Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/44

 fashions, by the help of Providence, without which it may not be done at all!"

"Name them quickly, for time presses."

"One would be, to dismount the gentle ones, and let their beasts range the plain; by sending the Mohicans in front, we might then cut a lane through their sentries, and enter the fort over the dead bodies."

"It will not do—it will not do!" interrupted the generous Heyward; "a soldier might force his way in this manner, but never with such a convoy."

" 'Twould be, indeed, a bloody path for such tender feet to wade in!" returned the equally reluctant scout, "but I thought it befitting my manhood to name the thing. We must then turn on our trail, and get without the line of their look-outs, when we will bend short to the west, and enter the mountains, where I can hide you, so that all the devil's hounds in Montcalm's pay would be thrown off the scent, for months to come."

"Let it be done," returned the impatient young man, "and that instantly."

Further words were unnecessary; for