prompt:
Chapter: "Brief, I pray you; for you see, 'tis a busy time with me."

  _Much Ado About Nothing._

The tribe, or rather half tribe, of Delawares, which has been so often
mentioned, and whose present place of encampment was so nigh the
temporary village of the Hurons, could assemble about an equal number of
warriors with the latter people. Like their neighbors, they had followed
Montcalm into the territories of the English crown, and were making
heavy and serious inroads on the hunting-grounds of the Mohawks; though
they had seen fit, with the mysterious reserve so common among the
natives, to withhold their assistance at the moment when it was most
required. The French had accounted for this unexpected defection on the
part of their ally in various ways. It was the prevalent opinion,
however, that they had been influenced by veneration for the ancient
treaty, that had once made them dependent on the Six Nations for
military protection, and now rendered them reluctant to encounter their
former masters. As for the tribe itself, it had been content to announce
to Montcalm, through his emissaries, with Indian brevity, that their
hatchets were dull, and time was necessary to sharpen them. The politic
captain of the Canadas had deemed it wiser to submit to entertain a
passive friend, than by any acts of ill-judged severity to convert him
into an open enemy.

On that morning when Magua led his silent party from the settlement of
the beavers into the forest, in the manner described, the sun rose upon
the Delaware encampment as if it had suddenly burst upon a busy people,
actively employed in all the customary avocations of high noon. The
women ran from lodge to lodge, some engaged in preparing their morning's
meal, a few earnestly bent on seeking the comforts necessary to their
habits, but more pausing to exchange hasty and whispered sentences with
their friends. The warriors were lounging in groups, musing more than
they conversed; and when a few words were uttered, speaking like men who
deeply weighed their opinions. The instruments of the chase were to be
seen in abundance among the lodges; but none departed. Here and there a
warrior was examining his arms, with an attention that is rarely
bestowed on the implements, when no other enemy than the beasts of the
forest is expected to be encountered. And, occasionally, the eyes of a
whole group were turned simultaneously towards a large and silent lodge
in the centre of the village, as if it contained the subject of their
common thoughts.

During the existence of this scene, a man suddenly appeared at the
farthest extremity of a platform of rock which formed the level of the
village. He was without arms, and his paint tended rather to soften than
increase the natural sternness of his austere countenance. When in full
view of the Delawares he stopped, and made a gesture of amity, by
throwing his arm upward towards heaven, and then letting it fall
impressively on his breast. The inhabitants of the village answered his
salute by a low murmur of welcome, and encouraged him to advance by
similar indications of friendship. Fortified by these assurances, the
dark figure left the brow of the natural rocky terrace, where it had
stood a moment, drawn in a strong outline against the blushing morning
sky, and moved with dignity into the very centre of the huts. As he
approached, nothing was audible but the rattling of the light silver
ornaments that loaded his arms and neck, and the tinkling of the little
bells that fringed his deer-skin moccasins. He made, as he advanced,
many courteous signs of greeting to the men he passed, neglecting to
notice the women, however, like one who deemed their favor, in the
present enterprise, of no importance. When he had reached the group in
which it was evident, by the haughtiness of their common mien, that the
principal chiefs were collected, the stranger paused, and then the
Delawares saw that the active and erect form that stood before them was
that of the well-known Huron chief, Le Renard Subtil.

His reception was grave, silent, and wary. The warriors in front stepped
aside, opening the way to their most approved orator by the action; one
who spoke all those languages that were cultivated among the northern
aborigines.

"The wise Huron is welcome," said the Delaware, in the language of the
Maquas; "he is come to eat his 'succotash,'[25] with his brothers of the
lakes."

"He is come," repeated Magua, bending his head with the dignity of an
Eastern prince.

The chief extended his arm, and taking the other by the wrist, they once
more exchanged friendly salutations. Then the Delaware invited his guest
to enter his own lodge, and share his morning meal. The invitation was
accepted; and the two warriors, attended by three or four of the old
men, walked calmly away, leaving the rest of the tribe devoured by a
desire to understand the reasons of so unusual a visit, and yet not
betraying the least impatience by sign or word.

During the short and frugal repast that followed, the conversation was
extremely circumspect, and related entirely to the events of the hunt in
which Magua had so lately been engaged. It would have been impossible
for the most finished breeding to wear more of the appearance of
considering the visit as a matter of course, than did his hosts,
notwithstanding every individual present was perfectly aware that it
must be connected with some secret object, and that probably of
importance to themselves. When the appetites of the whole were appeased,
the squaws removed the trenchers and gourd, and the two parties began to
prepare themselves for a subtle trial of their wits.

"Is the face of my great Canada father turned again towards his Huron
children?" demanded the orator of the Delawares.

"When was it ever otherwise?" returned Magua. "He calls my people 'most
beloved.'"

The Delaware gravely bowed his acquiescence to what he knew to be false,
and continued,--

"The tomahawks of your young men have been very red."

"It is so; but they are now bright and dull; for the Yengeese are dead,
and the Delawares are our neighbors."

The other acknowledged the pacific compliment by a gesture of the hand,
and remained silent. Then Magua, as if recalled to such a recollection,
by the allusion to the massacre, demanded,--

"Does my prisoner give trouble to my brothers?"

"She is welcome."

"The path between the Hurons and the Delawares is short, and it is open;
let her be sent to my squaws, if she gives trouble to my brother."

"She is welcome," returned the chief of the latter nation, still more
emphatically.

The baffled Magua continued silent several minutes, apparently
indifferent, however, to the repulse he had received in this his open
effort to gain possession of Cora.

"Do my young men leave the Delawares room on the mountains for their
hunts?" he at length continued.

"The Lenape are rulers of their own hills," returned the other, a little
haughtily.

"It is well. Justice is the master of a redskin! Why should they
brighten their tomahawks, and sharpen their knives against each other?
Are not the pale-faces thicker than the swallows in the season of
flowers?"

