Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

If I spare him, Let our nation never turn around. ——Shakespeare① ① Act I, Scene Three. The steep hill on which the Indians chose to rest looked like a man-made conical mound.Such hills are often seen in the valleys of America, but this one is taller and more steep; although its top is as flat as usual, one side of the hill is particularly steep.As a resting place, there was no obvious advantage here, except that its height and terrain were especially suitable for defense, and it was almost impossible to make a surprise attack on it.However, Hayward no longer expected any rescuers to appear, and now that time and distance had made rescue impossible, he had no intention of examining the special situation at hand, but was only thinking of how to comfort and reassure him. Encourage those two delicate female companions.He let the horses graze on the thin twigs and bushes on the top of the hill, while he spread the rest of his dry provisions under the shade of a leafy beech tree.

Notwithstanding their haste, one of the Indians seized the opportunity to shoot a stray fawn with his arrow, and cutting off the better part, he carried it over his shoulders to this resting place.Without resorting to any cooking skills, he immediately gobbled it up with his companions.Only Magua did not participate in this disgusting "banquet", and he sat alone, apparently in deep thought. It was rare for an Indian to refrain from eating when food was readily available, and so it at last attracted the attention of Heyward.The young officer reflected that the Huron must at this moment be considering the most appropriate means of evading the attention of his fellows.In order to be able to advise him, to assist him in carrying out this plan, and to strengthen his seduction, Heyward left the beech tree, pretended to be wandering aimlessly, and came to the place where the fox was sitting. The place.

"Has Magua walked so long facing the sun, and has he not escaped the danger of the Canadians?" he asked, as if there had been a tacit understanding between them, and there were no longer any doubts. "Wouldn't the chief of Fort William Henry be happier to see his daughters sooner? It might harden his heart if he had to wait another night to see them, and the bounty would not be as good as it used to be." Generosity!" ① refers to the French. "Could it be that the white face loves his children less in the morning than in the evening?" the Indian asked coldly.

"Of course not," said Hayward, fearing that he had misspoken, hastily correcting him. "It's true that white people often forget their ancestral graves, and sometimes they can't remember the people they should love and promise to love, but their love for their children will never diminish." "That white-haired chief has such a soft heart, will he always think about the child his wife gave him? He is so hard on his warriors, his eyes are like stones!" "Yes, he was hard on those lazy idlers, but he was a just and kind leader on brave and conscientious fighters. I have seen many parents who dote on their children, but never The child has such a kind father. Magua, when you saw him, this white-haired old man before the warriors, I saw his eyes wet when he talked about the two daughters now in your hands! "

Heyward paused, for he saw a strange expression on the swarthy face of the attentive Indian, but could not guess what it meant.At first, when he heard of that paternal affection, he seemed to think of the bounty promised to him, by which it was secure; but as Hayward went on, His expression, which was originally happy, became so fierce that one could not but worry. This was due to a kind of anger more ominous than greed. "Go." The Huron immediately suppressed his astonishing expression, and said with a face as cold as a dead man. "Go and tell the dark-haired daughter that Magua will speak to her. That father should remember what his boy promised."

Heyward took this to mean that Magua was afraid that the reward promised to him would fail, and hoped that one more person would give him more assurance, so he reluctantly walked back to the place where the two sisters were resting, and took the conversation away. I told Cora roughly. "You have seen what the Indians want," said Hayward at last, as he led her to Magua. "So no matter whether it's gunpowder or blankets, you must promise him without hesitation. For a person like him, the most important thing is shochu; if you can promise to give him a little bit of favor in your own name, it will be even more so." Well. You know quite well what to do about that. Remember, Cora, that your life, and that of Alice, too, depends somewhat on your wit and cunning."

"And your life, Hayward!" "My life is of no consequence. I have sold it to my king. Therefore, any enemy who has the ability can take me as a prisoner. I have no father waiting I, and not many friends, will come to lament my misfortune, which is caused by my youthful lust for honor. Hush, be still! It is here, and the Indian is ahead. Say, Magua, do you want to be with her Here comes the talking lady." The Indian rose slowly to his feet, stood silent and motionless for about a minute or so, then gestured to Hayward to back down, and said coldly: "When a Huron talks to a woman, none of his tribe will listen."

