nd, to be torn asunder by beasts, or to
bleach in the rains, I buried the dead with my own hands, under that
very little hillock where you have placed yourselves; and no bad seat
does it make neither, though it be raised by the bones of mortal men."

Heyward and the sisters arose, on the instant, from the grassy
sepulchre; nor could the two latter, notwithstanding the terrific scenes
they had so recently passed through, entirely suppress an emotion of
natural horror, when they found themselves in such familiar contact with
the grave of the dead Mohawks. The gray light, the gloomy little area of
dark grass, surrounded by its border of brush, beyond which the pines
rose, in breathing silence, apparently, into the very clouds, and the
death-like stillness of the vast forest, were all in unison to deepen
such a sensation.

"They are gone, and they are harmless," continued Hawkeye, waving his
hand, with a melancholy smile, at their manifest alarm: "they'll never
shout the war-whoop nor strike a blow with the tomahawk again! And of
all those who aided in placing them where they lie, Chingachgook and I
only are living! The brothers and family of the Mohican formed our
war-party; and you see before you all that are now left of his race."

The eyes of the listeners involuntarily sought the forms of the Indians,
with a compassionate interest in their desolate fortune. The dark
persons were still to be seen within the shadows of the block-house, the
son listening to the relation of his father with that sort of
intenseness which would be created by a narrative that redounded so much
to the honor of those whose names he had long revered for their courage
and savage virtues.

"I had thought the Delawares a pacific people," said Duncan, "and that
they never waged war in person; trusting the defence of their lands to
those very Mohawks that you slew!"

"'Tis true in part," returned the scout, "and yet, at the bottom, 'tis a
wicked lie. Such a treaty was made in ages gone by, through the
deviltries of the Dutchers, who wished to disarm the natives that had
the best right to the country where they had settled themselves. The
Mohicans, though a part of the same nation, having to deal with the
English, never entered into the silly bargain, but kept to their
manhood; as in truth did the Delawares, when their eyes were opened to
their folly. You see before you a chief of the great Mohican Sagamores!
Once his family could chase their dee