"Good!" exclaimed two or three of his auditors at the same time.

Magua waited a little, to permit his words to soften the feelings of the
Delawares, before he added,--

"Have there not been strange moccasins in the woods? Have not my
brothers scented the feet of white men?"

"Let my Canada father come," returned the other evasively; "his children
are ready to see him."

"When the great chief comes, it is to smoke with the Indians in their
wigwams. The Hurons say, too, he is welcome. But the Yengeese have long
arms, and legs that never tire! My young men dreamed they had seen the
trail of the Yengeese nigh the village of the Delawares?"

"They will not find the Lenape asleep."

"It is well. The warrior whose eye is open can see his enemy," said
Magua, once more shifting his ground, when he found himself unable to
penetrate the caution of his companion. "I have brought gifts to my
brother. His nation would not go on the war-path because they did not
think it well; but their friends have remembered where they lived."

When he had thus announced his liberal intention, the crafty chief
arose, and gravely spread his presents before the dazzled eyes of his
hosts. They consisted principally of trinkets of little value, plundered
from the slaughtered females of William Henry. In the division of the
baubles the cunning Huron discovered no less art than in their
selection. While he bestowed those of greater value on the two most
distinguished warriors, one of whom was his host, he seasoned his
offerings to their inferiors with such well-timed and apposite
compliments, as left them no grounds of complaint. In short, the whole
ceremony contained such a happy blending of the profitable with the
flattering, that it was not difficult for the donor immediately to read
the effect of a generosity so aptly mingled with praise, in the eyes of
those he addressed.

This well-judged and politic stroke on the part of Magua was not without
instantaneous results. The Delawares lost their gravity in a much more
cordial expression; and the host, in particular, after contemplating his
own liberal share of the spoil for some moments with peculiar
gratification, repeated with strong emphasis, the words,--

"My brother is a wise chief. He is welcome!"

"The Hurons love their friends the Delawares," returned Magua. "Why
should they not? they are colored by the same sun, and their just men
will hunt in the same grounds after death. The redskins should be
friends, and look with open eyes on the white men. Has not my brother
scented spies in the woods?"

The Delaware, whose name in English signified "Hard Heart," an
appellation that the French had translated into "Le Coeur-dur," forgot
the obduracy of purpose, which had probably obtained him so significant
a title. His countenance grew very sensibly less stern, and now deigned
to answer more directly.

"There have been strange moccasins about my camp. They have been tracked
into my lodges."

"Did my brother beat out the dogs?" asked Magua, without adverting in
any manner to the former equivocation of the chief.

"It would not do. The stranger is always welcome to the children of the
Lenape."

"The stranger, but not the spy."

"Would the Yengeese send their women as spies? Did not the Huron chief
say he took women in the battle?"

"He told no lie. The Yengeese have sent out their scouts. They have been
in my wigwams, but they found there no one to say welcome. Then they
fled to the Delawares--for, say they, the Delawares are our friends;
their minds are turned from their Canada father!"

This insinuation was a home thrust, and one that in a more advanced
state of society, would have entitled Magua to the reputation of a
skilful diplomatist. The recent defection of the tribe had, as they well
knew themselves, subjected the Delawares to much reproach among their
French allies; and they were now made to feel that their future actions
were to be regarded with jealousy and distrust. There was no deep
insight into causes and effects necessary to foresee that such a
situation of things was likely to prove highly prejudicial to their
future movements. Their distant villages, their hunting-grounds, and
hundreds of their women and children, together with a material part of
their physical force, were actually within the limits of the French
territory. Accordingly, this alarming annunciation was received, as
Magua intended, with manifest disapprobation, if not with alarm.

"Let my father look in my face," said Le Coeur-dur; "he will see no
change. It is true, my young men did not go out on the war-path; they
had dreams for not doing so. But they love and venerate the great white
chief."

"Will he think so when he hears that his greatest enemy is fed in the
camp of his children? When he is told a bloody Yengee smokes at your
fire? That the pale-face who has slain so many of his friends goes in
and out among the Delawares? Go! my great Canada father is not a fool!"

"Where is the Yengee that the Delawares fear?" returned the other; "who
has slain my young men? who is the mortal enemy of my Great Father!"

"La Longue Carabine."

The Delaware warriors started at the well-known name, betraying, by
their amazement, that they now learnt, for the first time, one so famous
among the Indian allies of France was within their power.

"What does my brother mean?" demanded Le Coeur-dur, in a tone that, by
its wonder, far exceeded the usual apathy of his race.

"A Huron never lies!" returned Magua coldly, leaning his head against
the side of the lodge, and drawing his slight robe across his tawny
breast. "Let the Delawares count their prisoners; they will find one
whose skin is neither red nor pale."

A long and musing pause succeeded. The chief consulted apart with his
companions, and messengers were despatched to collect certain others of
the most distinguished men of the tribe.

As warrior after warrior dropped in, they were each made acquainted, in
turn, with the important intelligence that Magua had just communicated.
The air of surprise, and the usual low, deep, guttural exclamation, were
common to them all. The news spread from mouth to mouth, until the whole
encampment became powerfully agitated. The women suspended their
labors, to catch such syllables as unguardedly fell from the lips of the
consulting warriors. The boys deserted their sports, and walking
fearlessly among their fathers, looked up in curious admiration, as they
heard the brief exclamations of wonder they so freely expressed at the
temerity of their hated foe. In short, every occupation was abandoned
for the time, and all other pursuits seemed discarded, in order that the
tribe might freely indulge, after their own peculiar manner, in an open
expression of feeling.

