No honest man will deny it, said the scout, a little nettled at the implied distrust of his explanation of
the mystery of the tides; and I grant that it is true on the small scale, and where the land is level. But
everything depends on what scale you look at things. Now, on the small scale, the 'arth is level; but on
the large scale it is round. In this manner, pools and ponds, and even the great fresh-water lakes, may
be stagnant, as you and I both know they are, having seen them; but when you come to spread water
over a great tract, like the sea, where the earth is round, how in reason can the water be quiet? You
might as well expect the river to lie still on the brink of those black rocks a mile above us, though your
own ears tell you that it is tumbling over them at this very moment.
If unsatisfied by the philosophy of his companion, the Indian was far too dignified to betray his unbelief.
He listened like one who was convinced, and resumed his narrative in his former solemn manner.
We came from the place where the sun is hid at night, over great plains where the buffaloes live, until
we reached the big river. There we fought the Alligewi, till the ground was red with their blood. From the
banks of the big river to the shores of the salt lake, there was none to meet us. The Maquas followed
at a distance. We said the country should be ours from the place where the water runs up no longer on
this stream, to a river twenty sun's journey toward the summer. We drove the Maquas into the woods
with the bears. They only tasted salt at the licks; they drew no fish from the great lake; we threw them the
bones.
All this I have heard and believe, said the white man, observing that the Indian paused; but it was long
before the English came into the country.
A pine grew then where this chestnut now stands. The first pale faces who came among us spoke no
English. They came in a large canoe, when my fathers had buried the tomahawk with the red men around
them. Then, Hawkeye, he continued, betraying his deep emotion, only by permitting his voice to fall to
those low, guttural tones, which render his language, as spoken at times, so very musical; then, Hawkeye,
we were one people, and we were happy. The salt lake gave us its fish, the wood its deer, and the air
its birds. We took wives who bore us children; we worshipped the Great Spirit; and we kept the Maquas
beyond the sound of our songs of triumph.
Know you anything of your own family at that time? demanded the white. But you are just a man, for
an Indian; and as I suppose you hold their gifts, your fathers must have been brave warriors, and wise
men at the council-fire.
My tribe is the grandfather of nations, but I am an unmixed man. The blood of chiefs is in my veins,
where it must stay forever. The Dutch landed, and gave my people the fire-water; they drank until the
heavens and the earth seemed to meet, and they foolishly thought they had found the Great Spirit. Then
they parted with their land. Foot by foot, they were driven back from the shores, until I, that am a chief
and a Sagamore, have never seen the sun shine but through the trees, and have never visited the graves
of my fathers.
Graves bring solemn feelings over the mind, returned the scout, a good deal touched at the calm suffering
of his companion; and they often aid a man in his good intentions; though, for myself, I expect to leave
my own bones unburied, to bleach in the woods, or to be torn asunder by the wolves. But where are to
be found those of your race who came to their kin in the Delaware country, so many summers since?
Where are the blossoms of those summers! - fallen, one by one; so all of my family departed, each in
his turn, to the land of spirits. I am on the hilltop and must go down into the valley; and when Uncas
follows in my footsteps there will no longer be any of the blood of the Sagamores, for my boy is the last
of the Mohicans.
Uncas is here, said another voice, in the same soft, guttural tones, near his elbow; who speaks to Uncas?