The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 eBook
James Fenimore Cooper
* These harangues of the beasts were
frequent among the Indians. They often address
their victims in this way, reproaching them for
cowardice or commending their resolution, as
they may happen to exhibit fortitude or the reverse,
in suffering.
During the utterance of this extraordinary address,
the companions of the speaker were as grave and as
attentive to his language as though they were all
equally impressed with its propriety. Once or
twice black objects were seen rising to the surface
of the water, and the Huron expressed pleasure, conceiving
that his words were not bestowed in vain. Just
as he ended his address, the head of a large beaver
was thrust from the door of a lodge, whose earthen
walls had been much injured, and which the party had
believed, from its situation, to be uninhabited.
Such an extraordinary sign of confidence was received
by the orator as a highly favorable omen; and though
the animal retreated a little precipitately, he was
lavish of his thanks and commendations.
When Magua thought sufficient time had been lost in
gratifying the family affection of the warrior, he
again made the signal to proceed. As the Indians
moved away in a body, and with a step that would have
been inaudible to the ears of any common man, the
same venerable-looking beaver once more ventured his
head from its cover. Had any of the Hurons turned
to look behind them, they would have seen the animal
watching their movements with an interest and sagacity
that might easily have been mistaken for reason.
Indeed, so very distinct and intelligible were the
devices of the quadruped, that even the most experienced
observer would have been at a loss to account for
its actions, until the moment when the party entered
the forest, when the whole would have been explained,
by seeing the entire animal issue from the lodge, uncasing,
by the act, the grave features of Chingachgook from
his mask of fur.
CHAPTER 28
“Brief, I pray
for 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
