Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 1).djvu/262

 band sprang upon their feet, as one man, and giving utterance to their rage for a single instant, in the most frantic cries, they rushed upon their prisoners in a body, with drawn knives and uplifted tomahawks. Heyward threw himself between the sisters and their enemies, the foremost of whom he grappled with a desperate strength that for a moment checked his violence. This unexpected resistance gave Magua time to interpose, and with rapid enunciation and animated gestures, he drew the attention of the band again to himself. In that language he knew so well how to assume, he diverted his comrades from their instant purpose, and invited them to prolong the misery of their victims. His proposal was received with acclamations, and executed with the swiftness of thought.

Two powerful warriors cast themselves together on Heyward, while another was occupied in securing the less active singing-master. Neither of the captives, however, submitted without a desperate though fruit less struggle. Even David hurled his as sailant to the earth; nor was Heyward