fathers have given to Marquois returned the runner with an air that manifested his pride at the distinction night is the same as day to Lérenard Septille when Monroe waits for him and what account will Lérenard give the chief of William Henry concerning his daughters? will he dare to tell the hot-blooded Scotsman that his children are left without a guide? to Marquois promise to be one? though the grey head has a loud voice and a long arm Lérenard will not hear him nor feel him in the woods but what will the Mohawks say? they will make him petty coats and bid him stay in the wigwam with the women for he is no longer to be trusted he is the son of a man Lérenard knows the path to the great lakes and he can find the bones of his fathers was the answer of the unmoved runner enough Marquois said Hayward are we not friends? why should there be bitter words between us? Monroe has promised you a gift for your services when performed and I shall be your debtor for another carry limbs then and open your wallet to eat we have a few moments to spare let us not waste them in talk like wrangling women when the ladies are refreshed we will proceed the pale faces make themselves dogs to their women mightard the indian in his native language and then when they want to eat their warriors must lay aside the Tomahawk to feed their laziness what say you, Lérenard? Monroe says it is good the indian then fastened his eyes keenly on the open countenance of Hayward but meeting his glance he turned them quickly away and seating himself deliberately on the ground he drew forth the remnant of some former repast and began to eat though not without first bending his looks slowly and cautiously around him this is well continued Hayward and Lérenard will have strength and sight to find the path in the morning he paused for sounds like the snapping of a dried stick and the rustling of leaves rose from the adjacent bushes but recollecting himself instantly he continued we must be moving before the sun is seen or what calm may lie in our path and shut us out from the fortress the hand of Mokwa dropped from his mouth to his side and though his eyes were fastened on the ground his head was turned aside his nostrils expanded and his ears seemed to stand even more erect than usual giving him the appearance of a statue that was made to represent intense attention Hayward who watched his movements with a vigilant eye carelessly extricated one of his feet from the stirrup while he passed the hand toward the bare skin covering of his holsters every effort to detect the point most regarded by the runner completely frustrated by the tremulous glances of his organs which seemed not to rest a single instant on any particular object in which at the same time could be hardly said to move while he hesitated how to proceed they subtile cautiously raised himself to his feet though with a motion so slow and guarded that not the slightest noise was produced by the change Hayward felt he had now become incumbent on him to act throwing his leg over the saddle he dismounted with a determination to advance and seize his treacherous companion trusting the result to his own manhood in order however to prevent unnecessary alarm he still preserved an air of calmness and friendship Le Renard substills does not eat the manipulation he had found most flattering to the vanity of the Indian his corn is not well parched and it seems dry let me examine perhaps something may be found among my own provisions that will help his appetite Mokwa held out the wallet to the proffer of the other he even suffered their hands to meet without betraying the least emotion or varying his riveted attitude of attention but when he felt the fingers of Hayward moving gently along his own naked arm he struck up the limb of the young man and uttering a piercing cry he darted beneath it and plunged the single bound into the opposite thicket at the next instant the form of Chinj Gatkok appeared from the bushes looking like a specter in its paint and glided across the path in swift pursuit next followed the shout of Uncus when the woods were lighted by a sudden flash that was accompanied by