serpent. The head of Chingachgook was resting on a hand, as he
sat musing by himself but the moment he had heard the warning of the
animal whose name he bore, he arose to an upright position, and his dark
eyes glanced swiftly and keenly on every side of him. With his sudden
and, perhaps, involuntary movement, every appearance of surprise or
alarm ended. His rifle lay untouched, and apparently unnoticed, within
reach of his hand. The tomahawk that he had loosened in his belt for the
sake of ease, was even suffered to fall from its usual situation to the
ground, and his form seemed to sink, like that of a man whose nerves
and sinews were suffered to relax for the purpose of rest. Cunningly
resuming his former position, though with a change of hands, as if the
movement had been made merely to relieve the limb, the native awaited
the result with a calmness and fortitude that none but an Indian warrior
would have known how to exercise.

But Heyward saw that while to a less instructed eye the Mohican chief
appeared to slumber, his nostrils were expanded, his head was turned a
little to one side, as if to assist the organs of hearing, and that his
quick and rapid glances ran incessantly over every object within the
power of his vision.

"See the noble fellow!" whispered Hawkeye, pressing the arm of Heyward;
"he knows that a look or a motion might disconsart our schemes, and put
us at the mercy of them imps--"

He was interrupted by the flash and report of a rifle. The air was
filled with sparks of fire, around that spot where the eyes of Heyward
were still fastened, with admiration and wonder. A second look told him
that Chingachgook had disappeared in the confusion. In the meantime, the
scout had thrown forward his rifle, like one prepared for service, and
awaited impatiently the moment when an enemy might rise to view.
But with the solitary and fruitless attempt made on the life of
Chingachgook, the attack appeared to have terminated. Once or twice the
listeners thought they could distinguish the distant rustling of bushes,
as bodies of some unknown description rushed through them; nor was it
long before Hawkeye pointed out the "scampering of the wolves," as they
fled precipitately before the passage of some intruder on their proper
domains. After an impatient and breathless pause, a plunge was heard
in the water, and it was immediately followed by the report of another
rifle.

"There goes Uncas!" said the scout; "the bo