Adventure Books
30 - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper
https://www.solgoodmedia.com Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad-free! Step into a world of daily intrigue and timeless tales with our Classic Adventure Podcast Series! Each day, we bring to life a new chapter from a beloved classic, inviting you on an exhilarating journey through some of the greatest adventure stories ever written. Imagine unraveling the mysteries with Sherlock Holmes, exploring bizarre landscapes with Alice, or circumnavigating the globe in just eighty days. Why settle for mundane daily commutes or routine chores when you can escape into the thrilling escapades of "Treasure Island" or the eerie encounters in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"? Our podcast transforms your every day into a captivating adventure, perfect for both the literary enthusiast and the casual listener seeking an escape from the ordinary. Join us as we traverse the dark depths of "Heart of Darkness," soar through the imaginative realms of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," and survive the wilds with "Robinson Crusoe." Each episode is crafted to make the classics accessible and exciting, ensuring that whether you're reliving your favorite tales or discovering them for the first time, you're guaranteed a gripping experience. Subscribe to our Classic Adventure Podcast Series today and start your daily adventure! Let us awaken the explorer in you as we delve into these timeless narratives, chapter by chapter, transforming your daily routine into an extraordinary journey through the pages of history's most thrilling adventures. Don't just listen to stories—live them every day with us!
- Duration:
- 36m
- Broadcast on:
- 15 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
Have you heard about the 2018 study that showed half of prenatal vitamins tested had unacceptable levels of heavy metals? No. Well now you have. I'm Kat, mother of three and founder of Ritual, the company making traceability the new standard in the supplement industry. I remember staring at my prenatal vitamins and finding all these things I was trying to avoid, high amounts of heavy metals, synthetic colorants, and unnecessary ingredients. So, at four months pregnant I quit my job and started ritual, because I believe that all women deserve to know what they're putting in their bodies and why. I'm so proud of our prenatal vitamin. The ingredients are 100% traceable, it's third party tested for microbes and heavy metals, and recently received the purity award from the Clean Label Project. You see, we trace like a mother because let's be honest, no one cares quite like a mother. But don't just take my word for it. As for yourself, with 25% off at virtual.com/podcast. And the only thing that's important is that we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products. We have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, and we have to do this with the same products, lest he should hear the words of Thomenon, he said, "There's a house that house when the Yankees show him a trail, and ye return duncus, looking sternly around him, are dogs that whine when the Frenchmen cast the oafels 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 emotion 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 Thomenon 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 manateau is just. It is so, while the rivers run, and the mountains stand. But 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 a breath drawn louder and longer than common, until the closing syllable of this final decree had passed the lips of Thomenon. 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. Hayward struggled madly with his captors. The anxious eye of Hawkeye began to look around him with an expression of peculiar earnestness, and Chora again threw herself at the feet of the patriarch, once more a suppliant for mercy. Throughout the whole of these trying moments, Onkus 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 toward his unresisting victim and prepared to lead him to the stake. But at that moment when he appeared most a stranger through the feeling of humanities, the purpose of the savage was arrested, as suddenly as if a supernatural agency had interposed in the behalf of Onkus. The eyes 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 Onkus 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 Amleni Lenape," he said, "my race upholds the earth. Your feeble tribes stands on my shell. What fire that a Delaware can light would burn the child of my fathers?" He added, pointing proudly to the simple blazenry on his skin. "That blood that came from such a stalk would smother your flames. My race is the grandfather of nations." "Who art thou?" demanded Tomonund, rising at the startling tones he heard, more than any meaning conveyed by the language of the prisoner. "Onkus, son of Chingkachkuk," answered the captive modestly, turning from the nation and bending his head in reverence to the other's character in years. "A son of the great, unanimous footnote, turtle and footnote. The hour of Timonund is not!" exclaimed the sage. "The day is come at last to the night. I thank the man of tow. The one is here to fill my place at the council fire." "Onkus, the child of Onkus, is found that the eyes of a dying eagle gaze at the rising sun." The youth stepped lightly but proudly on the platform, where he became visible to the whole agitated and wandering multitude. Tomonund held him long at the length of his arm and read every turn in the fine liniments of his countenance, with the untiring gaze of one who recalled days of happiness. As Timonund, a boy at length the bewildered prophet, exclaimed, "Have I dreamed of so many snows that my people were scattered like floating sands of yengis, more plenty than the