Listen! said Elizabeth; I hear the rustling of the hay; they are escaping at this moment. Oh! they will be detected instantly!

By this time they were at the corner, where Edwards and Natty were in the act of drawing the almost helpless body of Benjamin through the aperture. The oxen had started back from their hay, and were standing with their heads down the street, leaving room for the party to act in.

Throw the hay into the cart, said Edwards, or they will suspect how it has been done. Quick, that they may not see it.

Natty had just returned from executing this order, when the light of the keepers candle shone through the hole, and instantly his voice was heard in the jail exclaiming for his prisoners.

What is to be done now? said Edwards; this drunken fellow will cause our detection, and we have not a moment to spare.

Whos drunk, ye lubber? muttered the steward.

A break-jail! a break-jail! shouted five or six voices from within.

We must leave him, said Edwards.

Twouldnt be kind, lad, returned Natty; he took half the disgrace of the stocks on himself to-day, and the creatur has feeling.

At this moment two or three men were heard issuing from the door of the Bold Dragoon, and among them the voice of Billy Kirby.

Theres no moon yet, cried the wood-chopper; but its a clear night. Come, whos for home? Hark! what a rumpus theyre kicking up in the jailheres go and see what its about.

We shall be lost, said Edwards, if we dont drop this man.

At that instant Elizabeth moved close to him, and said rapidly, in a low voice:

Lay him in the cart, and start the oxen; no one will look there.

Theres a womans quickness in the thought, said the youth.

The proposition was no sooner made than executed. The steward was seated on the hay, and enjoined to hold his peace and apply the goad that was placed in his hand, while the oxen were urged on. So soon as this arrangement was completed, Edwards and the hunter stole along the houses for a short distance, when they disappeared through an opening that led into the rear of the buildings.

The oxen were in brisk motion, and presently the cries of pursuit were heard in the street. The ladies quickened their pace, with a wish to escape the crowd of constables and idlers that were approaching, some execrating, and some laughing at the exploit of the prisoners. In the confusion, the voice of Kirby was plainly distinguishable above all the others, shouting and swearing that he would have the fugitives, threatening to bring back Natty in one pocket, and Benjamin in the other.

Spread yourselves, men, he cried, as he passed the ladies, his heavy feet sounding along the street like the tread of a dozen; spread yourselves; to the mountains; theyll be in the mountains in a quarter of an hour, and then look out for a long rifle.

His cries were echoed from twenty mouths, for not only the jail but the taverns had sent forth their numbers, some earnest in the pursuit, and others joining it as in sport.

As Elizabeth turned in at her fathers gate she saw the wood-chopper stop at the cart, when she gave Benjamin up for lost. While they were hurrying up the walk, two figures, stealing cautiously but quickly under the shades of the trees, met the eyes of the ladies, and in a moment Edwards and the hunter crossed their path.

Miss Temple, I may never see you again, exclaimed the youth; let me thank you for all your kindness; you do not, cannot know my motives.

Fly! fly! cried Elizabeth; the village is alarmed. Do not be found conversing with me at such a moment, and in these grounds.

Nay, I must speak, though detection were certain,

Your retreat to the bridge is already cut off; before you can gain the wood your pursuers will be there. If

If what? cried the youth. Your advice has saved me once already; I will follow it to death.

The street is now silent and vacant, said Elizabeth, after a pause; cross it, and you will find my fathers boat in the lake. It would be easy to land from it where you please in the hills.

But Judge Temple might complain of the trespass.

His daughter shall be accountable, sir.

The youth uttered something in a low voice, that was heard only by Elizabeth, and turned to execute what she had suggested. As they were separating, Natty approached the females, and said:

Youll remember the canister of powder, children. Them beavers must be had, and I and the pups be getting old; we want the best of ammunition.

Come, Natty, said Edwards, impatiently.

Coming, lad, coming. God bless you, young ones, both of ye, for ye mean well and kindly to the old man.

The ladies paused until they had lost sight of the retreating figures, when they immediately entered the mansion-house.

While this scene was passing in the walk, Kirby had overtaken the cart, which was his own, and had been driven by Edwards, without asking the owner, from the place where the patient oxen usually stood at evening, waiting the pleasure of their master.

Woacome hither, Golden, he cried; why, how come you off the end of the bridge, where I left you, dummies?

Heave ahead, muttered Benjamin, giving a random blow with his lash, that alighted on the shoulder of the other.

Who the devil be you? cried Billy, turning round in surprise, but unable to distinguish, in the dark, the hard visage that was just peering over the cart-rails.

Who be I? why, Im helmsman aboard of this here craft dye see, and a straight wake Im making of it. Ay, ay! Ive got the bridge right ahead, and the bilboes dead aft: I calls that good steerage, boy. Heave ahead.

Lay your lash in the right spot, Mr. Benny Pump, said the wood- chopper, or Ill put you in the palm of my hand and box your ears. Where be you going with my team?

Team!

Ay. my cart and oxen,

Why, you must know, Master Kirby, that the Leather-Stocking and I thats Benny Pumpyou knows Ben? well, Benny and Ino, me and Benny; damme if I know how tis; but some of us are bound after a cargo of beaver-skins, dye see, so weve pressed the cart to ship them ome in. I say, Master Kirby, what a lubberly oar you pullyou handle an oar, boy, pretty much as a cow would a musket, or a lady would a marling-spike.

Billy had discovered the state of the stewards mind, and he walked for some time alongside of the cart, musing with himself, when he took the goad from Benjamin (who fell back on the hay and was soon asleep) and drove his cattle down the street, over the bridge, and up the mountain, toward a clearing in which he was to work the next day, without any other interruption than a few hasty questions from parties of the constables.

Elizabeth stood for an hour at the window of her room, and saw the torches of the pursuers gliding along the side of the mountain, and heard their shouts and alarms; but, at the end of that time, the last party returned, wearied and disappointed, and the village became as still as when she issued from the gate on her mission to the jail.



CHAPTER XXXVI.



And I could weep th Oneida chief His descant wildly thus begun But that I may not stain with grief The death-song of my fathers son.Gertrude OF Wyoming.

It was yet early on the following morning, when Elizabeth and Louisa met by appointment, and proceeded to the store of Monsieur Le Quoi, in order to redeem the pledge the former had given to the Leather- Stocking. The people were again assembling for the business of the day, but the hour was too soon for a crowd, and the ladies found the place in possession of its polite owner, Billy Kirby, one female customer, and the boy who did the duty of helper or clerk.

Monsieur Le Quoi was perusing a packet of letters with manifest delight, while the wood-chopper, with one hand thrust in his bosom, and the other in the folds of his jacket, holding an axe under his right arm, stood sympathizing in the Frenchmans pleasure with good- natured interest. The freedom of manners that prevailed in the new settlements commonly levelled all difference in rank, and with it, frequently, all considerations of education and intelligence. At the time the ladies entered the store, they were unseen by the owner, who was saying to Kirby:

Ah! ha! Monsieur Beel, dis lettair mak me de most happi of mans. Ah! ma chre France! I vill see you again.

I rejoice, monsieur, at anything that contributes to your happiness, said Elizabeth, but hope we are not going to lose you entirely.

The complaisant shopkeeper changed the language to French and recounted rapidly to Elizabeth his hopes of being permitted to return to his own country. Habit had, however, so far altered the manners of this pliable person age, that he continued to serve the wood-chopper, who was in quest of some tobacco, while he related to his more gentle visitor the happy change that had taken place in the dispositions of his own countrymen.

The amount of it all was, that Mr. Le Quoi, who had fled from his own country more through terror than because he was offensive to the ruling powers in France, had succeeded at length in getting an assurance that his return to the West Indies would be unnoticed; and the Frenchman, who had sunk into the character of a country shopkeeper with so much grace, was about to emerge again from his obscurity into his proper level in society.

We need not repeat the civil things that passed between the parties on this occasion, nor recount the endless repetitions of sorrow that the delighted Frenchman expressed at being compelled to quit the society of Miss Temple. Elizabeth took an opportunity, during this expenditure of polite expressions, to purchase the powder privately of the boy, who bore the generic appellation of Jonathan. Be fore they parted, however, Mr. Le Quoi, who seemed to think that he had not said enough, solicited the honor of a private interview with the heiress, with a gravity in his air that announced the importance of the subject. After conceding the favor, and appointing a more favorable time for the meeting, Elizabeth succeeded in getting out of the store, into which the countrymen now began to enter, as usual, where they met with the same attention and bien seance as formerly.

Elizabeth and Louisa pursued their walk as far as the bridge in profound silence; but when they reached that place the latter stopped, and appeared anxious to utter something that her diffidence suppressed.

Are you ill, Louisa? exclaimed Miss Temple; had we not better return, and seek another opportunity to meet the old man?

