prompt:
Chapter: "If you deny me, fie upon your law!
  There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
  I stand for judgment; answer, shall I have it?"

  _Merchant of Venice._

The silence continued unbroken by human sounds for many anxious minutes.
Then the waving multitude opened and shut again, and Uncas stood in the
living circle. All those eyes, which had been curiously studying the
lineaments of the sage, as the source of their own intelligence, turned
on the instant, and were now bent in secret admiration on the erect,
agile, and faultless person of the captive. But neither the presence in
which he found himself, nor the exclusive attention that he attracted,
in any manner disturbed the self-possession of the young Mohican. He
cast a deliberate and observing look on every side of him, meeting the
settled expression of hostility that lowered in the visages of the
chiefs, with the same calmness as the curious gaze of the attentive
children. But when, last in his haughty scrutiny, the person of Tamenund
came under his glance, his eye became fixed, as though all other objects
were already forgotten. Then advancing with a slow and noiseless step up
the area, he placed himself immediately before the footstool of the
sage. Here he stood unnoted, though keenly observant himself, until one
of the chiefs apprised the latter of his presence.

"With what tongue does the prisoner speak to the Manitou?" demanded the
patriarch, without unclosing his eyes.

"Like his fathers," Uncas replied; "with the tongue of a Delaware."

At this sudden and unexpected annunciation, a low, fierce yell ran
through the multitude, that might not inaptly be compared to the growl
of the lion, as his choler is first awakened--a fearful omen of the
weight of his future anger. The effect was equally strong on the sage,
though differently exhibited. He passed a hand before his eyes, as if to
exclude the least evidence of so shameful a spectacle, while he
repeated, in his low, guttural tones, the words he had just heard.

"A Delaware! I have lived to see the tribes of the Lenape driven from
their council-fires, and scattered, like broken herds of deer, among the
hills of the Iroquois! I have seen the hatchets of a strange people
sweep woods from the valleys, that the winds of heaven had spared! The
beasts that run on the mountains, and the birds that fly above the
trees, have I seen living in the wigwams of men; but never before have I
found a Delaware so base as to creep, like a poisonous serpent, into the
camps of his nation."

"The singing-birds have opened their bills," returned Uncas, in the
softest notes of his own musical voice; "and Tamenund has heard their
song."

The sage started, and bent his head aside, as if to catch the fleeting
sounds of some passing melody.

"Does Tamenund dream!" he exclaimed. "What voice is at his ear! Have the
winters gone backward! Will summer come again to the children of the
Lenape!"

A solemn and respectful silence succeeded this incoherent burst from the
lips of the Delaware prophet. His people steadily construed his
unintelligible language into one of those mysterious conferences he was
believed to hold so frequently with a superior intelligence, and they
awaited the issue of the revelation in awe. After a patient pause,
however, one of the aged men, perceiving that the sage had lost the
recollection of the subject before them, ventured to remind him again of
the presence of the prisoner.

"The false Delaware trembles lest he should hear the words of Tamenund,"
he said. "'Tis a hound that howls, when the Yengeese show him a trail."

"And ye," returned Uncas, looking sternly around him, "are dogs that
whine, when the Frenchman casts ye the offals of his deer!"

Twenty knives gleamed in the air, and as many warriors sprang to their
feet, at this biting, and perhaps merited retort; but a motion from one
of the chiefs suppressed the outbreaking of their tempers, and restored
the appearance of quiet. The task might probably have been more
difficult, had not a movement made by Tamenund indicated that he was
again about to speak.

"Delaware!" resumed the sage, "little art thou worthy of thy name. My
people have not seen a bright sun in many winters; and the warrior who
deserts his tribe when hid in clouds is doubly a traitor. The law of
the Manitou is just. It is so; while the rivers run and the mountains
stand, while the blossoms come and go on the trees, it must be so. He is
thine, my children; deal justly by him."

Not a limb was moved, nor was a breath drawn louder and longer than
common, until the closing syllable of this final decree had passed the
lips of Tamenund. Then a cry of vengeance burst at once, as it might be,
from the united lips of the nation; a frightful augury of their ruthless
intentions. In the midst of these prolonged and savage yells, a chief
proclaimed, in a high voice, that the captive was condemned to endure
the dreadful trial of torture by fire. The circle broke its order, and
screams of delight mingled with the bustle and tumult of preparation.
Heyward struggled madly with his captors; the anxious eyes of Hawkeye
began to look around him, with an expression of peculiar earnestness;
and Cora again threw herself at the feet of the patriarch, once more a
suppliant for mercy.

Throughout the whole of these trying moments, Uncas had alone preserved
his serenity. He looked on the preparations with a steady eye, and when
the tormentors came to seize him, he met them with a firm and upright
attitude. One among them, if possible, more fierce and savage than his
fellows, seized the hunting-shirt of the young warrior, and at a single
effort tore it from his body. Then, with a yell of frantic pleasure, he
leaped towards his unresisting victim, and prepared to lead him to the
stake. But, at that moment, when he appeared most a stranger to the
feelings of humanity, the purpose of the savage was arrested as suddenly
as if a supernatural agency had interposed in the behalf of Uncas. The
eyeballs of the Delaware seemed to start from their sockets; his mouth
opened, and his whole form became frozen in an attitude of amazement.
Raising his hand with a slow and regulated motion, he pointed with a
finger to the bosom of the captive. His companions crowded about him in
wonder, and every eye was, like his own, fastened intently on the figure
of a small tortoise, beautifully tattooed on the breast of the prisoner,
in a bright blue tint.

