"God forbid!" exclaimed Heyward. "Surely, we have had enough of blood-shed!"
While he spoke, however, the young soldier seized his rifle, and advancing towards the front, prepared to atone for his venial remissness, by freely exposing his life in defence of those he attended.
" 'Tis some creature of the forest prowling around us in quest of food!" he said, in a whisper, as soon as the low, and apparently, distant sounds, which had startled the Mohicans, reached his own ears.
"Hist!" returned the attentive scout; " 'tis man; even I can now tell his tread, poor as my senses are, when compared to an Indian's! That scampering Huron has fallen in with one of Montcalm's outlying parties, and they have struck upon our trail. I shouldn't like myself to spill more human blood in this spot," he added, looking around with anxiety in his features, at the dim objects by which he was surrounded; "but what must be, must! Lead the horses into the block-house, Uncas; and, friends, do you follow to the same shelter.