When the excitement had a little abated, the old men disposed themselves
seriously to consider that which it became the honor and safety of their
tribe to perform, under circumstances of so much delicacy and
embarrassment. During all these movements, and in the midst of the
general commotion, Magua had not only maintained his seat, but the very
attitude he had originally taken, against the side of the lodge, where
he continued as immovable, and, apparently, as unconcerned, as if he had
no interest in the result. Not a single indication of the future
intentions of his hosts, however, escaped his vigilant eyes. With his
consummate knowledge of the nature of the people with whom he had to
deal, he anticipated every measure on which they decided; and it might
almost be said, that, in many instances, he knew their intentions, even
before they became known to themselves.

The council of the Delawares was short. When it was ended, a general
bustle announced that it was to be immediately succeeded by a solemn and
formal assemblage of the nation. As such meetings were rare, and only
called on occasions of the last importance, the subtle Huron, who still
sat apart, a wily and dark observer of the proceedings, now knew that
all his projects must be brought to their final issue. He therefore left
the lodge, and walked silently forth to the place in front of the
encampment whither the warriors were already beginning to collect.

It might have been half an hour before each individual, including even
the women and children, was in his place. The delay had been created by
the grave preparations that were deemed necessary to so solemn and
unusual a conference. But when the sun was seen climbing above the tops
of that mountain against whose bosom the Delawares had constructed their
encampment, most were seated; and as his bright rays darted from behind
the outline of trees that fringed the eminence, they fell upon as grave,
as attentive, and as deeply interested a multitude, as was probably
ever before lighted by his morning beams. Its number somewhat exceeded a
thousand souls.

In a collection of such serious savages, there is never to be found any
impatient aspirant after premature distinction, standing ready to move
his auditors to some hasty, and, perhaps, injudicious discussion, in
order that his own reputation may be the gainer. An act of so much
precipitancy and presumption would seal the downfall of precocious
intellect forever. It rested solely with the oldest and most experienced
of the men to lay the subject of the conference before the people. Until
such a one chose to make some movement, no deeds in arms, no natural
gifts, nor any renown as an orator, would have justified the slightest
interruption. On the present occasion, the aged warrior whose privilege
it was to speak, was silent, seemingly oppressed with the magnitude of
his subject. The delay had already continued long beyond the usual
deliberative pause that always precedes a conference; but no sign of
impatience or surprise escaped even the youngest boy. Occasionally, an
eye was raised from the earth, where the looks of most were riveted, and
strayed towards a particular lodge, that was, however, in no manner
distinguished from those around it, except in the peculiar care that had
been taken to protect it against the assaults of the weather.

At length, one of those low murmurs that are so apt to disturb a
multitude, was heard, and the whole nation arose to their feet by a
common impulse. At that the door of the lodge in question opened, and
three men, issuing from it, slowly approached the place of consultation.
They were all aged, even beyond that period to which the oldest present
had reached; but one in the centre, who leaned on his companions for
support, had numbered an amount of years to which the human race is
seldom permitted to attain. His frame, which had once been tall and
erect, like the cedar, was now bending under the pressure of more than a
century. The elastic, light step of an Indian was gone, and in its place
he was compelled to toil his tardy way over the ground, inch by inch.
His dark, wrinkled countenance was in singular and wild contrast with
the long white locks which floated on his shoulders in such thickness as
to announce that generations had probably passed away since they had
last been shorn.

The dress of this patriarch--for such, considering his vast age, in
conjunction with his affinity and influence with his people, he might
very properly be termed--was rich and imposing, though strictly after
the simple fashions of the tribe. His robe was of the finest skins,
which had been deprived of their fur, in order to admit of a
hieroglyphical representation of various deeds in arms, done in former
ages. His bosom was loaded with medals, some in massive silver, and one
or two even in gold, the gifts of various Christian potentates during
the long period of his life. He also wore armlets, and cinctures above
the ankles, of the latter precious metal. His head, on the whole of
which the hair had been permitted to grow, the pursuits of war having so
long been abandoned, was encircled by a sort of plated diadem, which, in
its turn, bore lesser and more glittering ornaments, that sparkled amid
the glossy hues of three drooping ostrich feathers, dyed a deep black,
in touching contrast to the color of his snow-white locks. His tomahawk
was nearly hid in silver, and the handle of his knife shone like a horn
of solid gold.

So soon as the first hum of emotion and pleasure, which the sudden
appearance of this venerated individual created, had a little subsided,
the name of "Tamenund" was whispered from mouth to mouth. Magua had
often heard the fame of this wise and just Delaware; a reputation that
even proceeded so far as to bestow on him the rare gift of holding
secret communion with the Great Spirit, and which has since transmitted
his name, with some slight alteration, to the white usurpers of his
ancient territory, as the imaginary tutelar saint of a vast empire. The
Huron chief, therefore, stepped eagerly out a little from the throng, to
a spot whence he might catch a nearer glimpse of the features of the
man, whose decision was likely to produce so deep an influence on his
own fortunes.

The eyes of the old man were closed, as though the organs were wearied
with having so long witnessed the selfish workings of the human
passions. The color of his skin differed from that of most around him,
being richer and darker, the latter hue having been produced by certain
delicate and mazy lines of complicated and yet beautiful figures, which
had been traced over most of his person by the operation of tattooing.
Notwithstanding the position of the Huron, he passed the observant and
silent Magua without notice, and leaning on his two venerable supporters
proceeded to the high place of the multitude, where he seated himself in
the centre of his nation, with the dignity of a monarch and the air of a
father.

Nothing could surpass the reverence and affection with which this
unexpected visit from one who belonged rather to another world than to
this, was received by his people. After a suitable and decent pause, the
principal chiefs arose; and approaching the patriarch, they placed his
hands reverently on their heads, seeming to entreat a blessing. The
younger men were content with touching his robe, or even drawing nigh
his person, in order to breathe in the atmosphere of one so aged, so
just, and so valiant. None but the most distinguished among the youthful
warriors even presumed so far as to perform the latter ceremony; the
great mass of the multitude deeming it a sufficient happiness to look
upon a form so deeply venerated, and so well beloved. When these acts of
affection and respect were performed, the chiefs drew back again to
their several places, and silence reigned in the whole encampment.

