Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 3).djvu/38

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
32
THE LAST OF

of their intercourse. Slowly and reluctantly yielding to the necessity, he quitted the place, and mingled with the throng that hovered nigh. The dying fires in the clearing, cast a dim and uncertain light on the dusky figures that were silently stalking to and fro; and, occasionally, a brighter gleam than common glanced into the darkness of the lodge, and exhibited the figure of Uncas, still maintaining its upright attitude above the dead body of the Huron.

A knot of warriors soon entered the place again, and re-issuing, they bore the senseless remains into the adjacent woods. After this solemn termination of the scene, Duncan wandered among the lodges, un questioned and unnoticed, endeavouring to find some trace of her, in whose behalf he incurred the risk he ran. In the present temper of the tribe, it would have been easy to have fled and rejoined his companions, had such a wish crossed his mind. But in addition to the never-ceasing anxiety on account of Alice, a fresher though feebler, interest in the fate of Uncas, assisted to chain him to the spot. He