fingers, to tear asunder the twigs which confined the person of her sister. Any other than a monster
would have relented at such an act of generous devotion to the best and purest affection; but the breast
of the Huron was a stranger to sympathy. Seizing Cora by the rich tresses which fell in confusion about
her form, he tore her from her frantic hold, and bowed her down with brutal violence to her knees. The
savage drew the flowing curls through his hand, and raising them on high with an outstretched arm, he
passed the knife around the exquisitely molded head of his victim, with a taunting and exulting laugh.
But he purchased this moment of fierce gratification with the loss of the fatal opportunity. It was just
then the sight caught the eye of Uncas. Bounding from his footsteps he appeared for an instant darting
through the air and descending in a ball he fell on the chest of his enemy, driving him many yards from
the spot, headlong and prostrate. The violence of the exertion cast the young Mohican at his side. They
arose together, fought, and bled, each in his turn. But the conflict was soon decided; the tomahawk of
Heyward and the rifle of Hawkeye descended on the skull of the Huron, at the same moment that the
knife of Uncas reached his heart.
The battle was now entirely terminated with the exception of the protracted struggle between Le Renard
Subtil and Le Gros Serpent. Well did these barbarous warriors prove that they deserved those significant
names which had been bestowed for deeds in former wars. When they engaged, some little time was
lost in eluding the quick and vigorous thrusts which had been aimed at their lives. Suddenly darting
on each other, they closed, and came to the earth, twisted together like twining serpents, in pliant and
subtle folds. At the moment when the victors found themselves unoccupied, the spot where these experienced
and desperate combatants lay could only be distinguished by a cloud of dust and leaves, which moved
from the center of the little plain toward its boundary, as if raised by the passage of a whirlwind. Urged
by the different motives of filial affection, friendship and gratitude, Heyward and his companions rushed
with one accord to the place, encircling the little canopy of dust which hung above the warriors. In vain
did Uncas dart around the cloud, with a wish to strike his knife into the heart of his father's foe; the threatening
rifle of Hawkeye was raised and suspended in vain, while Duncan endeavored to seize the limbs of the
Huron with hands that appeared to have lost their power. Covered as they were with dust and blood, the
swift evolutions of the combatants seemed to incorporate their bodies into one. The death-like looking
figure of the Mohican, and the dark form of the Huron, gleamed before their eyes in such quick and
confused succession, that the friends of the former knew not where to plant the succoring blow. It is
true there were short and fleeting moments, when the fiery eyes of Magua were seen glittering, like
the fabled organs of the basilisk through the dusty wreath by which he was enveloped, and he read by
those short and deadly glances the fate of the combat in the presence of his enemies; ere, however, any
hostile hand could descend on his devoted head, its place was filled by the scowling visage of Chingachgook.
In this manner the scene of the combat was removed from the center of the little plain to its verge. The
Mohican now found an opportunity to make a powerful thrust with his knife; Magua suddenly relinquished
his grasp, and fell backward without motion, and seemingly without life. His adversary leaped on his
feet, making the arches of the forest ring with the sounds of triumph.
Well done for the Delawares! victory to the Mohicans! cried Hawkeye, once more elevating the butt of
the long and fatal rifle; a finishing blow from a man without a cross will never tell against his honor, nor
rob him of his right to the scalp.
But at the very moment when the dangerous weapon was in the act of descending, the subtle Huron
rolled swiftly from beneath the danger, over the edge of the precipice, and falling on his feet, was seen
leaping, with a single bound, into the center 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 Mingoes; 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