Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 1).djvu/161

 Cora; when he had reached the mouth of the cavern, immediately arresting the steps of the youth. He turned and beheld the speaker, whose rich colour had changed to a deadly paleness, and whose lip quivered with her emotion, gazing after him, with an expression of interest which immediately recalled him to her side. "Remember, Duncan, how necessary your safety is to our own—how you bear a father's sacred trust—how much depends on your discretion and care—in short," she added, while the tell-tale blood stole over her features, crimsoning her very temples, "how very deservedly dear you are to all of the name of Munro."

"If any thing could add to my own base love of life," said Heyward, suffering his unconscious eyes to wander to the youthful form of the silent Alice; "it would be so kind an assurance. As major of the 60th, our honest host will tell you I must take my share of the fray; but our task will be easy; it is merely to keep these blood-hounds at bay for a few hours."

Without waiting for any reply, he tore himself from the presence of the sisters,