prompt:
Chapter: "But plagues shall spread, and funeral fires increase,
  Till the great king, without a ransom paid,
  To her own Chrysa send the black-eyed maid."

  POPE.

During the time Uncas was making this disposition of his forces, the
woods were still, and, with the exception of those who had met in
council, apparently as much untenanted, as when they came fresh from the
hands of their Almighty Creator. The eye could range, in every
direction, through the long and shadowed vistas of the trees; but
nowhere was any object to be seen that did not properly belong to the
peaceful and slumbering scenery. Here and there a bird was heard
fluttering among the branches of the beeches, and occasionally a
squirrel dropped a nut, drawing the startled looks of the party, for a
moment, to the place; but the instant the casual interruption ceased,
the passing air was heard murmuring above their heads, along that
verdant and undulating surface of forest, which spread itself unbroken,
unless by stream or lake, over such a vast region of country. Across the
tract of wilderness, which lay between the Delawares and the village of
their enemies, it seemed as if the foot of man had never trodden, so
breathing and deep was the silence in which it lay. But Hawkeye, whose
duty led him foremost in the adventure, knew the character of those with
whom he was about to contend too well to trust the treacherous quiet.

When he saw his little band collected, the scout threw "Killdeer" into
the hollow of his arm, and making a silent signal that he would be
followed, he led them many rods towards the rear, into the bed of a
little brook which they had crossed in advancing. Here he halted; and
after waiting for the whole of his grave and attentive warriors to close
about him, he spoke in Delaware, demanding--

"Do any of my young men know whither this run will lead us?"

A Delaware stretched forth a hand, with the two fingers separated, and
indicating the manner in which they were joined at the root, he
answered,--

"Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be in
the big." Then he added, pointing in the direction of the place he
mentioned, "the two make enough for the beavers."

"I thought as much," returned the scout, glancing his eye upwards at the
opening in the tree-tops, "from the course it takes, and the bearings of
the mountains. Men, we will keep within the cover of its banks till we
scent the Hurons."

His companions gave the usual brief exclamation of assent, but
perceiving that their leader was about to lead the way in person, one or
two made signs that all was not as it should be. Hawkeye, who
comprehended their meaning glances, turned, and perceived that his party
had been followed thus far by the singing-master.

"Do you know, friend," asked the scout gravely, and perhaps with a
little of the pride of conscious deserving in his manner, "that this is
a band of rangers chosen for the most desperate service, and put under
the command of one who, though another might say it with a better face,
will not be apt to leave them idle. It may not be five, it cannot be
thirty minutes before we tread on the body of a Huron, living or dead."

"Though not admonished of your intentions in words," returned David,
whose face was a little flushed, and whose ordinarily quiet and
unmeaning eyes glimmered with an expression of unusual fire, "your men
have reminded me of the children of Jacob going out to battle against
the Shechemites, for wickedly aspiring to wedlock with a woman of a race
that was favored of the Lord. Now, I have journeyed far, and sojourned
much in good and evil with the maiden ye seek; and though not a man of
war, with my loins girded and my sword sharpened, yet would I gladly
strike a blow in her behalf."

The scout hesitated, as if weighing the chances of such a strange
enlistment in his mind before he answered,--

"You know not the use of any we'pon. You carry no rifle; and believe me,
what the Mingos take they will freely give again."

"Though not a vaunting and bloodily disposed Goliath," returned David,
drawing a sling from beneath his parti-colored and uncouth attire, "I
have not forgotten the example of the Jewish boy. With this ancient
instrument of war have I practised much in my youth, and peradventure
the skill has not entirely departed from me."

"Ay!" said Hawkeye, considering the deer-skin thong and apron, with a
cold and discouraging eye; "the thing might do its work among arrows, or
even knives; but these Mengwe have been furnished by the Frenchers with
a good grooved barrel a man. However, it seems to be your gift to go
unharmed amid fire; and as you have hitherto been favored--major, you
have left your rifle at a cock; a single shot before the time would be
just twenty scalps lost to no purpose--singer, you can follow; we may
find use for you in the shoutings."

"I thank you, friend," returned David, supplying himself, like his royal
namesake, from among the pebbles of the brook; "though not given to the
desire to kill, had you sent me away my spirit would have been
troubled."

"Remember," added the scout, tapping his own head significantly on that
spot where Gamut was yet sore, "we come to fight, and not to musickate.
Until the general whoop is given, nothing speaks but the rifle."

David nodded, as much as to signify his acquiescence with the terms; and
then Hawkeye, casting another observant glance over his followers, made
the signal to proceed.

Their route lay, for the distance of a mile, along the bed of the
water-course. Though protected from any great danger of observation by
the precipitous banks, and the thick shrubbery which skirted the stream,
no precaution known to an Indian attack was neglected. A warrior rather
crawled than walked on each flank, so as to catch occasional glimpses
into the forest; and every few minutes the band came to a halt, and
listened for hostile sounds, with an acuteness of organs that would be
scarcely conceivable to a man in a less natural state. Their march was,
however, unmolested, and they reached the point where the lesser stream
was lost in the greater, without the smallest evidence that their
progress had been noted. Here the scout again halted, to consult the
signs of the forest.

"We are likely to have a good day for a fight," he said, in English,
addressing Heyward, and glancing his eye upwards at the clouds, which
began to move in broad sheets across the firmament; "a bright sun and a
glittering barrel are no friends to true sight. Everything is favorable;
they have the wind, which will bring down their noises and their smoke
too, no little matter in itself; whereas, with us it will be first a
shot, and then a clear view. But here is an end of our cover; the
beavers have had the range of this stream for hundreds of years, and
what atween their food and their dams, there is, as you see, many a
girdled stub, but few living trees."

Hawkeye had, in truth, in these few words, given no bad description of
the prospect that now lay in their front. The brook was irregular in its
width, sometimes shooting through narrow fissures in the rocks, and at
others spreading over acres of bottom land, forming little areas that
might be termed ponds. Everywhere along its banks were the mouldering
relics of dead trees, in all the stages of decay, from those that
groaned on their tottering trunks to such as had recently been robbed of
those rugged coats that so mysteriously contain their principle of life.
A few long, low, and moss-covered piles were scattered among them, like
the memorials of a former and long-departed generation.

All these minute particulars were noted by the scout, with a gravity and
interest that they probably had never before attracted. He knew that the
Huron encampment lay a short half mile up the brook; and, with the
characteristic anxiety of one who dreaded a hidden danger, he was
greatly troubled at not finding the smallest trace of the presence of
his enemy. Once or twice he felt induced to give the order for a rush,
and to attempt the village by surprise; but his experience quickly
admonished him of the danger of so useless an experiment. Then he
listened intently, and with painful uncertainty, for the sounds of
hostility in the quarter where Uncas was left; but nothing was audible
except the sighing of the wind, that began to sweep over the bosom of
the forest in gusts which threatened a tempest. At length, yielding
rather to his unusual impatience than taking counsel from his knowledge,
he determined to bring matters to an issue, by unmasking his force, and
proceeding cautiously, but steadily, up the stream.

The scout had stood, while making his observations, sheltered by a
brake, and his companions still lay in the bed of the ravine, through
which the smaller stream debouched; but on hearing his low, though
intelligible signal, the whole party stole up the bank, like so many
dark spectres, and silently arranged themselves around him. Pointing in
the direction he wished to proceed, Hawkeye advanced, the band breaking
off in single files, and following so accurately in his footsteps, as if
to leave it, if we except Heyward and David, the trail of but a single
man.

The party was, however, scarcely uncovered before a volley from a dozen
rifles was heard in their rear; and a Delaware leaping high into the
air, like a wounded deer, fell at his whole length, perfectly dead.

"Ah! I feared some deviltry like this!" exclaimed the scout, in English;
adding, with the quickness of thought, in his adopted tongue, "To cover,
men, and charge!"

