the other hand, the women
broke out of the lodges, with the songs of joy and those of lamentation
so strangely mixed that it might have been difficult to have said which
passion preponderated. None, however, was idle. Some bore their choicest
articles, others their young, and some their aged and infirm, into
the forest, which spread itself like a verdant carpet of bright green
against the side of the mountain. Thither Tamenund also retired, with
calm composure, after a short and touching interview with Uncas; from
whom the sage separated with the reluctance that a parent would quit a
long lost and just recovered child. In the meantime, Duncan saw Alice
to a place of safety, and then sought the scout, with a countenance that
denoted how eagerly he also panted for the approaching contest.

But Hawkeye was too much accustomed to the war song and the enlistments
of the natives, to betray any interest in the passing scene. He merely
cast an occasional look at the number and quality of the warriors, who,
from time to time, signified their readiness to accompany Uncas to
the field. In this particular he was soon satisfied; for, as has been
already seen, the power of the young chief quickly embraced every
fighting man in the nation. After this material point was so
satisfactorily decided, he despatched an Indian boy in quest of
"killdeer" and the rifle of Uncas, to the place where they had deposited
their weapons on approaching the camp of the Delawares; a measure of
double policy, inasmuch as it protected the arms from their own fate,
if detained as prisoners, and gave them the advantage of appearing among
the strangers rather as sufferers than as men provided with means of
defense and subsistence. In selecting another to perform the office of
reclaiming his highly prized rifle, the scout had lost sight of none of
his habitual caution. He knew that Magua had not come unattended, and he
also knew that Huron spies watched the movements of their new enemies,
along the whole boundary of the woods. It would, therefore, have been
fatal to himself to have attempted the experiment; a warrior would have
fared no better; but the danger of a boy would not be likely to commence
until after his object was discovered. When Heyward joined him, the
scout was coolly awaiting the result of this experiment.

The boy, who had been well instructed, and was sufficiently crafty,
proceeded, with a bosom that was swelling with the pride of such a
co