For a single instant Uncas enjoyed his triumph, smiling calmly on the
scene. Then motioning the crowd away with a high and haughty sweep of
his arm, he advanced in front of the nation with the air of a king, and
spoke in a voice louder than the murmur of admiration that ran through
the multitude.

"Men of the Lenni Lenape!" he said, "my race upholds the earth! Your
feeble tribe stands on my shell![27] What fire that a Delaware can light
would burn the child of my fathers," he added, pointing proudly to the
simple blazonry on his skin; "the blood that came from such a stock
would smother your flames! My race is the grandfather of nations!"

"Who art thou?" demanded Tamenund, rising at the startling tones he
heard, more than at any meaning conveyed by the language of the
prisoner.

"Uncas, the son of Chingachgook," answered the captive modestly, turning
from the nation, and bending his head in reverence to the other's
character and years; "a son of the great Unamis."

"The hour of Tamenund is nigh!" exclaimed the sage; "the day is come, at
last, to the night! I thank the Manitou, that one is here to fill my
place at the council-fire. Uncas, the child of Uncas, is found! Let the
eyes of a dying eagle gaze on the rising sun."

The youth stepped lightly, but proudly, on the platform, where he became
visible to the whole agitated and wondering multitude. Tamenund held him
long at the length of his arm, and read every turn in the fine
lineaments of his countenance, with the untiring gaze of one who
recalled days of happiness.

"Is Tamenund a boy?" at length the bewildered prophet exclaimed. "Have I
dreamt of so many snows--that my people were scattered like floating
sands--of Yengeese, more plenty than the leaves on the trees! The arrow
of Tamenund would not frighten the fawn; his arm is withered like the
branch of a dead oak; the snail would be swifter in the race; yet is
Uncas before him as they went to battle against the pale-faces! Uncas,
the panther of his tribe, the eldest son of the Lenape, the wisest
Sagamore of the Mohicans! Tell me, ye Delawares, has Tamenund been a
sleeper for a hundred winters?"

The calm and deep silence which succeeded these words, sufficiently
announced the awful reverence with which his people received the
communication of the patriarch. None dared to answer, though all
listened in breathless expectation of what might follow. Uncas, however,
looking in his face with the fondness and veneration of a favored child,
presumed on his own high and acknowledged rank, to reply.

"Four warriors of his race have lived, and died," he said, "since the
friend of Tamenund led his people in battle. The blood of the turtle has
been in many chiefs, but all have gone back into the earth from whence
they came except Chingachgook and his son."

"It is true--it is true," returned the sage; a flash of recollection
destroying all his pleasing fancies, and restoring him at once to a
consciousness of the true history of his nation. "Our wise men have
often said that two warriors of the unchanged race were in the hills of
the Yengeese; why have their seats at the council-fires of the Delawares
been so long empty?"

At these words the young man raised his head, which he had still kept
bowed a little, in reverence; and lifting his voice so as to be heard by
the multitude, as if to explain at once and forever the policy of his
family, he said aloud,--

"Once we slept where we could hear the salt lake speak in its anger.
Then we were rulers and sagamores over the land. But when a pale-face
was seen on every brook, we followed the deer back to the river of our
nation. The Delawares were gone. Few warriors of them all stayed to
drink of the stream they loved. Then said my fathers, 'Here will we
hunt. The waters of the river go into the salt lake. If we go towards
the setting sun, we shall find streams that run into the great lakes of
sweet water; there would a Mohican die, like fishes of the sea, in the
clear springs. When the Manitou is ready, and shall say "Come," we will
follow the river to the sea, and take our own again.' Such, Delawares,
is the belief of the children of the Turtle. Our eyes are on the rising,
and not towards the setting sun. We know whence he comes, but we know
not whither he goes. It is enough."

The men of the Lenape listened to his words with all the respect that
superstition could lend, finding a secret charm even in the figurative
language with which the young Sagamore imparted his ideas. Uncas himself
watched the effect of his brief explanation with intelligent eyes, and
gradually dropped the air of authority he had assumed, as he perceived
that his auditors were content. Then permitting his looks to wander over
the silent throng that crowded around the elevated seat of Tamenund, he
first perceived Hawkeye in his bonds. Stepping eagerly from his stand,
he made way for himself to the side of his friend; and cutting his
thongs with a quick and angry stroke of his own knife, he motioned to
the crowd to divide. The Indians silently obeyed, and once more they
stood ranged in their circle, as before his appearance among them. Uncas
took the scout by the hand, and led him to the feet of the patriarch.

"Father," he said, "look at this pale-face; a just man, and the friend
of the Delawares."

"Is he a son of Minquon?"

"Not so; a warrior known to the Yengeese, and feared by the Maquas."

"What name has he gained by his deeds?"