Hayward still stood there, as if unwilling to obey, but Cora smiled calmly and said: "You hear me, Hayward, at least, for the sake of strategy, you too must step back. Go to Alice, and comfort her, and tell her of our hopeful prospect again." She waited until Hayward had gone, and then turned her head, and said to Magua in her dignified voice and gesture of womanhood: "What does the fox want to say to Munro's daughter?" "Listen," Magua said, holding Cora's arm tightly with one hand, as if asking her to pay her utmost attention to what he had to say, to which Cora immediately responded politely. Firmly refusing, he withdrew his arm from his grasp. "Of the red Hurons of the Great Lakes, Magua was born a chief and a warrior; before he saw a white face for the first time, he saw twenty summer suns The snow melted into the creek. He was happy in those days! Then those Canadian fathers came into the woods, and they taught him to drink fire water, and he was a rascal. Hugh The Lun, like a hunted wild ox, drove Magua out of the forest where his fathers had lived. He fled to the shore of the lake, and with him came the City of the Cannon, where he lived by hunting and fishing. but then they drove him into the woods, and fell into the hands of his enemies. A chief born a Huron, turned out to be a warrior of the Mohawk!"

① refers to the French. ②Indians' name for Louisbourg, which belonged to the French at that time, and the city was occupied by the British in July 1758. "I've heard of such things in the past," Cora interrupted, seeing him break off, as if trying to suppress the anger caused by the painful memory. "The fox's head is not made of stone. Is it his fault? Who gave him the fire water? Who turned him into a rascal? It's a man with a white face and skin the same color as you !" "Could it be that the selfish and immoral people in the world have to be responsible for everything just because their skin color is like mine?" Cora said calmly to the excited native.

"No! Magua is a man, not a fool; I know that people like you would never open your mouth to drink that kind of fire water. The God has given you wisdom!" "Then what shall I do or say about your misfortune, or your mistake?" "Listen," said the Indian, returning to his old seriousness, "when the English lords and the French lords went to war, the fox was on the side of the Mohawks against his own tribe. The white faces drove the redskins out of where they hunted, but now, when they fight, the white men lead them. The old chief at Horicon, your father, is The great leader of our troop. He told the Mohawks to do this and that, and made them all obey him. He also made a rule that if an Indian drank fire water and entered his warrior tent, it was An unforgivable thing. Magua opened his mouth foolishly to drink, and this fiery water carried him into Munro's house. What did the white-haired old man do with him? Or let his daughter come Speak."

