Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1884-01-05
CONTINUED STORY.
LAST OF THE MoHICANS.
j. Feni,nOre Cooper.
CONTINUED from last week.

sturdy woodsman, "'tis the belief of
knaves, and the curse of an honest
man. | can credit that yonder HUI
ron was to fall b. my hand, for with
my own eyes | have seen it; but
nothing short Of being witness will
cause me to think he has met with
any reward, or that Chingachgook,
there, will be condemned at the final
day."
"Iou have no warranty for such
an audacious doctrine, nor any COW
enant to support it." cried David,
who willingly abandoned a contro-
versy, from which he believed neither
profit nor credit was to be derived.
He waited patiently for Hawk-eye to
cease, then lifting his eyes, together
with his voice, he said aloud
81 invite you, friends, to join in
praise for this signal deliverance from
the hands of barbarians and infidels,
to the comfortable and solemn tones
of the tune called northampton"
He next named the page and verse
where the rhymes selected were to be
found, and applied the pitch-pipe to
his lips with the decent gravity that
he had been wont to use in the tenn
pie.
Hawk-eye listened, while he coolly
adjusted his flint and reloaded his
rifle; but the sounds, wanting the
extraneous assistance of scene and
sympathy, failed to awaken his slum-
bering emotions.
When the foresters had distributed
their prizes, the scout announced that
the hour had arrived when it was
necessary to move. Aided by Dun
can and the younger Mohican, the
sisters descended the precipitous
sides of that hill which they had so
lately ascended under so very differ
ent auspices, and whose summit had
so nearly proved the scene of their
massacre. At the foot they found
the Narraganssts browsing the herb
age of the bushes; and having mount
ed, they followed the movements Of
the guide. The journey was, how
ever, short. Hawk-eye, leaving
the blind path that the Hurons had
followed. turned short to his right,
he crossed brook, and halted in a
narrow dell, under the shade of a few
water elms. Their distance from the
base of the fatal hill was but few
rods, and the steeds had been SER
viceable only in crossing the shallow
stream.
The scout and the Indians appear
ed to be faWSSss4 with the sequestsred
place where TbeSnow We're; for they
commenced opening the blue clay,
out Of which clear and sparkling
spring of bright, glancing water,
quickly bubbled. The white man
then looked about him, as though
seeking for some object, which was
not to be found so readily as he ex-
pected.
"Them car'less imps, the Mohawks,
with their Tuscarora and Onondago
brethren, have been here shaking their
thirst" he muttered, "and the vaga-
bonds have thrown away the gourd
This is the way with benefits when
they are bestowed on such disremem-
bering hounds! Here has the Lord
laid his hand, in the midst Of the
bowling wilderness, for their good,
and raised q fountain of water from
the bowels of the 'arth, and see. the
knaves have trodden in the clay, and
deformed the cleanliness of the place,
as though they were beasts instead of
human men,"
Uncas silently extended towards
him the desired gourd, which the
spleen of Hawk-eye had hitherto pre-
vented him from observing, on
branch of an elm. Filling it with
water, he retired short distance, to
a place where the ground was more
firm and dry; here he coolly seated
himself, and after taking long
draught, he commenced a strict ex-
animation of the fragments of food
left by the Hurons, which had hung
in wallet on his arm.
"Thank you lad," he continued,
returning the empty gourd to Uncas;
.'now we will see how these rampaging
Hurons lived, when outlying in am
bushments. Look at this! The var
lets know the better pieces of the