"We call him Hawkeye," Uncas replied, using the Delaware phrase; "for
his sight never fails. The Mingos know him better by the death he gives
their warriors; with them he is 'The Long Rifle.'"

"La Longue Carabine!" exclaimed Tamenund, opening his eyes, and
regarding the scout sternly. "My son has not done well to call him
friend."

"I call him so who proves himself such," returned the young chief, with
great calmness, but with a steady mien. "If Uncas is welcome among the
Delawares, then is Hawkeye with his friends."

"The pale-face has slain my young men; his name is great for the blows
he has struck the Lenape."

"If a Mingo has whispered that much in the ear of the Delaware, he has
only shown that he is a singing-bird," said the scout, who now believed
that it was time to vindicate himself from such offensive charges, and
who spoke in the tongue of the man he addressed, modifying his Indian
figures, however, with his own peculiar notions. "That I have slain the
Maquas I am not the man to deny, even at their own council-fires; but
that, knowingly, my hand has ever harmed a Delaware, is opposed to the
reason of my gifts, which is friendly to them, and all that belongs to
their nation."

A low exclamation of applause passed among the warriors, who exchanged
looks with each other like men that first began to perceive their error.

"Where is the Huron?" demanded Tamenund. "Has he stopped my ears?"

Magua, whose feelings during that scene in which Uncas had triumphed may
be much better imagined than described, answered to the call by stepping
boldly in front of the patriarch.

"The just Tamenund," he said, "will not keep what a Huron has lent."

"Tell me, son of my brother," returned the sage, avoiding the dark
countenance of Le Subtil, and turning gladly to the more ingenuous
features of Uncas, "has the stranger a conqueror's right over you?"

"He has none. The panther may get into snares set by the women; but he
is strong, and knows how to leap through them."

"La Longue Carabine?"

"Laughs at the Mingoes. Go, Huron, ask your squaws the color of a bear."

"The stranger and the white maiden that came into my camp together?"

"Should journey on an open path."

"And the woman that Huron left with my warriors?"

Uncas made no reply.

"And the woman that the Mingo has brought into my camp," repeated
Tamenund, gravely.

"She is mine," cried Magua, shaking his hand in triumph at Uncas.
"Mohican, you know that she is mine."

"My son is silent," said Tamenund, endeavoring to read the expression of
the face that the youth turned from him in sorrow.

"It is so," was the low answer.

A short and impressive pause succeeded, during which it was very
apparent with what reluctance the multitude admitted the justice of the
Mingo's claim. At length the sage, in whom alone the decision depended,
said, in a firm voice,--

"Huron, depart."

"As he came, just Tamenund," demanded the wily Magua; "or with hands
filled with the faith of the Delawares? The wigwam of Le Renard Subtil
is empty. Make him strong with his own."

The aged man mused with himself for a time; and then bending his head
towards one of his venerable companions, he asked,--

"Are my ears open?"

"It is true."

"Is this Mingo a chief?"

"The first in his nation."

"Girl, what wouldst thou? A great warrior takes thee to wife. Go! thy
race will not end."

"Better, a thousand times, it should," exclaimed the horror-struck
Cora, "than meet with such a degradation!"

"Huron, her mind is in the tents of her fathers. An unwilling maiden
makes an unhappy wigwam."

"She speaks with the tongue of her people," returned Magua, regarding
his victim with a look of bitter irony. "She is of a race of traders,
and will bargain for a bright look. Let Tamenund speak the words."

"Take you the wampum, and our love."

"Nothing hence but what Magua brought hither."

"Then depart with thine own. The great Manitou forbids that a Delaware
should be unjust."

Magua advanced, and seized his captive strongly by the arm; the
Delawares fell back, in silence; and Cora, as if conscious that
remonstrance would be useless, prepared to submit to her fate without
resistance.

"Hold, hold!" cried Duncan, springing forward; "Huron, have mercy! her
ransom shall make thee richer than any of thy people were ever yet known
to be."

"Magua is a redskin; he wants not the beads of the pale-faces."

"Gold, silver, powder, lead--all that a warrior needs shall be in thy
wigwam; all that becomes the greatest chief."

"Le Subtil is very strong," cried Magua, violently shaking the hand
which grasped the unresisting arm of Cora; "he has his revenge!"

"Mighty ruler of providence!" exclaimed Heyward, clasping his hands
together in agony, "can this be suffered! To you, just Tamenund, I
appeal for mercy."

"The words of the Delaware are said," returned the sage, closing his
eyes, and dropping back into his seat, alike wearied with his mental and
his bodily exertion. "Men speak not twice."

"That a chief should not misspend his time in unsaying what had once
been spoken, is wise and reasonable," said Hawkeye, motioning to Duncan
to be silent; "but it is also prudent in every warrior to consider well
before he strikes his tomahawk into the head of his prisoner. Huron, I
love you not; nor can I say that any Mingo has ever received much favor
at my hands. It is fair to conclude that, if this war does not soon end,
many more of your warriors will meet me in the woods. Put it to your
judgment, then, whether you would prefer taking such a prisoner as that
into your encampment, or one like myself, who am a man that it would
greatly rejoice your nation to see with naked hands."

