you
think the Sagamore, or Uncas, or even I, who am a man without a cross,
would deliberate about finding a cover in the scrimmage, when an open
body would do no good? For what have the Frenchers reared up their
Quebec, if fighting is always to be done in the clearings?"

"All that you say is very true, my friend," replied Heyward; "still, our
customs must prevent us from doing as you wish."

A volley from the Hurons interrupted the discourse, and as the bullets
whistled about them, Duncan saw the head of Uncas turned, looking back
at himself and Munro. Notwithstanding the nearness of the enemy, and
his own great personal danger, the countenance of the young warrior
expressed no other emotion, as the former was compelled to think, than
amazement at finding men willing to encounter so useless an exposure.
Chingachgook was probably better acquainted with the notions of white
men, for he did not even cast a glance aside from the riveted look his
eye maintained on the object by which he governed their course. A ball
soon struck the light and polished paddle from the hands of the chief,
and drove it through the air, far in the advance. A shout arose from
the Hurons, who seized the opportunity to fire another volley. Uncas
described an arc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe
passed swiftly on, Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing
it on high, he gave the war-whoop of the Mohicans, and then lent his
strength and skill again to the important task.

The clamorous sounds of "Le Gros Serpent!" "La Longue Carabine!" "Le
Cerf Agile!" burst at once from the canoes behind, and seemed to give
new zeal to the pursuers. The scout seized "killdeer" in his left hand,
and elevating it about his head, he shook it in triumph at his enemies.
The savages answered the insult with a yell, and immediately another
volley succeeded. The bullets pattered along the lake, and one even
pierced the bark of their little vessel. No perceptible emotion could
be discovered in the Mohicans during this critical moment, their rigid
features expressing neither hope nor alarm; but the scout again turned
his head, and, laughing in his own silent manner, he said to Heyward:

"The knaves love to hear the sounds of their pieces; but the eye is
not to be found among the Mingoes that can calculate a true range in a
dancing canoe! You see the dumb devils have taken off a man to charge,
and by the smallest measurement that can be allowed, w