leaves on the trees." The arrow of Timonund 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 his Onkus before him, as they went to battle against the pale faces. Onkus, the panther of his tribe, the eldest son of the Lenapee, thought wisest, Sagamor, of the Mohicans. "Tell me," he tellawares, "has Tomonund been a sleeper for a hundred winters?" The calm and deep silence with seceded these words sufficiently announced the awful reverence with which his people received all communication of the patriarch. None dared to answer, though all listened in breathless expectation of what might follow. Onkus, however, looking in his face with a 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 fire of Timonund led his people to battle. The blood of the turtle has been in many chiefs, but all have gone back into the earth from whence they came, except Chingigachkok 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 heels of the Yankees. Why have their seats at the councilfires of the Delaware's 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 of his 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 Delaware's are gone. Few warriors of them all stayed to drink of the stream they love. They said, "My father's, here will we hunt. The waters of the river go into the salt lake. If we go toward the setting sun, we shall find streams that run into the great lakes of the sweet water. There what a may he can die like fishes of the sea in the clear springs. When the manateau is ready and shall say, "Come, we will follow the river to the sea and take our own again." Such Delaware's is the belief of the children of the turtle. Our eyes are on the rising and not toward the setting sun. We know when she comes, but we know not whether 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 Sagmor imparted his ideas. Onkis 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 thrall that crowded around the elevated seat of Tamanund, he first perceived Hawkeye in his balance. Stepping eagerly from his stand, he made way for himself to the side of his friend, and cutting his thong 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, Onkis stood the scout by the hand and led him to the feet of the patriarch. "Father," he said, "look at his pale face, a just man, and the friend of the Delaware's. Is he a son of Minkwong? Not so, a warrior known to the yingis and feared by the makwas. What name has he gained by his deeds?" "We call him Hawkeye," Onkis 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." "That long karabing!" exclaimed Tamanund, opening his eyes and regarding the scout sternly. "My son has not done well to call him friend." "I call him soul who proves himself such," returned the young chief. "With great calmness, but with a steady mean. If Onkis is welcome among the Delaware's, then is Hawkeye, with his friends." "The pale face has slain my young man. His name is great for the blows he has struck the lannipede." "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 as the man he addressed." "Modifying his Indian figures, however, with his own peculiar notions, that I have slain the makwas, I am not the man to deny." "Even at their own councilfires, but that knowingly, my hand has never harmed the 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 at each other, like men that first began to perceive their error." "Where is the Huron?" demanded Tominund. "Has he stopped my ears?" "Makwa, whose feelings during that scene in which Angkis had triumphed, may be much better imagined than described, answered to the call by stepping boldly in front of the patriarch." "That just Tominund," he said, "will not keep what the Huron has lent. Tell me son of my brother." "Return the sage, avoiding the Dark Countments of Lace of Teal, and turning gladly to the more ingenious features of Angkis." "Has the stranger, the conquerors, 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." "Let long, caribbean, lass at the Mingos, go Huron, ask your squalls, the color of a bear, the stranger and white maiden that come into my camp together, should journey an open path." "And the woman that your run left, with my warriors, Angkis made no reply." "And the woman that the Mingo has brought into my camp?" repeated Tominund gravely. "She is mine!" cried Mokwa, shaking his hand in triumph at Angkis. "Moe, he can you know that she is mine!" "My son, his silent!" said Tominund, 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 seeded, during which it was very apparent with what reluctance the multitude admitted the justice of the Mingo's claim. At length a sage, on whom alone the decision depended, said in a firm voice, " Huron, depart!" "As he came, just Tominund!" demanded the whiley Mokwa, or with hands filled with the faith of the Delaware's. The wigwam of Le Rianae subtile is empty, make him strong with his own. The aged man mused with himself for a while, and then bending his head toward 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 life." "Go, thy race will not end." "Better a thousand times it should!" exclaimed the horror Strachora. "Then meet with such a degradation!" " Huron, her mind is in the tents of her fathers. An unwilling maiden makes an unhappy wigwam." She speaks the tongue of her people, returned Mokwa, regarding his victim with a look of bitter irony. "She is of a race of traitors, and will bargain for a bright look. Let Tominund speak the words." "Take you, the wampum, and our love." "Nothing hands but what Mokwa brought hither." "Then depart with thine own." "The great manito forbids that a Delaware should be unjust." Mokwa advanced, and seized his captive strongly by the arm. The Delaware's fell back in silence, and Chora, as if conscious that Reminstrance 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." Mokwa is a red skin. He wants not the beads of the pale