y from beneath the danger,
over the edge of the precipice, and falling on his feet, was seen
leaping, with a single bound, into the centre of a thicket of low
bushes, which clung along its sides. The Delawares, who had believed
their enemy dead, uttered their exclamation of surprise, and were
following with speed and clamor, like hounds in open view of the deer,
when a shrill and peculiar cry from the scout instantly changed their
purpose, and recalled them to the summit of the hill.

"'Twas like himself," cried the inveterate forester, whose prejudices
contributed so largely to veil his natural sense of justice in all
matters which concerned the Mingos; "a lying and deceitful varlet as he
is. An honest Delaware now, being fairly vanquished, would have lain
still, and been knocked on the head, but these knavish Maquas cling to
life like so many cats-o'-the-mountain. Let him go--let him go; 'tis but
one man, and he without rifle or bow, many a long mile from his French
commerades; and, like a rattler that has lost his fangs, he can do no
further mischief, until such time as he, and we too, may leave the
prints of our moccasins over a long reach of sandy plain. See, Uncas,"
he added, in Delaware, "your father is flaying the scalps already. It
may be well to go round and feel the vagabonds that are left, or we may
have another of them loping through the woods, and screeching like a jay
that has been winged."

[Illustration: _Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_

THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST

_The battle was now entirely terminated, with the exception of the
protracted struggle between Le Renard Subtil and Le Gros Serpent_]

So saying, the honest, but implacable scout, made the circuit of the
dead, into whose senseless bosoms he thrust his long knife, with as much
coolness as though they had been so many brute carcasses. He had,
however, been anticipated by the elder Mohican, who had already torn the
emblems of victory from the unresisting heads of the slain.

But Uncas, denying his habits, we had almost said his nature, flew with
instinctive delicacy, accompanied by Heyward, to the assistance of the
females, and quickly releasing Alice, placed her in the arms of Cora. We
shall not attempt to describe the gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of
events which glowed in the bosoms of the sisters, who were thus
unexpectedly restored to life and to each other. Their thanksgivings
were deep and silent; the offerings of their gent