"Will 'The Long Rifle' give his life for the woman?" demanded Magua,
hesitatingly; for he had already made a motion towards quitting the
place with his victim.

"No, no; I have not said so much as that," returned Hawkeye, drawing
back with suitable discretion, when he noted the eagerness with which
Magua listened to his proposal. "It would be an unequal exchange, to
give a warrior, in the prime of his age and usefulness, for the best
woman on the frontiers. I might consent to go into winter-quarters,
now--at least six weeks afore the leaves will turn--on condition you
will release the maiden."

Magua shook his head, and made an impatient sign for the crowd to open.

"Well, then," added the scout, with the musing air of a man who had not
half made up his mind, "I will throw 'Killdeer' into the bargain. Take
the word of an experienced hunter, the piece has not its equal atween
the provinces."

Magua still disdained to reply, continuing his efforts to disperse the
crowd.

"Perhaps," added the scout, losing his dissembled coolness, exactly in
proportion as the other manifested an indifference to the exchange, "if
I should condition to teach your young men the real virtue of the
we'pon, it would smooth the little differences in our judgments."

Le Renard fiercely ordered the Delawares, who still lingered in an
impenetrable belt around him, in hopes he would listen to the amicable
proposal, to open his path, threatening, by the glance of his eye,
another appeal to the infallible justice of their "prophet."

"What is ordered must sooner or later arrive," continued Hawkeye,
turning with a sad and humbled look to Uncas. "The varlet knows his
advantage, and will keep it! God bless you, boy; you have found friends
among your natural kin and I hope they will prove as true as some you
have met who had no Indian cross. As for me, sooner or later, I must
die; it is therefore fortunate there are but few to make my death-howl.
After all, it is likely the imps would have managed to master my scalp,
so a day or two will make no great difference in the everlasting
reckoning of time. God bless you," added the rugged woodsman, bending
his head aside, and then instantly changing its direction again, with a
wistful look towards the youth; "I loved both you and your father,
Uncas, though our skins are not altogether of a color, and our gifts are
somewhat different. Tell the Sagamore I never lost sight of him in my
greatest trouble; and, as for you, think of me sometimes when on a lucky
trail; and depend on it, boy, whether there be one heaven or two, there
is a path in the other world by which honest men may come together
again. You'll find the rifle in the place we hid it; take it, and keep
it for my sake; and harkee, lad, as your natural gifts don't deny you
the use of vengeance, use it a little freely on the Mingos; it may
unburden grief at my loss, and ease your mind. Huron, I accept your
offer; release the woman. I am your prisoner!"

A suppressed, but still distinct murmur of approbation, ran through the
crowd at this generous proposition; even the fiercest among the Delaware
warriors manifesting pleasure at the manliness of the intended
sacrifice. Magua paused, and for an anxious moment, it might be said, he
doubted; then casting his eyes on Cora, with an expression in which
ferocity and admiration were strangely mingled, his purpose became fixed
forever.

He intimated his contempt of the offer with a backward motion of his
head, and said, in a steady and settled voice,--

"Le Renard Subtil is a great chief; he has but one mind. Come," he
added, laying his hand too familiarly on the shoulder of his captive to
urge her onward; "a Huron is no tattler; we will go."

The maiden drew back in lofty womanly reserve, and her dark eye kindled,
while the rich blood shot, like the passing brightness of the sun, into
her very temples, at the indignity.

"I am your prisoner, and at a fitting time shall be ready to follow,
even to my death. But violence is unnecessary," she coldly said; and
immediately turning to Hawkeye, added, "Generous hunter! from my soul I
thank you. Your offer is in vain, neither could it be accepted; but
still you may serve me, even more than in your own noble intention. Look
at that drooping, humbled child! Abandon her not until you leave her in
the habitation of civilized men. I will not say," wringing the hard hand
of the scout, "that her father will reward you--for such as you are
above the rewards of men--but he will thank you, and bless you. And,
believe me, the blessing of a just and aged man has virtue in the sight
of Heaven. Would to God, I could hear one from his lips at this awful
moment!" Her voice became choked, and, for an instant, she was silent;
then advancing a step nigher to Duncan, who was supporting her
unconscious sister, she continued, in more subdued tones, but in which
feeling and the habits of her sex maintained a fearful struggle,--"I
need not tell you to cherish the treasure you will possess. You love
her, Heyward; that would conceal a thousand faults, though she had them.
She is kind, gentle, sweet, good, as mortal may be. There is not a
blemish in mind or person at which the proudest of you all would sicken.
She is fair--O! how surpassingly fair!" laying her own beautiful, but
less brilliant hand, in melancholy affection on the alabaster forehead
of Alice, and parting the golden hair which clustered about her brows;
"and yet her soul is pure and spotless as her skin! I could say
much--more, perhaps, than cooler reason would approve; but I will spare
you and myself"--Her voice became inaudible, and her face was bent over
the form of her sister. After a long and burning kiss, she arose, and
with features of the hue of death, but without even a tear in her
feverish eye, she turned away, and added, to the savage, with all her
former elevation of manner,--"Now, sir, if it be your pleasure, I will
follow."

