Page 333 - THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

The Last of the Mohicans

for that purpose, when another sound drew his attention,
and once more arrested his footsteps. It was a low and
almost inaudible movement of the water, and was
succeeded by a grating of pebbles one against the other. In

a moment he saw a dark form rise, as it were, out of the
lake, and steal without further noise to the land, within a
few feet of the place where he himself stood. A rifle next
slowly rose between his eyes and the watery mirror; but
before it could be discharged his own hand was on the
lock.
‘Hugh!’ exclaimed the savage, whose treacherous aim
was so singularly and so unexpectedly interrupted.
Without making any reply, the French officer laid his
hand on the shoulder of the Indian, and led him in
profound silence to a distance from the spot, where their
subsequent dialogue might have proved dangerous, and
where it seemed that one of them, at least, sought a
victim. Then throwing open his cloak, so as to expose his
uniform and the cross of St. Louis which was suspended at
his breast, Montcalm sternly demanded:
‘What means this? Does not my son know that the
hatchet is buried between the English and his Canadian
Father?’

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