Not ill, but terrified. Oh! I never, never can go on that hill again with you only. I am not equal to it, in deed I am not.

This was an unexpected declaration to Elizabeth, who, although she experienced no idle apprehension of a danger that no longer existed, felt most sensitively all the delicacy of maiden modesty. She stood for some time, deeply reflecting within herself; but, sensible it was a time for action instead of reflection, she struggled to shake off her hesitation, and replied, firmly:

Well, then it must be done by me alone. There is no other than yourself to be trusted, or poor old Leather-Stocking will be discovered. Wait for me in the edge of these woods, that at least I may not be seen strolling in the hills by myself just now, One would not wish to create remarks, Louisaifif You will wait for me, dear girl?

A year, in sight of the village, Miss Temple, returned the agitated Louisa, but do not, do not ask me to go on that hill.

Elizabeth found that her companion was really unable to proceed, and they completed their arrangement by posting Louisa out of the observation of the people who occasionally passed, but nigh the road, and in plain view of the whole valley. Miss Temple then proceeded alone. She ascended the road which has been so often mentioned in our narrative, with an elastic and firm step, fearful that the delay in the store of Mr. Le Quoi, and the time necessary for reaching the summit, would prevent her being punctual to the appointment Whenever she pressed an opening in the bushes, she would pause for breath, or, per haps, drawn from her pursuit by the picture at her feet, would linger a moment to gaze at the beauties of the valley. The long drought had, however, changed its coat of verdure to a hue of brown, and, though the same localities were there, the view wanted the lively and cheering aspect of early summer. Even the heavens seemed to share in the dried appearance of the earth, for the sun was concealed by a haziness in the atmosphere, which looked like a thin smoke without a particle of moisture, if such a thing were possible. The blue sky was scarcely to be seen, though now, and then there was a faint lighting up in spots through which masses of rolling vapor could be discerned gathering around the horizon, as if nature were struggling to collect her floods for the relief of man. The very atmosphere that Elizabeth inhaled was hot and dry, and by the time she reached the point where the course led her from the highway she experienced a sensation like suffocation. But, disregarding her feelings, she hastened to execute her mission, dwelling on nothing but the disappointment, and even the helplessness, the hunter would experience without her aid.

On the summit of the mountain which Judge Temple had named the Vision, a little spot had been cleared, in order that a better view might he obtained of the village and the valley. At this point Elizabeth understood the hunter she was to meet him; and thither she urged her way, as expeditiously as the difficulty of the ascent, and the impediment of a forest, in a state of nature, would admit. Numberless were the fragments of rocks, trunks of fallen trees, and branches, with which she had to contend; but every difficulty vanished before her resolution, and, by her own watch, she stood on the desired spot several minutes before the appointed hour.

After resting a moment on the end of a log, Miss Temple cast a glance about her in quest of her old friend, but he was evidently not in the clearing; she arose and walked around its skirts, examining every place where she thought it probable Natty might deem it prudent to conceal him self. Her search was fruitless; and, after exhausting not only herself, but her conjectures, in efforts to discover or imagine his situation, she ventured to trust her voice in that solitary place.

Natty! Leather-Stocking! old man! she called aloud, in every direction; but no answer was given, excepting the reverberations of her own clear tones, as they were echoed in the parched forest.

Elizabeth approached the brow of the mountain, where a faint cry, like the noise produced by striking the hand against the mouth, at the same time that the breath is strongly exhaled, was heard answering to her own voice. Not doubting in the least that it was the Leather-Stocking lying in wait for her, and who gave that signal to indicate the place where he was to be found, Elizabeth descended for near a hundred feet, until she gained a little natural terrace, thinly scattered with trees, that grew in the fissures of the rocks, which were covered by a scanty soil. She had advanced to the edge of this platform, and was gazing over the perpendicular precipice that formed its face, when a rustling among the dry leaves near her drew her eyes in another direction. Our heroine certainly was startled by the object that she then saw, but a moment restored her self-possession, and she advanced firmly, and with some interest in her manner, to the spot.

Mohegan was seated on the trunk of a fallen oak, with his tawny visage turned toward her, and his eyes fixed on her face with an expression of wildness and fire, that would have terrified a less resolute female. His blanket had fallen from his shoulders, and was lying in folds around him, leaving his breast, arms, and most of his body bare. The medallion of Washington reposed on his chest, a badge of distinction that Elizabeth well knew he only produced on great and solemn occasions. But the whole appearance of the aged chief was more studied than common, and in some particulars it was terrific. The long black hair was plaited on his head, failing away, so as to expose his high forehead and piercing eyes. In the enormous incisions of his ears were entwined ornaments of silver, beads, and porcupines quills, mingled in a rude taste, and after the Indian fashions. A large drop, composed of similar materials, was suspended from the cartilage of his nose, and, falling below his lips, rested on his chin. Streaks of red paint crossed his wrinkled brow, and were traced down his cheeks, with such variations in the lines as caprice or custom suggested. His body was also colored in the same manner; the whole exhibiting an Indian warrior prepared for some event of more than usual moment.

John! how fare you, worthy John? said Elizabeth, as she approached him; you have long been a stranger in the village. You promised me a willow basket, and I have long had a shirt of calico in readiness for you.

The Indian looked steadily at her for some time without answering, and then, shaking his head, he replied, in his low, guttural tones:

Johns hand can make baskets no morehe wants no shirt.

But if he should, he will know where to come for it, returned Miss Temple. Indeed old John. I feel as if you had a natural right to order what you will from us.

Daughter, said the Indian, listen : Six times ten hot summers have passed since John was young tall like a pine; straight like the bullet of Hawk-eye, strong as all buffalo; spry as the cat of the mountain. He was strong, and a warrior like the Young Eagle. If his tribe wanted to track the Maquas for many suns, the eye of Chingachgook found the print of their moccasins. If the people feasted and were glad, as they counted the scalps of their enemies, it was on his pole they hung. If the squaws cried because there was no meat for their children, he was the first in the chase. His bullet was swifter than the deer. Daughter, then Chingachgook struck his tomahawk into the trees; it was to tell the lazy ones where to find him and the Mingoes but he made no baskets.

Those times have gone by, old warrior, returned Elizabeth ; since then your people have disappeared, and, in place of chasing your enemies, you have learned to fear God and to live at peace.

Stand here, daughter, where you can see the great spring, the wigwams of your father, and the land on the crooked river. John was young when his tribe gave away the country, in council, from where the blue mountain stands above the water, to where the Susquehanna is hid by the trees. All this, and all that grew in it, and all that walked over it, and all that fed there, they gave to the Fire-eaterfor they loved him. He was strong, and they were women, and he helped them. No Delaware would kill a deer that ran in his woods, nor stop a bird that flew over his land; for it was his. Has John lived in peace? Daughter, since John was young, he has seen the white man from Frontinac come down on his white brothers at Albany and fight. Did they fear God? He has seen his English and his American fathers burying their tomahawks in each others brains, for this very land. Did they fear God, and live in peace? He has seen the land pass away from the Fire-eater, and his children, and the child of his child, and a new chief set over the country. Did they live in peace who did this? did they fear God?

Such is the custom of the whites, John. Do not the Delawares fight, and exchange their lands for powder, and blankets, and merchandise?

The Indian turned his dark eyes on his companion, and kept them there with a scrutiny that alarmed her a little.

Where are the blankets and merchandise that bought the right of the Fire-eater? he replied in a more animated voice; are they with him in his wigwam? Did they say to him, Brother, sell us your land, and take this gold, this silver, these blankets, these rifles, or even this rum? No; they tore it front him, as a scalp is torn from an enemy; and they that did it looked not behind them, to see whether he lived or died. Do such men live in peace and fear the Great Spirit?

But you hardly understand the circumstances, said Elizabeth, more embarrassed than she would own, even to herself. If you knew our laws and customs better, you would Judge differently of our acts. Do not believe evil of my father, old Mohegan, for he is just and good.

The brother of Miquon is good, and he will do right. I have said it to Hawk-eye—-I have said it to the Young Eagle that the brother of Miquon would do justice.

Whom call you the Young Eagle? said Elizabeth, averting her face from the gaze of the Indian, as she asked the question; whence comes he, and what are his rights?

Has my daughter lived so long with him to ask this question? returned the Indian warily. Old age freezes up the blood, as the frosts cover the great spring in winter; but youth keeps the streams of the blood open like a sun in the time of blossoms. The Young Eagle has eyes; had he no tongue?

The loveliness to which the old warrior alluded was in no degree diminished by his allegorical speech; for the blushes of the maiden who listened covered her burning cheeks till her dark eyes seemed to glow with their reflection; but, after struggling a moment with shame, she laughed, as if unwilling to understand him seriously, and replied in pleasantry:

Not to make me the mistress of his secret. He is too much of a Delaware to tell his secret thoughts to a woman.