The band dispersed at the word, and before Heyward had well recovered
from his surprise, he found himself standing alone with David. Luckily,
the Hurons had already fallen back, and he was safe from their fire. But
this state of things was evidently to be of short continuance; for the
scout set the example of pressing on their retreat, by discharging his
rifle, and darting from tree to tree, as his enemy slowly yielded
ground.

It would seem that the assault had been made by a very small party of
the Hurons, which, however, continued to increase in numbers, as it
retired on its friends, until the return fire was very nearly, if not
quite, equal to that maintained by the advancing Delawares. Heyward
threw himself among the combatants, and imitating the necessary caution
of his companions, he made quick discharges with his own rifle. The
contest now grew warm and stationary. Few were injured, as both parties
kept their bodies as much protected as possible by the trees; never,
indeed, exposing any part of their persons except in the act of taking
aim. But the chances were gradually growing unfavorable to Hawkeye and
his band. The quick-sighted scout perceived his danger, without knowing
how to remedy it. He saw it was more dangerous to retreat than to
maintain his ground; while he found his enemy throwing out men on his
flank, which rendered the task of keeping themselves covered so very
difficult to the Delawares, as nearly to silence their fire. At this
embarrassing moment, when they began to think the whole of the hostile
tribe was gradually encircling them, they heard the yell of combatants,
and the rattling of arms, echoing under the arches of the wood, at the
place where Uncas was posted; a bottom which, in a manner, lay beneath
the ground on which Hawkeye and his party were contending.

The effects of this attack were instantaneous, and to the scout and his
friends greatly relieving. It would seem that, while his own surprise
had been anticipated, and had consequently failed, the enemy, in their
turn, having been deceived in its object and in his numbers, had left
too small a force to resist the impetuous onset of the young Mohican.
This fact was doubly apparent, by the rapid manner in which the battle
in the forest rolled upwards towards the village, and by an instant
falling off in the number of their assailants, who rushed to assist in
maintaining the front, and, as it now proved to be, the principal point
of defence.

Animating his followers by his voice, and his own example, Hawkeye then
gave the word to bear down upon their foes. The charge, in that rude
species of warfare, consisted merely in pushing from cover to cover,
nigher to the enemy; and in this manoeuvre he was instantly and
successfully obeyed. The Hurons were compelled to withdraw, and the
scene of the contest rapidly changed from the more open ground on which
it had commenced, to a spot where the assailed found a thicket to rest
upon. Here the struggle was protracted, arduous, and seemingly of
doubtful issue; the Delawares, though none of them fell, beginning to
bleed freely, in consequence of the disadvantage at which they were
held.

In this crisis, Hawkeye found means to get behind the same tree as that
which served for a cover to Heyward; most of his own combatants being
within call, a little on his right, where they maintained rapid, though
fruitless, discharges on their sheltered enemies.

"You are a young man, major," said the scout, dropping the butt of
"Killdeer" to the earth, and leaning on the barrel, a little fatigued
with his previous industry; "and it may be your gift to lead armies at
some future day ag'in these imps the Mingos, You may here see the
philosophy of an Indian fight. It consists mainly in a ready hand, a
quick eye, and a good cover. Now, if you had a company of the Royal
Americans here, in what manner would you set them to work in this
business?"

"The bayonet would make a road."

"Ay, there is white reason in what you say; but a man must ask himself,
in this wilderness, how many lives he can spare. No--horse,"[29]
continued the scout, shaking his head, like one who mused; "horse, I am
ashamed to say, must, sooner or later, decide these scrimmages. The
brutes are better than men, and to horse must we come at last. Put a
shodden hoof on the moccasin of a redskin; and if his rifle be once
emptied, he will never stop to load it again."

"This is a subject that might better be discussed at another time,"
returned Heyward; "shall we charge?"

"I see no contradiction to the gifts of any man, in passing his
breathing spells in useful reflections," the scout replied. "As to a
rush, I little relish such a measure; for a scalp or two must be thrown
away in the attempt. And yet," he added, bending his head aside, to
catch the sounds of the distant combat, "if we are to be of use to
Uncas, these knaves in our front must be got rid of!"

Then turning, with a prompt and decided air, he called aloud to his
Indians, in their own language. His words were answered by a shout; and,
at a given signal, each warrior made a swift movement around his
particular tree. The sight of so many dark bodies, glancing before their
eyes at the same instant, drew a hasty, and consequently an ineffectual
fire from the Hurons. Without stopping to breathe, the Delawares leaped,
in long bounds, towards the wood, like so many panthers springing upon
their prey. Hawkeye was in front, brandishing his terrible rifle, and
animating his followers by his example. A few of the older and more
cunning Hurons, who had not been deceived by the artifice which had been
practised to draw their fire, now made a close and deadly discharge of
their pieces, and justified the apprehensions of the scout, by felling
three of his foremost warriors. But the shock was insufficient to repel
the impetus of the charge. The Delawares broke into the cover with the
ferocity of their natures, and swept away every trace of resistance by
the fury of the onset.

The combat endured only for an instant, hand to hand, and then the
assailed yielded ground rapidly, until they reached the opposite margin
of the thicket, where they clung to the cover, with the sort of
obstinacy that is so often witnessed in hunted brutes. At this critical
moment, when the success of the struggle was again becoming doubtful,
the crack of the rifle was heard behind the Hurons, and a bullet came
whizzing from among some beaver lodges, which were situated in the
clearing, in their rear, and was followed by the fierce and appalling
yell of the war-whoop.

"There speaks the Sagamore!" shouted Hawkeye, answering the cry with
his own stentorian voice; "we have them now in face and back!"

The effect on the Hurons was instantaneous. Discouraged by an assault
from a quarter that left them no opportunity for cover, their warriors
uttered a common yell of disappointment, and breaking off in a body,
they spread themselves across the opening, heedless of every
consideration but flight. Many fell, in making the experiment, under the
bullets and the blows of the pursuing Delawares.

We shall not pause to detail the meeting between the scout and
Chingachgook, or the more touching interview that Duncan held with
Munro. A few brief and hurried words served to explain the state of
things to both parties; and then Hawkeye pointing out the Sagamore to
his band, resigned the chief authority into the hands of the Mohican
chief. Chingachgook assumed the station to which his birth and
experience gave him so distinguished a claim, with the grave dignity
that always gives force to the mandates of a native warrior. Following
the footsteps of the scout, he led the party back through the thicket,
his men scalping the fallen Hurons, and secreting the bodies of their
own dead as they proceeded, until they gained a point where the former
was content to make a halt.

The warriors, who had breathed themselves freely in the preceding
struggle, were now posted on a bit of level ground, sprinkled with trees
in sufficient numbers to conceal them. The land fell away rather
precipitately in front, and beneath their eyes stretched, for several
miles, a narrow, dark, and wooded vale. It was through this dense and
dark forest that Uncas was still contending with the main body of the
Hurons.

The Mohican and his friends advanced to the brow of the hill, and
listened, with practised ears, to the sounds of the combat. A few birds
hovered over the leafy bosom of the valley, frightened from their
secluded nests; and here and there a light vapory cloud, which seemed
already blending with the atmosphere, arose above the trees, and
indicated some spot where the struggle had been fierce and stationary.

"The fight is coming up the ascent," said Duncan, pointing in the
direction of a new explosion of fire-arms; "we are too much in the
centre of their line to be effective."

"They will incline into the hollow, where the cover is thicker," said
the scout, "and that will leave us well on their flank. Go, Sagamore;
you will hardly be in time to give the whoop, and lead on the young men.
I will fight this scrimmage with warriors of my own color. You know me,
Mohican; not a Huron of them all shall cross the swell, into your rear,
without the notice of 'Killdeer.'"

The Indian chief paused another moment to consider the signs of the
contest, which was now rolling rapidly up the ascent, a certain evidence
that the Delawares triumphed; nor did he actually quit the place until
admonished of the proximity of his friends, as well as enemies, by the
bullets of the former, which began to patter among the dried leaves on
the ground, like the bits of falling hail which precede the bursting of
the tempest. Hawkeye and his three companions withdrew a few paces to a
shelter, and awaited the issue with calmness, that nothing but great
practice could impart in such a scene.

