Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 1).djvu/106

 both in your own name and for your friends, or without serving you, we shall only injure ourselves!"

"Name them."

"The one is to be still as these sleeping-woods, let what will happen; and the other, is to keep the place where we shall take you for ever a secret from all mortal men."

"I will do my utmost to see both these conditions fulfilled."

"Then follow, for we are losing moments that are as precious as the heart's blood to a stricken deer!"

Heyward could distinguish the impatient gesture of the scout, through the increasing shadows of the evening, and moved in his footsteps swiftly towards the place where he had left the remainder of his party. When they rejoined the expecting and anxious females, he briefly acquainted them with the conditions of their new guide, and with the necessity that existed for their hushing every apprehension in instant and serious exertions. Although his alarming communication was