Daughter, the Great Spirit made your father with a white skin, and he made mine with a red; but he colored both their hearts with blood. When young, it is swift and warm; but when old, it is still and cold. Is there difference below the skin? No. Once John had a woman. She was the mother of so many sonshe raised his hand with three fingers elevated and she had daughters that would have made the young Delawares happy. She was kind, daughter, and what I said she did. You have different fashions; but do you think John did not love the wife of his youththe mother of his children?

And what has become of your family, Johnyour wife and your children? asked Elizabeth, touched by the Indians manner.

Where is the ice that covered the great spring? It is melted, and gone with the waters. John has lived till all his people have left him for the land of spirits; his time has come, and he is ready.

Mohegan dropped his head in his blanket, and sat in silence. Miss Temple knew not what to say. She wished to draw the thoughts of the old warrior from his gloomy recollections, but there was a dignity in his sorrow, and in his fortitude, that repressed her efforts to speak. After a long pause, however, she renewed the discourse by asking:

Where is the Leather-Stocking, John? I have brought this canister of powder at his request; but he is nowhere to he seen. Will you take charge of it, and see it delivered?

The Indian raised his head slowly and looked earnestly at the gift, which she put into his hand.

This is the great enemy of my nation. Without this, when could the white man drive the Delawares? Daughter, the Great Spirit gave your fathers to know how to make guns and powder, that they might sweep the Indians from the land. There will soon be no red-skin in the country. When John has gone, the last will leave these hills, and his family will be dead. The aged warrior stretched his body forward, leaning an elbow on his knee, and appeared to be taking a parting look at the objects of the vale, which were still visible through the misty atmosphere, though the air seemed to thicken at each moment around Miss Temple, who became conscious of an increased difficulty of respiration. The eye of Mohegan changed gradually from its sorrowful expression to a look of wildness that might be supposed to border on the inspiration of a prophet, as he continued: But he will go on to the country where his fathers have met. The game shall be plenty as the Ash in the lakes. No woman shall cry for meat: no Mingo can ever come The chase shall be for children; and all just red men shall live together as brothers.

John! this is not the heaven of a Christian, cried Miss Temple; you deal now in the superstition of your forefathers.

Fathers! sons! said Mohegan, with firmness. all goneall gone!! have no son but the Young Eagle, and he has the blood of a white man.

Tell me, John, said Elizabeth, willing to draw his thoughts to other subjects, and at the same time yielding to her own powerful interest in the youth; who is this Mr. Edwards? why are you so fond of him, and whence does he come ?

The Indian started at the question, which evidently recalled his recollection to earth. Taking her hand, he drew Miss Temple to a seat beside him, and pointed to the country beneath them.

See, daughter, he said, directing her looks toward the north; as far as your young eyes can see, it was the land of his. But immense volumes of smoke at that moment rolled over their heath, and, whirling in the eddies formed by the mountains, interposed a barrier to their sight, while he was speaking. Startled by this circumstance, Miss Temple sprang to her feet, and, turning her eyes toward the summit of the mountain, she beheld It covered by a similar canopy, while a roaring sound was heard in the forest above her like the rushing of winds.

What means it, John? she exclaimed: we are enveloped in smoke, and I feel a heat like the glow of a furnace.

Before the Indian could reply, a voice was heard crying In the woods: John! where are you, old Mohegan! the woods are on fire, and you have but a minute for escape.

The chief put his hand before his mouth, and, making it lay on his lips, produced the kind of noise that had attracted Elizabeth to the place, when a quick and hurried step was heard dashing through the dried underbrush and bushes, and presently Edwards rushed to his side, with horror an every feature.



CHAPTER XXXVII.



Love rules the court, the camp, the grove.Lay of the Last Minstrel.

IT would have been sad, indeed, to lose you in such manner, my old friend, said Oliver, catching his breath for utterance. Up and away! even now we may be too late; the flames are circling round the point of the rock below, and, unless we can pass there, our only chance must be over the precipice. Away! away! shake off your apathy, John; now is the time of need.

Mohegan pointed toward Elizabeth, who, forgetting her danger, had sunk back to a projection of the rock as soon as she recognized the sounds of Edwards voice, and said with something like awakened animation:

Save herleave John to die.

Her! whom mean you? cried the youth, turning quickly to the place the other indicated; but when he saw the figure of Elizabeth bending toward him in an attitude that powerfully spoke terror, blended with reluctance to meet him in such a place, the shock deprived him of speech.

Miss Temple! he cried, when he found words; you here! is such a death reserved for you!

No, no, nono death, I hope, for any of us, Mr. Edwards, she replied, endeavoring to speak calmly; there is smoke, but no fire to harm us. Let us endeavor to retire.

Take my arm, said Edwards; there must he an opening in some direction for your retreat. Are you equal to the effort?

Certainly. You surely magnify the danger, Mr. Ed wards. Lead me out the way you came.

I willI will, cried the youth, with a kind of hysterical utterance. No, nothere is no dangerI have alarmed you unnecessarily.

But shall we leave the Indiancan we leave him, as be says, to die?

An expression of painful emotion crossed the face of the young man; he stopped and cast a longing look at Mohegan but, dragging his companion after him, even against her will, he pursued his way with enormous strides toward the pass by which he had just entered the circle of flame.

Do not regard him, he said, in those tones that de note a desperate calmness; he is used to the woods, and such scenes; and he will escape up the mountainover the rockor he can remain where he is in safety.

You thought not so this moment, Edwards! Do not leave him there to meet with such a death, cried Elizabeth, fixing a look on the countenance of her conductor that seemed to distrust his sanity.

An Indian born! who ever heard of an Indian dying by fire? An Indian cannot burn; the idea is ridiculous. Hasten, hasten, Miss Temple, or the smoke may incommodate you.

Edwards! your look, your eye, terrifies me! Tell me the danger; is it greater than it seems? I am equal to any trial.

If we reach the point of yon rock before that sheet of fire, we are safe, Miss Temple, exclaimed the young man in a voice that burst without the bounds of his forced composure. Fly! the struggle is for life!

The place of the interview between Miss Temple and the Indian has already been described as one of those plat forms of rock, which form a sort of terrace in the mountains of that country, and the face of it, we have said, was both high and perpendicular. Its shape was nearly a natural arc, the ends of which blended with the mountain, at points where its sides were less abrupt in their descent. It was round one of these terminations of the sweep of the rock that Edwards had ascended, and it was toward the same place that he urged Elizabeth to a desperate exertion of speed.

Immense clouds of white smoke had been pouring over the summit of the mountain, and had concealed the approach and ravages of the element; but a crackling sound drew the eyes of Miss Temple, as she flew over the ground supported by the young man, toward the outline of smoke where she already perceived the waving flames shooting forward from the vapor, now flaring high in the air, and then bending to the earth, seeming to light into combustion every stick and shrub on which they breathed. The sight aroused them to redoubled efforts; but, unfortunately, a collection of the tops of trees, old and dried, lay directly across their course; and at the very moment when both had thought their safety insured, the warm current of the air swept a forked tongue of flame across the pile, which lighted at the touch; and when they reached the spot, the flying pair were opposed by the surly roaring of a body of fire, as if a furnace were glowing in their path. They recoiled from the heat, and stood on a point of the rock, gazing in a stupor at the flames which were spreading rap idly down the mountain, whose side, too, became a sheet of living fire. It was dangerous for one clad in the light and airy dress of Elizabeth to approach even the vicinity of the raging element; and those flowing robes, that gave such softness and grace to her form, seemed now to be formed for the instruments of her destruction.

The villagers were accustomed to resort to that hill, in quest of timber and fuel; in procuring which, it was their usage to take only the bodies of the trees, leaving the tops and branches to decay under the operations of the weather. Much of the hill was, consequently, covered with such light fuel, which, having been scorched under the sun for the last two months, was ignited with a touch. Indeed, in some cases, there did not appear to be any contact between the fire and these piles, but the flames seemed to dart from heap to heap, as the fabulous fire of the temple is represented to reillumine its neglected lamp.

There was beauty as well as terror in the sight, and Edwards and Elizabeth stood viewing the progress of the desolation, with a strange mixture of horror and interest. The former, however, shortly roused himself to new exertions, and, drawing his companion after him, they skirted the edge of the smoke, the young man penetrating frequently into its dense volumes in search of a passage, but in every instance without success. In this manner they proceeded in a semicircle around the upper part of the terrace, until arriving at the verge of the precipice opposite to the point where Edwards had ascended, the horrid conviction burst on both, at the same instant, that they were completely encircled by fire. So long as a single pass up or down the mountain was unexplored, there was hope: but when retreat seemed to be absolutely impracticable, the horror of their situation broke upon Elizabeth as powerfully as if she had hitherto considered the danger light.

This mountain is doomed to be fatal to me! she whispered; we shall find our graves on it!

Say not so, Miss Temple; there is yet hope, returned the youth, in the same tone, while the vacant expression of his eye contradicted his words; let us return to the point of the rockthere isthere must be some place about it where we can descend.

Lead me there, exclaimed Elizabeth; let us leave no effort untried. She did not wait for his compliance, but turning, retraced her steps to the brow of the precipice, murmuring to herself, in suppressed, hysterical sobs, My father! my poor, my distracted father!

Edwards was by her side in an instant, and with aching eyes he examined every fissure in the crags in quest of some opening that might offer facilities for flight. But the smooth, even surface of the rocks afforded hardly a resting-place for a foot, much less those continued projections which would have been necessary for a descent of nearly a hundred feet. Edwards was not slow in feeling the conviction that this hope was also futile, and, with a kind of feverish despair that still urged him to action, he turned to some new expedient.

There is nothing left, Miss Temple, he said, but to lower you from this place to the rock beneath. If Natty were here, or even that Indian could be roused, their ingenuity and long practice would easily devise methods to do it; but I am a child at this moment in everything but daring. Where shall I find means? This dress of mine is so light, and there is so little of itthen the blanket of Mohegan; we must try we must tryanything is better than to see you a victim to such a death!

And what will become of you? said Elizabeth. In deed, indeed, neither you nor John must be sacrificed to my safety.

He heard her not, for he was already by the side of Mohegan, who yielded his blanket without a question, retaining his seat with Indian dignity and composure, though his own situation was even more critical than that of the others. The blanket was cut into shreds, and the fragments fastened together: the loose linen jacket of the youth and the light muslin shawl of Elizabeth were attached to them, and the whole thrown over the rocks with the rapidity of lightning; but the united Pieces did not reach half-way to the bottom.

It will not doit will not do! cried Elizabeth; for me there is no hope! The fire comes slowly, but certainly. See, it destroys the very earth before it!

Had the flames spread on that rock with half the quick ness with which they leaped from bush to tree in other parts of the mountain, our painful task would have soon ended; for they would have consumed already the captives they inclosed. But the peculiarity of their situation afforded Elizabeth and her companion the respite of which they had availed themselves to make the efforts we have recorded.

The thin covering of earth on the rock supported but a scanty and faded herbage, and most of the trees that had found root in the fissures had already died, during the in tense heats of preceding summers. Those which still retained the appearance of life bore a few dry and withered leaves, while the others were merely the wrecks of pines, oaks, and maples. No better materials to feed the fire could be found, had there been a communication with the flames; but the ground was destitute of the brush that led the destructive element, like a torrent, over the remainder of the hill. As auxiliary to this scarcity of fuel, one of the large springs which abound in that country gushed out of the side of the ascent above, and, after creeping sluggishly along the level land, saturating the mossy covering of the rock with moisture, it swept around the base of the little cone that formed the pinnacle of the mountain, and, entering the canopy of smoke near one of the terminations of the terrace, found its way to the lake, not by dashing from rock to rock, but by the secret channels of the earth. It would rise to the surface, here and there, in the wet seasons, but in the droughts of summer it was to be traced only by the bogs and moss that announced the proximity of water. When the fire reached this barrier, it was compelled to pause, until a concentration of its heat could overcome the moisture, like an army awaiting the operations of a battering train, to open its way to desolation.

That fatal moment seemed now to have arrived, for the hissing steams of the spring appeared to be nearly exhausted, and the moss of the rocks was already curling under the intense heat, while fragments of bark, that yet clung to the dead trees, began to separate from their trunks, and fall to the ground in crumbling masses. The air seemed quivering with rays of heat, which might be seen playing along the parched stems of the trees. There were moments when dark clouds of smoke would sweep along the little terrace; and, as the eye lost its power, the other senses contributed to give effect to the fearful horror of the scene. At such moments, the roaring of the flames, the crackling of the furious element, with the tearing of falling branches, and occasionally the thundering echoes of some falling tree, united to alarm the victims. Of the three, however, the youth appeared much the most agitated. Elizabeth, having relinquished entirely the idea of escape, was fast obtaining that resigned composure with which the most delicate of her sex are sometimes known to meet unavoidable evils; while Mohegan, who was much nearer to the danger, maintained his seat with the invincible resignation of an Indian warrior. Once or twice the eye of the aged chief, which was ordinarily fixed in the direction of the distant hills, turned toward the young pair, who seemed doomed to so early a death, with a slight indication of pity crossing his composed features, but it would immediately revert again to its former gaze, as if already looking into the womb of futurity. Much of the time he was chanting a kind of low dirge in the Delaware tongue, using the deep and remarkable guttural tones of his people.

At such a moment, Mr. Edwards, all earthly distinctions end, whispered Elizabeth; persuade John to move nearer to uslet us die together.

I cannothe will not stir, returned the youth, in the same horridly still tones. He considers this as the happiest moment of his life, he is past seventy, and has been decaying rapidly for some time; he received some injury in chasing that unlucky deer, too, on the lake, Oh! Miss Temple, that was an unlucky chase, indeed! it has led, I fear, to this awful scene.

The smile of Elizabeth was celestial. Why name such a trifle now?at this moment the heart is dead to all earthly emotions!

If anything could reconcile a man to this death, cried the youth, it would be to meet it in such company!

Talk not so, Edwards; talk not so, interrupted Miss Temple. I am unworthy of it, and it is unjust to your self. We must die; yesyes we must dieit is the will of God, and let us endeavor to submit like his own children.

Die! the youth rather shrieked than exclaimed, no nonothere must yet be hopeyou, at least, must-not, shall not die.

In what way can we escape? asked Elizabeth, pointing with a look of heavenly composure toward the fire Observe! the flame is crossing the barrier of wet groundit comes slowly, Edwards, but surely. Ah! see! the tree! the tree is already lighted!

Her words were too true. The heat of the conflagration had at length overcome the resistance of the spring, and the fire was slowly stealing along the half-dried moss; while a dead pine kindled with the touch of a forked flame, that, for a moment, wreathed around the stem of the tree, as it whined, in one of its evolutions, under the influence of the air. The effect was instantaneous, The flames danced along the parched trunk of the pine like lightning quivering on a chain, and immediately a column of living fire was raging on the terrace. It soon spread from tree to tree, and the scene was evidently drawing to a close. The log on which Mohegan was seated lighted at its further end, and the Indian appeared to be surrounded by fire. Still he was unmoved. As his body was unprotected, his sufferings must have been great; but his fortitude was superior to all. His voice could yet be heard even in the midst of these horrors. Elizabeth turned her head from the sight, and faced the valley Furious eddies of wind were created by the heat, and, just at the moment, the canopy of fiery smoke that overhung the valley was cleared away, leaving a distinct view of the peaceful village beneath them, My father!—my lather! shrieked Elizabeth Oh! thissurely might have been spared mebut I submit.

The distance was not so great but the figure of Judge Temple could be seen, standing in his own grounds, and apparently contemplating, in perfect unconsciousness of the danger of his child, the mountain in flames. This sight was still more painful than the approaching danger; and Elizabeth again faced the hill.

My intemperate warmth has done this! cried Edwards, in the accents of despair. If I had possessed but a moiety of your heavenly resignation, Miss Temple, all might yet have been well.

Name it notname it not, she said. It is now of no avail. We must die, Edwards, we must dielet us do so as Christians. Butnoyou may yet escape, perhaps. Your dress is not so fatal as mine. Fly! Leave me, An opening may yet be found for you, possiblycertainly it is worth the effort. Fly! leave mebut stay! You will see my father! my poor, my bereaved father! Say to him, then, Edwards, say to him, all that can appease his anguish. Tell him that I died happy and collected; that I have gone to my beloved mother; that the hours of this life are nothing when balanced in the scales of eternity. Say how we shall meet again. And say, she continued, dropping her voice, that had risen with her feelings, as if conscious of her worldly weakness, how clear, how very dear, was my love for him; that it was near, too near, to my love for God.

The youth listened to her touching accents, but moved not. In a moment he found utterance, and replied:

And is it me that you command to leave you! to leave you on the edge of the grave? Oh! Miss Temple, how little have you known me! he cried, dropping on his knees at her feet, and gathering her flowing robe in his arms as if to shield her from the flames. I have been driven to the woods in despair, but your society has tamed the lion within me. If I have wasted my time in degradation, twas you that charmed me to it. If I have forgotten my name and family, your form supplied the place of memory. If I have forgotten my wrongs, twas you that taught me charity. Nonodearest Elizabeth, I may die with you, but I can never leave you!

Elizabeth moved not, nor answered. It was plain that her thoughts had been raised from the earth, The recollection of her father, and her regrets at their separation, had been mellowed by a holy sentiment, that lifted her above the level of earthly things, and she was fast losing the weakness of her sex in the near view of eternity. But as she listened to these words she became once more woman. She struggled against these feelings, and smiled, as she thought she was shaking off the last lingering feeling of nature, when the world, and all its seductions, rushed again to her heart, with the sounds of a human, voice, crying in piercing tones:

Gal! where he ye, gal! gladden the heart of an old man, if ye yet belong to arth!

Hist! said Elizabeth; tis the Leather-Stocking; he seeks me!

Tis Natty! shouted Edwards, and we may yet be saved!

A wide and circling flame glared on their eyes for a moment, even above the fire of the woods, and a loud report followed.

'Tis the canister, tis the powder, cried the same voice, evidently approaching them. Tis the canister, and the precious child is lost.

At the next instant Natty rushed through the steams of the spring, and appeared on the terrace, without his deerskin cap, his hair burnt to his head, his shirt, of country check, black and filled with holes, and his red features of a deeper color than ever, by the heat he had encountered.



CHAPTER XXXVIII.



Even from the land of shadows, now My fathers awful ghost appears.Gertrude Of Wyoming.

For an hour after Louisa Grant was left by Miss Temple, in the situation already mentioned, she continued in feverish anxiety, awaiting the return of her friend. But as the time passed by without the reappearance of Elizabeth, the terror of Louisa gradually increased, until her alarmed fancy had conjured every species of danger that appertained to the woods, excepting the one that really existed. The heavens had become obscured by degrees, and vast volumes of smoke were pouring over the valley; but the thoughts of Louisa were still recurring to beasts, without dreaming of the real cause for apprehension. She was stationed in the edge of the low pines and chestnuts that succeed the first or large growth of the forest, and directly above the angle where the highway turned from the straight course to the village, and ascended the mountain laterally. Consequently, she commanded a view, not only of the valley, but of the road beneath her. The few travellers that passed, she observed, were engaged in earnest conversation, and frequently raised their eyes to the hill, and at length she saw the people leaving the court house, and gazing upward also. While under the influence of the alarm excited by such unusual movements, reluctant to go, and yet fearful to remain, Louisa was startled by the low, cracking, but cautious treads of some one approaching through the bushes. She was on the eve of flight, when Natty emerged from the cover, and stood at her side. The old man laughed as he shook her kindly by a hand that was passive with fear.

I am glad to meet you here, child, he said; for the back of the mountain is a-fire, and it would be dangerous to go up it now, till it has been burnt over once, and the dead wood is gone. Theres a foolish man, the comrade of that varmint who has given me all this trouble, digging for ore on the east side. I told him that the kearless fellows, who thought to catch a practysed hunter in the woods after dark, had thrown the lighted pine-knots in the brush, and that twould kindle like tow, and warned him to leave the hill. But he was set upon his business, and nothing short of Providence could move him. if he isnt burnt and buried in a grave of his own digging, hes made of salamanders. Why, what ails the child? You look as skeary as if youd seed more painters. I wish there were more to be found! theyd count up faster than the beaver. But wheres the good child with a bad father? Did she forget her promise to the old man?

The hill! the hill! shrieked Louisa; she seeks you on the hill with the powder!

Natty recoiled several feet at this unexpected intelligence.

The Lord of Heaven have mercy on her! Shes on the Vision, and thats a sheet of fire agin this. Child, if ye love the dear one, and hope to find a friend when ye need it most, to the village, and give the alarm. The men are used to fighting fire, and there may be a chance left, Fly! I bid ye fly! nor stop even for breath.

The Leather-Stocking had no sooner uttered this injunction, than he disappeared in the bushes, and, when last seen by Louisa, was rushing up the mountain, with a speed that none but those who were accustomed to the toil could attain.

Have I found ye! the old man exclaimed, when he burst out of the smoke; God be praised that I have found ye; but followtheres no time for talking.

My dress! said Elizabeth; it would be fatal to trust myself nearer to the flames in it.

I bethought me of your flimsy things, cried Natty, throwing loose the folds of a covering buckskin that he carried on his arm, and wrapping her form in it, in such a manner as to envelop her whole person; now follow, for its a matter of life and death to us all.

But John! what will become of John? cried Edwards; can we leave the old warrior here to perish?

The eyes of Natty followed the direction of Edwards finger, where he beheld the Indian still seated as before, with the very earth under his feet consuming with fire. Without delay the hunter approached the spot, and spoke in Delaware:

Up and away, Chingachgook! will ye stay here to burn, like a Mingo at the stake? The Moravians have teached ye better, I hope; the Lord preserve me if the powder hasnt flashed atween his legs, and the skin of his back is roasting. Will ye come, I say; will ye follow me?

Why should Mohegan go? returned the Indian, gloomily. He has seen the days of an eagle, and his eye grows dim He looks on the valley; he looks on the water; he looks in the hunting-groundsbut he sees no Delawares. Every one has a white skin. My fathers say, from the far- off land, Come. My women, my young warriors, my tribe, say, Come. The Great Spirit says, Come. Let Mohegan die.

But you forget your friend, cried Edwards,

Tis useless to talk to an Indian with the death-fit on him, lad, interrupted Natty, who seized the strips of the blanket, and with wonderful dexterity strapped the passive chieftain to his own back; when he turned, and with a strength that seemed to bid defiance, not only to his years, but to his load, he led the way to the point whence he had issued. As they crossed the little terrace of rock, one of the dead trees, that had been tottering for several minutes, fell on the spot where they had stood, and filled the air with its cinders.

Such an event quickened the steps of the party, who followed the Leather-Stocking with the urgency required by the occasion.

Tread on the soft ground, he cried, when they were in a gloom where sight availed them but little, and keep in the white smoke; keep the skin close on her, lad; shes a precious oneanother will be hard to be found.

Obedient to the hunters directions, they followed his steps and advice implicitly; and, although the narrow pas sage along the winding of the spring led amid burning logs and falling branches, they happily achieved it in safety. No one but a man long accustomed to the woods could have traced his route through the smoke, in which respiration was difficult, and sight nearly useless; but the experience of Natty conducted them to an opening through the rocks, where, with a little difficulty, they soon descended to another terrace, and emerged at once into a tolerably clear atmosphere.

The feelings of Edwards and Elizabeth at reaching this spot may be imagined, though not easily described. No one seemed to exult more than their guide, who turned, with Mohegan still lashed to his back, and, laughing in his own manner, said:

I knowed twa the Frenchmans powder, gal; it went so all together; your coarse grain will squib for a minute. The Iroquois had none of the best powder when I went agin the Canada tribes, under Sir William. Did I ever tell you the story, lad, consarning the scrimmage with

For Gods sake, tell me nothing now, Natty, until we are entirely safe. Where shall we go next?

Why, on the platform of rock over the cave, to be sure; you will be safe enough there, or well go Into It, if you be so minded. The young man started, and appeared agitated; but, Looking around him with an anxious eye, said quickly:

Shalt we be safe on the rock? cannot the fire reach us there, too?

Cant the boy see? said Natty, with the coolness of one accustomed to the kind of danger he had just encountered. Had ye stayed in the place above ten minutes longer, you would both have been in ashes, but here you may stay forever, and no fire can touch you, until they burn the rocks as well as the woods.

With this assurance, which was obviously true, they proceeded to the spot, and Natty deposited his load, placing the Indian on the ground with his back against a fragment of the rocks. Elizabeth sank on the ground, and buried her face in her hands, while her heart was swelling with a variety of conflicting emotions.

Let me urge you to take a restorative, Miss Temple, said Edwards respectfully; your frame will sink else.

Leave me, leave me, she said, raising her beaming eyes for a moment to his; I feel too much for words! I am grateful, Oliver, for this miraculous escape; and next to my God to you.

Edwards withdrew to the edge of the rock, and shouted:

Benjamin! where are you, Benjamin?

A hoarse voice replied, as if from the bowels of the earth:

Hereaway, master; stowed in this here bit of a hole, which is all the time as hot as the cooks coppers. Im tired of my berth, dye see, and if-so-be that Leather Stocking has got much overhauling to do before he sails after them said beaver Ill go into dock again, and ride out my quarantine, till I can get prottick from the law, and so hold on upon the rest of my spaniolas.

Bring up a glass of water from the spring, continued Edwards, and throw a little wine in it; hasten, I entreat you!

I knows but little of your small drink, Master Oliver, returned the steward, his voice issuing out of the cave into the open air, and the Jamaikey held out no longer than to take a parting kiss with Billy Kirby, when he anchored me alongside the highway last night, where you run me down in the chase. But heres summat of a red color that may suit a weak stomach, mayhap. That Master Kirby is no first-rate in a boat; but hell tack a cart among the stumps, all the same as a Lonon pilot will back and fill, through the colliers in the Pool.

As the steward ascended while talking, by the time he had ended his speech he appeared on the rock with the desired restoratives, exhibiting the worn-out and bloated features of a man who had run deep in a debauch, and that lately.

Elizabeth took from the hands of Edwards the liquor which he offered and then motioned to be left again to herself.

The youth turned at her bidding, and observed Natty kindly assiduous around the person of Mohegan. When their eyes met, the hunter said sorrowfully:

His time has come, lad; see it in his eyeswhen an Indian fixes his eye, he means to go but to one place; and what the wilful creatures put their minds on, theyre sure to do.

A quick tread prevented the reply, and in a few moments, to the amazement of the whole party, Mr. Grant was seen clinging to the side of the mountain, and striving to reach the place where they stood. Oliver sprang to his assistance, and by their united efforts the worthy divine was soon placed safely among them.

How came you added to our number? cried Edwards. Is the hill alive with people at a time like this?

The hasty but pious thanksgivings of the clergyman were soon ejaculated, and, when he succeeded in collecting his bewildered senses, he replied:

I heard that my child was seen coming to the mountain; and, when the fire broke over its summit, my uneasiness drew me up the road, where I found Louisa, in terror for Miss Temple. It was to seek her that I came into this dangerous place; and I think, but for Gods mercy, through the dogs of Natty, I should have perished in the flames myself.

Ay! follow the hounds, and if theres an opening theyll scent it out, said Natty; their noses be given them the same as mans reason.

I did so, and they led me to this place; but, praise be to God that I see you all safe and well.

No, no, returned the hunter; safe we be, but as for well, John cant be called in a good way, unless youll say that for a man thats taking his last look at arth.

He speaks the truth! said the divine, with the holy awe with which he ever approached the dying; I have been by too many death-beds, not to see that the hand of the tyrant is laid on this old warrior. Oh! how consoling it is to know that he has not rejected the offered mercy in the hour of his strength and of worldly temptations! The offspring of a race of heathens, he has in truth been as a brand plucked from the burning.

No, no, returned Natty, who alone stood with him by the side of the dying warrior; it is no burning that ails him, though his Indian feelings made him scorn to move, unless it be the burning of mans wicked thoughts for near fourscore years; but its natur giving out in a chasm thats run too long.Down with ye, Hector! down, I say! Flesh Isnt iron, that a man can live forever, and see his kith and kin driven to a far country, and he left to mourn, with none to keep him company.

John, said the divine, tenderly, do you hear me? do you wish the prayers appointed by the church, at this trying moment?

The Indian turned his ghastly face toward the speaker, and fastened his dark eyes on him, steadily, but vacantly.

No sign of recognition was made: and in a moment he moved his head again slowly toward the vale, and began to sing, using his own language, in those low, guttural tones, that have been so often mentioned, his notes rising with his theme, till they swelled so loud as to be distinct.

I will come! I will come! to the land of the just I will come! The Maquas I have slain! I have slain the Maquas! and the Great Spirit calls to his son. I will come! I will come to the land of the just! I will come!

What says he, Leather-Stocking? Inquired the priest, with tender interest; sings he the Redeemers praise? No, notis his own praise that he speaks now, said Natty, turning in a melancholy manner from the sight of his dying friend; and a good right he has to say it all, for I know every word to be true.

May heaven avert such self-righteousness from his heart! Humility and penitence are the seals of Christianity; and, without feeling them deeply seated in the soul, all hope is delusive, and leads to vain expectations. Praise himself when his whole soul and body should unite to praise his Maker! John! you have enjoyed the blessings of a gospel ministry, and have been called from out a multitude of sinners and pagans, and, I trust. for a wise and gracious purpose. Do you now feel what it is to be justified by our Saviours death, and reject all weak and idle dependence on good works, that spring from mans pride and vainglory?

The Indian did not regard his interrogator, but he raised his head again, and said in a low, distinct voice:

Who can say that the Maqous know the back of the Mohegan? What enemy that trusted in him did not see the morning? What Mingo that he chased ever sang the song of triumph? Did Mohegan ever he? No; the truth lived in him, and none else could come out of him. In his youth he was a warrior, and his moccasins left the stain of blood. In his age he was wise; his words at the council fire did not blow away with the winds.

Ah! he has abandoned that vain relic of paganism, his songs, cried the divine; what says he now? is he sensible of his lost state?

Lord!! man, said Natty, he knows his end is at hand as well as you or I; but, so far from thinking it a loss, he believes it to be a great gain. He is old and stiff, and you have made the game so scarce and shy, that better shots than him find it hard to get a livelihood. Now he thinks he shall travel where it will always be good hunting ; Where no wicked or unjust Indians can go; and where he shall meet all his tribe together agin. Theres not much loss in that, to a man whose hands are hardly fit for basket-making Loss! if there be any loss, twill be to me. Im sure after hes gone, there will be but little left for me but to follow.

His example and end, which, I humbly trust, shall yet be made glorious, returned Mr. Grant, should lead your mind to dwell on the things of another life. But I feel it to be my duty to smooth the way for the parting spirit. This is the moment, John, when the reflection that you did not reject the mediation of the Redeemer, will bring balm to your soul. Trust not to any act of former days, but lay the burden of your sins at his feet, and you have his own blessed assurance that he will not desert you.

Though all you say be true, and you have scriptur' gospels for it, too, said Natty, you will make nothing of the Indian. He hasnt seen a Moravian p sin the war; and its hard to keep them from going hack to their native ways. I should think twould be as well to let the old man pass in peace. He's happy now; I know it by his eye; and thats more than I would say for the chief, sin the time the Delawares broke up from the head waters of their river and went west. Ahs me! tis a grevous long time that, and many dark days have we seen together sin it.

Hawk-eye! said Mohegan, rousing with the last glimmering of life. Hawk-eye! listen to the words of your brother.

Yes, John, said the hunter, in English, strongly affected by the appeal, and drawing to his side, we have been brothers; and more so than it means in the Indian tongue. What would ye have with me, Chingachgook?

Hawk-eye! my fathers call me to the happy hunting grounds. The path is clear, and the eyes of Mohegan grow young. I lookbut I see no white-skins ; there are none to be seen but just and brave Indians. Farewell, Hawk-eyeyou shall go with the Fire-eater and the Young Eagle to the white mans heaven; but I go after my fathers. Let the bow, and tomahawk, and pipe, and the wampum of Mohegan he laid in his grave; for when he starts 'twil be in the night, like a warrior on a war-party, and he can not stop to seek them.

What says he, Nathaniel? cried Mr. Grant, earnestly, and with obvious anxiety; does he recall the promises of the mediation? and trust his salvation to the Rock of Ages?

Although the faith of the hunter was by no means clear, yet the fruits of early instruction had not entirely fallen in the wilderness. He believed in one Cod, and one heaven; and when the strong feeling excited by the leave-taking of his old companion, which was exhibited by the powerful working of every muscle in his weather-beaten face, suffered him to speak, he replied:

Nonohe trusts only to the Great Spirit of the savages, and to his own good deeds. He thinks, like all his people, that he is to be young agin, and to hunt, and be happy to the end of etarnity. its pretty much the same with all colors, parson. I could never bring myself to think that I shall meet with these hounds, or my piece, in another world; though the thought of leaving them forever sometimes brings hard feelings over me, and makes me cling to life with a greater craving than beseems three-Score-and-ten.

The Lord in his mercy avert such a death from one who has been sealed with the sign of the cross! cried the minister, in holy fervor. John

He paused for the elements. During the period occupied by the events which we have related, the dark clouds in the horizon had continued to increase in numbers and multitude; and the awful stillness that now pervaded the air, announced a crisis in the state of the atmosphere. The flames, which yet continued to rage along the sides of the mountain, no longer whirled in uncertain currents of their own eddies, but blazed high and steadily toward the heavens. There was even a quietude in the ravages of the destructive element, as if it foresaw that a hand greater titan even its own desolating power, was about to stay its progress. The piles of smoke which lay above the valley began to rise, and were dispelling rapidly; and streaks of livid lightning were dancing through the masses of clouds that impended over the western hills. While Mr. Grant was speaking, a flash, which sent its quivering light through the gloom, laying bare the whole opposite horizon, was followed by a loud crash of thunder, that rolled away among the hills, seeming to shake the foundations of the earth to their centre. Mohegan raised him self, as if in obedience to a signal for his departure, and stretched his wasted arm toward the west. His dark face lighted with a look of joy; which, with all other expressions, gradually disappeared; the muscles stiffening as they retreated to a state of rest; a slight convulsion played, for a single instant, about his lips; and his arm slowly dropped by his side, leaving the frame of the dead warrior reposing against the rock with its glassy eyes open, and fixed on the distant hills, as if the deserted shell were tracing the flight of the spirit to its new abode.

All this Mr. Grant witnessed in silent awe; but when the last echoes of the thunder died away he clasped his bands together, with pious energy, and repeated, in the full, rich tones of assured faith;

Lord! how unsearchable are Thy judgments; and Thy ways past finding out! I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for my self, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

As the divine closed this burst of devotion, he bowed his head meekly to his bosom, and looked all the dependence and humility that the inspired language expressed.

When Mr. Grant retired from the body, the hunter approached, and taking the rigid hand of his friend, looked him wistfully in the face for some time without speaking, when he gave vent to his feelings by saying, in the mournful voice of one who felt deeply:

Red skin or white, its all over now! he's to be judged by a righteous Judge, and by no laws thats made to suit times, and new ways. Well, theres only one more death, and the world will be left to me and the hounds, Ahs me! a man must wait the time of God's pleasure, but I begin to weary of life. There is scarcely a tree standing that I know, and its hard to find a face that I was ac- quainted with in my younger days.

Large drops of rain now began to fall, and diffuse them selves over the dry rock, while the approach of the thunder shower was rapid and certain. the body of the Indian was hastily removed into the cave beneath, followed by the whining hounds, who missed and moaned for the look of intelligence that had always met their salutations to the chief.

Edwards made some hasty and confused excuse for not taking Elizabeth into the same place, which was now completely closed in front with logs and bark, saying some-thing that she hardly understood about its darkness, and the unpleasantness of being with the dead body. Miss Temple, however, found a sufficient shelter against the torrent of rain that fell, under the projection of a rock which overhung them, But long before the shower was over, the sounds of voices were heard below them crying aloud for Elizabeth, and men soon appeared beating the dying embers of the bushes, as they worked their way cautiously among the unextinguished brands.

At the first short cessation in the rain, Oliver conducted Elizabeth to the road, where he left her. Before parting, however, he found time to say, in a fervent manner that his companion was now at no loss to interpret.

The moment of concealment is over, Miss Temple. By this time to- morrow, I shall remove a veil that perhaps it has been weakness to keep around me and my allaus so long. But I have had romantic and foolish wishes and weakness; and who has not, that is young and torn by conflicting passions? God bless you! I hear your father's voice; he is coming up the road, and I would not, just now, subject myself to detention. Thank Heaven, you are safe again; that alone removes the weight of a world from my spirit!

He waited for no answer, but sprang into the woods. Elizabeth, notwithstanding she heard the cries of her father as he called upon her name, paused until he was concealed among the smoking trees, when she turned, and in a moment rushed into the arms of her half- distracted Parent.

A carriage had been provided, into which Miss Temple hastily entered; when the cry was passed along the hill, that the lost one was found, and the people returned to the village wet and dirty, but elated with the thought that the daughter of their landlord had escaped from so horrid and untimely an end.*

* The probability of a fire in the woods similar to that here described has been questioned. The writer can only say that he once witnessed a fire in another part of New York that compelled a man to desert his wagon and horses in the highway, and in which the latter were destroyed. In order to estimate the probability of such an event, it is necessary to remember the effects of a long drought in that climate and the abundance of dead wood which is found in a forest like that described, The fires in the American forests frequently rage to such an extent as to produce a sensible effect on the atmosphere at a distance of fifty miles. Houses, barns, and fences are quite commonly swept away in their course.



CHAPTER XXXIX.



Selictar! unsheathe then our chiefs scimetar; Tambourgi! thy 'larum gives promise of war; Ye mountains! that see us descend to the shore, Shall view us as victors, or view us no more.-Byron.

The heavy showers that prevailed during the remainder of the day completely stopped the progress of the flames; though glimmering fires were observed during the night, on different parts of the hill, wherever there was a collection of fuel to feed the element. The next day the woods for many miles were black and smoking, and were stripped of every vestige of brush and dead wood; but the pines and hemlocks still reared their heads proudly among the hills, and even the smaller trees of the forest retained a feeble appearance of life and vegetation.

The many tongues of rumor were busy in exaggerating the miraculous escape of Elizabeth; and a report was generally credited, that Mohegan had actually perished in the flames. This belief became confirmed, and was indeed rendered probable, when the direful intelligence reached the village that Jotham Riddel, the miner, was found in his hole, nearly dead with suffocation, and burnt to such a degree that no hopes were entertained of his life.

The public attention became much alive to the events of the last few days ; and, just at this crisis, the convicted counterfeiters took the hint from Natty, and, on the night succeeding the fire, found means to cut through their log prison also, and to escape unpunished. When this news began to circulate through the village, blended with the fate of Jotham, and the exaggerated and tortured reports of the events on the hill, the popular opinion was freely expressed, as to the propriety of seizing such of the fugitives as remained within reach. Men talked of the cave as a secret receptacle of guilt; and, as the rumor of ores and metals found its way into the confused medley of conjectures, counterfeiting, and everything else that was wicked and dangerous to the peace of society, suggested themselves to the busy fancies of the populace.

While the public mind was in this feverish state, it was hinted that the wood had been set on fire by Edwards and the LeatherStocking, and that, consequently, they alone were responsible for the damages. This opinion soon gained ground, being most circulated by those who, by their own heedlessness, had caused the evil; and there was one irresistible burst of the common sentiment that an attempt should he made to punish the offenders. Richard was by no means deaf to this appeal, and by noon he set about in earnest to see the laws executed.

Several stout young men were selected, and taken apart with an appearance of secrecy, where they received some important charge from the sheriff, immediately under the eyes, but far removed from the ears, of all in the village. Possessed of a knowledge of their duty, these youths hurried into the hills, with a bustling manner, as if the fate of the world depended on their diligence, and, at the same time, with an air of mystery as great as if they were engaged on secret matters of the state.

At twelve precisely a drum beat the long roll ' before the Bold Dragoon, and Richard appeared, accompanied by Captain Hollister, who was clad in Investments as commander of the Templeton Light Infantry, when the former demanded of the latter the aid of the posse comitatus in enforcing the laws of the country. We have not room to record the speeches of the two gentlemen on this occasion, but they are preserved in the columns of the little blue newspaper, which is yet to be found on the file, and are said to be highly creditable to the legal formula of one of the parties, and to the military precision of the other. Everything had been previously arranged, and, as the red-coated drummer continued to roll out his clattering notes, some five-and-twenty privates appeared in the ranks, and arranged themselves in the order of battle.

As this corps was composed of volunteers, and was commanded by a man who had passed the first five-and-thirty years of his life in camps and garrisons, it was the non-parallel of military science in that country, and was confidently pronounced by the judicious part of the Templeton community, to be equal in skill and appearance to any troops in the known world; in physical endowments they were, certainly, much superior! To this assertion there were but three dissenting voices, and one dissenting opinion. The opinion belonged to Marmaduke, who, however, saw no necessity for its promulgation. Of the voices, one, and that a pretty loud one, came from the spouse of the commander himself, who frequently reproached her husband for condescending to lead such an irregular band of warriors, after he had filled the honorable station of sergeant-major to a dashing corps of Virginia cavalry through much of the recent war.

Another of these skeptical sentiments was invariably expressed by Mr. Pump, whenever the company paraded generally in some such terms as these, which were uttered with that sort of meekness that a native of the island of our forefathers is apt to assume when he condescends to praise the customs or character of her truant progeny:

Its mayhap that they knows summat about loading and firing, d'ye see, but as for working ship? why, a corporals guard of the Boadishey's marines would back and fill on their quarters in such a manner as to surround and captivate them all in half a glass. As there was no one to deny this assertion, the marines of the Boadicea were held in a corresponding degree of estimation.

The third unbeliever was Monsieur Le Quoi, who merely whispered to the sheriff, that the corps was one of the finest he had ever seen second only to the Mousquetaires of Le Boa Louis! However, as Mrs. Hollister thought there was something like actual service in the present appearances, and was, in consequence, too busily engaged with certain preparations of her own, to make her comments; as Benjamin was absent, and Monsieur Le Quoi too happy to find fault with anything, the corps escaped criticism and comparison altogether on this momentous day, when they certainly had greater need of self-confidence than on any other previous occasion. Marmaduke was said to be again closeted with Mr. Van der School and no interruption was offered to the movements of the troops. At two oclock precisely the corps shouldered arms, beginning on the right wing, next to the veteran, and carrying the motion through to the left with great regularity. When each musket was quietly fixed in its proper situation, the order was given to wheel to the left, and march. As this was bringing raw troops, at once, to face their enemy, it is not to be supposed that the manoeuver was executed with their usual accuracy; but as the music struck up the inspiring air of Yankee-doodle, and Richard, accompanied by Mr. Doolittle preceded the troops boldly down the street, Captain Hollister led on, with his head elevated to forty-five degrees, with a little, low cocked hat perched on his crown, carrying a tremendous dragoon sabre at a poise, and trailing at his heels a huge steel scabbard, that had war in its very clattering. There was a good deal of difficulty in getting all the platoons (there were six) to look the same way; but, by the time they reached the defile of the bridge, the troops were in sufficiently compact order. In this manner they marched up the hill to the summit of the mountain, no other alteration taking place in the disposition of the forces, excepting that a mutual complaint was made, by the sheriff and the magistrate, of a failure in wind, which gradually brought these gentlemen to the rear. It will be unnecessary to detail the minute movements that succeeded. We shall briefly say, that the scouts came in and reported, that, so far from retreating, as had been anticipated, the fugitives had evidently gained a knowledge of the attack, and were fortifying for a desperate resistance. This intelligence certainly made a material change, not only in the plans of the leaders, but in the countenances of the soldiery also. The men looked at one another with serious faces, and Hiram and Richard began to consult together, apart.

