 silence, apparently, into the very
clouds, and the death-like stillness of the vast forest, were all in unison to
deepen such a sensation.
    »They are gone, and they are harmless,« continued Hawk-eye, waving his hand,
with a melancholy smile, at their manifest alarm; »they'll never shout the
warwhoop, nor strike a blow with the tomahawk, again! And of all those who aided
in placing them where they lie, Chingachgook and I only are living! The brothers
and family of the Mohican formed our war party, and you see before you, all that
are now left of his race.«
    The eyes of the listeners involuntarily sought the forms of the Indians,
with a compassionate interest in their desolate fortune. Their dark persons were
still to be seen within the shadows of the block-house, the son listening to the
relation of his father, with that sort of intenseness, which would be created by
a narrative, that redounded so much to the honour of those, whose names he had
long revered for their courage and savage virtues.
    »I had thought the Delawares a pacific people,« said Duncan, »and that they
never waged war in person; trusting the defence of their lands to those very
Mohawks that you slew!«
    »'Tis true in part,« returned the scout, »and yet, at the bottom, 'tis a
wicked lie. Such a treaty was made in ages gone by, through the deviltries of
the Dutchers, who wished to disarm the natives that had the best right to the
country, where they had settled themselves. The Mohicans, though a part of the
same nation, having to deal with the English, never entered into the silly
bargain, but kept to their manhood; as in truth did the Delawares, when their
eyes were opened to their folly. You see before you, a chief of the great
Mohican Sagamores! Once his family could chase their deer over tracts of country
wider than that which belongs to the Albany Patteroon, without crossing brook or
hill, that was not their own; but what is left to their descendant! He may find
his six feet of earth, when God chooses; and keep it in peace, perhaps, if he
has a friend who will take the pains to sink his head so low, that the
ploughshares cannot reach it!«
    »Enough!« said Heyward, apprehensive that the subject might lead to a
discussion that would interrupt the harmony, so necessary to the preservation of
his fair companions; »we have journeyed far
