James Fenimore Cooper

“ Grant was seen clinging to the side of the mountain, and striving to reach the place where they stood. Oliver sprang to his assistance, and by their united efforts the worthy divine was soon placed safely among them.
"How came you added to our number?" cried Edwards. "Is the hill alive with people at a time like this?" ”

“ I have been by too many death-beds, not to see that the hand of the tyrant is laid on this old warrior. Oh! how consoling it is to know that he has not rejected the offered mercy in the hour of his strength and of worldly temptations! ”

“ Elizabeth took from the hands of Edwards the liquor which he offered and then motioned to be left again to herself.
The youth turned at her bidding, and observed Natty kindly assiduous around the person of Mohegan. When their eyes met, the hunter said sorrowfully:
"His time has come, lad; see it in his eyes — when an Indian fixes his eye, he means to go but to one place; and what the wilful creatures put their minds on, they're sure to do." ”

“ No — no — he trusts only to the Great Spirit of the savages, and to his own good deeds. He thinks, like all his people, that he is to be young agin, and to hunt, and be happy to the end of etarnity. its pretty much the same with all colors, parson. I could never bring myself to think that I shall meet with these hounds, or my piece, in another world; though the thought of leaving them forever sometimes brings hard feelings over me, and makes me cling to life with a greater craving than beseems three-Score-and-ten. ”

“ The offspring of a race of heathens, he has in truth been 'as a brand plucked from the burning.'"
"No, no," returned Natty, who alone stood with him by the side of the dying warrior; "it is no burning that ails him, though his Indian feelings made him scorn to move, unless it be the burning of man's wicked thoughts for near fourscore years; but it's natur' giving out in a chasm that’s run too long. — Down with ye, Hector! down, I say! Flesh Isn't iron, that a man can live forever, and see his kith and kin driven to a far country, and he left to mourn, with none to keep him company." ”

“ He looks on the valley; he looks on the water; he looks in the hunting-grounds — but he sees no Delawares. Every one has a white skin. My fathers say, from the far-off land, Come. My women, my young warriors, my tribe, say, Come. The Great Spirit says, Come. Let Mohegan die."
"But you forget your friend," cried Edwards.
"'Tis useless to talk to an Indian with the death-fit on him, lad," interrupted Natty, who seized the strips of the blanket, and with wonderful dexterity strapped the passive chieftain to his own back ”

“ Where shall we go next?"
"Why, on the platform of rock over the cave, to be sure; you will be safe enough there, or we’ll go Into It, if you be so minded." The young man started, and appeared agitated; but, Looking around him with an anxious eye, said quickly:
"Shalt we be safe on the rock? cannot the fire reach us there, too?"
"Can’t the boy see?" said Natty, with the coolness of one accustomed to the kind of danger he had just encountered. ”

“ He is old and stiff, and you have made the game so scarce and shy, that better shots than him find it hard to get a livelihood. Now he thinks he shall travel where it will always be good hunting ; Where no wicked or unjust Indians can go; and where he shall meet all his tribe together agin. There’s not much loss in that, to a man whose hands are hardly fit for basket-making. ”

“ In order to estimate the probability of such an event, it is necessary to remember the effects of a long drought in that climate and the abundance of dead wood which is found in a forest like that described, The fires in the American forests frequently rage to such an extent as to produce a sensible effect on the atmosphere at a distance of fifty miles. Houses, barns, and fences are quite commonly swept away in their course. ”

“ She’s on the Vision, and that's a sheet of fire agin' this. Child, if ye love the dear one, and hope to find a friend when ye need it most, to the village, and give the alarm. The men are used to fighting fire, and there may be a chance left, Fly! I bid ye fly! nor stop even for breath."
The Leather-Stocking had no sooner uttered this injunction, than he disappeared in the bushes, and, when last seen by Louisa, was rushing up the mountain, with a speed that none but those who were accustomed to the toil could attain.
"Have I found ye!" the old man exclaimed, when he burst out of the smoke ”