It was not long before the reports of the rifles began to lose the
echoes of the woods, and to sound like weapons discharged in the open
air. Then a warrior appeared, here and there, driven to the skirts of
the forest, and rallying as he entered the clearing, as at the place
where the final stand was to be made. These were soon joined by the
others, until a long line of swarthy figures was to be seen clinging to
the cover with the obstinacy of desperation. Heyward began to grow
impatient, and turned his eyes anxiously in the direction of
Chingachgook. The chief was seated on a rock, with nothing visible but
his calm visage, considering the spectacle with an eye as deliberate as
if he were posted there merely to view the struggle.

"The time is come for the Delawares to strike!" said Duncan.

"Not so, not so," returned the scout; "when he scents his friends, he
will let them know that he is here. See, see; the knaves are getting in
that clump of pines, like bees settling after their flight. By the Lord,
a squaw might put a bullet into the centre of such a knot of dark
skins!"

At that instant the whoop was given, and a dozen Hurons fell by a
discharge from Chingachgook and his band. The shout that followed was
answered by a single war-cry from the forest, and a yell passed through
the air that sounded as if a thousand throats were united in a common
effort. The Hurons staggered, deserting the centre of their line, and
Uncas issued from the forest through the opening they left, at the head
of a hundred warriors.

Waving his hands right and left, the young chief pointed out the enemy
to his followers, who separated in pursuit. The war now divided, both
wings of the broken Hurons seeking protection in the woods again, hotly
pressed by the victorious warriors of the Lenape. A minute might have
passed, but the sounds were already receding in different directions,
and gradually losing their distinctness beneath the echoing arches of
the woods. One little knot of Hurons, however, had disdained to seek a
cover, and were retiring, like lions at bay, slowly and sullenly up the
acclivity which Chingachgook and his band had just deserted, to mingle
more closely in the fray. Magua was conspicuous in this party, both by
his fierce and savage mien, and by the air of haughty authority he yet
maintained.

In his eagerness to expedite the pursuit, Uncas had left himself nearly
alone; but the moment his eyes caught the figure of Le Subtil, every
other consideration was forgotten. Raising his cry of battle, which
recalled some six or seven warriors, and reckless of the disparity of
their numbers, he rushed upon his enemy. Le Renard, who watched the
movement, paused to receive him with secret joy. But at the moment when
he thought the rashness of his impetuous young assailant had left him at
his mercy, another shout was given, and La Longue Carabine was seen
rushing to the rescue, attended by all his white associates. The Huron
instantly turned, and commenced a rapid retreat up the ascent.

There was no time for greetings or congratulations; for Uncas, though
unconscious of the presence of his friends, continued the pursuit with
the velocity of the wind. In vain Hawkeye called to him to respect the
covers; the young Mohican braved the dangerous fire of his enemies, and
soon compelled them to a flight as swift as his own headlong speed. It
was fortunate that the race was of short continuance, and that the white
men were much favored by their position, or the Delaware would soon have
outstripped all his companions, and fallen a victim to his own temerity.
But ere such a calamity could happen, the pursuers and pursued entered
the Wyandot village, within striking distance of each other.

Excited by the presence of their dwellings, and tired of the chase, the
Hurons now made a stand, and fought around their council-lodge with the
fury of despair. The onset and the issue were like the passage and
destruction of a whirlwind. The tomahawk of Uncas, the blows of
Hawkeye, and even the still nervous arm of Munro, were all busy for that
passing moment, and the ground was quickly strewed with their enemies.
Still Magua, though daring and much exposed, escaped from every effort
against his life, with that sort of fabled protection that was made to
overlook the fortunes of favored heroes in the legends of ancient
poetry. Raising a yell that spoke volumes of anger and disappointment,
the subtle chief, when he saw his comrades fallen, darted away from the
place, attended by his two only surviving friends, leaving the Delawares
engaged in stripping the dead of the bloody trophies of their victory.

But Uncas, who had vainly sought him in the _melee_ bounded forward in
pursuit; Hawkeye, Heyward, and David still pressing on his footsteps.
The utmost that the scout could effect, was to keep the muzzle of his
rifle a little in advance of his friend, to whom, however, it answered
every purpose of a charmed shield. Once Magua appeared disposed to make
another and a final effort to revenge his losses; but, abandoning his
intention as soon as demonstrated, he leaped into a thicket of bushes,
through which he was followed by his enemies, and suddenly entered the
mouth of the cave already known to the reader. Hawkeye, who had only
forborne to fire in tenderness to Uncas, raised a shout of success, and
proclaimed aloud, that now they were certain of their game. The pursuers
dashed into the long and narrow entrance, in time to catch a glimpse of
the retreating forms of the Hurons. Their passage through the natural
galleries and subterraneous apartments of the cavern was preceded by the
shrieks and cries of hundreds of women and children. The place, seen by
its dim and uncertain light, appeared like the shades of the infernal
regions, across which unhappy ghosts and savage demons were flitting in
multitudes.

Still Uncas kept his eye on Magua, as if life to him possessed but a
single object. Heyward and the scout still pressed on his rear,
actuated, though possibly in a less degree, by a common feeling. But
their way was becoming intricate, in those dark and gloomy passages, and
the glimpses of the retiring warriors less distinct and frequent; and
for a moment the trace was believed to be lost, when a white robe was
seen fluttering in the farther extremity of a passage that seemed to
lead up the mountain.

"'Tis Cora!" exclaimed Heyward, in a voice in which horror and delight
were wildly mingled.

"Cora! Cora!" echoed Uncas, bending forward like a deer.

"'Tis the maiden!" shouted the scout, "Courage, lady; we come!--we
come!"

The chase was renewed with a diligence rendered tenfold encouraging by
this glimpse of the captive. But the way was rugged, broken, and in
spots nearly impassable. Uncas abandoned his rifle, and leaped forward
with headlong precipitation. Heyward rashly imitated his example, though
both were, a moment afterwards, admonished of its madness, by hearing
the bellowing of a piece, that the Hurons found time to discharge down
the passage in the rocks, the bullet from which even gave the young
Mohican a slight wound.

"We must close!" said the scout, passing his friends by a desperate
leap; "the knaves will pick us all off at this distance; and see, they
hold the maiden so as to shield themselves!"

Though his words were unheeded, or rather unheard, his example was
followed by his companions, who, by incredible exertions, got near
enough to the fugitives to perceive that Cora was borne along between
the two warriors, while Magua prescribed the direction and manner of
their flight. At this moment the forms of all four were strongly drawn
against an opening in the sky, and they disappeared. Nearly frantic with
disappointment, Uncas and Heyward increased efforts that already seemed
super-human, and they issued from the cavern on the side of the
mountain, in time to note the route of the pursued. The course lay up
the ascent, and still continued hazardous and laborious.

Encumbered by his rifle, and, perhaps, not sustained by so deep an
interest in the captive as his companions, the scout suffered the latter
to precede him a little, Uncas, in his turn, taking the lead of Heyward.
In this manner, rocks, precipices, and difficulties were surmounted in
an incredibly short space, that at another time, and under other
circumstances, would have been deemed almost insuperable. But the
impetuous young men were rewarded, by finding that, encumbered with
Cora, the Hurons were losing ground in the race.

"Stay, dog of the Wyandots!" exclaimed Uncas, shaking his bright
tomahawk at Magua; "a Delaware girl calls stay!"

"I will go no farther," cried Cora, stepping unexpectedly on a ledge of
rocks, that overhung a deep precipice, at no great distance from the
summit of the mountain. "Kill me if thou wilt, detestable Huron; I will
go no farther."

