y wresting his armed hand from the grasp of the foe, drove
the sharp weapon through his naked bosom to the heart. In the meantime
Heyward had been pressed in a more deadly struggle. His slight sword was
snapped in the first encounter. As he was destitute of any other means
of defence, his safety now depended entirely on bodily strength and
resolution. Though deficient in neither of these qualities, he had met
an enemy every way his equal. Happily, he soon succeeded in disarming
his adversary, whose knife fell on the rock at their feet; and from this
moment it became a fierce struggle, who should cast the other over the
dizzy height into a neighboring cavern of the falls. Every successive
struggle brought them nearer to the verge, where Duncan perceived the
final and conquering effort must be made. Each of the combatants threw
all his energies into that effort, and the result was, that both
tottered on the brink of the precipice. Heyward felt the grasp of the
other at his throat, and saw the grim smile the savage gave, under the
revengeful hope that he hurried his enemy to a fate similar to his own,
as he felt his body slowly yielding to a resistless power, and the young
man experienced the passing agony of such a moment in all its horrors.
At that instant of extreme danger, a dark hand and glancing knife
appeared before him; the Indian released his hold, as the blood flowed
freely from around the several tendons of the wrist; and while Duncan
was drawn backward by the saving arm of Uncas, his charmed eyes were
still riveted on the fierce and disappointed countenance of his foe, who
fell sullenly and disappointed down the irrecoverable precipice.

"To cover! to cover!" cried Hawkeye, who just then had despatched the
enemy; "to cover, for your lives! the work is but half ended!"

The young Mohican gave a shout of triumph, and, followed by Duncan, he
glided up the acclivity they had descended to the combat, and sought the
friendly shelter of the rocks and shrubs.

CHAPTER VIII.

"They linger yet,
Avengers of their native land."

GRAY.

The warning call of the scout was not uttered without occasion. During
the occurrence of the deadly encounter just related, the roar of the
falls was unbroken by any human sound whatever. It would seem that
interest in the result had kept the natives on the opposite shores in
breathless suspense, while the quick evolutions and swift changes in the
position of the com