faces. "Gold, silver, powder, lead, all that the warrior needs shall be in thy wigwam, all that becomes the greatest chief." "Lace of teal is very strong!" cried Mokwa, violently shaking the hand, which grasped the unresisting arm of Chora. "He has his revenge!" "Mighty ruler of Providence!" exclaimed Hayward, clasping his hands together in agony. "Can't this be suffered to you, just feminine? I appeal for your mercy!" "The words of the Delaware are said," returned the sage, closing his eyes and dropping back into his seat, a like weirried with his mental and bodily exertion. "Men, speak, not twice." "That a chief should not misspend his time in saying what has been spoken his 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." "Karan, 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 toward 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 before the leaves will turn, on condition you will release the maiden." Magua shook his head and made an impatient sigh for the crowd to open. "Well then," added the scalp, with the musing air of a man who had not half made up his mind, "I will throw Kildir into the bargain. Take the word of an experienced hunter. The peace has not its equal, a tween, the provinces. Magua still disdain to reply, continuing his efforts to disperse the crowd. Perhaps," added the scalp, losing his dissembled coolness exactly in proportion as the other manifested and indifference to the exchange, "if I should condition to teach your young men the real virtue of the weapon, it would smooth the little differences in our judgments." Later in our fiercely ordered the Delaware's 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 of the infallible justice of their profit. "What is ordered must sooner or later arrive," continued Hawkeye, turning with a sad and humbled look to Onkis. "The Violet 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 how. 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 toward the youth. "I love both you and your father, Onkis." "Though our skins are not altogether of a color and our gifts are somewhat different. Tell the Sagmor 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 hit it. Take it and keep it for my sake. And Harkilad, as your natural gifts don't deny you the use of vengeance, use it a little freely on the Mingos. It may unburden Greece 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. Mokwa paused. And for an anxious moment it might be said he doubted. Then, casting his eyes on Kora, 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 tatler. We will go." The maiden drew back in lofty womanly reserve, and her dark eye kindled while the rich bloodshot, like 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. "Genters Hunter, from my soul I thank you. Your offer is vain. Neither could it be accepted. But still you may serve me even more than in your own noble intention. Look at that drooping humble child. Abandon her not until you leave her in the habitations of civilized men. I will not say," ringing 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 ancient man has virtue in the sight of heaven. "Would to God I could hear what word from his lips at this awful moment." Her voice became choked, and for an instant she was silent. Then, advancing a step nier 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 possess. You love her, Hayward." That would conceal a thousand thoughts. 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, oh, oh, how surpassingly fair!" Laying her own beautiful but less brilliant hand, in melancholy affection on the alabaster forehead of Alice, imparting 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 core reason would approve that 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." "I go!" cried Duncan, placing Alice in the arms of an Indian girl. "Go, maquah, go!" "These Delaware's 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 Marquette 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 words 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 ambush-ment, and your death." "You're on!" interrupted Onchus, who, submissive to the stern customs of his people, had been an attentive and grave listener to all that passed. "You're on! The justice of the Delaware's comes from the manateau. 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 Marquette, with a taunting laugh. "Go!" he added, shaking his hand at the crowd, which had slowly opened to admit his passage. "Where are the petty coats of the Delaware's? Let them send their arrows and their guns to the lion-dots. They shall have venison to eat, and corn to ho! Dogs, rabbits, thieves, I spit on you!" His parting jives were listened to in a dead, boating silence, and, with these biting words in his mouth, the triumphant Marquette passed unmolested into the forest, followed by his passive captive and protected by the inviolable laws of Indian hospitality. End of chapter 30. Hey, it is Ryan Seacrest. There's something so thrilling about playing Chumba Casino. Maybe it's the simple reminder that with a little luck, anything is possible. Chumba Casino.com has hundreds of social casino-style games to choose from with new game releases each week. Play for free anytime, anywhere, for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Join me in the fun. Sign up now at Chumba Casino.com. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18+ terms and conditions apply. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub bully? Well, if you're installing a new conveyor belt system, dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language. Luckily, you've got a team ready to help. Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance, repair and operations. So whenever you want to talk shop, just reach out. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger. For the ones who get it done. (upbeat music)