The supporters of the maiden raised their ready tomahawks with the
impious joy that fiends are thought to take in mischief, but Magua
stayed the uplifted arms. The Huron chief, after casting the weapons he
had wrested from his companions over the rock, drew his knife, and
turned to his captive, with a look in which conflicting passions
fiercely contended.

"Woman," he said, "choose; the wigwam or the knife of Le Subtil!"

Cora regarded him not, but dropping on her knees, she raised her eyes
and stretched her arms towards heaven, saying, in a meek and yet
confiding voice,--

"I am thine! do with me as thou seest best!"

"Woman," repeated Magua, hoarsely, and endeavoring in vain to catch a
glance from her serene and beaming eye, "choose!"

But Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand. The form of the Huron
trembled in every fibre, and he raised his arm on high, but dropped it
again with a bewildered air, like one who doubted. Once more he
struggled with himself and lifted the keen weapon again; but just then a
piercing cry was heard above them, and Uncas appeared, leaping
frantically, from a fearful height, upon the ledge. Magua recoiled a
step; and one of his assistants, profiting by the chance, sheathed his
own knife in the bosom of Cora.

The Huron sprang like a tiger on his offending and already retreating
countryman, but the falling form of Uncas separated the unnatural
combatants. Diverted from his object by this interruption, and maddened
by the murder he had just witnessed, Magua buried his weapon in the back
of the prostrate Delaware, uttering an unearthly shout as he committed
the dastardly deed. But Uncas arose from the blow, as the wounded
panther turns upon his foe, and struck the murderer of Cora to his feet,
by an effort in which the last of his failing strength was expended.
Then, with a stern and steady look, he turned to Le Subtil, and
indicated by the expression of his eye, all that he would do, had not
the power deserted him. The latter seized the nerveless arm of the
unresisting Delaware, and passed his knife into his bosom three several
times, before his victim, still keeping his gaze riveted on his enemy
with a look of inextinguishable scorn, fell dead at his feet.

"Mercy! mercy! Huron," cried Heyward, from above, in tones nearly
choked by horror; "give mercy, and thou shalt receive it!"

Whirling the bloody knife up at the imploring youth, the victorious
Magua uttered a cry so fierce, so wild, and yet so joyous, that it
conveyed the sounds of savage triumph to the ears of those who fought in
the valley, a thousand feet below. He was answered by a burst from the
lips of the scout, whose tall person was just then seen moving swiftly
towards him, along those dangerous crags, with steps as bold and
reckless as if he possessed the power to move in air. But when the
hunter reached the scene of the ruthless massacre, the ledge was
tenanted only by the dead.

His keen eye took a single look at the victims, and then shot its
glances over the difficulties of the ascent in his front. A form stood
at the brow of the mountain, on the very edge of the giddy height, with
uplifted arms, in an awful attitude of menace. Without stopping to
consider his person, the rifle of Hawkeye was raised; but a rock, which
fell on the head of one of the fugitives below exposed the indignant and
glowing countenance of the honest Gamut. Then Magua issued from a
crevice, and stepping with calm indifference over the body of the last
of his associates, he leaped a wide fissure, and ascended the rocks at a
point where the arm of David could not reach him. A single bound would
carry him to the brow of the precipice, and assure his safety. Before
taking the leap, however, the Huron paused, and shaking his hand at the
scout, he shouted,--

"The pale-faces are dogs! the Delawares women! Magua leaves them on the
rocks, for the crows!"

Laughing hoarsely, he made a desperate leap, and fell short of his mark;
though his hand grasped a shrub on the verge of the height. The form of
Hawkeye had crouched like a beast about to take its spring, and his
frame trembled so violently with eagerness, that the muzzle of the
half-raised rifle played like a leaf fluttering in the wind. Without
exhausting himself with fruitless efforts, the cunning Magua suffered
his body to drop to the length of his arms, and found a fragment for his
feet to rest on. Then summoning all his powers, he renewed the attempt,
and so far succeeded, as to draw his knees on the edge of the mountain.
It was now, when the body of his enemy was most collected together, that
the agitated weapon of the scout was drawn to his shoulder. The
surrounding rocks themselves were not steadier than the piece became,
for the single instant that it poured out its contents. The arms of the
Huron relaxed, and his body fell back a little, while his knees still
kept their position. Turning a relentless look on his enemy, he shook a
hand in grim defiance. But his hold loosened, and his dark person was
seen cutting the air with its head downwards, for a fleeting instant,
until it glided past the fringe of shrubbery which clung to the
mountain, in its rapid flight to destruction.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: The forest scene is appealingly peaceful and quiet as Hawkeye leads his men towards the rear, where they halt at a brook and learn that they have been followed by the singing master. Having been reminded of a Biblical battle, Gamut is determined to join forces with the warriors in behalf of Cora. Hawkeye is doubtful even when the singer draws out a sling and picks up rocks for it, but the follower is allowed to continue with them as they proceed down the brook to where it runs into a larger stream near the beaver pond. They are advancing up the new stream when a dozen rifles go off to their rear and one Delaware falls dead. In the furious battle that ensues, the Hurons fall back until Hawkeye's group is in an unfavorable situation. Fortunately, however, Uncas' forces open fire on the other flank. In the charge and hand-to-hand fighting that follow, the Huron contingent against Hawkeye's men is defeated and put to flight at the same time that Chingachgook and Munro come into the scene. As the rest of the fight comes up the hill toward them, the other Hurons are also put to flight with Magua conspicuously and rapidly retreating to the village. Managing to escape further, he and two fellow warriors dart off and enter the mouth of the cave, followed by Uncas, Hawkeye, Heyward, and Gamut. The pursuers almost lose sight of the threesome but see the white robe of Cora at the far end of a passage that leads up the mountain. Rashly abandoning their rifles to go faster, Heyward and Uncas take the lead in following the Hurons and their hostage through an opening on the side of the mountain. On a precipice, Cora refuses to go farther. Magua threatens her with a knife but is struggling within himself when one of his fellows stabs her in the bosom. Maddened, Magua springs for the Huron just as Uncas, leaping from a ledge, falls between them and Magua stabs him in the back while he is still prostrate. Arising anyway, the Mohican gathers enough waning strength to kill the murderer of Cora but is himself finished off by three more strokes of Magua's knife. Heyward is too far away to do more than cry out, but Gamut from above flings a rock against the head of the other Huron and stands a threat to Magua, who leaps a wide fissure. Taunting his pursuers, he takes another leap that will make him safe, but he falls short and grabs a shrub on the verge. He has just gotten his knees on the edge of the mountain when a bullet from Hawkeye's rifle wounds him. There is a moment of suspense while Magua looks defiance at his enemies; then his hold loosens and he falls to his death.


prompt:
Chapter: "They fought, like brave men, long and well,
    They piled that ground with Moslem slain,
  They conquered--but Bozzaris fell,
    Bleeding at every vein.
  His few surviving comrades saw
  His smile when rang their proud hurrah,
    And the red field was won;
  Then saw in death his eyelids close
  Calmly, as to a night's repose,
  Like flowers at set of sun."

  HALLECK.

The sun found the Lenape, on the succeeding day, a nation of mourners.
The sounds of the battle were over, and they had fed fat their ancient
grudge, and had avenged their recent quarrel with the Mengwe, by the
destruction of a whole community. The black and murky atmosphere that
floated around the spot where the Hurons had encamped, sufficiently
announced, of itself, the fate of that wandering tribe; while hundreds
of ravens, that struggled above the bleak summits of the mountains, or
swept, in noisy flocks, across the wide ranges of the woods, furnished a
frightful direction to the scene of the combat. In short, any eye, at
all practised in the signs of a frontier warfare, might easily have
traced all those unerring evidences of the ruthless results which attend
an Indian vengeance.

Still, the sun rose on the Lenape a nation of mourners. No shouts of
success, no songs of triumph, were heard, in rejoicings for their
victory. The latest straggler had returned from his fell employment,
only to strip himself of the terrific emblems of his bloody calling, and
to join in the lamentations of his countrymen, as a stricken people.
Pride and exultation were supplanted by humility, and the fiercest of
human passions was already succeeded by the most profound and
unequivocal demonstrations of grief.

