Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 1).djvu/93

 moment, however, pressed upon him a conviction of the critical situation in which he had suffered his invaluable trust to be involved, through his own fearless confidence. The sun had already disappeared, and the woods, suddenly deprived of his light, were assuming a dusky hue, which keenly reminded him, that the hour the savage usually chose for his most barbarous and remorseless acts of vengeance or hostility was speedily drawing at hand. Stimulated by these quickened apprehensions, he left the scout without reply, who immediately entered into a loud conversation with the stranger that had so unceremoniously enlisted himself in the party of the travellers that morning. In passing his gentler companions, Heyward uttered a few words of encouragement, and was pleased to find that, though fatigued with the exercise of the day, they appeared to entertain no suspicion that their present embarrassment was other than the result of accident. Giving them reason to believe he was merely employed in a con-