f me, Heyward?" demanded Alice, with jealous
affection. "Surely, he forgot not altogether his little Elsie?"

"That was impossible," returned the young man; "he called you by a
thousand endearing epithets, that I may not presume to use, but to the
justice of which I can warmly testify. Once, indeed, he said--"

Duncan ceased speaking; for while his eyes were riveted on those of
Alice, who had turned towards him with the eagerness of filial
affection, to catch his words, the same strong horrid cry, as before,
filled the air, and rendered him mute. A long, breathless silence
succeeded, during which each looked at the others in fearful expectation
of hearing the sound repeated. At length the blanket was slowly raised,
and the scout stood in the aperture with a countenance whose firmness
evidently began to give way, before a mystery that seemed to threaten
some danger, against which all his cunning and experience might prove of
no avail.

CHAPTER VII.

"They do not sleep.
On yonder cliffs, a grisly band,
I see them sit."

GRAY.

"'Twould be neglecting a warning that is given for our good, to lie hid
any longer," said Hawkeye, "when such sounds are raised in the forest!
The gentle ones may keep close, but the Mohicans and I will watch upon
the rock, where I suppose a major of the 60th would wish to keep us
company."

"Is then our danger so pressing?" asked Cora.

"He who makes strange sounds, and gives them out for man's information,
alone knows our danger. I should think myself wicked, unto rebellion
against his will, was I to burrow with such warnings in the air! Even
the weak soul who passes his days in singing, is stirred by the cry,
and, as he says, is 'ready to go forth to the battle.' If 'twere only a
battle, it would be a thing understood by us all, and easily managed;
but I have heard that when such shrieks are atween heaven and 'arth, it
betokens another sort of warfare!"

"If all our reasons for fear, my friend, are confined to such as proceed
from supernatural causes, we have but little occasion to be alarmed,"
continued the undisturbed Cora; "are you certain that our enemies have
not invented some new and ingenious method to strike us with terror,
that their conquest may become more easy?"

"Lady," returned the scout, solemnly, "I have listened to all the sounds
of the woods for thirty years, as a man will listen, whose life and
death depend on the quickness of his e