The lodges were deserted; but a broad belt of earnest faces encircled a
spot in their vicinity, whither everything possessing life had repaired,
and where all were now collected, in deep and awful silence. Though
beings of every rank and age, of both sexes, and of all pursuits, had
united to form this breathing wall of bodies, they were influenced by a
single emotion. Each eye was riveted on the centre of that ring, which
contained the objects of so much, and of so common, an interest.

Six Delaware girls, with their long, dark, flowing tresses falling
loosely across their bosoms, stood apart, and only gave proofs of their
existence as they occasionally strewed sweet-scented herbs and forest
flowers on a litter of fragrant plants, that, under a pall of Indian
robes, supported all that now remained of the ardent, high-souled, and
generous Cora. Her form was concealed in many wrappers of the same
simple manufacture, and her face was shut forever from the gaze of men.
At her feet was seated the desolate Munro. His aged head was bowed
nearly to the earth, in compelled submission to the stroke of
Providence; but a hidden anguish struggled about his furrowed brow, that
was only partially concealed by the careless locks of gray that had
fallen, neglected, on his temples. Gamut stood at his side, his meek
head bared to the rays of the sun, while his eyes, wandering and
concerned, seemed to be equally divided between that little volume,
which contained so many quaint but holy maxims, and the being in whose
behalf his soul yearned to administer consolation. Heyward was also
nigh, supporting himself against a tree, and endeavoring to keep down
those sudden risings of sorrow that it required his utmost manhood to
subdue.

But sad and melancholy as this group may easily be imagined, it was far
less touching than another, that occupied the opposite space of the same
area. Seated, as in life, with his form and limbs arranged in grave and
decent composure, Uncas appeared, arrayed in the most gorgeous ornaments
that the wealth of the tribe could furnish. Rich plumes nodded above his
head; wampum, gorgets, bracelets, and medals, adorned his person in
profusion; though his dull eye and vacant lineaments too strongly
contradicted the idle tale of pride they would convey.

Directly in front of the corpse Chingachgook was placed, without arms,
paint, or adornment of any sort, except the bright blue blazonry of his
race, that was indelibly impressed on his naked bosom. During the long
period that the tribe had been thus collected, the Mohican warrior had
kept a steady, anxious look on the cold and senseless countenance of his
son. So riveted and intense had been that gaze, and so changeless his
attitude, that a stranger might not have told the living from the dead,
but for the occasional gleamings of a troubled spirit that shot athwart
the dark visage of one, and the death-like calm that had forever settled
on the lineaments of the other.

The scout was hard by, leaning in a pensive posture on his own fatal and
avenging weapon; while Tamenund, supported by the elders of his nation,
occupied a high place at hand, whence he might look down on the mute and
sorrowful assemblage of his people.

Just within the inner edge of the circle stood a soldier, in the
military attire of a strange nation; and without it was his war-horse,
in the centre of a collection of mounted domestics, seemingly in
readiness to undertake some distant journey. The vestments of the
stranger announced him to be one who held a responsible situation near
the person of the captain of the Canadas; and who, as it would now seem,
finding his errand of peace frustrated by the fierce impetuosity of his
allies, was content to become a silent and sad spectator of the fruits
of a contest that he had arrived too late to anticipate.

The day was drawing to the close of its first quarter, and yet had the
multitude maintained its breathing stillness since its dawn. No sound
louder than a stifled sob had been heard among them, nor had even a limb
been moved throughout that long and painful period, except to perform
the simple and touching offerings that were made, from time to time, in
commemoration of the dead. The patience and forbearance of Indian
fortitude could alone support such an appearance of abstraction, as
seemed now to have turned each dark and motionless figure into stone.

At length, the sage of the Delawares stretched forth an arm, and leaning
on the shoulders of his attendants, he arose with an air as feeble as if
another age had already intervened between the man who had met his
nation the preceding day, and him who now tottered on his elevated
stand.

"Men of the Lenape!" he said, in hollow tones that sounded like a voice
charged with some prophetic mission; "the face of the Manitou is behind
a cloud! His eye is turned from you; His ears are shut; His tongue gives
no answer. You see Him not; yet His judgments are before you. Let your
hearts be open and your spirits tell no lie. Men of the Lenape! the face
of the Manitou is behind a cloud."

As this simple and yet terrible annunciation stole on the ears of the
multitude, a stillness as deep and awful succeeded as if the venerated
spirit they worshipped had uttered the words without the aid of human
organs; and even the inanimate Uncas appeared a being of life, compared
with the humbled and submissive throng by whom he was surrounded. As the
immediate effect, however, gradually passed away, a low murmur of voices
commenced a sort of chant in honor of the dead. The sounds were those of
females, and were thrillingly soft and wailing. The words were connected
by no regular continuation, but as one ceased another took up the
eulogy, or lamentation, whichever it might be called, and gave vent to
her emotions in such language as was suggested by her feelings and the
occasion. At intervals the speaker was interrupted by general and loud
bursts of sorrow, during which the girls around the bier of Cora plucked
the plants and flowers blindly from her body, as if bewildered with
grief. But, in the milder moments of their plaint, these emblems of
purity and sweetness were cast back to their places, with every sign of
tenderness and regret. Though rendered less connected by many and
general interruptions and outbreakings, a translation of their language
would have contained a regular descant, which, in substance, might have
proved to possess a train of consecutive ideas.

A girl, selected for the task by her rank and qualifications, commenced
by modest allusions to the qualities of the deceased warrior,
embellishing her expressions with those oriental images that the Indians
have probably brought with them from the extremes of the other
continent, and which form of themselves a link to connect the ancient
histories of the two worlds. She called him the "panther of his tribe";
and described him as one whose moccasin left no trail on the dews; whose
bound was like the leap of the young fawn; whose eye was brighter than a
star in the dark night; and whose voice, in battle, was loud as the
thunder of the Manitou. She reminded him of the mother who bore him, and
dwelt forcibly on the happiness she must feel in possessing such a son.
She bade him tell her, when they met in the world of spirits, that the
Delaware girls had shed tears above the grave of her child, and had
called her blessed.

Then, they who succeeded, changing their tones to a milder and still
more tender strain, alluded, with the delicacy and sensitiveness of
woman, to the stranger maiden, who had left the upper earth at a time so
near his own departure, as to render the will of the Great Spirit too
manifest to be disregarded. They admonished him to be kind to her, and
to have consideration for her ignorance of those arts which were so
necessary to the comfort of a warrior like himself. They dwelt upon her
matchless beauty, and on her noble resolution, without the taint of
envy, and as angels may be thought to delight in a superior excellence;
adding, that these endowments should prove more than equivalent for any
little imperfections in her education.

After which, others again, in due succession, spoke to the maiden
herself, in the low, soft language of tenderness and love. They exhorted
her to be of cheerful mind, and to fear nothing for future welfare. A
hunter would be her companion, who knew how to provide for her smallest
wants; and a warrior was at her side who was able to protect her against
every danger. They promised that her path should be pleasant, and her
burden light. They cautioned her against unavailing regrets for the
friends of her youth, and the scenes where her fathers had dwelt;
assuring her that the "blessed hunting-grounds of the Lenape" contained
vales as pleasant, streams as pure, and flowers as sweet, as the "heaven
of the pale-faces." They advised her to be attentive to the wants of her
companion, and never to forget the distinction which the Manitou had so
wisely established between them. Then, in a wild burst of their chant,
they sang with united voices the temper of the Mohican's mind. They
pronounced him noble, manly and generous; all that became a warrior, and
all that a maid might love. Clothing their ideas in the most remote and
subtle images, they betrayed, that, in the short period of their
intercourse, they had discovered, with the intuitive perception of their
sex, the truant disposition of his inclinations. The Delaware girls had
found no favor in his eyes! He was of a race that had once been lords on
the shores of the salt lake, and his wishes had led him back to a people
who dwelt about the graves of his fathers. Why should not such a
predilection be encouraged! That she was of a blood purer and richer
than the rest of her nation, any eye might have seen; that she was equal
to the dangers and daring of a life in the woods, her conduct had
proved; and now, they added, the "wise one of the earth" had
transplanted her to a place where she would find congenial spirits, and
might be forever happy.