"He did not forget what he said, and justly punished the offender," answered the fearless girl. "Justice!" repeated the Indian, leering fiercely into her recalcitrant face. "I did a bad thing, and then punished others for it. Is this fair? At that time, Magua couldn't control his mind, which caused him to say and do all the fire! But Monroe didn't Believe it. As a result, the chief of the Huron tribe was tied up in front of all the white-faced soldiers, and was whipped like a dog." Cora remained silent. She didn't know how to justify her father's thoughtless torture in a way that Indians could understand. "Look!" continued Magua, tearing aside the muslin which haphazardly concealed her painted bosom. "These were all knives and bullets--marks a warrior might boast to his kindred; but the white-haired old man, who had so many whips on the back of the Huron chief, looked like Cover them with white man's calico like a woman." "I've always believed," Cora said, "that Indian warriors have great endurance. His spirit doesn't feel and doesn't care about physical pain." "When the Chippawes tied the Magua to the stakes and cut such a cut," said the Indian, pointing to a deep gash, "the Hurons only smiled at them, and They said: 'Only a woman can cut so lightly!' Then his soul seemed to fly up to the clouds! But when he was whipped by Gallo, his soul was like a birch tree. Hugh The soul of the Renren will never become stupefied, it will never forget all this!" ① Also known as the Ojibwe, a large tribe of North American Indians, living in the Lake Superior area. "But it can be appeased. If my father ever wronged you in this way, you will show him by giving him back his daughter that an Indian can forgive others. Hurtful. You have heard Major Hayward tell you..." Magua shook her head, and would not allow her to proceed with those proposals which he despised. "Then what do you want?" Cora went on, after an embarrassing silence; she had to admit that Hayward, who was too optimistic and generous, had suffered cruelly from the cunning native. tricked. "What the Hurons like is - repay kindness with kindness, and revenge with vengeance!" "So, you want to take revenge on Meng Luo's weak daughter for hurting you. Why can't you show more manliness and fight him face to face like a warrior?" "The arms of the white faces are long, and their knives are too sharp!" the Indian replied with a vicious smirk, "Now that the soul of the white-haired old man is in the hands of the fox, why should he go to his warriors?" What about the hail of bullets?" "Tell me what you plan to do, Magua," Cora said calmly, trying to suppress herself, "are you going to take us captives into the forest, or do you have some more sinister plan?" Is there no reward, or any other way, to lessen your wounds and soften your heart? At least, you must let go of my weak sister, and add all your revenge to me Save her life for your wealth, and satisfy your revenge with my own sacrifice. Losing two daughters at the same time may send the elderly man to the grave. That, Diao Where is the fox going to ask for compensation?" "Listen," continued the Indian, "if the dark-haired girl will swear by the great god of her forefathers that she will tell what she says, the blue-eyed girl can go back to the Horican, Tell the old man what happened here." "What do I promise to promise?" asked Cora; still with her feminine dignity she maintained a mysterious edge over the menacing native. "When Magua left his kindred, his wife was given to other chiefs. Now he is reconciled with the Hurons, and is going back to his ancestral grave on the shore of the Great Lake, and he will The English chief's daughter went with him, and lived all her life in his hut." Such a request undoubtedly made Cora extremely disgusted, but despite this, she tried her best to suppress the anger in her heart, and without showing any weakness, she replied calmly: "What joy can Magua get from wanting a wife he doesn't love, who is of a different race and color, to live in his own house? I think it's better to take Monroe's money and exchange his gifts for A Huron girl's heart as well." The Indian was silent for a while without answering, but his terrible eyes were fixed on Cora's face with such fascination that Cora dropped his eyes in shame.This was the first time she realized that his expression was unbearable for any chaste woman.And just as Cora trembled with dread of hearing his still more dreadful demands, Magua said again in that malicious voice: "He knows where to find a woman to bear his pain when the wound on Hugh's back burns. Munro's daughter should fetch water for him, hoe corn, and burn venison. That white-haired old man, his body can sleep beside his cannon, but his mind rests on the tip of the fox's knife." "Devil! You really deserve your cunning and treacherous name!" Out of righteous indignation as a daughter, Cora couldn't bear it any longer, and loudly reprimanded her. "Only the devil could conceive such a vicious vengeance! But you overestimate your own abilities! Yes, it is Munro's heart that is in your hands, but it will make your evil intentions All in vain!" The Indian just laughed wickedly at this bold rebuke, without any sign of changing his mind.Then he gestured to her to go away, as if the meeting was over.Although Cora regretted that she was too impatient just now, she had no choice but to turn around and go back, because Magua left here immediately after speaking, and walked towards the group of greedy companions.Hayward, who had been watching the conversation with concern from a distance, and seeing Cora returning, hastened to the agitated girl to inquire about the outcome of the conversation.However, Cora avoided answering positively because she did not want to arouse Alice's fear. Her anxious eyes were fixed on every move of the Indian, and only the expression on her face showed that her negotiations were not successful. success.Cora also avoided answering Alice's eager questioning about the future. She just held her in her arms, pointed at the group of Indians with uncontrollable anxiety, and muttered in a low voice: "Look, look, you can read our fate in their faces. We'll see, we'll see!" Cora's mannerisms and choking voice, more contagious than any words, quickly drew everyone's attention to a place that was also important