Adventure Books
09 - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper
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- Duration:
- 24m
- Broadcast on:
- 25 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
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Group, boy we're prohibited by law. 18 plus, terms and conditions apply. Chapter 9. Quote, "Be gay securely, dispel my faith with smiles the timorous clouds that hang on my clear brow." Unquote, from death of a groupina. This sudden and almost magical change from the stirring incidents of the combat to the stillness that now rained around him, acted on the heated imagination of Hayward, like some exciting dream. While all the images and events he had witnessed remained deeply impressed on his memory, he felt a difficulty in persuading him of their truth. Still ignorant of the fate of those who had trusted to the aid of the swift current, he at first listened intently to any signal or sounds of alarm, which might announce the good or evil fortune of their hazardous undertaking. His attention, however, was bestowed in vain. For with the disappearance of Unkis, every sign of the adventures had been lost, leaving him in total uncertainty of their fate. In a moment of such painful doubt, Duncan did not hesitate to look around him, without consulting that protection from the rocks, which just before had been so necessary to his safety. Every effort, however, to detect the least evidence of the approach of their hidden enemies, was as fruitless as the inquiry after his late companions. The wooded banks of the river seemed again deserted by everything possessing animal life. The uproar, which had so lately echoed through the vaults of the forest, was gone, leaving the rush of the waters to swell and sink on the currents of the air, in the unmingled sweetness of nature. A fish-hawk, which secure on the topmost branches of a dead pine, had been a distant spectator of the fray, now swooped from his high and ragged perch and soared in wide sweeps above his prey. While a jay, whose noisy voice had been stilled by the horse or cries of the savages, ventured again to open his discordant throat, as though once more in undisturbed possession of his wild domains. Duncan caught from these natural complements of the solitary scene, a glimmering of hope, and he began to rally his facilities to renewed exertions, with something like a reviving confidence of success. "The heroines are not to be seen," he said, addressing David, who had by no means recovered from the effects of the stunning blow he had received. "Let us conceal ourselves in the cavern, and trust the rest to providence." "I remember to have united with two calmly maidens in lifting up our voices in praise and thanksgiving," returned the bewilders singing master. "Since which time I have been visited by heavy judgment for my sins. I have been mocked with the likeness of sleep, while sounds of discord have rent my ears, such as might manifest the fullness of time, and that nature had forgotten her harmony." "Poor fellow, thine own period was, in truth, near its accomplishment. But arouse, and come with me, I will lead you where all other sounds but those from your own psalmody shall be excluded." "There is melody in the fall of the cataract, and the rushing of many waters is sweet to the senses," said David, pressing his hand confusedly on his brow. "Is not the air yet filled with tricks and cries as though the departed spirits of the damned?" "Not now, not now," interrupted the impatient Hayward. "They have ceased, and they who raised them I trust in God. They are gone too. Everything but the water is still, and at peace in them, where you may create those sounds you love so well to hear." David smiled sadly, though not without a momentary gleam of pleasure at this allusion to his beloved vocation. He no longer hesitated to be led to a spot, which promised such unalloyed gratification to his weird senses. And leaning on the arm of his companion, he entered the narrow mouth of the cave. Duncan seized the palosasifras, which he drew before the passage, studiously concealing every appearance of an amperature. Within this fragile barrier, he arranged their blankets, abandoned by the foresters, darking the inner extremity of the cavern, while its outer receive a chastened light from the narrow ravine, through which one arm of the river rushed to form the junction with its sister branch, a few rods below. "I like not the principle of the natives, which teaches them to submit without a struggle. In emergencies that appear desperate," he said, while busied in his employment. "Our own maxim which says, while life remains there is hope, is more consoling, and better suited to a soldier's temperament." "To you, Cora, I will urge no words of idle encouragement. Your own fortitude and undisturbed reason will teach you all that may become your sex. But cannot we drive the tears of that trembling weeper on your bosom?" "I am calmer, Duncan," said Alice, raising herself from the arms of her sister, and forcing an appearance of composure through her tears. "Much calmer now. Surely, in this hidden spot, we are safe, we are secret, free from injury. We will hope everything from those generous men who have risked so much already in our behalf." "Now does our gentle Alice speak like the daughter of Monroe," said Hayward, pausing to press her hand as he passed toward the outer entrance of the cavern. With two such examples of courage before him, a man would be ashamed to prove other than a hero. He then seated himself in the center of the cavern, grasping his remaining pistol with a hand, convulsively clenched, while his contracted and frowning eye announced the solemn desperation of his purpose. "The heroines, if they come, may not gain or position so easily as they think," he slowly muttered, and propping his head back against the rock. He seemed to await the result in patience, though his gaze was unceasingly bent on the open avenue to their place of retreat. With the last sound of his voice, a deep, a long, and almost breathless silence seceded, the fresh air of the morning had penetrated the recess, and its influence was gradually felt on the spirits of its inmates. As minute after minute passed by, leaving them in undisturbed security, the insinuating feeling of hope was gradually gaining possession of every bosom. Though each one felt reluctant to give utterance to expectations that the next moment might so fearfully destroy, David alone formed an exception to these varying