Then, with another transition in voice and subject, allusions were made
to the virgin who wept in the adjacent lodge. They compared her to
flakes of snow; as pure, as white, as brilliant, and as liable to melt
in the fierce heats of summer, or congeal in the frosts of winter. They
doubted not that she was lovely in the eyes of the young chief, whose
skin and whose sorrow seemed so like her own; but, though far from
expressing such a preference, it was evident they deemed her less
excellent than the maid they mourned. Still they denied her no meed her
rare charms might properly claim. Her ringlets were compared to the
exuberant tendrils of the vine, her eye to the blue vault of the
heavens, and the most spotless cloud, with its glowing flush of the sun,
was admitted to be less attractive than her bloom.

During these and similar songs nothing was audible but the murmurs of
the music; relieved, as it was, or rather rendered terrible, by those
occasional bursts of grief which might be called its choruses. The
Delawares themselves listened like charmed men; and it was very
apparent, by the variations of their speaking countenances, how deep and
true was their sympathy. Even David was not reluctant to lend his ears
to tones of voices so sweet; and long ere the chant was ended, his gaze
announced that his soul was enthralled.

The scout, to whom alone, of all the white men, the words were
intelligible, suffered himself to be a little aroused from his
meditative posture, and bent his face aside, to catch their meaning, as
the girls proceeded. But when they spoke of the future prospects of Cora
and Uncas, he shook his head, like one who knew the error of their
simple creed, and resuming his reclining attitude, he maintained it
until the ceremony--if that might be called a ceremony, in which feeling
was so deeply imbued--was finished. Happily for the self-command of both
Heyward and Munro, they knew not the meaning of the wild sounds they
heard.

Chingachgook was a solitary exception to the interest manifested by the
native part of the audience. His look never changed throughout the whole
of the scene, nor did a muscle move in his rigid countenance, even at
the wildest or the most pathetic parts of the lamentation. The cold and
senseless remains of his son was all to him, and every other sense but
that of sight seemed frozen, in order that his eyes might take their
final gaze at those lineaments he had so long loved, and which were now
about to be closed forever from his view.

In this stage of the funeral obsequies, a warrior much renowned for
deeds in arms, and more especially for services in the recent combat, a
man of stern and grave demeanor, advanced slowly from the crowd, and
placed himself nigh the person of the dead.

"Why hast thou left us, pride of the Wapanachki?" he said, addressing
himself to the dull ears of Uncas, as if the empty clay retained the
faculties of the animated man; "thy time has been like that of the sun
when in the trees; thy glory brighter than his light at noonday. Thou
art gone, youthful warrior, but a hundred Wyandots are clearing the
briers from thy path to the world of spirits. Who that saw thee in
battle would believe that thou couldst die? Who before thee has ever
shown Uttawa the way into the fight? Thy feet were like the wings of
eagles; thine arm heavier than falling branches from the pine; and thy
voice like the Manitou when he speaks in the clouds. The tongue of
Uttawa is weak," he added, looking about him with a melancholy gaze,
"and his heart exceeding heavy. Pride of the Wapanachki, why hast thou
left us?"

He was succeeded by others, in due order, until most of the high and
gifted men of the nation had sung or spoken their tribute of praise over
the _manes_ of the deceased chief. When each had ended, another deep and
breathing silence reigned in all the place.

Then a low, deep sound was heard, like the suppressed accompaniment of
distant music, rising just high enough on the air to be audible, and yet
so indistinctly, as to leave its character, and the place whence it
proceeded, alike matters of conjecture. It was, however, succeeded by
another and another strain, each in a higher key, until they grew on the
ear, first in long drawn and often repeated interjections, and finally
in words. The lips of Chingachgook had so far parted, as to announce
that it was the monody of the father. Though not an eye was turned
towards him, nor the smallest sign of impatience exhibited, it was
apparent, by the manner in which the multitude elevated their heads to
listen, that they drank in the sounds with an intenseness of attention,
that none but Tamenund himself had ever before commanded. But they
listened in vain. The strains rose just so loud as to become
intelligible, and then grew fainter and more trembling, until they
finally sank on the ear, as if borne away by a passing breath of wind.
The lips of the Sagamore closed, and he remained silent in his seat,
looking, with his riveted eye and motionless form, like some creature
that had been turned from the Almighty hand with the form but without
the spirit of a man. The Delawares, who knew by these symptoms that the
mind of their friend was not prepared for so mighty an effort of
fortitude, relaxed in their attention; and, with an innate delicacy,
seemed to bestow all their thoughts on the obsequies of the stranger
maiden.

A signal was given, by one of the elder chiefs, to the women who crowded
that part of the circle near which the body of Cora lay. Obedient to the
sign, the girls raised the bier to the elevation of their heads, and
advanced with slow and regulated steps, chanting, as they proceeded,
another wailing song in praise of the deceased. Gamut, who had been a
close observer of rites he deemed so heathenish, now bent his head over
the shoulder of the unconscious father, whispering,--

"They move with the remains of thy child; shall we not follow, and see
them interred with Christian burial?"

Munro started, as if the last trumpet had sounded in his ear, and
bestowing one anxious and hurried glance around him, he arose and
followed in the simple train, with the mien of a soldier, but bearing
the full burden of a parent's suffering. His friends pressed around him
with a sorrow that was too strong to be termed sympathy--even the young
Frenchman joining in the procession, with the air of a man who was
sensibly touched at the early and melancholy fate of one so lovely. But
when the last and humblest female of the tribe had joined in the wild,
and yet ordered array, the men of the Lenape contracted their circle,
and formed again around the person of Uncas, as silent, as grave, and as
motionless as before.

The place which had been chosen for the grave of Cora was a little
knoll, where a cluster of young and healthful pines had taken root,
forming of themselves a melancholy and appropriate shade over the spot.
On reaching it the girls deposited their burden, and continued for many
minutes waiting, with characteristic patience, and native timidity, for
some evidence that they whose feelings were most concerned were content
with the arrangement. At length the scout, who alone understood their
habits, said, in their own language,--

"My daughters have done well; the white men thank them."

Satisfied with this testimony in their favor, the girls proceeded to
deposit the body in a shell, ingeniously, and not inelegantly,
fabricated of the bark of the birch; after which they lowered it into
its dark and final abode. The ceremony of covering the remains, and
concealing the marks of the fresh earth, by leaves and other natural
and customary objects, was conducted with the same simple and silent
forms. But when the labors of the kind beings who had performed these
sad and friendly offices were so far completed, they hesitated, in a way
to show that they knew not how much further they might proceed. It was
in this stage of the rites that the scout again addressed them:--

"My young women have done enough," he said; "the spirit of a pale-face
has no need of food or raiment, their gifts being according to the
heaven of their color. I see," he added, glancing an eye at David, who
was preparing his book in a manner that indicated an intention to lead
the way in sacred song, "that one who better knows the Christian
fashions is about to speak."

The females stood modestly aside, and, from having been the principal
actors in the scene, they now became the meek and attentive observers of
that which followed. During the time David was occupied in pouring out
the pious feelings of his spirit in this manner, not a sign of surprise,
nor a look of impatience, escaped them. They listened like those who
knew the meaning of the strange words, and appeared as if they felt the
mingled emotions of sorrow, hope, and resignation, they were intended to
convey.