to Cora herself, so she watched nervously. . When Magua came up to the group of Indians, they had devoured the disgusting food and were lying on the ground lazily resting with their arms stretched out, so he assumed the dignity of the chief Stance, and start talking.As soon as the other Indians heard him speak, they immediately stood up and made a gesture of respect.Magua spoke the native tongue, and the captives, though the natives' prudence kept them within the range of the axe, could only speak with the customary meaning of his Indian speech. He made a long gesture to guess the basic meaning of his lecture. At the beginning, Magua's voice and gestures were calm and unhurried, and when his opening remarks had successfully attracted the attention of his companions, Heyward saw him pointing from time to time in the direction of the great lake. He must have been talking about the land of their ancestors, and the long past of their tribe, he thought.The audience applauded frequently, uttered expressive shouts of "Ho! Ho!", and exchanged winks in agreement with what he said.Tricky Fox seized this favorable opportunity with great tact, and proceeded to tell how they had left the wide fields and happy villages to come the long and hard way to fight the enemies for their Canadian father.He listed the names of the heroes and fighters in this team, some of their achievements, their contributions to their own tribe, their traumas, and the number of scalps they peeled off.Whenever he mentioned any of those present (and the cunning Indian did not miss any of them), the swarthy face of the man who was praised gleamed with joy and complacency; , Use various gestures of praise and approval to emphasize the reliability of what you say.Later, his voice deepened, losing the high pitch and enthusiasm with which he listed successes and victories.He spoke of Glenn Falls, of the impenetrable rocky isle's position, of its grottoes, and of its innumerable rapids and whirlpools.Then he said "Lance," and at the name all the Indians gave a long shriek of hatred, and Magua paused until the last echo came from the forest below.He pointed to the captured young officer again, and then mentioned the death of their favorite soldier, who had thrown him into the abyss by himself.He not only mentioned the fate of the warrior who was hanging in mid-air and made everyone feel terrified, but also re-described the terrible situation when he was hung on the tree branch, his tenacious spirit and the process of sacrifice. .Finally, he hurriedly told one by one the circumstances of the subsequent deaths of several of their other accomplices, and praised them for their bravery and their excellent qualities.After narrating this series of events, his voice changed, and turned into a mournful and mournful tone, and there was even a sense of music in the low throat.Now he spoke of the wives and children of the victims, of their poverty, of their physical and spiritual misery, of their future, and, lastly, of their unrevengeable hatred.Then, he suddenly used all his strength, raised his voice, and summed up his words in a questioning tone: "Could the Hurons be pigs and dogs to bear this? Who can tell Manogua's wife that her husband's scalp has been fed to fish, but his people have not avenged him! Dare to go to Warsaw Huatimi’s mother empty-handed—what about that contemptuous woman? When the elders ask us for scalps, how do we answer? We don’t even get a single hair from the white people, so what do we give them! The women will point our noses at us. It is a discredit to the name of the Hurons, and we must cleanse it with the blood of our enemies!" A howl broke out among the Hurons, and drowned Magua's speech, as if it were not just a small company now in this wood, but a whole tribe.During the above-mentioned speech, the few captives who watched attentively could clearly see the success of the speaker from the changes in the expressions on the faces of the audience.They also expressed sympathy and sorrow when he talked about his sadness, they firmly supported his propositions, and they responded to the wild shouts of the natives for his bold words.Their eyes became firm and stern as he spoke of their bravery.Anger lit up in everyone's eyes when he mentioned their trauma.When he spoke of the taunts and ridicule of the women, they bowed their heads in shame.And when he pointed out the means of vengeance, it struck at a chord that would quiver in these Indians.Now when they heard that there was a way of revenge, everyone jumped up from the ground.They vented their fury with the wildest cries, and one by one drew their knives and raised their axes, and all fell upon the captive.Hayward rushed forward and stood upright in front of the two sisters, desperately blocking the person who was rushing in the front, temporarily curbing their ferocious arrogance.This unexpected resistance gave Magua just time to mediate.He made quick and definite gestures, asking everyone to pay more attention to him.Using the same rhetoric he was so good at, he changed his companions from what they were about to do, and he told them to torture the prisoners slowly, so that they would suffer more.His proposal was applauded by his companions, who immediately began to follow his way. Two strong-bodied warriors rushed straight at Heyward, while another Huron came to bind the inflexible Chant-Master.Both of them, however, succumbed after a desperate (though futile) struggle.Even David threw his adversary to the ground; and as for Heyward, it was not until David was bound, and the third Huron came to his aid, that all three seized him.Then he was fastened to a little tree, the branch of which Magua had just referred to when he spoke of the Huron who fell from the tree and fell to his death.Only when the young officer's heart regained his composure did he painfully see the fact before him that all his companions had suffered the same fate as himself.On his right was Cora, bound like him, pale and anxious, but her determined gaze was still watching the enemy's every move.On his left was Alice, tied to a pine tree, trembling in all limbs, and only the branches tied to her kept her frail body from falling.She folded her hands upon her breast, and prayed, but instead of looking up to the only heaven that could deliver them at this