After a short delay, a few of the young men, to whom instructions had
been whispered by one of the aged attendants of Tamenund, arose, left
the crowd, and entered the lodge which has already been noted as the
object of so much attention throughout that morning. In a few minutes
they reappeared, escorting the individuals who had caused all these
solemn preparations towards the seat of judgment. The crowd opened in a
lane; and when the party had re-entered, it closed in again, forming a
large and dense belt of human bodies, arranged in an open circle.

  "The assembly seated, rising o'er the rest,
  Achilles thus the king of men addressed."

  POPE'S _Iliad._

Cora stood foremost among the prisoners, entwining her arms in those of
Alice, in the tenderness of sisterly love. Notwithstanding the fearful
and menacing array of savages on every side of her, no apprehension on
her own account could prevent the noble-minded maiden from keeping her
eyes fastened on the pale and anxious features of the trembling Alice.
Close at their side stood Heyward, with an interest in both, that, at
such a moment of intense uncertainty, scarcely knew a preponderance in
favor of her whom he most loved. Hawkeye had placed himself a little in
the rear, with a deference to the superior rank of his companions, that
no similarity in the state of their present fortunes could induce him to
forget. Uncas was not there.

When perfect silence was again restored, and after the usual long,
impressive pause, one of the two aged chiefs who sat at the side of the
patriarch arose, and demanded aloud, in very intelligible English,--

"Which of my prisoners is La Longue Carabine?"

Neither Duncan nor the scout answered. The former, however, glanced his
eyes around the dark and silent assembly, and recoiled a pace, when they
fell on the malignant visage of Magua. He saw, at once, that this wily
savage had some secret agency in their present arraignment before the
nation, and determined to throw every possible impediment in the way of
the execution of his sinister plans. He had witnessed one instance of
the summary punishments of the Indians, and now dreaded that his
companion was to be selected for a second. In this dilemma, with little
or no time for reflection, he suddenly determined to cloak his
invaluable friend, at any or every hazard to himself. Before he had
time, however, to speak, the question was repeated in a louder voice,
and with a clearer utterance.

"Give us arms," the young man haughtily replied, "and place us in
yonder woods. Our deeds shall speak for us!"

"This is the warrior whose name has filled our ears!" returned the
chief, regarding Heyward with that sort of curious interest which seems
inseparable from man, when first beholding one of his fellows to whom
merit or accident, virtue or crime, has given notoriety. "What has
brought the white man into the camp of the Delawares?"

"My necessities. I come for food, shelter and friends."

"It cannot be. The woods are full of game. The head of a warrior needs
no other shelter than a sky without clouds; and the Delawares are the
enemies, and not the friends, of the Yengeese. Go! the mouth has spoken,
while the heart said nothing."

Duncan, a little at a loss in what manner to proceed, remained silent;
but the scout, who had listened attentively to all that passed, now
advanced steadily to the front.

"That I did not answer to the call for La Longue Carabine, was not owing
either to shame or fear," he said; "for neither one nor the other is the
gift of an honest man. But I do not admit the right of the Mingos to
bestow a name on one whose friends have been mindful of his gifts, in
this particular; especially as their title is a lie, 'Killdeer' being a
grooved barrel and no carabyne. I am the man, however, that got the name
of Nathaniel from my kin; the compliment of Hawkeye from the Delawares,
who live on their own river; and whom the Iroquois have presumed to
style the 'Long Rifle,' without any warranty from him who is most
concerned in the matter."

The eyes of all present, which had hitherto been gravely scanning the
person of Duncan, were now turned, on the instant, towards the upright
iron frame of this new pretender to the distinguished appellation. It
was in no degree remarkable that there should be found two who were
willing to claim so great an honor, for impostors, though rare, were not
unknown amongst the natives; but it was altogether material to the just
and severe intentions of the Delawares, that there should be no mistake
in the matter. Some of their old men consulted together in private, and
then, as it would seem, they determined to interrogate their visitor on
the subject.

"My brother has said that a snake crept into my camp," said the chief to
Magua; "which is he?"

The Huron pointed to the scout.

"Will a wise Delaware believe the barking of a wolf?" exclaimed Duncan,
still more confirmed in the evil intentions of his ancient enemy: "a dog
never lies, but when was a wolf known to speak the truth?"

The eyes of Magua flashed fire; but, suddenly recollecting the necessity
of maintaining his presence of mind, he turned away in silent disdain,
well assured that the sagacity of the Indians would not fail to extract
the real merits of the point in controversy. He was not deceived; for,
after another short consultation, the wary Delaware turned to him again,
and expressed the determination of the chiefs, though in the most
considerate language.

"My brother has been called a liar," he said, "and his friends are
angry. They will show that he has spoken the truth. Give my prisoners
guns, and let them prove which is the man."

Magua affected to consider the expedient, which he well knew proceeded
from distrust of himself, as a compliment, and made a gesture of
acquiescence, well content that his veracity should be supported by so
skilful a marksman as the scout. The weapons were instantly placed in
the hands of the friendly opponents, and they were bid to fire over the
heads of the seated multitude at an earthen vessel, which lay, by
accident, on a stump some fifty yards from the place where they stood.

Heyward smiled to himself at the idea of a competition with the scout,
though he determined to persevere in the deception, until apprised of
the real designs of Magua. Raising his rifle with the utmost care, and
renewing his aim three several times, he fired. The bullet cut the wood
within a few inches of the vessel; and a general exclamation of
satisfaction announced that the shot was considered a proof of great
skill in the use of the weapon. Even Hawkeye nodded his head, as if he
would say, it was better than he had expected. But, instead of
manifesting an intention to contend with the successful marksman, he
stood leaning on his rifle for more than a minute, like a man who was
completely buried in thought. From this reverie he was, however,
awakened by one of the young Indians who had furnished the arms, and who
now touched his shoulder, saying, in exceedingly broken English,--

"Can the pale-face beat it?"

