he general notice and
commendation it would have received under milder auspices. It had,
however, served to apprise the Delawares of the position and the
intentions of their enemies. Accordingly a party of adventurers, better
suited to the task than the weak though spirited boy, was ordered to
dislodge the skulkers. The duty was soon performed; for most of the
Hurons retired of themselves when they found they had been discovered.
The Delawares followed to a sufficient distance from their own
encampment, and then halted for orders, apprehensive of being led into
an ambush. As both parties secreted themselves, the woods were again as
still and quiet as a mild summer morning and deep solitude could render
them.

The calm but still impatient Uncas now collected his chiefs, and divided
his power. He presented Hawkeye as a warrior, often tried, and always
found deserving of confidence. When he found his friend met with a
favorable reception, he bestowed on him the command of twenty men,
like himself, active, skillful and resolute. He gave the Delawares to
understand the rank of Heyward among the troops of the Yengeese, and
then tendered to him a trust of equal authority. But Duncan declined the
charge, professing his readiness to serve as a volunteer by the side of
the scout. After this disposition, the young Mohican appointed various
native chiefs to fill the different situations of responsibility, and,
the time pressing, he gave forth the word to march. He was cheerfully,
but silently obeyed by more than two hundred men.

Their entrance into the forest was perfectly unmolested; nor did they
encounter any living objects that could either give the alarm, or
furnish the intelligence they needed, until they came upon the lairs of
their own scouts. Here a halt was ordered, and the chiefs were assembled
to hold a "whispering council."

At this meeting divers plans of operation were suggested, though none
of a character to meet the wishes of their ardent leader. Had Uncas
followed the promptings of his own inclinations, he would have led his
followers to the charge without a moment's delay, and put the conflict
to the hazard of an instant issue; but such a course would have been in
opposition to all the received practises and opinions of his countrymen.
He was, therefore, fain to adopt a caution that in the present temper of
his mind he execrated, and to listen to advice at which his fiery
spirit chafed, under the vivid recolle