Duncan ceased speaking; for while his eyes were riveted
on those of Alice, who had turned toward him with
the eagerness of filial affection, to catch his words,
the same strong, horrid cry, as before, filled the
air, and rendered him mute. A long, breathless
silence succeeded, during which each looked at the
others in fearful expectation of hearing the sound
repeated. At length, the blanket was slowly raised,
and the scout stood in the aperture with a countenance
whose firmness evidently began to give way before
a mystery that seemed to threaten some danger, against
which all his cunning and experience might prove of
no avail.
“They do not sleep,
On yonder cliffs, a
grizzly band,
I see them sit.”—Gray
“’Twould be neglecting a warning that
is given for our good to lie hid any longer,”
said Hawkeye “when such sounds are raised in
the forest. These gentle ones may keep close,
but the Mohicans and I will watch upon the rock, where
I suppose a major of the Sixtieth would wish to keep
us company.”
“Is, then, our danger so pressing?” asked
Cora.
“He who makes strange sounds, and gives them
out for man’s information, alone knows our danger.
I should think myself wicked, unto rebellion against
His will, was I to burrow with such warnings in the
air! Even the weak soul who passes his days in
singing is stirred by the cry, and, as he says, is
‘ready to go forth to the battle’ If ’twere
only a battle, it would be a thing understood by us
all, and easily managed; but I have heard that when
such shrieks are atween heaven and ’arth, it
betokens another sort of warfare!”
“If all our reasons for fear, my friend, are
confined to such as proceed from supernatural causes,
we have but little occasion to be alarmed,”
continued the undisturbed Cora, “are you certain
that our enemies have not invented some new and ingenious
method to strike us with terror, that their conquest
may become more easy?”
“Lady,” returned the scout, solemnly,
“I have listened to all the sounds of the woods
for thirty years, as a man will listen whose life and
death depend on the quickness of his ears. There
is no whine of the panther, no whistle of the catbird,
nor any invention of the devilish Mingoes, that can
cheat me! I have heard the forest moan like mortal
men in their affliction; often, and again, have I
listened to the wind playing its music in the branches
of the girdled trees; and I have heard the lightning
cracking in the air like the snapping of blazing brush
as it spitted forth sparks and forked flames; but
never have I thought that I heard more than the pleasure
of him who sported with the things of his hand.
But neither the Mohicans, nor I, who am a white man
without a cross, can explain the cry just heard.
We, therefore, believe it a sign given for our good.”
“It is extraordinary!” said Heyward, taking
his pistols from the place where he had laid them
on entering; “be it a sign of peace or a signal
of war, it must be looked to. Lead the way, my
friend; I follow.”