"Ay, go," cried Duncan, placing Alice in the arms of an Indian girl;
"go, Magua, go. These Delawares have their laws, which forbid them to
detain you; but I--I have no such obligation. Go, malignant monster--why
do you delay?"

It would be difficult to describe the expression with which Magua
listened to this threat to follow. There was at first a fierce and
manifest display of joy, and then it was instantly subdued in a look of
cunning coldness.

"The woods are open," he was content with answering. "'The Open Hand'
can come."

"Hold," cried Hawkeye, seizing Duncan by the arm, and detaining him by
violence; "you know not the craft of the imp. He would lead you to an
ambushment, and your death--"

"Huron," interrupted Uncas, who, submissive to the stern customs of his
people, had been an attentive and grave listener to all that passed;
"Huron, the justice of the Delawares comes from the Manitou. Look at the
sun. He is now in the upper branches of the hemlock. Your path is short
and open. When he is seen above the trees, there will be men on your
trail."

"I hear a crow!" exclaimed Magua, with a taunting laugh. "Go!" he added,
shaking his hand at the crowd, which had slowly opened to admit his
passage,--"Where are the petticoats of the Delawares! Let them send
their arrows and their guns to the Wyandots; they shall have venison to
eat, and corn to hoe. Dogs, rabbits, thieves--I spit on you!"

His parting gibes were listened to in a dead, boding silence, and, with
these biting words in his mouth, the triumphant Magua passed unmolested
into the forest, followed by his passive captive, and protected by the
inviolable laws of Indian hospitality.

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

completion: Uncas appears before Tamenund. Uncas is serene, confident in his identity as a Delaware descendant. However, when Uncas insults Magua by calling him a liar, Tamenund reacts angrily, instructing the warriors to torture Uncas by fire. One of the warriors tears off Uncas's hunting shirt, and the assembled Indians stare with amazement at a small blue tortoise tattooed on Uncas's chest. The old man Tamenund seems to think the tattoo shows that Uncas is a reincarnation of Tamenund's grandfather, a legendary Indian also named Uncas, who was famed for his valor during Tamenund's youth. Tamenund releases Uncas immediately, and Uncas in turn frees Hawkeye. Uncas uses his newfound power to convince the Delawares that Magua has maliciously deceived them. In response, Magua insists that he deserves to retain his prisoners. Tamenund asks Uncas for his opinion, and Uncas reluctantly admits that although Magua should release most of his prisoners, Cora is his rightful prisoner. Magua flees with Cora, refusing Hawkeye's offer to die in her place even when Hawkeye offers to throw Killdeer, his rifle, into the bargain. The others, now unable to stop the villainous Huron because of Tamenund's ruling, vow to pursue him as soon as an appropriate time has passed


prompt:
Chapter: _"Flue._--Kill the poys and the luggage! 'Tis expressly against the
  law of arms; 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now, as can be
  offered in the world."

  _King Henry V._

So long as their enemy and his victim continued in sight, the multitude
remained motionless as beings charmed to the place by some power that
was friendly to the Huron; but the instant he disappeared, it became
tossed and agitated by fierce and powerful passion. Uncas maintained his
elevated stand, keeping his eyes on the form of Cora, until the colors
of her dress were blended with the foliage of the forest; when he
descended, and moving silently through the throng, he disappeared in
that lodge from which he had so recently issued. A few of the graver and
more attentive warriors, who caught the gleams of anger that shot from
the eyes of the young chief in passing, followed him to the place he had
selected for his meditations. After which, Tamenund and Alice were
removed, and the women and children were ordered to disperse. During the
momentous hour that succeeded, the encampment resembled a hive of
troubled bees, who only awaited the appearance and example of their
leader to take some distant and momentous flight.

A young warrior at length issued from the lodge of Uncas; and moving
deliberately, with a sort of grave march, towards a dwarf pine that grew
in the crevices of the rocky terrace, he tore the bark from its body,
and then returned whence he came without speaking. He was soon followed
by another, who stripped the sapling of its branches, leaving it a naked
and blazed[28] trunk. A third colored the posts with stripes of a dark
red paint; all which indications of a hostile design in the leaders of
the nation were received by the men without in a gloomy and ominous
silence. Finally, the Mohican himself reappeared, divested of all his
attire except his girdle and leggings, and with one-half of his fine
features hid under a cloud of threatening black.

Uncas moved with a slow and dignified tread towards the post, which he
immediately commenced encircling with a measured step, not unlike an
ancient dance, raising his voice, at the same time, in the wild and
irregular chant of his war-song. The notes were in the extremes of human
sounds; being sometimes melancholy and exquisitely plaintive, even
rivalling the melody of birds--and then, by sudden and startling
transitions, causing the auditors to tremble by their depth and energy.
The words were few and often repeated, proceeding gradually from a sort
of invocation, or hymn to the Deity, to an intimation of the warrior's
object, and terminating as they commenced with an acknowledgment of his
own dependence on the Great Spirit. If it were possible to translate the
comprehensive and melodious language in which he spoke, the ode might
read something like the following:

  "Manitou! Manitou! Manitou!
  Thou art great, thou art good, thou art wise:
  Manitou! Manitou!
  Thou art just.

  "In the heavens, in the clouds, O, I see
  Many spots--many dark, many red:
  In the heavens, O, I see
  Many clouds.

