The Last of the Mohicans | Page 8

made his
arrangements with a deliberation that scorned every appearance of
haste; though his sober lineaments and anxious eye sufficiently
betrayed that he had no very strong professional relish for the, as yet,
untried and dreaded warfare of the wilderness. At length the sun set in a
flood of glory, behind the distant western hills, and as darkness drew its
veil around the secluded spot the sounds of preparation diminished; the
last light finally disappeared from the log cabin of some officer; the
trees cast their deeper shadows over the mounds and the rippling stream,
and a silence soon pervaded the camp, as deep as that which reigned in
the vast forest by which it was environed.

According to the orders of the preceding night, the heavy sleep of the
army was broken by the rolling of the warning drums, whose rattling
echoes were heard issuing, on the damp morning air, out of every vista
of the woods, just as day began to draw the shaggy outlines of some tall
pines of the vicinity, on the opening brightness of a soft and cloudless
eastern sky. In an instant the whole camp was in motion; the meanest
soldier arousing from his lair to witness the departure of his comrades,
and to share in the excitement and incidents of the hour. The simple
array of the chosen band was soon completed. While the regular and
trained hirelings of the king marched with haughtiness to the right of
the line, the less pretending colonists took their humbler position on its
left, with a docility that long practice had rendered easy. The scouts
departed; strong guards preceded and followed the lumbering vehicles
that bore the baggage; and before the gray light of the morning was
mellowed by the rays of the sun, the main body of the combatants
wheeled into column, and left the encampment with a show of high
military bearing, that served to drown the slumbering apprehensions of
many a novice, who was now about to make his first essay in arms.
While in view of their admiring comrades, the same proud front and
ordered array was observed, until the notes of their fifes growing
fainter in distance, the forest at length appeared to swallow up the
living mass which had slowly entered its bosom.
The deepest sounds of the retiring and invisible column had ceased to
be borne on the breeze to the listeners, and the latest straggler had
already disappeared in pursuit; but there still remained the signs of
another departure, before a log cabin of unusual size and
accommodations, in front of which those sentinels paced their rounds,
who were known to guard the person of the English general. At this
spot were gathered some half dozen horses, caparisoned in a manner
which showed that two, at least, were destined to bear the persons of
females, of a rank that it was not usual to meet so far in the wilds of the
country. A third wore trappings and arms of an officer of the staff;
while the rest, from the plainness of the housings, and the traveling
mails with which they were encumbered, were evidently fitted for the
reception of as many menials, who were, seemingly, already waiting
the pleasure of those they served. At a respectful distance from this

unusual show, were gathered divers groups of curious idlers; some
admiring the blood and bone of the high-mettled military charger, and
others gazing at the preparations, with the dull wonder of vulgar
curiosity. There was one man, however, who, by his countenance and
actions, formed a marked exception to those who composed the latter
class of spectators, being neither idle, nor seemingly very ignorant.
The person of this individual was to the last degree ungainly, without
being in any particular manner deformed. He had all the bones and
joints of other men, without any of their proportions. Erect, his stature
surpassed that of his fellows; though seated, he appeared reduced
within the ordinary limits of the race. The same contrariety in his
members seemed to exist throughout the whole man. His head was
large; his shoulders narrow; his arms long and dangling; while his
hands were small, if not delicate. His legs and thighs were thin, nearly
to emaciation, but of extraordinary length; and his knees would have
been considered tremendous, had they not been outdone by the broader
foundations on which this false superstructure of blended human orders
was so profanely reared. The ill-assorted and injudicious attire of the
individual only served to render his awkwardness more conspicuous. A
sky-blue coat, with short and broad skirts and low cape, exposed a long,
thin neck, and longer and thinner legs, to the worst animadversions of
the evil-disposed. His nether garment was a yellow nankeen, closely
fitted to the shape, and