At this conjuncture, they were joined by Billy Kirby, who came along the highway, with his axe under his arm, as much in advance of his team as Captain Hollister had been of his troops in the ascent. The wood-chopper was amazed at the military array, but the sheriff eagerly availed himself of this powerful reinforcement, and commanded his assistance in putting the laws in force. Billy held Mr. Jones in too much deference to object; and it was finally arranged that he should be the bearer of a summons to the garrison to surrender before they proceeded to extremities. The troops now divided, one party being led by the captain, over the Vision, and were brought in on the left of the cave, while the remainder advanced upon its right, under the orders of the lieutenant. Mr. Jones and Dr. Toddfor the surgeon was in attendance alsoappeared on the platform of rock, immediately over the heads of the garrison, though out of their sight. Hiram thought this approaching too near, and he therefore accompanied Kirby along the side of the hill to within a safe distance of the fortifications, where he took shelter behind a tree. Most of the men discovered great accuracy of eye in bringing some object in range between them and their enemy, and the only two of the besiegers, who were left in plain sight of the besieged, were Captain Hollister on one side, and the wood-chopper on the other. The veteran stood up boldly to the front, supporting his heavy sword in one undeviating position, with his eye fixed firmly on his enemy, while the huge form of Billy was placed in that kind of quiet repose, with either hand thrust into his bosom, bearing his axe under his right arm, which permitted him, like his own oxen, to rest standing. So far, not a word had been exchanged between the belligerents. The besieged had drawn together a pile of black logs and branches of trees, which they had formed into a chevaux-de- frise, making a little circular abatis in front of the entrance to the cave. As the ground was steep and slippery in every direction around the place, and Benjamin appeared behind the works on one side, and Natty on the other, the arrangement was by no means contemptible, especially as the front was sufficiently guarded by the difficulty of the approach. By this time, Kirby had received his orders, and he advanced coolly along the mountain, picking his way with the same indifference as if he were pursuing his ordinary business. When he was within a hundred feet of the works, the long and much-dreaded rifle of the Leather-Stocking was seen issuing from the parapet, and his voice cried aloud:

Keep off! Billy Kirby, keep off! I wish ye no harm; but if a man of ye all comes a step nigher, therell be blood spilt atwixt us. God forgive the one that draws it first, but so it must be.

Come, old chap, said Billy, good-naturedly, dont be crabbd, but hear what a man has got to say Ive no consarn in the business, only to see right twixt man and man; and I dont kear the valie of a beetle-ring which gets the better; but theres Squire Doolittle, yonder be hind the beech sapling, he has invited me to come in and ask you to give up to the lawthats all.

I see the varmint! I see his clothes! cried the indignant Natty: and if hell only show so much flesh as will bury a rifle bullet, thirty to the pound, Ill make him feel me. Go away, Billy, I bid ye; you know my aim, and I bear you no malice.

You over-calculate your aim, Natty, said the other, as he stepped behind a pine that stood near him, if you think to shoot a man through a tree with a three-foot butt. I can lay this tree right across you in ten minutes by any man's watch, and in less time, too; so be civilI want no more than whats right.

There was a simple seriousness in the countenance of Natty, that showed he was much in earnest; but it was also evident that he was reluctant to shed human blood. He answered the taunt of the wood- chopper, by saying:

I know you drop a tree where you will, Billy Kirby; but if you show a hand, or an arm, in doing it, therell be bones to be set, and blood to staunch. If its only to get into the cave that ye want, wait till a two hours sun, and you may enter it in welcome; but come in now you shall not. Theres one dead body already, lying on the cold rocks, and theres another in which the life can hardly be said to stay. If you will come in, therell be dead with out as well as within.

The wood-chopper stepped out fearlessly from his cover, and cried:

Thats fair; and whats fair is right. He wants you to stop till its two hours to sundown; and I see reason in the thing. A man can give up when hes wrong, if you dont crowd him too hard; but you crowd a man, and he gets to be like a stubborn oxthe more you beat, the worse he kicks.

The sturdy notions of independence maintained by Billy neither suited the emergency nor the impatience of Mr. Jones, who was burning with a desire to examine the hid den mysteries of the cave. He therefore interrupted this amicable dialogue with his own voice;

I command you Nathaniel Bumppo, by my authority, to surrender your person to the law, he cried. And I command you, gentlemen, to aid me in performing my duty. Benjamin Penguillan I arrest you, and order you to follow me to the jail of the county, by virtue of this warrant.

Id follow ye, Squire Dickens, said Benjamin, removing the pipe from his month (for during the whole scene the ex-major-domo had been very composedly smoking); ay! Id sail in your wake, to the end of the world, if-so be that there was such a place, where there isnt, seeing that its round. Now mayhap, Master Hollister, having lived all your life on shore, you isnt acquainted that the world, dye see

Surrender! interrupted the veteran, in a voice that startled his hearers, and which actually caused his own forces to recoil several paces; surrender, Benjamin Pengullan, or expect no quarter.

Damn your quarter! said Benjamin, rising from the log on which he was seated, and taking a squint along the barrel of the swivel, which had been brought on the hill during the night, and now formed the means of defence on his side of the works. Look you, master or captain, thof I questions if ye know the name of a rope, except the one thats to hang ye, theres no need of singing out, as if ye was hailing a deaf man on a topgallant yard. May-hap you think youve got my true name in your sheep skin; but what British sailor finds it worth while to sail in these seas, without a sham on his stern, in case of need, dye see. If you call me Penguillan, you calls me by the name of the man on whose hand, dye see, I hove into daylight; and he was a gentleman ; and thats more than my worst enemy will say of any of the family of Benjamin Stubbs.

Send the warrant round to me, and Ill put in an alias, cried Hiram, from behind his cover.

Put in a jackass, and youll put in yourself, Mister Doo-but-little, shouted Benjamin, who kept squinting along his little iron tube, with great steadiness.

I give you but one moment to yield, cried Richard. Benjamin! Benjamin! this is not the gratitude I expected from you.

I tell you, Richard Jones, said Natty, who dreaded the sheriffs influence over his comrade; though the canister the gal brought be lost, theres powder enough in the cave to lift the rock you stand on. Ill take off my roof if you dont hold your peace.

I think it beneath the dignity of my office to parley further with the prisoners, the sheriff observer to his companion, while they both retired with a precipitancy that Captain Hollister mistook for the signal to advance.

Charge baggonet! shouted the veteran; march!

Although this signal was certainly expected, it took the assailed a little by surprise, and the veteran approached the works, crying, Courage, my brave lads! give them no quarter unless they surrender; and struck a furious blow upward with his sabre, that would have divided the steward into moieties by subjecting him to the process of decapitation, but for the fortunate interference of the muzzle of the swivel. As it was, the gun was dismounted at the critical moment that Benjamin was applying his pipe to the priming, and in consequence some five or six dozen of rifle bullets were projected into the air, in nearly a perpendicular line. Philosophy teaches us that the atmos- phere will not retain lead; and two pounds of the metal, moulded into bullets of thirty to the pound, after describing an ellipsis in their journey, returned to the earth rattling among the branches of the trees directly over the heads of the troops stationed in the rear of their captain. Much of the success of an attack, made by irregular soldiers, depends on the direction in which they are first got in motion. In the present instance it was retrograde, and in less than a minute after the bellowing report of the swivel among the rocks and caverns, the whole weight of the attack from the left rested on the prowess of the single arm of the veteran. Benjamin received a severe contusion from the recoil of his gun, which produced a short stupor, during which period the ex-steward was prostrate on the ground. Captain Hollister availed himself of this circumstance to scramble ever the breastwork and obtain a footing in the bastionfor such was the nature of the fortress, as connected with the cave. The moment the veteran found himself within the works of his enemy, he rushed to the edge of the fortification, and, waving his sabre over his head, shouted: