d by a burst from the
lips of the scout, whose tall person was just then seen moving swiftly
toward him, along those dangerous crags, with steps as bold and reckless
as if he possessed the power to move in air. But when the hunter reached
the scene of the ruthless massacre, the ledge was tenanted only by the
dead.

His keen eye took a single look at the victims, and then shot its
glances over the difficulties of the ascent in his front. A form stood
at the brow of the mountain, on the very edge of the giddy height,
with uplifted arms, in an awful attitude of menace. Without stopping to
consider his person, the rifle of Hawkeye was raised; but a rock, which
fell on the head of one of the fugitives below, exposed the indignant
and glowing countenance of the honest Gamut. Then Magua issued from a
crevice, and, stepping with calm indifference over the body of the last
of his associates, he leaped a wide fissure, and ascended the rocks at
a point where the arm of David could not reach him. A single bound would
carry him to the brow of the precipice, and assure his safety. Before
taking the leap, however, the Huron paused, and shaking his hand at the
scout, he shouted:

"The pale faces are dogs! the Delawares women! Magua leaves them on the
rocks, for the crows!"

Laughing hoarsely, he made a desperate leap, and fell short of his mark,
though his hands grasped a shrub on the verge of the height. The form
of Hawkeye had crouched like a beast about to take its spring, and
his frame trembled so violently with eagerness that the muzzle of the
half-raised rifle played like a leaf fluttering in the wind. Without
exhausting himself with fruitless efforts, the cunning Magua suffered
his body to drop to the length of his arms, and found a fragment for his
feet to rest on. Then, summoning all his powers, he renewed the attempt,
and so far succeeded as to draw his knees on the edge of the mountain.
It was now, when the body of his enemy was most collected together,
that the agitated weapon of the scout was drawn to his shoulder. The
surrounding rocks themselves were not steadier than the piece became,
for the single instant that it poured out its contents. The arms of the
Huron relaxed, and his body fell back a little, while his knees still
kept their position. Turning a relentless look on his enemy, he shook
a hand in grim defiance. But his hold loosened, and his dark person was
seen cutting the air with its head downward, for a fle