emotions. A gleam of light from the opening crossed his wan continents and fell upon the pages of the little volume, whose leaves he was again occupied in turning, as if searching for some song more fitted to their condition than any had yet met their eye. He was most probably acting all this time under a confused recollection of the promised consolation of Duncan. At length it would seem, his patient industry found its reward, for, without explanation or apology, he pronounced aloud the words, "O over white!" drew a long, sweet sound from his pitch pipe, and then ran through the preliminary modulations of the air, whose name he had just mentioned, with the sweeter tones of his own musical voice. "May this not prove dangerous?" asked Cora, glancing her dark eye at Major Hayward. "Pore fellow. His voice is too feeble to be heard above the den of the falls," was the answer. "Besides, the cavern will prove his friend. Let him indulge his passions, since it may be done without hazard." "O over white!" repeated David, looking about him with that dignity with which he had long been once to silence the whispering echoes of his skull. "Til's a brave tune, and set to solemn words. Let it be sung with meat, respect." After allowing a moment of stillness to enforce his discipline, the voice of the singer was heard in low murmuring syllables, gradually stealing on the ear until it filled the narrow vault with sounds rendered trebley thrilling by the feeble and tremulous utterance produced by his debility. The melody, which no weakness could destroy, gradually wrought its sweet influence on the senses of those who heard it. It even prevailed over the miserable travesty of the song of David, which the singer had selected from a volume of similar effusions and caused the sense to be forgotten in the insinuating harmony of the sounds. Alice unconsciously dried her tears and bent her melting eyes on the pallid features of gamut, with an expression of chase and delight that she neither affected nor wished to conceal. Cora bestowed an approving smile on the pious efforts of the namesake of the Jewish prince, and Hayward soon turned his steady stern look from the outlet of the cavern to fasten it with a milder character on the face of David, or to meet the wandering beams which moment strayed from the humid eyes of Alice. The open sympathy of the listeners stirred the spirit of the votary of music, whose voice regained its richness and volume without losing that touching softness which proved its secret charm. Exerting his renovated power to their utmost, he was yet feeling the arches of the cave with long and full tones. When a yell burst into the air without that instantly stilled his pious strains, choking his voice suddenly as though his heart had literally bounded into the passage of his throat. "We are lost!" exclaimed Alice, throwing herself into the arms of Cora. "No, not yet!" returned the agitated but undaunted Hayward. "The sound came from the center of the island, and it has been produced by the sight of their dead companions. We are not yet discovered, and there is still hope." Faint and almost despairing as was the prospect of escape, the words of Duncan were not thrown away. For it awakened the powers of the sisters in such a manner that they awaited the results in silence. A second yell soon followed the first, then a rush of voices was heard pouring down the island from its upper to its lower extremity until they reached the naked rock above the caverns, where, after a shout of savage triumph, the air continued full of horrible cries and screams, such as man alone can utter, and he only went in a state of the fiercest barbarity. The sounds quickly spread around them in every direction. Some called to their fellows from the water's edge and were answered from the heights above. Cries were heard in the startling vicinity of the chasm between the two caves, which mingled with horse or yells that arose out of the abyss of the deep ravine. In short, so rapidly had the savage sounds diffused themselves over the barren rock, that it was not difficult for the anxious listeners to imagine they could be heard beneath, as in truth they were above on every side of them. In the midst of this tumult, a triumphant yell was raised within a few yards of the hidden entrance to the cave. Heyward abandoned every hope with the belief it was the signal that they were discovered. Again, the impression passed away as he heard the voices collect near the spot where the white man had so reluctantly abandoned his rifle. Amid the jargon of Indian dialects that he had now plainly heard, it was easy to distinguish not only words but sentences in the petois of the candidates. A burst of voices had shouted simultaneously, "La Long Carabin!" Causing the opposite woods to re-echo with the name which Heyward well remembered have been given by his enemies to a celebrated hunter and scout of the English camp, and who he now learned for the first time had been his late companion. "La Long Carabin! La Long Carabin!" passed from mouth to mouth until the whole band appeared to be collected around a trophy which would seem to announce the death of its formidable owner. After a vociferous consultation which was at time deafened by burst of savage joy, they again separated, filling the air with the name of a foe whose body Heyward could collect from their expressions, they hoped to find concealed in some crevice of the island. Now he whispered to the trembling sisters, "Now is the moment of uncertainty." If our place of retreat escaped this scrutiny, we are still safe. In every event, we are assured by what has fallen from our enemies, that our friends have escaped, and in two short hours, we may look for suker from web. There were now a few minutes of fearful stillness, during which Heyward well knew that the savages conducted their search with greater vigilance and method. More than once he could distinguish their footsteps as they brushed the sassy frass, causing the faded leaves to rustle and the branches to snap. At length, the pal yielded little, a corner of a blanket fell, and a faint ray of light gleamed into the inner part of the cave. Cora folded Alice to her bosom and agony, and Duncan sprang to his feet. A shout was at that moment heard as if issuing from the center of the rock, announcing that the neighboring cavern had at length been entered. In a minute, the number and loudness of the voices indicated that the whole party was collected in and around that secret place. As the inner passages of the two caves were