Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/36

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THE LAST OF

mark of Duncan. "He met us hard by, in our outward march to ambush his advance, and scattered us, like driven deer, through the defile to the shores of Horican. Then we rallied behind our fallen trees, and made head against him, under Sir William—who was made Sir William for that very deed—and well did we pay him for the disgrace of the morning! Hundreds of Frenchmen saw the sun that day for the last time; and even their leader, Dieskau himself, fell into our hands, so cut and torn with the lead, that he has gone back to his own country unfit for further acts in war."

" 'Twas a noble repulse!" exclaimed Heyward, in the heat of his youthful ardour; "the fame of it reached us early in our southern army."

"Ay! but it did not end there. I was sent by Major Effingham, at Sir William's own bidding, to out-flank the French, and carry the tidings of their disaster across the portage, to the fort on the Hudson. Just hereaway, where you see the trees rise into a mountain swell, I met a party