moment, she turned her eyes unconsciously to Hayward's face with childlike confidence.After a struggle, David became silent in this unprecedented situation. He was seriously considering whether the unusual thing that happened now was in line with politeness. The Hurons' revenge has now taken a new course.They prepared to carry out this policy by torturing the captives with the ingenious torture which they had practiced for centuries.Some of them found cypress branches and piled them into firewood piles; someone was splitting pine logs into small pieces, ready to be burned and used to stab the captives; others bent down the branches of two small trees, To attach Heyward's arms to it, let him hang between the springing branches.Magua, on the other hand, conceived a more insidious and vicious method of amusing. While his rough companions were making these famous torture preparations in front of the captives, the Foxy Fox came up to Cora, with a fierce look on his face, and pointed out to her the impending doom. "Hmph!" he went on, "what is Munro's daughter going to do? Her head is too noble, and there is no pillow for it to sleep in the fox's hut; she would rather let her head roll on this hill." To play with the wolves? Her bosom won't feed the Hurons, and she'll see the Indians spit on her bosom!" "What did the devil say to you?" asked Heyward, startled. "Nothing?" Cora answered firmly. "He's a savage, an ignorant savage, and he doesn't know what he's doing. Let us pray for repentance and forgiveness for him before we die." "Forgiveness?" the fierce Huron, annoyed, misunderstood her words, repeated, and echoed: "The memory of an Indian is longer than the arm of a white face, but his pity is longer than that of a white face." Less justice! Tell me, will I give back her yellow hair to her father? Will you go with Magua to the great lake, and fetch water for him, and bake cornbread for him?" Cora, unable to suppress her disgust any longer, gestured for him to go away. "Go away!" she said, and her stern voice stopped the Indian's brutality for a moment. "You put hatred in my prayers. You don't stand between me and God!" However, Cora's influence on the scholar's reprimand was quickly forgotten by him. He pointed at Alice and said sarcastically: "Look! The baby is crying! She is too young to die at such a young age! Better send her to Monroe, and comb his gray hair and keep his old one." Fate!" Cora couldn't help but look at her young sister, and she saw the pleading look in her eyes, which showed a desire to live. "What is he talking about, Cora dear?" Alice asked tremblingly. "Did he say he was sending me to our father?" Cora looked at her sister for a moment, her face showing strong conflicting emotions.Finally, when she spoke, although her voice had lost its original rich and calm tone, it still had the tenderness of a mother's love. "Alice," said she, "this Huron said he would spare us both; no, not only us, but he promised to release Duncan, our dear Duncan, to go back and see us again like you My relatives and friends, our father—our sad, bereaved father, if only I would throw away my stubborn self-esteem and agree to..." Her voice was choked, and she crossed her fingers, looking up at the sky, as if she was in great pain begging the Almighty Lord to give her wisdom. "Go on," cried Alice, "agree to what, dear Cora? Oh, he made it to me! To save you, to please our old father, to If it can restore Duncan's freedom, I am willing to die!" "Death!" Cora repeated in a calmer, more determined voice. "That's easier than that! But perhaps it's not much more difficult than that. He wants me..." She went on, her voice lowered by the humiliation of the request, "he wants me Go with him into the wilderness, to the land of the Hurons, and make me live there forever . Dearest, my dearest sister! And you, Major Hayward, my brain is failing. Give me some advice. Must life be bought at such a sacrifice? Alice, Are you willing to accept my life at such a price? And you, Duncan, please help me, tell me what I should do, I will listen to you.” "Can I agree?" replied the young officer, shocked and indignant. "Cora! Cora! You're kidding our misery! Don't mention that damned condition again. It's worse than dying a thousand times!" "Your answer will be like this, I expected it!" cried Cora, her cheeks flushed, and her dark eyes sparkled with feminine tenderness again. "What about my Alice? For her I would sacrifice everything without complaint." Though Hayward and Cora listened with agonized attention, she could not hear her reply.It seemed as if her delicate, sensitive body had shrunk after listening to such conditions.Her arms were limply pulled down, and her fingers were slightly convulsed; her head was drooping on her chest, as if she was hanging from a tree, and she looked like a beautiful symbol of a traumatized woman. , not a little angry, but still maintained a keen sense, but after a while, her head began to shake slowly, expressing her firm disapproval. "No, no, no! I'd rather die with you as we live!" "Then let you die!" cried Magua, throwing the tomahawk violently at the helpless girl.Originally he thought this girl was the most cowardly among them, but now she suddenly became so firm, he could no longer restrain the anger in his heart, and hated her so much that he gritted his teeth.The tomahawk flew past Heyward's face, snapping off some of Alice's flying hair and cutting into the tree trunk above her head.Heyward was so furious at this sight that he gave up everything else.With all his strength, he struggled hard, broke the branches that bound him, and threw himself on a Huron who shouted and was about to throw his battle-axe after Magua.Then they writhed, and both fell to the ground.The Huron's naked body made it impossible for Heyward to catch him. He broke free from Heyward's grasp, turned over and stood up, knelt on Heyward's chest with one knee, and pushed down with all his strength. press.Hayward had already seen his hunting knife flashing in the air, but at this moment, he suddenly heard a "shh" in his ear, and almost at the same time, there was a loud gunshot.Heyward felt the weight suddenly loosen from his chest, and saw that the ferocious expression on his opponent's face changed to a blank and savage look, and he fell dead on the dead leaves beside him.