so close to each other, Duncan, believing that escape was no longer possible, passed David and the sisters to place himself between the latter and the first onset of the terrible meaning. Grown desperate by his situation, he drew nigh the slight barrier which separated him only a few feet from his relentless pursuers. And placing his face to the casual opening, he even looked out with a sort of desperate indifference on their movements. Within reach of his arm was the brawny shoulder of a gigantic Indian, whose deep and authoritative voice appeared to give directions to the proceedings of his fellows. Beyond him again, Duncan could look into the vault opposite, which was filled with savages, upturning and rifling the humble furniture of the scout. The wound of David had dyed the leaves of sassy frass with a color that the native knew well as anticipating the season. Over this sign of their success, they sent up a howl, like an opening from so many hounds who had recovered a lost trail. After this yellow victory, they tore up the fragrant bed of the cavern and bore the branches into the chasm, scattering the bowels as if they suspected them of concealing the person of the man. They had so long hated and feared. One fierce and wild-looking warrior approached the chief, bearing a load of the brush, and pointing exultingly to the deep red stains with which it was sprinkled, uttered his joy in Indian yells, whose meaning Hayward was only enabled to comprehend by the frequent repetition of the name, the long caribbean. When his triumph had ceased, he cast the brush onto the slight heap Duncan had made before the entrance of the second cavern, and closed the view. His example was followed by others, who as they drew the branches from the cave of the scout, threw them into one pile, adding, unconsciously, to the security of those they sought. The very slightness of the defense was its chief merit. For no one thought of disturbing a massive brush, which all of them believed in that moment of hurrying confusion, had been accidentally raised by the hands of their own party. As the blankets yielded before the outward pressure, and the branches settled in the fissure of the rock by their own weight, forming a compact body. Duncan once more breathed freely. With a light step and a lighter heart, he returned to the center of the cave, and took the place he had left, where he could command a view of the opening next to the river. While he was in the act of making this movement, the Indians, as if changing their purpose by a common impulse, broke away from the chasm in a body, and were heard rushing up the island again, toward the point whence they had originally descended. Here, another wailing cry betrayed that they were again collected around the bodies of their dead comrades. Duncan now ventured to look at his companions. For, during most of the critical moments of their danger, he had been apprehensive that the anxiety of his countenance might communicate some additional alarm to those who were so little able to sustain it. "They are gone, Cora," he whispered. "Alice, they are returned whence they came, and we are saved. To heaven that has alone delivered us from the grasp of so merciless an enemy, be all praise. "Then do heaven I will return my thanks," exclaimed the younger sister, rising from the encircling arm of Cora, and casting herself with enthusiastic gratitude on the naked rock. To that heaven which has spared the tears of a grey-headed father has saved the lives of those I so much love. Both Hayward and the more temperate Cora witness the act of involuntary emotion with powerful sympathy. The former, secretly believing that piety had never worn a form so lovely as it had now assumed in the youthful person of Alice. Her eyes were radiant with the glow of grateful feelings. The flush of her beauty was again seated on her cheeks, and her whole soul seemed ready and anxious to pour out its thanksgiving through the medium of her eloquent features. But when her lips moved, the words they should have uttered appeared frozen by some new and sudden chill. Her bloom gave place to the paleness of death. Her soft and melding eyes grew hard, and seemed contracting with horror. While those hands, which she had raised, clasped in each other toward heaven, dropped in horizontal lines before her, the fingers pointed forward in the false motion. Hayward turned the instant she gave a direction to his suspicions, and peering just above the ledge which formed the threshold of the open outlet of the cavern. He beheld the malignant, fierce, and savage features. Ufflerin hard siptile. In that moment of surprise, the self-possession of Hayward did not desert him. He observed by the vacant expression of the Indian's countenance that his eye accustomed to the open air had not yet been able to penetrate the dusky light which pervaded the depth of the cavern. He had even thought of retreating beyond a curvature in the natural wall which might still conceal him and his companions, when by the sudden gleam of intelligence that shot across the features of the savage. He saw it was too late, and that they were betrayed. The look of exaltation and brutal triumph which announced this terrible truth was irresistibly irritating. Forgetful of everything but the impulses of his hot blood, Duncan levelled his pistol and fired. The report of the weapon made the cavern below like an eruption from a volcano, and when the smoke it vomited, had been driven away before the current of air which issued from the ravine, the place so lately occupied by the features of his treacherous guide was vacant. Rushing to the outlet Hayward caught a glimpse of his dark figure stealing around a low and narrow alleged, which soon hid him entirely from sight. Among the savages a frightful stillness exceeded the explosion, which had just been heard bursting from the bowels of the rock, but when Le Renard raised his voice in the long and intelligible hoop, it was answered by a spontaneous yell from the mouth of every Indian within hearing of the sound. The clamorous noises again rushed down the island, and before Duncan had time to recover from the shock, his feeble barrier of brush was scattered to the winds. The cavern was entered at both its extremities, and he and his companions were dragged from their shelter and born into the day, where they stood surrounded by the whole band of the triumphant Eurons. End of chapter 9. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save too. 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