"Yes, Huron!" exclaimed the scout, raising the short rifle in his right
hand, and shaking it at Magua, with as much apparent ease as if it were
a reed; "yes, Huron, I could strike you now, and no power of earth could
prevent the deed! The soaring hawk is not more certain of the dove than
I am this moment of you, did I choose to send a bullet to your heart!
Why should I not? Why!--because the gifts of my color forbid it, and I
might draw down evil on tender and innocent heads. If you know such a
being as God, thank Him, therefore, in your inward soul; for you have
reason."

The flushed countenance, angry eye, and swelling figure of the scout,
produced a sensation of secret awe in all that heard him. The Delawares
held their breath in expectation; but Magua himself, even while he
distrusted the forbearance of his enemy, remained immovable and calm,
where he stood wedged in by the crowd, as one who grew to the spot.

"Beat it," replied the young Delaware at the elbow of the scout.

"Beat what, fool!--what!" exclaimed Hawkeye, still flourishing the
weapon angrily above his head, though his eye no longer sought the
person of Magua.

"If the white man is the warrior he pretends," said the aged chief, "let
him strike nigher to the mark."

The scout laughed aloud--a noise that produced the startling effect of
an unnatural sound on Heyward; then dropping the piece heavily into his
extended left hand, it was discharged, apparently by the shock, driving
the fragments of the vessel into the air, and scattering them on every
side. Almost at the same instant, the rattling sound of the rifle was
heard, as he suffered it to fall, contemptuously, to the earth.

The first impression of so strange a scene was engrossing admiration.
Then a low, but increasing murmur, ran through the multitude, and
finally swelled into sounds that denoted a lively opposition in the
sentiments of the spectators. While some openly testified their
satisfaction at so unexampled dexterity, by far the larger portion of
the tribe were inclined to believe the success of the shot was the
result of accident. Heyward was not slow to confirm an opinion that was
so favorable to his own pretentions.

"It was chance!" he exclaimed; "none can shoot without an aim!"

"Chance!" echoed the excited woodsman, who was now stubbornly bent on
maintaining his identity at every hazard, and on whom the secret hints
of Heyward to acquiesce in the deception were entirely lost. "Does
yonder lying Huron, too, think it chance? Give him another gun, and
place us face to face, without cover or dodge, and let Providence, and
our own eyes, decide the matter atween us! I do not make the offer to
you, major; for our blood is of a color, and we serve the same master."

"That the Huron is a liar, is very evident," returned Heyward, coolly;
"you have yourself heard him assert you to be La Longue Carabine."

It were impossible to say what violent assertion the stubborn Hawkeye
would have next made, in his headlong wish to vindicate his identity,
had not the aged Delaware once more interposed.

"The hawk which comes from the clouds can return when he will," he said;
"give them the guns."

This time the scout seized the rifle with avidity; nor had Magua, though
he watched the movement of the marksman with jealous eyes, any further
cause for apprehension.

"Now let it be proved, in the face of this tribe of Delawares, which is
the better man," cried the scout, tapping the butt of his piece with
that finger which had pulled so many fatal triggers. "You see the gourd
hanging against yonder tree, major; if you are a marksman fit for the
borders, let me see you break its shell!"

Duncan noted the object, and prepared himself to renew the trial. The
gourd was one of the usual little vessels used by the Indians, and it
was suspended from a dead branch of a small pine, by a thong of
deer-skin, at the full distance of a hundred yards. So strangely
compounded is the feeling of self-love, that the young soldier, while he
knew the utter worthlessness of the suffrages of his savage umpires,
forgot the sudden motives of the contest in a wish to excel. It has been
seen, already, that his skill was far from being contemptible, and he
now resolved to put forth its nicest qualities. Had his life depended on
the issue, the aim of Duncan could not have been more deliberate or
guarded. He fired; and three or four young Indians, who sprang forward
at the report, announced with a shout, that the ball was in the tree, a
very little on one side of the proper object. The warriors uttered a
common ejaculation of pleasure, and then turned their eyes inquiringly
on the movements of his rival.

"It may do for the Royal Americans!" said Hawkeye, laughing once more
in his own silent, heartfelt manner; "but had my gun often turned so
much from the true line, many a marten, whose skin is now in a lady's
muff, would still be in the woods; ay, and many a bloody Mingo, who has
departed to his final account, would be acting his deviltries at this
very day, atween the provinces. I hope the squaw who owns the gourd has
more of them in her wigwam, for this will never hold water again!"

The scout had shook his priming, and cocked his piece, while speaking;
and, as he ended, he threw back a foot, and slowly raised the muzzle
from the earth: the motion was steady, uniform, and in one direction.
When on a perfect level, it remained for a single moment, without tremor
or variation, as though both man and rifle were carved in stone. During
that stationary instant, it poured forth its contents, in a bright,
glancing sheet of flame. Again the young Indians bounded forward; but
their hurried search and disappointed looks announced that no traces of
the bullet were to be seen.

"Go!" said the old chief to the scout, in a tone of strong disgust;
"thou art a wolf in the skin of a dog. I will talk to the 'Long Rifle'
of the Yengeese."

"Ah! had I that piece which furnished the name you use, I would obligate
myself to cut the thong, and drop the gourd without breaking it!"
returned Hawkeye, perfectly undisturbed by the other's manner, "Fools,
if you would find the bullet of a sharpshooter of these woods, you must
look in the object and not around it!"

The Indian youths instantly comprehended his meaning--for this time he
spoke in the Delaware tongue--and tearing the gourd from the tree, they
held it on high with an exulting shout, displaying a hole in its bottom,
which had been cut by the bullet, after passing through the usual
orifice in the centre of its upper side. At this unexpected exhibition,
a loud and vehement expression of pleasure burst from the mouth of every
warrior present. It decided the question, and effectually established
Hawkeye in the possession of his dangerous reputation. Those curious and
admiring eyes which had been turned again on Heyward, were finally
directed to the weather-beaten form of the scout, who immediately became
the principal object of attention to the simple and unsophisticated
beings by whom he was surrounded. When the sudden and noisy commotion
had a little subsided, the aged chief resumed his examination.

"Why did you wish to stop my ears?" he said, addressing Duncan; "are
the Delawares fools, that they could not know the young panther from the
cat?"

"They will yet find the Huron a singing-bird," said Duncan, endeavoring
to adopt the figurative language of the natives.

"It is good. We will know who can shut the ears of men. Brother," added
the chief, turning his eyes on Magua, "the Delawares listen."

Thus singled, and directly called on to declare his object, the Huron
arose; and advancing with great deliberation and dignity into the very
centre of the circle, where he stood confronted to the prisoners, he
placed himself in an attitude to speak. Before opening his mouth,
however, he bent his eyes slowly along the whole living boundary of
earnest faces as if to temper his expressions to the capacities of his
audience. On Hawkeye he cast a glance of respectful enmity; on Duncan, a
look of inextinguishable hatred; the shrinking figure of Alice he
scarcely deigned to notice; but when his glance met the firm,
commanding, and yet lovely form of Cora, his eye lingered a moment, with
an expression that it might have been difficult to define. Then, filled
with his own dark intentions, he spoke in the language of the Canadas, a
tongue that he well knew was comprehended by most of his auditors.

"The Spirit that made men colored them differently," commenced the
subtle Huron. "Some are blacker than the sluggish bear. These He said
would be slaves; and He ordered them to work forever, like the beaver.
You may hear them groan, when the south wind blows, louder than the
lowing buffaloes, along the shores of the great salt lake, where the big
canoes come and go with them in droves. Some He made with faces paler
than the ermine of the forests: and these He ordered to be traders; dogs
to their women, and wolves to their slaves. He gave this people the
nature of the pigeon: wings that never tire; young, more plentiful than
the leaves on the trees, and appetites to devour the earth. He gave them
tongues like the false call of the wild-cat; hearts like rabbits; the
cunning of the hog (but none of the fox), and arms longer than the legs
of the moose. With his tongue, he stops the ears of the Indians; his
heart teaches him to pay warriors to fight his battles; his cunning
tells him how to get together the goods of the earth; and his arms
inclose the land from the shores of the salt-water to the islands of the
great lake. His gluttony makes him sick. God gave him enough, and yet
he wants all. Such are the pale-faces.

"Some the Great Spirit made with skins brighter and redder than yonder
sun," continued Magua, pointing impressively upwards to the lurid
luminary, which was struggling through the misty atmosphere of the
horizon; "and these did He fashion to His own mind. He gave them this
island as He had made it, covered with trees, and filled with game. The
wind made their clearings; the sun and rains ripened their fruits; and
the snows came to tell them to be thankful. What need had they of roads
to journey by! They saw through the hills. When the beavers worked, they
lay in the shade, and looked on. The winds cooled them in summer; in
winter, skins kept them warm. If they fought among themselves, it was to
prove that they were men. They were brave; they were just; they were
happy."

Here the speaker paused, and again looked around him, to discover if his
legend had touched the sympathies of his listeners. He met everywhere
with eyes riveted on his own, heads erect, and nostrils expanded, as if
each individual present felt himself able and willing, singly, to
redress the wrongs of his race.

"If the Great Spirit gave different tongues to his red children," he
continued, in a low, still, melancholy voice, "it was that all animals
might understand them. Some He placed among the snows, with their cousin
the bear. Some he placed near the setting sun, on the road to the happy
hunting-grounds. Some on the lands around the great fresh waters; but to
his greatest, and most beloved, He gave the sands of the salt lake. Do
my brothers know the name of this favored people?"

"It was the Lenape!" exclaimed twenty eager voices, in a breath.

"It was the Lenni Lenape," returned Magua, affecting to bend his head in
reverence to their former greatness. "It was the tribes of the Lenape!
The sun rose from water that was salt, and set in water that was sweet,
and never hid himself from their eyes. But why should I, a Huron of the
woods, tell a wise people their own traditions? Why remind them of their
injuries; their ancient greatness; their deeds; their glory; their
happiness,--their losses; their defeats; their misery? Is there not one
among them who has seen it all, and who knows it to be true? I have
done. My tongue is still, for my heart is of lead. I listen."

As the voice of the speaker suddenly ceased, every face and all eyes
turned, by a common movement, towards the venerable Tamenund. From the
moment that he took his seat, until the present instant, the lips of the
patriarch had not severed, and scarcely a sign of life had escaped him.
He sat bent in feebleness, and apparently unconscious of the presence he
was in, during the whole of that opening scene, in which the skill of
the scout had been so clearly established. At the nicely graduated sound
of Magua's voice, however, he betrayed some evidence of consciousness,
and once or twice he even raised his head, as if to listen. But when the
crafty Huron spoke of his nation by name, the eyelids of the old man
raised themselves, and he looked out upon the multitude with that sort
of dull unmeaning expression which might be supposed to belong to the
countenance of a spectre. Then he made an effort to rise, and being
upheld by his supporters, he gained his feet, in a posture commanding by
its dignity, while he tottered with weakness.

"Who calls upon the children of the Lenape!" he said, in a deep,
guttural voice, that was rendered awfully audible by the breathless
silence of the multitude: "who speaks of things gone! Does not the egg
become a worm--the worm a fly, and perish? Why tell the Delawares of
good that is past? Better thank the Manitou for that which remains."

"It is a Wyandot," said Magua, stepping nigher to the rude platform on
which the other stood; "a friend of Tamenund."