  "In the woods, in the air, O, I hear
  The whoop, the long yell, and the cry:
  In the woods, O, I hear
  The loud whoop!

  "Manitou! Manitou! Manitou!
  Thou art weak--thou art strong; I am slow:
  Manitou! Manitou!
  Give me aid."

At the end of what might be called each verse he made a pause, by
raising a note louder and longer than common, that was peculiarly suited
to the sentiment just expressed. The first close was solemn, and
intended to convey the idea of veneration; the second descriptive,
bordering on the alarming; and the third was the well known and terrific
war-whoop, which burst from the lips of the young warrior, like a
combination of all the frightful sounds of battle. The last was like the
first, humble and imploring. Three times did he repeat this song, and as
often did he encircle the post in his dance.

At the close of the first turn, a grave and highly esteemed chief of
the Lenape followed his example, singing words of his own, however, to
music of a similar character. Warrior after warrior enlisted in the
dance, until all of any renown and authority were numbered in its mazes.
The spectacle now became wildly terrific; the fierce-looking and
menacing visages of the chiefs receiving additional power from the
appalling strains in which they mingled their guttural tones. Just then
Uncas struck his tomahawk deep into the post, and raised his voice in a
shout, which might be termed his own battle-cry. The act announced that
he had assumed the chief authority in the intended expedition.

It was a signal that awakened all the slumbering passions of a nation. A
hundred youths, who had hitherto been restrained by the diffidence of
their years, rushed in a frantic body on the fancied emblem of their
enemy, and severed it asunder, splinter by splinter, until nothing
remained of the trunk but its roots in the earth. During this moment of
tumult, the most ruthless deeds of war were performed on the fragments
of the tree, with as much apparent ferocity as if they were the living
victims of their cruelty. Some were scalped; some received the keen and
trembling axe; and others suffered by thrusts from the fatal knife. In
short, the manifestations of zeal and fierce delight were so great and
unequivocal, that the expedition was declared to be a war of the nation.

The instant Uncas had struck the blow, he moved out of the circle, and
cast his eyes up to the sun, which was just gaining the point, when the
truce with Magua was to end. The fact was soon announced by a
significant gesture, accompanied by a corresponding cry; and the whole
of the excited multitude abandoned their mimic warfare, with shrill
yells of pleasure, to prepare for the more hazardous experiment of the
reality.

The whole face of the encampment was instantly changed. The warriors,
who were already armed and painted, became as still as if they were
incapable of any uncommon burst of emotion. On the other hand, the women
broke out of the lodges, with the songs of joy and those of lamentation,
so strangely mingled, that it might have been difficult to have said
which passion preponderated. None, however, were idle. Some bore their
choicest articles, others their young, and some their aged and infirm,
into the forest, which spread itself like a verdant carpet of bright
green against the side of the mountain. Thither Tamenund also retired,
with calm composure, after a short and touching interview with Uncas;
from whom the sage separated with the reluctance that a parent would
quit a long lost and just recovered child. In the meantime, Duncan saw
Alice to a place of safety, and then sought the scout, with a
countenance that denoted how eagerly he also panted for the approaching
contest.

But Hawkeye was too much accustomed to the war-song and the enlistments
of the natives, to betray any interest in the passing scene. He merely
cast an occasional look at the number and quality of the warriors, who,
from time to time, signified their readiness to accompany Uncas to the
field. In this particular he was soon satisfied; for, as has been
already seen, the power of the young chief quickly embraced every
fighting man in the nation. After this material point was so
satisfactorily decided, he despatched an Indian boy in quest of
"Killdeer" and the rifle of Uncas, to the place where they had deposited
the weapons on approaching the camp of the Delawares; a measure of
double policy, inasmuch as it protected the arms from their own fate, if
detained as prisoners, and gave them the advantage of appearing among
the strangers rather as sufferers than as men provided with the means of
defence and subsistence. In selecting another to perform the office of
reclaiming his highly prized rifle, the scout had lost sight of none of
his habitual caution. He knew that Magua had not come unattended, and he
also knew that Huron spies watched the movements of their new enemies,
along the whole boundary of the woods. It would, therefore, have been
fatal to himself to have attempted the experiment; a warrior would have
fared no better; but the danger of a boy would not be likely to commence
until after his object was discovered. When Heyward joined him, the
scout was coolly awaiting the result of this experiment.

The boy, who had been well instructed, and was sufficiently crafty,
proceeded, with a bosom that was swelling with the pride of such a
confidence, and all the hopes of young ambition, carelessly across the
clearing to the wood, which he entered at a point at some little
distance from the place where the guns were secreted. The instant,
however, he was concealed by the foliage of the bushes, his dusky form
was to be seen gliding, like that of a serpent, towards the desired
treasure. He was successful; and in another moment he appeared flying
across the narrow opening that skirted the base of the terrace on which
the village stood, with the velocity of an arrow, and bearing a prize
in each hand. He had actually gained the crags, and was leaping up their
sides with incredible activity, when a shot from the woods showed how
accurate had been the judgment of the scout. The boy answered it with a
feeble but contemptuous shout; and immediately a second bullet was sent
after him from another part of the cover. At the next instant he
appeared on the level above, elevating his guns in triumph, while he
moved with the air of a conqueror towards the renowned hunter who had
honored him by so glorious a commission.

Notwithstanding the lively interest Hawkeye had taken in the fate of his
messenger, he received "Killdeer" with a satisfaction that, momentarily,
drove all other recollections from his mind. After examining the piece
with an intelligent eye, and opening and shutting the pan some ten or
fifteen times, and trying sundry other equally important experiments on
the lock, he turned to the boy, and demanded with great manifestations
of kindness, if he was hurt. The urchin looked proudly up in his face,
but made no reply.

"Ah! I see, lad, the knaves have barked your arm!" added the scout,
taking up the limb of the patient sufferer, across which a deep flesh
wound had been made by one of the bullets; "but a little bruised alder
will act like a charm. In the meantime I will wrap it in a badge of
wampum! You have commenced the business of a warrior early, my brave
boy, and are likely to bear a plenty of honorable scars to your grave. I
know many young men that have taken scalps who cannot show such a mark
as this. Go!" having bound up the arm; "you will be a chief!"

The lad departed, prouder of his flowing blood than the vainest courtier
could be of his blushing ribbon; and stalked among the fellows of his
age, an object of general admiration and envy.

But in a moment of so many serious and important duties, this single act
of juvenile fortitude did not attract the general notice and
commendation it would have received under milder auspices. It had,
however, served to apprise the Delawares of the position and the
intentions of their enemies. Accordingly a party of adventurers, better
suited to the task than the weak though spirited boy, was ordered to
dislodge the skulkers. The duty was soon performed; for most of the
Hurons retired of themselves when they found they had been discovered.
The Delawares followed to a sufficient distance from their own
encampment, and then halted for orders, apprehensive of being led into
an ambush. As both parties secreted themselves, the woods were again as
still and quiet as a mild summer morning and deep solitude could render
them.

The calm but still impatient Uncas now collected his chiefs, and divided
his power. He presented Hawkeye as a warrior, often tried, and always
found deserving of confidence. When he found his friend met with a
favorable reception, he bestowed on him the command of twenty men, like
himself, active, skilful, and resolute. He gave the Delawares to
understand the rank of Heyward among the troops of the Yengeese, and
then tendered to him a trust of equal authority. But Duncan declined the
charge, professing his readiness to serve as a volunteer by the side of
the scout. After this disposition, the young Mohican appointed various
native chiefs to fill the different situations of responsibility, and
the time pressing, he gave forth the word to march. He was cheerfully,
but silently, obeyed by more than two hundred men.

Their entrance into the forest was perfectly unmolested; nor did they
encounter any living objects, that could either give the alarm, or
furnish the intelligence they needed, until they came upon the lairs of
their own scouts. Here a halt was ordered, and the chiefs were assembled
to hold a "whispering council."

At this meeting divers plans of operation were suggested, though none of
a character to meet the wishes of their ardent leader. Had Uncas
followed the promptings of his own inclinations, he would have led his
followers to the charge without a moment's delay, and put the conflict
to the hazard of an instant issue; but such a course would have been in
opposition to all the received practices and opinions of his countrymen.
He was, therefore, fain to adopt a caution that in the present temper of
his mind he execrated, and to listen to advice at which his fiery spirit
chafed, under the vivid recollection of Cora's danger and Magua's
insolence.

After an unsatisfactory conference of many minutes, a solitary
individual was seen advancing from the side of the enemy, with such
apparent haste, as to induce the belief he might be a messenger charged
with pacific overtures. When within a hundred yards, however, of the
cover behind which the Delaware council had assembled, the stranger
hesitated, appeared uncertain what course to take, and finally halted.
All eyes were now turned on Uncas, as if seeking directions how to
proceed.

"Hawkeye," said the young chief, in a low voice, "he must never speak to
the Hurons again."

"His time has come," said the laconic scout, thrusting the long barrel
of his rifle through the leaves, and taking his deliberate and fatal
aim. But, instead of pulling the trigger he lowered the muzzle again,
and indulged himself in a fit of his peculiar mirth. "I took the imp for
a Mingo, as I'm a miserable sinner!" he said; "but when my eye ranged
along his ribs for a place to get the bullet in--would you think it,
Uncas--I saw the musicianer's blower; and so, after all, it is the man
they call Gamut, whose death can profit no one, and whose life, if his
tongue can do anything but sing, may be made serviceable to our own
ends. If sounds have not lost their virtue, I'll soon have a discourse
with the honest fellow, and that in a voice he'll find more agreeable
than the speech of 'Killdeer.'"

So saying, Hawkeye laid aside his rifle; and crawling through the bushes
until within hearing of David, he attempted to repeat the musical
effort, which had conducted himself, with so much safety and _eclat_,
through the Huron encampment. The exquisite organs of Gamut could not
readily be deceived (and, to say the truth, it would have been difficult
for any other than Hawkeye to produce a similar noise), and
consequently, having once before heard the sounds, he now knew whence
they proceeded. The poor fellow appeared relieved from a state of great
embarrassment; for pursuing the direction of the voice--a task that to
him was not much less arduous than it would have been to have gone up in
the face of a battery--he soon discovered the hidden songster.

"I wonder what the Hurons will think of that!" said the scout, laughing,
as he took his companion by the arm, and urged him towards the rear. "If
the knaves lie within ear-shot, they will say there are two
non-compossers instead of one! But here we are safe," he added, pointing
to Uncas and his associates. "Now give us the history of the Mingo
inventions in natural English, and without any ups and downs of voice."

David gazed about him, at the fierce and wild-looking chiefs, in mute
wonder; but assured by the presence of faces that he knew, he soon
rallied his faculties so far as to make an intelligent reply.

"The heathen are abroad in goodly numbers," said David, "and, I fear,
with evil intent. There has been much howling and ungodly revelry,
together with such sounds as it is profanity to utter, in their
habitations within the past hour; so much so, in truth, that I have fled
to the Delawares in search of peace."

"Your ears might not have profited much by the exchange, had you been
quicker of foot," returned the scout, a little dryly. "But let that be
as it may; where are the Hurons?"

"They lie hid in the forest, between this spot and their village, in
such force, that prudence would teach you instantly to return."

Uncas cast a glance along the range of trees which concealed his own
band and mentioned the name of--

"Magua?"

"Is among them. He brought in the maiden that had sojourned with the
Delawares, and leaving her in the cave, has put himself, like a raging
wolf, at the head of his savages. I know not what has troubled his
spirit so greatly!"

"He has left her, you say, in the cave!" interrupted Heyward; "'tis well
that we know its situation! May not something be done for her instant
relief?"

Uncas looked earnestly at the scout, before he asked,--

"What says Hawkeye?"

"Give me twenty rifles, and I will turn to the right, along the stream;
and passing by the huts of the beaver, will join the Sagamore and the
colonel. You shall then hear the whoop from that quarter; with this wind
one may easily send it a mile. Then, Uncas, do you drive in their front;
when they come within range of our pieces, we will give them a blow
that, I pledge the good name of an old frontiersman, shall make their
line bend like an ashen bow. After which, we will carry their village,
and take the woman from the cave; when the affair may be finished with
the tribe, according to a white man's battle, by a blow and a victory;
or, in the Indian fashion, with dodge and cover. There may be no great
learning, major, in this plan, but with courage and patience it can all
be done."

"I like it much," cried Duncan, who saw the release of Cora was the
primary object in the mind of the scout; "I like it much. Let it be
instantly attempted."

After a short conference, the plan was matured, and rendered more
intelligible to the several parties; the different signals were
appointed, and the chiefs separated, each to his allotted station.

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

completion: Uncas stares longingly after Cora as Magua drags her away. After retreating to his lodge to consider an appropriate plan of action, Uncas emerges to initiate a war ritual dedicated to the god Manitou, or Great Spirit. This dance and war song center around a young pine tree, stripped of its bark and painted with red stripes. Uncas and the Delawares ferociously attack the tree, which represents the enemy. Meanwhile, Hawkeye sends a young boy to find his hidden rifles. Hurons shoot at and wound the boy on his return to the camp, revealing their proximity to the Delawares. Uncas and Hawkeye plan retribution against the Hurons, assuming the command of twenty warriors apiece. As Uncas and Hawkeye hold a whispering council in the forest, Gamut reappears, still dressed in his Indian disguise. The startled Hawkeye mistakes him yet again for a Huron and nearly shoots him. Gamut tells the men that Magua has stashed Cora in a cave near the Huron camp. Hawkeye announces a plan: he will lead his men to rendezvous with Chingachgook and Colonel Munro at the beaver pond, and then they will defeat the Huron warriors and rescue Cora. The men decide how to carry out the plan using signals and specific duties in the forest


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: As the group approaches the stream near the peaceful beaver pond, the sound of gunfire erupts, and a mortally wounded Delaware drops to the ground. The Hurons have tracked the forces led by Hawkeye and Uncas. A battle ensues, and Hawkeye and Uncas's men manage to defeat the Hurons. As the fighting winds down, Magua retreats to the Huron village. He and two Huron companions slip into the cave where Magua has hidden Cora. Hawkeye, Uncas, Gamut, and Heyward pursue them closely. The Hurons drag Cora along a passage leading up the mountainside. Uncas and Hawkeye drop their heavy rifles in order to move more quickly. The Hurons reach a precipice, and Cora refuses to continue. Magua threatens to kill her with his knife, but he does not know whether he wants to kill her or marry her. Just as Uncas succeeds in leaping from a ledge and landing at Cora's side, one of the Hurons loses his patience and stabs Cora in the heart. Enraged, Magua leaps at his ally but reaches Uncas first and stabs him in the back. Wounded yet defiant, Uncas kills the Huron who stabbed Cora. Magua slashes Uncas three more times and kills him at last. Gamut strikes Magua's other companion with a rock from his sling. Magua attempts to escape by leaping from the precipice across a wide fissure, but he falls short. He just manages to grab a shrub, which keeps him from plunging to his death. As Magua pulls himself back onto the mountainside, Hawkeye shoots him. Magua stares furiously at his enemies before plummeting to his death at the bottom of the ravine