Excited by the scene he had just witnessed, and perhaps influenced by
his own secret emotions, the master of song exceeded his usual efforts.
His full, rich voice was not found to suffer by a comparison with the
soft tones of the girls; and his more modulated strains possessed, at
least for the ears of those to whom they were peculiarly addressed, the
additional power of intelligence. He ended the anthem, as he had
commenced it, in the midst of a grave and solemn stillness.

When, however, the closing cadence had fallen on the ears of his
auditors, the secret, timorous glances of the eyes, and the general, and
yet subdued movement of the assemblage, betrayed that something was
expected from the father of the deceased. Munro seemed sensible that the
time was come for him to exert what is, perhaps, the greatest effort of
which human nature is capable. He bared his gray locks, and looked
around the timid and quiet throng by which he was encircled with a firm
and collected countenance. Then motioning with his hand for the scout to
listen, he said,--

"Say to these kind and gentle females, that a heartbroken and failing
man returns them his thanks. Tell them, that the Being we all worship,
under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the
time shall not be distant when we may assemble around his throne without
distinction of sex, or rank, or color."

The scout listened to the tremulous voice in which the veteran delivered
these words, and shook his head slowly when they were ended, as one who
doubted their efficacy.

"To tell them this," he said, "would be to tell them that the snows come
not in the winter, or that the sun shines fiercest when the trees are
stripped of their leaves."

Then turning to the women, he made such a communication of the other's
gratitude as he deemed most suited to the capacities of his listeners.
The head of Munro had already sunk upon his chest, and he was again fast
relapsing into melancholy, when the young Frenchman before named
ventured to touch him lightly on the elbow. As soon as he had gained the
attention of the mourning old man, he pointed towards a group of young
Indians, who approached with a light but closely covered litter, and
then pointed upward towards the sun.

"I understand you, sir," returned Munro, with a voice of forced
firmness; "I understand you. It is the will of Heaven, and I submit.
Cora, my child! if the prayers of a heartbroken father could avail thee
now, how blessed shouldst thou be! Come, gentlemen," he added, looking
about him with an air of lofty composure, though the anguish that
quivered in his faded countenance was far too powerful to be concealed,
"our duty here is ended; let us depart."

Heyward gladly obeyed a summons that took them from a spot where, each
instant, he felt his self-control was about to desert him. While his
companions were mounting, however, he found time to press the hand of
the scout, and to repeat the terms of an engagement they had made, to
meet again within the posts of the British army. Then gladly throwing
himself into the saddle, he spurred his charger to the side of the
litter, whence low and stifled sobs alone announced the presence of
Alice. In this manner, the head of Munro again dropping on his bosom,
with Heyward and David following in sorrowing silence, and attended by
the aide of Montcalm with his guard, all the white men, with the
exception of Hawkeye, passed from before the eyes of the Delawares, and
were soon buried in the vast forests of that region.

But the tie which, through their common calamity, had united the
feelings of these simple dwellers in the woods with the strangers who
had thus transiently visited them, was not so easily broken. Years
passed away before the traditionary tale of the white maiden, and of the
young warrior of the Mohicans, ceased to beguile the long nights and
tedious marches, or to animate their youthful and brave with a desire
for vengeance. Neither were the secondary actors in these momentous
incidents forgotten. Through the medium of the scout, who served for
years afterwards as a link between them and civilized life, they
learned, in answer to their inquiries, that the "Gray Head" was speedily
gathered to his fathers--borne down, as was erroneously believed, by his
military misfortunes; and that the "Open Hand" had conveyed his
surviving daughter far into the settlements of the "pale-faces," where
her tears had at last ceased to flow, and had been succeeded by the
bright smiles which were better suited to her joyous nature.

But these were events of a time later than that which concerns our tale.
Deserted by all of his color, Hawkeye returned to the spot where his own
sympathies led him, with a force that no ideal bond of union could
bestow. He was just in time to catch a parting look of the features of
Uncas, whom the Delawares were already inclosing in his last vestments
of skins. They paused to permit the longing and lingering gaze of the
sturdy woodsman, and when it was ended, the body was enveloped, never to
be unclosed again. Then came a procession like the other, and the whole
nation was collected about the temporary grave of the chief--temporary,
because it was proper that, at some future day, his bones should rest
among those of his own people.

The movement, like the feeling, had been simultaneous and general. The
same grave expression of grief, the same rigid silence, and the same
deference to the principal mourner, were observed around the place of
interment as have been already described. The body was deposited in an
attitude of repose, facing the rising sun, with the implements of war
and of the chase at hand, in readiness for the final journey. An opening
was left in the shell, by which it was protected from the soil, for the
spirit to communicate with its earthly tenement, when necessary; and the
whole was concealed from the instinct, and protected from the ravages of
the beasts of prey, with an ingenuity peculiar to the natives. The
manual rites then ceased, and all present reverted to the more spiritual
part of the ceremonies.

Chingachgook became once more the object of the common attention. He
had not yet spoken, and something consolatory and instructive was
expected from so renowned a chief on an occasion of such interest.
Conscious of the wishes of the people, the stern and self-restrained
warrior raised his face, which had latterly been buried in his robe, and
looked about him with a steady eye. His firmly compressed and expressive
lips then severed, and for the first time during the long ceremonies his
voice was distinctly audible.

"Why do my brothers mourn!" he said, regarding the dark race of dejected
warriors by whom he was environed; "why do my daughters weep! that a
young man has gone to the happy hunting-grounds; that a chief has filled
his time with honor! He was good; he was dutiful; he was brave. Who can
deny it? The Manitou had need of such a warrior, and He has called him
away. As for me, the son and the father of Uncas, I am a blazed pine, in
a clearing of the pale-faces. My race has gone from the shores of the
salt lake, and the hills of the Delawares. But who can say that the
Serpent of his tribe has forgotten his wisdom? I am alone--"

"No, no," cried Hawkeye, who had been gazing with a yearning look at the
rigid features of his friend, with something like his own self-command,
but whose philosophy could endure no longer; "no, Sagamore, not alone.
The gifts of our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as to
journey in the same path. I have no kin, and I may also say, like you,
no people. He was your son, and a redskin by nature; and it may be that
your blood was nearer--but if ever I forget the lad who has so often
fou't at my side in war, and slept at my side in peace, may He who made
us all, whatever may be our color or our gifts, forget me! The boy has
left us for a time; but, Sagamore, you are not alone."

Chingachgook grasped the hand that, in the warmth of feeling, the scout
had stretched across the fresh earth, and in that attitude of friendship
these two sturdy and intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together, while
scalding tears fell to their feet, watering the grave of Uncas like
drops of falling rain.

In the midst of the awful stillness with which such a burst of feeling,
coming, as it did, from the two most renowned warriors of that region,
was received, Tamenund lifted his voice to disperse the multitude.

"It is enough," he said. "Go, children of the Lenape, the anger of the
Manitou is not done. Why should Tamenund stay? The pale-faces are
masters of the earth, and the time of the redmen has not yet come again.
My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy
and strong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived to see the
last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As each nation of the Indians had either 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 dwelt 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.

[2] 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 of rule.

[3] There existed for a long time a confederation among the Indian
tribes which occupied the northwestern part of the colony of New York,
which was at first known as the "Five Nations." At a later day it
admitted another tribe, when the appellation was changed to that of the
"Six Nations." The original confederation consisted of the Mohawks, the
Oneidas, the Senecas, the Cayugas, and the Onondagas. The sixth tribe
was the Tuscaroras. There are remnants of all these people still living
on lands secured to them by the State; but they are daily disappearing,
either by deaths or by removals to scenes more congenial to their
habits. In a short time there will be no remains of these extraordinary
people, in those regions in which they dwelt for centuries, but their
names. The State of New York has counties named after all of them but
the Mohawks and the Tuscaroras. The second river of that State is called
the Mohawk.

[4] 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 by the name of the Narragansetts.
They were small, commonly of the color called sorrel 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 Narragansetts were greatly sought for by females who were
obliged to travel over the roots and holes in the "new countries."