"A friend!" repeated the sage, on whose brow a dark frown settled,
imparting a portion of that severity which had rendered his eye so
terrible in middle age. "Are the Mingos rulers of the earth? What brings
a Huron here?"

"Justice. His prisoners are with his brothers, and he comes for his
own."

Tamenund turned his head towards one of his supporters, and listened to
the short explanation the man gave. Then facing the applicant, he
regarded him a moment with deep attention; after which he said, in a low
and reluctant voice,--

"Justice is the law of the great Manitou. My children, give the stranger
food. Then, Huron, take thine own and depart."

On the delivery of this solemn judgment, the patriarch seated himself,
and closed his eyes again, as if better pleased with the images of his
own ripened experience than with the visible objects of the world.
Against such a decree there was no Delaware sufficiently hardy to
murmur, much less oppose himself. The words were barely uttered when
four or five of the younger warriors, stepping behind Heyward and the
scout, passed thongs so dexterously and rapidly around their arms, as to
hold them both in instant bondage. The former was too much engrossed
with his precious and nearly insensible burden, to be aware of their
intentions before they were executed; and the latter, who considered
even the hostile tribes of the Delawares a superior race of beings,
submitted without resistance. Perhaps, however, the manner of the scout
would not have been so passive, had he fully comprehended the language
in which the preceding dialogue had been conducted.

Magua cast a look of triumph around the whole assembly before he
proceeded to the execution of his purpose. Perceiving that the men were
unable to offer any resistance, he turned his looks on her he valued
most. Cora met his gaze with an eye so calm and firm, that his
resolution wavered. Then recollecting his former artifice, he raised
Alice from the arms of the warrior against whom she leaned, and
beckoning Heyward to follow, he motioned for the encircling crowd to
open. But Cora, instead of obeying the impulse he had expected, rushed
to the feet of the patriarch, and raising her voice, exclaimed aloud,--

"Just and venerable Delaware, on thy wisdom and power we lean for mercy!
Be deaf to yonder artful and remorseless monster, who poisons thy ears
with falsehoods to feed his thirst for blood. Thou that hast lived long,
and that hast seen the evil of the world, should know how to temper its
calamities to the miserable."

The eyes of the old man opened heavily, and he once more looked upwards
at the multitude. As the piercing tones of the supplicant swelled on his
ears, they moved slowly in the direction of her person, and finally
settled there in a steady gaze. Cora had cast herself to her knees; and,
with hands clenched in each other and pressed upon her bosom, she
remained like a beauteous and breathing model of her sex, looking up in
his faded, but majestic countenance, with a species of holy reverence.
Gradually the expression of Tamenund's features changed, and losing
their vacancy in admiration, they lighted with a portion of that
intelligence which a century before had been wont to communicate his
youthful fire to the extensive bands of the Delawares. Rising without
assistance, and seemingly without an effort, he demanded, in a voice
that startled its auditors by its firmness,--

"What art thou?"

"A woman. One of a hated race, if thou wilt--a Yengee. But one who has
never harmed thee, and who cannot harm thy people, if she would; who
asks for succor."

"Tell me, my children," continued the patriarch, hoarsely, motioning to
those around him, though his eyes still dwelt upon the kneeling form of
Cora, "where have the Delawares camped?"

"In the mountains of the Iroquois, beyond the clear springs of the
Horican."

"Many parching summers are come and gone," continued the sage, "since I
drank of the water of my own rivers. The children of Minquon[26] are the
justest white men; but they were thirsty, and they took it to
themselves. Do they follow us so far?"

"We follow none; we covet nothing," answered Cora. "Captives against our
wills, have we been brought among you; and we ask but permission to
depart to our own in peace. Art thou not Tamenund--the father, the
judge, I had almost said, the prophet--of this people?"

"I am Tamenund of many days."

"'Tis now some seven years that one of thy people was at the mercy of a
white chief on the borders of this province. He claimed to be of the
blood of the good and just Tamenund. 'Go,' said the white man, 'for thy
parent's sake thou art free.' Dost thou remember the name of that
English warrior?"

"I remember, that when a laughing boy," returned the patriarch, with the
peculiar recollection of vast age, "I stood upon the sands of the
sea-shore, and saw a big canoe, with wings whiter than the swan's, and
wider than many eagles, come from the rising sun."

"Nay, nay; I speak not of a time so very distant, but of favor shown to
thy kindred by one of mine, within the memory of thy youngest warrior."

"Was it when the Yengeese and the Dutchmanne fought for the
hunting-grounds of the Delawares? Then Tamenund was a chief, and first
laid aside the bow for the lightning of the pale faces--"

[Illustration: _Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_

THE SUPPLICANT

_Cora had cast herself to her knees; and, with hands clenched in each
other and pressed upon her bosom, she remained like a beauteous and
breathing model of her sex_]

"Nor yet then," interrupted Cora, "by many ages; I speak of a thing of
yesterday. Surely, surely, you forget it not."

"It was but yesterday," rejoined the aged man, with touching pathos,
"that the children of the Lenape were masters of the world. The fishes
of the salt lake, the birds, the beasts, and the Mengwe of the woods,
owned them for sagamores."

Cora bowed her head in disappointment, and, for a bitter moment,
struggled with her chagrin. Then elevating her rich features and beaming
eyes, she continued, in tones scarcely less penetrating than the
unearthly voice of the patriarch himself,--

"Tell me, is Tamenund a father?"

The old man looked down upon her from his elevated stand, with a
benignant smile on his wasted countenance, and then casting his eyes
slowly over the whole assemblage, he answered,--

"Of a nation."

"For myself I ask nothing. Like thee and thine, venerable chief," she
continued, pressing her hands convulsively on her heart, and suffering
her head to droop until her burning cheeks were nearly concealed in the
maze of dark glossy tresses that fell in disorder upon her shoulders,
"the curse of my ancestors has fallen heavily on their child. But yonder
is one who has never known the weight of Heaven's displeasure until now.
She is the daughter of an old and failing man, whose days are near their
close. She has many, very many, to love her, and delight in her; and she
is too good, much too precious, to become the victim of that villain."

"I know that the pale-faces are a proud and hungry race. I know that
they claim not only to have the earth, but that the meanest of their
color is better than the sachems of the redman. The dogs and crows of
their tribes," continued the earnest old chieftain, without heeding the
wounded spirit of his listener, whose head was nearly crushed to the
earth in shame, as he proceeded, "would bark and caw before they would
take a woman to their wigwams whose blood was not of the color of snow.
But let them not boast before the face of the Manitou too loud. They
entered the land at the rising, and may yet go off at the setting sun. I
have often seen the locusts strip the leaves from the trees, but the
season of blossoms has always come again."

"It is so," said Cora, drawing a long breath, as if reviving from a
trance, raising her face, and shaking back her shining veil, with a
kindling eye, that contradicted the death-like paleness of her
countenance; "but why--it is not permitted us to inquire. There is yet
one of thine own people who has not been brought before thee; before
thou lettest the Huron depart in triumph, hear him speak."

Observing Tamenund to look about him doubtingly, one of his companions
said,--

"It is a snake--a redskin in the pay of the Yengeese. We keep him for
the torture."

"Let him come," returned the sage.

Then Tamenund once more sank into his seat, and a silence so deep
prevailed, while the young men prepared to obey his simple mandate, that
the leaves, which fluttered in the draught of the light morning air,
were distinctly heard rustling in the surrounding forest.

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

completion: It is morning in the village of the Delawares, who earlier withheld their assistance from their ally Montcalm. Though everything is peaceful, the warriors are apparently prepared to fight if necessary, for here and there they carefully examine their arms and eye a silent lodge in the center of the village. When Magua appears, unarmed and with a gesture of amity, on a near distant platform of rock, the principal chiefs meet him and he talks formally with their most approved orator Hard Heart. Unable to learn anything about his prisoner Cora and the "strange moccasins" of white men in the woods, he presents the chiefs with gifts. Sure of himself, he startles them by saying that the white man, who he believes is among them, is La Longue Carabine, the famous killer of Indians. Calling a council of more than a thousand Delawares, they wait for the emergence of three aged men from a particular lodge. The tattooed patriarch in the middle is the famed Tamenund, well over a hundred years old. He is shown every extreme of respect and reverence. After a suitable delay, a few young men go to the silent lodge and return with Cora, Alice, Heyward, and Hawkeye. Uncas is not present. To delay and protect the others, Heyward claims to be La Longue Carabine, yet so does Hawkeye. In a contest of proof, Heyward fires within inches of an earthen vessel at fifty yards distance, but the scout casually shatters it, and everyone believes it an accident. Hawkeye is convincing when he scores a bull's-eye on a gourd that the major barely misses. After an effective oration from Magua, the hands of the scout and the major are tied. Cora rushes to the feet of the patriarch, but Tamenund, prone to sink into the lethargy of age, answers her supplications with facts about the wrongs done his people. Cora tells him that there is one of his own people who is not present but should be heard. Doubtful, the aged chieftain says, "Let him come," and sinks into his seat. In the deep silence, the young men prepare to obey his order.


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: Brought before Tamenund, Uncas is staunch and upright, proud and defiant in the knowledge that he is a chief and also a descendant of the Delawares themselves. When he laconically affirms that Magua is a liar, the patriarch turns him over to the Indians and the enraged Delawares prepare the dreaded trial of torture by fire. Uncas holds himself with serenity as a warrior tears away the Mohican's hunting-shirt and is rooted in frozen amazement at the small tortoise beautifully tattooed on the prisoner's chest. The aged Tamenund, already shaken by the somehow familiar musical voice of Uncas, now thinks that he is confronted by the agile grandfather Uncas of his youth. With his identity and superiority established and acknowledged, Uncas cuts Hawkeye's bonds and convinces the Delawares that Magua has lied about him. Le Renard Subtil realizes that he is losing ground rapidly but insists upon his right to his prisoners. Questioned by Tamenund, Uncas declares that the men are not Magua's prisoners, but in all honesty he cannot deny that Cora is a captive of the villain. Hawkeye partially offers himself in place of Cora, finally even saying he will throw Killdeer into the bargain, but Magua contemptuously will not agree. Cora says that she could not accept such a move and, bidding Alice a fond goodbye, she steels herself to go with the Huron. Both Heyward and Uncas vow to give chase when the sun "is seen above the trees," and with curses on his lips Magua disappears triumphantly into the forest with his prisoner.


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 watches the form of Cora until it disappears; then followed by a few warriors, he gravely retires to his lodge to meditate his course of action. When a dwarf pine is stripped of its bark and painted with red stripes, he emerges and begins a dance and war song to Manitou, the Great Spirit. Others follow suit, and they mutilate the tree as if it were the enemy. Meanwhile Hawkeye sends a youth to find his and Uncas' rifles in the forest, and the boy is undetected until he is almost in the village again; then he is shot at and slightly wounded by lurking Hurons, who are promptly chased off. Taking twenty men unto himself, Uncas puts twenty under the command of Hawkeye and offers to do the same for Heyward, who declines. Reaching their scouts in the forest, they hold a "whispering council," and Hawkeye almost shoots Gamut when the latter approaches from the enemy side in his Indian attire. He informs them that the Hurons are between here and their village and that Magua has hidden Cora in the cave there. The scout now plans to take his men to the right along a stream to join Chingachgook and Munro at the beaver huts and then flank the enemy. After the two forces have extinguished the Huron warriors, they will carry the village and release Cora. Heyward likes the plan, which is immediately matured by their arranging signals and appointing each man to his station.