[5] The North American warrior caused the hair to be plucked from his
whole body; a small tuft, only, was left on the crown of his head in
order that his enemy might avail himself of it, in 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 obtain 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.

[6] 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.

[7] The rifle of the army is short; that of the hunter is always long.

[8] 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, though great
uncertainty hangs over the whole history of the Indians.

[9] The scene of this tale was in the 42d degree of latitude, where the
twilight is never of long continuance.

[10] The reader will remember that New York was originally a colony of
the Dutch.

[11] The principal villages of the Indians are still called "castles" by
the whites of New York. "Oneida castle" is no more than a scattered
hamlet; but the name is in general use.

[12] In vulgar parlance the condiments of a repast are called by the
American "a relish," substituting the thing for its effect. These
provincial terms are frequently put in the mouths of the speakers,
according to their several conditions in life. Most of them are of local
use, and others quite peculiar to the particular class of men to which
the character belongs. In the present instance, the scout uses the word
with immediate reference to the salt, with which his own party was so
fortunate as to be provided.

[13] Glenn's Falls are on the Hudson, some forty or fifty miles above
the head of tide, or the place where that river becomes navigable for
sloops. The description of this picturesque and remarkable little
cataract, as given by the scout, is sufficiently correct, though the
application of the water to the uses of civilized life has materially
injured its beauties. The rocky island and the two caverns are well
known to every traveller, since the former sustains a pier of a bridge,
which is now thrown across the river, immediately above the fall. In
explanation of the taste of Hawkeye, it should be remembered that men
always prize that most which is least enjoyed. Thus, in a new country,
the woods and other objects, which in an old country would be maintained
at great cost, are got rid of, simply with a view of "improving," as it
is called.

[14] The meaning of Indian words is much governed by the emphasis and
tones.

[15] Mingo was the Delaware term for the Five Nations. Maquas was the
name given them by the Dutch. The French, from their first intercourse
with them, called them Iroquois.

[16] It has long been a practice with the whites to conciliate the
important men of the Indians, by presenting medals, which are worn in
the place of their own rude ornaments. Those given by the English
generally bear the impression of the reigning king, and those given by
the Americans that of the president.

[17] Many of the animals of the American forests resort to those spots
where salt springs are found. These are called "licks" or "salt licks,"
in the language of the country, from the circumstance that the quadruped
is often obliged to lick the earth, in order to obtain the saline
particles. These licks are great places of resort with the hunters, who
waylay their game near the paths that lead to them.

[18] The scene of the foregoing incidents is on the spot where the
village of Ballston now stands; one of the two principal watering-places
of America.

[19] Some years since, the writer was shooting in the vicinity of the
ruins of Fort Oswego, which stands on the shores of Lake Ontario. His
game was deer, and his chase a forest that stretched with little
interruption, fifty miles inland. Unexpectedly he came upon six or eight
ladders lying in the woods within a short distance of each other. They
were rudely made, and much decayed. Wondering what could have assembled
so many of these instruments in such a place, he sought an old man who
resided near for the explanation.

During the war of 1776 Fort Oswego was held by the British. An
expedition had been sent two hundred miles through the wilderness to
surprise the fort. It appears that the Americans, on reaching the spot
named, which was within a mile or two of the fort, first learned that
they were expected, and in great danger of being cut off. They threw
away their scaling-ladders, and made a rapid retreat. These ladders had
lain unmolested thirty years, in the spot where they had thus been cast.

[20] Baron Dieskau, a German, in the service of France. A few years
previous to the period of the tale, this officer was defeated by Sir
William Johnson of Johnstown, New York, on the shores of Lake George.
See Appendix, Note H.

[21] Evidently the late De Witt Clinton, who died governor of New York
in 1828.

[22] The powers of the American mocking-bird are generally known. But
the true mocking-bird is not found so far north as the State of New
York, where it has, however, two substitutes of inferior excellence; the
catbird, so often named by the scout, and the bird vulgarly called
ground-thresher. Either of these two last birds is superior to the
nightingale, or the lark, though, in general, the American birds are
less musical than those of Europe.

[23] The beauties of Lake George are well known to every American
tourist. In the height of the mountains which surround it, and in
artificial accessories, it is inferior to the finest of the Swiss and
Italian lakes, while in outline and purity of water it is fully their
equal; and in the number and disposition of its isles and islets much
superior to them all together. There are said to be some hundreds of
islands in a sheet of water less than thirty miles long. The narrows
which connect what may be called, in truth, two lakes, are crowded with
islands to such a degree as to leave passages between them frequently of
only a few feet in width. The lake itself varies in breadth from one to
three miles.

The State of New York is remarkable for the number and beauty of its
lakes. One of its frontiers lies on the vast sheet of Ontario, while
Champlain stretches nearly a hundred miles along another. Oneida,
Cayuga, Canandaigua, Seneca, and George, are all lakes of thirty miles
in length, while those of a size smaller are without number. On most of
these lakes there are now beautiful villages, and on many of them
steamboats.

[24] These harangues of the beasts are frequent among the Indians. They
often address their victims in this way, reproaching them for cowardice,
or commending their resolution, as they may happen to exhibit fortitude,
or the reverse in suffering.

[25] A dish composed of cracked corn and beans. It is much used also by
the whites. By corn is meant maize.

[26] William Penn was termed Minquon by the Delawares, and, as he never
used violence or injustice in his dealings with them, his reputation for
probity passed into a proverb. The American is justly proud of the
origin of his nation, which is perhaps unequalled in the history of the
world; but the Pennsylvanian and Jerseyman have more reason to value
themselves in their ancestors than the natives of any other State, since
no wrong was done the original owners of the soil.

[27] Turtle.

[28] A tree which has been partially or entirely stripped of its bark is
said, in the language of the country, to be "blazed." The term is
strictly English; for a horse is said to be blazed when it has a white
mark.

[29] The American forest admits of the passage of horse, there being
little underbush, and few tangled brakes. The plan of Hawkeye is the one
which has always proved the most successful in the battles between the
whites and the Indians. Wayne, in his celebrated campaign on the Miami,
received the fire of his enemies in line; and then causing his dragoons
to wheel round his flanks, the Indians were driven from their covers
before they had time to load. One of the most conspicuous of the chiefs
who fought in the battle of Miami assured the writer, that the redmen
could not fight the warriors with "long knives and leather-stockings";
meaning the dragoons with their sabres and boots.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: The next morning finds the Lenape a nation of mourners in spite of their destruction of a whole community of enemies. Their own loss has brought sadness and humility, and everybody is outdoors in a silent circle about their dead. Munro sits desolate at the foot of the litter holding Cora's body, while nearby Chingachgook keeps a steady, anxious gaze upon the lifeless face of Uncas, now seated and dressed as if alive. After a brief speech from Tamenund, chanting voices are raised in honor of the deceased. Beginning with the maidens, they sing that Uncas and Cora will be together in the happy hunting ground, that both are of sterling quality and are deserving of each other. But Hawkeye, who understands the Delaware language, shakes his head at "the error of their simple creed." After the warriors formally and in turn ask Uncas why he has left them, Chingachgook begins the monody of the father. Then the girls raise the litter of Cora and take her to her burial place, where they cover the grave and Gamut sings from his psalm book. Munro asks Hawkeye to tell them "that the Being we all worship, under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall not be distant when we may assemble around his throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or color." But the scout says that this will not do and merely thanks them. Afterwards, Alice is brought from her mourning in a lodge, and all the white characters solemnly leave except Hawkeye. A parallel ceremony disposes of the body of Uncas in Indian fashion, and Chingachgook makes a short speech ending with "I am alone." Hawkeye cries that it is not so: "if ever I forget the lad who has so often fou't at my side in war, and slept at my side in peace, may He who made us all, whatever may be our color or our gifts, forget me! The boy has left us for a time; but, Sagamore, you are not alone." The two woodsmen grasp hands across the fresh earth as Tamenund says that "before the night has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans."