The Last of The Mohicans - James Fenimore Coope

THE LAST OF THE
MOHICANS
Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,

GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation
James Fenimore Cooper
PSAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT is a registered
trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE, AP and
Advanced Placement are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither
sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management
Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT is a
registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses this
product. All rights reserved.
The Last of the Mohicans
Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation
James Fenimore Cooper
PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered
trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and
Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither
sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management
Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a
registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses
this product. All rights reserved.
ICON CLASSICS
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The Last of the Mohicans: Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®, GMAT®, and
AP® English Test Preparation
This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005

Printed in the United States of America.
Copyright ©2005 by ICON Group International, Inc.

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PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the
National Merit Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book;
SAT® is a registered trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses
this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the
Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT® is a
registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither
affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law
School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights
reserved.
ISBN 0-497-25277-5
iii
Contents
PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR .......................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................ 3
CHAPTER 1 ...................................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER 4 .................................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER 5 .................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 6 .................................................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER 7 .................................................................................................................... 71
CHAPTER 8 .................................................................................................................... 83
CHAPTER 9 .................................................................................................................... 95
CHAPTER 10................................................................................................................. 105
CHAPTER 11................................................................................................................. 119
CHAPTER 12................................................................................................................. 133
CHAPTER 13................................................................................................................. 149
CHAPTER 14................................................................................................................. 161
CHAPTER 15................................................................................................................. 177
CHAPTER 16................................................................................................................. 191
CHAPTER 17................................................................................................................. 205
CHAPTER 18................................................................................................................. 221
CHAPTER 19................................................................................................................. 235
CHAPTER 20................................................................................................................. 249
CHAPTER 21................................................................................................................. 263
CHAPTER 22................................................................................................................. 275
CHAPTER 23................................................................................................................. 289
CHAPTER 24................................................................................................................. 303
CHAPTER 25................................................................................................................. 317
CHAPTER 26................................................................................................................. 331
CHAPTER 27................................................................................................................. 343
CHAPTER 28................................................................................................................. 355
CHAPTER 29................................................................................................................. 367
CHAPTER 30................................................................................................................. 381
iv
CHAPTER 31................................................................................................................. 395
CHAPTER 32................................................................................................................. 405
CHAPTER 33................................................................................................................. 421
GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................... 435
James Fenimore Cooper 1
PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR
Designed for school districts, educators, and students seeking to maximize performance on
standardized tests, Webster’s paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently
assigned readings in English courses. By using a running thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this
edition of The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper was edited for students who are
actively building their vocabularies in anticipation of taking PSAT®, SAT®, AP® (Advanced
Placement®), GRE®, LSAT®, GMAT® or similar examinations.1
Webster’s edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of
synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in
other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic
words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are “difficult,
and often encountered” in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many are provided
for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language,
and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word’s meaning within
context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not
already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it
has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the
book; Synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster’s Online Dictionary.
Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-

dictionary.org. Please send suggestions to websters@icongroupbooks.com
The Editor
Webster’s Online Dictionary
www.websters-online-dictionary.org
1 PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered
trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and
Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither
sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management
Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a
registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses
this product. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
It is believed that the scene of this tale, and most of the information necessary
to understand its allusions, are rendered sufficiently obvious to the reader in the
text itself, or in the accompanying notes. Still there is so much obscurity in the
Indian traditions, and so much confusion in the Indian names, as to render some
explanation useful.%
Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so express it, greater
antithesis of character, than the native warrior of North America. In war, he is
daring, boastful, cunning, ruthless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in peace, just,
generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest, and commonly chaste.
These are qualities, it is true, which do not distinguish all alike; but they are so
far the predominating traits of these remarkable people as to be characteristic.
It is generally believed that the Aborigines of the American continent have an
Asiatic origin. There are many physical as well as moral facts which corroborate
this opinion, and some few that would seem to weigh against it.
The color of the Indian, the writer believes, is peculiar to himself, and while
his cheekbones have a very striking indication of a Tartar origin, his eyes have
not. Climate may have had great influence on the former, but it is difficult to see
how it can have produced the substantial difference which exists in the latter.
The imagery of the Indian, both in his poetry and in his oratory, is oriental;
Thesaurus
boastful: (adj, v) braggart; (adj) color: (n, v) flush, blush, tint, tinge, undermine, cancel.
pompous, arrogant, proud, vaunting, paint, stain; (adj, n, v) colour; (v) oratory: (n) elocution, rhetoric,
thrasonical, vainglorious, vain, redden; (n) guise, complexion; (adj, n) declamation, speech, oration, church,
ostentatious; (v) Thrasonic; (adj, n) tone. ANTONYMS: (v) discolor, pale, chapel, tabernacle, valediction,
noble. ANTONYMS: (adj) show, whiten, untwist, denote, cathedral, public speaking.
deprecating, humble, insecure. depict, represent, blanch, blench. revengeful: (adj) vengeful, vindictive,
chaste: (adj) virtuous, moral, virgin, corroborate: (v) validate, bear out, punitive, unforgiving, vindicative,
modest, unsullied, austere, vestal, verify, establish, authenticate, resentful, despiteful, spiteful,
severe, continent, spotless, decent. substantiate, prove, affirm, implacable, rancorous, vengeable.
ANTONYMS: (adj) corrupt, wanton, demonstrate, support, attest. ANTONYM: (adj) charitable.
lewd, sleazy, promiscuous, immoral, ANTONYMS: (v) contradict, reject, self-denying: (adj) abstemious.
dirty, defiled, impure, tainted. negate, disprove, disclaim, deny,
4 The Last of the Mohicans
chastened, and perhaps improved, by the limited range of his practical

knowledge. He draws his metaphors from the clouds, the seasons, the birds, the
beasts, and the vegetable world. In this, perhaps, he does no more than any other
energetic and imaginative race would do, being compelled to set bounds to
fancy by experience; but the North American Indian clothes his ideas in a dress
which is different from that of the African, and is oriental in itself. His language
has the richness and sententious fullness of the Chinese. He will express a
phrase in a word, and he will qualify the meaning of an entire sentence by a
syllable; he will even convey different significations by the simplest inflections of
the voice.%
Philologists have said that there are but two or three languages, properly
speaking, among all the numerous tribes which formerly occupied the country
that now composes the United States. They ascribe the known difficulty one
people have to understand another to corruptions and dialects. The writer
remembers to have been present at an interview between two chiefs of the Great
Prairies west of the Mississippi, and when an interpreter was in attendance who
spoke both their languages. The warriors appeared to be on the most friendly
terms, and seemingly conversed much together; yet, according to the account of
the interpreter, each was absolutely ignorant of what the other said. They were of
hostile tribes, brought together by the influence of the American government;
and it is worthy of remark, that a common policy led them both to adopt the
same subject. They mutually exhorted each other to be of use in the event of the
chances of war throwing either of the parties into the hands of his enemies.
Whatever may be the truth, as respects the root and the genius of the Indian
tongues, it is quite certain they are now so distinct in their words as to possess
most of the disadvantages of strange languages; hence much of the
embarrassment that has arisen in learning their histories, and most of the
uncertainty which exists in their traditions.
Like nations of higher pretensions, the American Indian gives a very
different account of his own tribe or race from that which is given by other
people. He is much addicted to overestimating his own perfections, and to
Thesaurus
according: (adj) pursuant, consonant, ascribe: (v) assign, impute, accredit, metaphors: (n) images, descriptions.
equal, agreeable, harmonious, arrogate, attach, lay, refer, mutually: (adv) jointly, commonly,
conformable, consistent, anthropomorphize, blame, lay claim, together, mutual, collectively,
corresponding, respondent; (adv) claim. publically, unitedly, publicly,
correspondingly, accordingly. beasts: (n) stock. bilaterally, communally, sharedly.
addicted: (adj) habituated, dedicated, chastened: (v) lamblike, resigned, ANTONYM: (adv) alone.
habitual, hooked, devoted, content; (adj) refined, reprimanded, pretensions: (n) airs, affected manner,
accustomed, captivated, devote, rebuked, reproved, subdued, mannerism.
obsessive, obsessed; (v) dedicate. contrite, remorseful. sententious: (adj) pithy, concise,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unaccustomed, compelled: (adj) forced, obligate, laconic, brief, aphoristic, short, terse,
averse, disinclined, independent, enforced, constrained, responsible, pointed, compact, compressed,
opposed, unenthusiastic, occasional. answerable, unwilling, destined. pregnant.
undervaluing those of his rival or his enemy; a trait which may possibly be
thought corroborative of the Mosaic account of the creation.%
The whites have assisted greatly in rendering the traditions of the Aborigines
more obscure by their own manner of corrupting names. Thus, the term used in
the title of this book has undergone the changes of Mahicanni, Mohicans, and
Mohegans; the latter being the word commonly used by the whites. When it is
remembered that the Dutch (who first settled New York), the English, and the
French, all gave appellations to the tribes that dwelt within the country which is
the scene of this story, and that the Indians not only gave different names to their
enemies, but frequently to themselves, the cause of the confusion will be
understood.
In these pages, Lenni-Lenape, Lenope, Delawares, Wapanachki, and
Mohicans, all mean the same people, or tribes of the same stock. The Mengwe,
the Maquas, the Mingoes, and the Iroquois, though not all strictly the same, are
identified frequently by the speakers, being politically confederated and
opposed to those just named. Mingo was a term of peculiar reproach, as were
Mengwe and Maqua in a less degree.
The Mohicans were the possessors of the country first occupied by the
Europeans in this portion of the continent. They were, consequently, the first
dispossessed; and the seemingly inevitable fate of all these people, who
disappear before the advances, or it might be termed the inroads, of civilization,
as the verdure of their native forests falls before the nipping frosts, is
represented as having already befallen them. There is sufficient historical truth in
the picture to justify the use that has been made of it.
In point of fact, the country which is the scene of the following tale has
undergone as little change, since the historical events alluded to had place, as
almost any other district of equal extent within the whole limits of the United
States. There are fashionable and well-attended watering-places at and near the
spring where Hawkeye halted to drink, and roads traverse the forests where he
and his friends were compelled to journey without even a path. Glen's has a
large village; and while William Henry, and even a fortress of later date, are only
Thesaurus
confederated: (v) brief, close, dense, demeaning, humiliating, infectious, traverse: (v) travel, walk, crisscross,
firm, not diffuse, not verbose, pithy, injurious. track, thwart, contradict, deny; (n, v)
solid, leagued; (adj) united, dispossessed: (adj) bereft, depressed, journey, range; (n) crossing, traversal.
combined. unfortunate, underprivileged, undervaluing: (n) contempt, neglect,
corroborative: (adj) corroboratory, rundown, roofless, poor, on the mistake, misapprehension,
collateral, confirmative, confirming, streets, living rough, destitute, misconception; (adj) expressing
affirmative, corroborant, disadvantaged. depreciation, depreciative,
substantiating, verifying, verificatory, dwelt: (v) dwell, inhabit. depreciatory.
validatory, substantiative. inroads: (n) wear. verdure: (adj, n) greenness; (n)
corrupting: (adj) noxious, harmful, nipping: (adj) bitter, keen, barbed, greenery, foliage, verdancy, viridity,
degrading, unwholesome, frosty, crisp, cutting, inclement, fresh, green, leafage, flora, freshness,
corruption, baneful, debasing, pinching, snappy, raw. strength, vegetable kingdom.
to be traced as ruins, there is another village on the shores of the Horican. But,
beyond this, the enterprise and energy of a people who have done so much in
other places have done little here. The whole of that wilderness, in which the
latter incidents of the legend occurred, is nearly a wilderness still, though the red
man has entirely deserted this part of the state. Of all the tribes named in these
pages, there exist only a few half-civilized beings of the Oneidas, on the
reservations of their people in New York. The rest have disappeared, either from
the regions in which their fathers dwelt, or altogether from the earth.%
There is one point on which we would wish to say a word before closing this
preface. Hawkeye calls the Lac du Saint Sacrement, the "Horican." As we believe
this to be an appropriation of the name that has its origin with ourselves, the
time has arrived, perhaps, when the fact should be frankly admitted. While
writing this book, fully a quarter of a century since, it occurred to us that the
French name of this lake was too complicated, the American too commonplace,
and the Indian too unpronounceable, for either to be used familiarly in a work
of fiction. Looking over an ancient map, it was ascertained that a tribe of Indians,
called "Les Horicans" by the French, existed in the neighborhood of this
beautiful sheet of water. As every word uttered by Natty Bumppo was not to be
received as rigid truth, we took the liberty of putting the "Horican" into his
mouth, as the substitute for "Lake George." The name has appeared to find
favor, and all things considered, it may possibly be quite as well to let it stand,
instead of going back to the House of Hanover for the appellation of our finest
sheet of water. We relieve our conscience by the confession, at all events leaving
it to exercise its authority as it may see fit.
Thesaurus
appellation: (n) designation, ANTONYM: (adv) distantly. neighboring, local.
denomination, title, name, nickname, favor: (n, v) countenance, aid, grace, preface: (n, v) prelude, preamble,
epithet, moniker, term, appellative, support, benefit, boon; (adj, n) proem; (n) beginning, introduction,
cognomen, degree. kindness; (n) advantage; (v) befriend, preliminary, exordium, overture; (v)
ascertained: (adj) discovered, encourage, patronize. ANTONYMS: introduce, precede, premise.
determined; (v) absolute, recognized, (v) hinder, contradict, dislike, hurt, ANTONYMS: (n) addendum,
received, noted, notorious, decisive, differ, thwart, reject, demean; (n) conclusion, postscript.
unmistakable, unequivocal, positive. derogation, disapproval, unkindness. shores: (n) coast, seaboard, seashore,
familiarly: (adv) intimately, usually, hawkeye: (n) eagle eye, weather eye. shoreline. ANTONYM: (n) interior.
ordinarily, nearly, frequently, neighborhood: (n) vicinity, district, unpronounceable: (adj)
commonly, regularly, informally, area, community, locality, place, incommunicative, indefinable,
closely, acquaintedly, conventionally. quarter, environs, section; (adj) indescribable, ineffable, unnameable.
CHAPTER 1
"Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared:

The worst is wordly loss thou canst unfold:--
Say, is my kingdom lost?"%
Shakespeare
It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils
and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts
could meet. A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed
the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. The hardy
colonist, and the trained European who fought at his side, frequently expended
months in struggling against the rapids of the streams, or in effecting the rugged
passes of the mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a
more martial conflict. But, emulating the patience and self-denial of the
practiced native warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty; and it
would seem that, in time, there was no recess of the woods so dark, nor any
secret place so lovely, that it might claim exemption from the inroads of those
who had pledged their blood to satiate their vengeance, or to uphold the cold
and selfish policy of the distant monarchs of Europe.
Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate frontiers
can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage warfare
Thesaurus
colonist: (n) settler, colonizer, intensity, strength, vehemence, rapids: (v) torrent, body of water,
immigrant, pioneer, migrant, wildness, ferociousness. swash; (n) white water, cascade,
backwoodsman, squatter, emigrant, ANTONYMS: (n) friendliness, cataclysm.
planter, migr, standish. ANTONYM: calmness, meekness. satiate: (n, v) gorge; (v) sate, cloy, fill,
(n) emigrant. frontiers: (n) boundary. pall, cram, satisfy, quench, slake,
effecting: (n) accomplishment, monarchs: (n) royals, royalty. replete, stuff. ANTONYMS: (v)
implementation, completing, practiced: (adj) adept, expert, skillful, dissatisfy, starve, nibble; (adj)
finishing, fulfillment, carrying out; versed, proficient, accomplished, insatiate.
(adj) effectual. skilful, skilled, trained, practised, self-denial: (n) renunciation,
emulating: (adj) rival. able. ANTONYMS: (adj) abstinence, austerity, restraint,
fierceness: (n) ferocity, violence, inexperienced, untrained, temperance.
cruelty, force, brutality, rage, incompetent, clumsy, unqualified. toils: (n) net, cobweb, meshes, mesh.
of those periods than the country which lies between the head waters of the
Hudson and the adjacent lakes.%
The facilities which nature had there offered to the march of the combatants
were too obvious to be neglected. The lengthened sheet of the Champlain
stretched from the frontiers of Canada, deep within the borders of the
neighboring province of New York, forming a natural passage across half the
distance that the French were compelled to master in order to strike their
enemies. Near its southern termination, it received the contributions of another
lake, whose waters were so limpid as to have been exclusively selected by the
Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism, and to obtain
for it the title of lake "du Saint Sacrement." The less zealous English thought they
conferred a sufficient honor on its unsullied fountains, when they bestowed the
name of their reigning prince, the second of the house of Hanover. The two
united to rob the untutored possessors of its wooded scenery of their native right
to perpetuate its original appellation of "Horican."
Winding its way among countless islands, and imbedded in mountains, the
"holy lake" extended a dozen leagues still further to the south. With the high
plain that there interposed itself to the further passage of the water, commenced
a portage of as many miles, which conducted the adventurer to the banks of the
Hudson, at a point where, with the usual obstructions of the rapids, or rifts, as
they were then termed in the language of the country, the river became navigable
to the tide.
While, in the pursuit of their daring plans of annoyance, the restless
enterprise of the French even attempted the distant and difficult gorges of the
Alleghany, it may easily be imagined that their proverbial acuteness would not
overlook the natural advantages of the district we have just described. It became,
emphatically, the bloody arena, in which most of the battles for the mastery of
the colonies were contested. Forts were erected at the different points that
commanded the facilities of the route, and were taken and retaken, razed and
rebuilt, as victory alighted on the hostile banners. While the husbandman shrank
back from the dangerous passes, within the safer boundaries of the more ancient
Thesaurus
acuteness: (n) acuity, sharpness, mewed up, in the bosom of, posited, razed: (adj) dismantled, destroyed.
acumen, discrimination, gravity, situate; (adj) encysted. unsullied: (adj) unstained,
insight, sensitivity, perspicacity, neighboring: (adj, adv) adjacent, near; unblemished, unspotted, immaculate,
penetration, keenness, intensity. (adj) adjoining, nearby, contiguous, pure, innocent, spotless, chaste,
ANTONYMS: (n) faintness, neighbor, abutting, next, neighborly, stainless, guiltless, unsoiled.
insignificance, dullness. nigh, next to. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) blemished,
husbandman: (n, v) cultivator; (n) distant, remote, far, national. tainted, corrupt, old.
agriculturist, granger, countryman, portage: (n, v) carry; (n) untutored: (adj) unschooled,
planter, sodbuster, apiarist, transportation, shipping, cartage, uneducated, illiterate, uncultivated,
apiculturist, arboriculturist, delivery, transference, haulage, artless, simple, naive, unaffected,
dairyman; (v) tiller. porterage, carting, cart track; (adj) rude, rough, pure. ANTONYMS: (adj)
imbedded: (v) embosomed, rooted, moving. trained, educated.
settlements, armies larger than those that had often disposed of the scepters of
the mother countries, were seen to bury themselves in these forests, whence they
rarely returned but in skeleton bands, that were haggard with care or dejected by
defeat. Though the arts of peace were unknown to this fatal region, its forests
were alive with men; its shades and glens rang with the sounds of martial music,
and the echoes of its mountains threw back the laugh, or repeated the wanton
cry, of many a gallant and reckless youth, as he hurried by them, in the noontide
of his spirits, to slumber in a long night of forgetfulness.%
It was in this scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents we shall attempt
to relate occurred, during the third year of the war which England and France
last waged for the possession of a country that neither was destined to retain.
The imbecility of her military leaders abroad, and the fatal want of energy in
her councils at home, had lowered the character of Great Britain from the proud
elevation on which it had been placed by the talents and enterprise of her former
warriors and statesmen. No longer dreaded by her enemies, her servants were
fast losing the confidence of self-respect. In this mortifying abasement, the
colonists, though innocent of her imbecility, and too humble to be the agents of
her blunders, were but the natural participators. They had recently seen a chosen
army from that country, which, reverencing as a mother, they had blindly
believed invincible--an army led by a chief who had been selected from a crowd
of trained warriors, for his rare military endowments, disgracefully routed by a
handful of French and Indians, and only saved from annihilation by the coolness
and spirit of a Virginian boy, whose riper fame has since diffused itself, with the
steady influence of moral truth, to the uttermost confines of Christendom. A
wide frontier had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster, and more
substantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and imaginary dangers.
The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of the savages mingled with every
fitful gust of wind that issued from the interminable forests of the west. The
terrific character of their merciless enemies increased immeasurably the natural
horrors of warfare. Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their
recollections; nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not to have drunk
Thesaurus
abasement: (n) humiliation, abjection, ANTONYMS: (adv) reputably, noon, summit, top, apex, zenith,
depression, degeneration, fall, politely, commendably. acme, pinnacle, climax, culmination.
deterioration, disgrace, degeneracy, imbecility: (n) folly, foolishness, numberless: (adj) countless,
abjectness, dejection, sinking. idiocy, fatuity, weakness, stupidity, innumerable, multitudinous, infinite,
diffused: (adj) spread, dispersed, dim, feeblemindedness, lunacy; (adj, n) incalculable, endless, uncounted,
distributed, softened. debility, feebleness; (adj) infirmity. unnumbered, innumerous, legion,
disgracefully: (adv) shamefully, mortifying: (adj) embarrassing, untold. ANTONYM: (adj) few.
infamously, ingloriously, demeaning, humbling, undignified, uttermost: (adj, n) extreme; (adj, adv)
scandalously, shockingly, off, awkward, unpleasant; (v) farthest; (n) maximum, level best;
discreditably, outrageously, annoying, aggravating, irritating, (adj) furthest, utter, last, farthermost,
opprobriously, offensively, stinging. ANTONYM: (adj) dignified. furthermost, ultimate, most.
dishonorably, indecently. noontide: (n) noon, midday, high ANTONYM: (adj) moderate.
in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnight murder, in which
the natives of the forests were the principal and barbarous actors. As the
credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances of the wilderness,
the blood of the timid curdled with terror, and mothers cast anxious glances
even at those children which slumbered within the security of the largest towns.
In short, the magnifying influence of fear began to set at naught the calculations
of reason, and to render those who should have remembered their manhood, the
slaves of the basest passions. Even the most confident and the stoutest hearts
began to think the issue of the contest was becoming doubtful; and that abject
class was hourly increasing in numbers, who thought they foresaw all the
possessions of the English crown in America subdued by their Christian foes, or
laid waste by the inroads of their relentless allies.%
When, therefore, intelligence was received at the fort which covered the
southern termination of the portage between the Hudson and the lakes, that
Montcalm had been seen moving up the Champlain, with an army "numerous as
the leaves on the trees," its truth was admitted with more of the craven
reluctance of fear than with the stern joy that a warrior should feel, in finding an
enemy within reach of his blow. The news had been brought, toward the decline
of a day in midsummer, by an Indian runner, who also bore an urgent request
from Munro, the commander of a work on the shore of the "holy lake," for a
speedy and powerful reinforcement. It has already been mentioned that the
distance between these two posts was less than five leagues. The rude path,
which originally formed their line of communication, had been widened for the
passage of wagons; so that the distance which had been traveled by the son of
the forest in two hours, might easily be effected by a detachment of troops, with
their necessary baggage, between the rising and setting of a summer sun. The
loyal servants of the British crown had given to one of these forest-fastnesses the
name of William Henry, and to the other that of Fort Edward, calling each after a
favorite prince of the reigning family. The veteran Scotchman just named held
the first, with a regiment of regulars and a few provincials; a force really by far
too small to make head against the formidable power that Montcalm was leading
to the foot of his earthen mounds. At the latter, however, lay General Webb, who
Thesaurus
avidity: (adj, n) greed, greediness; (n) curdled: (adj) thick, coagulate, sour, foresaw: (v) foresee.
eagerness, ardor, covetousness, lust, rancid, grumous, grumose; (n) magnifying: (adj) cumulative.
desire, enthusiasm, rapacity, succulent, uliginous, emulsive. naught: (n) cipher, nothing, null,
cupidity, avidness. earthen: (adj) clay, ceramic, aught, nix, nought, zip, cypher, nada;
credulous: (adj) gullible, unsuspecting, earthenware. (adj, n, pron) nil; (n, pron) zilch.
simple, unsuspicious, unquestioning, favorite: (adj, n) darling, favourite, slaves: (n) helotry, bondsmen.
green, trusting, unwary, innocent, dear, number one; (adj) favored, traveled: (adj) travel, passable,
believing, illogical. ANTONYMS: beloved, popular; (n) pet, choice, cultured, cosmopolitan.
(adj) suspicious, wary, disbelieving, pick, preference. ANTONYMS: (n) traveler: (n) tourist, wayfarer, migrant,
suspecting, skeptical, cynical, indifference, superior, underdog; wanderer, itinerant, voyager,
untrusting, shrewd, rational, smart, (adj) unwanted, despised, disliked, traveller, visitor, flier, flyer, footer.
mistrustful. hated, unusual. ANTONYM: (n) resident.
commanded the armies of the king in the northern provinces, with a body of
more than five thousand men. By uniting the several detachments of his
command, this officer might have arrayed nearly double that number of
combatants against the enterprising Frenchman, who had ventured so far from
his reinforcements, with an army but little superior in numbers.%
But under the influence of their degraded fortunes, both officers and men
appeared better disposed to await the approach of their formidable antagonists,
within their works, than to resist the progress of their march, by emulating the
successful example of the French at Fort du Quesne, and striking a blow on their
advance.
After the first surprise of the intelligence had a little abated, a rumor was
spread through the entrenched camp, which stretched along the margin of the
Hudson, forming a chain of outworks to the body of the fort itself, that a chosen
detachment of fifteen hundred men was to depart, with the dawn, for William
Henry, the post at the northern extremity of the portage. That which at first was
only rumor, soon became certainty, as orders passed from the quarters of the
commander-in-chief to the several corps he had selected for this service, to
prepare for their speedy departure. All doubts as to the intention of Webb now
vanished, and an hour or two of hurried footsteps and anxious faces succeeded.
The novice in the military art flew from point to point, retarding his own
preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal; while
the more practiced veteran 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.
Thesaurus
abated: (adj) slack. lineaments: (v) exposition, tract, rumour; (v) repute, reputation.
arrayed: (adj) armored, panoplied, length, expanse, area, extent; (n) face. ANTONYM: (n) truth.
clothed, clad, armed; (v) habited, provinces: (n) distance. scorned: (adj) detested, hated, abject,
accustomed. retarding: (n) delay, let, hindrance, neglected, contemptuous, despicable,
commanded: (adj) lawful. impediment, obstacle; (adj) insolent, undesirable, unloved,
distempered: (adj) sick, diseased, ritardando. unpopular, mean.
disordered. rippling: (n) ripple, wave, riffle, untried: (adj) raw, new, untested,
extremity: (n) end, member, corrugation, moving ridge, wavelet, unseasoned, fresh, untrodden,
boundary, bound, close, appendage, ripple formation; (adj) flowing, unsalted, young, unverified,
limit, limb, ending, fringe, billowy. untouched; (v) undetermined.
conclusion. ANTONYMS: (n) trunk, rumor: (n) hearsay, talk, news; (n, v) ANTONYMS: (adj) proven, seasoned,
average, minimum, head, leniency. gossip, fame, buzz, bruit, noise, familiar, experienced.
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
Thesaurus
accommodations: (n) house, housing, condescension, conceit, snobbishness, bareness, drabness, chasteness.
lodging, habitat. lordliness, imperiousness, hauteur, ANTONYMS: (n) warmth, splendor.
caparisoned: (adj) clad. contempt, superiority, arrogant. slumbering: (adj) dormant, asleep,
docility: (n) obedience, tractability, ANTONYMS: (n) humility, latent. ANTONYM: (adj) awake.
meekness, flexibility, docibleness, humbleness. straggler: (n) rover, laggard, rambler,
submission, deference, humility, housings: (n) horsecloth, caparison, peregrinator, stroller, bum,
gentleness, willingness, tractableness. saddlery, tack, furnishings, bard, latecomer, lagger, vagabond, tramp,
encumbered: (adj) burdened, trapping, trappings. runabout.
burdensome, weighed down, heavy, meanest: (adj) last, least. traveling: (n) travel, journey,
deep, clayey, cloggy. ANTONYM: plainness: (n) perspicuity, clearness, travelling, commuting, commutation,
(adj) unencumbered. homeliness, austerity, simplicity, peregrination, circumnavigation; (adj)
haughtiness: (n) pride, disdain, lucidity, perspicuousness, directness, riding, touring, nomadic, road.
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 tied at his bunches of knees by
large knots of white ribbon, a good deal sullied by use. Clouded cotton
stockings, and shoes, on one of the latter of which was a plated spur, completed
the costume of the lower extremity of this figure, no curve or angle of which was
concealed, but, on the other hand, studiously exhibited, through the vanity or
simplicity of its owner.
From beneath the flap of an enormous pocket of a soiled vest of embossed
silk, heavily ornamented with tarnished silver lace, projected an instrument,
which, from being seen in such martial company, might have been easily
mistaken for some mischievous and unknown implement of war. Small as it was,
this uncommon engine had excited the curiosity of most of the Europeans in the
Thesaurus
contrariety: (n) difference, antithesis, indiscreet, unadvised, careless, plated: (v) pinchbeck, overlaid,
discrepancy, conflict, contradiction, improper, thoughtless, rash, hasty, superimposed, tinsel; (adj) silver.
contrast, opposition, repugnance, ill-judged, incautious. ANTONYMS: profanely: (adv) sacrilegiously,
antagonism, contrariness, foil. (adj) wise, sensible, careful, prudent, secularly, irreverently, unholy,
emaciation: (n) gauntness, maceration, judicious, discreet, advisable. impiously, ungodly,
thinness, leanness, consumption; (v) nankeen: (n) cloth, fabric. unconsecratedly, sinfully,
tabes, collapse, tabefaction, ornamented: (adj) embellished, temporally, impurely, heretically.
marasmus; (adj) macilency, marcor. beautified, fancy, flowery, ornate, sullied: (adj) foul, soiled, tainted,
embossed: (adj) raised, brocaded, adorned, bedecked, decked, stained, besmirched, unclean, filthy,
stamped, decorated, prominent, festooned, feathered, florid. spotted, sordid, flyblown, dim.
bossy; (n) relief. outdone: (adj) beaten, vanquished, ANTONYMS: (adj) untarnished,
injudicious: (adj) foolish, unwise, worsted, defeated; (v) outdo. clean.
camp, though several of the provincials were seen to handle it, not only without
fear, but with the utmost familiarity. A large, civil cocked hat, like those worn by
clergymen within the last thirty years, surmounted the whole, furnishing dignity
to a good-natured and somewhat vacant countenance, that apparently needed
such artificial aid, to support the gravity of some high and extraordinary trust.%
While the common herd stood aloof, in deference to the quarters of Webb, the
figure we have described stalked into the center of the domestics, freely
expressing his censures or commendations on the merits of the horses, as by
chance they displeased or satisfied his judgment.
"This beast, I rather conclude, friend, is not of home raising, but is from
foreign lands, or perhaps from the little island itself over the blue water?" he
said, in a voice as remarkable for the softness and sweetness of its tones, as was
his person for its rare proportions; "I may speak of these things, and be no
braggart; for I have been down at both havens; that which is situate at the mouth
of Thames, and is named after the capital of Old England, and that which is
called 'Haven', with the addition of the word 'New'; and have seen the scows and
brigantines collecting their droves, like the gathering to the ark, being outward
bound to the Island of Jamaica, for the purpose of barter and traffic in four-
footed animals; but never before have I beheld a beast which verified the true
scripture war-horse like this: 'He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his
strength; he goeth on to meet the armed men. He saith among the trumpets, Ha,
ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the
shouting' It would seem that the stock of the horse of Israel had descended to our
own time; would it not, friend?"
Receiving no reply to this extraordinary appeal, which in truth, as it was
delivered with the vigor of full and sonorous tones, merited some sort of notice,
he who had thus sung forth the language of the holy book turned to the silent
figure to whom he had unwittingly addressed himself, and found a new and
more powerful subject of admiration in the object that encountered his gaze. His
eyes fell on the still, upright, and rigid form of the "Indian runner," who had
borne to the camp the unwelcome tidings of the preceding evening. Although in
Thesaurus
beheld: (adj) visual. rightful, right, due; (v) due to, richly communication, dispute, wind,
braggart: (n) boaster, braggadocio, deserved. statement, tiding.
blowhard, bragger, vaunter, egoist; situate: (v) place, locate, put, lay, trumpets: (n) Sarracenia flava, yellow
(v) magniloquent, Thrasonic; (adj) position, posit, deposit, lodge, pitcher plant, pitcher plant, yellow
boastful, vainglorious, braggy. localize, post; (adj, v) set. trumpet.
displeased: (adj) disgruntled, sonorous: (adj) rotund, resonant, clear, vigor: (n, v) energy; (adj, n) intensity;
dissatisfied, angry, annoyed, rich, resounding, harmonious, round, (n) spirit, vitality, force, life, strength,
unhappy, peeved, irritated, full, ringing, vibrant, sonant. power, might, vim, stamina.
disgusted, indignant; (v) pained, ANTONYMS: (adj) shrill, thin. ANTONYMS: (n) weakness, apathy,
afflicted. ANTONYMS: (adj) surmounted: (adj) beaten. frailty, laziness, enervation,
contented, satisfied, calm. tidings: (n) intelligence, information, inactivity, indifference, illness,
merited: (adj) deserved, just, suitable, message, report, word, advice, lifelessness, sluggishness, tardiness.
a state of perfect repose, and apparently disregarding, with characteristic

stoicism, the excitement and bustle around him, there was a sullen fierceness
mingled with the quiet of the savage, that was likely to arrest the attention of
much more experienced eyes than those which now scanned him, in
unconcealed amazement. The native bore both the tomahawk and knife of his
tribe; and yet his appearance was not altogether that of a warrior. On the
contrary, there was an air of neglect about his person, like that which might have
proceeded from great and recent exertion, which he had not yet found leisure to
repair. The colors of the war-paint had blended in dark confusion about his
fierce countenance, and rendered his swarthy lineaments still more savage and
repulsive than if art had attempted an effect which had been thus produced by
chance. His eye, alone, which glistened like a fiery star amid lowering clouds,
was to be seen in its state of native wildness. For a single instant his searching
and yet wary glance met the wondering look of the other, and then changing its
direction, partly in cunning, and partly in disdain, it remained fixed, as if
penetrating the distant air.%
It is impossible to say what unlooked-for remark this short and silent
communication, between two such singular men, might have elicited from the
white man, had not his active curiosity been again drawn to other objects. A
general movement among the domestics, and a low sound of gentle voices,
announced the approach of those whose presence alone was wanted to enable
the cavalcade to move. The simple admirer of the war-horse instantly fell back to
a low, gaunt, switch-tailed mare, that was unconsciously gleaning the faded
herbage of the camp nigh by; where, leaning with one elbow on the blanket that
concealed an apology for a saddle, he became a spectator of the departure, while
a foal was quietly making its morning repast, on the opposite side of the same
animal.
A young man, in the dress of an officer, conducted to their steeds two
females, who, as it was apparent by their dresses, were prepared to encounter the
fatigues of a journey in the woods. One, and she was the more juvenile in her
appearance, though both were young, permitted glimpses of her dazzling
Thesaurus
cavalcade: (n) parade, pageant, herbage: (n) herb, grass, pasture, unemotionality, apathy,
caravan, spectacle, celebration, pasturage, foliage, herbaceous plant, emotionlessness, impassivity, self-
column, convoy; (adj) rank and file, forage, flora, eatage, vegetable control, phlegm, sluggishness; (adj, n)
line of battle, cortege; (v) file. kingdom. philosophy, equanimity; (adj) suttee.
colors: (n) flag, colours, paints, banner, nigh: (adj, adv, prep) near; (adj, adv) tomahawk: (n) gisarme, halberd,
color, colour, ensign, pigment, tint, close, nearly, almost, nearby, most, partisan, weapon, Bowie knife.
dye, paint. all but, about, adjacent; (prep) by; (adj) unconcealed: (adj) open, overt,
disregarding: (adv) irregardless, no approximate. obvious, frank, exposed, naked,
matter, disregardless, irrespective. repast: (n) feast, food, banquet, dinner, patent, plain, barefaced, evident,
elicited: (adj) evoked, elicit. lunch, refection, collation, luncheon, conspicuous. ANTONYMS: (adj)
gleaning: (n) farming, excerption, spread, potluck, eating. hidden, contained, furtive.
selection, crop. stoicism: (n) indifference, unlooked-for: (adj) unforeseen.
complexion, fair golden hair, and bright blue eyes, to be caught, as she artlessly
suffered the morning air to blow aside the green veil which descended low from
her beaver.%
The flush which still lingered above the pines in the western sky was not
more bright nor delicate than the bloom on her cheek; nor was the opening day
more cheering than the animated smile which she bestowed on the youth, as he
assisted her into the saddle. The other, who appeared to share equally in the
attention of the young officer, concealed her charms from the gaze of the
soldiery with a care that seemed better fitted to the experience of four or five
additional years. It could be seen, however, that her person, though molded with
the same exquisite proportions, of which none of the graces were lost by the
traveling dress she wore, was rather fuller and more mature than that of her
companion.
No sooner were these females seated, than their attendant sprang lightly into
the saddle of the war-horse, when the whole three bowed to Webb, who in
courtesy, awaited their parting on the threshold of his cabin and turning their
horses' heads, they proceeded at a slow amble, followed by their train, toward
the northern entrance of the encampment. As they traversed that short distance,
not a voice was heard among them; but a slight exclamation proceeded from the
younger of the females, as the Indian runner glided by her, unexpectedly, and
led the way along the military road in her front. Though this sudden and
startling movement of the Indian produced no sound from the other, in the
surprise her veil also was allowed to open its folds, and betrayed an
indescribable look of pity, admiration, and horror, as her dark eye followed the
easy motions of the savage. The tresses of this lady were shining and black, like
the plumage of the raven. Her complexion was not brown, but it rather appeared
charged with the color of the rich blood, that seemed ready to burst its bounds.
And yet there was neither coarseness nor want of shadowing in a countenance
that was exquisitely regular, and dignified and surpassingly beautiful. She
smiled, as if in pity at her own momentary forgetfulness, discovering by the act a
row of teeth that would have shamed the purest ivory; when, replacing the veil,
Thesaurus
amble: (n, v) stroll, walk, ramble, trot, inelegance, indecency, vulgarism, shading, pursuit, cast shadowing;
wander, run, hike; (v) mosey, commonness, rudeness, inferiority, (adj) following surreptitiously.
dawdle, gallop; (n) promenade. crudeness, crudity, awkwardness. soldiery: (n) troops, military
ANTONYMS: (v) race, hurry, run, ANTONYMS: (n) delicacy, purity, personnel, serviceman, horse,
stride. refinement, smoothness, garrison, cavalry, army, troop, the
artlessly: (adv) openly, ingenuously, sophistication, tastefulness, civility, army, military man, force.
sincerely, naively, innocently, grace, propriety, decency. surpassingly: (adv) surpassing,
unaffectedly, unsophisticatedly, molded: (adj) shaped, characterized, extremely, surpass, excellently,
plainly, simply, genuinely, frankly. affected, meld, melds, cast, superiorly, transcendently, greatly,
bestowed: (adj) presented, conferred, inseparable, plastic, wrought, extraordinarily, eminently, finely,
awarded, accurate. figulated, tough. preeminently.
coarseness: (n) grossness, indelicacy, shadowing: (n) screening, shielding, tresses: (n) locks, mop, head of hair.
she bowed her face, and rode in silence, like one whose thoughts were
abstracted from the scene around her.%
Thesaurus
abstracted: (adj) absentminded, ANTONYMS: (adj) straight, concave, panorama, perspective.
separate, absent-minded, abstract, plucked. silence: (adj, n, v) calm, still; (int, n, v)
distrait, inattentive, pensive, face: (adj, n, v) front; (v) confront, hush; (n, v) lull; (n) mum; (adj, v)
preoccupied, remote, lost, vacant. audacity; (n, v) look, aspect, top; (n) appease; (v) mute, allay, pacify,
ANTONYM: (adj) alert. side, expression, countenance, muzzle; (int, v) shut up.
around: (adv) approximately, almost, exterior, facade. ANTONYMS: (n, v) ANTONYMS: (n) sound, openness,
roughly, just about, some; (adv, prep) back; (n) timidity, nobody, underside, uproar, movement; (v) amplify,
round, encompassing; (adj) near; (n) shyness, rear; (v) evade, elude, hide, Louden, encourage, rouse.
vicinity; (prep) all round, encircling. withdraw, submit. thoughts: (n) mind, opinion, depth of
bowed: (adj) arched, curved, inclined, scene: (n, v) aspect, view, outlook, thought, feelings, reflection, ideas,
crooked, arciform, arching, arced, lookout; (n) background, display, workings of the mind, view, stance,
bandy, arcuate, twisted, bended. spectacle, picture, environment, position, considered opinion.
CHAPTER 2
"Sola, sola, wo ha, ho, sola!"%

Shakespeare
While one of the lovely beings we have so cursorily presented to the reader
was thus lost in thought, the other quickly recovered from the alarm which
induced the exclamation, and, laughing at her own weakness, she inquired of the
youth who rode by her side:
"Are such specters frequent in the woods, Heyward, or is this sight an
especial entertainment ordered on our behalf? If the latter, gratitude must close
our mouths; but if the former, both Cora and I shall have need to draw largely on
that stock of hereditary courage which we boast, even before we are made to
encounter the redoubtable Montcalm."
"Yon Indian is a 'runner' of the army; and, after the fashion of his people, he
may be accounted a hero," returned the officer. "He has volunteered to guide us
to the lake, by a path but little known, sooner than if we followed the tardy
movements of the column; and, by consequence, more agreeably."
"I like him not," said the lady, shuddering, partly in assumed, yet more in
real terror. "You know him, Duncan, or you would not trust yourself so freely to
his keeping?"
Thesaurus
cursorily: (adv) rapidly, quickly, exclamation: (n) clamor, ejaculation, shuddering: (adj, n) quivering,
hastily, shallowly, speedily, sketchily, exclaiming, utterance, whoop, shaking; (adv) shudderingly; (n) cold
casually, fleetingly, carelessly, interjection, shout, expletive, deuce, sweat, tremor; (adj) rough, shaky,
passingly, perfunctorily. Dickens, ecphonesis. jumpy, quaking, shivery, bumpy.
ANTONYMS: (adv) slowly, hereditary: (adj) familial, ancestral, ANTONYM: (adj) smooth.
thoroughly. inherent, heritable, inherited, inborn, sola: (n) shola.
especial: (adj) extraordinary, special, congenital, innate, patrimonial, tardy: (adj, adv, v) late; (adj, v) slow,
specific, chief, individual, distinct, native, heredity. remiss; (adj, adv) backward, dilatory,
distinctive, characteristic, redoubtable: (adj) dreadful, behindhand; (adj) belated, slack,
appropriate, peculiar, express. illustrious, glorious, horrid, overdue, delayed, sluggish.
ANTONYMS: (adj) general, normal, fearsome, fearful, terrible, alarming, ANTONYMS: (adj) early, punctual,
common, unexceptional, usual. dire, resolute, strong. premature, speedy.
"Say, rather, Alice, that I would not trust you. I do know him, or he would
not have my confidence, and least of all at this moment. He is said to be a
Canadian too; and yet he served with our friends the Mohawks, who, as you
know, are one of the six allied nations. He was brought among us, as I have
heard, by some strange accident in which your father was interested, and in
which the savage was rigidly dealt by; but I forget the idle tale, it is enough, that
he is now our friend."
"If he has been my father's enemy, I like him still less!" exclaimed the now
really anxious girl. "Will you not speak to him, Major Heyward, that I may hear
his tones? Foolish though it may be, you have often heard me avow my faith in
the tones of the human voice!"
"It would be in vain; and answered, most probably, by an ejaculation.
Though he may understand it, he affects, like most of his people, to be ignorant
of the English; and least of all will he condescend to speak it, now that the war
demands the utmost exercise of his dignity. But he stops; the private path by
which we are to journey is, doubtless, at hand."
The conjecture of Major Heyward was true. When they reached the spot
where the Indian stood, pointing into the thicket that fringed the military road;
a narrow and blind path, which might, with some little inconvenience, receive
one person at a time, became visible.%
"Here, then, lies our way," said the young man, in a low voice. "Manifest no
distrust, or you may invite the danger you appear to apprehend."
"Cora, what think you?" asked the reluctant fair one. "If we journey with the
troops, though we may find their presence irksome, shall we not feel better
assurance of our safety?"
"Being little accustomed to the practices of the savages, Alice, you mistake the
place of real danger," said Heyward. "If enemies have reached the portage at all,
a thing by no means probable, as our scouts are abroad, they will surely be found
skirting the column, where scalps abound the most. The route of the detachment
is known, while ours, having been determined within the hour, must still be
secret."
Thesaurus
abound: (v) swarm, teem, flow, (v) stoop, patronize, patronise, irksome: (adj, v) wearisome, tiresome;
overflow, burst; (n) exuberate, descend, lower, interact, decline, (adj) boring, dull, annoying, tedious,
shower down, stream, rain, bow, agree. trying, burdensome, bothersome,
abundance; (adj) abundant. cora: (n) kore, Persephone, corah silk. irritating, prosaic. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYM: (v) disperse. ejaculation: (n) cry, ejection, emission, delightful, pleasant, refreshing,
avow: (v) affirm, assert, declare, interjection, discharge, vociferation, soothing.
protest, confess, attest, asseverate; expelling, exclaiming, eruption, pointing: (n) punctuation, indication,
(adj, v) admit, acknowledge, own; (n, shout, emanation. scoring.
v) aver. ANTONYMS: (v) disavow, fringed: (adj) fibrillated, bounded, thicket: (n) brake, coppice, brush,
renounce, refute, disclaim, condemn, feathered, bushy, decorated, grove, spinney, bush, brushwood,
censure. fimbriate, fimbricate, laciniate, cluster, underbrush, undergrowth,
condescend: (adj, v) deign, vouchsafe; befringed, rough, laciniated. underwood.
"Should we distrust the man because his manners are not our manners, and
that his skin is dark?" coldly asked Cora.%
Alice hesitated no longer; but giving her Narrangansett a smart cut of the
whip, she was the first to dash aside the slight branches of the bushes, and to
follow the runner along the dark and tangled pathway. The young man regarded
the last speaker in open admiration, and even permitted her fairer, though
certainly not more beautiful companion, to proceed unattended, while he
sedulously opened the way himself for the passage of her who has been called
Cora. It would seem that the domestics had been previously instructed; for,
instead of penetrating the thicket, they followed the route of the column; a
measure which Heyward stated had been dictated by the sagacity of their guide,
in order to diminish the marks of their trail, if, haply, the Canadian savages
should be lurking so far in advance of their army. For many minutes the
intricacy of the route admitted of no further dialogue; after which they emerged
from the broad border of underbrush which grew along the line of the highway,
and entered under the high but dark arches of the forest. Here their progress was
less interrupted; and the instant the guide perceived that the females could
command their steeds, he moved on, at a pace between a trot and a walk, and at
a rate which kept the sure- footed and peculiar animals they rode at a fast yet
easy amble. The youth had turned to speak to the dark-eyed Cora, when the
distant sound of horses hoofs, clattering over the roots of the broken way in his
rear, caused him to check his charger; and, as his companions drew their reins at
the same instant, the whole party came to a halt, in order to obtain an
explanation of the unlooked-for interruption.
In a few moments a colt was seen gliding, like a fallow deer, among the
straight trunks of the pines; and, in another instant, the person of the ungainly
man, described in the preceding chapter, came into view, with as much rapidity
as he could excite his meager beast to endure without coming to an open
rupture. Until now this personage had escaped the observation of the travelers.
If he possessed the power to arrest any wandering eye when exhibiting the
Thesaurus
clattering: (n) crash; (adj) clattery. spare, frugal; (adj) emaciated, feeble, prudence, gumption, acumen,
footed: (adj) pedate. inadequate, insufficient, scant; (adj, perspicacity; (adj, n) discretion,
haply: (adv) accidentally, by accident, adv) stingy. ANTONYMS: (adj) wisdom. ANTONYM: (n) foolishness.
maybe, by luck, casually, abundant, lavish, generous, fat, sedulously: (adv) industriously,
fortuitously, mayhap, perchance, strong, luxurious, filling, large, assiduously, studiously, earnestly,
incidentally, perhaps, peradventure. plentiful, ample, privileged. attentively, intently, painstakingly,
intricacy: (n) complexity, difficulty, personage: (n) person, notable, perseveringly, laboriously, fixedly,
entanglement, elaboration, celebrity, personality, individual, eagerly.
elaborateness, complicacy, maze, bigwig, figure, somebody, human, underbrush: (n) brushwood, brush,
confusion, perplexity, involution, character, being. underwood, groundcover, thicket,
subtlety. ANTONYM: (n) order. sagacity: (n, v) discernment, judgment, scrub, bushes, coppice, ground cover,
meager: (adj, v) lean, gaunt, bare, penetration; (n) judiciousness, sense, shrub, weed.
glories of his altitude on foot, his equestrian graces were still more likely to
attract attention.%
Notwithstanding a constant application of his one armed heel to the flanks of
the mare, the most confirmed gait that he could establish was a Canterbury
gallop with the hind legs, in which those more forward assisted for doubtful
moments, though generally content to maintain a loping trot. Perhaps the
rapidity of the changes from one of these paces to the other created an optical
illusion, which might thus magnify the powers of the beast; for it is certain that
Heyward, who possessed a true eye for the merits of a horse, was unable, with
his utmost ingenuity, to decide by what sort of movement his pursuer worked
his sinuous way on his footsteps with such persevering hardihood.
The industry and movements of the rider were not less remarkable than those
of the ridden. At each change in the evolutions of the latter, the former raised his
tall person in the stirrups; producing, in this manner, by the undue elongation of
his legs, such sudden growths and diminishings of the stature, as baffled every
conjecture that might be made as to his dimensions. If to this be added the fact
that, in consequence of the ex parte application of the spur, one side of the mare
appeared to journey faster than the other; and that the aggrieved flank was
resolutely indicated by unremitted flourishes of a bushy tail, we finish the
picture of both horse and man.
The frown which had gathered around the handsome, open, and manly brow
of Heyward, gradually relaxed, and his lips curled into a slight smile, as he
regarded the stranger. Alice made no very powerful effort to control her
merriment; and even the dark, thoughtful eye of Cora lighted with a humor that
it would seem, the habit, rather than the nature, of its mistress repressed.
"Seek you any here?" demanded Heyward, when the other had arrived
sufficiently nigh to abate his speed; "I trust you are no messenger of evil
tidings?"
"Even so," replied the stranger, making diligent use of his triangular castor, to
produce a circulation in the close air of the woods, and leaving his hearers in
doubt to which of the young man's questions he responded; when, however, he
Thesaurus
abate: (v) bate, weaken, decline, remit, fearlessness, fortitude, brass; (adj, n) aggravate. ANTONYMS: (v) reduce,
slack, slake, wane, relax, lessen, face, guts; (n, v) assurance. understate, minimize, shrink,
diminish, allay. ANTONYMS: (v) ANTONYMS: (n) frailty, timidity. decrease, alleviate.
rise, grow, magnify, surge, intensify, humor: (n, v) caprice, freak, humour; persevering: (adj) diligent, firm,
expand, enlarge, enhance, amplify, (n) temper, mood, disposition, wit; determined, constant, resolute,
prolong, extend. (v) indulge, gratify; (adj, n) spirit, dogged, persistent, tenacious,
evolutions: (n) evolution. frame of mind. ANTONYMS: (n) steadfast, industrious, insistent.
gait: (n, v) pace, step, tread, footstep, seriousness, gravity, solemnity; (v) ANTONYM: (adj) irresolute.
rate, stride, action; (n) walk, carriage, displease. unremitted: (adj) undeviating,
movement, velocity. magnify: (v) exaggerate, enhance, uniform, stretched, invariable, stable,
hardihood: (v) audacity; (n) courage, aggrandize, enlarge, intensify, laud, regular, assiduous, fixed, intense,
daring, boldness, temerity, glorify, expand, increase, extend, intensive, intent.
had cooled his face, and recovered his breath, he continued, "I hear you are
riding to William Henry; as I am journeying thitherward myself, I concluded
good company would seem consistent to the wishes of both parties."%
"You appear to possess the privilege of a casting vote," returned Heyward;
"we are three, while you have consulted no one but yourself."
"Even so. The first point to be obtained is to know one's own mind. Once
sure of that, and where women are concerned it is not easy, the next is, to act up
to the decision. I have endeavored to do both, and here I am."
"If you journey to the lake, you have mistaken your route," said Heyward,
haughtily; "the highway thither is at least half a mile behind you."
"Even so," returned the stranger, nothing daunted by this cold reception; "I
have tarried at 'Edward' a week, and I should be dumb not to have inquired the
road I was to journey; and if dumb there would be an end to my calling." After
simpering in a small way, like one whose modesty prohibited a more open
expression of his admiration of a witticism that was perfectly unintelligible to his
hearers, he continued, "It is not prudent for any one of my profession to be too
familiar with those he has to instruct; for which reason I follow not the line of the
army; besides which, I conclude that a gentleman of your character has the best
judgment in matters of wayfaring; I have, therefore, decided to join company, in
order that the ride may be made agreeable, and partake of social communion."
"A most arbitrary, if not a hasty decision!" exclaimed Heyward, undecided
whether to give vent to his growing anger, or to laugh in the other's face. "But
you speak of instruction, and of a profession; are you an adjunct to the provincial
corps, as a master of the noble science of defense and offense; or, perhaps, you
are one who draws lines and angles, under the pretense of expounding the
mathematics?"
The stranger regarded his interrogator a moment in wonder; and then, losing
every mark of self-satisfaction in an expression of solemn humility, he answered:
"Of offense, I hope there is none, to either party: of defense, I make none--by
God's good mercy, having committed no palpable sin since last entreating his
Thesaurus
entreating: (adj) beseeching, expedition, travelling, movement, n) feint. ANTONYMS: (n) reality,
imploring, suppliant, begging, outing, passage, pilgrimage. honesty, humility, sincerity, genuine.
supplicant, imploratory, asking obtained: (adj) fulfilled, derivative. self-satisfaction: (n) boast, pride.
submissively, pleading, piteous. offense: (n, v) crime, fault; (n) insult, simpering: (adj) mincing, affected,
expounding: (n) interpretation, misdemeanor, offence, aggression, smirk, prudish, nice.
exhibition, definition, construal, attack, infringement, transgression, wayfaring: (adj) Peripatetic, itinerant,
expo; (adj) illuminating, instructive, delinquency, misdemeanour. vagabond, unsettled, nomadic; (v)
illustrative, descriptive, clarifying. ANTONYMS: (n) defense, virtue, wayworn; (n) journey, travel.
interrogator: (n) inquirer, questioner, praise. ANTONYM: (adj) unmoving.
enquirer, asker. pretense: (n) affectation, pretension, witticism: (n) humor, jest, wit, gag,
journeying: (adj) itinerant, wayfaring, deception, show, cover, masquerade, repartee, humour, pun, quip, crack,
vagabond; (n) excursion, digression, hypocrisy, mask, facade, sham; (adj, pleasantry, epigram.
pardoning grace. I understand not your allusions about lines and angles; and I
leave expounding to those who have been called and set apart for that holy
office. I lay claim to no higher gift than a small insight into the glorious art of
petitioning and thanksgiving, as practiced in psalmody."
"The man is, most manifestly, a disciple of Apollo," cried the amused Alice,
"and I take him under my own especial protection. Nay, throw aside that frown,
Heyward, and in pity to my longing ears, suffer him to journey in our train.
Besides," she added, in a low and hurried voice, casting a glance at the distant
Cora, who slowly followed the footsteps of their silent, but sullen guide, "it may
be a friend added to our strength, in time of need."
"Think you, Alice, that I would trust those I love by this secret path, did I
imagine such need could happen?"
"Nay, nay, I think not of it now; but this strange man amuses me; and if he
'hath music in his soul', let us not churlishly reject his company." She pointed
persuasively along the path with her riding whip, while their eyes met in a look
which the young man lingered a moment to prolong; then, yielding to her gentle
influence, he clapped his spurs into his charger, and in a few bounds was again
at the side of Cora.%
"I am glad to encounter thee, friend," continued the maiden, waving her hand
to the stranger to proceed, as she urged her Narragansett to renew its amble.
"Partial relatives have almost persuaded me that I am not entirely worthless in a
duet myself; and we may enliven our wayfaring by indulging in our favorite
pursuit. It might be of signal advantage to one, ignorant as I, to hear the opinions
and experience of a master in the art."
"It is refreshing both to the spirits and to the body to indulge in psalmody, in
befitting seasons," returned the master of song, unhesitatingly complying with
her intimation to follow; "and nothing would relieve the mind more than such a
consoling communion. But four parts are altogether necessary to the perfection
of melody. You have all the manifestations of a soft and rich treble; I can, by
especial aid, carry a full tenor to the highest letter; but we lack counter and bass!
Thesaurus
amused: (adj) amusing, smiling, encouraging, grateful, reassuring, ANTONYM: (adj) unforgiving.
tickled pink, pleased, diverted. soothing, calming; (n) petitioning: (adj) petitory, suppliant,
befitting: (adj) apt, becoming, suitable, encouragement. ANTONYM: (adj) prayerful, pleading, begging,
apropos, decent, condign, fitting, fit; upsetting. beseeching, entreating; (n)
(adj, v) proper; (n) feat; (v) meet. enliven: (v) animate, inspire, refresh, deprecation.
ANTONYMS: (adj) improper, encourage, exhilarate, elate, liven up, psalmody: (n) psalm, singing,
unbecoming, unfitting, unsuitable. stimulate, invigorate, energize; (adj, vocalizing, psalmistry.
churlishly: (adv) rudely, roughly, v) brighten. ANTONYMS: (v) bore, unhesitatingly: (adv) readily, openly,
curtly, crudely, bluntly, surly, subdue, tire, spoil, dull, deflate, freely, plainly, speedily, willingly,
coarsely, impolitely, loutishly, dampen, deaden, exhaust, depress. decidedly, resolutely, determinedly,
illiberally, gruffly. pardoning: (adj) forgiving, lenient, sincerely, undisguisedly.
consoling: (adj) consolatory, cheering, easy; (adv) forgivingly; (v) forgive. ANTONYM: (adv) eventually.
Yon officer of the king, who hesitated to admit me to his company, might fill the
latter, if one may judge from the intonations of his voice in common dialogue."
"Judge not too rashly from hasty and deceptive appearances," said the lady,
smiling; "though Major Heyward can assume such deep notes on occasion,
believe me, his natural tones are better fitted for a mellow tenor than the bass
you heard."
"Is he, then, much practiced in the art of psalmody?" demanded her simple
companion.%
Alice felt disposed to laugh, though she succeeded in suppressing her
merriment, ere she answered:
"I apprehend that he is rather addicted to profane song. The chances of a
soldier's life are but little fitted for the encouragement of more sober
inclinations."
"Man's voice is given to him, like his other talents, to be used, and not to be
abused. None can say they have ever known me to neglect my gifts! I am
thankful that, though my boyhood may be said to have been set apart, like the
youth of the royal David, for the purposes of music, no syllable of rude verse has
ever profaned my lips."
"You have, then, limited your efforts to sacred song?"
"Even so. As the psalms of David exceed all other language, so does the
psalmody that has been fitted to them by the divines and sages of the land,
surpass all vain poetry. Happily, I may say that I utter nothing but the thoughts
and the wishes of the King of Israel himself; for though the times may call for
some slight changes, yet does this version which we use in the colonies of New
England so much exceed all other versions, that, by its richness, its exactness,
and its spiritual simplicity, it approacheth, as near as may be, to the great work
of the inspired writer. I never abid in any place, sleeping or waking, without an
example of this gifted work. 'Tis the six-and-twentieth edition, promulgated at
Boston, Anno Domini 1744; and is entitled, 'The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual
Songs of the Old and New Testaments; faithfully translated into English Metre,
Thesaurus
efforts: (n) pains. misery, gloom, seriousness, impetuously, imprudently,
exactness: (n) correctness, accuracy, despondency, boredom. carelessly, indiscreetly, headily,
exactitude, truth, rigor, trueness, profane: (v) desecrate, abuse, violate, heedlessly, wildly. ANTONYMS:
accurateness, fidelity, punctuality, defile, outrage, debauch; (adj) (adv) thoughtfully, prudently, late,
veracity, strictness. ANTONYMS: (n) irreverent, impious, sacrilegious, pensively, sensibly, responsibly,
inexactness, fuzziness, inaccuracy, unholy; (adj, v) foul. ANTONYMS: cautiously, deliberately, patiently.
negligence, inexactitude, (adj) devout, sacred, moral, religious, suppressing: (n) reticence.
incorrectness. reverent. surpass: (v) beat, outdo, exceed,
merriment: (n) fun, amusement, profaned: (adj) defiled, impure, surmount, better, excel, outstrip,
cheerfulness, hilarity, glee, jollity, unclean. overcome, overrun, best, go beyond.
frolic, gaiety, happiness, festivity; rashly: (adj, adv) hastily, headlong; ANTONYMS: (v) fail, lose, follow,
(adj, n) mirth. ANTONYMS: (n) (adv) thoughtlessly, recklessly, trail.
for the Use, Edification, and Comfort of the Saints, in Public and Private,
especially in New England'."
During this eulogium on the rare production of his native poets, the stranger
had drawn the book from his pocket, and fitting a pair of iron-rimmed spectacles
to his nose, opened the volume with a care and veneration suited to its sacred
purposes. Then, without circumlocution or apology, first pronounced the word
"Standish," and placing the unknown engine, already described, to his mouth,
from which he drew a high, shrill sound, that was followed by an octave below,
from his own voice, he commenced singing the following words, in full, sweet,
and melodious tones, that set the music, the poetry, and even the uneasy motion
of his ill- trained beast at defiance:
"How good it is, O see,

And how it pleaseth well,
Together e'en in unity,
For brethren so to dwell.%
"It's like the choice ointment,
From the head to the beard did go;
Down Aaron's head, that downward went
His garment's skirts unto."
The delivery of these skillful rhymes was accompanied, on the part of the
stranger, by a regular rise and fall of his right hand, which terminated at the
descent, by suffering the fingers to dwell a moment on the leaves of the little
volume; and on the ascent, by such a flourish of the member as none but the
initiated may ever hope to imitate. It would seem long practice had rendered this
manual accompaniment necessary; for it did not cease until the preposition
which the poet had selected for the close of his verse had been duly delivered
like a word of two syllables.
Such an innovation on the silence and retirement of the forest could not fail to
enlist the ears of those who journeyed at so short a distance in advance. The
Thesaurus
brethren: (n) congregation, assembly, sweet, tuneful, mellow, dulcet, soft, able, ready; (adj, v) dexterous, crafty;
brother, people, laity, family, flock, gentle, full, canorous, mellifluous. (adj, n, v) knowing. ANTONYMS:
fold. ANTONYMS: (adj) harsh, (adj) clumsy, incompetent,
circumlocution: (n) verbiage, unmelodious, inharmonious, unprofessional, bad, untrained,
ambages, equivocation, evasion, tuneless, grating, loud. ordinary, amateur, mediocre; (adv)
verboseness, verbosity, quibble, ointment: (n) cream, salve, balm, incompetently.
indirect expression, circumstance, unguent, unction, oil, lotion, grease, veneration: (n) respect, awe, honor,
annulling, cancellation. plaster, embrocation, liniment. devotion, esteem, adoration,
ANTONYMS: (n) preposition: (n) proposition, function deference, estimation, worship,
straightforwardness, conciseness, word. admiration, thaumatolatry.
brevity. skillful: (adj) expert, proficient, ANTONYMS: (n) contempt,
melodious: (adj) harmonious, musical, capable, good, accomplished, adept, disapproval.
Indian muttered a few words in broken English to Heyward, who, in his turn,
spoke to the stranger; at once interrupting, and, for the time, closing his musical
efforts.%
"Though we are not in danger, common prudence would teach us to journey
through this wilderness in as quiet a manner as possible. You will then, pardon
me, Alice, should I diminish your enjoyments, by requesting this gentleman to
postpone his chant until a safer opportunity."
"You will diminish them, indeed," returned the arch girl; "for never did I hear
a more unworthy conjunction of execution and language than that to which I
have been listening; and I was far gone in a learned inquiry into the causes of
such an unfitness between sound and sense, when you broke the charm of my
musings by that bass of yours, Duncan!"
"I know not what you call my bass," said Heyward, piqued at her remark,
"but I know that your safety, and that of Cora, is far dearer to me than could be
any orchestra of Handel's music." He paused and turned his head quickly
toward a thicket, and then bent his eyes suspiciously on their guide, who
continued his steady pace, in undisturbed gravity. The young man smiled to
himself, for he believed he had mistaken some shining berry of the woods for the
glistening eyeballs of a prowling savage, and he rode forward, continuing the
conversation which had been interrupted by the passing thought.
Major Heyward was mistaken only in suffering his youthful and generous
pride to suppress his active watchfulness. The cavalcade had not long passed,
before the branches of the bushes that formed the thicket were cautiously moved
asunder, and a human visage, as fiercely wild as savage art and unbridled
passions could make it, peered out on the retiring footsteps of the travelers. A
gleam of exultation shot across the darkly-painted lineaments of the inhabitant
of the forest, as he traced the route of his intended victims, who rode
unconsciously onward, the light and graceful forms of the females waving
among the trees, in the curvatures of their path, followed at each bend by the
manly figure of Heyward, until, finally, the shapeless person of the singing
Thesaurus
asunder: (adj, v) separate; (adv) aside, piqued: (adj) irritated, irate, hurt, inaptitude, inadequacy, insufficiency,
in two; (adj, adv) in Twain; (adj) loose, irked, intoxicated, indignant, up in ineptitude, incapacity, feebleness.
distant, adrift, aloof; (v) discrete, far arms, in a huff, offended, huffy, ANTONYMS: (n) fitness, ability.
between, free. ANTONYM: (adv) excited. ANTONYM: (adj) visage: (n) face, look, mug,
together. unconcerned. physiognomy, expression, kisser,
exultation: (n) jubilation, joy, delight, unbridled: (adj) wild, unchecked, appearance, aspect, brow, smiler,
ecstasy, elation, rejoicing, revelling, licentious, reinless, ungoverned, forehead.
transport, joyousness, bliss, glee. violent, unmuzzled, ungovernable, watchfulness: (n) care, caution,
ANTONYMS: (n) depression, rampant, rakish, disorderly. alertness, heed, wariness, jealousy,
desolation, misery, sorrow. unfitness: (n) disqualification, attentiveness, attention, solicitude,
musings: (n) contemplation, disability, incompetence, concern, anxiety. ANTONYMS: (n)
cogitation, consideration. incompetency, incapability, recklessness, inattentiveness.
master was concealed behind the numberless trunks of trees, that rose, in dark
lines, in the intermediate space. %
Thesaurus
concealed: (adj) covert, clandestine, ANTONYMS: (adj) bright, sunny, head, ace. ANTONYMS: (n)
blind, occult, secret, mysterious, fair, sunlit, clear, pallid, pale, underling, servant, novice, amateur.
obscure, buried, invisible, secreted, cheerful, white, versed; (n) day. trees: (n) foliage.
surreptitious. ANTONYMS: (adj) intermediate: (adj, n) average, trunks: (n) short pants, pants, luggage,
unconcealed, available, overt, open, intermediary, mean, mediocre; (adj) Jockey shorts, Jamaica shorts,
divulged, Shown, revealed, middle, mid, moderate, halfway; (adj, Bermuda shorts, bathing trunks,
disclosed, uncovered, noticeable, v) mediate; (v) interjacent, intercede. bathing suit, costume, drawers,
mainstream. ANTONYMS: (adj) last, extreme. swimming trunks.
dark: (adj) dismal, black, cheerless, master: (n) captain, instructor, lord; (v)
obscure, dim, mysterious, murky, control, conquer, command,
gloomy; (n) evening, night, shadow. dominate, defeat; (adj, n) original,
CHAPTER 3
"Before these fields were shorn and till'd,

Full to the brim our rivers flow'd;
The melody of waters fill'd
The fresh and boundless wood;
And torrents dash'd, and rivulets play'd,
And fountains spouted in the shade."
Bryant
Leaving the unsuspecting Heyward and his confiding companions to

penetrate still deeper into a forest that contained such treacherous inmates, we
must use an author's privilege, and shift the scene a few miles to the westward of
the place where we have last seen them.%
On that day, two men were lingering on the banks of a small but rapid
stream, within an hour's journey of the encampment of Webb, like those who
awaited the appearance of an absent person, or the approach of some expected
event. The vast canopy of woods spread itself to the margin of the river,
overhanging the water, and shadowing its dark current with a deeper hue. The
rays of the sun were beginning to grow less fierce, and the intense heat of the day
was lessened, as the cooler vapors of the springs and fountains rose above their
leafy beds, and rested in the atmosphere. Still that breathing silence, which
Thesaurus
boundless: (adj) limitless, endless, inartificial, lain, simple, unaffected, beetling; (adj) covering, imminent,
unlimited, infinite, bottomless, unsophisticated. impending, pendent, obumbrant,
incalculable, immense, encampment: (n) camp, campsite, hanging over, overspreading,
immeasurable, interminable, bivouac, campground, camping site, depending, hanging.
unbounded, vast. ANTONYMS: (adj) camping ground, camping, shorn: (adj) sheared, hairless, bald,
limited, restricted, confined, finite, cantonment, barracks, camping area, stubbed, Shearn, Sheard, shear,
incomplete, negligible, small. bivouacking. clipped, not, Nott, shaven.
brim: (n) rim, periphery, verge, edge, lessened: (adj) diminished, hurt, torrents: (n) white water, rapids.
lip, hem, rand, margin, perimeter, lower, mitigated, pointed, tapering, vapors: (n) megrims, mist, blues, blue
brink, limit. vitiated, atrophied, short, attenuate, devils, fog, depression,
confiding: (adj) unsuspecting, trustful, attenuated. hypochondriasis, pessimism, spleen,
artless, credulous, untutored, ingenu, overhanging: (adj, v) projecting; (v) brume, horrors.
marks the drowsy sultriness of an American landscape in July, pervaded the

secluded spot, interrupted only by the low voices of the men, the occasional and
lazy tap of a woodpecker, the discordant cry of some gaudy jay, or a swelling on
the ear, from the dull roar of a distant waterfall. These feeble and broken sounds
were, however, too familiar to the foresters to draw their attention from the more
interesting matter of their dialogue. While one of these loiterers showed the red
skin and wild accouterments of a native of the woods, the other exhibited,
through the mask of his rude and nearly savage equipments, the brighter,
though sun-burned and long-faced complexion of one who might claim descent
from a European parentage. The former was seated on the end of a mossy log, in
a posture that permitted him to heighten the effect of his earnest language, by the
calm but expressive gestures of an Indian engaged in debate. his body, which
was nearly naked, presented a terrific emblem of death, drawn in intermingled
colors of white and black. His closely-shaved head, on which no other hair than
the well-known and chivalrous scalping tuft was preserved, was without
ornament of any kind, with the exception of a solitary eagle's plume, that crossed
his crown, and depended over the left shoulder. A tomahawk and scalping knife,
of English manufacture, were in his girdle; while a short military rifle, of that sort
with which the policy of the whites armed their savage allies, lay carelessly
across his bare and sinewy knee. The expanded chest, full formed limbs, and
grave countenance of this warrior, would denote that he had reached the vigor of
his days, though no symptoms of decay appeared to have yet weakened his
manhood.%
The frame of the white man, judging by such parts as were not concealed by
his clothes, was like that of one who had known hardships and exertion from his
earliest youth. His person, though muscular, was rather attenuated than full; but
every nerve and muscle appeared strung and indurated by unremitted exposure
and toil. He wore a hunting shirt of forest-green, fringed with faded yellow, and
a summer cap of skins which had been shorn of their fur. He also bore a knife in
a girdle of wampum, like that which confined the scanty garments of the Indian,
but no tomahawk. His moccasins were ornamented after the gay fashion of the
natives, while the only part of his under dress which appeared below the
Thesaurus
accouterments: (n) equipment, facility, attire, appendages, equipage, mossy: (adj) floral, mosslike, moldy,
accoutrements, harness, outfit, accouterments. hoary, musty, covered, musciform,
accessories, belongings, equipage, indurated: (adj) hardened, hard, stodgy, hoar, chromatic, canescent.
fittings, hardware. callous, firm, impassive, inveterate, scalping: (n) defeat.
chivalrous: (adj) gallant, brave, scirrhous, sclerous, sclerotic. sultriness: (n) closeness, heat,
knightly, courteous, courageous, intermingled: (adj) amalgamated, sogginess, sensuality, muggy
gentlemanly, sublime, magnanimous, integrated, coalesced, blended, weather, sensualism, humidity, hot
polite, thoughtful, considerate. incorporated, assorted, consolidated, weather, hot spell, heat wave.
ANTONYMS: (adj) rude, fearful, incorporate, amalgamate, fused. wampum: (n) peag, dough, shekels,
brutish, afraid, dishonorable, long-faced: (adj) grave, serious, cash, wampumpeag, money, kale,
cowardly, barbaric, boorish. woebegone, unhappy. stops, simoleons, medium of
equipments: (n) paraphernalia, moccasins: (n) mocassin. exchange, scratch.
hunging frock was a pair of buckskin leggings, that laced at the sides, and
which were gartered above the knees, with the sinews of a deer. A pouch and
horn completed his personal accouterments, though a rifle of great length, which
the theory of the more ingenious whites had taught them was the most
dangerous of all firearms, leaned against a neighboring sapling. The eye of the
hunter, or scout, whichever he might be, was small, quick, keen, and restless,
roving while he spoke, on every side of him, as if in quest of game, or distrusting
the sudden approach of some lurking enemy. Notwithstanding the symptoms of
habitual suspicion, his countenance was not only without guile, but at the
moment at which he is introduced, it was charged with an expression of sturdy
honesty.%
"Even your traditions make the case in my favor, Chingachgook," he said,
speaking in the tongue which was known to all the natives who formerly
inhabited the country between the Hudson and the Potomac, and of which we
shall give a free translation for the benefit of the reader; endeavoring, at the same
time, to preserve some of the peculiarities, both of the individual and of the
language. "Your fathers came from the setting sun, crossed the big river, fought
the people of the country, and took the land; and mine came from the red sky of
the morning, over the salt lake, and did their work much after the fashion that
had been set them by yours; then let God judge the matter between us, and
friends spare their words!"
"My fathers fought with the naked red man!" returned the Indian, sternly, in
the same language. "Is there no difference, Hawkeye, between the stone-headed
arrow of the warrior, and the leaden bullet with which you kill?"
"There is reason in an Indian, though nature has made him with a red skin!"
said the white man, shaking his head like one on whom such an appeal to his
justice was not thrown away. For a moment he appeared to be conscious of
having the worst of the argument, then, rallying again, he answered the objection
of his antagonist in the best manner his limited information would allow:
"I am no scholar, and I care not who knows it; but, judging from what I have
seen, at deer chases and squirrel hunts, of the sparks below, I should think a rifle
Thesaurus
antagonist: (n) opponent, adversary, guile: (n) fraud, cunning, craft, drunk, decorated, alcoholic.
enemy, foe, rival, match, opposition, duplicity, deception, trickery, leggings: (n) gramashes, pedal
opposer, assailant, opposite, deceitfulness, wiliness, craftiness, pushers.
competitor. ANTONYMS: (n) artifice, slyness. ANTONYMS: (n) roving: (adj, v) itinerant, Peripatetic,
supporter, advocate, colleague, honesty, straightforwardness, ambulatory; (v) roam; (adj, n)
synergist, ally, defender. candor, frankness. wandering; (adj) rambling, mobile,
buckskin: (n) mount, doeskin, fleece, ingenious: (adj) adroit, artful, clever, migratory, peregrine, unsettled,
buffalo hide, rawhide, elephant hide, cunning, deft, expert, creative, vagabond.
skin, pelt, fur. imaginative, cute, acute, able. sapling: (n) seedling, stripling,
distrusting: (adj) doubting, suspicious, ANTONYMS: (adj) impulsive, naive, adolescent, sprout, plant, youth, tree,
disbelieving, unbelieving. unoriginal, inept. young tree, cub, young man, plantlet.
endeavoring: (n) effort; (adj) aspiring. laced: (adj) even, fastened, spiked, sparks: (n) fire.
in the hands of their grandfathers was not so dangerous as a hickory bow and a
good flint-head might be, if drawn with Indian judgment, and sent by an Indian
eye."
"You have the story told by your fathers," returned the other, coldly waving
his hand. "What say your old men? Do they tell the young warriors that the pale
faces met the red men, painted for war and armed with the stone hatchet and
wooden gun?"
"I am not a prejudiced man, nor one who vaunts himself on his natural
privileges, though the worst enemy I have on earth, and he is an Iroquois, daren't
deny that I am genuine white," the scout replied, surveying, with secret
satisfaction, the faded color of his bony and sinewy hand, "and I am willing to
own that my people have many ways, of which, as an honest man, I can't
approve. It is one of their customs to write in books what they have done and
seen, instead of telling them in their villages, where the lie can be given to the
face of a cowardly boaster, and the brave soldier can call on his comrades to
witness for the truth of his words. In consequence of this bad fashion, a man,
who is too conscientious to misspend his days among the women, in learning the
names of black marks, may never hear of the deeds of his fathers, nor feel a pride
in striving to outdo them. For myself, I conclude the Bumppos could shoot, for I
have a natural turn with a rifle, which must have been handed down from
generation to generation, as, our holy commandments tell us, all good and evil
gifts are bestowed; though I should be loath to answer for other people in such a
matter. But every story has its two sides; so I ask you, Chingachgook, what
passed, according to the traditions of the red men, when our fathers first met?"
A silence of a minute succeeded, during which the Indian sat mute; then, full
of the dignity of his office, he commenced his brief tale, with a solemnity that
served to heighten its appearance of truth.%
"Listen, Hawkeye, and your ear shall drink no lie. 'Tis what my fathers have
said, and what the Mohicans have done." He hesitated a single instant, and
bending a cautious glance toward his companion, he continued, in a manner that
was divided between interrogation and assertion. "Does not this stream at our
Thesaurus
boaster: (n) blowhard, vaunter, hickory, black hickory, big shellbark, overrun, circumvent; (adj, v) outwit.
bragger, bouncer, egoist, swellhead, bitter pignut. ANTONYM: (v) trail.
egotist, swaggerer, Gascon, loath: (adj) unwilling, disinclined, sinewy: (adj) muscular, brawny, wiry,
braggadocio, Glorioso. reluctant, loth, indisposed, backward, beefy, tough, powerful, tendinous,
commenced: (v) began, Gan; (adj) hesitant, antipathetic, antipathetical, strong, robust, stringy, fibrous.
initiate, present. loathe, shy of. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYM: (adj) stout.
hatchet: (n) tomahawk, chopper, adze, eager, willing, disposed, keen. solemnity: (n) seriousness, sobriety,
winter virgin, weapon; (v) cut, hack, misspend: (v) spend, squander, pass, earnestness, formality, ceremony,
hew; (adj) pickax, mattock, pick. fritter, lose, waste, expend, impressiveness, austerity, sedateness,
hickory: (n) mockernut hickory, misappropriate, drop. display, pomp, grandeur.
hickory tree, pignut, shellbark, outdo: (v) exceed, beat, best, break, ANTONYMS: (n) humor, levity,
shagbark, mockernut, club, brown outgo, surpass, outstrip, better, cheerfulness, understatement.
feet run toward the summer, until its waters grow salt, and the current flows
upward?"%
"It can't be denied that your traditions tell you true in both these matters,"
said the white man; "for I have been there, and have seen them, though why
water, which is so sweet in the shade, should become bitter in the sun, is an
alteration for which I have never been able to account."
"And the current!" demanded the Indian, who expected his reply with that
sort of interest that a man feels in the confirmation of testimony, at which he
marvels even while he respects it; "the fathers of Chingachgook have not lied!"
"The holy Bible is not more true, and that is the truest thing in nature. They
call this up-stream current the tide, which is a thing soon explained, and clear
enough. Six hours the waters run in, and six hours they run out, and the reason is
this: when there is higher water in the sea than in the river, they run in until the
river gets to be highest, and then it runs out again."
"The waters in the woods, and on the great lakes, run downward until they
lie like my hand," said the Indian, stretching the limb horizontally before him,
"and then they run no more."
"No honest man will deny it," said the scout, a little nettled at the implied
distrust of his explanation of the mystery of the tides; "and I grant that it is true
on the small scale, and where the land is level. But everything depends on what
scale you look at things. Now, on the small scale, the 'arth is level; but on the
large scale it is round. In this manner, pools and ponds, and even the great fresh-
water lakes, may be stagnant, as you and I both know they are, having seen
them; but when you come to spread water over a great tract, like the sea, where
the earth is round, how in reason can the water be quiet? You might as well
expect the river to lie still on the brink of those black rocks a mile above us,
though your own ears tell you that it is tumbling over them at this very
moment."
If unsatisfied by the philosophy of his companion, the Indian was far too
dignified to betray his unbelief. He listened like one who was convinced, and
resumed his narrative in his former solemn manner.
Thesaurus
distrust: (n, v) mistrust, discredit; (n) prostrately; (adj) crosswise. ANTONYMS: (adj) active, moving.
suspicion, misgiving, disbelief, nettled: (adj) annoyed, harried, stung, unbelief: (n) atheism, incredulity,
uncertainty, hesitation; (v) suspect, steamed, roiled, riled, pissed, peeved, skepticism, distrust, scepticism,
disbelieve, question; (adj) distrustful. miffed, loaded, huffy. ANTONYM: misbelief, agnosticism, doubt, heresy,
ANTONYMS: (n) confidence, faith, (adj) unconcerned. suspicion, misgiving. ANTONYM:
trustingness, certainty, belief, scout: (n, v) spy; (n) lookout, (n) faith.
optimism; (v) believe, entrust, pathfinder, talent scout, picket, unsatisfied: (adj) dissatisfied,
depend, confide. patrol, detective; (v) explore, disgruntled, unsatiated, unsated,
ears: (n) antenna. reconnoiter, reconnoitre, investigate. ungratified, restless, discontent,
horizontally: (adv) evenly, flatly, stagnant: (adj) quiet, motionless, inert, fidgety, fretful, unsatiable; (v)
planely, straightly, frigidly, dully, dead, slow, still, standing, immobile, unslaked. ANTONYMS: (adj)
barwise, smoothly, recumbently, inactive, stagnate, stationary. pleased, happy.
"We came from the place where the sun is hid at night, over great plains
where the buffaloes live, until we reached the big river. There we fought the
Alligewi, till the ground was red with their blood. From the banks of the big
river to the shores of the salt lake, there was none to meet us. The Maquas
followed at a distance. We said the country should be ours from the place where
the water runs up no longer on this stream, to a river twenty sun's journey
toward the summer. We drove the Maquas into the woods with the bears. They
only tasted salt at the licks; they drew no fish from the great lake; we threw them
the bones."%
"All this I have heard and believe," said the white man, observing that the
Indian paused; "but it was long before the English came into the country."
"A pine grew then where this chestnut now stands. The first pale faces who
came among us spoke no English. They came in a large canoe, when my fathers
had buried the tomahawk with the red men around them. Then, Hawkeye," he
continued, betraying his deep emotion, only by permitting his voice to fall to
those low, guttural tones, which render his language, as spoken at times, so very
musical; "then, Hawkeye, we were one people, and we were happy. The salt lake
gave us its fish, the wood its deer, and the air its birds. We took wives who bore
us children; we worshipped the Great Spirit; and we kept the Maquas beyond
the sound of our songs of triumph."
"Know you anything of your own family at that time?" demanded the white.
"But you are just a man, for an Indian; and as I suppose you hold their gifts, your
fathers must have been brave warriors, and wise men at the council-fire."
"My tribe is the grandfather of nations, but I am an unmixed man. The blood
of chiefs is in my veins, where it must stay forever. The Dutch landed, and gave
my people the fire- water; they drank until the heavens and the earth seemed to
meet, and they foolishly thought they had found the Great Spirit. Then they
parted with their land. Foot by foot, they were driven back from the shores, until
I, that am a chief and a Sagamore, have never seen the sun shine but through the
trees, and have never visited the graves of my fathers."
Thesaurus
betraying: (adj) treacherous, revealing, ridiculously, stupidly, indiscreetly, parted: (adj) divided, separate,
Judas. silly, insanely, injudiciously, distributed, separated, divisible,
canoe: (n) dugout, pirogue, canoes, preposterously, absurdly, senselessly; disunited, compounder, compound,
caique, birchbark, dugout canoe, (adj, adv) madly. ANTONYMS: (adv) dividable.
birchbark canoe, felucca; (adj) self- sensibly, solemnly, shrewdly, permitting: (adj) lenient, permitted.
sufficient. prudently, responsibly, judiciously, unmixed: (adj, v) simple, sheer, mere,
chestnut: (adj, n) auburn, carefully, rationally. downright; (adj) absolute, unmingled,
commonplace; (n) chestnut tree, guttural: (adj) hoarse, throaty, gruff, undiluted, straight, uncompounded,
sweet chestnut, wood, anecdote, joke, croaking, husky, harsh, velar, single, plain. ANTONYM: (adj)
banality; (adj) bay, trite, castaneous. raucous, grum; (n) dental; (v) nasal. impure.
drank: (v) absorb. ANTONYMS: (adj) soft, smooth, worshipped: (adj) adored, idolized,
foolishly: (adv) idiotically, high. venerable.
"Graves bring solemn feelings over the mind," returned the scout, a good deal
touched at the calm suffering of his companion; "and they often aid a man in his
good intentions; though, for myself, I expect to leave my own bones unburied, to
bleach in the woods, or to be torn asunder by the wolves. But where are to be
found those of your race who came to their kin in the Delaware country, so many
summers since?"
"Where are the blossoms of those summers!--fallen, one by one; so all of my
family departed, each in his turn, to the land of spirits. I am on the hilltop and
must go down into the valley; and when Uncas follows in my footsteps there will
no longer be any of the blood of the Sagamores, for my boy is the last of the
Mohicans."
"Uncas is here," said another voice, in the same soft, guttural tones, near his
elbow; "who speaks to Uncas?"
The white man loosened his knife in his leathern sheath, and made an
involuntary movement of the hand toward his rifle, at this sudden interruption;
but the Indian sat composed, and without turning his head at the unexpected
sounds.%
At the next instant, a youthful warrior passed between them, with a noiseless
step, and seated himself on the bank of the rapid stream. No exclamation of
surprise escaped the father, nor was any question asked, or reply given, for
several minutes; each appearing to await the moment when he might speak,
without betraying womanish curiosity or childish impatience. The white man
seemed to take counsel from their customs, and, relinquishing his grasp of the
rifle, he also remained silent and reserved. At length Chingachgook turned his
eyes slowly toward his son, and demanded:
"Do the Maquas dare to leave the print of their moccasins in these woods?"
"I have been on their trail," replied the young Indian, "and know that they
number as many as the fingers of my two hands; but they lie hid like cowards."
"The thieves are outlying for scalps and plunder," said the white man, whom
we shall call Hawkeye, after the manner of his companions. "That busy
Thesaurus
bleach: (adj, v) whiten, blanch, noiseless: (adj) quiet, silent, soundless, relinquent, resigned.
decolorize, wash out; (v) decolor, hushed, voiceless, mute, stealthy, sheath: (n, v) cover; (n) envelope,
fade, white, decolourize; (n) dumb, soft, calm, tranquil. vagina, scabbard, blanket, casing,
bleaching agent, whitener, blanching ANTONYM: (adj) heavy. skin, holster, tegument; (v) sheathe,
agent. ANTONYMS: (v) melanize, outlying: (adj) faraway, remote, far, envelop.
yellow, blacken, contaminate, dye. outer, isolated, outdoor, outward, warrior: (n) fighter, combatant,
hilltop: (n) brow, peak, summit, top, exterior, peripheral, outstanding, champion, brave, gerrard, guerilla,
pinnacle, hill, acme, height, zenith, secluded. ANTONYMS: (adj) central, centurion, irregular, insurgent,
apex; (adj) outdoor. metropolitan, nearby, neighboring. guerrilla, militant.
loosened: (adj) disentangled, loose, relinquishing: (n) handover, womanish: (adj) tender, feminine,
freed, disengaged, extricated, conclusion, ending, giving up, female, womanlike, womanly, weak,
unsnarled. waiver, relinquishment, ceding; (adj) unmanly.
Frenchman, Montcalm, will send his spies into our very camp, but he will know
what road we travel!"%
"'Tis enough," returned the father, glancing his eye toward the setting sun;
"they shall be driven like deer from their bushes. Hawkeye, let us eat to-night,
and show the Maquas that we are men to-morrow."
"I am as ready to do the one as the other; but to fight the Iroquois 'tis
necessary to find the skulkers; and to eat, 'tis necessary to get the game--talk of
the devil and he will come; there is a pair of the biggest antlers I have seen this
season, moving the bushes below the hill! Now, Uncas," he continued, in a half
whisper, and laughing with a kind of inward sound, like one who had learned to
be watchful, "I will bet my charger three times full of powder, against a foot of
wampum, that I take him atwixt the eyes, and nearer to the right than to the left."
"It cannot be!" said the young Indian, springing to his feet with youthful
eagerness; "all but the tips of his horns are hid!"
"He's a boy!" said the white man, shaking his head while he spoke, and
addressing the father. "Does he think when a hunter sees a part of the creature',
he can't tell where the rest of him should be!"
Adjusting his rifle, he was about to make an exhibition of that skill on which
he so much valued himself, when the warrior struck up the piece with his hand,
saying:
"Hawkeye! will you fight the Maquas?"
"These Indians know the nature of the woods, as it might be by instinct!"
returned the scout, dropping his rifle, and turning away like a man who was
convinced of his error. "I must leave the buck to your arrow, Uncas, or we may
kill a deer for them thieves, the Iroquois, to eat."
The instant the father seconded this intimation by an expressive gesture of
the hand, Uncas threw himself on the ground, and approached the animal with
wary movements. When within a few yards of the cover, he fitted an arrow to his
bow with the utmost care, while the antlers moved, as if their owner snuffed an
enemy in the tainted air. In another moment the twang of the cord was heard, a
Thesaurus
charger: (n) horse, battery charger, intimation: (n) hint, inkling, ANTONYMS: (adj) unadulterated,
steed, mount, courser, war horse, implication, insinuation, suggestion, unchanged, untarnished, clean.
loader, hack, roadster, warhorse, clue, allusion, indication, cue, notice, twang: (n, v) flavor; (n) accent, tang,
destrier. innuendo. strong taste; (v) jar, strum, play,
eagerness: (n, v) desire, aspiration; (n) springing: (v) jumping, climbing, smack, taste, smatch, savor.
enthusiasm, avidity, cupidity, bounding, furious, conspicuous, watchful: (adj) alert, observant,
readiness, passion, keenness, prominent, ascending, projecting careful, cautious, wary, attentive,
ambition, fervor, avidness. outwardly; (n) growth, suspension, wakeful, mindful, circumspect,
ANTONYMS: (n) indifference, emanation. sleepless, awake. ANTONYMS: (adj)
unwillingness, aloofness, disinterest, tainted: (adj, v) rotten, rancid, bad, inattentive, negligent, oblivious,
lethargy, listlessness, patience, musty, reasty, vitiated; (adj) rank, forgetful, careless, asleep, trusting,
gloom, reluctance. contaminated, faulty, putrid, dirty. unprepared, reckless.
white streak was seen glancing into the bushes, and the wounded buck plunged
from the cover, to the very feet of his hidden enemy. Avoiding the horns of the
infuriated animal, Uncas darted to his side, and passed his knife across the
throat, when bounding to the edge of the river it fell, dyeing the waters with its
blood.%
"'Twas done with Indian skill," said the scout laughing inwardly, but with
vast satisfaction; "and 'twas a pretty sight to behold! Though an arrow is a near
shot, and needs a knife to finish the work."
"Hugh!" ejaculated his companion, turning quickly, like a hound who
scented game.
"By the Lord, there is a drove of them!" exclaimed the scout, whose eyes
began to glisten with the ardor of his usual occupation; "if they come within
range of a bullet I will drop one, though the whole Six Nations should be lurking
within sound! What do you hear, Chingachgook? for to my ears the woods are
dumb."
"There is but one deer, and he is dead," said the Indian, bending his body till
his ear nearly touched the earth. "I hear the sounds of feet!"
"Perhaps the wolves have driven the buck to shelter, and are following on his
trail."
"No. The horses of white men are coming!" returned the other, raising himself
with dignity, and resuming his seat on the log with his former composure.
"Hawkeye, they are your brothers; speak to them."
"That I will, and in English that the king needn't be ashamed to answer,"
returned the hunter, speaking in the language of which he boasted; "but I see
nothing, nor do I hear the sounds of man or beast; 'tis strange that an Indian
should understand white sounds better than a man who, his very enemies will
own, has no cross in his blood, although he may have lived with the red skins
long enough to be suspected! Ha! there goes something like the cracking of a
dry stick, too--now I hear the bushes move--yes, yes, there is a trampling that I
Thesaurus
ardor: (adj, n) eagerness, zeal; (n) moving, subsultory. exasperated, provoked, boiling, livid,
fervor, fervency, fire, flame, passion, dyeing: (n, v) pigmenting; (n) staining, wrathful, annoyed. ANTONYM: (adj)
enthusiasm, ardency, heat, avidity. blacking. pleased.
ANTONYMS: (n) apathy, coolness, glisten: (n, v) gleam, sparkle, flash, scented: (adj) fragrant, perfumed,
coldness, hatred. glance, shimmer, glitter, glister; (v) aromatic, balmy, sweet, redolent,
behold: (v) see, view, contemplate, glimmer, beam, coruscate, glint. odoriferous, spicy, savory, smelling,
regard, perceive, observe, look, hound: (v) bloodhound, chase, hunt, angelical. ANTONYMS: (adj)
consider, discern, descry, watch. follow, badger, course, bait, pursue; scentless, smelly.
ANTONYMS: (v) Miss, disregard, (n) greyhound, blackguard, cad. streak: (n, v) ray, dash, mark, flash;
ignore, overlook. ANTONYM: (v) soothe. (adj, n) stripe; (n) band, beam, run,
bounding: (n) jumping, confinement; infuriated: (adj, v) enraged; (adj) bar, groove, gleam.
(v) confine, salient; (adj) terminal, furious, incensed, angered, mad, trampling: (n) trample; (adj) moving.
mistook for the falls--and-- but here they come themselves; God keep them from
the Iroquois!"%
Thesaurus
keep: (n, v) hold; (v) preserve, retain,
defend, guard, maintain, continue,
have, save, confine, observe.
ANTONYMS: (v) lose, neglect,
entrust, return, let, discontinue,
reimburse, allow, stop, destroy,
break.
themselves: (pron) myself, itself,
yourself; (n) yourselves.
CHAPTER 4
"Well go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove

Till I torment thee for this injury."
Midsummer Night's Dream
The words were still in the mouth of the scout, when the leader of the party,
whose approaching footsteps had caught the vigilant ear of the Indian, came
openly into view. A beaten path, such as those made by the periodical passage of
the deer, wound through a little glen at no great distance, and struck the river at
the point where the white man and his red companions had posted themselves.
Along this track the travelers, who had produced a surprise so unusual in the
depths of the forest, advanced slowly toward the hunter, who was in front of his
associates, in readiness to receive them.%
"Who comes?" demanded the scout, throwing his rifle carelessly across his
left arm, and keeping the forefinger of his right hand on the trigger, though he
avoided all appearance of menace in the act. "Who comes hither, among the
beasts and dangers of the wilderness?"
"Believers in religion, and friends to the law and to the king," returned he
who rode foremost. "Men who have journeyed since the rising sun, in the shades
of this forest, without nourishment, and are sadly tired of their wayfaring."
Thesaurus
carelessly: (adv) incautiously, hastily, hither: (adv) here, whither, afflict, pain, annoy; (n) agony,
recklessly, heedlessly, casually, hitherward, thither. anguish, suffering; (v) persecute,
sloppily, imprudently, midsummer: (n) summer, solstice, oppress. ANTONYMS: (v) please,
inconsiderately, rashly, negligently, June solstice, June. delight, placate, comfort, soothe; (n)
unwarily. ANTONYMS: (adv) nourishment: (n) food, alimentation, contentment, happiness, pleasure,
thoroughly, diligently, carefully, meal, meat, diet, feeding, nutrition, calm, content.
warily, laboriously, thoughtfully, repast, sustenance, edible, fuel. vigilant: (adj) alert, watchful, attentive,
attentively, daintily, methodically, periodical: (n) journal, magazine, observant, cautious, guarded,
discreetly, economically. newspaper, review, organ, circumspect, wakeful, careful,
forefinger: (n) index finger, index, publication, book; (adj) intermittent, jealous; (adj, v) awake. ANTONYMS:
forefingers, paw, thumb, hand, cyclic, recurrent, annual. (adj) careless, negligent, reckless,
exponent, antenna, feeler. torment: (n, v) tease, distress, harass, oblivious, unprepared, asleep.
"You are, then, lost," interrupted the hunter, "and have found how helpless
'tis not to know whether to take the right hand or the left?"
"Even so; sucking babes are not more dependent on those who guide them
than we who are of larger growth, and who may now be said to possess the
stature without the knowledge of men. Know you the distance to a post of the
crown called William Henry?"
"Hoot!" shouted the scout, who did not spare his open laughter, though
instantly checking the dangerous sounds he indulged his merriment at less risk
of being overheard by any lurking enemies. "You are as much off the scent as a
hound would be, with Horican atwixt him and the deer! William Henry, man! if
you are friends to the king and have business with the army, your way would be
to follow the river down to Edward, and lay the matter before Webb, who tarries
there, instead of pushing into the defiles, and driving this saucy Frenchman back
across Champlain, into his den again."
Before the stranger could make any reply to this unexpected proposition,
another horseman dashed the bushes aside, and leaped his charger into the
pathway, in front of his companion.%
"What, then, may be our distance from Fort Edward?" demanded a new
speaker; "the place you advise us to seek we left this morning, and our
destination is the head of the lake."
"Then you must have lost your eyesight afore losing your way, for the road
across the portage is cut to a good two rods, and is as grand a path, I calculate, as
any that runs into London, or even before the palace of the king himself."
"We will not dispute concerning the excellence of the passage," returned
Heyward, smiling; for, as the reader has anticipated, it was he. "It is enough, for
the present, that we trusted to an Indian guide to take us by a nearer, though
blinder path, and that we are deceived in his knowledge. In plain words, we
know not where we are."
"An Indian lost in the woods!" said the scout, shaking his head doubtingly;
"When the sun is scorching the tree tops, and the water courses are full; when
Thesaurus
afore: (adv) ahead, along, before, incredulously; (adj) doubting. saucy: (adj, n) pert; (adj) bold,
forwards, formerly, beforehand, ANTONYM: (adv) optimistically. impudent, audacious, insolent, fresh,
previously; (adj) erewhile, aforehand, eyesight: (n) sight, seeing, forward, impertinent, flippant, rude,
theretofore, preceding. discernment, vision power, ability to brazen. ANTONYM: (adj) respectful.
babes: (n) babies, babe. make discerning judgments, view, scorching: (adj) hot, sweltering,
blinder: (n) blind, winker, screen, sightedness, optics, beholding. scalding, baking, broiling, boiling,
blinded, blinker. horseman: (n) cavalier, rider, jockey, sultry, stifling, torrid; (v) fiery,
deceived: (adj) mistaken, misguided. horse fancier, horseback rider, flaming. ANTONYMS: (adj) cold,
doubtingly: (adv) distrustfully, trooper, trainer, knight, cavalryman, fresh, cool.
skeptically, suspiciously, sceptically, animal fancier, postilion. shouted: (adj) screamed, loud.
uncertainly, questioningly, indulged: (adj) pet, privileged, sucking: (n) suck, intake, uptake,
hesitantly, cynically, apprehensively, cherished, admired. aspiration, ingestion, consumption.
the moss on every beech he sees will tell him in what quarter the north star will
shine at night. The woods are full of deer-paths which run to the streams and
licks, places well known to everybody; nor have the geese done their flight to the
Canada waters altogether! 'Tis strange that an Indian should be lost atwixt
Horican and the bend in the river! Is he a Mohawk?"
"Not by birth, though adopted in that tribe; I think his birthplace was farther
north, and he is one of those you call a Huron."
"Hugh!" exclaimed the two companions of the scout, who had continued until
this part of the dialogue, seated immovable, and apparently indifferent to what
passed, but who now sprang to their feet with an activity and interest that had
evidently got the better of their reserve by surprise.%
"A Huron!" repeated the sturdy scout, once more shaking his head in open
distrust; "they are a thievish race, nor do I care by whom they are adopted; you
can never make anything of them but skulls and vagabonds. Since you trusted
yourself to the care of one of that nation, I only wonder that you have not fallen
in with more."
"Of that there is little danger, since William Henry is so many miles in our
front. You forget that I have told you our guide is now a Mohawk, and that he
serves with our forces as a friend."
"And I tell you that he who is born a Mingo will die a Mingo," returned the
other positively. "A Mohawk! No, give me a Delaware or a Mohican for honesty;
and when they will fight, which they won't all do, having suffered their cunning
enemies, the Maquas, to make them women--but when they will fight at all, look
to a Delaware, or a Mohican, for a warrior!"
"Enough of this," said Heyward, impatiently; "I wish not to inquire into the
character of a man that I know, and to whom you must be a stranger. You have
not yet answered my question; what is our distance from the main army at
Edward?"
Thesaurus
beech: (n) Black beech, copper beech, ingenuous, straightforward, candid, mobile, flexible, movable,
tree, common beech, wood, beech sincere; (n) frankness, acquiescent, temporary, irresolute.
tree, beech wood. straightforwardness. inquire: (v) demand, ask, explore,
birthplace: (n) place of birth, place, geese: (n) ducks, goose, game birds, enquire, inspect, research, consult,
home town, home, source, order Anseriformes, wildfowl, birds, pry, request, wonder; (n, v) question.
provenance, place of origin, ancestral Anatidae, Anseriformes, family ANTONYM: (v) answer.
home, spot, root, hotbed. Anatidae. moss: (n) lichen, marsh, bog, morass,
cunning: (adj) crafty, canny, adroit, immovable: (adj, v) firm, fixed; (adj) marish, fen, bryophyte, quagmire,
wily, sly, shrewd, tricky, artful; (n) adamant, steadfast, motionless, swamp, Bryace; (adj) byssus.
craftiness, craft, cleverness. unyielding, unmovable, set, thievish: (adj) pilfering, dishonest,
ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, honest, imperturbable, inflexible; (v) fast. dishonorable, furacious, thiefly, theft
stupid, unimaginative, gullible, ANTONYMS: (adj) loose, moving, prone.
"It seems that may depend on who is your guide. One would think such a
horse as that might get over a good deal of ground atwixt sun-up and sun-
down."%
"I wish no contention of idle words with you, friend," said Heyward, curbing
his dissatisfied manner, and speaking in a more gentle voice; "if you will tell me
the distance to Fort Edward, and conduct me thither, your labor shall not go
without its reward."
"And in so doing, how know I that I don't guide an enemy and a spy of
Montcalm, to the works of the army? It is not every man who can speak the
English tongue that is an honest subject."
"If you serve with the troops, of whom I judge you to be a scout, you should
know of such a regiment of the king as the Sixtieth."
"The Sixtieth! you can tell me little of the Royal Americans that I don't know,
though I do wear a hunting-shirt instead of a scarlet jacket."
"Well, then, among other things, you may know the name of its major?"
"Its major!" interrupted the hunter, elevating his body like one who was
proud of his trust. "If there is a man in the country who knows Major Effingham,
he stands before you."
"It is a corps which has many majors; the gentleman you name is the senior,
but I speak of the junior of them all; he who commands the companies in
garrison at William Henry."
"Yes, yes, I have heard that a young gentleman of vast riches, from one of the
provinces far south, has got the place. He is over young, too, to hold such rank,
and to be put above men whose heads are beginning to bleach; and yet they say
he is a soldier in his knowledge, and a gallant gentleman!"
"Whatever he may be, or however he may be qualified for his rank, he now
speaks to you and, of course, can be no enemy to dread."
The scout regarded Heyward in surprise, and then lifting his cap, he
answered, in a tone less confident than before-- though still expressing doubt.
Thesaurus
curbing: (n) limitation, restriction, don't: (adv) not; (n) taboo, prohibition. leisure, death, relaxation.
bridle, check, Amex, curb bit, elevating: (adj) inspiring, exhilarating. majors: (n) major league, conference,
frustration, American Stock gallant: (adj) fearless, brave, daring, league, big time.
Exchange. ANTONYM: (n) extension. courageous, chivalrous, bold, manly, riches: (n, v) money; (n) affluence,
dissatisfied: (adj) discontent, heroic, dashing, courteous, fine. abundance, fortune, opulence, plenty,
disgruntled, disappointed, put out, ANTONYMS: (adj) boorish, rude, prosperity, exuberance, treasure,
displeased, malcontent, grumpy, selfish. resources; (v) gold.
annoyed, disaffected; (adj, v) labor: (n, v) toil, endeavor, drudgery, speaks: (n) talks.
querulous, complaining. travail, struggle, confinement, thither: (adv) hither, whither, on that
ANTONYMS: (adj) content, childbirth, delivery, grind; (n) effort, point, in that respect, at that place, in
contented, happy, fulfilled, gratified, exertion. ANTONYMS: (n, v) rest; (v) that location; (adj) further, ulterior,
pleased, idealistic. relax, ignore; (n) management, remoter, succeeding, more distant.
"I have heard a party was to leave the encampment this morning for the lake
shore?"
"You have heard the truth; but I preferred a nearer route, trusting to the
knowledge of the Indian I mentioned."
"And he deceived you, and then deserted?"
"Neither, as I believe; certainly not the latter, for he is to be found in the rear."
"I should like to look at the creature'; if it is a true Iroquois I can tell him by
his knavish look, and by his paint," said the scout; stepping past the charger of
Heyward, and entering the path behind the mare of the singing master, whose
foal had taken advantage of the halt to exact the maternal contribution. After
shoving aside the bushes, and proceeding a few paces, he encountered the
females, who awaited the result of the conference with anxiety, and not entirely
without apprehension. Behind these, the runner leaned against a tree, where he
stood the close examination of the scout with an air unmoved, though with a
look so dark and savage, that it might in itself excite fear. Satisfied with his
scrutiny, the hunter soon left him. As he repassed the females, he paused a
moment to gaze upon their beauty, answering to the smile and nod of Alice with
a look of open pleasure. Thence he went to the side of the motherly animal, and
spending a minute in a fruitless inquiry into the character of her rider, he shook
his head and returned to Heyward.%
"A Mingo is a Mingo, and God having made him so, neither the Mohawks
nor any other tribe can alter him," he said, when he had regained his former
position. "If we were alone, and you would leave that noble horse at the mercy of
the wolves to-night, I could show you the way to Edward myself, within an
hour, for it lies only about an hour's journey hence; but with such ladies in your
company 'tis impossible!"
"And why? They are fatigued, but they are quite equal to a ride of a few more
miles."
"'Tis a natural impossibility!" repeated the scout; "I wouldn't walk a mile in
these woods after night gets into them, in company with that runner, for the best
Thesaurus
excite: (v) arouse, enliven, disturb, useless, empty, futile, ineffective, maternally; (v) ardent, fond, devoted,
agitate, awaken, incite, inspire, rouse, idle, pointless, sterile, bootless, erotic. ANTONYM: (adj) paternal.
electrify; (n, v) energize; (adj, v) unproductive. ANTONYMS: (adj) shoving: (n) thrusting.
quicken. ANTONYMS: (v) calm, fertile, useful, effective, satisfying, stepping: (n) steps.
pacify, bore, soothe, stifle, fruitful, worthwhile, profitable, unmoved: (adj) apathetic, unaffected,
tranquilize, placate, quiet, dampen. successful, productive, hopeful, indifferent, unconcerned,
fatigued: (adj) tired, weary, beat, meaningful. unimpressed, uninspired,
worn, tired out, jaded, spent, worn knavish: (adj) tricky, dishonest, crafty, dispassionate, imperturbable, calm,
out, done in, fagged, run-down. sly, roguish, guileful, foxy, dodgy, undisturbed, fixed. ANTONYMS:
ANTONYMS: (adj) refreshed, alert, cunning, false, corrupt. (adj) affected, compliant, uptight,
lively, energized, energetic. motherly: (adj) tender, fatherly, warm, concerned, enthusiastic, tolerant,
fruitless: (adj, v) abortive; (adj) barren, sisterly, loving, affectionate; (adv) sensitive.
rifle in the colonies. They are full of outlying Iroquois, and your mongrel
Mohawk knows where to find them too well to be my companion."
"Think you so?" said Heyward, leaning forward in the saddle, and dropping
his voice nearly to a whisper; "I confess I have not been without my own
suspicions, though I have endeavored to conceal them, and affected a confidence
I have not always felt, on account of my companions. It was because I suspected
him that I would follow no longer; making him, as you see, follow me."
"I knew he was one of the cheats as soon as I laid eyes on him!" returned the
scout, placing a finger on his nose, in sign of caution.%
"The thief is leaning against the foot of the sugar sapling, that you can see
over them bushes; his right leg is in a line with the bark of the tree, and," tapping
his rifle, "I can take him from where I stand, between the angle and the knee,
with a single shot, putting an end to his tramping through the woods, for at least
a month to come. If I should go back to him, the cunning varmint would suspect
something, and be dodging through the trees like a frightened deer."
"It will not do. He may be innocent, and I dislike the act. Though, if I felt
confident of his treachery--"
"'Tis a safe thing to calculate on the knavery of an Iroquois," said the scout,
throwing his rifle forward, by a sort of instinctive movement.
"Hold!" interrupted Heyward, "it will not do--we must think of some other
scheme--and yet, I have much reason to believe the rascal has deceived me."
The hunter, who had already abandoned his intention of maiming the
runner, mused a moment, and then made a gesture, which instantly brought his
two red companions to his side. They spoke together earnestly in the Delaware
language, though in an undertone; and by the gestures of the white man, which
were frequently directed towards the top of the sapling, it was evident he
pointed out the situation of their hidden enemy. His companions were not long
in comprehending his wishes, and laying aside their firearms, they parted,
taking opposite sides of the path, and burying themselves in the thicket, with
such cautious movements, that their steps were inaudible.
Thesaurus
burying: (n) entombment, inhumation. (adj) audible, obvious. crossbred, debased, heteroclite.
comprehending: (adj) intelligent, knavery: (n) quackery, jugglery, foul rascal: (n) villain, rapscallion, monkey,
general, observant, sympathetic, play, trickery, swindle, betrayal, miscreant, knave, scoundrel, scamp,
brotherly, conversant. falsification, falsehood, charlatanism, rogue, varlet, vagabond, brat.
dodging: (n) dodge, evasion, escape, knavishness, roguery. tramping: (adj) moving.
circumvention, selective shading, maiming: (n) mayhem, marring, undertone: (n) undercurrent, murmur,
shirking, evading, elusion, shunning, disfigurement, dismemberment, tinge, nuance, whisper, suggestion,
pastime; (adj) shifty. accidental injury, damage, implication, connotation, overtone,
inaudible: (adj) indistinct, defacement. association, hint.
imperceptible, inarticulate, noiseless, mongrel: (n, v) hybrid; (adj, n) bastard; varmint: (n) vermin, beast, animal,
quiet, faint, out of hearing, muffled, (n) cross, dog, mutt, half blood, creature, rascal, pest, animate being,
silent, unheard, low. ANTONYMS: hound; (adj) heterogeneous, bad person, brute, fauna, trash.
"Now, go you back," said the hunter, speaking again to Heyward, "and hold
the imp in talk; these Mohicans here will take him without breaking his paint."
"Nay," said Heyward, proudly, "I will seize him myself."
"Hist! what could you do, mounted, against an Indian in the bushes!"
"I will dismount."
"And, think you, when he saw one of your feet out of the stirrup, he would
wait for the other to be free? Whoever comes into the woods to deal with the
natives, must use Indian fashions, if he would wish to prosper in his
undertakings. Go, then; talk openly to the miscreant, and seem to believe him the
truest friend you have on 'arth."
Heyward prepared to comply, though with strong disgust at the nature of the
office he was compelled to execute. Each 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 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
near. Stimulated by apprehension, he left the scout, who immediately entered
into a loud conversation with the stranger that had so unceremoniously enlisted
himself in the party of travelers 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 consultation
concerning the future route, he spurred his charger, and drew the reins again
when the animal had carried him within a few yards of the place where the
sullen runner still stood, leaning against the tree.%
"You may see, Magua," he said, endeavoring to assume an air of freedom and
confidence, "that the night is closing around us, and yet we are no nearer to
William Henry than when we left the encampment of Webb with the rising sun.
Thesaurus
barbarous: (adj) barbaric, savage, hist: (v) shush. kind, tolerant, unrelenting.
gothic, brutal, heathen, truculent, miscreant: (n) rascal, villain, spurred: (adj) barbed, calcarated.
rude, fell, ferocious, fierce, scoundrel, reprobate, wretch, rogue, stirrup: (n) support, brace, clip, shoe,
uncivilized. ANTONYMS: (adj) nice, infidel, scapegrace; (adj) degenerate, sole, splint, sprit, stirrup iron, rod,
cultured, civilized, sophisticated, nefarious, vicious. suspension strap, stilts.
refined, humane. natives: (n) nation, populace, suffered: (adj) permitted, permissive.
dusky: (adj) dark, cloudy, gloomy, community, citizens, public. unceremoniously: (adv) casually,
black, swarthy, dull, murky, obscure, remorseless: (adj) merciless, relentless, familiarly, easily, offhandedly,
dingy, sooty, somber. ANTONYMS: cruel, unmerciful, brutal, callous, abruptly, ungraciously, uncivilly,
(adj) light, bright, sunny, radiant, unrelenting, ruthless, inexorable, curtly, closely, intimately, cozily.
clear. inhuman, heartless. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (adv) attentively,
heyward: (n) Dubois Heyward. (adj) merciful, compassionate, gentle, carefully, distantly, formally.
"You have missed the way, nor have I been more fortunate. But, happily, we
have fallen in with a hunter, he whom you hear talking to the singer, that is
acquainted with the deerpaths and by-ways of the woods, and who promises to
lead us to a place where we may rest securely till the morning."
The Indian riveted his glowing eyes on Heyward as he asked, in his
imperfect English, "Is he alone?"
"Alone!" hesitatingly answered Heyward, to whom deception was too new
to be assumed without embarrassment. "Oh! not alone, surely, Magua, for you
know that we are with him."
"Then Le Renard Subtil will go," returned the runner, coolly raising his little
wallet from the place where it had lain at his feet; "and the pale faces will see
none but their own color."
"Go! Whom call you Le Renard?"
"'Tis the name his Canada fathers have given to Magua," returned the runner,
with an air that manifested his pride at the distinction. "Night is the same as day
to Le Subtil, when Munro waits for him."
"And what account will Le Renard give the chief of William Henry
concerning his daughters? Will he dare to tell the hot- blooded Scotsman that his
children are left without a guide, though Magua promised to be one?"
"Though the gray head has a loud voice, and a long arm, Le Renard will not
hear him, nor feel him, in the woods."
"But what will the Mohawks say? They will make him petticoats, and bid him
stay in the wigwam with the women, for he is no longer to be trusted with the
business of a man."
"Le Subtil knows the path to the great lakes, and he can find the bones of his
fathers," was the answer of the unmoved runner.%
"Enough, Magua," said Heyward; "are we not friends? Why should there be
bitter words between us? Munro has promised you a gift for your services when
performed, and I shall be your debtor for another. Rest your weary limbs, then,
and open your wallet to eat. We have a few moments to spare; let us not waste
Thesaurus
acquainted: (adj) knowledgeable, poor, flawed, partial, inadequate, rapt, absorbed, transfixed.
informed, aware, cognizant, broken, fallible. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYM: (adj) detached.
conversant, hand and glove, intimate, perfect, whole, unblemished, securely: (adv) surely, safely, closely,
thick; (adv) abreast; (v) inform, adequate, complete, sound, solidly, steadily, assuredly, strongly,
acquaint. boundless, capable, flawless. tightly, fixly, setly, stably.
hesitatingly: (adv) indecisively, lain: (adj) artless, unsophisticated, ANTONYM: (adv) insecurely.
irresolutely, hesitating, waveringly, unaffected, naive, untutored, simple, wallet: (n) bag, notecase, billfold,
doubtfully, undecidedly, pure, natural, native, inartificial. pocketbook, case, satchel, knapsack,
vacillatingly, falteringly. munro: (n) saki, Hector Hugh Munro. pouch, pocket book, file, sack.
ANTONYM: (adv) unhesitatingly. riveted: (adj) immovable, immobile, wigwam: (n) hovel, cabin, shanty,
imperfect: (adj) faulty, deficient, irremovable, rooted, wrapped up, shed, tepee, lodge, dugout, booth,
defective, unfinished, incomplete, intent; (v) wrapped in, engrossed in, bothy, chalet, cot.
them in talk like wrangling women. When the ladies are refreshed we will
proceed."
"The pale faces make themselves dogs to their women," muttered the Indian,
in his native language, "and when they want to eat, their warriors must lay aside
the tomahawk to feed their laziness."
"What say you, Renard?"
"Le Subtil says it is good."
The Indian then fastened his eyes keenly on the open countenance of
Heyward, but meeting his glance, he turned them quickly away, and seating
himself deliberately on the ground, he drew forth the remnant of some former
repast, and began to eat, though not without first bending his looks slowly and
cautiously around him.%
"This is well," continued Heyward; "and Le Renard will have strength and
sight to find the path in the morning"; he paused, for sounds like the snapping of
a dried stick, and the rustling of leaves, rose from the adjacent bushes, but
recollecting himself instantly, he continued, "we must be moving before the sun
is seen, or Montcalm may lie in our path, and shut us out from the fortress."
The hand of Magua dropped from his mouth to his side, and though his eyes
were fastened on the ground, his head was turned aside, his nostrils expanded,
and his ears seemed even to stand more erect than usual, giving to him the
appearance of a statue that was made to represent intense attention.
Heyward, who watched his movements with a vigilant eye, carelessly
extricated one of his feet from the stirrup, while he passed a hand toward the
bear-skin covering of his holsters.
Every effort to detect the point most regarded by the runner was completely
frustrated by the tremulous glances of his organs, which seemed not to rest a
single instant on any particular object, and which, at the same time, could be
hardly said to move. While he hesitated how to proceed, Le Subtil cautiously
raised himself to his feet, though with a motion so slow and guarded, that not
the slightest noise was produced by the change. Heyward felt it had now become
Thesaurus
bending: (n) bow, bend, deflection, refreshed: (adj) invigorated, parquet, orchestra, service, way, base,
deflexion, refraction, flexure, crook; rejuvenated, reinvigorated, new, footing, housing, stand.
(adj) flexible, supple, winding, pliant. novel, revived, impudent, energizing, snapping: (adj) noisy.
ANTONYM: (adj) stiff. overbold, energising, clean. tremulous: (adj) shaky, trembling,
extricated: (adj) free, disengaged, freer, ANTONYM: (adj) tired. shaking, fearful, apprehensive,
emancipated, freed. remnant: (n) end, relic, remains, quavering, fidgety, shivering; (n)
fastened: (adj) tied, fast, buttoned, residue, fragment, leftover, survival, nervous, diffident, coy. ANTONYMS:
closed, tight, secure, pinned, binding, trace, oddment, balance, stub. (adj) stable, confident, steady.
empight, steady, firm. ANTONYMS: rustling: (n) rustle, whispering, wrangling: (n) quarrel, bickering,
(adj) unfastened, unbuttoned. whisper, larceny; (adj) murmurous, controversy, polemics, discussion,
nostrils: (n) naris, nose. susurrous, active, soughing. haggle, haggling, dispute, strife,
recollecting: (n) recollection. seating: (n) room, circle, parterre, altercation, jangle.
incumbent on him to act. Throwing his leg over the saddle, he dismounted, with
a determination to advance and seize his treacherous companion, trusting the
result to his own manhood. In order, however, to prevent unnecessary alarm, he
still preserved an air of calmness and friendship.%
"Le Renard Subtil does not eat," he said, using the appellation he had found
most flattering to the vanity of the Indian. "His corn is not well parched, and it
seems dry. Let me examine; perhaps something may be found among my own
provisions that will help his appetite."
Magua held out the wallet to the proffer of the other. He even suffered their
hands to meet, without betraying the least emotion, or varying his riveted
attitude of attention. But when he felt the fingers of Heyward moving gently
along his own naked arm, he struck up the limb of the young man, and, uttering
a piercing cry, he darted beneath it, and plunged, at a single bound, into the
opposite thicket. At the next instant the form of Chingachgook appeared from
the bushes, looking like a specter in its paint, and glided across the path in swift
pursuit. Next followed the shout of Uncas, when the woods were lighted by a
sudden flash, that was accompanied by the sharp report of the hunter's rifle.
Thesaurus
calmness: (n) calm, composure, unflattering, unattractive, wounding, keen, penetrating, biting, bitter,
quietness, poise, serenity, stillness, uncomplimentary, negative; (adv) harsh, shrill; (adj) high, raw, loud.
quiet, silence, placidity, peace; (adj, n) partially. ANTONYMS: (adj) quiet, dull, soft,
coolness. ANTONYMS: (n) anxiety, lighted: (adj) illuminated, lit, light, hot.
nervousness, restlessness, panic, fury, ablaze, bright, ignited, burn, burning, proffer: (n, v) bid; (v) give, present,
unrest, intensity, discomposure, ignite, kindled, lighten. advance, extend, propose, provide,
bustle, annoyance, noise. parched: (adj, n) thirsty; (adj) arid, submit; (n) overture, proposition,
flattering: (adj) ingratiating, adust, torrid, barren, desiccated, suggestion. ANTONYM: (v) refuse.
complimentary, courtly, obsequious, dehydrated, scorched, baked, specter: (n) ghost, spirit, shade,
adulatory, fulsome, bland, candied, withered, shriveled. ANTONYMS: spectre, phantasm, wraith, shadow,
smooth, encouraging; (n) flattery. (adj) quenched, humid. revenant; (n, v) apparition, phantom,
ANTONYMS: (adj) assertive, critical, piercing: (adj, n) sharp, cutting; (adj, v) vision.
CHAPTER 5
"In such a night

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew;
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself."
Merchant of Venice
The suddenness of the flight of his guide, and the wild cries of the pursuers,
caused Heyward to remain fixed, for a few moments, in inactive surprise. Then
recollecting the importance of securing the fugitive, he dashed aside the
surrounding bushes, and pressed eagerly forward to lend his aid in the chase.
Before he had, however, proceeded a hundred yards, he met the three foresters
already returning from their unsuccessful pursuit.%
"Why so soon disheartened!" he exclaimed; "the scoundrel must be concealed
behind some of these trees, and may yet be secured. We are not safe while he
goes at large."
"Would you set a cloud to chase the wind?" returned the disappointed scout;
"I heard the imp brushing over the dry leaves, like a black snake, and blinking a
glimpse of him, just over ag'in yon big pine, I pulled as it might be on the scent;
but 'twouldn't do! and yet for a reasoning aim, if anybody but myself had
touched the trigger, I should call it a quick sight; and I may be accounted to have
Thesaurus
blinking: (adj) flickering, bally, (adv) bravely, calmly, confidently, energetic, live, diligent, proactive,
blooming; (adj, n) winking; (n) wonderfully, rationally, creative.
shimmer, blink, wink, twinkling, unconcernedly. proceeded: (v) proceed, yode.
nictation, blink of an eye, nictitation. fugitive: (adj) ephemeral, fleeting, scoundrel: (n, v) rascal; (n) knave,
brushing: (n) brush, slashing, momentary, elusive, caducous; (n) blackguard, cad, villain, ruffian,
hairdressing, rub, striking, combing; escapee, absconder, deserter, miscreant, crook, rapscallion, varlet,
(adj) ripping. ANTONYM: (n) set. emigrant, criminal; (v) fugacious. scalawag.
fearfully: (adv) timidly, timorously, inactive: (adj) dead, dull, inert, suddenness: (n) steepness, hastiness,
awfully, apprehensively, dormant, sluggish, slow, passive, precipitance, precipitancy,
horrendously, hideously, anxiously, still, stagnant, slack, torpid. precipitateness, sudden, craggedness,
appallingly, terribly; (adj, adv) ANTONYMS: (adj) active, lively, surprise, precipitousness,
shockingly, dreadfully. ANTONYMS: moving, dormant, extinct, working, brusqueness, curtness.
experience in these matters, and one who ought to know. Look at this sumach;
its leaves are red, though everybody knows the fruit is in the yellow blossom in
the month of July!"%
"'Tis the blood of Le Subtil! he is hurt, and may yet fall!"
"No, no," returned the scout, in decided disapprobation of this opinion, "I
rubbed the bark off a limb, perhaps, but the creature leaped the longer for it. A
rifle bullet acts on a running animal, when it barks him, much the same as one of
your spurs on a horse; that is, it quickens motion, and puts life into the flesh,
instead of taking it away. But when it cuts the ragged hole, after a bound or two,
there is, commonly, a stagnation of further leaping, be it Indian or be it deer!"
"We are four able bodies, to one wounded man!"
"Is life grievous to you?" interrupted the scout. "Yonder red devil would
draw you within swing of the tomahawks of his comrades, before you were
heated in the chase. It was an unthoughtful act in a man who has so often slept
with the war-whoop ringing in the air, to let off his piece within sound of an
ambushment! But then it was a natural temptation! 'twas very natural! Come,
friends, let us move our station, and in such fashion, too, as will throw the
cunning of a Mingo on a wrong scent, or our scalps will be drying in the wind in
front of Montcalm's marquee, ag'in this hour to-morrow."
This appalling declaration, which the scout uttered with the cool assurance of
a man who fully comprehended, while he did not fear to face the danger, served
to remind Heyward of the importance of the charge with which he himself had
been intrusted. Glancing his eyes around, with a vain effort to pierce the gloom
that was thickening beneath the leafy arches of the forest, he felt as if, cut off
from human aid, his unresisting companions would soon lie at the entire mercy
of those barbarous enemies, who, like beasts of prey, only waited till the
gathering darkness might render their blows more fatally certain. His awakened
imagination, deluded by the deceptive light, converted each waving bush, or the
fragment of some fallen tree, into human forms, and twenty times he fancied he
could distinguish the horrid visages of his lurking foes, peering from their
hiding places, in never ceasing watchfulness of the movements of his party.
Thesaurus
ceasing: (n) stopping, subsidence. stagnancy, deadlock, stasis, delay, unresisting: (adj) nonresisting, meek,
comprehended: (adj) understood, inaction, inactivity, backwater, inactive, submissive, resistless,
apprehended. slump, congestion. supine, resigned, overpowering,
deluded: (adj) besotted, mistaken. sumach: (n) shumac, smooth sumac, servile, subdued, suffering.
disapprobation: (n) condemnation, bush, staghorn sumac, sugar sumac, ANTONYM: (adj) rebellious.
animadversion, displeasure, squawbush, skunkbush, shrub, unthoughtful: (adj) unthinking,
discountenance, disapproval, blame, shining sumac, scarlet sumac, thoughtless, uncaring, mentally
objection, dissatisfaction, disfavor, mountain sumac. sluggish, lumpish, lumpen.
anger, dislike. thickening: (n) thickener, inspissation, yonder: (adv) beyond, further, farther,
peering: (adj) nosy, prying, snoopy. growth, lymph node, pommel, abroad, thither, further away, at that
quickens: (n) couch grass. indiscerptibility, node, bodying up, place; (adj) distant, yond, furious,
stagnation: (n) recession, depression, lymph gland, knob, indivisibility. fierce.
Looking upward, he found that the thin fleecy clouds, which evening had
painted on the blue sky, were already losing their faintest tints of rose-color,
while the imbedded stream, which glided past the spot where he stood, was to
be traced only by the dark boundary of its wooded banks.%
"What is to be done!" he said, feeling the utter helplessness of doubt in such a
pressing strait; "desert me not, for God's sake! remain to defend those I escort,
and freely name your own reward!"
His companions, who conversed apart in the language of their tribe, heeded
not this sudden and earnest appeal. Though their dialogue was maintained in
low and cautious sounds, but little above a whisper, Heyward, who now
approached, could easily distinguish the earnest tones of the younger warrior
from the more deliberate speeches of his seniors. It was evident that they debated
on the propriety of some measure, that nearly concerned the welfare of the
travelers. Yielding to his powerful interest in the subject, and impatient of a
delay that seemed fraught with so much additional danger, Heyward drew still
nigher to the dusky group, with an intention of making his offers of
compensation more definite, when the white man, motioning with his hand, as if
he conceded the disputed point, turned away, saying in a sort of soliloquy, and
in the English tongue:
"Uncas is right! it would not be the act of men to leave such harmless things
to their fate, even though it breaks up the harboring place forever. If you would
save these tender blossoms from the fangs of the worst of serpents, gentleman,
you have neither time to lose nor resolution to throw away!"
"How can such a wish be doubted! Have I not already offered—"
"Offer your prayers to Him who can give us wisdom to circumvent the
cunning of the devils who fill these woods," calmly interrupted the scout, "but
spare your offers of money, which neither you may live to realize, nor I to profit
by. These Mohicans and I will do what man's thoughts can invent, to keep such
flowers, which, though so sweet, were never made for the wilderness, from
harm, and that without hope of any other recompense but such as God always
gives to upright dealings. First, you must promise two things, both in your own
Thesaurus
circumvent: (v) elude, avoid, evade, propriety: (adj, n) decency, modesty, compensate, reimburse.
besiege, cheat, skirt, escape, dodge, correctness, aptitude; (n) decorum, ANTONYMS: (v) penalize, receive;
outwit; (adv, v) surround, compass. fitness, etiquette, civility, grace, (n) penalty.
ANTONYMS: (v) assist, confront, aid, politeness, manners. ANTONYMS: soliloquy: (n) language, oral
help. (n) impropriety, rudeness, communication, apostrophe.
devils: (n) unclean spirits. unsuitableness, indecorum, strait: (adj) narrow; (n) pinch, pass,
doubted: (adj) distrusted, suspected. decadence, tactlessness, corruption, inlet, need, channel, crisis, poverty,
fangs: (v) tentacle, tenaculum, nail, vulgarity, indecency. difficulty; (adj, n) quandary; (n, v)
hook, unguis, teeth; (n) clutches. recompense: (n, v) pay, redress; (n) dilemma.
fleecy: (adj) fluffy, hairy, brushed, soft, compensation, amends, atonement, wooded: (adj) arboreous, sylvan,
woolly, silky, napped. payment, consideration, woody, timbered, densely forested,
nigher: (adv) closer. indemnification, indemnity; (v) leafy.
name and for your friends, or without serving you we shall only injure
ourselves!"
"Name them."
"The one is, to be still as these sleeping woods, let what will happen and the
other is, to keep the place where we shall take you, forever a secret from all
mortal men."
"I will do my utmost to see both these conditions fulfilled."
"Then follow, for we are losing moments that are as precious as the heart's
blood to a stricken deer!"
Heyward could distinguish the impatient gesture of the scout, through the
increasing shadows of the evening, and he moved in his footsteps, swiftly,
toward the place where he had left the remainder of the party. When they
rejoined the expecting and anxious females, he briefly acquainted them with the
conditions of their new guide, and with the necessity that existed for their
hushing every apprehension in instant and serious exertions. Although his
alarming communication was not received without much secret terror by the
listeners, his earnest and impressive manner, aided perhaps by the nature of the
danger, succeeded in bracing their nerves to undergo some unlooked-for and
unusual trial. Silently, and without a moment's delay, they permitted him to
assist them from their saddles, and when they descended quickly to the water's
edge, where the scout had collected the rest of the party, more by the agency of
expressive gestures than by any use of words.%
"What to do with these dumb creatures!" muttered the white man, on whom
the sole control of their future movements appeared to devolve; "it would be
time lost to cut their throats, and cast them into the river; and to leave them here
would be to tell the Mingoes that they have not far to seek to find their owners!"
"Then give them their bridles, and let them range the woods," Heyward
ventured to suggest.
Thesaurus
aided: (adj) power, favored. draining, exhausting, soothing, insincere, unimportant, nonchalant,
alarming: (adj) scary, alarm, awful, warm, balmy, still. lethargic, apathetic, unenthusiastic,
formidable, shocking, appalling, descended: (v) extraught. indifferent, frivolous.
awesome, dire, horrid, horrible, devolve: (v) fall, cede, assign, light, injure: (n, v) damage, harm, impair;
dreadful. ANTONYMS: (adj) pass on, pass, deliver, descend, give (v) contuse, disfigure, maim, bruise,
soothing, lovely, normal. up, surrender, come down. blemish, wound, insult; (adj, v) abuse.
appeared: (n) appearing. ANTONYM: (v) centralize. ANTONYMS: (v) heal, enable, repair,
bracing: (n) brace, backing; (adj) earnest: (adj, v) devout; (adj) eager, protect, help.
invigorating, brisk, exhilarating, solemn, heartfelt, diligent, studious, stricken: (adj) smitten, struck, beaten,
refreshing, tonic, enlivening, cool, sincere, intense, ardent, staid; (n) laid low, affected, hurt, low,
benign, energizing. ANTONYMS: guarantee. ANTONYMS: (adj) impaired, dotty; (v) heavy laden,
(adj) soporific, tiring, debilitating, flippant, halfhearted, uncertain, victimized.
"No; it would be better to mislead the imps, and make them believe they
must equal a horse's speed to run down their chase. Ay, ay, that will blind their
fireballs of eyes! Chingach--Hist! what stirs the bush?"
"The colt."
"That colt, at least, must die," muttered the scout, grasping at the mane of the
nimble beast, which easily eluded his hand; "Uncas, your arrows!"
"Hold!" exclaimed the proprietor of the condemned animal, aloud, without
regard to the whispering tones used by the others; "spare the foal of Miriam! it is
the comely offspring of a faithful dam, and would willingly injure naught."
"When men struggle for the single life God has given them," said the scout,
sternly, "even their own kind seem no more than the beasts of the wood. If you
speak again, I shall leave you to the mercy of the Maquas! Draw to your arrow's
head, Uncas; we have no time for second blows."
The low, muttering sounds of his threatening voice were still audible, when
the wounded foal, first rearing on its hinder legs, plunged forward to its knees. It
was met by Chingachgook, whose knife passed across its throat quicker than
thought, and then precipitating the motions of the struggling victim, he dashed
into the river, down whose stream it glided away, gasping audibly for breath
with its ebbing life. This deed of apparent cruelty, but of real necessity, fell upon
the spirits of the travelers like a terrific warning of the peril in which they stood,
heightened as it was by the calm though steady resolution of the actors in the
scene. The sisters shuddered and clung closer to each other, while Heyward
instinctively laid his hand on one of the pistols he had just drawn from their
holsters, as he placed himself between his charge and those dense shadows that
seemed to draw an impenetrable veil before the bosom of the forest.%
The Indians, however, hesitated not a moment, but taking the bridles, they
led the frightened and reluctant horses into the bed of the river.
At a short distance from the shore they turned, and were soon concealed by
the projection of the bank, under the brow of which they moved, in a direction
opposite to the course of the waters. In the meantime, the scout drew a canoe of
Thesaurus
audibly: (adv) loudly, clearly, out homely, plain, revolting, unattractive, mane: (n) encolure, head of hair, crest,
loud. ANTONYMS: (adv) ugly. wool, tresses; (adj) brush, beard,
imperceptibly, inaudibly, ebbing: (n) wane, ebb, diminution, ringlet, whisker, tress, moustache.
indistinctly, silently. disappearance; (adj) dying, refluent. mislead: (v) betray, deceive, cheat,
colt: (n) novice, filly, foal, calf, horse, impenetrable: (adj) impassable, thick, beguile, misinform, fool, con, lie, lead
beginner, kitten, pup, fledgling, incomprehensible, hard, mysterious, astray, hoodwink, trick.
freshman, greenhorn. unfathomable, unintelligible, nimble: (adj) lively, adroit, agile, brisk,
comely: (adj) beautiful, good-looking, impervious, opaque, heavy, obscure. spry, alert, expeditious, energetic,
decent, fair, attractive, decorous, ANTONYMS: (adj) penetrable, clever, lithe; (adj, v) light.
shapely, proper; (adj, adv, v) seemly; readable, straightforward, apparent, ANTONYMS: (adj) clumsy, heavy,
(adj, adv) sightly, lovely. simple, sparse, vulnerable, accessible, stiff, slow, awkward, sluggish, unfit.
ANTONYMS: (adj) repulsive, transparent, understandable, open. precipitating: (adj) down.
bark from its place of concealment beneath some low bushes, whose branches
were waving with the eddies of the current, into which he silently motioned for
the females to enter. They complied without hesitation, though many a fearful
and anxious glance was thrown behind them, toward the thickening gloom,
which now lay like a dark barrier along the margin of the stream.%
So soon as Cora and Alice were seated, the scout, without regarding the
element, directed Heyward to support one side of the frail vessel, and posting
himself at the other, they bore it up against the stream, followed by the dejected
owner of the dead foal. In this manner they proceeded, for many rods, in a
silence that was only interrupted by the rippling of the water, as its eddies
played around them, or the low dash made by their own cautious footsteps.
Heyward yielded the guidance of the canoe implicitly to the scout, who
approached or receded from the shore, to avoid the fragments of rocks, or deeper
parts of the river, with a readiness that showed his knowledge of the route they
held. Occasionally he would stop; and in the midst of a breathing stillness, that
the dull but increasing roar of the waterfall only served to render more
impressive, he would listen with painful intenseness, to catch any sounds that
might arise from the slumbering forest. When assured that all was still, and
unable to detect, even by the aid of his practiced senses, any sign of his
approaching foes, he would deliberately resume his slow and guarded progress.
At length they reached a point in the river where the roving eye of Heyward
became riveted on a cluster of black objects, collected at a spot where the high
bank threw a deeper shadow than usual on the dark waters. Hesitating to
advance, he pointed out the place to the attention of his companion.
"Ay," returned the composed scout, "the Indians have hid the beasts with the
judgment of natives! Water leaves no trail, and an owl's eyes would be blinded
by the darkness of such a hole."
The whole party was soon reunited, and another consultation was held
between the scout and his new comrades, during which, they, whose fates
depended on the faith and ingenuity of these unknown foresters, had a little
leisure to observe their situation more minutely.
Thesaurus
blinded: (adj) blindfolded, blinder, unhappy, spiritless, sorrowful, undecided, doubtful, hesitate,
blindly, reckless, unsighted, miserable, melancholy. ANTONYMS: reluctant, faltering, unwilling,
blindfold, dizzy. (adj) elated, happy, euphoric, joyous, hesitancy, backward, hesitatingly.
concealment: (n) suppression, encouraged, positive, enthusiastic, intenseness: (n) intension, extreme
confidentiality, concealing, secrecy, hopeful. degree, fervency.
screen, disguise, hiding, privacy, eddies: (n) turbulence. minutely: (adv) precisely, in detail,
camouflage, blind, covering. fates: (adj) book of fate, Parcae, sky; (n) closely, tinily, smally, insignificantly,
ANTONYMS: (n) discovery, fortune, the fates. infinitesimally, diminutively, nicely,
disclosure, exposure, expression, foal: (n) filly, pony, calf, horse, Arab, exactly, microscopically.
openness, uncovering, revelation. charger, thoroughbred, racer, palfrey, posting: (n) post, placard, poster,
dejected: (adj) sad, depressed, low, nag, jument. entry, notice, position, transmittal,
downhearted, gloomy, down, hesitating: (adj) indecisive, irresolute, transmission, transmitting, job, place.
The river was confined between high and cragged rocks, one of which
impended above the spot where the canoe rested. As these, again, were
surmounted by tall trees, which appeared to totter on the brows of the precipice,
it gave the stream the appearance of running through a deep and narrow dell.
All beneath the fantastic limbs and ragged tree tops, which were, here and there,
dimly painted against the starry zenith, lay alike in shadowed obscurity. Behind
them, the curvature of the banks soon bounded the view by the same dark and
wooded outline; but in front, and apparently at no great distance, the water
seemed piled against the heavens, whence it tumbled into caverns, out of which
issued those sullen sounds that had loaded the evening atmosphere. It seemed,
in truth, to be a spot devoted to seclusion, and the sisters imbibed a soothing
impression of security, as they gazed upon its romantic though not unappalling
beauties. A general movement among their conductors, however, soon recalled
them from a contemplation of the wild charms that night had assisted to lend the
place to a painful sense of their real peril.%
The horses had been secured to some scattering shrubs that grew in the
fissures of the rocks, where, standing in the water, they were left to pass the
night. The scout directed Heyward and his disconsolate fellow travelers to seat
themselves in the forward end of the canoe, and took possession of the other
himself, as erect and steady as if he floated in a vessel of much firmer materials.
The Indians warily retraced their steps toward the place they had left, when the
scout, placing his pole against a rock, by a powerful shove, sent his frail bark
directly into the turbulent stream. For many minutes the struggle between the
light bubble in which they floated and the swift current was severe and doubtful.
Forbidden to stir even a hand, and almost afraid to breath, lest they should
expose the frail fabric to the fury of the stream, the passengers watched the
glancing waters in feverish suspense. Twenty times they thought the whirling
eddies were sweeping them to destruction, when the masterhand of their pilot
would bring the bows of the canoe to stem the rapid. A long, a vigorous, and, as
it appeared to the females, a desperate effort, closed the struggle. Just as Alice
veiled her eyes in horror, under the impression that they were about to be swept
Thesaurus
charms: (n) trinkets, jewelry, jewels. consolable, enthusiastic. incensed, indignant, faint, fishy.
cragged: (adj) rough, hilly, precipice: (n) abyss, chasm, starry: (adj) sidereal, starlike, radiant,
mountainous, unsmooth; (n) rugged, escarpment, gulf, steep, crag, verge, showy, gleaming, bright, lustrous,
austere, boisterous, coarse, crabbed. brink, abysm, ravine, drop. shiny, lucid, stellar, fulgent.
dell: (n) vale, valley, dingle, clearing, seclusion: (n) retreat, segregation, ANTONYMS: (adj) starless, dull.
gorge, holler, ravine, hollow, glen, retirement, isolation, secrecy, totter: (v) stumble, shake, falter, lurch,
cove, basin. concealment, insulation, separation, rock, teeter, waver, waddle, toddle,
disconsolate: (adj) inconsolable, blue, hermitage; (adj, n) solitude, stagger, shamble.
cheerless, melancholy, dejected, loneliness. ANTONYMS: (n) whirling: (adj) rotary, revolving,
depressed, sad, miserable, dark, company, closeness, inclusion. dizzy, giddy, lightheaded, rotating,
crestfallen, gloomy. ANTONYMS: shadowed: (adj) shady, shaded, vortical; (n) rotation, gyration,
(adj) happy, joyous, euphoric, shadowy, queer, dim, louche, funny, revolution; (adj, n) swirling.
within the vortex at the foot of the cataract, the canoe floated, stationary, at the
side of a flat rock, that lay on a level with the water.%
"Where are we, and what is next to be done!" demanded Heyward,
perceiving that the exertions of the scout had ceased.
"You are at the foot of Glenn's," returned the other, speaking aloud, without
fear of consequences within the roar of the cataract; "and the next thing is to
make a steady landing, lest the canoe upset, and you should go down again the
hard road we have traveled faster than you came up; 'tis a hard rift to stem,
when the river is a little swelled; and five is an unnatural number to keep dry, in
a hurry-skurry, with a little birchen bark and gum. There, go you all on the rock,
and I will bring up the Mohicans with the venison. A man had better sleep
without his scalp, than famish in the midst of plenty."
His passengers gladly complied with these directions. As the last foot
touched the rock, the canoe whirled from its station, when the tall form of the
scout was seen, for an instant, gliding above the waters, before it disappeared in
the impenetrable darkness that rested on the bed of the river. Left by their guide,
the travelers remained a few minutes in helpless ignorance, afraid even to move
along the broken rocks, lest a false step should precipitate them down some one
of the many deep and roaring caverns, into which the water seemed to tumble,
on every side of them. Their suspense, however, was soon relieved; for, aided by
the skill of the natives, the canoe shot back into the eddy, and floated again at the
side of the low rock, before they thought the scout had even time to rejoin his
companions.
"We are now fortified, garrisoned, and provisioned," cried Heyward
cheerfully, "and may set Montcalm and his allies at defiance. How, now, my
vigilant sentinel, can see anything of those you call the Iroquois, on the main
land!"
"I call them Iroquois, because to me every native, who speaks a foreign
tongue, is accounted an enemy, though he may pretend to serve the king! If
Webb wants faith and honesty in an Indian, let him bring out the tribes of the
Thesaurus
birchen: (adj) birken, woody. flight, glissando; (v) slither; (adv) lookout man, guardian, outlook,
cataract: (n) waterfall, torrent, falls, glidingly. protector.
deluge, cataclysm, amaurosis, perceiving: (n) feeling, sensing, swelled: (adj) big, inflated, bloated,
blindness, angel, flood, prestriction; hearing, looking at, recognition, swollen, adult, boastful, bighearted,
(v) pour. thought, vision, lipreading; (adj) bad, fully grown, crowing, elder.
ceased: (adj) finished. conscious, percipient, reasonable. venison: (adj) turtle; (n) beef, chicken,
famish: (v) fast, hunger, clem, perish rejoin: (v) reply, retort, respond, join, ham, lamb, mutton, pork, red meat,
with hunger, enfamish; (adj) return, come back, riposte, meet, animal protein, white meat.
begrudge, dole out, skin a flint, live rebut, answer back, react. vortex: (n) swirl, convolution, whirl,
upon nothing, withhold, screw. rested: (adj) comfortable. maelstrom; (n, v) whirlpool; (v)
gliding: (adj) sliding, flying, slipping, sentinel: (n) sentry, lookout, watch, undercurrent, storm, heavy sea,
labent, elusory; (n) sailing, soaring, watchman, scout, picket, patrol, ground swell, reflux, indraught.
Delawares, and send these greedy and lying Mohawks and Oneidas, with their
six nations of varlets, where in nature they belong, among the French!"
"We should then exchange a warlike for a useless friend! I have heard that
the Delawares have laid aside the hatchet, and are content to be called women!"
"Aye, shame on the Hollanders and Iroquois, who circumvented them by
their deviltries, into such a treaty! But I have known them for twenty years, and
I call him liar that says cowardly blood runs in the veins of a Delaware. You
have driven their tribes from the seashore, and would now believe what their
enemies say, that you may sleep at night upon an easy pillow. No, no; to me,
every Indian who speaks a foreign tongue is an Iroquois, whether the castle of
his tribe be in Canada, or be in York."
Heyward, perceiving that the stubborn adherence of the scout to the cause of
his friends the Delawares, or Mohicans, for they were branches of the same
numerous people, was likely to prolong a useless discussion, changed the
subject.%
"Treaty or no treaty, I know full well that your two companions are brave and
cautious warriors! have they heard or seen anything of our enemies!"
"An Indian is a mortal to be felt afore he is seen," returned the scout,
ascending the rock, and throwing the deer carelessly down. "I trust to other signs
than such as come in at the eye, when I am outlying on the trail of the Mingoes."
"Do your ears tell you that they have traced our retreat?"
"I should be sorry to think they had, though this is a spot that stout courage
might hold for a smart scrimmage. I will not deny, however, but the horses
cowered when I passed them, as though they scented the wolves; and a wolf is a
beast that is apt to hover about an Indian ambushment, craving the offals of the
deer the savages kill."
"You forget the buck at your feet! or, may we not owe their visit to the dead
colt? Ha! what noise is that?"
Thesaurus
cowardly: (adj, adv) dastardly, scared, (n) disgust, hatred, distaste, imbroglio, embroilment,
shrinking; (adj) timid, afraid, craven, repulsion, aversion, apathy, embranglement, brigue, brabble.
gutless, sneaky, fainthearted, faint; disinclination; (adj) unconcerned, seashore: (n) beach, coast, shore,
(adv) recreantly. ANTONYMS: (adj, disinterested. seaboard, seacoast, coastline,
adv) brave, daring, bold, courageous; hover: (v) fly, hang, float, poise, shoreline, seaside, landfall, litoral;
(adj) intrepid, fearless, strong, vacillate, flutter, brood, drift, glide, (adj) marine.
determined; (adv) dauntless, gutsy, waver; (adj) boggle. warlike: (adj) military, belligerent,
unafraid. liar: (n) deceiver, fibber, fabricator, bellicose, pugnacious, combative,
craving: (n) appetite, addiction, falsifier, trickster, prevaricator, con aggressive, armigerous, hostile,
appetence, eagerness, hankering, yen, artist, phony, lie, impostor, swindler. unfriendly, unpacific, militant.
hunger; (n, v) desire, appetency; (adj, scrimmage: (n, v) fracas, clash; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) harmonizing,
n) longing; (adj) eager. ANTONYMS: fight, battle, skirmish; (v) scramble, friendly.
"Poor Miriam!" murmured the stranger; "thy foal was foreordained to

become a prey to ravenous beasts!" Then, suddenly lifting up his voice, amid the
eternal din of the waters, he sang aloud:
"First born of Egypt, smite did he,

Of mankind, and of beast also;
O, Egypt! wonders sent 'midst thee,
On Pharaoh and his servants too!"
"The death of the colt sits heavy on the heart of its owner," said the scout; "but
it's a good sign to see a man account upon his dumb friends. He has the religion
of the matter, in believing what is to happen will happen; and with such a
consolation, it won't be long afore he submits to the rationality of killing a four-
footed beast to save the lives of human men. It may be as you say," he continued,
reverting to the purport of Heyward's last remark; "and the greater the reason
why we should cut our steaks, and let the carcass drive down the stream, or we
shall have the pack howling along the cliffs, begrudging every mouthful we
swallow. Besides, though the Delaware tongue is the same as a book to the
Iroquois, the cunning varlets are quick enough at understanding the reason of a
wolf's howl."
The scout, while making his remarks, was busied in collecting certain
necessary implements; as he concluded, he moved silently by the group of
travelers, accompanied by the Mohicans, who seemed to comprehend his
intentions with instinctive readiness, when the whole three disappeared in
succession, seeming to vanish against the dark face of a perpendicular rock that
rose to the height of a few yards, within as many feet of the water's edge.%
Thesaurus
begrudging: (adj) envious, jealous, outfit, hardware, trappings. rapacious, insatiable, edacious,
bitter, dissatisfied, forced, selfish, perpendicular: (adj) upright, vertical, covetous, predatory. ANTONYM:
unwilling, involuntary. steep, plumb, straight, right, sheer, (adj) moderate.
carcass: (n) body, frame, corpse, orthogonal, normal, precipitous, true. reverting: (n) reversion, relapse,
cadaver, framework, shell, carrion, ANTONYMS: (adj) horizontal, relapsing, recidivism, lapse,
remains, dead body, skeleton, bomb. parallel, inclined, oblique, prone, backsliding, lapsing, regress,
foreordained: (adj) destined, gentle. reversal; (adj) returning, reversive.
predestinate, fatal, sure, purport: (n, v) aim, amount; (n) intent, sang: (n) panax quinquefolius, sing,
predetermined, fated, doomed, drift, intention, meaning, end, effect, herb, herbaceous plant.
certain, inevitable. design; (v) mean, propose. smite: (v) strike, hit, buffet, bang,
implements: (n) equipment, ravenous: (adj) hungry, greedy, avid, clout, knock, smash, thrash, thump,
apparatus, gear, tackle, rigging, famished, gluttonous, voracious, batter, affect.
CHAPTER 6
"Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide;

He wales a portion with judicious care;
And 'Let us worship God', he says, with solemn air."
Burns
Heyward and his female companions witnessed this mysterious movement

with secret uneasiness; for, though the conduct of the white man had hitherto
been above reproach, his rude equipments, blunt address, and strong
antipathies, together with the character of his silent associates, were all causes for
exciting distrust in minds that had been so recently alarmed by Indian
treachery.%
The stranger alone disregarded the passing incidents. He seated himself on a
projection of the rocks, whence he gave no other signs of consciousness than by
the struggles of his spirit, as manifested in frequent and heavy sighs. Smothered
voices were next heard, as though men called to each other in the bowels of the
earth, when a sudden light flashed upon those without, and laid bare the much-
prized secret of the place.
At the further extremity of a narrow, deep cavern in the rock, whose length
appeared much extended by the perspective and the nature of the light by which
Thesaurus
bowels: (n) gut, compassion, pity, (v) float, run, fly, flow, drift, lapse, (n) condemnation. ANTONYMS: (n,
inside, bowel, viscera, innards, belly, slink, skid. ANTONYMS: (v) lurch, v) praise; (v) commend, approve; (n)
guts, insides, intestines. hurtle, flounder, sink. compliment, commendation,
cavern: (n) hollow, cove, vault, hole, judicious: (adj, v) discreet; (adj) approval.
enclosure, antrum, lair, antre, socket, careful, discerning, sensible, prudent, smothered: (adj) strangled, stifled,
den; (v) cavern out. rational, sagacious, sound, cautious, smothers, pent-up, covered.
disregarded: (adj) unnoticed, reasonable, advisable. ANTONYMS: uneasiness: (n) disquiet, discomfort,
neglected, unseen, written off, (adj) stupid, tactless, indiscriminate, inquietude, anxiety, unease, malaise,
wretchless, unvalued, unheeded, reckless, illogical, extreme, untimely. disquietude, apprehension, unrest,
overlooked, lost, irrecoverable; (v) reproach: (n, v) blame, rebuke, charge, impatience; (n, v) agitation.
unregarded. abuse, disgrace, reprimand, ANTONYMS: (n) peace, calm,
glide: (adj, n, v) slide; (n, v) coast, slip; invective; (v) accuse, chide, condemn; confidence.
it was seen, was seated the scout, holding a blazing knot of pine. The strong glare
of the fire fell full upon his sturdy, weather-beaten countenance and forest attire,
lending an air of romantic wildness to the aspect of an individual, who, seen by
the sober light of day, would have exhibited the peculiarities of a man
remarkable for the strangeness of his dress, the iron-like inflexibility of his
frame, and the singular compound of quick, vigilant sagacity, and of exquisite
simplicity, that by turns usurped the possession of his muscular features. At a
little distance in advance stood Uncas, his whole person thrown powerfully into
view. The travelers anxiously regarded the upright, flexible figure of the young
Mohican, graceful and unrestrained in the attitudes and movements of nature.
Though his person was more than usually screened by a green and fringed
hunting- shirt, like that of the white man, there was no concealment to his dark,
glancing, fearless eye, alike terrible and calm; the bold outline of his high,
haughty features, pure in their native red; or to the dignified elevation of his
receding forehead, together with all the finest proportions of a noble head, bared
to the generous scalping tuft. It was the first opportunity possessed by Duncan
and his companions to view the marked lineaments of either of their Indian
attendants, and each individual of the party felt relieved from a burden of doubt,
as the proud and determined, though wild expression of the features of the
young warrior forced itself on their notice. They felt it might be a being partially
benighted in the vale of ignorance, but it could not be one who would willingly
devote his rich natural gifts to the purposes of wanton treachery. The ingenuous
Alice gazed at his free air and proud carriage, as she would have looked upon
some precious relic of the Grecian chisel, to which life had been imparted by the
intervention of a miracle; while Heyward, though accustomed to see the
perfection of form which abounds among the uncorrupted natives, openly
expressed his admiration at such an unblemished specimen of the noblest
proportions of man.%
"I could sleep in peace," whispered Alice, in reply, "with such a fearless and
generous-looking youth for my sentinel. Surely, Duncan, those cruel murders,
those terrific scenes of torture, of which we read and hear so much, are never
acted in the presence of such as he!"
Thesaurus
benighted: (adj) belated, dark, ingenuous: (adj, n) frank; (adj) naive, blameless, clear, irreproachable,
unenlightened, illiterate, uneducated, guileless, honest, forthright, innocent, unspotted, untarnished, flawless.
unknowing, black, gloomy, straight, artless, downright, green, ANTONYMS: (adj) blemished,
unpunctual, nighted. hearty. ANTONYMS: (adj) flawed, marked, imperfect, used,
inflexibility: (n) firmness, austerity, disingenuous, dishonest, cunning, marred, guilty, infirm.
obstinacy, inflexibleness, rigor, sophisticated, scheming, worldly, uncorrupted: (adj) immaculate, good,
severity, tenacity, stiffness, jaded, hesitant, experienced. uncorrupt, unadulterated, chaste,
stubbornness, hardness, harshness. tuft: (n) wisp, crest, cluster, truss, clean, fair, incorrupt, innocent,
ANTONYMS: (n) impressionability, knot, fagot, tassel, strand, thicket, untainted, real. ANTONYMS: (adj)
compliance, malleability, agility, curl; (adj, n) feather. tainted, impure, corrupt.
softness, weakness, limpness, unblemished: (adj) clean, perfect, usurped: (adj) tortious.
cooperation. faultless, pure, immaculate, weather-beaten: (adj) gnarled, rugged.
"This certainly is a rare and brilliant instance of those natural qualities in

which these peculiar people are said to excel," he answered. "I agree with you,
Alice, in thinking that such a front and eye were formed rather to intimidate
than to deceive; but let us not practice a deception upon ourselves, by expecting
any other exhibition of what we esteem virtue than according to the fashion of
the savage. As bright examples of great qualities are but too uncommon among
Christians, so are they singular and solitary with the Indians; though, for the
honor of our common nature, neither are incapable of producing them. Let us
then hope that this Mohican may not disappoint our wishes, but prove what his
looks assert him to be, a brave and constant friend."
"Now Major Heyward speaks as Major Heyward should," said Cora; "who
that looks at this creature of nature, remembers the shade of his skin?"
A short and apparently an embarrassed silence succeeded this remark, which
was interrupted by the scout calling to them, aloud, to enter.%
"This fire begins to show too bright a flame," he continued, as they complied,
"and might light the Mingoes to our undoing. Uncas, drop the blanket, and show
the knaves its dark side. This is not such a supper as a major of the Royal
Americans has a right to expect, but I've known stout detachments of the corps
glad to eat their venison raw, and without a relish, too. Here, you see, we have
plenty of salt, and can make a quick broil. There's fresh sassafras boughs for the
ladies to sit on, which may not be as proud as their my-hog-guinea chairs, but
which sends up a sweeter flavor, than the skin of any hog can do, be it of Guinea,
or be it of any other land. Come, friend, don't be mournful for the colt; 'twas an
innocent thing, and had not seen much hardship. Its death will save the creature
many a sore back and weary foot!"
Uncas did as the other had directed, and when the voice of Hawkeye ceased,
the roar of the cataract sounded like the rumbling of distant thunder.
"Are we quite safe in this cavern?" demanded Heyward. "Is there no danger
of surprise? A single armed man, at its entrance, would hold us at his mercy."
A spectral-looking figure stalked from out of the darkness behind the scout,
and seizing a blazing brand, held it toward the further extremity of their place of
Thesaurus
broil: (n) brawl, quarrel, fight, fray, worship, grace. ANTONYMS: (n, v) pensive, gloomy, lugubrious,
feud, affray, clash; (adj, v) burn; (v) dishonor, disgrace; (n) shame, lamentable; (adj, n) plaintive.
bake, parch; (n, v) scuffle. humiliation, wickedness, contempt, ANTONYMS: (adj) joyful, happy,
ANTONYMS: (v) freeze, refrigerate. insult; (v) break, ignore, disrespect, emotionless.
chairs: (n) seats. discredit. sassafras: (n) seasoner, yarrow,
flavor: (n) relish, tang, smell, aroma, intimidate: (adj, v) browbeat; (v) seasoning, flavorer, flavourer,
salt; (n, v) taste, flavour, smack; (v) frighten, bully, discourage, bullyrag, flavouring, laurel, sassafras tree,
spice, season, sauce. ANTONYMS: scare, deter, terrify; (n, v) affright, sassafras wood, flavoring.
(n) staleness, blandness, emptiness. alarm, dismay. ANTONYMS: (v) undoing: (n) ruin, destruction, loss,
honor: (n, v) respect, reputation, glory, protect, help, reassure. curse, cancellation, reverse, bane,
fame, reward; (n) award, accolade, mournful: (adj) sad, miserable, doom, collapse, annulment, disaster.
reverence; (v) celebrate; (adj, n, v) melancholy, funereal, dolorous, dark, ANTONYMS: (n) building, creation.
retreat. Alice uttered a faint shriek, and even Cora rose to her feet, as this
appalling object moved into the light; but a single word from Heyward calmed
them, with the assurance it was only their attendant, Chingachgook, who, lifting
another blanket, discovered that the cavern had two outlets. Then, holding the
brand, he crossed a deep, narrow chasm in the rocks which ran at right angles
with the passage they were in, but which, unlike that, was open to the heavens,
and entered another cave, answering to the description of the first, in every
essential particular.%
"Such old foxes as Chingachgook and myself are not often caught in a barrow
with one hole," said Hawkeye, laughing; "you can easily see the cunning of the
place--the rock is black limestone, which everybody knows is soft; it makes no
uncomfortable pillow, where brush and pine wood is scarce; well, the fall was
once a few yards below us, and I dare to say was, in its time, as regular and as
handsome a sheet of water as any along the Hudson. But old age is a great injury
to good looks, as these sweet young ladies have yet to l'arn! The place is sadly
changed! These rocks are full of cracks, and in some places they are softer than
at othersome, and the water has worked out deep hollows for itself, until it has
fallen back, ay, some hundred feet, breaking here and wearing there, until the
falls have neither shape nor consistency."
"In what part of them are we?" asked Heyward.
"Why, we are nigh the spot that Providence first placed them at, but where, it
seems, they were too rebellious to stay. The rock proved softer on each side of
us, and so they left the center of the river bare and dry, first working out these
two little holes for us to hide in."
"We are then on an island!"
"Ay! there are the falls on two sides of us, and the river above and below. If
you had daylight, it would be worth the trouble to step up on the height of this
rock, and look at the perversity of the water. It falls by no rule at all; sometimes it
leaps, sometimes it tumbles; there it skips; here it shoots; in one place 'tis white
as snow, and in another 'tis green as grass; hereabouts, it pitches into deep
hollows, that rumble and crush the 'arth; and thereaways, it ripples and sings
Thesaurus
calmed: (adj) composed, thankful. (n) junction, closure. malcontent. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYM: (adj) worried. hereabouts: (adv) hereabout, docile, conventional, obedient,
center: (n, v) centre, focus; (adj, n) thereabouts. conformist, content, conforming,
middle; (n) heart, core, pivot, midst, perversity: (n) perverseness, cooperative, loyal, meek, submissive,
kernel, substance, seat; (v) cussedness, evil, perversion, obliging.
concentrate. ANTONYMS: (n) edge, willfulness, unruliness, corruption, rumble: (n, v) murmur, roll, roar,
outside, exterior, circumference; (adj, wilfulness, depravity; (adj) grumble, mutter, bang, brawl, sound;
n) border; (adj) extreme, right, left; (v) contumacy, spinosity. (v) growl; (n) peal, noise.
scatter, dissipate, disperse. rebellious: (adj) insubordinate, shriek: (n, v) screech, cry, shout, call,
chasm: (n) breach, gap, hiatus, gulf, mutinous, disaffected, defiant, howl, yell, yowl, screak; (v) bellow,
ravine, hole, abysm, vacancy, canyon, disobedient, contrary, contumacious, caterwaul, shrill. ANTONYM: (v)
aperture, emptiness. ANTONYMS: insurgent, stubborn, unruly, sigh.
like a brook, fashioning whirlpools and gullies in the old stone, as if 'twas no
harder than trodden clay. The whole design of the river seems disconcerted.
First it runs smoothly, as if meaning to go down the descent as things were
ordered; then it angles about and faces the shores; nor are there places wanting
where it looks backward, as if unwilling to leave the wilderness, to mingle with
the salt. Ay, lady, the fine cobweb-looking cloth you wear at your throat is
coarse, and like a fishnet, to little spots I can show you, where the river fabricates
all sorts of images, as if having broke loose from order, it would try its hand at
everything. And yet what does it amount to! After the water has been suffered
so to have its will, for a time, like a headstrong man, it is gathered together by
the hand that made it, and a few rods below you may see it all, flowing on
steadily toward the sea, as was foreordained from the first foundation of the
'arth!"
While his auditors received a cheering assurance of the security of their place
of concealment from this untutored description of Glenn's, they were much
inclined to judge differently from Hawkeye, of its wild beauties. But they were
not in a situation to suffer their thoughts to dwell on the charms of natural
objects; and, as the scout had not found it necessary to cease his culinary labors
while he spoke, unless to point out, with a broken fork, the direction of some
particularly obnoxious point in the rebellious stream, they now suffered their
attention to be drawn to the necessary though more vulgar consideration of their
supper.%
The repast, which was greatly aided by the addition of a few delicacies that
Heyward had the precaution to bring with him when they left their horses, was
exceedingly refreshing to the weary party. Uncas acted as attendant to the
females, performing all the little offices within his power, with a mixture of
dignity and anxious grace, that served to amuse Heyward, who well knew that it
was an utter innovation on the Indian customs, which forbid their warriors to
descend to any menial employment, especially in favor of their women. As the
rights of hospitality were, however, considered sacred among them, this little
departure from the dignity of manhood excited no audible comment. Had there
Thesaurus
culinary: (adj) cooking, eatable. mapmaking. abject, ignoble, humble, low, mean;
delicacies: (n) food, delices, cates, fishnet: (n) fishing net, dragnet, trawl, (n) henchman, domestic, lackey,
regalia. Seine, net, drift net. servant. ANTONYMS: (adj) elevated,
disconcerted: (adj) confused, harder: (adj) serious. noble.
confounded, bewildered, blank, headstrong: (adj) intractable, dogged, mingle: (v) compound, combine,
embarrassed, disturbed, troubled, obstinate, disobedient, unruly, merge, amalgamate, intermix, mix,
worried, ashamed, discombobulated, willful, wayward, froward, rash, commingle, associate, confuse, join,
bemused. ANTONYMS: (adj) headlong; (adj, v) ungovernable. intermingle. ANTONYM: (v) part.
composed, soothed, unabashed, ANTONYMS: (adj) tractable, offices: (n) kitchen, pantry, scullery.
relaxed. compliant, amenable, docile, salt: (adj) salty, saline, briny, brackish,
fashioning: (n) devising, cartography, malleable, agreeable, cautious. pungent; (v) cure, pickle; (n) salinity,
making, cartographic, cartographical, menial: (adj, n) inferior; (adj) lowly, common salt, alkali; (adj, n) spice.
been one there sufficiently disengaged to become a close observer, he might have
fancied that the services of the young chief were not entirely impartial. That
while he tendered to Alice the gourd of sweet water, and the venison in a
trencher, neatly carved from the knot of the pepperidge, with sufficient courtesy,
in performing the same offices to her sister, his dark eye lingered on her rich,
speaking countenance. Once or twice he was compelled to speak, to command
her attention of those he served. In such cases he made use of English, broken
and imperfect, but sufficiently intelligible, and which he rendered so mild and
musical, by his deep, guttural voice, that it never failed to cause both ladies to
look up in admiration and astonishment. In the course of these civilities, a few
sentences were exchanged, that served to establish the appearance of an amicable
intercourse between the parties.%
In the meanwhile, the gravity of Chingcachgook remained immovable. He
had seated himself more within the circle of light, where the frequent, uneasy
glances of his guests were better enabled to separate the natural expression of his
face from the artificial terrors of the war paint. They found a strong resemblance
between father and son, with the difference that might be expected from age and
hardships. The fierceness of his countenance now seemed to slumber, and in its
place was to be seen the quiet, vacant composure which distinguishes an Indian
warrior, when his faculties are not required for any of the greater purposes of his
existence. It was, however, easy to be seen, by the occasional gleams that shot
across his swarthy visage, that it was only necessary to arouse his passions, in
order to give full effect to the terrific device which he had adopted to intimidate
his enemies. On the other hand, the quick, roving eye of the scout seldom rested.
He ate and drank with an appetite that no sense of danger could disturb, but his
vigilance seemed never to desert him. Twenty times the gourd or the venison
was suspended before his lips, while his head was turned aside, as though he
listened to some distant and distrusted sounds--a movement that never failed to
recall his guests from regarding the novelties of their situation, to a recollection
of the alarming reasons that had driven them to seek it. As these frequent pauses
were never followed by any remark, the momentary uneasiness they created
quickly passed away, and for a time was forgotten.
Thesaurus
civilities: (n) propriety. understandable, articulate, luminous, colored, atramentous; (n) brunette.
disengaged: (adj) vacant, unemployed, apprehensible, graspable, simple, ANTONYMS: (adj) fair, light.
disentangled, free, freed, lucid, definite, distinct, perspicuous. trencher: (n) dish, platter, chopping
untrammelled, devoid, unreserved, ANTONYMS: (adj) difficult, illegible. board, porringer, potager, ditch
detached, liberated, loosened. novelties: (n) odds and ends. digger, saucer, calabash, crucible.
distrusted: (adj) suspect. pepperidge: (n) Nyssa sylvatica, black vigilance: (n) caution, alertness,
gourd: (n) bottle gourd, pumpkin, mallee, black Sally, sour gum, tupelo. prudence, attention, watchfulness,
melon, Lagenaria, gord, vine, noddle, slumber: (n, v) rest, doze, snooze, nap, surveillance, jealousy, vigil, watch,
exploding cucumber, fruit, flask, drowse, repose, catnap; (v) be asleep, circumspection; (adj) vigilant.
calabash tree. kip, take a nap; (n) siesta. ANTONYMS: (n) carelessness,
hardships: (n) difficulty. swarthy: (adj) dusky, black, swart, indiscretion, negligence,
intelligible: (adj) clear, sable, somber, dun, tawny, coloured, inattentiveness, recklessness.
"Come, friend," said Hawkeye, drawing out a keg from beneath a cover of
leaves, toward the close of the repast, and addressing the stranger who sat at his
elbow, doing great justice to his culinary skill, "try a little spruce; 'twill wash
away all thoughts of the colt, and quicken the life in your bosom. I drink to our
better friendship, hoping that a little horse-flesh may leave no heart-burnings
atween us. How do you name yourself?"
"Gamut--David Gamut," returned the singing master, preparing to wash
down his sorrows in a powerful draught of the woodsman's high-flavored and
well-laced compound.%
"A very good name, and, I dare say, handed down from honest forefathers.
I'm an admirator of names, though the Christian fashions fall far below savage
customs in this particular. The biggest coward I ever knew as called Lyon; and
his wife, Patience, would scold you out of hearing in less time than a hunted
deer would run a rod. With an Indian 'tis a matter of conscience; what he calls
himself, he generally is--not that Chingachgook, which signifies Big Sarpent, is
really a snake, big or little; but that he understands the windings and turnings of
human natur', and is silent, and strikes his enemies when they least expect him.
What may be your calling?"
"I am an unworthy instructor in the art of psalmody."
"Anan!"
"I teach singing to the youths of the Connecticut levy."
"You might be better employed. The young hounds go laughing and singing
too much already through the woods, when they ought not to breathe louder
than a fox in his cover. Can you use the smoothbore, or handle the rifle?"
"Praised be God, I have never had occasion to meddle with murderous
implements!"
"Perhaps you understand the compass, and lay down the watercourses and
mountains of the wilderness on paper, in order that they who follow may find
places by their given names?"
"I practice no such employment."
Thesaurus
forefathers: (n) patriarchs, forefather, fierce, mortal, deadly, lethal, killing. spruce: (adj) dapper, neat, natty,
ancestor, colony, lineage, family. ANTONYM: (adj) easy. jaunty, trim, rakish, stylish, dashing,
hunted: (adj) coursed, afraid, wanted, quicken: (v) accelerate, hasten, hurry, snappy; (adj, v) tidy; (adj, n) bright.
required, sought, sought after; (n) dispatch, animate, expedite, advance, ANTONYMS: (adj) untidy, messy,
victim. enliven, precipitate; (n, v) forward, unkempt.
meddle: (v) intervene, interfere, speed. ANTONYMS: (v) decelerate, unworthy: (adj) undeserving, base,
intrude, monkey, interpose, fiddle, delay. disgraceful, ignoble, low,
pry, dabble, interlope; (n) scold: (v) reprimand, chide, berate, contemptible, despicable, ugly,
interference; (adj) moil. ANTONYM: rebuke, abuse, lecture, reproach, rail, unmerited, unseemly, shameful.
(v) disregard. grouch; (n, v) nag; (adj, n) shrew. ANTONYMS: (adj) deserving,
murderous: (adj) cutthroat, homicidal, ANTONYMS: (v) praise, compliment, valuable, honorable, estimable,
gory, bloodthirsty, cruel, brutal, approve. reputable.
"You have a pair of legs that might make a long path seem short! you journey
sometimes, I fancy, with tidings for the general."
"Never; I follow no other than my own high vocation, which is instruction in
sacred music!"
"'Tis a strange calling!" muttered Hawkeye, with an inward laugh, "to go
through life, like a catbird, mocking all the ups and downs that may happen to
come out of other men's throats. Well, friend, I suppose it is your gift, and
mustn't be denied any more than if 'twas shooting, or some other better
inclination. Let us hear what you can do in that way; 'twill be a friendly manner
of saying good-night, for 'tis time that these ladies should be getting strength for
a hard and a long push, in the pride of the morning, afore the Maquas are
stirring."
"With joyful pleasure do I consent', said David, adjusting his iron-rimmed
spectacles, and producing his beloved little volume, which he immediately
tendered to Alice. "What can be more fitting and consolatory, than to offer up
evening praise, after a day of such exceeding jeopardy!"
Alice smiled; but, regarding Heyward, she blushed and hesitated.%
"Indulge yourself," he whispered; "ought not the suggestion of the worthy
namesake of the Psalmist to have its weight at such a moment?"
Encouraged by his opinion, Alice did what her pious inclinations, and her
keen relish for gentle sounds, had before so strongly urged. The book was open
at a hymn not ill adapted to their situation, and in which the poet, no longer
goaded by his desire to excel the inspired King of Israel, had discovered some
chastened and respectable powers. Cora betrayed a disposition to support her
sister, and the sacred song proceeded, after the indispensable preliminaries of
the pitchpipe, and the tune had been duly attended to by the methodical David.
The air was solemn and slow. At times it rose to the fullest compass of the
rich voices of the females, who hung over their little book in holy excitement,
and again it sank so low, that the rushing of the waters ran through their melody,
like a hollow accompaniment. The natural taste and true ear of David governed
Thesaurus
catbird: (n) oscine, gray catbird. gleeful, cheery, delighted, joyous, unscientific, inconsistent.
consolatory: (adj) consoling, soothing, jolly, blissful, blithe. ANTONYMS: namesake: (n) somebody, someone,
cheering. (adj) miserable, sorrowful, unhappy, soul, human, mortal, individual,
excel: (v) top, surpass, cap, outdo, despairing, unpleasant, staid, sorry, cognominal.
pass, eclipse, beat, transcend, lead, disappointed, depressed, heavy. preliminaries: (n) introduction,
outshine; (adj, v) better. methodical: (adj) methodic, formal, preparation, opening, initiation,
ANTONYMS: (v) flunk, trail. systematic, regular, organized, training, preface, preamble.
goaded: (adj) provoked, forced, businesslike, neat, precise, exact, vocation: (n, v) calling, profession,
motivated, unvoluntary, aggravated, correct, meticulous. ANTONYMS: employment; (n) occupation, job,
compulsive, determined, (adj) careless, illogical, chaotic, trade, business, career, line, mission,
involuntary. aimless, thoughtless, haphazard, line of work.
joyful: (adj) gay, glad, elated, cheerful, unprofessional, disorderly, voices: (n) chorus.
and modified the sounds to suit the confined cavern, every crevice and cranny of
which was filled with the thrilling notes of their flexible voices. The Indians
riveted their eyes on the rocks, and listened with an attention that seemed to turn
them into stone. But the scout, who had placed his chin in his hand, with an
expression of cold indifference, gradually suffered his rigid features to relax,
until, as verse succeeded verse, he felt his iron nature subdued, while his
recollection was carried back to boyhood, when his ears had been accustomed to
listen to similar sounds of praise, in the settlements of the colony. His roving
eyes began to moisten, and before the hymn was ended scalding tears rolled out
of fountains that had long seemed dry, and followed each other down those
cheeks, that had oftener felt the storms of heaven than any testimonials of
weakness. The singers were dwelling on one of those low, dying chords, which
the ear devours with such greedy rapture, as if conscious that it is about to lose
them, when a cry, that seemed neither human nor earthly, rose in the outward
air, penetrating not only the recesses of the cavern, but to the inmost hearts of all
who heard it. It was followed by a stillness apparently as deep as if the waters
had been checked in their furious progress, at such a horrid and unusual
interruption.%
"What is it?" murmured Alice, after a few moments of terrible suspense.
"What is it?" repeated Hewyard aloud.
Neither Hawkeye nor the Indians made any reply. They listened, as if
expecting the sound would be repeated, with a manner that expressed their own
astonishment. At length they spoke together, earnestly, in the Delaware
language, when Uncas, passing by the inner and most concealed aperture,
cautiously left the cavern. When he had gone, the scout first spoke in English.
"What it is, or what it is not, none here can tell, though two of us have ranged
the woods for more than thirty years. I did believe there was no cry that Indian
or beast could make, that my ears had not heard; but this has proved that I was
only a vain and conceited mortal."
Thesaurus
aperture: (n) breach, slit, puncture, fissure, gap, chap, opening, hole, rapture: (n) joy, bliss, delight,
opening, gap, cleft, perforation, recess, fracture, interstice. happiness, exaltation, elation,
loophole, mouth, hiatus, outlet. crevice: (n) cleft, break, chink, cranny, exultation, enchantment; (adj, n)
ANTONYM: (n) closure. chap, fissure, interstice, rift, gap, enthusiasm; (n, v) transport; (adj, n, v)
chords: (n) key, clef. hole, fracture. passion. ANTONYMS: (n)
conceited: (adj) arrogant, cocky, vain, inmost: (adj) innermost, inward, deep, indifference, boredom, misery,
boastful, proud, smug, affected, intimate, private, inner, interior, gloom, agony, hell, despair.
assuming, egotistical, haughty, internal, personal, secret, intrinsic. recesses: (n) penetralia, bowels, inside.
pompous. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYM: (adj) outermost. scalding: (adj) boiling, hot, torrid,
modest, insecure, meek, selfless, moisten: (n, v) dampen; (v) water, burning, scorching, broiling,
unassuming. wash, humidify, dip, sprinkle, soften, blistering, fiery, searing, baking,
cranny: (n) crack, chink, crevice, soak, wet, drench, drizzle. steaming. ANTONYM: (adj) cold.
"Was it not, then, the shout the warriors make when they wish to intimidate
their enemies?" asked Cora who stood drawing her veil about her person, with a
calmness to which her agitated sister was a stranger.%
"No, no; this was bad, and shocking, and had a sort of unhuman sound; but
when you once hear the war-whoop, you will never mistake it for anything else.
Well, Uncas!" speaking in Delaware to the young chief as he re-entered, "what
see you? do our lights shine through the blankets?"
The answer was short, and apparently decided, being given in the same
tongue.
"There is nothing to be seen without," continued Hawkeye, shaking his head
in discontent; "and our hiding-place is still in darkness. Pass into the other cave,
you that need it, and seek for sleep; we must be afoot long before the sun, and
make the most of our time to get to Edward, while the Mingoes are taking their
morning nap."
Cora set the example of compliance, with a steadiness that taught the more
timid Alice the necessity of obedience. Before leaving the place, however, she
whispered a request to Duncan, that he would follow. Uncas raised the blanket
for their passage, and as the sisters turned to thank him for this act of attention,
they saw the scout seated again before the dying embers, with his face resting on
his hands, in a manner which showed how deeply he brooded on the
unaccountable interruption which had broken up their evening devotions.
Heyward took with him a blazing knot, which threw a dim light through the
narrow vista of their new apartment. Placing it in a favorable position, he joined
the females, who now found themselves alone with him for the first time since
they had left the friendly ramparts of Fort Edward.
"Leave us not, Duncan," said Alice: "we cannot sleep in such a place as this,
with that horrid cry still ringing in our ears."
"First let us examine into the security of your fortress," he answered, "and
then we will speak of rest."
Thesaurus
afoot: (n) afloat, prevalent; (v) on foot, inauspicious, detrimental, strange, unintelligible, unexplainable,
on the tapis, agoing; (adv) walking, unfriendly, disagreeable, hindering, mysterious, impenetrable,
abroach; (adj) underway, itinerant, harmful, untimely. undiscoverable, undecipherable,
current. steadiness: (adj, n) stability, firmness, unknowable, unnatural.
embers: (v) cinder, ash, scoriae; (n) steadfastness; (n) regularity, ANTONYMS: (adj) accountable,
fire, ashes. equilibrium, consistency, resolution, explainable, responsible, explicable.
favorable: (adj) lucky, fortunate, permanence, persistence, sureness; unhuman: (adj) inhuman,
propitious, prosperous, convenient, (adj) stableness. ANTONYMS: (n) dehumanised, nonhuman.
advantageous, encouraging, happy, unsteadiness, instability, vista: (n) outlook, panorama, horizon,
helpful; (adj, v) friendly; (adj, n) unreliability. aspect, scene, landscape, scenery,
kindly. ANTONYMS: (adj) adverse, unaccountable: (adj) picture, alley; (adj, n) view,
negative, ominous, disapproving, incomprehensible, inexplicable, perspective.
He approached the further end of the cavern, to an outlet, which, like the
others, was concealed by blankets; and removing the thick screen, breathed the
fresh and reviving air from the cataract. One arm of the river flowed through a
deep, narrow ravine, which its current had worn in the soft rock, directly
beneath his feet, forming an effectual defense, as he believed, against any
danger from that quarter; the water, a few rods above them, plunging, glancing,
and sweeping along in its most violent and broken manner.%
"Nature has made an impenetrable barrier on this side," he continued,
pointing down the perpendicular declivity into the dark current before he
dropped the blanket; "and as you know that good men and true are on guard in
front I see no reason why the advice of our honest host should be disregarded. I
am certain Cora will join me in saying that sleep is necessary to you both."
"Cora may submit to the justice of your opinion though she cannot put it in
practice," returned the elder sister, who had placed herself by the side of Alice,
on a couch of sassafras; "there would be other causes to chase away sleep, though
we had been spared the shock of this mysterious noise. Ask yourself, Heyward,
can daughters forget the anxiety a father must endure, whose children lodge he
knows not where or how, in such a wilderness, and in the midst of so many
perils?"
"He is a soldier, and knows how to estimate the chances of the woods."
"He is a father, and cannot deny his nature."
"How kind has he ever been to all my follies, how tender and indulgent to all
my wishes!" sobbed Alice. "We have been selfish, sister, in urging our visit at
such hazard."
"I may have been rash in pressing his consent in a moment of much
embarrassment, but I would have proved to him, that however others might
neglect him in his strait his children at least were faithful."
"When he heard of your arrival at Edward," said Heyward, kindly, "there was
a powerful struggle in his bosom between fear and love; though the latter,
heightened, if possible, by so long a separation, quickly prevailed. 'It is the spirit
Thesaurus
declivity: (n) decline, fall, downhill, able; (adj) forceful, telling, severe, restrained, harsh,
downgrade, incline, dip, slope; (n, v) authoritative, operative, potent, hardhearted, abstemious,
gradient; (v) acclivity, ascent, bank. adequate, impressive, powerful. disapproving.
defense: (n) apology, fortification, ANTONYMS: (adj) ineffectual, ravine: (n, v) gap, cleft; (n) chasm,
justification, security, protection, incapable, weak, impotent, canyon, dell, defile, gully, glen, pass,
safeguard, excuse, defence, shield, ineffective, unproductive, abyss, valley.
defend, advocacy. ANTONYMS: (n) unsuccessful, useless. reviving: (adj) bracing, restorative,
attack, offense, criticism, violence, indulgent: (adj) forgiving, gentle, renewing, refreshing, revival, brisk,
prosecution, destruction, aggression, clement, lenient, soft, kind, gracious, enlivening, recuperative,
condemnation, accusation, tolerant, merciful, compassionate; reanimating, promoting
opposition. (adj, v) permissive. ANTONYMS: recuperation, giving life.
effectual: (adj, n) efficient, efficacious, (adj) intolerant, unsympathetic, ANTONYM: (adj) soothing.
of my noble- minded Cora that leads them, Duncan', he said, 'and I will not balk
it. Would to God, that he who holds the honor of our royal master in his
guardianship, would show but half her firmness'!"
"And did he not speak of me, Heyward?" demanded Alice, with jealous
affection; "surely, he forgot not altogether his little Elsie?"
"That were impossible," returned the young man; "he called you by a
thousand endearing epithets, that I may not presume to use, but to the justice of
which, I can warmly testify. Once, indeed, he said—"
Duncan ceased speaking; for while his eyes were riveted on those of Alice,
who had turned toward him with the eagerness of filial affection, to catch his
words, the same strong, horrid cry, as before, filled the air, and rendered him
mute. A long, breathless silence succeeded, during which each looked at the
others in fearful expectation of hearing the sound repeated. At length, the
blanket was slowly raised, and the scout stood in the aperture with a
countenance whose firmness evidently began to give way before a mystery that
seemed to threaten some danger, against which all his cunning and experience
might prove of no avail.%
Thesaurus
balk: (n, v) frustrate; (n) hindrance, determination, resolution, assurance, horrid: (adj) grisly, ghastly, ugly,
setback, barrier; (v) retard, prevent, consistency, obstinacy, steadfastness, gruesome, grim, fearful, dreadful,
flinch, traverse, hamper, baffle, foil. resolve, confidence, courage, direful, dire, horrible, fearsome.
ANTONYMS: (v) aid, facilitate, help, backbone. ANTONYMS: (n) softness, ANTONYMS: (adj) lovely, nice,
proceed, progress, agree, approve. instability, vacillation, unsteadiness, appealing, attractive, kind.
endearing: (adj) adorable, lovable, yielding, irresoluteness, droopiness, leads: (n) slating, pieced leads, slates,
lovely, charming, sweet, attractive, indefiniteness, indecisiveness, pile driving leads, tiling.
engaging, pretty, winning, pleasant, indecision, leniency. mute: (adj) dumb, silent, inarticulate,
cute. ANTONYMS: (adj) despicable, guardianship: (n) custody, care, dummy, tongueless; (v) muffle,
repellent, detestable, unpleasant. charge, keeping, safekeeping, dampen, deaden, hush; (adj, v) quiet,
filial: (adj) dutiful. tutelage, conservation, protection, dull. ANTONYMS: (adj) talkative,
firmness: (adj, n) constancy; (n) wardship; (adj, n) ward; (adj) guard. speaking, spoken; (v) amplify.
CHAPTER 7
"They do not sleep,

On yonder cliffs, a grizzly band,
I see them sit."
Gray
"'Twould be neglecting a warning that is given for our good to lie hid any
longer," said Hawkeye "when such sounds are raised in the forest. These gentle
ones may keep close, but the Mohicans and I will watch upon the rock, where I
suppose a major of the Sixtieth would wish to keep us company."
"Is, then, our danger so pressing?" asked Cora.%
"He who makes strange sounds, and gives them out for man's information,
alone knows our danger. I should think myself wicked, unto rebellion against
His will, was I to burrow with such warnings in the air! Even the weak soul who
passes his days in singing is stirred by the cry, and, as he says, is 'ready to go
forth to the battle' If 'twere only a battle, it would be a thing understood by us all,
and easily managed; but I have heard that when such shrieks are atween heaven
and 'arth, it betokens another sort of warfare!"
"If all our reasons for fear, my friend, are confined to such as proceed from
supernatural causes, we have but little occasion to be alarmed," continued the
Thesaurus
burrow: (adj, v) delve, dig, gouge, reasons: (n) proof. eerie, uncanny, unnatural,
mine; (n, v) tunnel, earth; (n) lair, den, rebellion: (n) revolt, insurrection, mysterious, ghostly, divine; (n)
hole, cavity; (v) nestle. ANTONYMS: mutiny, disobedience, uprising, occult. ANTONYM: (adj) normal.
(v) fill, plant. unrest, revolution, outbreak, unto: (prep, v) to, till, up to; (prep)
gray: (adj) dull, dim, bleak, gloomy, defiance, insurgency, commotion. towards, before.
pale, grizzled, hoary, leaden, old, ANTONYMS: (n) consent, wicked: (adj) bad, sinful, atrocious,
overcast; (n) grizzle. ANTONYMS: compliance. evil, vile, depraved, mischievous,
(adj) sunny, cheerful, clear, youthful. stirred: (adj) excited, agitated, moved, immoral, unholy, nasty, naughty.
grizzly: (adj) grey, gray, grizzled, affected, aroused, emotional, aflame, ANTONYMS: (adj) innocent, pure,
greyish, ashen, grayish, dull, hoary, Stirn, horny, susceptible, stirred up. pious, moral, kind, admirable,
leaden; (n) grizzly bear, silvertip. supernatural: (adj) mystical, kindhearted, helpful, decent,
neglecting: (n) neglect, disregard. preternatural, weird, superhuman, assisting, aiding.
undisturbed Cora, "are you certain that our enemies have not invented some new
and ingenious method to strike us with terror, that their conquest may become
more easy?"%
"Lady," returned the scout, solemnly, "I have listened to all the sounds of the
woods for thirty years, as a man will listen whose life and death depend on the
quickness of his ears. There is no whine of the panther, no whistle of the catbird,
nor any invention of the devilish Mingoes, that can cheat me! I have heard the
forest moan like mortal men in their affliction; often, and again, have I listened
to the wind playing its music in the branches of the girdled trees; and I have
heard the lightning cracking in the air like the snapping of blazing brush as it
spitted forth sparks and forked flames; but never have I thought that I heard
more than the pleasure of him who sported with the things of his hand. But
neither the Mohicans, nor I, who am a white man without a cross, can explain the
cry just heard. We, therefore, believe it a sign given for our good."
"It is extraordinary!" said Heyward, taking his pistols from the place where
he had laid them on entering; "be it a sign of peace or a signal of war, it must be
looked to. Lead the way, my friend; I follow."
On issuing from their place of confinement, the whole party instantly
experienced a grateful renovation of spirits, by exchanging the pent air of the
hiding-place for the cool and invigorating atmosphere which played around the
whirlpools and pitches of the cataract. A heavy evening breeze swept along the
surface of the river, and seemed to drive the roar of the falls into the recesses of
their own cavern, whence it issued heavily and constant, like thunder rumbling
beyond the distant hills. The moon had risen, and its light was already glancing
here and there on the waters above them; but the extremity of the rock where
they stood still lay in shadow. With the exception of the sounds produced by the
rushing waters, and an occasional breathing of the air, as it murmured past them
in fitful currents, the scene was as still as night and solitude could make it. In
vain were the eyes of each individual bent along the opposite shores, in quest of
some signs of life, that might explain the nature of the interruption they had
Thesaurus
affliction: (n, v) adversity; (n) distress, fitful: (adj) erratic, fickle, changeable, panther: (n) cougar, jaguar, leopard,
regret, martyrdom, torment, curse, spasmodic, uncertain, intermittent, puma, mountain lion, painter, Felis
trial, bane, misadventure, sorrow, irregular, variable, sporadic, onca, Felis concolor, cat; (adj) lion,
agony. ANTONYMS: (n) gift, desultory, flickering. ANTONYMS: tiger.
godsend, solace, blessing. (adj) regular, unbroken. pent: (adj) narrow, shut up, confined,
devilish: (adj, v) diabolic, satanic, glancing: (adj) passing. cramped.
infernal, mephistophelian, invigorating: (adj) exhilarating, fresh, quickness: (n) celerity, expedition,
demoniacal; (adj) demonic, wicked, tonic, brisk, healthy, wholesome, promptness, alacrity, agility, speed,
diabolical, terrific; (v) Stygian; (adv) cordial, benign, curative, crisp, dispatch, dexterity, fleetness, hurry,
devilishly. ANTONYMS: (adj) fascinating. ANTONYMS: (adj) readiness. ANTONYMS: (n)
cherubic, godlike, good, saintly, soporific, soothing, relaxing, tiring, awkwardness, delay, ineptness.
virtuous. dull, debilitating, deadly. swept: (adj) clean.
heard. Their anxious and eager looks were baffled by the deceptive light, or
rested only on naked rocks, and straight and immovable trees.%
"Here is nothing to be seen but the gloom and quiet of a lovely evening,"
whispered Duncan; "how much should we prize such a scene, and all this
breathing solitude, at any other moment, Cora! Fancy yourselves in security, and
what now, perhaps, increases your terror, may be made conducive to enjoyment-
-"
"Listen!" interrupted Alice.
The caution was unnecessary. Once more the same sound arose, as if from
the bed of the river, and having broken out of the narrow bounds of the cliffs,
was heard undulating through the forest, in distant and dying cadences.
"Can any here give a name to such a cry?" demanded Hawkeye, when the last
echo was lost in the woods; "if so, let him speak; for myself, I judge it not to
belong to 'arth!"
"Here, then, is one who can undeceive you," said Duncan; "I know the sound
full well, for often have I heard it on the field of battle, and in situations which
are frequent in a soldier's life. 'Tis the horrid shriek that a horse will give in his
agony; oftener drawn from him in pain, though sometimes in terror. My charger
is either a prey to the beasts of the forest, or he sees his danger, without the
power to avoid it. The sound might deceive me in the cavern, but in the open air
I know it too well to be wrong."
The scout and his companions listened to this simple explanation with the
interest of men who imbibe new ideas, at the same time that they get rid of old
ones, which had proved disagreeable inmates. The two latter uttered their usual
expressive exclamation, "hugh!" as the truth first glanced upon their minds,
while the former, after a short, musing pause, took upon himself to reply.
"I cannot deny your words," he said, "for I am little skilled in horses, though
born where they abound. The wolves must be hovering above their heads on the
bank, and the timorsome creatures are calling on man for help, in the best
manner they are able. Uncas" -- he spoke in Delaware -- "Uncas, drop down in
Thesaurus
arose: (v) happen, occur. correct, actual, valid, innocent. musing: (adj) contemplative,
deceive: (v) cheat, circumvent, disagreeable: (adj) nasty, offensive, meditative, thoughtful, pensive; (n)
bamboozle, pretend, hoax, fool, uncomfortable, distasteful, meditation, consideration, reflection,
cozen, trick, beguile; (n, v) dupe; (n) cantankerous, cross, ungrateful, rumination, reverie, thought,
fraud. ANTONYMS: (v) guide, abhorrent, horrible, bad, painful. cogitation.
inform, undeceive, protect. ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasant, friendly, undeceive: (v) unbeguile, unbefool,
deceptive: (adj) deceitful, dishonest, amiable, inoffensive, acceptable, disabuse, inform.
false, fallacious, lying, deceiving, desirable, easygoing, happy, undulating: (adj) sinuous, waved,
misleading, untrue, spurious, pleasing, sweet, nice. undulant, undulatory, curly,
insidious, unfounded. ANTONYMS: imbibe: (v) absorb, suck, swallow, apprenticed, zigzag, crimped, curvy,
(adj) real, honest, straightforward, gulp, engulf, carouse, assimilate, indented, intended. ANTONYMS:
open, frank, upright, genuine, consume, draw, quaff, bring in. (adj) steep, straight.
the canoe, and whirl a brand among the pack; or fear may do what the wolves
can't get at to perform, and leave us without horses in the morning, when we
shall have so much need to journey swiftly!"
The young native had already descended to the water to comply, when a
long howl was raised on the edge of the river, and was borne swiftly off into the
depths of the forest, as though the beasts, of their own accord, were abandoning
their prey in sudden terror. Uncas, with instinctive quickness, receded, and the
three foresters held another of their low, earnest conferences.%
"We have been like hunters who have lost the points of the heavens, and from
whom the sun has been hid for days," said Hawkeye, turning away from his
companions; "now we begin again to know the signs of our course, and the paths
are cleared from briers! Seat yourselves in the shade which the moon throws
from yonder beech -- 'tis thicker than that of the pines -- and let us wait for that
which the Lord may choose to send next. Let all your conversation be in
whispers; though it would be better, and, perhaps, in the end, wiser, if each one
held discourse with his own thoughts, for a time."
The manner of the scout was seriously impressive, though no longer
distinguished by any signs of unmanly apprehension. It was evident that his
momentary weakness had vanished with the explanation of a mystery which his
own experience had not served to fathom; and though he now felt all the realities
of their actual condition, that he was prepared to meet them with the energy of
his hardy nature. This feeling seemed also common to the natives, who placed
themselves in positions which commanded a full view of both shores, while their
own persons were effectually concealed from observation. In such
circumstances, common prudence dictated that Heyward and his companions
should imitate a caution that proceeded from so intelligent a source. The young
man drew a pile of the sassafras from the cave, and placing it in the chasm which
separated the two caverns, it was occupied by the sisters, who were thus
protected by the rocks from any missiles, while their anxiety was relieved by the
assurance that no danger could approach without a warning. Heyward himself
was posted at hand, so near that he might communicate with his companions
Thesaurus
effectually: (adv) efficaciously, howl: (n, v) cry, roar, scream, bark, hindsight, recklessness,
effectively, validly, adequately, shout, yell, bay, yelp; (v) bawl, growl, extravagance.
potently, tellingly, strongly, yawl. ANTONYM: (v) laugh. unmanly: (adj) pusillanimous, fearful,
decisively; (adj) nicely, fully, head imitate: (n, v) duplicate; (v) forge, ape, unmanlike, unchivalric, unknightly,
and shoulders. ANTONYM: (adv) emulate, follow, feign, counterfeit, unmanful, craven, weak; (adv)
ineffectually. mimic, mock, assume, act. unmanfully, cowardly, effeminately.
fathom: (n, v) plumb; (v) penetrate, prudence: (n) foresight, economy, ANTONYM: (adv) manfully.
discern, bottom, understand, frugality, caution, care, forethought, whirl: (n, v) spin, turn, eddy, roll,
comprehend, know, make out, providence, circumspection, wheel, twist, swirl; (v) reel, gyrate; (n)
measure; (n) probe, gauge. judgment, deliberation; (adj, n) go, fling.
ANTONYMS: (v) confuse, wisdom. ANTONYMS: (n) yourselves: (pron) themselves, myself,
misunderstand, Miss. imprudence, profligacy, generosity, herself.
without raising his voice to a dangerous elevation; while David, in imitation of

the woodsmen, bestowed his person in such a manner among the fissures of the
rocks, that his ungainly limbs were no longer offensive to the eye.%
In this manner hours passed without further interruption. The moon reached
the zenith, and shed its mild light perpendicularly on the lovely sight of the
sisters slumbering peacefully in each other's arms. Duncan cast the wide shawl
of Cora before a spectacle he so much loved to contemplate, and then suffered
his own head to seek a pillow on the rock. David began to utter sounds that
would have shocked his delicate organs in more wakeful moments; in short, all
but Hawkeye and the Mohicans lost every idea of consciousness, in
uncontrollable drowsiness. But the watchfulness of these vigilant protectors
neither tired nor slumbered. Immovable as that rock, of which each appeared to
form a part, they lay, with their eyes roving, without intermission, along the
dark margin of trees, that bounded the adjacent shores of the narrow stream. Not
a sound escaped them; the most subtle examination could not have told they
breathed. It was evident that this excess of caution proceeded from an experience
that no subtlety on the part of their enemies could deceive. It was, however,
continued without any apparent consequences, until the moon had set, and a
pale streak above the treetops, at the bend of the river a little below, announced
the approach of day.
Then, for the first time, Hawkeye was seen to stir. He crawled along the rock
and shook Duncan from his heavy slumbers.
"Now is the time to journey," he whispered; "awake the gentle ones, and be
ready to get into the canoe when I bring it to the landing-place."
"Have you had a quiet night?" said Heyward; "for myself, I believe sleep has
got the better of my vigilance."
"All is yet still as midnight. Be silent, but be quick."
By this time Duncan was thoroughly awake, and he immediately lifted the
shawl from the sleeping females. The motion caused Cora to raise her hand as if
to repulse him, while Alice murmured, in her soft, gentle voice, "No, no, dear
father, we were not deserted; Duncan was with us!"
Thesaurus
drowsiness: (n) sleepiness, lethargy, erectly, straightly, upright, ungainly: (adj) clumsy, gawky,
dullness, doziness, laziness, orthogonally, sheerly, precipitously, unwieldy, inelegant, inept, maladroit,
somnolency, inertia, drowse, normally, plumb; (adv, v) sheer; (adj, uncouth, graceless, stiff, wooden,
lassitude, languor, sluggishness. adv) directly. unmanageable. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYM: (n) alertness. repulse: (n, v) rebuff, defeat; (v) repel, graceful, manageable, adroit, fitting,
intermission: (n) rest, pause, lull, nauseate, disgust, drive back, revolt, elegant.
cessation, suspension, interruption, reject, refuse, beat back; (n) refusal. wakeful: (adj) vigilant, sleepless,
abeyance, disruption, gap, ANTONYMS: (v) attract, accept, awake, observant, restless, light,
discontinuance, respite. ANTONYM: delight, yield, please; (n, v) welcome. wary, psychologically light,
(n) continuation. shawl: (n) wrap, mantle, cape, muffler, lightheaded, tripping; (v) wistful.
midnight: (n) dark, noon, hour. scarf, pall, mantlet Mantua, wrapper, ANTONYMS: (adj) unaware, asleep,
perpendicularly: (adv) uprightly, kerchief, headscarf, stole. inattentive, relaxed.
"Yes, sweet innocence," whispered the youth; "Duncan is here, and while life
continues or danger remains, he will never quit thee. Cora! Alice! awake! The
hour has come to move!"
A loud shriek from the younger of the sisters, and the form of the other
standing upright before him, in bewildered horror, was the unexpected answer
he received.%
While the words were still on the lips of Heyward, there had arisen such a
tumult of yells and cries as served to drive the swift currents of his own blood
back from its bounding course into the fountains of his heart. It seemed, for near
a minute, as if the demons of hell had possessed themselves of the air about
them, and were venting their savage humors in barbarous sounds. The cries
came from no particular direction, though it was evident they filled the woods,
and, as the appalled listeners easily imagined, the caverns of the falls, the rocks,
the bed of the river, and the upper air. David raised his tall person in the midst of
the infernal din, with a hand on either ear, exclaiming:
"Whence comes this discord! Has hell broke loose, that man should utter
sounds like these!"
The bright flashes and the quick reports of a dozen rifles, from the opposite
banks of the stream, followed this incautious exposure of his person, and left the
unfortunate singing master senseless on that rock where he had been so long
slumbering. The Mohicans boldly sent back the intimidating yell of their
enemies, who raised a shout of savage triumph at the fall of Gamut. The flash of
rifles was then quick and close between them, but either party was too well
skilled to leave even a limb exposed to the hostile aim. Duncan listened with
intense anxiety for the strokes of the paddle, believing that flight was now their
only refuge. The river glanced by with its ordinary velocity, but the canoe was
nowhere to be seen on its dark waters. He had just fancied they were cruelly
deserted by their scout, as a stream of flame issued from the rock beneath them,
and a fierce yell, blended with a shriek of agony, announced that the messenger
of death sent from the fatal weapon of Hawkeye, had found a victim. At this
Thesaurus
discord: (n, v) conflict, clash; (n) inconsiderate, thoughtless, friendly, soothing, reassuring,
disagreement, variance, division, injudicious, unadvised, foolhardy. comforting, approachable,
difference, dissension, dissonance, ANTONYMS: (adj) careful, insignificant.
strife, split, contention. ANTONYMS: suspicious, prudent, discreet, alert. tumult: (adj, n, v) hubbub, disturbance;
(n) agreement, harmony, unity, infernal: (adj) devilish, fiendish, (n) stir, commotion, bustle, din, fuss,
accord, concordance, consent, silence, diabolical, demonic, damned, cursed, excitement; (n, v) clamor, disorder,
concord; (v) match. blasted, unholy, wicked; (adj, v) brawl. ANTONYMS: (n) peace, push,
exclaiming: (n) deuce, Dickens, diabolic, satanic. serenity, order, calm.
ejaculation, exclaim, devil, intimidating: (adj) scary, threatening, venting: (n) discharge, run, release,
interjection, ecphonesis. menacing, bullying, scare, terrifying, firing, sack, sacking, firing off,
incautious: (adj) imprudent, rash, terrible, nasty, uncomforting, electric arc, spark, expelling; (adj)
heedless, hasty, unwary, unguarded, truculent, tough. ANTONYMS: (adj) vocal.
slight repulse the assailants instantly withdrew, and gradually the place became
as still as before the sudden tumult.%
Duncan seized the favorable moment to spring to the body of Gamut, which
he bore within the shelter of the narrow chasm that protected the sisters. In
another minute the whole party was collected in this spot of comparative safety.
"The poor fellow has saved his scalp," said Hawkeye, coolly passing his hand
over the head of David; "but he is a proof that a man may be born with too long a
tongue! 'Twas downright madness to show six feet of flesh and blood, on a
naked rock, to the raging savages. I only wonder he has escaped with life."
"Is he not dead?" demanded Cora, in a voice whose husky tones showed how
powerfully natural horror struggled with her assumed firmness. "Can we do
aught to assist the wretched man?"
"No, no! the life is in his heart yet, and after he has slept awhile he will come
to himself, and be a wiser man for it, till the hour of his real time shall come,"
returned Hawkeye, casting another oblique glance at the insensible body, while
he filled his charger with admirable nicety. "Carry him in, Uncas, and lay him on
the sassafras. The longer his nap lasts the better it will be for him, as I doubt
whether he can find a proper cover for such a shape on these rocks; and singing
won't do any good with the Iroquois."
"You believe, then, the attack will be renewed?" asked Heyward.
"Do I expect a hungry wolf will satisfy his craving with a mouthful! They
have lost a man, and 'tis their fashion, when they meet a loss, and fail in the
surprise, to fall back; but we shall have them on again, with new expedients to
circumvent us, and master our scalps. Our main hope," he continued, raising his
rugged countenance, across which a shade of anxiety just then passed like a
darkening cloud, "will be to keep the rock until Munro can send a party to our
help! God send it may be soon and under a leader that knows the Indian
customs!"
"You hear our probable fortunes, Cora," said Duncan, "and you know we
have everything to hope from the anxiety and experience of your father. Come,
Thesaurus
aught: (n) nil, zero, anything, ought, (adj) semi, limited, incomplete, nicety: (n) detail, exactness,
cypher, nix, cipher, naught, null, zip; questionable, slight; (adv) hardly. fastidiousness, nuance, refinement,
(adj) any. insensible: (adj) imperceptible, numb, exactitude, justness, precision,
awhile: (adj) in transitu, en passant; unconscious, callous, dull, unaware, correctness, daintiness, elegance.
(adv) briefly. apathetic, impassive, indiscernible, oblique: (adj) circuitous, devious,
darkening: (adj) dark, blue, gloomy, comatose, impassible. ANTONYMS: lateral, side, roundabout, slanting,
causing dejection; (v) darken; (n) (adj) sensible, conscious, sensitive, evasive, collateral, sloping, inclined,
change of color, eclipse. awake, alive, compassionate, tortuous. ANTONYMS: (adj) direct,
downright: (adj, n) absolute; (adj, v) concerned, aware. level, perpendicular, parallel, overt,
sheer, clear; (adj) dead, blunt, candid, mouthful: (n) gulp, morsel, swallow, explicit, straight, clear, upright; (n)
plain; (adv) absolutely, thoroughly, gobbet, nip, bit, sip, piece, drink; (adj, nominative.
wholly, decidedly. ANTONYMS: n) handful; (adj) thimbleful. sisters: (n) sistren.
then, with Alice, into this cavern, where you, at least, will be safe from the
murderous rifles of our enemies, and where you may bestow a care suited to
your gentle natures on our unfortunate comrade."
The sisters followed him into the outer cave, where David was beginning, by
his sighs, to give symptoms of returning consciousness, and then commending
the wounded man to their attention, he immediately prepared to leave them.%
"Duncan!" said the tremulous voice of Cora, when he had reached the mouth
of the cavern. He turned and beheld the speaker, whose color had changed to a
deadly paleness, and whose lips quivered, gazing after him, with an expression
of interest which immediately recalled him to her side. "Remember, Duncan,
how necessary your safety is to our own -- how you bear a father's sacred trust --
how much depends on your discretion and care -- in short," she added, while the
telltale blood stole over her features, crimsoning her very temples, "how very
deservedly dear you are to all of the name of Munro."
"If anything could add to my own base love of life," said Heyward, suffering
his unconscious eyes to wander to the youthful form of the silent Alice, "it would
be so kind an assurance. As major of the Sixtieth, our honest host will tell you I
must take my share of the fray; but our task will be easy; it is merely to keep
these blood-hounds at bay for a few hours."
Without waiting for a reply, he tore himself from the presence of the sisters,
and joined the scout and his companions, who still lay within the protection of
the little chasm between the two caves.
"I tell you, Uncas," said the former, as Heyward joined them, "you are
wasteful of your powder, and the kick of the rifle disconcerts your aim! Little
powder, light lead, and a long arm, seldom fail of bringing the death screech
from a Mingo! At least, such has been my experience with the creatur's. Come,
friends: let us to our covers, for no man can tell when or where a Maqua will
strike his blow."
The Indians silently repaired to their appointed stations, which were fissures
in the rocks, whence they could command the approaches to the foot of the falls.
In the center of the little island, a few short and stunted pines had found root,
Thesaurus
bestow: (v) give, confer, grant, impart, fray: (n) conflict, action, fight, combat, diminutive, puny, short, spare, weak,
contribute, donate, apply, award; disturbance, fracas, scrap; (n, v) underdeveloped, dwarfish; (v)
(adj, v) accord, allow, present. affray, broil; (v) rub, fret. strangulated. ANTONYM: (adj) tall.
ANTONYMS: (v) deprive, refuse, paleness: (adj, n) pallor; (n) pallidness, telltale: (n) taleteller, tattletale, tattler,
withhold, retrieve, withdraw. wanness, whiteness, achromasia, gossip, newsmonger, blabbermouth,
commending: (adj) good, plauditory, blondness, lividity, luridness, check, babbler; (adj) telling, revealing,
favorable, applauding, lividness, fairness, pale. ANTONYM: signifying. ANTONYM: (adj)
commendatory, approving. (n) strength. secretive.
deservedly: (adv) justly, condignly, screech: (n, v) cry, shout, shriek, yell, whence: (adv) wherefrom, hence,
worthily, rightfully, rightly, right, screak, yelp, yowl, roar; (n) because, for, why, wherefore, how,
justifiably, by merit, correctly, fairly, screaming; (v) squawk, pipe. then, then thence so, how comes it,
becomingly. stunted: (adj) scrubby, little, scrawny, how happens it.
forming a thicket, into which Hawkeye darted with the swiftness of a deer,
followed by the active Duncan. Here they secured themselves, as well as
circumstances would permit, among the shrubs and fragments of stone that were
scattered about the place. Above them was a bare, rounded rock, on each side of
which the water played its gambols, and plunged into the abysses beneath, in
the manner already described. As the day had now dawned, the opposite shores
no longer presented a confused outline, but they were able to look into the
woods, and distinguish objects beneath a canopy of gloomy pines.%
A long and anxious watch succeeded, but without any further evidences of a
renewed attack; and Duncan began to hope that their fire had proved more fatal
than was supposed, and that their enemies had been effectually repulsed. When
he ventured to utter this impression to his companions, it was met by Hawkeye
with an incredulous shake of the head.
"You know not the nature of a Maqua, if you think he is so easily beaten back
without a scalp!" he answered. "If there was one of the imps yelling this morning,
there were forty! and they know our number and quality too well to give up the
chase so soon. Hist! look into the water above, just where it breaks over the
rocks. I am no mortal, if the risky devils haven't swam down upon the very pitch,
and, as bad luck would have it, they have hit the head of the island. Hist! man,
keep close! or the hair will be off your crown in the turning of a knife!"
Heyward lifted his head from the cover, and beheld what he justly
considered a prodigy of rashness and skill. The river had worn away the edge of
the soft rock in such a manner as to render its first pitch less abrupt and
perpendicular than is usual at waterfalls. With no other guide than the ripple of
the stream where it met the head of the island, a party of their insatiable foes
had ventured into the current, and swam down upon this point, knowing the
ready access it would give, if successful, to their intended victims.
As Hawkeye ceased speaking, four human heads could be seen peering
above a few logs of drift-wood that had lodged on these naked rocks, and which
had probably suggested the idea of the practicability of the hazardous
undertaking. At the next moment, a fifth form was seen floating over the green
Thesaurus
gambols: (n) behave, play, frolic, ANTONYM: (adj) moderate. heedlessness, folly, precipitancy,
employment, disport, act, action, practicability: (n) practicableness, indiscretion, carelessness,
amusement. practicality, possibility, probability, adventurism. ANTONYMS: (n)
incredulous: (adj) dubious, doubtful, usefulness, utility, viability, caution, consideration, deliberation,
suspicious, unbelieving, faithless, convenience, feasibleness, handiness, patience, discretion, carefulness,
skeptical, doubting, lacking faith, likelihood. forethought.
questioning, cynical, mistrustful. prodigy: (n) marvel, miracle, wonder, shrubs: (n) undergrowth.
ANTONYM: (adj) convinced. genius, portent, phenomenon, swiftness: (n) speed, haste, rapidity,
insatiable: (adj) ravenous, voracious, wonder child, astonishment, wizard, celerity, acceleration, quickness,
insatiate, gluttonous, avaricious, surprise; (adj, n) monster. promptness, pace, velocity, agility,
quenchless, avid, unquenchable, rashness: (n) temerity, precipitation, dispatch. ANTONYM: (n)
unsatiable, grasping, sateless. recklessness, hastiness, imprudence, clumsiness.
edge of the fall, a little from the line of the island. The savage struggled
powerfully to gain the point of safety, and, favored by the glancing water, he
was already stretching forth an arm to meet the grasp of his companions, when
he shot away again with the shirling current, appeared to rise into the air, with
uplifted arms and starting eyeballs, and fell, with a sudden plunge, into that
deep and yawning abyss over which he hovered. A single, wild, despairing
shriek rose from the cavern, and all was hushed again as the grave.%
The first generous impulse of Duncan was to rush to the rescue of the hapless
wretch; but he felt himself bound to the spot by the iron grasp of the immovable
scout.
"Would ye bring certain death upon us, by telling the Mingoes where we lie?"
demanded Hawkeye, sternly; "'Tis a charge of powder saved, and ammunition is
as precious now as breath to a worried deer! Freshen the priming of your
pistols--the midst of the falls is apt to dampen the brimstone--and stand firm for
a close struggle, while I fire on their rush."
He placed a finger in his mouth, and drew a long, shrill whistle, which was
answered from the rocks that were guarded by the Mohicans. Duncan caught
glimpses of heads above the scattered drift-wood, as this signal rose on the air,
but they disappeared again as suddenly as they had glanced upon his sight. A
low, rustling sound next drew his attention behind him, and turning his head, he
beheld Uncas within a few feet, creeping to his side. Hawkeye spoke to him in
Delaware, when the young chief took his position with singular caution and
undisturbed coolness. To Heyward this was a moment of feverish and impatient
suspense; though the scout saw fit to select it as a fit occasion to read a lecture to
his more youthful associates on the art of using firearms with discretion.
"Of all we'pons," he commenced, "the long barreled, true-grooved, soft-
metaled rifle is the most dangerous in skillful hands, though it wants a strong
arm, a quick eye, and great judgment in charging, to put forth all its beauties.
The gunsmiths can have but little insight into their trade when they make their
fowling-pieces and short horsemen's --"
He was interrupted by the low but expressive "hugh" of Uncas.
Thesaurus
abyss: (n) gorge, ravine, chasm, gulf, soften, depress, mute, dishearten, priming: (n) primer, undercoat,
deep, purgatory, depth, hell, gap, moisten, dull, blunt, cool. readying, couch, preparation, flat
Gehenna, pit. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYMS: (v) increase, dry, coat, footing, fuse, fusee, fuzee,
junction, juncture. encourage, intensify, uplift, towel, electrical fuse.
barreled: (adj) pointed. accentuate, enliven, heighten, drain, uplifted: (adj) high, raised, noble, not
coolness: (n) chill, cool, composure, dehydrate. inverted, not prone, proud,
assurance, cold, calmness, alienation, drew: (n) move, John Drew. undismayed, stately, lofty, sublime,
frigidity, equanimity, chilliness, favored: (adj) advantaged, preferred, animated.
poise. ANTONYMS: (n) friendliness, lucky, advantageous, pet, favorite, wretch: (n) victim, villain, scoundrel,
panic, approachability, mustiness, blessed, privileged, favorable; (adj, n) reprobate, reptile, miscreant, martyr,
turbulence, agitation. happy, prosperous. ANTONYMS: object of compassion, poor devil,
dampen: (v) deaden, muffle, wet, (adj) disliked, unpopular, Standard. prey, wreak.
"I see them, boy, I see them!" continued Hawkeye; "they are gathering for the
rush, or they would keep their dingy backs below the logs. Well, let them," he
added, examining his flint; "the leading man certainly comes on to his death,
though it should be Montcalm himself!"
At that moment the woods were filled with another burst of cries, and at the
signal four savages sprang from the cover of the driftwood. Heyward felt a
burning desire to rush forward to meet them, so intense was the delirious
anxiety of the moment; but he was restrained by the deliberate examples of the
scout and Uncas.%
When their foes, who had leaped over the black rocks that divided them,
with long bounds, uttering the wildest yells, were within a few rods, the rifle of
Hawkeye slowly rose among the shrubs, and poured out its fatal contents. The
foremost Indian bounded like a stricken deer, and fell headlong among the clefts
of the island.
"Now, Uncas!" cried the scout, drawing his long knife, while his quick eyes
began to flash with ardor, "take the last of the screeching imps; of the other two
we are sartain!"
He was obeyed; and but two enemies remained to be overcome. Heyward
had given one of his pistols to Hawkeye, and together they rushed down a little
declivity toward their foes; they discharged their weapons at the same instant,
and equally without success.
"I know'd it! and I said it!" muttered the scout, whirling the despised little
implement over the falls with bitter disdain. "Come on, ye bloody minded hell-
hounds! ye meet a man without a cross!"
The words were barely uttered, when he encountered a savage of gigantic
stature, of the fiercest mien. At the same moment, Duncan found himself
engaged with the other, in a similar contest of hand to hand. With ready skill,
Hawkeye and his antagonist each grasped that uplifted arm of the other which
held the dangerous knife. For near a minute they stood looking one another in
the eye, and gradually exerting the power of their muscles for the mastery.
Thesaurus
delirious: (adj) crazy, wild, frantic, smart. directly, hastily, precipitately; (adj)
wandering, demented, excited, disdain: (n, v) despise, contemn, rash, hurried, desperate, precipitous,
insane, mad, frenetic, doting, drunk. slight, ridicule; (n) contempt, impetuous, sudden, precipitate.
ANTONYMS: (adj) unexcited, derision, arrogance, haughtiness, ANTONYMS: (adj) cautiously,
rational, composed, relaxed, pride; (v) scoff, disparage. considered; (adv) carefully.
reasonable, balanced, lucid, collected, ANTONYMS: (n) humility, mien: (n, v) deportment, carriage,
clearheaded, calm, dejected. admiration, reverence, worship, bearing, demeanor; (n) look,
dingy: (adj) dark, black, drab, dull, approval, regard; (v) approve, countenance, appearance, guise,
muddy, impure, dim, seedy, dowdy, admire, praise, accept, participate. manner, aspect, air.
unclean, grimy. ANTONYMS: (adj) driftwood: (n) wood, refuse, debris. screeching: (n) screaming, screech,
immaculate, spotless, sparkling, exerting: (n) push. shrieking, belly laugh, howler, shriek,
bright, neat, brilliant, interesting, headlong: (adj, adv) headfirst; (adv) riot; (adj) shrill, harsh, strident.
At length, the toughened sinews of the white man prevailed over the less
practiced limbs of the native. The arm of the latter slowly gave way before the
increasing force of the scout, who, suddenly wresting his armed hand from the
grasp of the foe, drove the sharp weapon through his naked bosom to the heart.
In the meantime, Heyward had been pressed in a more deadly struggle. His
slight sword was snapped in the first encounter. As he was destitute of any other
means of defense, his safety now depended entirely on bodily strength and
resolution. Though deficient in neither of these qualities, he had met an enemy
every way his equal. Happily, he soon succeeded in disarming his adversary,
whose knife fell on the rock at their feet; and from this moment it became a fierce
struggle who should cast the other over the dizzy height into a neighboring
cavern of the falls. Every successive struggle brought them nearer to the verge,
where Duncan perceived the final and conquering effort must be made. Each of
the combatants threw all his energies into that effort, and the result was, that
both tottered on the brink of the precipice. Heyward felt the grasp of the other at
his throat, and saw the grim smile the savage gave, under the revengeful hope
that he hurried his enemy to a fate similar to his own, as he felt his body slowly
yielding to a resistless power, and the young man experienced the passing
agony of such a moment in all its horrors. At that instant of extreme danger, a
dark hand and glancing knife appeared before him; the Indian released his hold,
as the blood flowed freely from around the severed tendons of the wrist; and
while Duncan was drawn backward by the saving hand of Uncas, his charmed
eyes still were riveted on the fierce and disappointed countenance of his foe, who
fell sullenly and disappointed down the irrecoverable precipice.%
"To cover! to cover!" cried Hawkeye, who just then had despatched the
enemy; "to cover, for your lives! the work is but half ended!"
The young Mohican gave a shout of triumph, and followed by Duncan, he
glided up the acclivity they had descended to the combat, and sought the
friendly shelter of the rocks and shrubs.
Thesaurus
acclivity: (n) rise, raise, incline, subjugation. snapped: (adj) torn.
upgrade, climb, elevation, gradient, irrecoverable: (adj) incurable, sullenly: (adv) sulkily, sourly,
hill, inclination; (v) KHUDD, rising irreparable, remediless, irreclaimable, grumpily, morosely, moodily,
ground. irremediable, unrecoverable, dourly, somberly, peevishly, surly,
charmed: (adj) enchanted, delighted, forgotten, desperate, lost, irrevocable, crossly, petulantly. ANTONYMS:
fascinated, spellbound, entranced, irreversible. (adv) graciously, contentedly, gladly,
captive, beguiled, infatuated, resistless: (adj) overpowering, cheerily.
absorbed, enamored, captive hours. overwhelming, unquenchable, toughened: (adj) unbreakable, tough,
conquering: (adj) triumphant, unconquerable, supine, invincible, tempered, resistant, burnt, callous,
winning, overcoming, glorious, inextinguishable, indomitable, calloused, emotionally hardened,
proud, successful; (n) conquest, inactive, impregnable; (v) avoidless. enured, hard, hardy. ANTONYMS:
seizure, reverse, subjection, ANTONYM: (adj) resistible. (adj) tender, untempered.
CHAPTER 8
"They linger yet,

Avengers of their native land."
Gray
The warning call of the scout was not uttered without occasion. During the
occurrence of the deadly encounter just related, the roar of the falls was
unbroken by any human sound whatever. It would seem that interest in the
result had kept the natives on the opposite shores in breathless suspense, while
the quick evolutions and swift changes in the positions of the combatants
effectually prevented a fire that might prove dangerous alike to friend and
enemy. But the moment the struggle was decided, a yell arose as fierce and
savage as wild and revengeful passions could throw into the air. It was followed
by the swift flashes of the rifles, which sent their leaden messengers across the
rock in volleys, as though the assailants would pour out their impotent fury on
the insensible scene of the fatal contest.%
A steady, though deliberate return was made from the rifle of Chingachgook,
who had maintained his post throughout the fray with unmoved resolution.
When the triumphant shout of Uncas was borne to his ears, the gratified father
raised his voice in a single responsive cry, after which his busy piece alone
proved that he still guarded his pass with unwearied diligence. In this manner
Thesaurus
gratified: (adj) glad, satisfied, pleased, linger: (v) loiter, delay, dally, hover, unwearied: (adj) indefatigable,
delighted, happy, thankful, grateful, stay, hesitate, hang around, untiring, tireless, untired,
content, complacent, comfortable, procrastinate, dawdle, tarry, saunter. indomitable, unflagging, industrious,
cheerful. ANTONYMS: (v) hurry, end, rush, tolerant, persistent, persevering,
impotent: (adj) helpless, feeble, frail, depart, lead. laborious. ANTONYM: (adj)
fragile, inadequate, weak, barren, rifles: (n) chasseur, light infantry. impatient.
slack, ineffective, incapable, unable. suspense: (n) doubt, expectancy, uttered: (adj) expressed, express,
ANTONYMS: (adj) able, powerful. anticipation, indecision, insecurity, verbalised, verbalized, vocal, explicit,
leaden: (adj) heavy, gray, sluggish, unrest, expectation, irresolution, oral; (v) spoke, quoth, said.
grey, inert, torpid, grave, languid, suspension, tension; (adj, n) yell: (n, v) cry, roar, scream, howl, call,
drab, burdensome, livid. hesitation. ANTONYM: (n) bellow, whoop, shriek, outcry; (v)
ANTONYM: (adj) bright. knowledge. bawl, holler.
many minutes flew by with the swiftness of thought; the rifles of the assailants
speaking, at times, in rattling volleys, and at others in occasional, scattering
shots. Though the rock, the trees, and the shrubs, were cut and torn in a hundred
places around the besieged, their cover was so close, and so rigidly maintained,
that, as yet, David had been the only sufferer in their little band.%
"Let them burn their powder," said the deliberate scout, while bullet after
bullet whizzed by the place where he securely lay; "there will be a fine gathering
of lead when it is over, and I fancy the imps will tire of the sport afore these old
stones cry out for mercy! Uncas, boy, you waste the kernels by overcharging;
and a kicking rifle never carries a true bullet. I told you to take that loping
miscreant under the line of white point; now, if your bullet went a hair's breadth
it went two inches above it. The life lies low in a Mingo, and humanity teaches us
to make a quick end to the sarpents."
A quiet smile lighted the haughty features of the young Mohican, betraying
his knowledge of the English language as well as of the other's meaning; but he
suffered it to pass away without vindication of reply.
"I cannot permit you to accuse Uncas of want of judgment or of skill," said
Duncan; "he saved my life in the coolest and readiest manner, and he has made a
friend who never will require to be reminded of the debt he owes."
Uncas partly raised his body, and offered his hand to the grasp of Heyward.
During this act of friendship, the two young men exchanged looks of intelligence
which caused Duncan to forget the character and condition of his wild associate.
In the meanwhile, Hawkeye, who looked on this burst of youthful feeling with a
cool but kind regard made the following reply:
"Life is an obligation which friends often owe each other in the wilderness. I
dare say I may have served Uncas some such turn myself before now; and I very
well remember that he has stood between me and death five different times;
three times from the Mingoes, once in crossing Horican, and --"
"That bullet was better aimed than common!" exclaimed Duncan,
involuntarily shrinking from a shot which struck the rock at his side with a
smart rebound.
Thesaurus
haughty: (adj) supercilious, arrogant, voluntarily, consciously, willingly, bashful; (adj, adv) cowardly.
assuming, contemptuous, proud, purposely. ANTONYM: (adj) confident.
lordly, cavalier, vain, contumelious, rattling: (adj) lively, brisk, racy, stones: (n) shingle, grit.
grand; (n) boastful. ANTONYMS: marvelous, fantastic, zippy, snappy, tire: (n, v) bore, jade; (adj, n, v) fatigue;
(adj) modest, meek, subservient, spanking, merry; (adv) very, real. (v) exhaust, harass, fag, weary, wear,
unassuming, considerate, deferential. rebound: (n, v) recoil, bound, kick, pall, prostrate; (n) tyre. ANTONYMS:
involuntarily: (adv) unconsciously, return, jump; (v) glance, ricochet, (v) interest, invigorate, energize.
unintentionally, inadvertently, rally, boomerang; (n) backlash, vindication: (n) defense, apology,
automatically, forcedly, repercussion. excuse, defence, plea, alibi, acquittal,
mechanically, unthinkingly, shrinking: (n) contraction, recoil, assertion, reason, exoneration,
reluctantly, accidentally, automaticly, reduction, decrease, condensation; (n, protection. ANTONYM: (n)
unwillingly. ANTONYMS: (adv) v) lessening; (adj) timid, fearful, shy, accusation.
Hawkeye laid his hand on the shapeless metal, and shook his head, as he
examined it, saying, "Falling lead is never flattened, had it come from the clouds
this might have happened."
But the rifle of Uncas was deliberately raised toward the heavens, directing
the eyes of his companions to a point, where the mystery was immediately
explained. A ragged oak grew on the right bank of the river, nearly opposite to
their position, which, seeking the freedom of the open space, had inclined so far
forward that its upper branches overhung that arm of the stream which flowed
nearest to its own shore. Among the topmost leaves, which scantily concealed
the gnarled and stunted limbs, a savage was nestled, partly concealed by the
trunk of the tree, and partly exposed, as though looking down upon them to
ascertain the effect produced by his treacherous aim.%
"These devils will scale heaven to circumvent us to our ruin," said Hawkeye;
"keep him in play, boy, until I can bring 'killdeer' to bear, when we will try his
metal on each side of the tree at once."
Uncas delayed his fire until the scout uttered the word.
The rifles flashed, the leaves and bark of the oak flew into the air, and were
scattered by the wind, but the Indian answered their assault by a taunting laugh,
sending down upon them another bullet in return, that struck the cap of
Hawkeye from his head. Once more the savage yells burst out of the woods, and
the leaden hail whistled above the heads of the besieged, as if to confine them to
a place where they might become easy victims to the enterprise of the warrior
who had mounted the tree.
"This must be looked to," said the scout, glancing about him with an anxious
eye. "Uncas, call up your father; we have need of all our we'pons to bring the
cunning varmint from his roost."
The signal was instantly given; and, before Hawkeye had reloaded his rifle,
they were joined by Chingachgook. When his son pointed out to the experienced
warrior the situation of their dangerous enemy, the usual exclamatory "hugh"
burst from his lips; after which, no further expression of surprise or alarm was
suffered to escape him. Hawkeye and the Mohicans conversed earnestly together
Thesaurus
besieged: (adj) enclosed, under roughhewn, wrinkled, unsmooth, nebulous, inchoate, unshapely,
pressure, under attack, targeted, unpolished. ANTONYMS: (adj) indistinct, uncrystallized, embryonic,
struggling, stressed, under fire, smooth, unknotted, straight. vague. ANTONYMS: (adj) distinct,
fraught, embattled, careworn, nestled: (adj) closer, close. defined, tailored.
harassed. scantily: (adv) sparingly, scarcely, taunting: (n) twit, taunt, ridicule,
companions: (n) circle, entourage, poorly, sparsely, insufficiently, scorn, witty; (adj) mocking, gibelike,
people. skimpily, meagerly, scantly, sarcastic, jeering, unkind; (adj, n)
exclamatory: (adj) emphatic, slenderly, sparely; (adj, adv) thinly. satirical.
exclamative, forceful, emphasised, ANTONYMS: (adv) plentifully, topmost: (adj) highest, upmost, upper,
emphasized. profusely, fully. maximum, uppermost, head,
gnarled: (adj) knotty, knotted, gnarly, shapeless: (adj) amorphous, supreme, utmost, crowning, apical,
asperous, crisp, deformed, crabbed, misshapen, unformed, unstructured, uttermost. ANTONYM: (adj) bottom.
in Delaware for a few moments, when each quietly took his post, in order to
execute the plan they had speedily devised.%
The warrior in the oak had maintained a quick, though ineffectual fire, from
the moment of his discovery. But his aim was interrupted by the vigilance of his
enemies, whose rifles instantaneously bore on any part of his person that was
left exposed. Still his bullets fell in the center of the crouching party. The clothes
of Heyward, which rendered him peculiarly conspicuous, were repeatedly cut,
and once blood was drawn from a slight wound in his arm.
At length, emboldened by the long and patient watchfulness of his enemies,
the Huron attempted a better and more fatal aim. The quick eyes of the Mohicans
caught the dark line of his lower limbs incautiously exposed through the thin
foliage, a few inches from the trunk of the tree. Their rifles made a common
report, when, sinking on his wounded limb, part of the body of the savage came
into view. Swift as thought, Hawkeye seized the advantage, and discharged his
fatal weapon into the top of the oak. The leaves were unusually agitated; the
dangerous rifle fell from its commanding elevation, and after a few moments of
vain struggling, the form of the savage was seen swinging in the wind, while he
still grasped a ragged and naked branch of the tree with hands clenched in
desperation.
"Give him, in pity, give him the contents of another rifle," cried Duncan,
turning away his eyes in horror from the spectacle of a fellow creature in such
awful jeopardy.
"Not a karnel!" exclaimed the obdurate Hawkeye; "his death is certain, and
we have no powder to spare, for Indian fights sometimes last for days; "tis their
scalps or ours! and God, who made us, has put into our natures the craving to
keep the skin on the head."
Against this stern and unyielding morality, supported as it was by such
visible policy, there was no appeal. From that moment the yells in the forest once
more ceased, the fire was suffered to decline, and all eyes, those of friends as well
as enemies, became fixed on the hopeless condition of the wretch who was
dangling between heaven and earth. The body yielded to the currents of air, and
Thesaurus
clenched: (adj) tight, clinched. ANTONYMS: (adj) strong, effectual, compliant, amenable,
emboldened: (adj) bold. effective, useful, viable, competent, accommodating, easygoing, caring,
incautiously: (adv) imprudently, invulnerable, helpful, decisive. irresolute, soft, acquiescent.
recklessly, thoughtlessly, instantaneously: (adv) directly, unyielding: (adj) obdurate, stubborn,
indiscreetly, injudiciously, instantly, at once, forthwith, unbending, uncompromising,
heedlessly, unthinkingly, suddenly, promptly, abruptly, relentless, firm, obstinate, resolute,
unguardedly, unwarily, rashly, momentarily, outright, right away, in hard, inexorable, inflexible.
forgetfully. ANTONYMS: (adv) a flash. ANTONYM: (adv) eventually. ANTONYMS: (adj) flexible,
discreetly, carefully. obdurate: (adj) inflexible, stony, compliant, soft, surrendering,
ineffectual: (adj) ineffective, futile, obstinate, callous, firm, stubborn, yielding, bouncy, loose, limp,
useless, feeble, abortive, powerless, headstrong, flinty, mulish, unrelenting, gentle, fragile.
idle, weak, unable, void, vain. impenitent, rigid. ANTONYMS: (adj) yielded: (v) yold, yolden.
though no murmur or groan escaped the victim, there were instants when he
grimly faced his foes, and the anguish of cold despair might be traced, through
the intervening distance, in possession of his swarthy lineaments. Three several
times the scout raised his piece in mercy, and as often, prudence getting the
better of his intention, it was again silently lowered. At length one hand of the
Huron lost its hold, and dropped exhausted to his side. A desperate and fruitless
struggle to recover the branch succeeded, and then the savage was seen for a
fleeting instant, grasping wildly at the empty air. The lightning is not quicker
than was the flame from the rifle of Hawkeye; the limbs of the victim trembled
and contracted, the head fell to the bosom, and the body parted the foaming
waters like lead, when the element closed above it, in its ceaseless velocity, and
every vestige of the unhappy Huron was lost forever.%
No shout of triumph succeeded this important advantage, but even the
Mohicans gazed at each other in silent horror. A single yell burst from the
woods, and all was again still. Hawkeye, who alone appeared to reason on the
occasion, shook his head at his own momentary weakness, even uttering his self-
disapprobation aloud.
"'Twas the last charge in my horn and the last bullet in my pouch, and 'twas
the act of a boy!" he said; "what mattered it whether he struck the rock living or
dead! feeling would soon be over. Uncas, lad, go down to the canoe, and bring
up the big horn; it is all the powder we have left, and we shall need it to the last
grain, or I am ignorant of the Mingo nature."
The young Mohican complied, leaving the scout turning over the useless
contents of his pouch, and shaking the empty horn with renewed discontent.
From this unsatisfactory examination, however, he was soon called by a loud
and piercing exclamation from Uncas, that sounded, even to the unpracticed ears
of Duncan, as the signal of some new and unexpected calamity. Every thought
filled with apprehension for the previous treasure he had concealed in the
cavern, the young man started to his feet, totally regardless of the hazard he
incurred by such an exposure. As if actuated by a common impulse, his
movement was imitated by his companions, and, together they rushed down the
Thesaurus
actuated: (adj) motivated, actuate. temporary, sporadic, completed, sparkling, spumy; (adj, n) frothing;
calamity: (n) disaster, adversity, restricted, limited, fleeting, finished, (n) surging, effervescence, scum.
affliction, misfortune, plague, concluded, ending, inconstant. imitated: (adj) mimical.
catastrophe, tragedy, blow, bale, fleeting: (adj) brief, momentary, traced: (adj) graphic.
distress; (n, v) trouble. ANTONYMS: ephemeral, passing, transient, short, unpracticed: (adj) inexperienced, raw,
(n) blessing, boon, luck, joy, fugitive, evanescent, transitory, fresh, unpractised, green, young,
opportunity. temporal, short-lived. ANTONYMS: unskilled, not distilled, not covered,
ceaseless: (adj) eternal, uninterrupted, (adj) permanent, lasting, enduring, not breathed, newly admitted.
constant, perpetual, everlasting, unforgettable, thorough, lengthy, vestige: (n, v) trace, remains, track,
endless, continuous, unremitting, long, slow. token, footprint; (n) relic, shadow,
continual, unending, nonstop. foaming: (adj) foamy, effervescent, remnant, indication, evidence,
ANTONYMS: (adj) intermittent, effervescing, bubbly, bubbling, remainder.
pass to the friendly chasm, with a rapidity that rendered the scattering fire of
their enemies perfectly harmless. The unwonted cry had brought the sisters,
together with the wounded David, from their place of refuge; and the whole
party, at a single glance, was made acquainted with the nature of the disaster
that had disturbed even the practiced stoicism of their youthful Indian
protector.%
At a short distance from the rock, their little bark was to be seen floating
across the eddy, toward the swift current of the river, in a manner which proved
that its course was directed by some hidden agent. The instant this unwelcome
sight caught the eye of the scout, his rifle was leveled as by instinct, but the
barrel gave no answer to the bright sparks of the flint.
"'Tis too late, 'tis too late!" Hawkeye exclaimed, dropping the useless piece in
bitter disappointment; "the miscreant has struck the rapid; and had we powder,
it could hardly send the lead swifter than he now goes!"
The adventurous Huron raised his head above the shelter of the canoe, and,
while it glided swiftly down the stream, he waved his hand, and gave forth the
shout, which was the known signal of success. His cry was answered by a yell
and a laugh from the woods, as tauntingly exulting as if fifty demons were
uttering their blasphemies at the fall of some Christian soul.
"Well may you laugh, ye children of the devil!" said the scout, seating himself
on a projection of the rock, and suffering his gun to fall neglected at his feet, "for
the three quickest and truest rifles in these woods are no better than so many
stalks of mullein, or the last year's horns of a buck!"
"What is to be done?" demanded Duncan, losing the first feeling of
disappointment in a more manly desire for exertion; "what will become of us?"
Hawkeye made no other reply than by passing his finger around the crown
of his head, in a manner so significant, that none who witnessed the action could
mistake its meaning.
Thesaurus
eddy: (n, v) purl, twirl, spin, gurge; (v) leveled: (adj) level. rapidity: (n) expedition, quickness,
whirlpool, swirl, turn; (n) vortex, manly: (adj) manlike, masculine, promptness, dispatch, celerity, haste,
maelstrom, twist, whir. manful, virile, brave, gallant; (adv) velocity, pace, fleetness,
exertion: (n) application, exercise, manfully, boldly, hardily, virilely; promptitude, speed. ANTONYM: (n)
endeavor, attempt, struggle, trouble, (adj, adv) stately. ANTONYMS: (adj) tardiness.
diligence, strain, labor, pull, essay. weak, unmanly, cowardly; (adv) tauntingly: (adv) jeeringly, mockingly,
ANTONYMS: (n) idleness, inactivity, unmanfully. sarcastically, satirically.
inertia, relaxation, laziness, ease. mullein: (n) great mullein, herb, unwonted: (adj) unaccustomed, rare,
exulting: (adj) jubilant, flushed, flannel mullein, herbaceous plant, unusual, unused, infrequent,
triumphant, experiencing triumph, moth mullein, torch, common uncustomary, singular,
rejoicing, prideful, elated, disdainful, mullein, velvet plant, mullen. extraordinary, scarce, unaccountable,
triumphal; (v) exult; (n) joy. quickest: (adv) most quickly. remarkable.
"Surely, surely, our case is not so desperate!" exclaimed the youth; "the
Hurons are not here; we may make good the caverns, we may oppose their
landing."
"With what?" coolly demanded the scout. "The arrows of Uncas, or such tears
as women shed! No, no; you are young, and rich, and have friends, and at such
an age I know it is hard to die! But," glancing his eyes at the Mohicans, "let us
remember we are men without a cross, and let us teach these natives of the forest
that white blood can run as freely as red, when the appointed hour is come."
Duncan turned quickly in the direction indicated by the other's eyes, and
read a confirmation of his worst apprehensions in the conduct of the Indians.
Chingachgook, placing himself in a dignified posture on another fragment of the
rock, had already laid aside his knife and tomahawk, and was in the act of taking
the eagle's plume from his head, and smoothing the solitary tuft of hair in
readiness to perform its last and revolting office. His countenance was
composed, though thoughtful, while his dark, gleaming eyes were gradually
losing the fierceness of the combat in an expression better suited to the change he
expected momentarily to undergo.%
"Our case is not, cannot be so hopeless!" said Duncan; "even at this very
moment succor may be at hand. I see no enemies! They have sickened of a
struggle in which they risk so much with so little prospect of gain!"
"It may be a minute, or it may be an hour, afore the wily sarpents steal upon
us, and it is quite in natur' for them to be lying within hearing at this very
moment," said Hawkeye; "but come they will, and in such a fashion as will leave
us nothing to hope! Chingachgook"--he spoke in Delaware--"my brother, we
have fought our last battle together, and the Maquas will triumph in the death of
the sage man of the Mohicans, and of the pale face, whose eyes can make night
as day, and level the clouds to the mists of the springs!"
"Let the Mingo women go weep over the slain!" returned the Indian, with
characteristic pride and unmoved firmness; "the Great Snake of the Mohicans has
coiled himself in their wigwams, and has poisoned their triumph with the
wailings of children, whose fathers have not returned! Eleven warriors lie hid
Thesaurus
coiled: (adj) curled, curved, twined, ANTONYMS: (adj) attractive, bland, not rough, moving equably,
coiling, twisted, convoluted, rolled, pleasant, tasty, delicious, edible, mild.
wavy, bent, round; (adj, v) spiral. lovable, delightful, appealing, lovely. succor: (n, v) relief, support, comfort,
ANTONYM: (adj) uncoiled. sage: (adj) sagacious, discerning, aid, assistance, succour, ease; (v)
indicated: (adj) numbered. intelligent, prudent, judicious, assist, relieve; (n) ministration,
plume: (n) feather, plumage, quill, learned, profound, knowing; (adj, v) consolation. ANTONYM: (n) distress.
panache, aigrette, crest, feathering; grave; (n) philosopher, scholar. wily: (adj) cunning, crafty, foxy, artful,
(v) pride, pluck, dress, preen. sickened: (adj) aghast, horrified, tricky, deceitful, designing, astute,
revolting: (adj) offensive, loathsome, appalled, shocked. guileful; (adj, v) shrewd, subtle.
nasty, foul, detestable, nauseating, smoothing: (n) fine cutting, ANTONYMS: (adj) straightforward,
nauseous, horrible, hideous, smoothness, sleeking; (adj) sleek, open, guileless, honest, ingenuous,
repellent; (adj, v) sickening. even, not harsh, smooth porcelain, straight.
from the graves of their tribes since the snows have melted, and none will tell
where to find them when the tongue of Chingachgook shall be silent! Let them
draw the sharpest knife, and whirl the swiftest tomahawk, for their bitterest
enemy is in their hands. Uncas, topmost branch of a noble trunk, call on the
cowards to hasten, or their hearts will soften, and they will change to women!"%
"They look among the fishes for their dead!" returned the low, soft voice of
the youthful chieftain; "the Hurons float with the slimy eels! They drop from
the oaks like fruit that is ready to be eaten! and the Delawares laugh!"
"Ay, ay," muttered the scout, who had listened to this peculiar burst of the
natives with deep attention; "they have warmed their Indian feelings, and they'll
soon provoke the Maquas to give them a speedy end. As for me, who am of the
whole blood of the whites, it is befitting that I should die as becomes my color,
with no words of scoffing in my mouth, and without bitterness at the heart!"
"Why die at all!" said Cora, advancing from the place where natural horror
had, until this moment, held her riveted to the rock; "the path is open on every
side; fly, then, to the woods, and call on God for succor. Go, brave men, we owe
you too much already; let us no longer involve you in our hapless fortunes!"
"You but little know the craft of the Iroquois, lady, if you judge they have left
the path open to the woods!" returned Hawkeye, who, however, immediately
added in his simplicity, "the down stream current, it is certain, might soon sweep
us beyond the reach of their rifles or the sound of their voices."
"Then try the river. Why linger to add to the number of the victims of our
merciless enemies?"
"Why," repeated the scout, looking about him proudly; "because it is better
for a man to die at peace with himself than to live haunted by an evil conscience!
What answer could we give Munro, when he asked us where and how we left his
children?"
"Go to him, and say that you left them with a message to hasten to their aid,"
returned Cora, advancing nigher to the scout in her generous ardor; "that the
Hurons bear them into the northern wilds, but that by vigilance and speed they
Thesaurus
chieftain: (n) captain, leader, tribal rush; (n, v) further, forward, Fagaceae, Fagus, Fagaceae, chestnuts.
chief, pendragon, master, headman, dispatch. ANTONYMS: (v) linger, scoffing: (n) scoff, mockery, jeer,
boss, head, head boss, guide, cacique. retard, amble. derision, sibilation, gibe; (adj)
fishes: (n) amphibians, Craniata, merciless: (adj) brutal, pitiless, mocking, derisive, cynical, scoptical,
Subphylum Vertebrata, Vertebrata, unmerciful, remorseless, heartless, jesting.
birds. implacable, inhuman, hard, grim, slimy: (adj) greasy, slippery, muddy,
hapless: (adj) unlucky, poor, wretched, barbarous, unfeeling. ANTONYMS: sludgy, squalid, oily, oozy, ropy,
luckless, miserable, sad, unhappy, ill- (adj) charitable, kind, humane, soft, viscous, slimed, sordid. ANTONYM:
fated, inauspicious, jinxed, untoward. caring, tolerant. (adj) reputable.
ANTONYM: (adj) fortunate. oaks: (n) beech family, Castanopsis, warmed: (adj) warmer, warm, baked.
hasten: (adj, n, v) speed, quicken; (v) Nothofagus, Lithocarpus, genus whites: (n) thirds.
expedite, advance, hurry, hie, dash, Quercus, Genera Castanea, family wilds: (n) wasteland, waste, desert.
may yet be rescued; and if, after all, it should please heaven that his assistance
come too late, bear to him," she continued, her voice gradually lowering, until it
seemed nearly choked, "the love, the blessings, the final prayers of his
daughters, and bid him not mourn their early fate, but to look forward with
humble confidence to the Christian's goal to meet his children." The hard,
weather- beaten features of the scout began to work, and when she had ended,
he dropped his chin to his hand, like a man musing profoundly on the nature of
the proposal.%
"There is reason in her words!" at length broke from his compressed and
trembling lips; "ay, and they bear the spirit of Christianity; what might be right
and proper in a red- skin, may be sinful in a man who has not even a cross in
blood to plead for his ignorance. Chingachgook! Uncas! hear you the talk of the
dark-eyed woman?"
He now spoke in Delaware to his companions, and his address, though calm
and deliberate, seemed very decided. The elder Mohican heard with deep
gravity, and appeared to ponder on his words, as though he felt the importance
of their import. After a moment of hesitation, he waved his hand in assent, and
uttered the English word "Good!" with the peculiar emphasis of his people. Then,
replacing his knife and tomahawk in his girdle, the warrior moved silently to the
edge of the rock which was most concealed from the banks of the river. Here he
paused a moment, pointed significantly to the woods below, and saying a few
words in his own language, as if indicating his intended route, he dropped into
the water, and sank from before the eyes of the witnesses of his movements.
The scout delayed his departure to speak to the generous girl, whose
breathing became lighter as she saw the success of her remonstrance.
"Wisdom is sometimes given to the young, as well as to the old," he said;
"and what you have spoken is wise, not to call it by a better word. If you are led
into the woods, that is such of you as may be spared for awhile, break the twigs
on the bushes as you pass, and make the marks of your trail as broad as you can,
when, if mortal eyes can see them, depend on having a friend who will follow to
the ends of the 'arth afore he desarts you."
Thesaurus
blessings: (n) blessing, godsend. mourn: (v) bewail, grieve, deplore, cry, decide, wander, ignore.
choked: (adj) clogged, smothered, bemoan, regret, distress, sad, wail, remonstrance: (n) protest,
congested, annoyed, high-strung, mourning, weep. ANTONYMS: (v) expostulation, objection, dissuasion,
strained, neurotic, tense, angry, rejoice, celebrate, applaud. censure, remonstration,
anxious, insecure. plead: (v) entreat, implore, beg, adjure, reprehension, admonition,
compressed: (adj) flat, condensed, petition, ask, appeal, defend, invoke, monstrance, mediation, dehortation.
dense, concentrated, compacted, sue; (n, v) allege. ANTONYMS: (v) sinful: (adj) wicked, impious, bad,
tight, pointed, packed, concise, close, answer, demand. iniquitous, ungodly, depraved,
brief. ponder: (v) meditate, consider, immoral, profane, criminal, wrong,
girdle: (v) encircle, circle, compass, cogitate, deliberate, think, reflect, unholy. ANTONYMS: (adj) pious,
gird, enclose, encompass; (n, v) zone, conceive, mull, mull over; (n, v) virtuous, moral, right, pure.
ring; (n) cincture, cummerbund, sash. muse, study. ANTONYMS: (v) twigs: (n) sprays.
He gave Cora an affectionate shake of the hand, lifted his rifle, and after
regarding it a moment with melancholy solicitude, laid it carefully aside, and
descended to the place where Chingachgook had just disappeared. For an instant
he hung suspended by the rock, and looking about him, with a countenance of
peculiar care, he added bitterly, "Had the powder held out, this disgrace could
never have befallen!" then, loosening his hold, the water closed above his head,
and he also became lost to view.%
All eyes now were turned on Uncas, who stood leaning against the ragged
rock, in immovable composure. After waiting a short time, Cora pointed down
the river, and said:
"Your friends have not been seen, and are now, most probably, in safety. Is it
not time for you to follow?"
"Uncas will stay," the young Mohican calmly answered in English.
"To increase the horror of our capture, and to diminish the chances of our
release! Go, generous young man," Cora continued, lowering her eyes under the
gaze of the Mohican, and perhaps, with an intuitive consciousness of her power;
"go to my father, as I have said, and be the most confidential of my messengers.
Tell him to trust you with the means to buy the freedom of his daughters. Go! 'tis
my wish, 'tis my prayer, that you will go!"
The settled, calm look of the young chief changed to an expression of gloom,
but he no longer hesitated. With a noiseless step he crossed the rock, and
dropped into the troubled stream. Hardly a breath was drawn by those he left
behind, until they caught a glimpse of his head emerging for air, far down the
current, when he again sank, and was seen no more.
These sudden and apparently successful experiments had all taken place in a
few minutes of that time which had now become so precious. After a last look at
Uncas, Cora turne,d and with a quivering lip, addressed herself to Heyward:
"I have heard of your boasted skill in the water, too, Duncan," she said;
"follow, then, the wise example set you by these simple and faithful beings."
Thesaurus
composure: (n) calmness, serenity, reject, oppose, discourage, optimism; (adj) happy, bright, cheery,
poise, calm, equanimity, temper, disapprove, prohibit. satisfied.
aplomb, tranquillity, peace, loosening: (n) relaxation, unfastening, quivering: (adj, n) trembling, tremor,
temperament, disposition. ease, undoing, liberalization, quaking, trepidation; (n) palpitation,
ANTONYMS: (n) panic, adjustment, alteration, liberalisation, quiver, vibration; (adj) flutter,
discomposure, anger, nervousness, easiness; (adj) solutive, laxative. quavering, shivering, tremulous.
perturbation, anxiety, agitation, melancholy: (adj, v) dreary; (adj, n) ANTONYM: (adj) steady.
turbulence, awkwardness. gloom, melancholic; (adj) depressed, solicitude: (n) care, consideration,
countenance: (n) aspect, expression, dejected, dismal, gloomy, doleful; (n, anxiety, thought, apprehension,
brow, complexion; (n, v) face, v) low spirits; (n) gloominess, regard, attention, fear, disquietude,
sanction, support, favor; (v) allow, depression. ANTONYMS: (n) heed, fret. ANTONYMS: (n)
tolerate, uphold. ANTONYMS: (v) happiness, cheerfulness, hopefulness, negligence, serenity, thoughtlessness.
"Is such the faith that Cora Munro would exact from her protector?" said the
young man, smiling mournfully, but with bitterness.%
"This is not a time for idle subtleties and false opinions," she answered; "but a
moment when every duty should be equally considered. To us you can be of no
further service here, but your precious life may be saved for other and nearer
friends."
He made no reply, though his eye fell wistfully on the beautiful form of
Alice, who was clinging to his arm with the dependency of an infant.
"Consider," continued Cora, after a pause, during which she seemed to
struggle with a pang even more acute than any that her fears had excited, "that
the worst to us can be but death; a tribute that all must pay at the good time of
God's appointment."
"There are evils worse than death," said Duncan, speaking hoarsely, and as if
fretful at her importunity, "but which the presence of one who would die in
your behalf may avert."
Cora ceased her entreaties; and veiling her face in her shawl, drew the nearly
insensible Alice after her into the deepest recess of the inner cavern.
Thesaurus
fretful: (adj, v) querulous; (adj) restless, obsecration, interpellation, instance, holiday, nook, vacation, hollow,
anxious, testy, sullen, irritable, obtestation, invocation. alcove, interval, interruption; (n, v)
impatient, uneasy, petulant, fidgety, mournfully: (adv) sadly, sorrowfully, break. ANTONYM: (n) continuation.
crabbed. ANTONYM: (adj) carefree. glumly, woefully, unhappily, veiling: (n) gauze, cheesecloth,
hoarsely: (adv) roughly, huskily, plaintively, grievously, funereally, gossamer, netting, mesh, gauze
raucously, gruffly, throatily, dejectedly, dolorously, poignantly. bandage, net.
gratingly, stridently, gutturally, ANTONYMS: (adv) cheerfully, wistfully: (adv) pensively,
thickly, croakily, raggedly. joyfully. meditatively, desirously, longingly,
ANTONYM: (adv) smoothly. pang: (n) pain, torture, ache, agony, yearningly, broodingly, reflectively,
importunity: (n, v) entreaty, twinge, affliction, sting, stab, distress, wishfully, melancholy, thoughtfully,
supplication; (n) urgency, appeal, ailment, cramp. nostalgically. ANTONYM: (adv)
earnestness; (v) solicitation, recess: (n) niche, pause, intermission, contentedly.
CHAPTER 9
"Be gay securely;

Dispel, my fair, with smiles, the tim'rous clouds,
That hang on thy clear brow."
Death of Agrippina
The sudden and almost magical change, from the stirring incidents of the
combat to the stillness that now reigned around him, acted on the heated
imagination of Heyward like some exciting dream. While all the images and
events he had witnessed remained deeply impressed on his memory, he felt a
difficulty in persuading him of their truth. Still ignorant of the fate of those who
had trusted to the aid of the swift current, he at first listened intently to any
signal or sounds of alarm, which might announce the good or evil fortune of
their hazardous undertaking. His attention was, however, bestowed in vain; for
with the disappearance of Uncas, every sign of the adventurers had been lost,
leaving him in total uncertainty of their fate.%
In a moment of such painful doubt, Duncan did not hesitate to look around
him, without consulting that protection from the rocks which just before had
been so necessary to his safety. Every effort, however, to detect the least evidence
of the approach of their hidden enemies was as fruitless as the inquiry after his
Thesaurus
clouds: (n) exhaust, fumes, gas, smoke, steadfastly. ANTONYM: (adv) brisk. ANTONYMS: (adj) depressing,
vapors. absently. boring, inactive, dull, conciliatory,
consulting: (adj) consultative; (n) stillness: (n) hush, calmness, asleep, uninspiring, unimpressive; (n)
consultation; (v) consult. immobility, serenity, silence, suppression.
hesitate: (adj, n, v) pause, delay; (adj, v) quietness, peacefulness; (adj, n) calm, vain: (adj) proud, arrogant, conceited,
linger; (v) fluctuate, halt, waver, quiet, peace, still. ANTONYMS: (n) fruitless, idle, empty, abortive,
vacillate, demur, boggle, bustle, movement, uproar, motion, ineffectual, unproductive,
procrastinate; (n, v) doubt. turbulence, turmoil, vigor, narcissistic; (adj, v) useless.
ANTONYMS: (v) rush, decide. disturbance, chaos, agitation. ANTONYMS: (adj) shy, successful,
intently: (adv) fixedly, attentively, stirring: (adj) lively, exciting, alive, possible, persuasive, selfless, fruitful,
seriously, raptly, intensely, closely, rousing, spirited, touching, thrilling, humble, useful, responsible,
steadily, eagerly, absorbedly, hard, active; (n) agitation; (v) eventful, worthwhile, effective.
late companions. The wooded banks of the river seemed again deserted by
everything possessing animal life. The uproar which had so lately echoed
through the vaults of the forest was gone, leaving the rush of the waters to swell
and sink on the currents of the air, in the unmingled sweetness of nature. A fish-
hawk, which, secure on the topmost branches of a dead pine, had been a distant
spectator of the fray, now swooped from his high and ragged perch, and soared,
in wide sweeps, above his prey; while a jay, whose noisy voice had been stilled
by the hoarser cries of the savages, ventured again to open his discordant throat,
as though once more in undisturbed possession of his wild domains. Duncan
caught from these natural accompaniments of the solitary scene a glimmering of
hope; and he began to rally his faculties to renewed exertions, with something
like a reviving confidence of success.%
"The Hurons are not to be seen," he said, addressing David, who had by no
means recovered from the effects of the stunning blow he had received; "let us
conceal ourselves in the cavern, and trust the rest to Providence."
"I remember to have united with two comely maidens, in lifting up our voices
in praise and thanksgiving," returned the bewildered singing-master; "since
which time I have been visited by a heavy judgment for my sins. I have been
mocked with the likeness of sleep, while sounds of discord have rent my ears,
such as might manifest the fullness of time, and that nature had forgotten her
harmony."
"Poor fellow! thine own period was, in truth, near its accomplishment! But
arouse, and come with me; I will lead you where all other sounds but those of
your own psalmody shall be excluded."
"There is melody in the fall of the cataract, and the rushing of many waters is
sweet to the senses!" said David, pressing his hand confusedly on his brow. "Is
not the air yet filled with shrieks and cries, as though the departed spirits of the
damned--"
"Not now, not now," interrupted the impatient Heyward, "they have ceased,
and they who raised them, I trust in God, they are gone, too! everything but the
Thesaurus
accompaniments: (n) equipment, puzzledly. radiance; (adj) glittering, glimmery,
trimmings, fixing. discordant: (adj) conflicting, dissonant, crepusculous, sciolism.
accomplishment: (n) attainment, jarring, raucous, incompatible, sweeps: (n) sweep period.
completion, exploit, performance, discrepant, inconsistent, unmingled: (adj) unmixed, plain,
deed, skill, fulfillment, feat, action, disharmonious, harsh, hoarse, uncompounded, sheer, simple,
act, acquisition. ANTONYMS: (n) incongruous. ANTONYMS: (adj) uncombined, concentrated, homely,
abandonment, washout, flop, musical, melodic, compatible, artless, bluff, patent.
debacle, defeat. pleasant, cooperating, accordant, uproar: (adj, n, v) hubbub, disturbance,
confusedly: (adv) obscurely, agreeable, agreeing, soft. tumult; (n) din, noise, turmoil,
disorderedly, perplexedly, cloudily, faculties: (n) mother wit. commotion, disorder, confusion; (adj,
dazedly, befuddledly, muddily, glimmering: (n) inkling, ghost, n) row; (n, v) brawl. ANTONYMS: (n)
bemusedly, dizzily, bewilderedly, luminosity, light, hint, apparition, calm, peace, serenity, order.
water is still and at peace; in, then, where you may create those sounds you love
so well to hear."
David smiled sadly, though not without a momentary gleam of pleasure, at
this allusion to his beloved vocation. He no longer hesitated to be led to a spot
which promised such unalloyed gratification to his wearied senses; and leaning
on the arm of his companion, he entered the narrow mouth of the cave. Duncan
seized a pile of the sassafras, which he drew before the passage, studiously
concealing every appearance of an aperture. Within this fragile barrier he
arranged the blankets abandoned by the foresters, darkening the inner extremity
of the cavern, while its outer received a chastened light from the narrow ravine,
through which one arm of the river rushed to form the junction with its sister
branch a few rods below.%
"I like not the principle of the natives, which teaches them to submit without
a struggle, in emergencies that appear desperate," he said, while busied in this
employment; "our own maxim, which says, 'while life remains there is hope', is
more consoling, and better suited to a soldier's temperament. To you, Cora, I will
urge no words of idle encouragement; your own fortitude and undisturbed
reason will teach you all that may become your sex; but cannot we dry the tears
of that trembling weeper on your bosom?"
"I am calmer, Duncan," said Alice, raising herself from the arms of her sister,
and forcing an appearance of composure through her tears; "much calmer, now.
Surely, in this hidden spot we are safe, we are secret, free from injury; we will
hope everything from those generous men who have risked so much already in
our behalf."
"Now does our gentle Alice speak like a daughter of Munro!" said Heyward,
pausing to press her hand as he passed toward the outer entrance of the cavern.
"With two such examples of courage before him, a man would be ashamed to
prove other than a hero." He then seated himself in the center of the cavern,
grasping his remaining pistol with a hand convulsively clenched, while his
contracted and frowning eye announced the sullen desperation of his purpose.
"The Hurons, if they come, may not gain our position so easily as they think," he
Thesaurus
allusion: (n) innuendo, reference, cue, cowardice, frailty, impatience. purposely, wittingly.
suggestion, mention, intimation, gratification: (adj, n) delight; (n, v) unalloyed: (adj) pure, unadulterated,
pointer, insinuation, implication, content; (n) enjoyment, pleasure, genuine, unsophisticated, solid,
indication, clue. satisfaction, fruition, complacency, unfortified, untinged, sheer, true; (v)
calmer: (n) placid, quiet. joy, luxury, treat, fulfillment. painless, without alloy.
convulsively: (adv) spasmodically, ANTONYMS: (n) dissatisfaction, wearied: (adj) jaded, tired, spent,
paroxysmally, spasticly, with disenchantment, dismay, discontent, fatigued, weary, prostrate, limp,
convulsions. anxiety. haggard, shattered, worn, fatigate.
fortitude: (n) bravery, endurance, grit, studiously: (adv) industriously, weeper: (n) griever, weep hole,
pluck, backbone, determination, assiduously, busily, earnestly, unfortunate person, town crier,
tenacity, firmness, strength; (adj, n) carefully, eagerly, bookishly; (adj, mourner, lamenter, bawler; (adj)
guts, spunk. ANTONYMS: (n) adv) designedly; (adj) knowingly, depressed.
slowly muttered; and propping his head back against the rock, he seemed to
await the result in patience, though his gaze was unceasingly bent on the open
avenue to their place of retreat.%
With the last sound of his voice, a deep, a long, and almost breathless silence
succeeded. The fresh air of the morning had penetrated the recess, and its
influence was gradually felt on the spirits of its inmates. As minute after minute
passed by, leaving them in undisturbed security, the insinuating feeling of hope
was gradually gaining possession of every bosom, though each one felt reluctant
to give utterance to expectations that the next moment might so fearfully destroy.
David alone formed an exception to these varying emotions. A gleam of light
from the opening crossed his wan countenance, and fell upon the pages of the
little volume, whose leaves he was again occupied in turning, as if searching for
some song more fitted to their condition than any that had yet met their eye. He
was, most probably, acting all this time under a confused recollection of the
promised consolation of Duncan. At length, it would seem, his patient industry
found its reward; for, without explanation or apology, he pronounced aloud the
words "Isle of Wight," drew a long, sweet sound from his pitch-pipe, and then
ran through the preliminary modulations of the air whose name he had just
mentioned, with the sweeter tones of his own musical voice.
"May not this prove dangerous?" asked Cora, glancing her dark eye at Major
Heyward.
"Poor fellow! his voice is too feeble to be heard above the din of the falls," was
the answer; "beside, the cavern will prove his friend. Let him indulge his
passions since it may be done without hazard."
"Isle of Wight!" repeated David, looking about him with that dignity with
which he had long been wont to silence the whispering echoes of his school; "'tis
a brave tune, and set to solemn words! let it be sung with meet respect!"
After allowing a moment of stillness to enforce his discipline, the voice of the
singer was heard, in low, murmuring syllables, gradually stealing on the ear,
until it filled the narrow vault with sounds rendered trebly thrilling by the
feeble and tremulous utterance produced by his debility. The melody, which no
Thesaurus
debility: (n) frailty, asthenia, murmur, complaint, grumble, uninspiring.
weakness, astheny, atony, fatigue, muttering, mutter, murmur vowel; trebly: (adv) thrice, treble, threefold.
imbecility, cachexy, cachexia, (adj) whispering, humming, droning, unceasingly: (adv) incessantly,
weakening; (adj, n) infirmity. murmurous. endlessly, ceaselessly, continually,
ANTONYMS: (n) growth, strength, penetrated: (adj) perforated, entered. unremittingly, unendingly,
vigor, power. propping: (n) staking; (adj) retaining. constantly, always, perpetually,
insinuating: (adj) crafty, insinuative, thrilling: (adj, n) electric; (adj) exciting, uninterruptedly, eternally.
oily, ingratiating, having serpents, sensational, exhilarating, electrifying, ANTONYM: (adv) acutely.
insinuant, sly, snaky, giving hints, emotional, rousing, gripping, wont: (adj, n) use, custom, usage; (n)
snide, subtle. stimulating; (adj, v) impressive; (n, v) practice, tradition, cleanliness,
mentioned: (adj) spoken. swelling. ANTONYMS: (adj) boring, assuetude, assuefaction, convention,
murmuring: (n) murmuration, depressing, discouraging, upsetting, rut; (v) practise.
weakness could destroy, gradually wrought its sweet influence on the senses of
those who heard it. It even prevailed over the miserable travesty of the song of
David which the singer had selected from a volume of similar effusions, and
caused the sense to be forgotten in the insinuating harmony of the sounds. Alice
unconsciously dried her tears, and bent her melting eyes on the pallid features of
Gamut, with an expression of chastened delight that she neither affected or
wished to conceal. Cora bestowed an approving smile on the pious efforts of the
namesake of the Jewish prince, and Heyward soon turned his steady, stern look
from the outlet of the cavern, to fasten it, with a milder character, on the face of
David, or to meet the wandering beams which at moments strayed from the
humid eyes of Alice. The open sympathy of the listeners stirred the spirit of the
votary of music, whose voice regained its richness and volume, without losing
that touching softness which proved its secret charm. Exerting his renovated
powers to their utmost, he was yet filling the arches of the cave with long and
full tones, when a yell burst into the air without, that instantly stilled his pious
strains, choking his voice suddenly, as though his heart had literally bounded
into the passage of his throat.%
"We are lost!" exclaimed Alice, throwing herself into the arms of Cora.
"Not yet, not yet," returned the agitated but undaunted Heyward: "the sound
came from the center of the island, and it has been produced by the sight of their
dead companions. We are not yet discovered, and there is still hope."
Faint and almost despairing as was the prospect of escape, the words of
Duncan were not thrown away, for it awakened the powers of the sisters in such
a manner that they awaited the results in silence. A second yell soon followed the
first, when a rush of voices was heard pouring down the island, from its upper to
its lower extremity, until they reached the naked rock above the caverns, where,
after a shout of savage triumph, the air continued full of horrible cries and
screams, such as man alone can utter, and he only when in a state of the fiercest
barbarity.
The sounds quickly spread around them in every direction. Some called to
their fellows from the water's edge, and were answered from the heights above.
Thesaurus
barbarity: (n) atrocity, barbarousness, pallid: (adj) ghastly, wan, bloodless, mockery, farce, spoof, takeoff, sham,
brutality, cruelty, savagery, lurid, cadaverous, sickly, ashen, charade.
viciousness, inhumanity, white, pasty, livid, watery. undaunted: (adj, n) bold; (adj) fearless,
atrociousness, inhumaneness, ANTONYMS: (adj) healthy, rosy, brave, intrepid, resolute, dauntless,
boorishness, ruffianism. vivid. daring, heroic, unabashed, valiant,
ANTONYMS: (n) refinement, nicety. renovated: (adj) sempervirent, vernal, confident. ANTONYMS: (adj)
fasten: (adj, v) attach, fix, affix; (v) recently discovered, not habituated, cowardly, timid, afraid, anxious,
connect, bind, tie, tack, pin, stick, not familiar, newly come, new scared.
clasp, anchor. ANTONYMS: (v) scenes, recent, fresh, altered, modern. votary: (n) disciple, devotee, follower,
detach, undo, unlock, loosen, release, strayed: (v) stray. lover, amateur, bacchant, bacchante,
open, disconnect, untie, separate, travesty: (n, v) parody, burlesque, supporter, partisan, votarist,
unscrew. caricature, lampoon, ridicule; (n) solicitant.
Cries were heard in the startling vicinity of the chasm between the two caves,
which mingled with hoarser yells that arose out of the abyss of the deep ravine.
In short, so rapidly had the savage sounds diffused themselves over the barren
rock, that it was not difficult for the anxious listeners to imagine they could be
heard beneath, as in truth they were above on every side of them.%
In the midst of this tumult, a triumphant yell was raised within a few yards
of the hidden entrance to the cave. Heyward abandoned every hope, with the
belief it was the signal that they were discovered. Again the impression passed
away, as he heard the voices collect near the spot where the white man had so
reluctantly abandoned his rifle. Amid the jargon of Indian dialects that he now
plainly heard, it was easy to distinguish not only words, but sentences, in the
patois of the Canadas. A burst of voices had shouted simultaneously, "La Longue
Carabine!" causing the opposite woods to re-echo with a name which, Heyward
well remembered, had been given by his enemies to a celebrated hunter and
scout of the English camp, and who, he now learned for the first time, had been
his late companion.
"La Longue Carabine! La Longue Carabine!" passed from mouth to mouth,
until the whole band appeared to be collected around a trophy which would
seem to announce the death of its formidable owner. After a vociferous
consultation, which was, at times, deafened by bursts of savage joy, they again
separated, filling the air with the name of a foe, whose body, Heywood could
collect from their expressions, they hoped to find concealed in some crevice of
the island.
"Now," he whispered to the trembling sisters, "now is the moment of
uncertainty! if our place of retreat escape this scrutiny, we are still safe! In every
event, we are assured, by what has fallen from our enemies, that our friends have
escaped, and in two short hours we may look for succor from Webb."
There were now a few minutes of fearful stillness, during which Heyward
well knew that the savages conducted their search with greater vigilance and
method. More than once he could distinguish their footsteps, as they brushed the
sassafras, causing the faded leaves to rustle, and the branches to snap. At length,
Thesaurus
barren: (adj, n) sterile; (adj) infertile, language, argot, cant, gobbledygook; thieve, purloin; (n) rustling.
deserted, arid, void, dry, stark, (adj, n) palaver. startling: (adj) wonderful, shocking,
meagre, fruitless, abortive; (n) waste. mingled: (adj) miscellaneous, complex, surprising, striking, alarming,
ANTONYMS: (adj) productive, lush, indiscriminate, heterogeneous, appalling, marvellous, dramatic,
fruitful, developing, growing, medley, confused, eclectic, motley, frightful, sensational, lurid.
profitable, rewarding, rich, sheltered, different; (v) blended, blent. ANTONYMS: (adj) unremarkable,
humid, populous. patois: (n) idiom, dialect, lingo, slang, soothing, comforting.
brushed: (adj) napped, fleecy. cant, vernacular, accent, brogue, vociferous: (adj) loud, clamorous,
deafened: (adj) dead, deaf corn, language, argot, tongue. blatant, boisterous, clamant, strident,
stunned, deadened. re-echo: (n) repercussion; (v) roll. obstreperous, vocal, tumultuous,
jargon: (n, v) gibberish; (n) idiom, rustle: (n, v) whisper; (v) lift, buzz, turbulent, blustering. ANTONYMS:
dialect, vernacular, slang, lingo, steal, pilfer, whiz, pinch, abstract, (adj) silent, tranquil, shy, gentle, soft.
the pile yielded a little, a corner of a blanket fell, and a faint ray of light gleamed
into the inner part of the cave. Cora folded Alice to her bosom in agony, and
Duncan sprang to his feet. A shout was at that moment heard, as if issuing from
the center of the rock, announcing that the neighboring cavern had at length been
entered. In a minute, the number and loudness of the voices indicated that the
whole party was collected in and around that secret place.%
As the inner passages to the two caves were so close to each other, Duncan,
believing that escape was no longer possible, passed David and the sisters, to
place himself between the latter and the first onset of the terrible meeting. Grown
desperate by his situation, he drew nigh the slight barrier which separated him
only by a few feet from his relentless pursuers, and placing his face to the casual
opening, he even looked out with a sort of desperate indifference, on their
movements.
Within reach of his arm was the brawny shoulder of a gigantic Indian, whose
deep and authoritative voice appeared to give directions to the proceedings of
his fellows. Beyond him again, Duncan could look into the vault opposite, which
was filled with savages, upturning and rifling the humble furniture of the scout.
The wound of David had dyed the leaves of sassafras with a color that the native
well knew as anticipating the season. Over this sign of their success, they sent up
a howl, like an opening from so many hounds who had recovered a lost trail.
After this yell of victory, they tore up the fragrant bed of the cavern, and bore the
branches into the chasm, scattering the boughs, as if they suspected them of
concealing the person of the man they had so long hated and feared. One fierce
and wild- looking warrior approached the chief, bearing a load of the brush, and
pointing exultingly to the deep red stains with which it was sprinkled, uttered
his joy in Indian yells, whose meaning Heyward was only enabled to
comprehend by the frequent repetition of the name "La Longue Carabine!"
When his triumph had ceased, he cast the brush on the slight heap Duncan had
made before the entrance of the second cavern, and closed the view. His example
was followed by others, who, as they drew the branches from the cave of the
scout, threw them into one pile, adding, unconsciously, to the security of those
Thesaurus
bosom: (n) heart, interior, boob, burying, screenings, activity; (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) smelly, putrid,
thorax, chest, bust, tit; (n, v) embrace; suppressive. malodorous, odorless.
(v) cherish, hug; (adj) intimate. dyed: (adj) colored, tinted, coloured, loudness: (n) gaudiness, brashness,
ANTONYMS: (n) outside, exteriority. bleached, stained, painted, artificially tastelessness, noisiness, volume,
brawny: (adj, n) hefty, burly; (adj) coloured, biased, artificial, unreal, intensity, crescendo, tawdriness,
strong, athletic, sturdy, strapping, colorful. forte, flashiness, glitz. ANTONYMS:
beefy, powerful, robust, stalwart, exultingly: (adv) triumphantly, (n) softness, restraint.
mighty. ANTONYMS: (adj) skinny, jubilantly, rejoicingly, pridefully, rifling: (n) grooving, internal thread
puny, weak, frail, powerless, delicate, triumphally. broaching, shaping, formation.
feeble. fragrant: (adj) spicy, odorous, balmy, sprinkled: (adj) scattered, speckled,
concealing: (n) covering, concealment, sweet, odorant, scented, redolent, wet, dotted.
burial, stealing, stealth, screening, savory, fragrance, odoriferous, scent. tore: (v) tare; (n) moulding, molding.
they sought. The very slightness of the defense was its chief merit, for no one
thought of disturbing a mass of brush, which all of them believed, in that
moment of hurry and confusion, had been accidentally raised by the hands of
their own party.%
As the blankets yielded before the outward pressure, and the branches settled
in the fissure of the rock by their own weight, forming a compact body, Duncan
once more breathed freely. With a light step and lighter heart, he returned to the
center of the cave, and took the place he had left, where he could command a
view of the opening next the river. While he was in the act of making this
movement, the Indians, as if changing their purpose by a common impulse,
broke away from the chasm in a body, and were heard rushing up the island
again, toward the point whence they had originally descended. Here another
wailing cry betrayed that they were again collected around the bodies of their
dead comrades.
Duncan now ventured to look at his companions; for, during the most critical
moments of their danger, he had been apprehensive that the anxiety of his
countenance might communicate some additional alarm to those who were so
little able to sustain it.
"They are gone, Cora!" he whispered; "Alice, they are returned whence they
came, and we are saved! To Heaven, that has alone delivered us from the grasp
of so merciless an enemy, be all the praise!"
"Then to Heaven will I return my thanks!" exclaimed the younger sister,
rising from the encircling arm of Cora, and casting herself with enthusiastic
gratitude on the naked rock; "to that Heaven who has spared the tears of a gray-
headed father; has saved the lives of those I so much love."
Both Heyward and the more temperate Cora witnessed the act of involuntary
emotion with powerful sympathy, the former secretly believing that piety had
never worn a form so lovely as it had now assumed in the youthful person of
Alice. Her eyes were radiant with the glow of grateful feelings; the flush of her
beauty was again seated on her cheeks, and her whole soul seemed ready and
anxious to pour out its thanksgivings through the medium of her eloquent
Thesaurus
apprehensive: (adj) anxious, fearful, inclusive; (v) encircle. beaming, luminous, effulgent, lucid,
uneasy, alarmed, worried, timid, fissure: (n) crevice, chasm, cranny, glowing, beautiful. ANTONYMS:
doubtful, shy, insecure, jealous; (adj, break, cleft, breach, rift, chap, chink, (adj) gloomy, dark, pale, unhappy.
n) nervous. ANTONYMS: (adj) cleavage, aperture. ANTONYMS: (n) slightness: (n) littleness, slimness,
assured, unworried, calm, unafraid, repair, mend. insignificance, slenderness, delicacy,
cocksure, trusting, serene, piety: (n) godliness, devoutness, faith, fineness, smallness, trifle, meanness,
unconcerned, fearless, carefree, righteousness, holiness, reverence, triviality, goody. ANTONYM: (n)
brave. religion, religiousness, piousness, width.
encircling: (adj, prep) surrounding; sanctity, goodness. ANTONYMS: (n) wailing: (n, v) lamentation, lament,
(prep) around; (adj) comprehensive, sin, profanity, wickedness. moaning; (adj) lamenting, weeping,
encompassing, roundabout, radiant: (adj, v) bright, glittering, crying, wailful, howling, sobbing;
circuitous, rotary, circumferential, lustrous, beamy, glorious; (adj) (adj, n) bawling; (n) cry.
features. But when her lips moved, the words they should have uttered appeared
frozen by some new and sudden chill. Her bloom gave place to the paleness of
death; her soft and melting eyes grew hard, and seemed contracting with horror;
while those hands, which she had raised, clasped in each other, toward heaven,
dropped in horizontal lines before her, the fingers pointed forward in convulsed
motion. Heyward turned the instant she gave a direction to his suspicions, and
peering just above the ledge which formed the threshold of the open outlet of the
cavern, he beheld the malignant, fierce and savage features of Le Renard Subtil.%
In that moment of surprise, the self-possession of Heyward did not desert
him. He observed by the vacant expression of the Indian's countenance, that his
eye, accustomed to the open air had not yet been able to penetrate the dusky
light which pervaded the depth of the cavern. He had even thought of retreating
beyond a curvature in the natural wall, which might still conceal him and his
companions, when by the sudden gleam of intelligence that shot across the
features of the savage, he saw it was too late, and that they were betrayed.
The look of exultation and brutal triumph which announced this terrible
truth was irresistibly irritating. Forgetful of everything but the impulses of his
hot blood, Duncan leveled his pistol and fired. The report of the weapon made
the cavern bellow like an eruption from a volcano; and when the smoke it
vomited had been driven away before the current of air which issued from the
ravine the place so lately occupied by the features of his treacherous guide was
vacant. Rushing to the outlet, Heyward caught a glimpse of his dark figure
stealing around a low and narrow ledge, which soon hid him entirely from sight.
Among the savages a frightful stillness succeeded the explosion, which had
just been heard bursting from the bowels of the rock. But when Le Renard raised
his voice in a long and intelligible whoop, it was answered by a spontaneous yell
from the mouth of every Indian within hearing of the sound.
The clamorous noises again rushed down the island; and before Duncan had
time to recover from the shock, his feeble barrier of brush was scattered to the
winds, the cavern was entered at both its extremities, and he and his companions
Thesaurus
bellow: (n, v) shout, growl, yell, cry, unaware; (adj, v) remiss. necessarily, overwhelmingly,
snarl, scream, howl, call, holler; (v) ANTONYMS: (adj) mindful, charismatically, fiercely, temptingly,
bawl; (n) bay. ANTONYMS: (v) watchful, alert, remembering, overpoweringly, appealingly,
murmur, mutter. retentive. beguilingly.
clamorous: (adj) noisy, blatant, loud, frightful: (adj, v) fearful; (adj) issued: (adj) executed, done.
boisterous, insistent, exigent, urgent, formidable, awful, fearsome, self-possession: (n) composure, poise,
obstreperous, strident; (adj, v) appalling, gruesome, horrible, imperturbability, serenity, aplomb,
clamant, importunate. ANTONYM: terrible, dread, frightening, grim. coolness, balance, restraint, self-
(adj) tranquil. ANTONYMS: (adj) wonderful, control, morale, presence.
forgetful: (adj) oblivious, inattentive, calming, soothing, pleasant, lovely, whoop: (n, v) shout, call; (v) howl, yell,
negligent, lax, absent-minded, casual, fair. shriek, roar, bellow, halloo, cough,
unmindful, neglectful, heedless, irresistibly: (adv) charmingly, hack; (n) vociferation.
were dragged from their shelter and borne into the day, where they stood
surrounded by the whole band of the triumphant Hurons.%
Thesaurus
band: (n) cluster, set, party, swathe, protection, asylum, sanctuary, failing, losing, defeated, miserable,
lace, knot, collar, circle, strip, zone, security, hut. ANTONYMS: (n) sorrowful.
company. ANTONYMS: (v) disperse, danger, exposure; (v) endanger. whole: (adj, v) entire; (adj, n) total,
divide, scatter, disband. surrounded: (adj) enclosed, ingirt, not integral, sum, aggregate, well; (adj,
borne: (adj) weak, wanting, spoony, independent, ringed, inside, rooted, adv, n) all; (adj) complete, healthy,
soft, sappy, shallow, little, limited. conditioned, circumstanced, intact, full. ANTONYMS: (adj)
dragged: (adj) depressed, dejected, bounded; (v) beset, furnished. incomplete, broken, partial,
upset, unhappy, spent, dispirited, triumphant: (adj) victorious, imperfect, unhealthy, deficient,
somber, melancholy, gloomy, joyless, successful, triumphal, exulting, destroyed, fractional, impaired, half,
low. winning, joyful, rejoicing, elated, sick.
shelter: (n, v) guard, refuge, harbor, conquering, prideful; (adj, v) exultant.
protect, shield; (adj, n, v) screen; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) disappointed,
CHAPTER 10
"I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn

As much as we this night have overwatched!"
The instant the shock of this sudden misfortune had abated, Duncan began
to make his observations on the appearance and proceedings of their captors.
Contrary to the usages of the natives in the wantonness of their success they had
respected, not only the persons of the trembling sisters, but his own. The rich
ornaments of his military attire had indeed been repeatedly handled by different
individuals of the tribes with eyes expressing a savage longing to possess the
baubles; but before the customary violence could be resorted to, a mandate in the
authoritative voice of the large warrior, already mentioned, stayed the uplifted
hand, and convinced Heyward that they were to be reserved for some object of
particular moment.%
While, however, these manifestations of weakness were exhibited by the
young and vain of the party, the more experienced warriors continued their
search throughout both caverns, with an activity that denoted they were far from
being satisfied with those fruits of their conquest which had already been
brought to light. Unable to discover any new victim, these diligent workers of
Thesaurus
attire: (n, v) array, garb, apparel, wear; exhibited: (adj) ostensible, avowed, time, break of dawn, break of day,
(n) costume, garment, outfit, clothes; apparent, declared. break of the day.
(v) enrobe, clothe, dress up. fruits: (n) revenue. ornaments: (n) stuff, trim,
ANTONYMS: (v) disrobe, bare, strip, individuals: (n) people, persons. ornamentation, equipments, dress,
unclothe; (n) nakedness. misfortune: (n) accident, hardship, disposition, custom, curios,
diligent: (adj) busy, active, assiduous, misadventure, disaster, calamity, condition, clothing, gaudery.
painstaking, careful, earnest, mischance, catastrophe, mishap, bad wantonness: (n) lust, unrestraint,
studious, attentive, laborious, luck, misery, affliction. ANTONYMS: licentiousness, sexual immorality,
industrious, zealous. ANTONYMS: (n) joy, bonus, opportunity, privilege, immorality, lasciviousness,
(adj) careless, negligent, dilatory, idle, success, happiness. unconstraint, voluptuousness,
inactive, languid, slack, sluggish, morn: (n) dawn, daybreak, forenoon, wickedness, lasciviency, sybaritism.
lethargic, weary, indolent. period, prime, aurora, a, amount of ANTONYM: (n) restraint.
vengeance soon approached their male prisoners, pronouncing the name "La
Longue Carabine," with a fierceness that could not be easily mistaken. Duncan
affected not to comprehend the meaning of their repeated and violent
interrogatories, while his companion was spared the effort of a similar deception
by his ignorance of French. Wearied at length by their importunities, and
apprehensive of irritating his captors by too stubborn a silence, the former
looked about him in quest of Magua, who might interpret his answers to
questions which were at each moment becoming more earnest and threatening.%
The conduct of this savage had formed a solitary exception to that of all his
fellows. While the others were busily occupied in seeking to gratify their
childish passion for finery, by plundering even the miserable effects of the scout,
or had been searching with such bloodthirsty vengeance in their looks for their
absent owner, Le Renard had stood at a little distance from the prisoners, with a
demeanor so quiet and satisfied, as to betray that he had already effected the
grand purpose of his treachery. When the eyes of Heyward first met those of his
recent guide, he turned them away in horror at the sinister though calm look he
encountered. Conquering his disgust, however, he was able, with an averted
face, to address his successful enemy.
"Le Renard Subtil is too much of a warrior," said the reluctant Heyward, "to
refuse telling an unarmed man what his conquerors say."
"They ask for the hunter who knows the paths through the woods," returned
Magua, in his broken English, laying his hand, at the same time, with a ferocious
smile, on the bundle of leaves with which a wound on his own shoulder was
bandaged. "'La Longue Carabine'! His rifle is good, and his eye never shut; but,
like the short gun of the white chief, it is nothing against the life of Le Subtil."
"Le Renard is too brave to remember the hurts received in war, or the hands
that gave them."
"Was it war, when the tired Indian rested at the sugartree to taste his corn!
who filled the bushes with creeping enemies! who drew the knife, whose tongue
was peace, while his heart was colored with blood! Did Magua say that the
hatchet was out of the ground, and that his hand had dug it up?"
Thesaurus
bandaged: (adj) articled, apprenticed. demeanor: (n, v) bearing, conduct; (n) contented. ANTONYMS: (v)
bloodthirsty: (adj) murderous, brutal, carriage, air, deportment, attitude, dissatisfy, displease, disappoint.
bloody, barbarous, cruel, savage, manner, behaviour, guise, mien, port. plundering: (n) rape, pillage,
fierce, ferocious, violent, fellows: (n) fellow, membership, depredation, despoliation, rapine,
slaughterous, sanguineous. faculty. spoliation, despoilment, plunder,
ANTONYM: (adj) pleasant. finery: (n) regalia, clothing, attire, looting; (adj) predatory, marauding.
colored: (adj) chromatic, black, tinged, decoration, dress, pinchbeck, pronouncing: (v) pronounce; (n)
tinted, colorful, dyed, coloured, spangle, trimmings, gimcrack; (adj, n) pronunciation, utterance.
partial, dark, bleached, biased. tinsel, gewgaw. ANTONYM: (n) rags. unarmed: (adj) naked, unprotected,
ANTONYMS: (adj) truthful, white, gratify: (v) delight, please, appease, open, simple, destitute, bare; (v)
uncolored, unbiased, pale, objective, accommodate, satisfy, amuse, suit, weaponless, harmless, unfortified,
honest, genuine, real. indulge, cater; (n, v) humor; (adj) vincible, untenable.
As Duncan dared not retort upon his accuser by reminding him of his own
premeditated treachery, and disdained to deprecate his resentment by any
words of apology, he remained silent. Magua seemed also content to rest the
controversy as well as all further communication there, for he resumed the
leaning attitude against the rock from which, in momentary energy, he had
arisen. But the cry of "La Longue Carabine" was renewed the instant the
impatient savages perceived that the short dialogue was ended.%
"You hear," said Magua, with stubborn indifference: "the red Hurons call for
the life of 'The Long Rifle', or they will have the blood of him that keep him hid!"
"He is gone -- escaped; he is far beyond their reach."
Renard smiled with cold contempt, as he answered:
"When the white man dies, he thinks he is at peace; but the red men know
how to torture even the ghosts of their enemies. Where is his body? Let the
Hurons see his scalp."
"He is not dead, but escaped."
Magua shook his head incredulously.
"Is he a bird, to spread his wings; or is he a fish, to swim without air! The
white chief read in his books, and he believes the Hurons are fools!"
"Though no fish, 'The Long Rifle' can swim. He floated down the stream
when the powder was all burned, and when the eyes of the Hurons were behind
a cloud."
"And why did the white chief stay?" demanded the still incredulous Indian.
"Is he a stone that goes to the bottom, or does the scalp burn his head?"
"That I am not stone, your dead comrade, who fell into the falls, might
answer, were the life still in him," said the provoked young man, using, in his
anger, that boastful language which was most likely to excite the admiration of
an Indian. "The white man thinks none but cowards desert their women."
Magua muttered a few words, inaudibly, between his teeth, before he
continued, aloud:
Thesaurus
accuser: (n) complainant, informer, unnoticeably, imperceptibly, gently, planned, designed, conscious,
disputant, controversialist, accusant, incoherently, invisibly, indiscernibly, calculated, studied, intended,
pursuer, delator, petitioner, indistinctly, silently, unintelligibly, prearranged; (v) prepense; (adj, v)
prosecutor, claimant, appeacher. untraceably. ANTONYMS: (adv) aforethought, premeditate.
deprecate: (v) belittle, demur, decry, audibly, distinctly, coherently, ANTONYMS: (adj) accidental,
deplore, censure, disparage, perceptibly, loudly, obviously. ingenuous, spontaneous,
depreciate, object, expostulate, incredulously: (adv) skeptically, unintentional, unpremeditated,
criticize, discountenance. disbelievingly, distrustfully, automatic, casual.
ANTONYMS: (v) compliment, suspiciously, dubiously, doubtfully, retort: (n, v) answer, return, riposte;
endorse, extol, laud, approve, questioningly, uncertainly, (n) response, rejoinder, repartee,
support. mistrustfully, doubtingly, cynically. comeback; (v) respond, repay, rejoin,
inaudibly: (adv) inarticulately, premeditated: (adj) intentional, alembic.
"Can the Delawares swim, too, as well as crawl in the bushes? Where is 'Le
Gros Serpent'?"
Duncan, who perceived by the use of these Canadian appellations, that his
late companions were much better known to his enemies than to himself,
answered, reluctantly: "He also is gone down with the water."
"'Le Cerf Agile' is not here?"
"I know not whom you call 'The Nimble Deer'," said Duncan gladly profiting
by any excuse to create delay.%
"Uncas," returned Magua, pronouncing the Delaware name with even greater
difficulty than he spoke his English words. "'Bounding Elk' is what the white
man says, when he calls to the young Mohican."
"Here is some confusion in names between us, Le Renard," said Duncan,
hoping to provoke a discussion. "Daim is the French for deer, and cerf for stag;
elan is the true term, when one would speak of an elk."
"Yes," muttered the Indian, in his native tongue; "the pale faces are prattling
women! they have two words for each thing, while a red-skin will make the
sound of his voice speak to him." Then, changing his language, he continued,
adhering to the imperfect nomenclature of his provincial instructors. "The deer
is swift, but weak; the elk is swift, but strong; and the son of 'Le Serpent' is 'Le
Cerf Agile.' Has he leaped the river to the woods?"
"If you mean the younger Delaware, he, too, has gone down with the water."
As there was nothing improbable to an Indian in the manner of the escape,
Magua admitted the truth of what he had heard, with a readiness that afforded
additional evidence how little he would prize such worthless captives. With his
companions, however, the feeling was manifestly different.
The Hurons had awaited the result of this short dialogue with characteristic
patience, and with a silence that increased until there was a general stillness in
the band. When Heyward ceased to speak, they turned their eyes, as one man, on
Magua, demanding, in this expressive manner, an explanation of what had been
said. Their interpreter pointed to the river, and made them acquainted with the
Thesaurus
adhering: (adj, v) adhesive; (n) resentfully, miserably. name.
adherence; (adj) partisan; (prep) on; manifestly: (adv) evidently, plainly, prattling: (n) gab; (adj) voluble, gabby.
(v) cohesive. clearly, patently, obviously, openly, stag: (v) spy, peach, denounce; (n)
elan: (n) ardor, ardour, zeal, vitality, overtly, markedly, conspicuously, buck, dog, boar, cock, deer, roe, doe,
zest, eagerness, pep, verve, fire, distinctly, transparently. reynard.
fervency, spirit. ANTONYM: (n) ANTONYMS: (adv) furtively, worthless: (adj, v) futile, vain; (adj)
clumsiness. unnecessarily, vaguely, covertly. vile, idle, empty, trifling, void, trivial,
gladly: (adv, v) happily; (adv) gleefully, nomenclature: (n) language, cheap, miserable, null. ANTONYMS:
contentedly, cheerfully, fain, joyfully, classification, appellation, (adj) precious, useful, worthwhile,
jovially, cheerily, delightedly, denomination, linguistic priceless, meaningful, helpful,
gladsomely, readily. ANTONYMS: communication, linguistic process, invaluable, deserving, valid, worthy,
(adv) reluctantly, unwillingly, sadly, locution, lyric, markup language; (v) substantial.
result, as much by the action as by the few words he uttered. When the fact was
generally understood, the savages raised a frightful yell, which declared the
extent of their disappointment. Some ran furiously to the water's edge, beating
the air with frantic gestures, while others spat upon the element, to resent the
supposed treason it had committed against their acknowledged rights as
conquerors. A few, and they not the least powerful and terrific of the band,
threw lowering looks, in which the fiercest passion was only tempered by
habitual self-command, at those captives who still remained in their power,
while one or two even gave vent to their malignant feelings by the most
menacing gestures, against which neither the sex nor the beauty of the sisters
was any protection. The young soldier made a desperate but fruitless effort to
spring to the side of Alice, when he saw the dark hand of a savage twisted in the
rich tresses which were flowing in volumes over her shoulders, while a knife was
passed around the head from which they fell, as if to denote the horrid manner
in which it was about to be robbed of its beautiful ornament. But his hands were
bound; and at the first movement he made, he felt the grasp of the powerful
Indian who directed the band, pressing his shoulder like a vise. Immediately
conscious how unavailing any struggle against such an overwhelming force
must prove, he submitted to his fate, encouraging his gentle companions by a
few low and tender assurances, that the natives seldom failed to threaten more
than they performed.%
But while Duncan resorted to these words of consolation to quiet the
apprehensions of the sisters, he was not so weak as to deceive himself. He well
knew that the authority of an Indian chief was so little conventional, that it was
oftener maintained by physical superiority than by any moral supremacy he
might possess. The danger was, therefore, magnified exactly in proportion to the
number of the savage spirits by which they were surrounded. The most positive
mandate from him who seemed the acknowledged leader, was liable to be
violated at each moment by any rash hand that might choose to sacrifice a victim
to the manes of some dead friend or relative. While, therefore, he sustained an
outward appearance of calmness and fortitude, his heart leaped into his throat,
whenever any of their fierce captors drew nearer than common to the helpless
Thesaurus
denote: (adj, n, v) declare; (adj, v) ominous, imminent, impending, temperate, moderated, toughened,
express; (v) indicate, imply, mean, minatory, ugly, frightening, subdued, set, enured, proportioned,
point, demonstrate, stand for, spell; minacious, dangerous, formidable. properly adapted, emotionally
(n, v) betoken, signify. ANTONYM: ANTONYMS: (adj) auspicious, hardened, treated. ANTONYM: (adj)
(v) connote. approachable, promising, reassuring, untempered.
knew: (adj) known; (v) recognize, wist. soothing, favorable. unavailing: (adj) fruitless, bootless,
magnified: (adj) enlarged, inflated, robbed: (adj) plundered, rubato, useless, ineffectual, inefficacious,
enlarge, hyperbolic, hypertrophied, fleeced, borrowed, bereft. otiose, inutile, ineffective, idle, vain,
increased, overblown, overstated, self-command: (n) self-control, self- pointless.
puffed up, made larger. government, self-restraint, discipline, vise: (v) visa, hold; (n) bench vise,
manes: (n) shade. presence. holding device, metalworking vise,
menacing: (adj) threatening, sinister, tempered: (adj) attempered, grip, shoulder vise.
sisters, or fastened one of their sullen, wandering looks on those fragile forms
which were so little able to resist the slightest assault.%
His apprehensions were, however, greatly relieved, when he saw that the
leader had summoned his warriors to himself in counsel. Their deliberations
were short, and it would seem, by the silence of most of the party, the decision
unanimous. By the frequency with which the few speakers pointed in the
direction of the encampment of Webb, it was apparent they dreaded the
approach of danger from that quarter. This consideration probably hastened
their determination, and quickened the subsequent movements.
During his short conference, Heyward, finding a respite from his gravest
fears, had leisure to admire the cautious manner in which the Hurons had made
their approaches, even after hostilities had ceased.
It has already been stated that the upper half of the island was a naked rock,
and destitute of any other defenses than a few scattered logs of driftwood. They
had selected this point to make their descent, having borne the canoe through the
wood around the cataract for that purpose. Placing their arms in the little vessel a
dozen men clinging to its sides had trusted themselves to the direction of the
canoe, which was controlled by two of the most skillful warriors, in attitudes that
enabled them to command a view of the dangerous passage. Favored by this
arrangement, they touched the head of the island at that point which had proved
so fatal to their first adventurers, but with the advantages of superior numbers,
and the possession of firearms. That such had been the manner of their descent
was rendered quite apparent to Duncan; for they now bore the light bark from
the upper end of the rock, and placed it in the water, near the mouth of the outer
cavern. As soon as this change was made, the leader made signs to the prisoners
to descend and enter.
As resistance was impossible, and remonstrance useless, Heyward set the
example of submission, by leading the way into the canoe, where he was soon
seated with the sisters and the still wondering David. Notwithstanding the
Hurons were necessarily ignorant of the little channels among the eddies and
rapids of the stream, they knew the common signs of such a navigation too well
Thesaurus
bark: (n, v) skin, yelp, snarl, cry, rind, solvent. passionate, intoxicated.
shout; (v) growl, roar; (n) bay, peel, dreaded: (adj) awful, terrible, respite: (n, v) pause, rest, lull; (n)
crust. ANTONYMS: (n, v) whisper. cowardly, causing horror, dire, repose, intermission, recess, break,
defenses: (n) defence, defense, escape direful, desperate, dreadful, fearful, remission, relief, cessation,
mechanism, lines, position, ranks. fearsome; (v) drad. interruption.
deliberations: (n) deliberation, hastened: (adj) careless. seated: (adj) sat, sedentary.
thought, consideration. hostilities: (n) combat, hostility, war, speakers: (n) acoustics.
destitute: (adj) impoverished, needy, battle, fighting, action, series of sullen: (adj, n) morose, sulky, sour;
bankrupt, broke, poor, helpless, attacks, campaign, conflict, (adj) gloomy, gruff, glum, moody,
impecunious, penniless, necessitous; confrontation, contest. ANTONYM: dark, cross, surly; (adj, v) grim.
(adj, v) forlorn, devoid. ANTONYMS: (n) peace. ANTONYMS: (adj) bright, cheery; (n)
(adj) wealthy, privileged, prosperous, quickened: (adj) hasty, rapid, cheeriness.
to commit any material blunder. When the pilot chosen for the task of guiding
the canoe had taken his station, the whole band plunged again into the river, the
vessel glided down the current, and in a few moments the captives found
themselves on the south bank of the stream, nearly opposite to the point where
they had struck it the preceding evening.%
Here was held another short but earnest consultation, during which the
horses, to whose panic their owners ascribed their heaviest misfortune, were led
from the cover of the woods, and brought to the sheltered spot. The band now
divided. The great chief, so often mentioned, mounting the charger of Heyward,
led the way directly across the river, followed by most of his people, and
disappeared in the woods, leaving the prisoners in charge of six savages, at
whose head was Le Renard Subtil. Duncan witnessed all their movements with
renewed uneasiness.
He had been fond of believing, from the uncommon forbearance of the
savages, that he was reserved as a prisoner to be delivered to Montcalm. As the
thoughts of those who are in misery seldom slumber, and the invention is never
more lively than when it is stimulated by hope, however feeble and remote, he
had even imagined that the parental feelings of Munro were to be made
instrumental in seducing him from his duty to the king. For though the French
commander bore a high character for courage and enterprise, he was also
thought to be expert in those political practises which do not always respect the
nicer obligations of morality, and which so generally disgraced the European
diplomacy of that period.
All those busy and ingenious speculations were now annihilated by the
conduct of his captors. That portion of the band who had followed the huge
warrior took the route toward the foot of the Horican, and no other expectation
was left for himself and companions, than that they were to be retained as
hopeless captives by their savage conquerors. Anxious to know the worst, and
willing, in such an emergency, to try the potency of gold he overcame his
reluctance to speak to Magua. Addressing himself to his former guide, who had
now assumed the authority and manner of one who was to direct the future
Thesaurus
annihilated: (adj) exterminated, lost, abashed, ashamed, damaged, management, steering, sovereign.
uncreated, wiped out, annihilate; (v) dishonest, humiliated, mortified, potency: (n) force, might, efficacy,
perished. disfigured. effectiveness, strength, ability, power,
ascribed: (adj) accredited, qualified, forbearance: (n) patience, clemency, energy, intensity, potence, vigor.
credited, ascriptitious, additional, pardon, abstention, abstinence, ANTONYMS: (n) powerlessness,
added. ANTONYM: (adj) unofficial. mercy, longanimity, avoidance, weakness.
blunder: (n, v) mistake, stumble, slip, postponement, indulgence, restraint. seducing: (adj) charming, fascinating.
botch; (adj, n) fault; (n) error, gaffe, ANTONYMS: (n) impatience, stimulated: (adj) excited, ablaze,
trip; (v) fail, fumble; (adj, n, v) miss. intolerance. intoxicated, aroused, roused,
ANTONYMS: (v) succeed, correct, guiding: (adj) scouting, directive, motivated, affected, aflame, angry,
accomplish, achieve; (n) achievement. leading, controlling, guidance, angry waves, randy.
disgraced: (adj) shamed, dishonored, directional, guide, direction, took: (adj) taken; (v) receive.
movements of the party, he said, in tones as friendly and confiding as he could

assume:
"I would speak to Magua, what is fit only for so great a chief to hear."
The Indian turned his eyes on the young soldier scornfully, as he answered:
"Speak; trees have no ears."
"But the red Hurons are not deaf; and counsel that is fit for the great men of a
nation would make the young warriors drunk. If Magua will not listen, the
officer of the king knows how to be silent."
The savage spoke carelessly to his comrades, who were busied, after their
awkward manner, in preparing the horses for the reception of the sisters, and
moved a little to one side, whither by a cautious gesture he induced Heyward to
follow.%
"Now, speak," he said; "if the words are such as Magua should hear."
"Le Renard Subtil has proved himself worthy of the honorable name given to
him by his Canada fathers," commenced Heyward; "I see his wisdom, and all
that he has done for us, and shall remember it when the hour to reward him
arrives. Yes! Renard has proved that he is not only a great chief in council, but
one who knows how to deceive his enemies!"
"What has Renard done?" coldly demanded the Indian.
"What! has he not seen that the woods were filled with outlying parties of
the enemies, and that the serpent could not steal through them without being
seen? Then, did he not lose his path to blind the eyes of the Hurons? Did he not
pretend to go back to his tribe, who had treated him ill, and driven him from
their wigwams like a dog? And when he saw what he wished to do, did we not
aid him, by making a false face, that the Hurons might think the white man
believed that his friend was his enemy? Is not all this true? And when Le Subtil
had shut the eyes and stopped the ears of his nation by his wisdom, did they not
forget that they had once done him wrong, and forced him to flee to the
Mohawks? And did they not leave him on the south side of the river, with their
prisoners, while they have gone foolishly on the north? Does not Renard mean to
Thesaurus
coldly: (adv) frigidly, icily, coolly, exalted, respectable, fair, decent, mockingly. ANTONYM: (adv)
indifferently, frostily, distantly, reputable, ethical, honor; (adj, v) humbly.
gelidly, reservedly, bleakly, wintrily, great, noble. ANTONYMS: (adj) serpent: (n) snake, ophidian, viper,
frozenly. ANTONYMS: (adv) warmly, shameful, disgraceful, corrupt, snake in the grass, reptile,
affectionately, sympathetically, degenerate, immoral, humiliating, rattlesnake, colubrid, contrafagotto,
sensitively, kindly, cheerfully, dishonest, unethical, decadent, bad, cor anglais, hautboy; (v) goose.
emotionally. deceitful. tribe: (n) clan, house, race, kin, nation,
flee: (v) bolt, break out, fly, desert, scornfully: (adv) disdainfully, people, kindred, folk, stock, lineage,
break, abscond, elope, elude, run disparagingly, haughtily, breed.
away, run, leave. ANTONYMS: (v) derogatorily, condescendingly, whither: (adv) hither, thither,
appear, advance. contumeliously, sneeringly, whereunto, whereto, for.
honorable: (adj) good, estimable, arrogantly, sarcastically, derisively,
turn like a fox on his footsteps, and to carry to the rich and gray-headed
Scotchman his daughters? Yes, Magua, I see it all, and I have already been
thinking how so much wisdom and honesty should be repaid. First, the chief of
William Henry will give as a great chief should for such a service. The medal of
Magua will no longer be of tin, but of beaten gold; his horn will run over with
powder; dollars will be as plenty in his pouch as pebbles on the shore of Horican;
and the deer will lick his hand, for they will know it to be vain to fly from the
rifle he will carry! As for myself, I know not how to exceed the gratitude of the
Scotchman, but I--yes, I will--"
"What will the young chief, who comes from toward the sun, give?"
demanded the Huron, observing that Heyward hesitated in his desire to end the
enumeration of benefits with that which might form the climax of an Indian's
wishes.%
"He will make the fire-water from the islands in the salt lake flow before the
wigwam of Magua, until the heart of the Indian shall be lighter than the feathers
of the humming-bird, and his breath sweeter than the wild honeysuckle."
Le Renard had listened gravely as Heyward slowly proceeded in this subtle
speech. When the young man mentioned the artifice he supposed the Indian to
have practised on his own nation, the countenance of the listener was veiled in
an expression of cautious gravity. At the allusion to the injury which Duncan
affected to believe had driven the Huron from his native tribe, a gleam of such
ungovernable ferocity flashed from the other's eyes, as induced the adventurous
speaker to believe he had struck the proper chord. And by the time he reached
the part where he so artfully blended the thirst of vengeance with the desire of
gain, he had, at least, obtained a command of the deepest attention of the savage.
The question put by Le Renard had been calm, and with all the dignity of an
Indian; but it was quite apparent, by the thoughtful expression of the listener's
countenance, that the answer was most cunningly devised. The Huron mused a
few moments, and then laying his hand on the rude bandages of his wounded
shoulder, he said, with some energy:
"Do friends make such marks?"
Thesaurus
artfully: (adv) cunningly, foxily, incapacity, straightforwardness. catalogue, recital, account, tally,
ingeniously, trickily, shrewdly, blended: (adj) mixed, miscellaneous, reckoning, listing.
skillfully, cleverly, disingenuously, composite, assorted, alloyed, ungovernable: (adj) unruly,
deceitfully, sly, schemingly. amalgamated, beaten, adulterate, uncontrollable, irrepressible,
ANTONYMS: (adv) innocently, conglomerate; (n) medley; (v) mingle. intractable, licentious, violent, wild,
openly. cunningly: (adv) craftily, artfully, indocile, uncontrolled, turbulent; (adj,
artifice: (n, v) art; (n) ruse, deception, cleverly, ingeniously, trickily, v) headstrong.
contrivance, artfulness, dodge, shrewdly, astutely, insidiously, veiled: (adj) hidden, unseen, covert,
science, trickery, wile, proficiency, smartly, foxily, slipperily. secret, masked, disguised, obscure,
maneuver. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYMS: (adv) ineptly, openly. cryptic, covered, indistinct, oblique.
truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, enumeration: (n) count, counting, ANTONYMS: (adj) overt, open,
naivete, inability, artlessness, computation, list, calculation, unveiled, blatant.
"Would 'La Longue Carbine' cut one so slight on an enemy?"

"Do the Delawares crawl upon those they love like snakes, twisting
themselves to strike?"
"Would 'Le Gros Serpent' have been heard by the ears of one he wished to be
deaf?"
"Does the white chief burn his powder in the faces of his brothers?"
"Does he ever miss his aim, when seriously bent to kill?" returned Duncan,
smiling with well acted sincerity.%
Another long and deliberate pause succeeded these sententious questions
and ready replies. Duncan saw that the Indian hesitated. In order to complete his
victory, he was in the act of recommencing the enumeration of the rewards,
when Magua made an expressive gesture and said:
"Enough; Le Renard is a wise chief, and what he does will be seen. Go, and
keep the mouth shut. When Magua speaks, it will be the time to answer."
Heyward, perceiving that the eyes of his companion were warily fastened on
the rest of the band, fell back immediately, in order to avoid the appearance of
any suspicious confederacy with their leader. Magua approached the horses, and
affected to be well pleased with the diligence and ingenuity of his comrades. He
then signed to Heyward to assist the sisters into the saddles, for he seldom
deigned to use the English tongue, unless urged by some motive of more than
usual moment.
There was no longer any plausible pretext for delay; and Duncan was
obliged, however reluctantly, to comply. As he performed this office, he
whispered his reviving hopes in the ears of the trembling females, who, through
dread of encountering the savage countenances of their captors, seldom raised
their eyes from the ground. The mare of David had been taken with the followers
of the large chief; in consequence, its owner, as well as Duncan, was compelled to
journey on foot. The latter did not, however, so much regret this circumstance, as
it might enable him to retard the speed of the party; for he still turned his
longing looks in the direction of Fort Edward, in the vain expectation of catching
Thesaurus
confederacy: (n) coalition, ingenuity: (adj, n) ability; (n) prompt.
confederation, federation, adroitness, ingeniousness, cunning, rewards: (n) booty, loot.
association, union, conspiracy, cabal, imagination, acumen, resource, snakes: (n) Ophidia, suborder
combination, league, merger, faction. originality, skill, wit, inventiveness. Serpentes, subclass Lepidosauria,
ANTONYM: (n) divergence. ANTONYM: (n) ineptness. suborder Ophidia, Lepidosauria.
diligence: (n) assiduity, industry, pretext: (n) pretense, pretension, color, warily: (adv) carefully, guardedly,
attention, application, assiduousness, pretence, mask, plea, guise, sham, cautiously, circumspectly, charily,
concentration, activity, perseverance, appearance; (n, v) excuse, cloak. vigilantly, watchfully, thoughtfully,
carefulness, sedulity, retard: (adj, v) hinder, check, obstruct, gingerly, attentively, suspiciously.
industriousness. ANTONYMS: (n) deaden; (v) slow, detain, impede, ANTONYMS: (adv) boldly, unwarily,
carelessness, indolence, feebleness, arrest, decelerate; (n, v) lag, defer. trustingly, thoughtlessly, rashly,
slackness, negligence, sloth. ANTONYMS: (v) expedite, hasten, recklessly.
some sound from that quarter of the forest, which might denote the approach of
succor. When all were prepared, Magua made the signal to proceed, advancing
in front to lead the party in person. Next followed David, who was gradually
coming to a true sense of his condition, as the effects of the wound became less
and less apparent. The sisters rode in his rear, with Heyward at their side, while
the Indians flanked the party, and brought up the close of the march, with a
caution that seemed never to tire.%
In this manner they proceeded in uninterrupted silence, except when
Heyward addressed some solitary word of comfort to the females, or David gave
vent to the moanings of his spirit, in piteous exclamations, which he intended
should express the humility of resignation. Their direction lay toward the south,
and in a course nearly opposite to the road to William Henry. Notwithstanding
this apparent adherence in Magua to the original determination of his
conquerors, Heyward could not believe his tempting bait was so soon forgotten;
and he knew the windings of an Indian's path too well to suppose that its
apparent course led directly to its object, when artifice was at all necessary. Mile
after mile was, however, passed through the boundless woods, in this painful
manner, without any prospect of a termination to their journey. Heyward
watched the sun, as he darted his meridian rays through the branches of the
trees, and pined for the moment when the policy of Magua should change their
route to one more favorable to his hopes. Sometimes he fancied the wary savage,
despairing of passing the army of Montcalm in safety, was holding his way
toward a well-known border settlement, where a distinguished officer of the
crown, and a favored friend of the Six Nations, held his large possessions, as well
as his usual residence. To be delivered into the hands of Sir William Johnson was
far preferable to being led into the wilds of Canada; but in order to effect even
the former, it would be necessary to traverse the forest for many weary leagues,
each step of which was carrying him further from the scene of the war, and,
consequently, from the post, not only of honor, but of duty.
Cora alone remembered the parting injunctions of the scout, and whenever
an opportunity offered, she stretched forth her arm to bend aside the twigs that
Thesaurus
branches: (n) branch, brushwood. ANTONYMS: (n) haughtiness, piteous: (adj) miserable, pitiful,
despairing: (adj) hopeless, desperate, affectation, conceit, arrogance. pathetic, doleful, lamentable, abject,
despondent, forlorn, desolate, meridian: (n) culmination, line of compassionate, unfortunate, poor,
dejected, pessimistic, sad, longitude, zenith, peak, top, apex, paltry, pitiable.
brokenhearted, miserable, acme, pinnacle, climax, clime; (v) uninterrupted: (adj) ceaseless,
inconsolable. ANTONYMS: (adj) glassy. continuous, continual, unbroken,
hopeful, optimistic, rosy, happy, parting: (n) adieu, division, leave, incessant, perpetual, constant,
confident, cheerful. departure, disunion, goodbye, unceasing, endless; (adj, adv) straight,
humility: (n) diffidence, modesty, leaving, segregation, dying, rupture; nonstop. ANTONYMS: (adj)
submission, shyness, meekness, (adj) valedictory. ANTONYMS: (n) intermittent, temporary, broken,
lowliness, timidity, trait, humiliation, joining, meeting, connection, alternate, noisy, sporadic; (adv)
resignation; (adj) veneration. Reunion. indirectly.
met her hands. But the vigilance of the Indians rendered this act of precaution
both difficult and dangerous. She was often defeated in her purpose, by
encountering their watchful eyes, when it became necessary to feign an alarm
she did not feel, and occupy the limb by some gesture of feminine apprehension.
Once, and once only, was she completely successful; when she broke down the
bough of a large sumach, and by a sudden thought, let her glove fall at the same
instant. This sign, intended for those that might follow, was observed by one of
her conductors, who restored the glove, broke the remaining branches of the
bush in such a manner that it appeared to proceed from the struggling of some
beast in its branches, and then laid his hand on his tomahawk, with a look so
significant, that it put an effectual end to these stolen memorials of their
passage.%
As there were horses, to leave the prints of their footsteps, in both bands of
the Indians, this interruption cut off any probable hopes of assistance being
conveyed through the means of their trail.
Heyward would have ventured a remonstrance had there been anything
encouraging in the gloomy reserve of Magua. But the savage, during all this
time, seldom turned to look at his followers, and never spoke. With the sun for
his only guide, or aided by such blind marks as are only known to the sagacity of
a native, he held his way along the barrens of pine, through occasional little
fertile vales, across brooks and rivulets, and over undulating hills, with the
accuracy of instinct, and nearly with the directness of a bird. He never seemed to
hesitate. Whether the path was hardly distinguishable, whether it disappeared,
or whether it lay beaten and plain before him, made no sensible difference in his
speed or certainty. It seemed as if fatigue could not affect him. Whenever the
eyes of the wearied travelers rose from the decayed leaves over which they trod,
his dark form was to be seen glancing among the stems of the trees in front, his
head immovably fastened in a forward position, with the light plume on his
crest fluttering in a current of air, made solely by the swiftness of his own
motion.
Thesaurus
bough: (n) arm, limb, bow, member, outspokenness. ANTONYMS: (n) immovably: (adj) firmly,
tigella, ramage, offshoot, vagueness, obliqueness, extravagantly; (adv) unyieldingly,
ramification, spray, sprig, stem. circuitousness, reticence, delicacy, stubbornly, unwaveringly,
decayed: (adj) spoiled, corrupt, caution, dishonesty. unmovably, unbendingly,
dilapidated, rank, rusty, rotting, feign: (v) dissemble, simulate, affect, unalterably, obstinately, obdurately,
decaying, rotted, putrid; (adj, v) pretend, assume, dissimulate, inflexibly.
wasted; (v) stale. ANTONYMS: (adj) counterfeit, act, sham, fabricate; (adj, memorials: (n) memoir.
matured, restored, strengthened. v) deceive. precaution: (n) foresight, care,
directness: (n) candor, frankness, fluttering: (adj) flying, palpitating, prevention, discretion, anticipation,
plainness, honesty, immediacy, flittering, flaring, aflare, waving; (n) caution, circumspection, prudence,
straightforwardness, forthrightness, flutter, flapping, flicker, flitting; (adv) safeguard, protection; (adj)
openness, freedom, ingenuousness, flutteringly. precautionary.
But all this diligence and speed were not without an object. After crossing a
low vale, through which a gushing brook meandered, he suddenly ascended a
hill, so steep and difficult of ascent, that the sisters were compelled to alight in
order to follow. When the summit was gained, they found themselves on a level
spot, but thinly covered with trees, under one of which Magua had thrown his
dark form, as if willing and ready to seek that rest which was so much needed by
the whole party.%
Thesaurus
alight: (v) light, land, perch, dismount, stream. ANTONYMS: (v) spurn, (adj) gradual, undulating,
get down, settle, get off, descend; resist, reject, prohibit. inexpensive, flat, lenient, reasonable,
(adj) ablaze, burning, blazing. gained: (adj) extrinsic. cheap; (v) dip.
ANTONYM: (v) mount. gushing: (adj) pouring, enthusiastic, thinly: (adv) flimsily, slightly, slimly,
ascent: (n) ascension, climb, burbly, alive to, burbling, emotional, slenderly, weakly, diaphanously,
ascending, elevation, hill, incline, effusive, garrulous, torrential; (n) rarely, leanly, finely, tenuously; (adj)
advance, grade; (n, v) rise; (v) ascend, sincere, passionate. ANTONYM: (adj) thin. ANTONYMS: (adv) densely,
uprise. ANTONYMS: (n) fall, drop, taciturn. thickly, loudly, liberally.
declivity. steep: (adj, v) immerse, soak; (v) douse, vale: (n) dale, glen, hollow, ravine,
brook: (v) endure, abide, stomach, dip, imbue, saturate; (adj, adv) dingle, vail, valediction, earth, holler,
stand, tolerate, digest, suffer, excessive; (adj, n) abrupt; (adj) sheer, dell, gully. ANTONYM: (n) hill.
support, undergo; (n, v) creek; (n) outrageous, exorbitant. ANTONYMS:
CHAPTER 11
Shylock: "Cursed be my tribe

If I forgive him."%
Merchant of Venice
The Indian had selected for this desirable purpose one of those steep,
pyramidal hills, which bear a strong resemblance to artificial mounds, and
which so frequently occur in the valleys of America. The one in question was
high and precipitous; its top flattened, as usual; but with one of its sides more
than ordinarily irregular. It possessed no other apparent advantage for a resting
place, than in its elevation and form, which might render defense easy, and
surprise nearly impossible. As Heyward, however, no longer expected that
rescue which time and distance now rendered so improbable, he regarded these
little peculiarities with an eye devoid of interest, devoting himself entirely to the
comfort and condolence of his feebler companions. The Narragansetts were
suffered to browse on the branches of the trees and shrubs that were thinly
scattered over the summit of the hill, while the remains of their provisions were
spread under the shade of a beech, that stretched its horizontal limbs like a
canopy above them.
Thesaurus
browse: (n) browsing; (v) scan, skim, trodden, unconscious, depressed, regularly, normally, frequently,
crop, explore, leaf, surf, pasture, compressed. customarily, habitually, routinely,
glance, peruse, wander. hills: (n) home, dry land, foothills, middlingly, plainly, familiarly.
ANTONYMS: (v) study, scrutinize, earth, ground. ANTONYMS: (adv) unusually, rarely,
stare. improbable: (adj) implausible, strangely, exceptionally.
condolence: (n) compassion, pity, impossible, incredible, unbelievable, precipitous: (adj) abrupt, sharp,
sympathy, condolement, fishy, questionable, inconceivable, precipitate, perpendicular, sheer,
condolences, lamentation, mercy, impractical, unthinkable, absurd; (adj, headlong, hasty, sudden, precipitant;
mourning, acknowledgement, solace, n) marvelous. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj, v) steep, high. ANTONYM: (adj)
acknowledgment. ANTONYM: (n) probable, certain, plausible, truthful, flat.
congratulation. ordinary, on, practical. pyramidal: (adj) cubical, pointed,
flattened: (adj) planate, packed down, ordinarily: (adv) generally, usually, pyramidical.
Notwithstanding the swiftness of their flight, one of the Indians had found an
opportunity to strike a straggling fawn with an arrow, and had borne the more
preferable fragments of the victim, patiently on his shoulders, to the stopping
place. Without any aid from the science of cookery, he was immediately
employed, in common with his fellows, in gorging himself with this digestible
sustenance. Magua alone sat apart, without participating in the revolting meal,
and apparently buried in the deepest thought.%
This abstinence, so remarkable in an Indian, when he possessed the means of
satisfying hunger, at length attracted the notice of Heyward. The young man
willingly believed that the Huron deliberated on the most eligible manner of
eluding the vigilance of his associates. With a view to assist his plans by any
suggestion of his own, and to strengthen the temptation, he left the beech, and
straggled, as if without an object, to the spot where Le Renard was seated.
"Has not Magua kept the sun in his face long enough to escape all danger
from the Canadians?" he asked, as though no longer doubtful of the good
intelligence established between them; "and will not the chief of William Henry
be better pleased to see his daughters before another night may have hardened
his heart to their loss, to make him less liberal in his reward?"
"Do the pale faces love their children less in the morning than at night?"
asked the Indian, coldly.
"By no means," returned Heyward, anxious to recall his error, if he had made
one; "the white man may, and does often, forget the burial place of his fathers; he
sometimes ceases to remember those he should love, and has promised to
cherish; but the affection of a parent for his child is never permitted to die."
"And is the heart of the white-headed chief soft, and will he think of the
babes that his squaws have given him? He is hard on his warriors and his eyes
are made of stone?"
"He is severe to the idle and wicked, but to the sober and deserving he is a
leader, both just and humane. I have known many fond and tender parents, but
never have I seen a man whose heart was softer toward his child. You have seen
Thesaurus
abstinence: (n) temperance, denounce, despise, neglect. ANTONYMS: (v) insult, despise,
abstention, forbearance, sobriety, cookery: (n) cuisine, kitchen, ignore, domineer.
chastity, soberness, celibacy, gastronomy, browning, broiling, straggling: (adj) rambling, straggly,
teetotalism, fast, abstinency, restraint. preparation, culinary art, roasting, spread, few, trailing, untidy,
ANTONYMS: (n) excess, intoxication, toasting, frying, braising. vagabond, sprawly, sprawled.
revelry, intemperance, drunkenness, digestible: (adj) eatable, alimentary, ANTONYM: (adj) compact.
dissipation, extravagance, light. ANTONYM: (adj) indigestible. sustenance: (n) living, food,
wantonness. eluding: (n) chemise, case, cutting, maintenance, subsistence, fare,
cherish: (v) care for, nurture, treasure, slip, berth; (adj) intangible. sustentation, provisions,
entertain, cultivate, bosom, prize, fawn: (v) crawl, creep, grovel, cringe, nourishment, nutriment, aliment,
esteem, harbor; (n, v) hug, foster. cower, crouch, bootlick, kowtow, livelihood. ANTONYM: (n) extras.
ANTONYMS: (v) hate, scorn, reject, blandish, flatter; (n) deer.
the gray-head in front of his warriors, Magua; but I have seen his eyes swimming
in water, when he spoke of those children who are now in your power!"
Heyward paused, for he knew not how to construe the remarkable
expression that gleamed across the swarthy features of the attentive Indian. At
first it seemed as if the remembrance of the promised reward grew vivid in his
mind, while he listened to the sources of parental feeling which were to assure its
possession; but, as Duncan proceeded, the expression of joy became so fiercely
malignant that it was impossible not to apprehend it proceeded from some
passion more sinister than avarice.%
"Go," said the Huron, suppressing the alarming exhibition in an instant, in a
death-like calmness of countenance; "go to the dark-haired daughter, and say,
'Magua waits to speak' The father will remember what the child promises."
Duncan, who interpreted this speech to express a wish for some additional
pledge that the promised gifts should not be withheld, slowly and reluctantly
repaired to the place where the sisters were now resting from their fatigue, to
communicate its purport to Cora.
"You understand the nature of an Indian's wishes," he concluded, as he led
her toward the place where she was expected, "and must be prodigal of your
offers of powder and blankets. Ardent spirits are, however, the most prized by
such as he; nor would it be amiss to add some boon from your own hand, with
that grace you so well know how to practise. Remember, Cora, that on your
presence of mind and ingenuity, even your life, as well as that of Alice, may in
some measure depend."
"Heyward, and yours!"
"Mine is of little moment; it is already sold to my king, and is a prize to be
seized by any enemy who may possess the power. I have no father to expect me,
and but few friends to lament a fate which I have courted with the insatiable
longings of youth after distinction. But hush! we approach the Indian. Magua,
the lady with whom you wish to speak, is here."
Thesaurus
apprehend: (v) arrest, comprehend, deplore, grieve, keen, bewail, mourn; wasteful, excessive, exuberant,
grasp, catch, understand, fathom, (n) dirge, complaint; (n, v) wail, liberal, profuse, dissipated; (adj, n)
realize, sense, follow, nail; (adj, v) moan. ANTONYMS: (n) celebration, profligate. ANTONYMS: (adj)
conceive. ANTONYMS: (v) joy; (v) revel, rejoice, celebrate, economical, cautious.
misunderstand, discharge, free, applaud, praise, compliment. remembrance: (n, v) recollection,
liberate. prized: (adj) beloved, precious, dear, mind; (n) commemoration, memorial,
construe: (v) read, interpret, expound, cherished, appreciated, treasured, recall, relic, monument, keepsake,
clarify, define, illuminate, infer, esteemed, valuable, highly regarded, reminiscence, recognition; (adj, n)
explain, account for, analyse, take. favorite, priceless. ANTONYM: (adj) memento.
ANTONYMS: (v) complicate, hated. withheld: (adj) hidden, uncommitted.
confuse, obscure, speculate. prodigal: (adj) extravagant, ANTONYM: (adj) ongoing.
lament: (v) bemoan, complain, improvident, generous, lavish,
The Indian rose slowly from his seat, and stood for near a minute silent and
motionless. He then signed with his hand for Heyward to retire, saying, coldly:
"When the Huron talks to the women, his tribe shut their ears."
Duncan, still lingering, as if refusing to comply, Cora said, with a calm smile:
"You hear, Heyward, and delicacy at least should urge you to retire. Go to
Alice, and comfort her with our reviving prospects."
She waited until he had departed, and then turning to the native, with the
dignity of her sex in her voice and manner, she added: "What would Le Renard
say to the daughter of Munro?"
"Listen," said the Indian, laying his hand firmly upon her arm, as if willing to
draw her utmost attention to his words; a movement that Cora as firmly but
quietly repulsed, by extricating the limb from his grasp: "Magua was born a chief
and a warrior among the red Hurons of the lakes; he saw the suns of twenty
summers make the snows of twenty winters run off in the streams before he saw
a pale face; and he was happy! Then his Canada fathers came into the woods,
and taught him to drink the fire-water, and he became a rascal. The Hurons
drove him from the graves of his fathers, as they would chase the hunted
buffalo. He ran down the shores of the lakes, and followed their outlet to the
'city of cannon' There he hunted and fished, till the people chased him again
through the woods into the arms of his enemies. The chief, who was born a
Huron, was at last a warrior among the Mohawks!"
"Something like this I had heard before," said Cora, observing that he paused
to suppress those passions which began to burn with too bright a flame, as he
recalled the recollection of his supposed injuries.%
"Was it the fault of Le Renard that his head was not made of rock? Who gave
him the fire-water? who made him a villain? 'Twas the pale faces, the people of
your own color."
"And am I answerable that thoughtless and unprincipled men exist, whose
shades of countenance may resemble mine?" Cora calmly demanded of the
excited savage.
Thesaurus
answerable: (adj, v) amenable, liable, appendage, edge. cautious, mindful, responsible,
responsible, subject, exposed, bound; lingering: (adj) long, chronic, attentive, observant, sensible.
(v) uncommendable, exceptionable; extended, dilatory, protracted, unprincipled: (adj) abandoned,
(adj) conformable, adequate, prolonged, residual, lengthy, unscrupulous, depraved, dishonest,
responsal. ANTONYMS: (adj) inactive, dull; (n) delay. ANTONYM: unethical, profligate, dissolute,
irrefutable, unaccountable. (adj) quick. shameless, unconscionable, vicious,
buffalo: (n) American bison, bison thoughtless: (adj, v) careless, heedless, immoral. ANTONYMS: (adj) ethical,
bison, anoa, American buffalo, zebu, rash, improvident; (adj) reckless, moral, honest, professional.
yak, metropolis, Cape buffalo, city; inattentive, hasty, unthinking, villain: (n) rascal, scoundrel, rogue,
(v) cow, bully. negligent, neglectful, imprudent. knave, miscreant, criminal, bandit,
limb: (n) arm, branch, member, bough, ANTONYMS: (adj) considerate, crook, reprobate, varlet, rapscallion.
extremity, offshoot, part, leg, wing, considered, heedful, prudent, kind, ANTONYMS: (n) heroine, hero.
"No; Magua is a man, and not a fool; such as you never open their lips to the
burning stream: the Great Spirit has given you wisdom!"
"What, then, have I do to, or say, in the matter of your misfortunes, not to say
of your errors?"
"Listen," repeated the Indian, resuming his earnest attitude; "when his
English and French fathers dug up the hatchet, Le Renard struck the war-post of
the Mohawks, and went out against his own nation. The pale faces have driven
the red-skins from their hunting grounds, and now when they fight, a white man
leads the way. The old chief at Horican, your father, was the great captain of our
war-party. He said to the Mohawks do this, and do that, and he was minded. He
made a law, that if an Indian swallowed the fire-water, and came into the cloth
wigwams of his warriors, it should not be forgotten. Magua foolishly opened his
mouth, and the hot liquor led him into the cabin of Munro. What did the gray-
head? let his daughter say."
"He forgot not his words, and did justice, by punishing the offender," said
the undaunted daughter.%
"Justice!" repeated the Indian, casting an oblique glance of the most ferocious
expression at her unyielding countenance; "is it justice to make evil and then
punish for it? Magua was not himself; it was the fire-water that spoke and acted
for him! but Munro did believe it. The Huron chief was tied up before all the
pale-faced warriors, and whipped like a dog."
Cora remained silent, for she knew not how to palliate this imprudent
severity on the part of her father in a manner to suit the comprehension of an
Indian.
"See!" continued Magua, tearing aside the slight calico that very imperfectly
concealed his painted breast; "here are scars given by knives and bullets--of these
a warrior may boast before his nation; but the gray-head has left marks on the
back of the Huron chief that he must hide like a squaw, under this painted cloth
of the whites."
Thesaurus
calico: (n) cambric, fabric, cashmere, partially, poorly, inadequately, palliate: (v) mitigate, assuage,
chintz, cloth; (adj) motley, sketchily, incorrectly, halfway. alleviate, mollify, appease, allay,
varicoloured, pied, assorted. ANTONYMS: (adv) perfectly, facilitate, relieve; (n, v) extenuate;
came: (v) arrive, come. flawlessly, correctly, well. (adj, v) gloze, smooth.
ferocious: (adj) cruel, brutal, imprudent: (adj) foolish, foolhardy, punishing: (adj) gruelling, arduous,
barbarous, feral, truculent, atrocious, indiscreet, hasty, improvident, labourious, laborious, hard, heavy,
fell, bloodthirsty, brutish; (adj, v) impolitic, heedless, unadvised, punitive, backbreaking, clayey,
fierce, savage. ANTONYMS: (adj) injudicious, unwary, unwise. accented, severe. ANTONYM: (adj)
gentle, mild, tender, tame, ANTONYMS: (adj) sensible, prudent, undemanding.
nonviolent, kind, calm. cautious, wise, deliberate, discreet, scars: (n) seams.
imperfectly: (adv) faultily, defectively, guarded, judicious, advisable. squaw: (n) wife, woman; (adj) wintry.
badly, deficiently, incompletely, misfortunes: (n) misfortune. whipped: (v) whipt.
"I had thought," resumed Cora, "that an Indian warrior was patient, and that
his spirit felt not and knew not the pain his body suffered."
"When the Chippewas tied Magua to the stake, and cut this gash," said the
other, laying his finger on a deep scar, "the Huron laughed in their faces, and
told them, Women struck so light! His spirit was then in the clouds! But when
he felt the blows of Munro, his spirit lay under the birch. The spirit of a Huron is
never drunk; it remembers forever!"
"But it may be appeased. If my father has done you this injustice, show him
how an Indian can forgive an injury, and take back his daughters. You have
heard from Major Heyward --"
Magua shook his head, forbidding the repetition of offers he so much
despised.%
"What would you have?" continued Cora, after a most painful pause, while
the conviction forced itself on her mind that the too sanguine and generous
Duncan had been cruelly deceived by the cunning of the savage.
"What a Huron loves -- good for good; bad for bad!"
"You would, then, revenge the injury inflicted by Munro on his helpless
daughters. Would it not be more like a man to go before his face, and take the
satisfaction of a warrior?"
"The arms of the pale faces are long, and their knives sharp!" returned the
savage, with a malignant laugh: "why should Le Renard go among the muskets
of his warriors, when he holds the spirit of the gray-head in his hand?"
"Name your intention, Magua," said Cora, struggling with herself to speak
with steady calmness. "Is it to lead us prisoners to the woods, or do you
contemplate even some greater evil? Is there no reward, no means of palliating
the injury, and of softening your heart? At least, release my gentle sister, and
pour out all your malice on me. Purchase wealth by her safety and satisfy your
revenge with a single victim. The loss of both his daughters might bring the aged
man to his grave, and where would then be the satisfaction of Le Renard?"
Thesaurus
appeased: (adj) content, pacate. ugly, hard, repulsive, redoubtable; virulent, sinister, mischievous,
cruelly: (adv) harshly, ferociously, (n) banning. ANTONYMS: (adj) pernicious, venomous.
fiercely, viciously, inhumanly, alluring, inviting, pleasant, sanguine: (adj) hopeful, optimistic,
mercilessly, pitilessly, heartlessly, hospitable, friendly, favorable, bloody, rubicund, confident, crimson,
roughly, unkindly; (adj, adv) bitterly. comforting. cheerful, buoyant, sanguineous; (adj,
ANTONYMS: (adv) kindly, malice: (n) spite, animosity, enmity, n) red, florid. ANTONYMS: (adj)
mercifully, sympathetically, tamely, venom, ill will, hatred, malevolence, pessimistic, gloomy, doubtful.
peacefully, humanely, cruelty, envy, hate, spleen. softening: (adj) emollient, salving,
compassionately, sensitively, ANTONYMS: (n) goodwill, relaxing; (v) soften; (adj, n) soothing;
respectfully, innocently, genially. benevolence, affection, goodness. (n) maceration, mitigation, easement,
forbidding: (adj) grim, ominous, malignant: (adj) malevolent, mollification, inteneration,
dismal, dour, austere, abominable, malicious, evil, malefic, fatal, spiteful, encouragement.
"Listen," said the Indian again. "The light eyes can go back to the Horican,
and tell the old chief what has been done, if the dark-haired woman will swear
by the Great Spirit of her fathers to tell no lie."
"What must I promise?" demanded Cora, still maintaining a secret
ascendancy over the fierce native by the collected and feminine dignity of her
presence.%
"When Magua left his people his wife was given to another chief; he has now
made friends with the Hurons, and will go back to the graves of his tribe, on the
shores of the great lake. Let the daughter of the English chief follow, and live in
his wigwam forever."
However revolting a proposal of such a character might prove to Cora, she
retained, notwithstanding her powerful disgust, sufficient self-command to
reply, without betraying the weakness.
"And what pleasure would Magua find in sharing his cabin with a wife he
did not love; one who would be of a nation and color different from his own? It
would be better to take the gold of Munro, and buy the heart of some Huron
maid with his gifts."
The Indian made no reply for near a minute, but bent his fierce looks on the
countenance of Cora, in such wavering glances, that her eyes sank with shame,
under an impression that for the first time they had encountered an expression
that no chaste female might endure. While she was shrinking within herself, in
dread of having her ears wounded by some proposal still more shocking than the
last, the voice of Magua answered, in its tones of deepest malignancy:
"When the blows scorched the back of the Huron, he would know where to
find a woman to feel the smart. The daughter of Munro would draw his water,
hoe his corn, and cook his venison. The body of the gray-head would sleep
among his cannon, but his heart would lie within reach of the knife of Le Subtil."
"Monster! well dost thou deserve thy treacherous name," cried Cora, in an
ungovernable burst of filial indignation. "None but a fiend could meditate such
Thesaurus
ascendancy: (n) ascendance, dudgeon; (adj, n) wrath. scorched: (adj) baked, adust, burnt,
supremacy, control, influence, power, ANTONYMS: (n) contentment, dry, seared, burned, charred, torrid,
mastery, rule, dominion, domination, pleasure. dried out, destroyed, drier.
advantage, authority. ANTONYMS: malignancy: (n) malignance, evil, ANTONYMS: (adj) wet, humid.
(n) weakness, subordination. malice, malignity, malevolence, wavering: (adj, v) vacillating; (n)
fiend: (n) monster, devil, fanatic, disease, maliciousness, grudge, fluctuation, hesitation, vacillation;
brute, deuce, incubus, goblin, ogre, enmity; (adj) carcinoma, leukemia. (adj) irresolute, indecisive,
enthusiast, daemon, addict. ANTONYM: (n) benignity. undecided, hesitant, uncertain,
ANTONYM: (n) angel. meditate: (n, v) muse; (v) contemplate, variable, changeable. ANTONYMS:
indignation: (n) anger, resentment, consider, cogitate, reflect, speculate, (adj) decided, constant, resolute,
displeasure, grudge, umbrage, rage, wonder, ruminate, ponder, think, stable, decisive; (n) resolution,
outrage, exasperation, choler, bethink. stability.
a vengeance. But thou overratest thy power! You shall find it is, in truth, the
heart of Munro you hold, and that it will defy your utmost malice!"
The Indian answered this bold defiance by a ghastly smile, that showed an
unaltered purpose, while he motioned her away, as if to close the conference
forever. Cora, already regretting her precipitation, was obliged to comply, for
Magua instantly left the spot, and approached his gluttonous comrades.
Heyward flew to the side of the agitated female, and demanded the result of a
dialogue that he had watched at a distance with so much interest. But, unwilling
to alarm the fears of Alice, she evaded a direct reply, betraying only by her
anxious looks fastened on the slightest movements of her captors. To the
reiterated and earnest questions of her sister concerning their probable
destination, she made no other answer than by pointing toward the dark group,
with an agitation she could not control, and murmuring as she folded Alice to
her bosom.%
"There, there; read our fortunes in their faces; we shall see; we shall see!"
The action, and the choked utterance of Cora, spoke more impressively than
any words, and quickly drew the attention of her companions on that spot where
her own was riveted with an intenseness that nothing but the importance of the
stake could create.
When Magua reached the cluster of lolling savages, who, gorged with their
disgusting meal, lay stretched on the earth in brutal indulgence, he commenced
speaking with the dignity of an Indian chief. The first syllables he uttered had the
effect to cause his listeners to raise themselves in attitudes of respectful attention.
As the Huron used his native language, the prisoners, notwithstanding the
caution of the natives had kept them within the swing of their tomahawks, could
only conjecture the substance of his harangue from the nature of those significant
gestures with which an Indian always illustrates his eloquence.
At first, the language, as well as the action of Magua, appeared calm and
deliberative. When he had succeeded in sufficiently awakening the attention of
his comrades, Heyward fancied, by his pointing so frequently toward the
direction of the great lakes, that he spoke of the land of their fathers, and of their
Thesaurus
deliberative: (v) contemplative, swinish, grasping, covetous, majestically, movingly, massively,
introspective, studious, avaricious, glutton. ANTONYM: (adj) heroically, commandingly,
philosophical, sedate, wistful, abstemious. remarkably, arrestingly.
museful, speculative, pensive, gorged: (adj) sated, full, stuffed, ANTONYMS: (adv) weakly,
reflective; (adj) platonic. congested, replete, satisfied, bursting, execrably, slightly, simply.
eloquence: (n) style, fluency, oratory, surfeited; (v) ready to burst. precipitation: (n) rain, downfall, haste,
rhetoric, articulateness, expression, harangue: (v) declaim; (n) rant, screed, hastiness, rush, rashness, rainfall,
volubility, persuasiveness, articulacy, address, tirade, oration, diatribe, temerity, acceleration, fall; (adj, n)
facundity, way with words. sermon; (n, v) lecture, discourse, precipitancy.
ANTONYM: (n) inarticulateness. stump. unaltered: (adj) unalterable, unmoved,
gluttonous: (adj) insatiable, greedy, impressively: (adv) strikingly, same, unaffected. ANTONYM: (adj)
ravenous, avid, hoggish, edacious, splendidly, grandly, magnificently, affected.
distant %tribe. Frequent indications of applause escaped the listeners, who, as

they uttered the expressive "Hugh!" looked at each other in commendation of the
speaker. Le Renard was too skillful to neglect his advantage. He now spoke of
the long and painful route by which they had left those spacious grounds and
happy villages, to come and battle against the enemies of their Canadian fathers.
He enumerated the warriors of the party; their several merits; their frequent
services to the nation; their wounds, and the number of the scalps they had
taken. Whenever he alluded to any present (and the subtle Indian neglected
none), the dark countenance of the flattered individual gleamed with exultation,
nor did he even hesitate to assert the truth of the words, by gestures of applause
and confirmation. Then the voice of the speaker fell, and lost the loud, animated
tones of triumph with which he had enumerated their deeds of success and
victory. He described the cataract of Glenn's; the impregnable position of its
rocky island, with its caverns and its numerous rapids and whirlpools; he named
the name of "La Longue Carabine," and paused until the forest beneath them had
sent up the last echo of a loud and long yell, with which the hated appellation
was received. He pointed toward the youthful military captive, and described
the death of a favorite warrior, who had been precipitated into the deep ravine
by his hand. He not only mentioned the fate of him who, hanging between
heaven and earth, had presented such a spectacle of horror to the whole band,
but he acted anew the terrors of his situation, his resolution and his death, on the
branches of a sapling; and, finally, he rapidly recounted the manner in which
each of their friends had fallen, never failing to touch upon their courage, and
their most acknowledged virtues. When this recital of events was ended, his
voice once more changed, and became plaintive and even musical, in its low
guttural sounds. He now spoke of the wives and children of the slain; their
destitution; their misery, both physical and moral; their distance; and, at last, of
their unavenged wrongs. Then suddenly lifting his voice to a pitch of terrific
energy, he concluded by demanding:
"Are the Hurons dogs to bear this? Who shall say to the wife of Menowgua
that the fishes have his scalp, and that his nation have not taken revenge! Who
will dare meet the mother of Wassawattimie, that scornful woman, with his
Thesaurus
commendation: (n, v) acclaim, impregnable: (adj, v) fast; (adj) secure, scornful: (adj) disdainful, haughty,
applause, praise; (n) approval, inexpugnable, unassailable, arrogant, sarcastic, disparaging,
citation, approbation, tribute, credit, unconquerable, invulnerable, derisive, mocking, abusive, scathing,
plaudit, acclamation, admiration. insurmountable, unshakable, opprobrious, insulting. ANTONYMS:
ANTONYMS: (n) disapproval, irresistible, strong, safe. (adj) approving, complimentary,
criticism, censure, demotion. ANTONYMS: (adj) vulnerable, humble, sympathetic, admiring.
destitution: (n, v) want, deficiency; (n) tenuous. slain: (v) slay; (adj) overthrown, mat,
deprivation, indigence, penury, plaintive: (adj) pathetic, piteous, fallen, dejected, cast down.
poverty, need, pauperism, lack, lugubrious, doleful, sad, wistful, unavenged: (adj) unwroken, not
hardship, famine. ANTONYMS: (n) sorrowful, woeful, elegiac, dolorous, revenged; (v) unresented.
affluence, luxury, prosperity. lamentable. ANTONYM: (adj) avenged.
enumerated: (adj) detailed. recounted: (adj) narrative. wrongs: (n) mala.
hands clean! What shall be said to the old men when they ask us for scalps, and
we have not a hair from a white head to give them! The women will point their
fingers at us. There is a dark spot on the names of the Hurons, and it must be hid
in blood!" His voice was no longer audible in the burst of rage which now broke
into the air, as if the wood, instead of containing so small a band, was filled with
the nation. During the foregoing address the progress of the speaker was too
plainly read by those most interested in his success through the medium of the
countenances of the men he addressed. They had answered his melancholy and
mourning by sympathy and sorrow; his assertions, by gestures of confirmation;
and his boasting, with the exultation of savages. When he spoke of courage, their
looks were firm and responsive; when he alluded to their injuries, their eyes
kindled with fury; when he mentioned the taunts of the women, they dropped
their heads in shame; but when he pointed out their means of vengeance, he
struck a chord which never failed to thrill in the breast of an Indian. With the
first intimation that it was within their reach, the whole band sprang upon their
feet as one man; giving utterance to their rage in the most frantic cries, they
rushed upon their prisoners in a body with drawn knives and uplifted
tomahawks. Heyward threw himself between the sisters and the foremost, whom
he grappled with a desperate strength that for a moment checked his violence.
This unexpected resistance gave Magua time to interpose, and with rapid
enunciation and animated gesture, he drew the attention of the band again to
himself. In that language he knew so well how to assume, he diverted his
comrades from their instant purpose, and invited them to prolong the misery of
their victims. His proposal was received with acclamations, and executed with
the swiftness of thought.%
Two powerful warriors cast themselves on Heyward, while another was
occupied in securing the less active singing-master. Neither of the captives,
however, submitted without a desperate, though fruitless, struggle. Even David
hurled his assailant to the earth; nor was Heyward secured until the victory over
his companion enabled the Indians to direct their united force to that object. He
was then bound and fastened to the body of the sapling, on whose branches
Magua had acted the pantomime of the falling Huron. When the young soldier
Thesaurus
assailant: (n) raider, attacker, foregoing: (adj) previous, anterior, sorrowfulness, sadness, sorrow; (adj)
assaulter, invader, enemy, fighter, antecedent, prior, past, above, grieving; (v) lamenting.
opponent, antagonist, foe, mugger; preceding, aforegoing, earlier. pantomime: (n, v) gesture; (n) dumb
(adj) aggressive. ANTONYM: (adj) following. show, mummery, acting, playacting,
boasting: (n) bluster, bravado, interpose: (v) interject, insert, performing, playing, pantomimist;
rodomontade, swagger, braggadocio, interpolate, intercede, intervene, (v) mimic, roleplay, playact.
ostentation, show; (v) brag; (adj) meddle, intrude, tamper, step in, butt prolong: (v) extend, delay, protract,
swaggering, vaporing, strutting. in; (adj, v) intermeddle. keep up, expand, elongate, drag out,
enunciation: (n) delivery, elocution, kindled: (adj) enkindled, lighted, lit, maintain, lengthen, draw out,
articulation, pronunciation, speech, burning. procrastinate. ANTONYMS: (v) stop,
declaration, annunciation, accent, mourning: (n) lament, lamentation, cancel, curtail, quit.
assertion, inflection, expression. bereavement, gloom, woe, memorial, taunts: (n) mocking, jeers.
regained his recollection, he had the painful certainty before his eyes that a
common fate was intended for the whole party. On his right was Cora in a
durance similar to his own, pale and agitated, but with an eye whose steady look
still read the proceedings of their enemies. On his left, the withes which bound
her to a pine, performed that office for Alice which her trembling limbs refused,
and alone kept her fragile form from sinking. Her hands were clasped before her
in prayer, but instead of looking upward toward that power which alone could
rescue them, her unconscious looks wandered to the countenance of Duncan
with infantile dependency. David had contended, and the novelty of the
circumstance held him silent, in deliberation on the propriety of the unusual
occurrence.%
The vengeance of the Hurons had now taken a new direction, and they
prepared to execute it with that barbarous ingenuity with which they were
familiarized by the practise of centuries. Some sought knots, to raise the blazing
pile; one was riving the splinters of pine, in order to pierce the flesh of their
captives with the burning fragments; and others bent the tops of two saplings to
the earth, in order to suspend Heyward by the arms between the recoiling
branches. But the vengeance of Magua sought a deeper and more malignant
enjoyment.
While the less refined monsters of the band prepared, before the eyes of those
who were to suffer, these well-known and vulgar means of torture, he
approached Cora, and pointed out, with the most malign expression of
countenance, the speedy fate that awaited her:
"Ha!" he added, "what says the daughter of Munro? Her head is too good to
find a pillow in the wigwam of Le Renard; will she like it better when it rolls
about this hill a plaything for the wolves? Her bosom cannot nurse the children
of a Huron; she will see it spit upon by Indians!"
"What means the monster!" demanded the astonished Heyward.
"Nothing!" was the firm reply. "He is a savage, a barbarous and ignorant
savage, and knows not what he does. Let us find leisure, with our dying breath,
to ask for him penitence and pardon."
Thesaurus
awaited: (adj) expected, appointed, little. ANTONYM: (adj) old. fulfilled.
scheduled, forthcoming, prospective. malign: (v) defame, disparage, pierce: (n, v) cut, prick, stick; (v)
contended: (adj) controversial. asperse, libel, badmouth, vilify; (adj) perforate, bore, enter, thrust,
durance: (n) captivity, dure, malevolent, harmful, malefic, puncture, penetrate; (adj, v) stab,
incarceration, imprisonment, injurious, evil. ANTONYMS: (v) wound. ANTONYM: (v) seal.
immurement, duress. praise, compliment; (adj) benign, plaything: (n) bauble, trifle, gewgaw,
familiarized: (adj) adjusted, familiar, beneficial, harmless. cockhorse, doll, dollhouse, dolly,
used to, oriented, orientated, penitence: (n) penance, compunction, playhouse, hobby, hobbyhorse,
accustomed. regret, contrition, remorse, rue, kaleidoscope.
infantile: (adj) immature, infant, sorrow, atonement, grief, expiation, recoiling: (adv) recoilingly; (adj)
babyish, infantine, young, juvenile, contriteness. resilient, bashful, leaping back,
childlike, baby, adolescent, puerile, performed: (adj, v) done, finished; (adj) rebounding; (n) return.
"Pardon!" echoed the fierce Huron, mistaking in his anger, the meaning of
her words; "the memory of an Indian is no longer than the arm of the pale faces;
his mercy shorter than their justice! Say; shall I send the yellow hair to her
father, and will you follow Magua to the great lakes, to carry his water, and feed
him with corn?"
Cora beckoned him away, with an emotion of disgust she could not control.%
"Leave me," she said, with a solemnity that for a moment checked the
barbarity of the Indian; "you mingle bitterness in my prayers; you stand between
me and my God!"
The slight impression produced on the savage was, however, soon forgotten,
and he continued pointing, with taunting irony, toward Alice.
"Look! the child weeps! She is too young to die! Send her to Munro, to comb
his gray hairs, and keep life in the heart of the old man."
Cora could not resist the desire to look upon her youthful sister, in whose
eyes she met an imploring glance, that betrayed the longings of nature.
"What says he, dearest Cora?" asked the trembling voice of Alice. "Did he
speak of sending me to our father?"
For many moments the elder sister looked upon the younger, with a
countenance that wavered with powerful and contending emotions. At length
she spoke, though her tones had lost their rich and calm fullness, in an
expression of tenderness that seemed maternal.
"Alice," she said, "the Huron offers us both life, nay, more than both; he offers
to restore Duncan, our invaluable Duncan, as well as you, to our friends -- to our
father -- to our heart-stricken, childless father, if I will bow down this rebellious,
stubborn pride of mine, and consent --"
Her voice became choked, and clasping her hands, she looked upward, as if
seeking, in her agony, intelligence from a wisdom that was infinite.
"Say on," cried Alice; "to what, dearest Cora? Oh! that the proffer were made
to me! to save you, to cheer our aged father, to restore Duncan, how cheerfully
could I die!"
Thesaurus
childless: (adj) sterile, unfruitful, dearest: (n) dear, darling, love, honey, suppliant, pleading, entreating,
issueless, infertile, bare, bereaved, lover, sweetheart, loved one, baby; piteous, importunate, entreating
bleak, unkind, unproductive, orbate. (adj) precious, intimate, sweet. urgently; (v) supplicate, plead; (n)
clasping: (adj) tendril. fullness: (n) completeness, breadth, prayer.
comb: (v) brush, ransack, search, entirety, abundance, mistaking: (n) misunderstanding,
dress, eliminate, groom; (adj) weed; comprehensiveness, ampleness, mistake, imbroglio,
(n) crest, combing, caruncle, largeness, repletion, wholeness, misinterpretation, misconstruction,
currycomb. totality, richness. ANTONYMS: (n) misapprehension, misconstrual,
contending: (adj) contentious, narrowness, incompleteness, interpretation, misreading; (adj)
conflicting, competitive, competing, thinness, weakness. mistaken, misleading.
competitory, combatant, challenging, hairs: (n) hair. shorter: (adj) smaller, inferior.
factious, militant, warlike, fighting. imploring: (adj) appealing, begging,
"Die!" repeated Cora, with a calmer and firmer voice, "that were easy!
Perhaps the alternative may not be less so. He would have me," she continued,
her accents sinking under a deep consciousness of the degradation of the
proposal, "follow him to the wilderness; go to the habitations of the Hurons; to
remain there; in short, to become his wife! Speak, then, Alice; child of my
affections! sister of my love! And you, too, Major Heyward, aid my weak reason
with your counsel. Is life to be purchased by such a sacrifice? Will you, Alice,
receive it at my hands at such a price? And you, Duncan, guide me; control me
between you; for I am wholly yours!"
"Would I!" echoed the indignant and astonished youth. "Cora! Cora! you jest
with our misery! Name not the horrid alternative again; the thought itself is
worse than a thousand deaths."
"That such would be your answer, I well knew!" exclaimed Cora, her cheeks
flushing, and her dark eyes once more sparkling with the lingering emotions of a
woman. "What says my Alice? for her will I submit without another murmur."
Although both Heyward and Cora listened with painful suspense and the
deepest attention, no sounds were heard in reply. It appeared as if the delicate
and sensitive form of Alice would shrink into itself, as she listened to this
proposal. Her arms had fallen lengthwise before her, the fingers moving in slight
convulsions; her head dropped upon her bosom, and her whole person seemed
suspended against the tree, looking like some beautiful emblem of the wounded
delicacy of her sex, devoid of animation and yet keenly conscious. In a few
moments, however, her head began to move slowly, in a sign of deep,
unconquerable disapprobation.%
"No, no, no; better that we die as we have lived, together!"
"Then die!" shouted Magua, hurling his tomahawk with violence at the
unresisting speaker, and gnashing his teeth with a rage that could no longer be
bridled at this sudden exhibition of firmness in the one he believed the weakest
of the party. The axe cleaved the air in front of Heyward, and cutting some of the
flowing ringlets of Alice, quivered in the tree above her head. The sight
maddened Duncan to desperation. Collecting all his energies in one effort he
Thesaurus
affections: (n) bosom. hurling: (adj) moving; (n) field game. aggravated, ferocious; (v) frantic.
bridled: (adj) pent-up. jest: (n) gag, gibe, quip, game; (n, v) unconquerable: (adj) insurmountable,
cleaved: (adj) torn. jape; (v) banter, jeer, deride, gird, impregnable, insuperable, irresistible,
convulsions: (n) convulsion, spasm, sneer, clown. unbeatable, proof against, resistless,
epilepsy, eclampsia, mirth. lengthwise: (adv) along, longwise, indomitable, unquenchable,
emblem: (n) flag, type, device, endlong, longways, longitudinally, impassable, inextinguishable.
allegory, character, crest, sign, badge, endways, endwise, in company, ANTONYMS: (adj) conquerable,
figure, ensign, symbol. across time; (adj) linear, longitudinal. feeble.
flushing: (n) rinsing, blush, flashing, ANTONYM: (adj) crosswise. weakest: (adj) ridiculous, suggestion,
Flushing process, Flushing system, maddened: (adj) angry, furious, supposes, notions, plainly, irrational,
histamine flush, hushing, water deranged, angered, enraged, incongruous, project, foolish, fatuity,
Flushing. moonstruck, fierce, upset, inconsistent.
snapped the twigs which bound him and rushed upon another savage, who was
preparing, with loud yells and a more deliberate aim, to repeat the blow. They
encountered, grappled, and fell to the earth together. The naked body of his
antagonist afforded Heyward no means of holding his adversary, who glided
from his grasp, and rose again with one knee on his chest, pressing him down
with the weight of a giant. Duncan already saw the knife gleaming in the air,
when a whistling sound swept past him, and was rather accompanied than
followed by the sharp crack of a rifle. He felt his breast relieved from the load it
had endured; he saw the savage expression of his adversary's countenance
change to a look of vacant wildness, when the Indian fell dead on the faded
leaves by his side.%
Thesaurus
adversary: (n) antagonist, foe, enemy, ransack, steal, foray, reave, take; (n) comprehending, animated, solid,
competitor, rival, opposition, gun, firearm. expressive, knowing.
opposer, contestant, match, savage: (adj, v) fierce, wild, furious; whistling: (n) whistle, sound, tin
somebody; (adj) hostile. (adj) ferocious, brutal, cruel, whistle, music, pennywhistle, sign,
ANTONYMS: (n) ally, supporter, bloodthirsty, rough, pitiless; (adj, n) signal, signaling.
friend, partner, helper, assistant. brute; (n) vandal. ANTONYMS: (adj) wildness: (n) fierceness, ferocity,
gleaming: (adj) brilliant, shiny, civilized, gentle, nice. savageness, abandon, rage,
radiant, glossy, lustrous, glowing, vacant: (adj) blank, hollow, unfilled, extravagance, ferociousness,
beaming, resplendent; (n) gleam, void, free, unoccupied, bare, idle, intensity, vehemence; (v) wilderness;
glimmer; (adj, adv) agleam. expressionless, open; (adj, v) devoid. (n, v) waste. ANTONYMS: (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) dull, dirty, rough. ANTONYMS: (adj) full, cognizant, tameness, order, meekness,
rifle: (v) plunder, pillage, despoil, loot, overflowing, inhabited, aware, gentleness, caution, orderliness.
CHAPTER 12
"Clown.--I am gone, sire,

And anon, sire,
I'll be with you again."%
Twelfth Night
The Hurons stood aghast at this sudden visitation of death on one of their
band. But as they regarded the fatal accuracy of an aim which had dared to
immolate an enemy at so much hazard to a friend, the name of "La Longue
Carabine" burst simultaneously from every lip, and was succeeded by a wild and
a sort of plaintive howl. The cry was answered by a loud shout from a little
thicket, where the incautious party had piled their arms; and at the next moment,
Hawkeye, too eager to load the rifle he had regained, was seen advancing upon
them, brandishing the clubbed weapon, and cutting the air with wide and
powerful sweeps. Bold and rapid as was the progress of the scout, it was
exceeded by that of a light and vigorous form which, bounding past him, leaped,
with incredible activity and daring, into the very center of the Hurons, where it
stood, whirling a tomahawk, and flourishing a glittering knife, with fearful
menaces, in front of Cora. Quicker than the thoughts could follow those
unexpected and audacious movements, an image, armed in the emblematic
panoply of death, glided before their eyes, and assumed a threatening attitude at
Thesaurus
anon: (adv) directly, immediately, characteristic; (adj) allegorical, slaughter, attempt, endeavor, atone,
early, readily, soon, instantly, again, figurative, symbolical, typic, bid.
forthwith, promptly, shortly, rath. emblematical; (v) symptomatic, panoply: (n) stand of arms, show,
audacious: (adj) brash, arrogant, diacritical, demonstrative. parade, clothing, fanfare; (v) protect,
barefaced, bold, daring, impudent, ANTONYM: (adj) uncharacteristic. clothe, defend, guard.
intrepid, brave, shameless, glittering: (adj, v) brilliant; (adj) sire: (v) generate, engender, beget,
enterprising, insolent. ANTONYMS: sparkling, flashing, dazzling, procreate, mother, get, make; (n)
(adj) modest, timid, cautious, polite, glistering, glistening, glinting, forefather, ancestor, patriarch, pater.
reserved, meek, humble, fearful, shining, scintillating, splendid; (adj, visitation: (v) visit, examination; (n)
discreet, respectful. adv) aglitter. tribulation, calamity, annoyance,
brandishing: (n) flourish. immolate: (v) sacrifice, offer, misfortune, irritation, infliction,
emblematic: (adj, v) symbolic, typical, assassinate, butcher, kill, murder, inspection, test, ordeal.
the other's side. The savage tormentors recoiled before these warlike intruders,
and uttered, as they appeared in such quick succession, the often repeated and
peculiar exclamations of surprise, followed by the well-known and dreaded
appellations of:
"Le Cerf Agile! Le Gros Serpent!"
But the wary and vigilant leader of the Hurons was not so easily
disconcerted. Casting his keen eyes around the little plain, he comprehended the
nature of the assault at a glance, and encouraging his followers by his voice as
well as by his example, he unsheathed his long and dangerous knife, and rushed
with a loud whoop upon the expected Chingachgook. It was the signal for a
general combat. Neither party had firearms, and the contest was to be decided in
the deadliest manner, hand to hand, with weapons of offense, and none of
defense.%
Uncas answered the whoop, and leaping on an enemy, with a single, well-
directed blow of his tomahawk, cleft him to the brain. Heyward tore the weapon
of Magua from the sapling, and rushed eagerly toward the fray. As the
combatants were now equal in number, each singled an opponent from the
adverse band. The rush and blows passed with the fury of a whirlwind, and the
swiftness of lightning. Hawkeye soon got another enemy within reach of his arm,
and with one sweep of his formidable weapon he beat down the slight and
inartificial defenses of his antagonist, crushing him to the earth with the blow.
Heyward ventured to hurl the tomahawk he had seized, too ardent to await the
moment of closing. It struck the Indian he had selected on the forehead, and
checked for an instant his onward rush. Encouraged by this slight advantage, the
impetuous young man continued his onset, and sprang upon his enemy with
naked hands. A single instant was enough to assure him of the rashness of the
measure, for he immediately found himself fully engaged, with all his activity
and courage, in endeavoring to ward the desperate thrusts made with the knife
of the Huron. Unable longer to foil an enemy so alert and vigilant, he threw his
arms about him, and succeeded in pinning the limbs of the other to his side, with
Thesaurus
cleft: (adj, n) split; (n) fissure, cleavage, considered, careful, slow, sensible, stemming.
crevice, rift, fracture, aperture, patient. unsheathed: (adj) denudate, stripped,
breach, chap, chink, crack. inartificial: (adj) natural, simple, bald, barren, bleak, completely
ANTONYM: (adj) united. native, confiding, ingenu, untutored, unclothed, denuded, desolate,
hurl: (v) chuck, dash, pitch, throw, inartistic, real, rude, naive, marginal, naked, nude.
dart, pelt, toss, heave, send; (n, v) unaffected. weapons: (n) weaponry, weapon,
fling; (n) casting. ANTONYM: (v) onward: (adv) ahead, forwards, before, ordnance, munitions, defense, guns,
hold. forth, onwards, along, in advance, armaments, artillery.
impetuous: (adj) boisterous, hasty, frontward, forrader; (adv, prep) on; whirlwind: (n) tornado, hurricane,
fiery, headlong, heady, hot, brash, (adj) progressive. ANTONYM: (adv) twister, gale, tempest, cyclone,
foolhardy, dashing, fierce; (adj, v) backward. typhoon, waterspout, windstorm,
impulsive. ANTONYMS: (adj) pinning: (n) pining, pin drafting, flurry, dust devil.
an iron grasp, but one that was far too exhausting to himself to continue long. In
this extremity he heard a voice near him, shouting:
"Extarminate the varlets! no quarter to an accursed Mingo!"
At the next moment, the breech of Hawkeye's rifle fell on the naked head of
his adversary, whose muscles appeared to wither under the shock, as he sank
from the arms of Duncan, flexible and motionless.%
When Uncas had brained his first antagonist, he turned, like a hungry lion, to
seek another. The fifth and only Huron disengaged at the first onset had paused
a moment, and then seeing that all around him were employed in the deadly
strife, he had sought, with hellish vengeance, to complete the baffled work of
revenge. Raising a shout of triumph, he sprang toward the defenseless Cora,
sending his keen axe as the dreadful precursor of his approach. The tomahawk
grazed her shoulder, and cutting the withes which bound her to the tree, left the
maiden at liberty to fly. She eluded the grasp of the savage, and reckless of her
own safety, threw herself on the bosom of Alice, striving with convulsed and ill-
directed fingers, to tear asunder the twigs which confined the person of her
sister. Any other than a monster would have relented at such an act of generous
devotion to the best and purest affection; but the breast of the Huron was a
stranger to sympathy. Seizing Cora by the rich tresses which fell in confusion
about her form, he tore her from her frantic hold, and bowed her down with
brutal violence to her knees. The savage drew the flowing curls through his
hand, and raising them on high with an outstretched arm, he passed the knife
around the exquisitely molded head of his victim, with a taunting and exulting
laugh. But he purchased this moment of fierce gratification with the loss of the
fatal opportunity. It was just then the sight caught the eye of Uncas. Bounding
from his footsteps he appeared for an instant darting through the air and
descending in a ball he fell on the chest of his enemy, driving him many yards
from the spot, headlong and prostrate. The violence of the exertion cast the
young Mohican at his side. They arose together, fought, and bled, each in his
turn. But the conflict was soon decided; the tomahawk of Heyward and the rifle
Thesaurus
accursed: (adj) execrable, abominable, unguarded, undefended, exposed, flat, open, unfolded, stretched, broad,
detestable, accurst, hateful, damned, bare, weak; (adj, v) indefensible; (v) wiredrawn, wide, long.
damnable, maledict, blasted; (v) unarmed. ANTONYMS: (adj) strong, prostrate: (adj, v) prone, exhaust, level,
atrocious, stranded. fortified, defended, secure, guarded, fatigue; (v) fell, overwhelm,
bled: (v) bleed; (n) bulla. protected, impervious, defensible, overcome, floor, overthrow; (adj)
breech: (n) behind, bottom, croup, tail, armed, invulnerable. deject, knock down. ANTONYM:
buttock, backside scut, backside, loin, grazed: (adj) hurt. (adj) upright.
dorsum, buttocks, breeches. hellish: (adj, v) diabolic, satanic; (adj) wither: (v) shrink, wilt, contract,
darting: (adj) arrowy, moving; (v) infernal, diabolical, fiendish, shrivel, languish, droop, dry, waste,
Sally. demonic, beastly, wicked, unholy, wane, atrophy, decay. ANTONYMS:
defenseless: (adj) unprotected, detestable; (v) mephistophelian. (v) swell, strengthen, grow, blossom,
helpless, defenceless, naked, outstretched: (adj) extended, lengthy, flourish.
of Hawkeye descended on the skull of the Huron, at the same moment that the
knife of Uncas reached his heart.%
The battle was now entirely terminated with the exception of the protracted
struggle between "Le Renard Subtil" and "Le Gros Serpent." Well did these
barbarous warriors prove that they deserved those significant names which had
been bestowed for deeds in former wars. When they engaged, some little time
was lost in eluding the quick and vigorous thrusts which had been aimed at their
lives. Suddenly darting on each other, they closed, and came to the earth, twisted
together like twining serpents, in pliant and subtle folds. At the moment when
the victors found themselves unoccupied, the spot where these experienced and
desperate combatants lay could only be distinguished by a cloud of dust and
leaves, which moved from the center of the little plain toward its boundary, as if
raised by the passage of a whirlwind. Urged by the different motives of filial
affection, friendship and gratitude, Heyward and his companions rushed with
one accord to the place, encircling the little canopy of dust which hung above the
warriors. In vain did Uncas dart around the cloud, with a wish to strike his knife
into the heart of his father's foe; the threatening rifle of Hawkeye was raised and
suspended in vain, while Duncan endeavored to seize the limbs of the Huron
with hands that appeared to have lost their power. Covered as they were with
dust and blood, the swift evolutions of the combatants seemed to incorporate
their bodies into one. The death-like looking figure of the Mohican, and the dark
form of the Huron, gleamed before their eyes in such quick and confused
succession, that the friends of the former knew not where to plant the succoring
blow. It is true there were short and fleeting moments, when the fiery eyes of
Magua were seen glittering, like the fabled organs of the basilisk through the
dusty wreath by which he was enveloped, and he read by those short and
deadly glances the fate of the combat in the presence of his enemies; ere,
however, any hostile hand could descend on his devoted head, its place was
filled by the scowling visage of Chingachgook. In this manner the scene of the
combat was removed from the center of the little plain to its verge. The Mohican
now found an opportunity to make a powerful thrust with his knife; Magua
suddenly relinquished his grasp, and fell backward without motion, and
Thesaurus
basilisk: (n) reptile, basilica, iguanid, (adj) factual, unknown, prosaic, real. scowling: (adj) frowning, angry, dire,
urchin, culverin, viper, serpent, folds: (n) laps. frowny, grim, threatening, ugly,
mortar, howitzer, heavy gun, field hung: (n) hanging; (v) Heng; (adj) unfriendly, dark.
piece. fatigued, puzzled, decorated. unoccupied: (adj) empty, vacant,
enveloped: (adj) convoluted, enclosed, pliant: (adj, v) pliable, limber; (adj) unemployed, free, desolate, void,
cover, bounded, Byzantine, clothed, elastic, plastic, ductile, malleable, uninhabited, idle, inactive, deserted,
involved, misty, swallowed, adaptable, compliant, flexile, supple, abandoned. ANTONYMS: (adj) full,
vestured, emotionally involved. lithe. ANTONYMS: (adj) inflexible, inhabited, overcrowded, solid,
fabled: (adj) imaginary, mythical, rigid, rebellious. working, busy.
mythological, fancied, dummy, relinquished: (adj) forsaken, deserted, wreath: (n) crown, coronal, garland,
fabulous, unreal, fictitious, magic, derelict, unoccupied, given, chaplet, lei, circle, posy, fascia,
magical, enchanted. ANTONYMS: surrendered. cincture, girdle, laurels.
seemingly without life. His adversary leaped on his feet, making the arches of
the forest ring with the sounds of triumph.%
"Well done for the Delawares! victory to the Mohicans!" cried Hawkeye, once
more elevating the butt of the long and fatal rifle; "a finishing blow from a man
without a cross will never tell against his honor, nor rob him of his right to the
scalp."
But at the very moment when the dangerous weapon was in the act of
descending, the subtle Huron rolled swiftly from beneath the danger, over the
edge of the precipice, and falling on his feet, was seen leaping, with a single
bound, into the center of a thicket of low bushes, which clung along its sides. The
Delawares, who had believed their enemy dead, uttered their exclamation of
surprise, and were following with speed and clamor, like hounds in open view
of the deer, when a shrill and peculiar cry from the scout instantly changed their
purpose, and recalled them to the summit of the hill.
"'Twas like himself!" cried the inveterate forester, whose prejudices
contributed so largely to veil his natural sense of justice in all matters which
concerned the Mingoes; "a lying and deceitful varlet as he is. An honest
Delaware now, being fairly vanquished, would have lain still, and been knocked
on the head, but these knavish Maquas cling to life like so many cats-o'-the-
mountain. Let him go -- let him go; 'tis but one man, and he without rifle or bow,
many a long mile from his French commerades; and like a rattler that lost his
fangs, he can do no further mischief, until such time as he, and we too, may leave
the prints of our moccasins over a long reach of sandy plain. See, Uncas," he
added, in Delaware, "your father is flaying the scalps already. It may be well to
go round and feel the vagabonds that are left, or we may have another of them
loping through the woods, and screeching like a jay that has been winged."
So saying the honest but implacable scout made the circuit of the dead, into
whose senseless bosoms he thrust his long knife, with as much coolness as
though they had been so many brute carcasses. He had, however, been
anticipated by the elder Mohican, who had already torn the emblems of victory
from the unresisting heads of the slain.
Thesaurus
clamor: (n, v) outcry, cry, clamour, dependable. chatterbox, diamondback rattlesnake,
hullabaloo, roar, shout; (n) noise, implacable: (adj) cruel, remorseless, freight liner, railroad train,
racket, uproar, exclamation, hubbub. irreconcilable, pitiless, merciless, sidewinder, ground rattler, prairie
ANTONYMS: (n) silence, serenity, grim, unappeasable, deadly, mortal, rattlesnake, diamondback, pit viper.
tranquility; (v) whisper, mutter. relentless, unforgiving. ANTONYMS: vanquished: (adj) beaten,
deceitful: (adj) false, fraudulent, (adj) placable, unrelenting. overwhelmed, routed, overcome,
insincere, crooked, dishonest, untrue, inveterate: (adj) incorrigible, overpowered, overthrown, defeated,
sly, artful, untrustworthy, unreliable, confirmed, chronic, ingrained, old, crushed, tried, tired out, practiced.
treacherous. ANTONYMS: (adj) irredeemable; (adj, v) fixed; (v) varlet: (n) rascal, knave, page,
straightforward, genuine, rooted, ingrafted, hackneyed; (n) attendant, scoundrel, mean wretch,
trustworthy, truthful, loyal, open, ineffaceable. cullion, scalawag, scallywag,
principled, straight, upright, faithful, rattler: (n) rattlesnake, massasauga, rapscallion, scamp.
But Uncas, denying his habits, we had almost said his nature, flew with
instinctive delicacy, accompanied by Heyward, to the assistance of the females,
and quickly releasing Alice, placed her in the arms of Cora. We shall not attempt
to describe the gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of Events which glowed in the
bosoms of the sisters, who were thus unexpectedly restored to life and to each
other. Their thanksgivings were deep and silent; the offerings of their gentle
spirits burning brightest and purest on the secret altars of their hearts; and their
renovated and more earthly feelings exhibiting themselves in long and fervent
though speechless caresses. As Alice rose from her knees, where she had sunk
by the side of Cora, she threw herself on the bosom of the latter, and sobbed
aloud the name of their aged father, while her soft, dove-like eyes, sparkled with
the rays of hope.%
"We are saved! we are saved!" she murmured; "to return to the arms of our
dear, dear father, and his heart will not be broken with grief. And you, too, Cora,
my sister, my more than sister, my mother; you, too, are spared. And Duncan,"
she added, looking round upon the youth with a smile of ineffable innocence,
"even our own brave and noble Duncan has escaped without a hurt."
To these ardent and nearly innocent words Cora made no other answer than
by straining the youthful speaker to her heart, as she bent over her in melting
tenderness. The manhood of Heyward felt no shame in dropping tears over this
spectacle of affectionate rapture; and Uncas stood, fresh and blood-stained from
the combat, a calm, and, apparently, an unmoved looker-on, it is true, but with
eyes that had already lost their fierceness, and were beaming with a sympathy
that elevated him far above the intelligence, and advanced him probably
centuries before, the practises of his nation.
During this display of emotions so natural in their situation, Hawkeye, whose
vigilant distrust had satisfied itself that the Hurons, who disfigured the heavenly
scene, no longer possessed the power to interrupt its harmony, approached
David, and liberated him from the bonds he had, until that moment, endured
with the most exemplary patience.
Thesaurus
beaming: (adj) bright, radiant, enthusiastic, intense, cordial, untellable.
glowing, glad, beamy, cheerful, passionate, hot, emotional, torrid, looker-on: (n) bystander, spectator,
refulgent, sunny, luminous, strong. ANTONYMS: (adj) apathetic, eyewitness, witness.
resplendent, incandescent. unenthusiastic, cool, weak, manhood: (n) majority, maturity,
ANTONYMS: (adj) gloomy, dark, unexcited, dispirited, dispassionate, valor, resolution, personality,
dusky, frowning, sad, sullen, flippant, impassive, lukewarm, mild. humanity, integrity, bravery; (adj)
tenebrous. hearts: (n) Black Maria, spades. manliness, ripe age, maturity full age.
disfigured: (adj) crooked, ugly, spoil, ineffable: (adj) indescribable, speechless: (adj) silent, mute, dumb,
damage, deform, shabby, hurt, unspeakable, unutterable, dumbfounded, voiceless, quiet,
shapeless, dishonest, stained, indefinable, inexpressible, beyond tongueless, tacit, noiseless, mum,
blemished. expression, unimaginable, beyond wordless. ANTONYMS: (adj)
fervent: (adj) ardent, eager, earnest, words, unpronounceable, dreadful, loquacious, eloquent, talkative.
"There," exclaimed the scout, casting the last withe behind him, "you are once
more master of your own limbs, though you seem not to use them with much
greater judgment than that in which they were first fashioned. If advice from one
who is not older than yourself, but who, having lived most of his time in the
wilderness, may be said to have experience beyond his years, will give no
offense, you are welcome to my thoughts; and these are, to part with the little
tooting instrument in your jacket to the first fool you meet with, and buy some
we'pon with the money, if it be only the barrel of a horseman's pistol. By
industry and care, you might thus come to some prefarment; for by this time, I
should think, your eyes would plainly tell you that a carrion crow is a better bird
than a mocking-thresher. The one will, at least, remove foul sights from before
the face of man, while the other is only good to brew disturbances in the woods,
by cheating the ears of all that hear them."%
"Arms and the clarion for the battle, but the song of thanksgiving to the
victory!" answered the liberated David. "Friend," he added, thrusting forth his
lean, delicate hand toward Hawkeye, in kindness, while his eyes twinkled and
grew moist, "I thank thee that the hairs of my head still grow where they were
first rooted by Providence; for, though those of other men may be more glossy
and curling, I have ever found mine own well suited to the brain they shelter.
That I did not join myself to the battle, was less owing to disinclination, than to
the bonds of the heathen. Valiant and skillful hast thou proved thyself in the
conflict, and I hereby thank thee, before proceeding to discharge other and more
important duties, because thou hast proved thyself well worthy of a Christian's
praise."
"The thing is but a trifle, and what you may often see if you tarry long among
us," returned the scout, a good deal softened toward the man of song, by this
unequivocal expression of gratitude. "I have got back my old companion,
'killdeer'," he added, striking his hand on the breech of his rifle; "and that in itself
is a victory. These Iroquois are cunning, but they outwitted themselves when
they placed their firearms out of reach; and had Uncas or his father been gifted
with only their common Indian patience, we should have come in upon the
Thesaurus
carrion: (n) carcass, offal, dead body, (adj) clear, fair. ANTONYMS: (adj) godless, barbaric.
corpse, filth, ket, any filth, caroigne; soft, low, dull, muffled. tarry: (v) linger, loiter, stay, remain,
(adj) garbage. disinclination: (n) dislike, distaste, delay, lag, dally, dawdle, bide, rest;
cheating: (n) cheat, dishonesty, indisposition, reluctance, antipathy, (adj) pitchy. ANTONYMS: (v)
imposition, imposture, fraud, opposition, disaffection, disrelish, complete, finish.
duplicity, deception, chicanery; (adj) unwillingness, disfavor; (n, v) valiant: (adj) brave, courageous,
dirty, cunning, deceiving. disgust. ANTONYMS: (n) inclination, intrepid, fearless, heroic, audacious,
ANTONYMS: (adj) honest, faithful; disposition, desire, tendency, gallant, daring, dauntless, stout,
(n) honesty, truthfulness. keenness, willingness. stalwart. ANTONYMS: (adj) afraid,
clarion: (n) horn, trombone, heathen: (adj, n) gentile, ethnic; (n) despicable.
ophicleide; (v) trumpet, proclaim, infidel, idolater, paynim, heretic; (adj) withe: (n) twig, withy, osier, sprig,
promulgate, pibroch, exclaim, slogan; heathenish, irreligious, giaour, wickerwork, branchlet, band, wicker.
knaves with three bullets instead of one, and that would have made a finish of
the whole pack; yon loping varlet, as well as his commerades. But 'twas all fore-
ordered, and for the best."
"Thou sayest well," returned David, "and hast caught the true spirit of
Christianity. He that is to be saved will be saved, and he that is predestined to be
damned will be damned. This is the doctrine of truth, and most consoling and
refreshing it is to the true believer."
The scout, who by this time was seated, examining into the state of his rifle
with a species of parental assiduity, now looked up at the other in a displeasure
that he did not affect to conceal, roughly interrupting further speech.%
"Doctrine or no doctrine," said the sturdy woodsman, "'tis the belief of
knaves, and the curse of an honest man. I can credit that yonder Huron was to
fall by my hand, for with my own eyes I have seen it; but nothing short of being a
witness will cause me to think he has met with any reward, or that
Chingachgook there will be condemned at the final day."
"You have no warranty for such an audacious doctrine, nor any covenant to
support it," cried David who was deeply tinctured with the subtle distinctions
which, in his time, and more especially in his province, had been drawn around
the beautiful simplicity of revelation, by endeavoring to penetrate the awful
mystery of the divine nature, supplying faith by self-sufficiency, and by
consequence, involving those who reasoned from such human dogmas in
absurdities and doubt; "your temple is reared on the sands, and the first tempest
will wash away its foundation. I demand your authorities for such an
uncharitable assertion (like other advocates of a system, David was not always
accurate in his use of terms). Name chapter and verse; in which of the holy books
do you find language to support you?"
"Book!" repeated Hawkeye, with singular and ill-concealed disdain; "do you
take me for a whimpering boy at the apronstring of one of your old gals; and this
good rifle on my knee for the feather of a goose's wing, my ox's horn for a bottle
of ink, and my leathern pouch for a cross-barred handkercher to carry my
dinner? Book! what have such as I, who am a warrior of the wilderness, though
Thesaurus
assiduity: (n) application, diligence, pouch: (n, v) bag; (n) pocket, poke, ungenerous, unforgiving, unamiable,
assiduities, assiduousness, attention, mailbag, sac, pod, purse, sack, relentless, grim, cruel, inexorable,
ardour, tenacity, industriousness, bladder; (v) bulk, bulge. stern, hardhearted. ANTONYMS:
persistence, perseverance, intentness. predestined: (adj) fated, foreordained, (adj) charitable, generous,
displeasure: (n) resentment, certain, predestinate, intended, fatal, considerate.
discomfort, dissatisfaction, dislike, predetermined, ordained, meant, whimpering: (adj) whining, puling,
discontent, exasperation, disfavor, doomed, designed. childish, querulous; (n) sniveling, cry,
annoyance, offense, pique, tempest: (adj, n) storm, gust; (n) gale, tear.
disapproval. ANTONYMS: (n) hurricane, squall, disturbance, woodsman: (n) woodman,
satisfaction, pleasure, enjoyment, cyclone, typhoon, agitation, tornado, cabinetmaker, carpenter, carver,
happiness, delight, contentment, blizzard. ANTONYM: (n) serenity. journeyman, rustic, artisan,
equanimity, approval. uncharitable: (adj) stingy, unkind, Bushman, joiner, artificer, craftsman.
a man without a cross, to do with books? I never read but in one, and the words
that are written there are too simple and too plain to need much schooling;
though I may boast that of forty long and hard-working years."
"What call you the volume?" said David, misconceiving the other's meaning.%
"'Tis open before your eyes," returned the scout; "and he who owns it is not a
niggard of its use. I have heard it said that there are men who read in books to
convince themselves there is a God. I know not but man may so deform his
works in the settlement, as to leave that which is so clear in the wilderness a
matter of doubt among traders and priests. If any such there be, and he will
follow me from sun to sun, through the windings of the forest, he shall see
enough to teach him that he is a fool, and that the greatest of his folly lies in
striving to rise to the level of One he can never equal, be it in goodness, or be it in
power."
The instant David discovered that he battled with a disputant who imbibed
his faith from the lights of nature, eschewing all subtleties of doctrine, he
willingly abandoned a controversy from which he believed neither profit nor
credit was to be derived. While the scout was speaking, he had also seated
himself, and producing the ready little volume and the iron-rimmed spectacles,
he prepared to discharge a duty, which nothing but the unexpected assault he
had received in his orthodoxy could have so long suspended. He was, in truth, a
minstrel of the western continent -- of a much later day, certainly, than those
gifted bards, who formerly sang the profane renown of baron and prince, but
after the spirit of his own age and country; and he was now prepared to exercise
the cunning of his craft, in celebration of, or rather in thanksgiving for, the
recent victory. He waited patiently for Hawkeye to cease, then lifting his eyes,
together with his voice, he said, aloud:
"I invite you, friends, to join in praise for this signal deliverance from the
hands of barbarians and infidels, to the comfortable and solemn tones of the tune
called 'Northampton'."
He next named the page and verse where the rhymes selected were to be
found, and applied the pitch-pipe to his lips, with the decent gravity that he had
Thesaurus
deform: (v) distort, deface, bend, disputant: (n) debater, niggardly, stingy.
disfigure, contort, twist, warp, turn, controversialist, arguer, contestant, renown: (n, v) fame; (n) glory,
convolute, mangle, misshape. litigant, wrangler, polemic, denier, distinction, eminence, notoriety,
ANTONYMS: (v) beautify, unbend, brawler, accuser, brangler. kudos, name, popularity, prestige,
mend, form, fix, embellish, decorate, eschewing: (n) renunciation. prominence, honor. ANTONYMS: (n)
adorn. minstrel: (n) singer, musician, infamy, commonness; (adj)
deliverance: (n) salvation, rescue, troubadour, artiste, folk singer, anonymity.
release, freedom, escape, middleman, interlocutor, vocalist, thanksgiving: (n) benediction, grace,
emancipation, delivery, relief, poet, corner man; (v) sing. acknowledgment, thanks,
liberation, liberty, salvage. niggard: (n) churl, skinflint, tightwad, recognition, gratitude, prayer, saving
ANTONYMS: (n) downfall, scrooge, hunks, screw, scrimp, grace, approval, gracility, grace of
suppression. curmudgeon; (adj, n) miser; (adj) God.
been wont to use in the temple. This time he was, however, without any
accompaniment, for the sisters were just then pouring out those tender effusions
of affection which have been already alluded to. Nothing deterred by the
smallness of his audience, which, in truth, consisted only of the discontented
scout, he raised his voice, commencing and ending the sacred song without
accident or interruption of any kind.%
Hawkeye listened while he coolly adjusted his flint and reloaded his rifle; but
the sounds, wanting the extraneous assistance of scene and sympathy, failed to
awaken his slumbering emotions. Never minstrel, or by whatever more suitable
name David should be known, drew upon his talents in the presence of more
insensible auditors; though considering the singleness and sincerity of his
motive, it is probable that no bard of profane song ever uttered notes that
ascended so near to that throne where all homage and praise is due. The scout
shook his head, and muttering some unintelligible words, among which "throat"
and "Iroquois" were alone audible, he walked away, to collect and to examine
into the state of the captured arsenal of the Hurons. In this office he was now
joined by Chingachgook, who found his own, as well as the rifle of his son,
among the arms. Even Heyward and David were furnished with weapons; nor
was ammunition wanting to render them all effectual.
When the foresters had made their selection, and distributed their prizes, the
scout announced that the hour had arrived when it was necessary to move. By
this time the song of Gamut had ceased, and the sisters had learned to still the
exhibition of their emotions. Aided by Duncan and the younger Mohican, the
two latter descended the precipitous sides of that hill which they had so lately
ascended under so very different auspices, and whose summit had so nearly
proved the scene of their massacre. At the foot they found the Narragansetts
browsing the herbage of the bushes, and having mounted, they followed the
movements of a guide, who, in the most deadly straits, had so often proved
himself their friend. The journey was, however, short. Hawkeye, leaving the
blind path that the Hurons had followed, turned short to his right, and entering
the thicket, he crossed a babbling brook, and halted in a narrow dell, under the
Thesaurus
awaken: (v) arouse, wake, rouse, call, skald, troubadour, trouvere, barred. unmarried, single, loyalty, oneness,
stir, kindle, get up, raise, wake up, browsing: (n) feeding, eating, reading, spinsterhood, concentration, unity,
waken, revive. ANTONYMS: (v) bruting. straightforwardness.
dampen, calm, retire, suppress, spoil, extraneous: (adj) exterior, foreign, smallness: (n) diminutiveness,
quench, douse, stifle. exotic, external, adventitious, outer, minuteness, slightness, puniness,
babbling: (adj) loquacious, telltale, outside, irrelevant, unrelated, insignificance, scantiness, delicacy,
voluble, blatant, blathering, extrinsic, immaterial. ANTONYMS: scantness, narrowness; (adj)
blithering, gabbling, garrulous, (adj) relevant, intrinsic, necessary, meagerness, slenderness.
jabbering; (n) stultiloquy, essential, integral, native, needed, ANTONYM: (n) tallness.
stultiloquence. basic, pertinent. straits: (n) pass, head, distress, sound,
bard: (n) minstrel, muse; (v) beautify, singleness: (n) sincerity, isthmus, dire straits, destitution,
decorate, embellish; (adj) lyrist, scald, bachelorhood, bachelorship, point, crack, chief, caput.
shade of a few water elms. Their distance from the base of the fatal hill was but a
few rods, and the steeds had been serviceable only in crossing the shallow
stream.%
The scout and the Indians appeared to be familiar with the sequestered place
where they now were; for, leaning their rifle against the trees, they commenced
throwing aside the dried leaves, and opening the blue clay, out of which a clear
and sparkling spring of bright, glancing water, quickly bubbled. The white man
then looked about him, as though seeking for some object, which was not to be
found as readily as he expected.
"Them careless imps, the Mohawks, with their Tuscarora and Onondaga
brethren, have been here slaking their thirst," he muttered, "and the vagabonds
have thrown away the gourd! This is the way with benefits, when they are
bestowed on such disremembering hounds! Here has the Lord laid his hand, in
the midst of the howling wilderness, for their good, and raised a fountain of
water from the bowels of the 'arth, that might laugh at the richest shop of
apothecary's ware in all the colonies; and see! the knaves have trodden in the
clay, and deformed the cleanliness of the place, as though they were brute beasts,
instead of human men."
Uncas silently extended toward him the desired gourd, which the spleen of
Hawkeye had hitherto prevented him from observing on a branch of an elm.
Filling it with water, he retired a short distance, to a place where the ground was
more firm and dry; here he coolly seated himself, and after taking a long, and,
apparently, a grateful draught, he commenced a very strict examination of the
fragments of food left by the Hurons, which had hung in a wallet on his arm.
"Thank you, lad!" he continued, returning the empty gourd to Uncas; "now
we will see how these rampaging Hurons lived, when outlying in ambushments.
Look at this! The varlets know the better pieces of the deer; and one would think
they might carve and roast a saddle, equal to the best cook in the land! But
everything is raw, for the Iroquois are thorough savages. Uncas, take my steel
and kindle a fire; a mouthful of a tender broil will give natur' a helping hand,
after so long a trail."
Thesaurus
carve: (v) cut up, cut, mold, incise, weeping, sniveling. effective, useful, convenient, efficient,
shape, inscribe, engrave, whittle, kindle: (adj, v) inflame; (v) fire, excite, operative, practicable. ANTONYMS:
slash, hew; (n) carving. arouse, burn, flame, awaken, incite, (adj) impractical, unusable,
deformed: (adj) distorted, misshapen, enkindle, stir; (n, v) light. unserviceable, useless, flimsy,
bent, malformed, ugly, crippled, ANTONYMS: (v) enkindle, dampen, worthless.
contorted, warped, shapeless, calm, extinguish, quench, stifle. spleen: (n) spite, anger, resentment,
twisted, deform. ANTONYMS: (adj) sequestered: (adj) retired, private, rage, lien, malice, bitterness, rancour,
beautiful, flawless, unflawed, perfect, lonely, reclusive, cloistered, recluse, huff, grudge, rancor. ANTONYM: (n)
straight. quiet, withdrawn, monastic, seeking affection.
howling: (n) howl, cry; (adj) fierce, solitude, privy. trodden: (adj) trampled, damaged,
fantastic, gross, glaring, marvelous, serviceable: (adj) practical, helpful, beaten, compressed, packed down.
wonderful, wondrous; (adj, n) handy, profitable, beneficial, ANTONYM: (adj) loose.
Heyward, perceiving that their guides now set about their repast in sober
earnest, assisted the ladies to alight, and placed himself at their side, not
unwilling to enjoy a few moments of grateful rest, after the bloody scene he had
just gone through. While the culinary process was in hand, curiosity induced
him to inquire into the circumstances which had led to their timely and
unexpected rescue:
"How is it that we see you so soon, my generous friend," he asked, "and
without aid from the garrison of Edward?"
"Had we gone to the bend in the river, we might have been in time to rake
the leaves over your bodies, but too late to have saved your scalps," coolly
answered the scout. "No, no; instead of throwing away strength and opportunity
by crossing to the fort, we lay by, under the bank of the Hudson, waiting to
watch the movements of the Hurons."
"You were, then, witnesses of all that passed?"
"Not of all; for Indian sight is too keen to be easily cheated, and we kept
close. A difficult matter it was, too, to keep this Mohican boy snug in the
ambushment. Ah! Uncas, Uncas, your behavior was more like that of a curious
woman than of a warrior on his scent."
Uncas permitted his eyes to turn for an instant on the sturdy countenance of
the speaker, but he neither spoke nor gave any indication of repentance. On the
contrary, Heyward thought the manner of the young Mohican was disdainful, if
not a little fierce, and that he suppressed passions that were ready to explode, as
much in compliment to the listeners, as from the deference he usually paid to his
white associate.%
"You saw our capture?" Heyward next demanded.
"We heard it," was the significant answer. "An Indian yell is plain language to
men who have passed their days in the woods. But when you landed, we were
driven to crawl like sarpents, beneath the leaves; and then we lost sight of you
entirely, until we placed eyes on you again trussed to the trees, and ready bound
for an Indian massacre."
Thesaurus
behavior: (n, v) bearing, demeanor; (n) disdainful: (adj) supercilious, remorse, regret, compunction,
carriage, conduct, deportment, act, haughty, scornful, arrogant, proud, sorrow, guilt, contriteness, grief,
behaviour, manner, character, action, cavalier, derogatory, lordly, attrition, atonement. ANTONYMS:
morality. condescending, derisive, sneering. (n) shamelessness, brazenness.
cheated: (adj) embittered, resentful. ANTONYMS: (adj) respectful, snug: (adj, v) cosy, trim; (adj) cozy,
deference: (n) homage, respect, admiring, humble, approving, warm, easy, comfy, tight, close, warm,
compliance, admiration, allegiance, reverential, praising, deferential. secure, homely; (v) neat.
reverence, obedience, submission, rake: (n, v) tilt; (adj, v) comb; (v) hoe, ANTONYMS: (adj) baggy,
compliancy, duty, complaisance. harrow, graze, draw, plow; (n) uncomfortable, unwelcoming, bleak,
ANTONYMS: (n) contempt, debauchee, roue, slant, blood. formal, loose.
opposition, rebellion, resistance, ANTONYM: (v) glance. trussed: (adj) bound, fastened, laced,
disobedience. repentance: (n) contrition, penance, even.
"Our rescue was the deed of Providence. It was nearly a miracle that you did
not mistake the path, for the Hurons divided, and each band had its horses."
"Ay! there we were thrown off the scent, and might, indeed, have lost the
trail, had it not been for Uncas; we took the path, however, that led into the
wilderness; for we judged, and judged rightly, that the savages would hold that
course with their prisoners. But when we had followed it for many miles,
without finding a single twig broken, as I had advised, my mind misgave me;
especially as all the footsteps had the prints of moccasins."
"Our captors had the precaution to see us shod like themselves," said
Duncan, raising a foot, and exhibiting the buckskin he wore.%
"Aye, 'twas judgmatical and like themselves; though we were too expart to be
thrown from a trail by so common an invention."
"To what, then, are we indebted for our safety?"
"To what, as a white man who has no taint of Indian blood, I should be
ashamed to own; to the judgment of the young Mohican, in matters which I
should know better than he, but which I can now hardly believe to be true,
though my own eyes tell me it is so."
"'Tis extraordinary! will you not name the reason?"
"Uncas was bold enough to say, that the beasts ridden by the gentle ones,"
continued Hawkeye, glancing his eyes, not without curious interest, on the fillies
of the ladies, "planted the legs of one side on the ground at the same time, which
is contrary to the movements of all trotting four-footed animals of my
knowledge, except the bear. And yet here are horses that always journey in this
manner, as my own eyes have seen, and as their trail has shown for twenty long
miles."
"'Tis the merit of the animal! They come from the shores of Narrangansett
Bay, in the small province of Providence Plantations, and are celebrated for their
hardihood, and the ease of this peculiar movement; though other horses are not
unfrequently trained to the same."
Thesaurus
contrary: (adj, n) contradictory, ANTONYM: (n) failure. taint: (n, v) blemish, disgrace, corrupt,
reverse; (adj) adverse, conflicting, exhibiting: (n) advertising; (adj) spot, blot; (adj, v) defile, sully,
unfavorable, perverse, cross, exhibitory, ostensive. pollute, contaminate; (n) pollution,
disobedient, alien, different, indebted: (adj) grateful, appreciative, contamination. ANTONYMS: (v)
obstinate. ANTONYMS: (adj) similar, thankful, obliged, liable, insolvent, enhance, right, respect, disinfect,
harmonious, helpful, obliging, broke; (prep) beholden, debted; (n) clean; (n) perfection, cleanliness; (adv)
compatible, complaisant, concordant, debtor; (v) owe. ANTONYM: (adj) cheerfully.
parallel, agreeable, cooperative, ungrateful. twig: (n) sprig, bough, limb, shoot,
favorable. miles: (adj) far. offshoot, spray, branchlet, scion,
deed: (n) accomplishment, act, feat, shod: (adj) shoed, calced, booted; (v) stalk; (n, v) stick; (v) grasp.
behavior, action, exploit, covenant, clad, costume. ANTONYM: (adj) unfrequently: (adv) not much, not
doing, document, title, fact. discalced. often, unoften, rarely.
"It may be--it may be," said Hawkeye, who had listened with singular
attention to this explanation; "though I am a man who has the full blood of the
whites, my judgment in deer and beaver is greater than in beasts of burden.
Major Effingham has many noble chargers, but I have never seen one travel after
such a sidling gait."
"True; for he would value the animals for very different properties. Still is
this a breed highly esteemed and, as you witness, much honored with the
burdens it is often destined to bear."
The Mohicans had suspended their operations about the glimmering fire to
listen; and, when Duncan had done, they looked at each other significantly, the
father uttering the never-failing exclamation of surprise. The scout ruminated,
like a man digesting his newly-acquired knowledge, and once more stole a
glance at the horses.%
"I dare to say there are even stranger sights to be seen in the settlements!" he
said, at length. "Natur' is sadly abused by man, when he once gets the mastery.
But, go sidling or go straight, Uncas had seen the movement, and their trail led
us on to the broken bush. The outer branch, near the prints of one of the horses,
was bent upward, as a lady breaks a flower from its stem, but all the rest were
ragged and broken down, as if the strong hand of a man had been tearing them!
So I concluded that the cunning varments had seen the twig bent, and had torn
the rest, to make us believe a buck had been feeling the boughs with his antlers."
"I do believe your sagacity did not deceive you; for some such thing
occurred!"
"That was easy to see," added the scout, in no degree conscious of having
exhibited any extraordinary sagacity; "and a very different matter it was from a
waddling horse! It then struck me the Mingoes would push for this spring, for
the knaves well know the vartue of its waters!"
"Is it, then, so famous?" demanded Heyward, examining, with a more curious
eye, the secluded dell, with its bubbling fountain, surrounded, as it was, by
earth of a deep, dingy brown.
Thesaurus
beaver: (n) whiskers, opera hat, prestigious, important, distinguished, secluded: (adj) remote, secret,
topper, top hat, stovepipe, alpha August, respect. ANTONYM: (adj) reclusive, privy, cloistered, isolated,
geminorum, silk hat, high hat, eager disreputable. lonely, retired, sequestered, solitary;
beaver, dress hat; (adj) irrepressible. honored: (adj) esteemed, reputable, (adj, v) hidden. ANTONYMS: (adj)
breaks: (n) lot, destiny, opportunity, respected, honoured, privileged, nearby, near, exposed, busy,
chance. glorious, distinguished, honorable, accessible.
bubbling: (adj) sparkling, bubbly, worshipful, exalted, revered. singular: (adj, n) extraordinary; (adj)
frothy, foamy, sparkly, spumous, ANTONYMS: (adj) disadvantaged, odd, individual, particular, peculiar,
effervescing, fizzy, foaming; (n) disreputable. phenomenal, rare, queer, single,
solvent popping, effervescence. never-failing: (adj) steady, sure, fixed, quaint, exceptional. ANTONYMS:
esteemed: (adj) dear, reputable, unfaltering, unqualified, firm, (adj) ordinary, normal, together,
respected, honorable, noble, honored, steadfast, unwavering, wholehearted. usual, customary.
"Few red-skins, who travel south and east of the great lakes but have heard of
its qualities. Will you taste for yourself?"
Heyward took the gourd, and after swallowing a little of the water, threw it
aside with grimaces of discontent. The scout laughed in his silent but heartfelt
manner, and shook his head with vast satisfaction.%
"Ah! you want the flavor that one gets by habit; the time was when I liked it
as little as yourself; but I have come to my taste, and I now crave it, as a deer
does the licks. Your high-spiced wines are not better liked than a red-skin
relishes this water; especially when his natur' is ailing. But Uncas has made his
fire, and it is time we think of eating, for our journey is long, and all before us."
Interrupting the dialogue by this abrupt transition, the scout had instant
recourse to the fragments of food which had escaped the voracity of the Hurons.
A very summary process completed the simple cookery, when he and the
Mohicans commenced their humble meal, with the silence and characteristic
diligence of men who ate in order to enable themselves to endure great and
unremitting toil.
When this necessary, and, happily, grateful duty had been performed, each of
the foresters stooped and took a long and parting draught at that solitary and
silent spring, around which and its sister fountains, within fifty years, the wealth,
beauty and talents of a hemisphere were to assemble in throngs, in pursuit of
health and pleasure. Then Hawkeye announced his determination to proceed.
The sisters resumed their saddles; Duncan and David grapsed their rifles, and
followed on footsteps; the scout leading the advance, and the Mohicans bringing
up the rear. The whole party moved swiftly through the narrow path, toward the
north, leaving the healing waters to mingle unheeded with the adjacent brooks
and the bodies of the dead to fester on the neighboring mount, without the rites
of sepulture; a fate but too common to the warriors of the woods to excite either
commiseration or comment.
Thesaurus
ailing: (adj) sickly, poorly, ill, unwell, dislike, spurn, loathe, hate, detest, swallowing: (adj) absorptive,
bad, indisposed, unhealthy, invalid, grant. unsuspecting, absorbent, absorbing;
morbid, weak; (n) illness. fester: (adj, v) rot, rankle, ferment; (v) (n) consumption.
ANTONYMS: (adj) well, healthy, fit, boil, decay, decompose, molder; (n) unheeded: (adj) unnoticed, neglected,
robust, vigorous. suppuration; (adj) abscess, putrefy, disregarded, ignored; (v) unthought
commiseration: (n) pity, compassion, ulcer. ANTONYMS: (v) diminish, of, unseen, unperceived, unobserved,
sympathy, condolence, ruth, mercy, dissipate, lessen, soothe, change. unnoted, unmarked, unmissed.
commiserate, bowels, consolation, sepulture: (n, v) interment, voracity: (n) rapacity, greed, gluttony,
fellow feeling, acknowledgement. inhumation; (n) sepulchre, ravenousness, rapaciousness,
crave: (v) covet, ask, want, beseech, entombment, grave, mausoleum, esurience, greediness, eagerness,
implore, wish, long, entreat, desire, funeral, sepulcher, burial chamber, hunger, voraciousness, covetousness.
fancy, claim. ANTONYMS: (v) repository, monument. ANTONYM: (n) moderation.
CHAPTER 13
"I'll seek a readier path."

Parnell
The route taken by Hawkeye lay across those sandy plains, relived by
occasional valleys and swells of land, which had been traversed by their party on
the morning of the same day, with the baffled Magua for their guide. The sun
had now fallen low toward the distant mountains; and as their journey lay
through the interminable forest, the heat was no longer oppressive. Their
progress, in consequence, was proportionate; and long before the twilight
gathered about them, they had made good many toilsome miles on their return.%
The hunter, like the savage whose place he filled, seemed to select among the
blind signs of their wild route, with a species of instinct, seldom abating his
speed, and never pausing to deliberate. A rapid and oblique glance at the moss
on the trees, with an occasional upward gaze toward the setting sun, or a steady
but passing look at the direction of the numerous water courses, through which
he waded, were sufficient to determine his path, and remove his greatest
difficulties. In the meantime, the forest began to change its hues, losing that
lively green which had embellished its arches, in the graver light which is the
usual precursor of the close of day.
Thesaurus
abating: (n) dwindling, lessening, baroque; (prep) beautied. omen, leader. ANTONYM: (n)
point; (adj) decreasing, waning, graver: (v) style, denominate, entitle, successor.
diminishing, declining, deteriorating, fashion; (n) engraver, graving tool. proportionate: (adj, v) proportional;
fading, flagging, comforting. interminable: (adj) endless, eternal, (adj) proportionable, equal,
baffled: (adj) bewildered, puzzled, incessant, infinite, illimitable, harmonious, comparable, balanced,
perplexed, confounded, at sea, immeasurable, unending, ceaseless, sufficient, relative, appropriate,
frustrated, befuddled, beaten, timeless, continual, unlimited. adequate, equitable. ANTONYM:
bemused, preoccupied, helpless. ANTONYMS: (adj) temporary, finite, (adj) disproportionate.
ANTONYM: (adj) clear. intermittent, sporadic, concise. toilsome: (adj) arduous, hard, difficult,
embellished: (adj) ornamented, precursor: (n) harbinger, herald, strenuous, backbreaking, severe,
rhetorical, decorated, fancy, florid, messenger, predecessor, antecedent, heavy, painful, tough, grueling; (adj,
tall, rich, embroidered, elaborate, indication, ancestor, sign, forebear, v) wearisome.
While the eyes of the sisters were endeavoring to catch glimpses through the
trees, of the flood of golden glory which formed a glittering halo around the sun,
tinging here and there with ruby streaks, or bordering with narrow edgings of
shining yellow, a mass of clouds that lay piled at no great distance above the
western hills, Hawkeye turned suddenly and pointing upward toward the
gorgeous heavens, he spoke:
"Yonder is the signal given to man to seek his food and natural rest," he said;
"better and wiser would it be, if he could understand the signs of nature, and
take a lesson from the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field! Our night,
however, will soon be over, for with the moon we must be up and moving again.
I remember to have fou't the Maquas, hereaways, in the first war in which I ever
drew blood from man; and we threw up a work of blocks, to keep the ravenous
varmints from handling our scalps. If my marks do not fail me, we shall find the
place a few rods further to our left."%
Without waiting for an assent, or, indeed, for any reply, the sturdy hunter
moved boldly into a dense thicket of young chestnuts, shoving aside the
branches of the exuberant shoots which nearly covered the ground, like a man
who expected, at each step, to discover some object he had formerly known. The
recollection of the scout did not deceive him. After penetrating through the
brush, matted as it was with briars, for a few hundred feet, he entered an open
space, that surrounded a low, green hillock, which was crowned by the decayed
blockhouse in question. This rude and neglected building was one of those
deserted works, which, having been thrown up on an emergency, had been
abandoned with the disappearance of danger, and was now quietly crumbling in
the solitude of the forest, neglected and nearly forgotten, like the circumstances
which had caused it to be reared. Such memorials of the passage and struggles of
man are yet frequent throughout the broad barrier of wilderness which once
separated the hostile provinces, and form a species of ruins that are intimately
associated with the recollections of colonial history, and which are in appropriate
keeping with the gloomy character of the surrounding scenery. The roof of bark
had long since fallen, and mingled with the soil, but the huge logs of pine, which
Thesaurus
blockhouse: (v) sconce, barracoon, prolific, generous, hearty. matted: (adj) entangled, tangled,
rath, peelhouse, pah; (n) fortification, ANTONYMS: (adj) depressed, blue, knotted, flat, matt, matte, knotty,
citadel, fastness, pillbox, stronghold, unenthusiastic, scarce, needing, fixed, kinky, twisted; (v) crossed.
fortilage. lacking, dispirited, insufficient, ANTONYMS: (adj) tidy, straight,
chestnuts: (n) Castanopsis, Fagaceae, down, unexcited, lethargic. free.
Castanea, genus Castanea, beech fowls: (n) poultry. penetrating: (adj) astute, sharp,
family. halo: (n) halation, aura, glory, ring, cutting, discerning, incisive, piercing,
crowned: (adj) laureled, fulfilled, circle, corona, nimbus, hoop, aureola, perceptive, discriminating, trenchant;
browbound, incoronate, successful. band, anchor ring. (adj, v) biting, acute. ANTONYMS:
exuberant: (adj) abundant, ample, hillock: (n) hill, mound, rise, barrow, (adj) mild, soft, mellow, low, gentle,
opulent, ebullient, excessive, kopje, hammock, elevation, heap; dull, dense.
extravagant, profuse, bountiful, (adj, n) knoll, hummock; (adj) mole. streaks: (n) stripes, cords.
had been hastily thrown together, still preserved their relative positions, though
one angle of the work had given way under the pressure, and threatened a
speedy downfall to the remainder of the rustic edifice. While Heyward and his
companions hesitated to approach a building so decayed, Hawkeye and the
Indians entered within the low walls, not only without fear, but with obvious
interest. While the former surveyed the ruins, both internally and externally,
with the curiosity of one whose recollections were reviving at each moment,
Chingachgook related to his son, in the language of the Delawares, and with the
pride of a conqueror, the brief history of the skirmish which had been fought, in
his youth, in that secluded spot. A strain of melancholy, however, blended with
his triumph, rendering his voice, as usual, soft and musical.%
In the meantime, the sisters gladly dismounted, and prepared to enjoy their
halt in the coolness of the evening, and in a security which they believed nothing
but the beasts of the forest could invade.
"Would not our resting-place have been more retired, my worthy friend,"
demanded the more vigilant Duncan, perceiving that the scout had already
finished his short survey, "had we chosen a spot less known, and one more rarely
visited than this?"
"Few live who know the blockhouse was ever raised," was the slow and
musing answer; "'tis not often that books are made, and narratives written of
such a scrimmage as was here fou't atween the Mohicans and the Mohawks, in a
war of their own waging. I was then a younker, and went out with the
Delawares, because I know'd they were a scandalized and wronged race. Forty
days and forty nights did the imps crave our blood around this pile of logs,
which I designed and partly reared, being, as you'll remember, no Indian myself,
but a man without a cross. The Delawares lent themselves to the work, and we
made it good, ten to twenty, until our numbers were nearly equal, and then we
sallied out upon the hounds, and not a man of them ever got back to tell the fate
of his party. Yes, yes; I was then young, and new to the sight of blood; and not
relishing the thought that creatures who had spirits like myself should lay on the
naked ground, to be torn asunder by beasts, or to bleach in the rains, I buried the
Thesaurus
conqueror: (n) champion, winner, assault. ANTONYMS: (v) withdraw, countrified. ANTONYMS: (adj) town,
subjugator, vanquisher, hero, surrender. urbane, cultured, city, sophisticated.
superior, defeater, subduer, invader, recollections: (n) memories, skirmish: (n, v) fight, combat, battle,
colonist, Alexander. ANTONYM: (n) reminiscences, recollection, conflict, scuffle; (n) encounter, brush,
loser. biography. engagement, struggle, confrontation,
edifice: (n) building, structure, house, relishing: (n) savoring, tasting, dispute.
hall, fabric, aviary, bagnio, feeding, eating, degustation, wronged: (adj) upset, hurt, indignant,
bathhouse, abattoir, bawdyhouse, savouring; (adj) tastable, savory, offended.
clubhouse. palatable. younker: (n) juvenile, stripling,
invade: (v) infringe, intrude, occupy, rustic: (n) countryman, peasant; (adj) puppy, blade, hobbledehoy, young
overrun, impinge, encroach upon, rural, pastoral, boorish, country, person, pup, youngster, young, lad,
raid, infest; (n, v) assail, attack, bucolic, provincial, hick, agrestic, early days.
dead with my own hands, under that very little hillock where you have placed
yourselves; and no bad seat does it make neither, though it be raised by the
bones of mortal men."
Heyward and the sisters arose, on the instant, from the grassy sepulcher; nor
could the two latter, notwithstanding the terrific scenes they had so recently
passed through, entirely suppress an emotion of natural horror, when they found
themselves in such familiar contact with the grave of the dead Mohawks. The
gray light, the gloomy little area of dark grass, surrounded by its border of
brush, beyond which the pines rose, in breathing silence, apparently into the
very clouds, and the deathlike stillness of the vast forest, were all in unison to
deepen such a sensation. "They are gone, and they are harmless," continued
Hawkeye, waving his hand, with a melancholy smile at their manifest alarm;
"they'll never shout the war-whoop nor strike a blow with the tomahawk again!
And of all those who aided in placing them where they lie, Chingachgook and I
only are living! The brothers and family of the Mohican formed our war party;
and you see before you all that are now left of his race."
The eyes of the listeners involuntarily sought the forms of the Indians, with a
compassionate interest in their desolate fortune. Their dark persons were still to
be seen within the shadows of the blockhouse, the son listening to the relation of
his father with that sort of intenseness which would be created by a narrative
that redounded so much to the honor of those whose names he had long revered
for their courage and savage virtues.%
"I had thought the Delawares a pacific people," said Duncan, "and that they
never waged war in person; trusting the defense of their hands to those very
Mohawks that you slew!"
"'Tis true in part," returned the scout, "and yet, at the bottom, 'tis a wicked lie.
Such a treaty was made in ages gone by, through the deviltries of the Dutchers,
who wished to disarm the natives that had the best right to the country, where
they had settled themselves. The Mohicans, though a part of the same nation,
having to deal with the English, never entered into the silly bargain, but kept to
their manhood; as in truth did the Delawares, when their eyes were open to their
Thesaurus
deathlike: (adj) deadly, deathly, destroy. ANTONYMS: (adj) cheerful, blossoming, abundant, leafy, lush,
ghastly, dead, cadaverous, thanatoid, inhabited, happy, sheltered, mobbed, flourishing. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ghostly, pale; (v) awful, soft, solemn. overcrowded, ecstatic, hopeful; (v) grassless, urban, withering.
deepen: (v) intensify, amplify, create, construct, build. revered: (adj) August, sacred,
develop, rise, redouble, heighten, disarm: (v) disable, demilitarize, esteemed, venerated, respected,
strengthen, raise, magnify, increase, demilitarise, convince, divest; (adj, v) beloved, holy, venerable, blessed,
darken. ANTONYMS: (v) lower, invalidate, disqualify; (adj, n) celebrated, honored. ANTONYMS:
contract, shorten, reduce, lessen, propitiate; (adj) conciliate, tie the (adj) secular, disreputable.
decrease, lighten, diminish. hands, unfit. ANTONYMS: (v) sepulcher: (n) crypt, vault,
desolate: (adj, v) desert, forlorn; (adj) fortify, dissuade, discourage, annoy. mausoleum, tomb, burial chamber,
bare, barren, alone, bleak, deserted, grassy: (adj) verdant, gramineous, repository, sepulchre, catacomb,
cheerless, disconsolate; (v) devastate, weedy, herby, woody, fertile, burial, interment, pit.
folly. You see before you a chief of the great Mohican Sagamores! Once his
family could chase their deer over tracts of country wider than that which
belongs to the Albany Patteroon, without crossing brook or hill that was not their
own; but what is left of their descendant? He may find his six feet of earth when
God chooses, and keep it in peace, perhaps, if he has a friend who will take the
pains to sink his head so low that the plowshares cannot reach it!"
"Enough!" said Heyward, apprehensive that the subject might lead to a
discussion that would interrupt the harmony so necessary to the preservation of
his fair companions; "we have journeyed far, and few among us are blessed with
forms like that of yours, which seems to know neither fatigue nor weakness."
"The sinews and bones of a man carry me through it all," said the hunter,
surveying his muscular limbs with a simplicity that betrayed the honest pleasure
the compliment afforded him; "there are larger and heavier men to be found in
the settlements, but you might travel many days in a city before you could meet
one able to walk fifty miles without stopping to take breath, or who has kept the
hounds within hearing during a chase of hours. However, as flesh and blood are
not always the same, it is quite reasonable to suppose that the gentle ones are
willing to rest, after all they have seen and done this day. Uncas, clear out the
spring, while your father and I make a cover for their tender heads of these
chestnut shoots, and a bed of grass and leaves."
The dialogue ceased, while the hunter and his companions busied themselves
in preparations for the comfort and protection of those they guided. A spring,
which many long years before had induced the natives to select the place for
their temporary fortification, was soon cleared of leaves, and a fountain of
crystal gushed from the bed, diffusing its waters over the verdant hillock. A
corner of the building was then roofed in such a manner as to exclude the heavy
dew of the climate, and piles of sweet shrubs and dried leaves were laid beneath
it for the sisters to repose on.%
While the diligent woodsmen were employed in this manner, Cora and Alice
partook of that refreshment which duty required much more than inclination
prompted them to accept. They then retired within the walls, and first offering
Thesaurus
descendant: (adj, n) descendent; (n) fountain: (n, v) fount, well; (n) jet, roofed: (adj) testudinated, arched.
offspring, progeny, scion, offshoot, font, source, reservoir, origin, ANTONYMS: (adj) roofless, exposed,
successor, relation, heir, derivative, derivation, repository, root, squirt. open.
follower, sprig. ANTONYMS: (n) refreshment: (n) bite, drink, surveying: (n) mensuration,
precursor, progenitor, parent, recreation, collation, repose, relief, measurement, investigation,
forebear, ascendant, predecessor. rest, entertainment, treat; (v) triangulation; (v) inspect, examine;
diffusing: (adj) disseminating, invigoration; (n, v) regalement. (adj) observant.
diffusive, scattering, disseminative. repose: (n, v) recline, peace, lie, calm; verdant: (adj) lush, leafy, flourishing,
fortification: (n) castle, fort, bastion, (n) composure, ease, quiet, leisure, fresh, raw, verdurous, blooming,
consolidation, defense, bulwark, recreation, relaxation; (v) lay. immature, inexperienced, emerald,
stronghold, barrier, entrenchment, ANTONYMS: (n, v) work; (n) young. ANTONYMS: (adj) dying,
fortress, safeguard. activity, panic, agitation. urban, withering.
up their thanksgivings for past mercies, and petitioning for a continuance of the
Divine favor throughout the coming night, they laid their tender forms on the
fragrant couch, and in spite of recollections and forebodings, soon sank into
those slumbers which nature so imperiously demanded, and which were
sweetened by hopes for the morrow. Duncan had prepared himself to pass the
night in watchfulness near them, just without the ruin, but the scout, perceiving
his intention, pointed toward Chingachgook, as he coolly disposed his own
person on the grass, and said:
"The eyes of a white man are too heavy and too blind for such a watch as this!
The Mohican will be our sentinel, therefore let us sleep."%
"I proved myself a sluggard on my post during the past night," said
Heyward, "and have less need of repose than you, who did more credit to the
character of a soldier. Let all the party seek their rest, then, while I hold the
guard."
"If we lay among the white tents of the Sixtieth, and in front of an enemy like
the French, I could not ask for a better watchman," returned the scout; "but in the
darkness and among the signs of the wilderness your judgment would be like
the folly of a child, and your vigilance thrown away. Do then, like Uncas and
myself, sleep, and sleep in safety."
Heyward perceived, in truth, that the younger Indian had thrown his form
on the side of the hillock while they were talking, like one who sought to make
the most of the time allotted to rest, and that his example had been followed by
David, whose voice literally "clove to his jaws," with the fever of his wound,
heightened, as it was, by their toilsome march. Unwilling to prolong a useless
discussion, the young man affected to comply, by posting his back against the
logs of the blockhouse, in a half recumbent posture, though resolutely
determined, in his own mind, not to close an eye until he had delivered his
precious charge into the arms of Munro himself. Hawkeye, believing he had
prevailed, soon fell asleep, and a silence as deep as the solitude in which they
had found it, pervaded the retired spot.
Thesaurus
allotted: (adj) agreed, chosen, fixed, authoritatively, domineeringly, sluggish.
selected. insolently. ANTONYMS: (adv) spite: (n) malice, grudge, hatred,
continuance: (n) duration, abidance, meekly, feebly. malevolence, rancour, venom, rancor,
existence, endurance, protraction, morrow: (n) morning, future, mean maliciousness, ill will, animosity; (n,
adjournment, resumption, solar day, day. v) pique. ANTONYMS: (v) please; (n)
prolongation, time, standing, recumbent: (adj) prostrate, accumbent, benevolence, goodwill, love,
perseverance. ANTONYMS: (n) lying, reclining, flat, procumbent, affection, harmony.
discontinuation, destruction. lying down, horizontal, prone, sweetened: (adj) sugared, syrupy,
imperiously: (adv) overbearingly, incumbent, idle. perfumed, scented, seraphic, sickly,
arrogantly, commandingly, sluggard: (n) loafer, idler, slugabed, sugary, sweet as sugar, tasty, angelic,
magisterially, dictatorially, slacker, layabout, lazybones; (n, v) palatable.
masterfully, haughtily, imperatively, drone; (v) loiterer, lingerer, lag; (adj) tents: (n) encampment.
For many minutes Duncan succeeded in keeping his senses on the alert, and
alive to every moaning sound that arose from the forest. His vision became more
acute as the shades of evening settled on the place; and even after the stars were
glimmering above his head, he was able to distinguish the recumbent forms of
his companions, as they lay stretched on the grass, and to note the person of
Chingachgook, who sat upright and motionless as one of the trees which formed
the dark barrier on every side. He still heard the gentle breathings of the sisters,
who lay within a few feet of him, and not a leaf was ruffled by the passing air of
which his ear did not detect the whispering sound. At length, however, the
mournful notes of a whip-poor-will became blended with the moanings of an
owl; his heavy eyes occasionally sought the bright rays of the stars, and he then
fancied he saw them through the fallen lids. At instants of momentary
wakefulness he mistook a bush for his associate sentinel; his head next sank
upon his shoulder, which, in its turn, sought the support of the ground; and,
finally, his whole person became relaxed and pliant, and the young man sank
into a deep sleep, dreaming that he was a knight of ancient chivalry, holding his
midnight vigils before the tent of a recaptured princess, whose favor he did not
despair of gaining, by such a proof of devotion and watchfulness.%
How long the tired Duncan lay in this insensible state he never knew himself,
but his slumbering visions had been long lost in total forgetfulness, when he
was awakened by a light tap on the shoulder. Aroused by this signal, slight as it
was, he sprang upon his feet with a confused recollection of the self-imposed
duty he had assumed with the commencement of the night.
"Who comes?" he demanded, feeling for his sword, at the place where it was
usually suspended. "Speak! friend or enemy?"
"Friend," replied the low voice of Chingachgook; who, pointing upward at
the luminary which was shedding its mild light through the opening in the trees,
directly in their bivouac, immediately added, in his rude English: "Moon comes
and white man's fort far -- far off; time to move, when sleep shuts both eyes of
the Frenchman!"
Thesaurus
awakened: (adj) excited, aroused, cowardice. ruffled: (adj) rippled, frilly, frilled,
awakens, awoke, interested. forgetfulness: (n) neglect, amnesia, upset, disordered, excited,
bivouac: (n, v) camp; (v) tent, encamp, obliviousness, inattention, memory disconcerted, decorated, tousled,
dwell; (n) encampment, cantonment, loss, omission, unknowingness, tangled, turbulent.
campsite, campground, laager, spial, unawareness, Lethe, carelessness, shuts: (adj) closed.
scout. loss of memory. ANTONYMS: (n) vigils: (n) dulia, hyperdulia.
chivalry: (n) gallantry, knighthood, awareness, concentration, wakefulness: (n) insomnia, arousal,
generosity, courtesy, knight service, remembering, attention. vigilance, guard, temporary state,
courtliness, knight errantry, luminary: (n) celebrity, star, leading alertness, consciousness,
principle, valiance; (adj, n) heroism; light, personality, guiding light, VIP, circumspection, caution; (v) vigil; (n,
(adj) prowess. ANTONYMS: (n) authority, worthy, shining light, v) watch. ANTONYMS: (n)
impoliteness, dishonor, discourtesy, Magnus Apollo, shiner. inattentiveness, unconsciousness.
"You say true! Call up your friends, and bridle the horses while I prepare my
own companions for the march!"
"We are awake, Duncan," said the soft, silvery tones of Alice within the
building, "and ready to travel very fast after so refreshing a sleep; but you have
watched through the tedious night in our behalf, after having endured so much
fatigue the livelong day!"
"Say, rather, I would have watched, but my treacherous eyes betrayed me;
twice have I proved myself unfit for the trust I bear."
"Nay, Duncan, deny it not," interrupted the smiling Alice, issuing from the
shadows of the building into the light of the moon, in all the loveliness of her
freshened beauty; "I know you to be a heedless one, when self is the object of
your care, and but too vigilant in favor of others. Can we not tarry here a little
longer while you find the rest you need? Cheerfully, most cheerfully, will Cora
and I keep the vigils, while you and all these brave men endeavor to snatch a
little sleep!"
"If shame could cure me of my drowsiness, I should never close an eye
again," said the uneasy youth, gazing at the ingenuous countenance of Alice,
where, however, in its sweet solicitude, he read nothing to confirm his half-
awakened suspicion. "It is but too true, that after leading you into danger by my
heedlessness, I have not even the merit of guarding your pillows as should
become a soldier."
"No one but Duncan himself should accuse Duncan of such a weakness. Go,
then, and sleep; believe me, neither of us, weak girls as we are, will betray our
watch."
The young man was relieved from the awkwardness of making any further
protestations of his own demerits, by an exclamation from Chingachgook, and
the attitude of riveted attention assumed by his son.%
"The Mohicans hear an enemy!" whispered Hawkeye, who, by this time, in
common with the whole party, was awake and stirring. "They scent danger in the
wind!"
Thesaurus
bridle: (n, v) curb, check, control, thoughtless, rash, regardless, livelong: (n) Sedum telephium,
snaffle, rein, leash; (n) arrest, reins, unwary, indifferent; (adj, v) wanton. sedum, orpin, orpine; (adj) durable,
brake; (v) inhibit, contain. ANTONYMS: (adj) heedful, attentive, lasting.
ANTONYMS: (v) unbridle, mindful, conscientious, prudent, loveliness: (n) comeliness, fairness,
unharness, release. careful, cautious. grace, attractiveness, charm,
endeavor: (n, v) struggle, try, strain; heedlessness: (n) neglect, rashness, glamour, pulchritude, beauteousness,
(n) effort, trial, essay, shot, enterprise, carelessness, inattention, good looks, cuteness, fineness.
work; (v) strive, aim. ANTONYMS: inadvertence, recklessness, ANTONYMS: (n) unattractiveness,
(n, v) neglect. indifference, inattentiveness, unpleasantness, awkwardness.
gazing: (adj) fixed. foolhardiness, disregard, temerity. silvery: (adj) silvern, argent, bright,
heedless: (adj) careless, reckless, ANTONYMS: (n) mindfulness, white, gray, rich, silverish,
inattentive, neglectful, negligent, caution. melodious, fair, Argentine, clear.
"God forbid!" exclaimed Heyward. "Surely we have had enough of

bloodshed!"
While he spoke, however, the young soldier seized his rifle, and advancing
toward the front, prepared to atone for his venial remissness, by freely exposing
his life in defense of those he attended.%
"'Tis some creature of the forest prowling around us in quest of food," he
said, in a whisper, as soon as the low, and apparently distant sounds, which had
startled the Mohicans, reached his own ears.
"Hist!" returned the attentive scout; "'tis man; even I can now tell his tread,
poor as my senses are when compared to an Indian's! That Scampering Huron
has fallen in with one of Montcalm's outlying parties, and they have struck upon
our trail. I shouldn't like, myself, to spill more human blood in this spot," he
added, looking around with anxiety in his features, at the dim objects by which
he was surrounded; "but what must be, must! Lead the horses into the
blockhouse, Uncas; and, friends, do you follow to the same shelter. Poor and old
as it is, it offers a cover, and has rung with the crack of a rifle afore to-night!"
He was instantly obeyed, the Mohicans leading the Narrangansetts within
the ruin, whither the whole party repaired with the most guarded silence.
The sound of approaching footsteps were now too distinctly audible to leave
any doubts as to the nature of the interruption. They were soon mingled with
voices calling to each other in an Indian dialect, which the hunter, in a whisper,
affirmed to Heyward was the language of the Hurons. When the party reached
the point where the horses had entered the thicket which surrounded the
blockhouse, they were evidently at fault, having lost those marks which, until
that moment, had directed their pursuit.
It would seem by the voices that twenty men were soon collected at that one
spot, mingling their different opinions and advice in noisy clamor.
"The knaves know our weakness," whispered Hawkeye, who stood by the
side of Heyward, in deep shade, looking through an opening in the logs, "or they
Thesaurus
affirmed: (adj) acknowledged, rude, unprepared, unconscious, confluent, blended; (n) mixture,
avowed, guaranteed. uncaring, inconsiderate. mixing, commixtion, interchange,
atone: (v) satisfy, pay, propitiate, audible: (adj) plain, hearable, distinct, exchange, commixture; (adv)
indemnify, compensate, make up, detectable, sounding, sharp, sonic, minglingly.
recoup, apologize, abye, aby, repent. definite, discernible, perceptible, remissness: (n) laxity, negligence,
ANTONYM: (v) forfeit. sensory. ANTONYMS: (adj) laxness, carelessness, heedlessness,
attentive: (adj) assiduous, diligent, inaudible, unintelligible, inadvertence, inattention, disregard,
heedful, watchful, observant, undetectable, silent, faint. thoughtlessness, disesteem; (adj)
advertent, mindful, careful, aware, exposing: (n) exposure, idleness.
alert, respectful. ANTONYMS: (adj) announcement; (adj) revealing, venial: (adj) excusable, pardonable,
unfocused, negligent, neglectful, opposed. forgivable, minor, veniable, small,
forgetful, heedless, unobservant, mingling: (adj) blending, merging, underage, modest, nonaged.
wouldn't indulge their idleness in such a squaw's march. Listen to the reptiles!
each man among them seems to have two tongues, and but a single leg."
Duncan, brave as he was in the combat, could not, in such a moment of
painful suspense, make any reply to the cool and characteristic remark of the
scout. He only grasped his rifle more firmly, and fastened his eyes upon the
narrow opening, through which he gazed upon the moonlight view with
increasing anxiety. The deeper tones of one who spoke as having authority were
next heard, amid a silence that denoted the respect with which his orders, or
rather advice, was received. After which, by the rustling of leaves, and crackling
of dried twigs, it was apparent the savages were separating in pursuit of the lost
trail. Fortunately for the pursued, the light of the moon, while it shed a flood of
mild luster upon the little area around the ruin, was not sufficiently strong to
penetrate the deep arches of the forest, where the objects still lay in deceptive
shadow. The search proved fruitless; for so short and sudden had been the
passage from the faint path the travelers had journeyed into the thicket, that
every trace of their footsteps was lost in the obscurity of the woods.%
It was not long, however, before the restless savages were heard beating the
brush, and gradually approaching the inner edge of that dense border of young
chestnuts which encircled the little area.
"They are coming," muttered Heyward, endeavoring to thrust his rifle
through the chink in the logs; "let us fire on their approach."
"Keep everything in the shade," returned the scout; "the snapping of a flint,
or even the smell of a single karnel of the brimstone, would bring the hungry
varlets upon us in a body. Should it please God that we must give battle for the
scalps, trust to the experience of men who know the ways of the savages, and
who are not often backward when the war-whoop is howled."
Duncan cast his eyes behind him, and saw that the trembling sisters were
cowering in the far corner of the building, while the Mohicans stood in the
shadow, like two upright posts, ready, and apparently willing, to strike when the
blow should be needed. Curbing his impatience, he again looked out upon the
area, and awaited the result in silence. At that instant the thicket opened, and a
Thesaurus
brimstone: (n) native sulphur, sulfur, encircled: (adj) enclosed, bounded, responsibility.
native sulfur, atomic number. circinate, circular, decorated, luster: (n) gloss, light, glitter,
chink: (v) jingle, tinkle; (n) cleft, delimited, ringed, wreathed, brightness, brilliance, sheen,
crevice, Chinaman, aperture, hiatus, bordered, annulated, annular. radiance, splendor, lustre, chandelier;
scissure, blunt; (n, v) clink, break. flint: (adj) stone, pebble, fossil, granite, (n, v) burnish. ANTONYM: (n)
cowering: (adv) cowardly; (adj) marble; (n) quartz, silica, flint river, dullness.
fawning, squat, subservient. gunflint, crystal, crag. obscurity: (n) gloom, darkness, shade,
crackling: (adj, n) crisp; (adj) snapping, idleness: (n) lethargy, laziness, torpor, dimness, obscureness, night,
crepitant, cheerful, brittle, noisy; (n) inactivity, idling, unemployment, oblivion, haze, ambiguity, shadow,
crepitation, decrepitation, sloth, inaction, inertia, faineance, cloudiness. ANTONYMS: (n) clarity,
crackleware, crackle China, idlesse. ANTONYMS: (n) energy, fame, light, simplicity, prominence,
bohemian crackle. activity, bustle, liveliness, celebrity, brightness.
tall and armed Huron advanced a few paces into the open space. As he gazed
upon the silent blockhouse, the moon fell upon his swarthy countenance, and
betrayed its surprise and curiosity. He made the exclamation which usually
accompanies the former emotion in an Indian, and, calling in a low voice, soon
drew a companion to his side.%
These children of the woods stood together for several moments pointing at
the crumbling edifice, and conversing in the unintelligible language of their
tribe. They then approached, though with slow and cautious steps, pausing
every instant to look at the building, like startled deer whose curiosity struggled
powerfully with their awakened apprehensions for the mastery. The foot of one
of them suddenly rested on the mound, and he stopped to examine its nature. At
this moment, Heyward observed that the scout loosened his knife in its sheath,
and lowered the muzzle of his rifle. Imitating these movements, the young man
prepared himself for the struggle which now seemed inevitable.
The savages were so near, that the least motion in one of the horses, or even a
breath louder than common, would have betrayed the fugitives. But in
discovering the character of the mound, the attention of the Hurons appeared
directed to a different object. They spoke together, and the sounds of their voices
were low and solemn, as if influenced by a reverence that was deeply blended
with awe. Then they drew warily back, keeping their eyes riveted on the ruin, as
if they expected to see the apparitions of the dead issue from its silent walls,
until, having reached the boundary of the area, they moved slowly into the
thicket and disappeared.
Hawkeye dropped the breech of his rifle to the earth, and drawing a long,
free breath, exclaimed, in an audible whisper:
"Ay! they respect the dead, and it has this time saved their own lives, and, it
may be, the lives of better men too."
Heyward lent his attention for a single moment to his companion, but
without replying, he again turned toward those who just then interested him
more. He heard the two Hurons leave the bushes, and it was soon plain that all
the pursuers were gathered about them, in deep attention to their report. After a
Thesaurus
crumbling: (adj, v) moldering, mastership, supremacy, ascendance. awe. ANTONYMS: (n) despise,
ramshackle; (adj) rotten, dilapidated, mound: (v) embankment; (adj, n) knoll, disrespect, irreverence, disdain,
worn out; (n) ruin, decay, hillock, hummock; (n) hill, mass, disparagement, contempt; (v)
disintegration, fragmentation; (v) grave; (n, v) stack, bank, pile; (adj) dishonor.
waterlogged, tainted. ANTONYM: barrow. ANTONYM: (n) hollow. unintelligible: (adj) opaque,
(adj) pristine. muzzle: (n) mouth, gunpoint, nose, inarticulate, unfathomable,
discovering: (adj) observant, oracular. lip, gullet, nozzle, bit; (v) muffle, impenetrable, unaccountable,
imitating: (adj) imitative; (n) silence, hush, curb. ambiguous, not clear, obscure,
emulation, mimicry, forgery, acting. replying: (adj) respondent, responsive. indistinct, inconceivable, secret.
mastery: (n) dominance, dominion, reverence: (n, v) respect, regard, fear, ANTONYMS: (adj) understandable,
command, domination, ascendancy, worship, honor, esteem, adore; (n) clear, comprehensible, intelligible,
ascendency, control, authority, deference, adoration, admiration, obvious.
few minutes of earnest and solemn dialogue, altogether different from the noisy
clamor with which they had first collected about the spot, the sounds grew
fainter and more distant, and finally were lost in the depths of the forest.%
Hawkeye waited until a signal from the listening Chingachgook assured him
that every sound from the retiring party was completely swallowed by the
distance, when he motioned to Heyward to lead forth the horses, and to assist
the sisters into their saddles. The instant this was done they issued through the
broken gateway, and stealing out by a direction opposite to the one by which
they entered, they quitted the spot, the sisters casting furtive glances at the
silent, grave and crumbling ruin, as they left the soft light of the moon, to bury
themselves in the gloom of the woods.
Thesaurus
casting: (n) cast, hurl, pouring, (adj) blatant, aboveboard, obvious, solemn: (adj, n, v) serious; (adj, v)
molding, teeming, block, Malleable overt, honest. sober, important, sedate, devout,
castings, fling, to throw something a gateway: (n) entrance, gate, entry, formal, demure; (adj) heavy,
long distance, flinging, pelt. doorway, portal, passage, dignified, sacred; (adj, n) earnest.
depths: (n) bottom, abyss, depth, passageway, inlet, admission, ANTONYMS: (adj) frivolous,
lowest point, low point, depression, entryway, gangway. cheerful, unceremonious, funny,
bowels, rock bottom, slump, midst, retiring: (adj) humble, diffident, playful, flippant, relaxed.
nadir. ANTONYM: (n) peak. bashful, reserved, unassuming, stealing: (n) pilferage, larceny, theft,
furtive: (adj) covert, stealthy, unobtrusive, timid, coy, shy, steal, burglary, misappropriation,
surreptitious, secretive, concealed, sheepish, meek. ANTONYMS: (adj) embezzlement, stolen, thievery,
latent, cryptic, sneaky, backstairs, assertive, bold, outgoing, forward, pilfering, thieving.
secret, underhanded. ANTONYMS: incoming, arrogant, brash, sociable.
CHAPTER 14
"Guard: Qui est la?

Pucelle: Paisans, pauvres gens de France."%
King Henry VI
During the rapid movement from the blockhouse, and until the party was
deeply buried in the forest, each individual was too much interested in the
escape to hazard a word even in whispers. The scout resumed his post in
advance, though his steps, after he had thrown a safe distance between himself
and his enemies, were more deliberate than in their previous march, in
consequence of his utter ignorance of the localities of the surrounding woods.
More than once he halted to consult with his confederates, the Mohicans,
pointing upward at the moon, and examining the barks of the trees with care. In
these brief pauses, Heyward and the sisters listened, with senses rendered
doubly acute by the danger, to detect any symptoms which might announce the
proximity of their foes. At such moments, it seemed as if a vast range of country
lay buried in eternal sleep; not the least sound arising from the forest, unless it
was the distant and scarcely audible rippling of a water-course. Birds, beasts, and
man, appeared to slumber alike, if, indeed, any of the latter were to be found in
that wide tract of wilderness. But the sounds of the rivulet, feeble and
Thesaurus
arising: (n) emanation. halted: (adj) motionless, nonmoving, dissertation, plot, lot.
doubly: (adv) twice, twofold, two unmoving. upward: (adv) upwards, upwardly,
times, in two ways, dualistically. proximity: (n) propinquity, vicinity, aloft; (adj) overhead, rising, upper,
feeble: (adj) delicate, decrepit, ailing, adjacency, neighborhood, contiguity, increasing, open, vertical, mounting,
helpless, powerless, poor, mild, lax, presence, closeness, contact, nearby, upright. ANTONYMS: (adj)
thin; (adj, v) faint, debilitated. juxtaposition, approach. ANTONYM: descending, downward; (adv) down.
ANTONYMS: (adj) strong, vigorous, (n) remoteness. wilderness: (adj, n, v) desert; (adj, n)
hearty, tough, effective, powerful, rivulet: (n) stream, creek, streamlet, wild; (n) wasteland, solitude,
unrelenting, robust, potent, brook, arroyo, brooklet, rillet, runnel, badlands, wildness, frontier,
persuasive, able. watercourse, gill, river. boondocks, backwoods; (adj) Sahara;
gens: (n) name, epithet, figure, family tract: (n) region, area, expanse, essay, (v) squandering. ANTONYM: (n)
line, folk. pamphlet, section, extent, district, metropolis.
murmuring as they were, relieved the guides at once from no trifling

embarrassment, and toward it they immediately held their way.%
When the banks of the little stream were gained, Hawkeye made another
halt; and taking the moccasins from his feet, he invited Heyward and Gamut to
follow his example. He then entered the water, and for near an hour they
traveled in the bed of the brook, leaving no trail. The moon had already sunk
into an immense pile of black clouds, which lay impending above the western
horizon, when they issued from the low and devious water-course to rise again
to the light and level of the sandy but wooded plain. Here the scout seemed to be
once more at home, for he held on this way with the certainty and diligence of a
man who moved in the security of his own knowledge. The path soon became
more uneven, and the travelers could plainly perceive that the mountains drew
nigher to them on each hand, and that they were, in truth, about entering one of
their gorges. Suddenly, Hawkeye made a pause, and, waiting until he was joined
by the whole party, he spoke, though in tones so low and cautious, that they
added to the solemnity of his words, in the quiet and darkness of the place.
"It is easy to know the pathways, and to find the licks and water-courses of
the wilderness," he said; "but who that saw this spot could venture to say, that a
mighty army was at rest among yonder silent trees and barren mountains?"
"We are, then, at no great distance from William Henry?" said Heyward,
advancing nigher to the scout.
"It is yet a long and weary path, and when and where to strike it is now our
greatest difficulty. See," he said, pointing through the trees toward a spot where
a little basin of water reflected the stars from its placid bosom, "here is the
'bloody pond'; and I am on ground that I have not only often traveled, but over
which I have fou't the enemy, from the rising to the setting sun."
"Ha! that sheet of dull and dreary water, then, is the sepulcher of the brave
men who fell in the contest. I have heard it named, but never have I stood on its
banks before."
"Three battles did we make with the Dutch-Frenchman in a day," continued
Hawkeye, pursuing the train of his own thoughts, rather than replying to the
Thesaurus
advancing: (adj) progressive, moving truthful. rough, energetic, stormy, frenetic,
forward, increasing, moving, dreary: (adj) depressing, drab, dull, excitable, agitated, unstable,
processive, thriving, ongoing, cheerless, drear, miserable, gloomy, bothered, harsh, boisterous.
aggressive; (n) advancement, dark, dismal, stuffy, disconsolate. trifling: (adj) paltry, slight, petty,
progression, proceeding. ANTONYMS: (adj) interesting, negligible, immaterial, worthless,
devious: (adj) shifty, circuitous, cheerful, sunny, brilliant, lively, light, trivial, minor, small; (adj, v)
indirect, roundabout, fraudulent, exciting, clear, cheery, pleasant, inconsequential; (adj, n) frivolity.
insincere, crafty, oblique, sly, exotic. ANTONYMS: (adj) significant,
untrustworthy, errant. ANTONYMS: placid: (adj) calm, composed, worthwhile, major, considerable,
(adj) open, straight, aboveboard, easygoing, equable, gentle, quiet, crucial, enormous, great, mature,
straightforward, trustworthy, direct, pacific, tranquil, cool, peaceable; (adj, profound, substantial; (n)
candid, principled, unbent, unbowed, v) peaceful. ANTONYMS: (adj) importance.
remark of Duncan. "He met us hard by, in our outward march to ambush his
advance, and scattered us, like driven deer, through the defile, to the shores of
Horican. Then we rallied behind our fallen trees, and made head against him,
under Sir William--who was made Sir William for that very deed; and well did
we pay him for the disgrace of the morning! Hundreds of Frenchmen saw the
sun that day for the last time; and even their leader, Dieskau himself, fell into our
hands, so cut and torn with the lead, that he has gone back to his own country,
unfit for further acts in war."%
"'Twas a noble repulse!" exclaimed Heyward, in the heat of his youthful
ardor; "the fame of it reached us early, in our southern army."
"Ay! but it did not end there. I was sent by Major Effingham, at Sir William's
own bidding, to outflank the French, and carry the tidings of their disaster
across the portage, to the fort on the Hudson. Just hereaway, where you see the
trees rise into a mountain swell, I met a party coming down to our aid, and I led
them where the enemy were taking their meal, little dreaming that they had not
finished the bloody work of the day."
"And you surprised them?"
"If death can be a surprise to men who are thinking only of the cravings of
their appetites. We gave them but little breathing time, for they had borne hard
upon us in the fight of the morning, and there were few in our party who had not
lost friend or relative by their hands."
"When all was over, the dead, and some say the dying, were cast into that
little pond. These eyes have seen its waters colored with blood, as natural water
never yet flowed from the bowels of the 'arth."
"It was a convenient, and, I trust, will prove a peaceful grave for a soldier.
You have then seen much service on this frontier?"
"Ay!" said the scout, erecting his tall person with an air of military pride;
"there are not many echoes among these hills that haven't rung with the crack of
my rifle, nor is there the space of a square mile atwixt Horican and the river, that
'killdeer' hasn't dropped a living body on, be it an enemy or be it a brute beast.
Thesaurus
ambush: (n, v) ambuscade, trap, weak, refined, mild, gentle; (n) best, circumvent, trounce, vanquish,
attack, assault; (v) wait, waylay, gentleman. circulate; (adv) flank.
intercept, lurk, bushwhack, surprise; defile: (adj, v) debauch, pollute, stain, rung: (n) rundle, grade, degree, stage,
(n) lying in wait. ANTONYMS: (v) sully; (v) corrupt, contaminate, foul, stair, spoke, stave, crosspiece, tread,
retreat, surrender, release; (n) suit. taint, tarnish, infect; (n, v) soil. step; (adj) ringed.
bidding: (n) behest, order, dictate, ANTONYMS: (v) purify, consecrate, unfit: (adj) inappropriate, improper,
charge, bid, request, call, dictation, conserve, honor, respect, sanctify, inapt, unbecoming, incompetent,
direction, fiat; (adj) imperative. cleanse, praise. unable, incapable, unsuitable, bad;
brute: (adj) brutal, harsh, gruff, erecting: (n) construction, building, (adj, v) incapacitate; (v) indispose.
brutish; (adj, n) animal, savage; (n) erection. ANTONYMS: (adj) appropriate,
barbarian, fiend, creature, monster; outflank: (adj) outwit, outvote, suitable, ready, healthy, able, firm,
(adv) beastly. ANTONYMS: (adj) outgeneral; (v) go around, bypass, competent; (v) qualify.
As for the grave there being as quiet as you mention, it is another matter. There
are them in the camp who say and think, man, to lie still, should not be buried
while the breath is in the body; and certain it is that in the hurry of that evening,
the doctors had but little time to say who was living and who was dead. Hist! see
you nothing walking on the shore of the pond?"
"'Tis not probable that any are as houseless as ourselves in this dreary forest."
"Such as he may care but little for house or shelter, and night dew can never
wet a body that passes its days in the water," returned the scout, grasping the
shoulder of Heyward with such convulsive strength as to make the young
soldier painfully sensible how much superstitious terror had got the mastery of
a man usually so dauntless.%
"By heaven, there is a human form, and it approaches! Stand to your arms,
my friends; for we know not whom we encounter."
"Qui vive?" demanded a stern, quick voice, which sounded like a challenge
from another world, issuing out of that solitary and solemn place.
"What says it?" whispered the scout; "it speaks neither Indian nor English."
"Qui vive?" repeated the same voice, which was quickly followed by the
rattling of arms, and a menacing attitude.
"France!" cried Heyward, advancing from the shadow of the trees to the shore
of the pond, within a few yards of the sentinel.
"D'ou venez-vous--ou allez-vous, d'aussi bonne heure?" demanded the
grenadier, in the language and with the accent of a man from old France.
"Je viens de la decouverte, et je vais me coucher."
"Etes-vous officier du roi?"
"Sans doute, mon camarade; me prends-tu pour un provincial! Je suis
capitaine de chasseurs (Heyward well knew that the other was of a regiment in
the line); j'ai ici, avec moi, les filles du commandant de la fortification. Aha! tu en
as entendu parler! je les ai fait prisonnieres pres de l'autre fort, et je les conduis
au general."
Thesaurus
bonne: (n) ayah, nurse, biddy. acquisitive, greedy, avid, voracious, sans: (adj) without, devoid, minus,
camarade: (n) confrere, comrade, rapacious, grabby, mercenary, stingy; short, in need.
familiar, mate, companion. (n) seizing. ANTONYMS: (adj) stern: (adj) rigid, rigorous, austere,
commandant: (n) leader, chief, generous, altruistic. hard, strict, grim, solemn, rough; (adj,
commanding officer, governor, grenadier: (n) grenade thrower, v) harsh; (n) back; (adj, n) rear.
general, officer, master, lord, infantryman, marcher, rattail fish, ANTONYMS: (adj) friendly,
generalissimo, air force officer. rattail, giraffe, gadoid, fusileer, approving, lenient, funny, genial,
convulsive: (adj) spastic, galvanic, footslogger, foot soldier, camelopard. gentle, kindly, lax, liberal, cheerful,
fitful, paroxysmal, violent, choreic, houseless: (adj) unhoused. flexible.
unsteady, hysterical; (v) unquiet, regiment: (n) corps, battalion, legion, superstitious: (adj) superstition, false,
restless, saltatory. host, brigade, division, multitude, groundless, eerie, irrational,
grasping: (adj) avaricious, covetous, cohort; (v) control, organize, regulate. fallacious.
"Ma foi! mesdames; j'en suis fƒche pour vous," exclaimed the young soldier,
touching his cap with grace; "mais -- fortune de guerre! vous trouverez notre
general un brave homme, et bien poli avec les dames."
"C'est le caractere des gens de guerre," said Cora, with admirable self-
possession. "Adieu, mon ami; je vous souhaiterais un devoir plus agreable a
remplir."
The soldier made a low and humble acknowledgment for her civility; and
Heyward adding a "Bonne nuit, mon camarade," they moved deliberately
forward, leaving the sentinel pacing the banks of the silent pond, little
suspecting an enemy of so much effrontery, and humming to himself those
words which were recalled to his mind by the sight of women, and, perhaps, by
recollections of his own distant and beautiful France:
"Vive le vin, vive l'amour," etc., etc.%
"'Tis well you understood the knave!" whispered the scout, when they had
gained a little distance from the place, and letting his rifle fall into the hollow of
his arm again; "I soon saw that he was one of them uneasy Frenchers; and well
for him it was that his speech was friendly and his wishes kind, or a place might
have been found for his bones among those of his countrymen."
He was interrupted by a long and heavy groan which arose from the little
basin, as though, in truth, the spirits of the departed lingered about their watery
sepulcher.
"Surely it was of flesh," continued the scout; "no spirit could handle its arms
so steadily."
"It was of flesh; but whether the poor fellow still belongs to this world may
well be doubted," said Heyward, glancing his eyes around him, and missing
Chingachgook from their little band. Another groan more faint than the former
was succeeded by a heavy and sullen plunge into the water, and all was still
again as if the borders of the dreary pool had never been awakened from the
silence of creation. While they yet hesitated in uncertainty, the form of the Indian
Thesaurus
acknowledgment: (n) admission, borders: (n) confines, boundaries, effrontery: (n) audacity, brass,
acknowledgement, acceptance, limitations. presumption, face, boldness,
confession, greeting, credit, civility: (n) politeness, courtesy, insolence, nerve, impertinence,
allowance, declaration, agreement, comity, attention, propriety, impudence, rudeness, assurance.
thanks, gratitude. ANTONYMS: (n) affability, amenity, cultivation, ANTONYMS: (n) timidity, deference,
rejection, ungratefulness, oversight, complaisance, courteousness, courtesy.
snub, ignoring, invoice, blame, civilization. ANTONYMS: (n) pacing: (n) accelerando, andante,
defiance. rudeness, incivility, coarseness. allegro, allegretto, pace, walk, tempo,
adieu: (int, n) farewell; (n) vale, devoir: (adj) abord, regards, musical time, maneuvering alongside
valediction, goodbye, leave, cheerio, remembrances, welcome; (n) another vessel, cardiac pacing.
adios, bye, so long, parting; (int) bon politeness, obligation, job, need, vive: (adj) hail, Ave, glory be to, honor
voyage. ANTONYM: (n) greeting. must, civility, chore. be to, long life to, all hail.
was seen gliding out of the thicket. As the chief rejoined them, with one hand he
attached the reeking scalp of the unfortunate young Frenchman to his girdle,
and with the other he replaced the knife and tomahawk that had drunk his
blood. He then took his wonted station, with the air of a man who believed he
had done a deed of merit.%
The scout dropped one end of his rifle to the earth, and leaning his hands on
the other, he stood musing in profound silence. Then, shaking his head in a
mournful manner, he muttered:
"'Twould have been a cruel and an unhuman act for a white-skin; but 'tis the
gift and natur' of an Indian, and I suppose it should not be denied. I could wish,
though, it had befallen an accursed Mingo, rather than that gay young boy from
the old countries."
"Enough!" said Heyward, apprehensive the unconscious sisters might
comprehend the nature of the detention, and conquering his disgust by a train of
reflections very much like that of the hunter; "'tis done; and though better it were
left undone, cannot be amended. You see, we are, too obviously within the
sentinels of the enemy; what course do you propose to follow?"
"Yes," said Hawkeye, rousing himself again; "'tis as you say, too late to
harbor further thoughts about it. Ay, the French have gathered around the fort in
good earnest and we have a delicate needle to thread in passing them."
"And but little time to do it in," added Heyward, glancing his eyes upwards,
toward the bank of vapor that concealed the setting moon.
"And little time to do it in!" repeated the scout. "The thing may be done in
two 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."
Thesaurus
amended: (adj) corrected, reformed, reeking: (adj) dripping, overly diluted, undone: (adj) ruined, unfinished,
altered, better. ANTONYM: (adj) odorous, noisome, high, fetid, stale; sunk, done for, finished, behindhand,
unamended. (v) sloppy, soft, soaking, sodden. decayed; (adj, v) doomed; (v)
dismount: (v) alight, light, get off, rousing: (adj) stirring, provocative, accursed, to be pitied, devoted.
disembark, get down, fall, come bracing, thrilling, inspiring, vapor: (n) fog, cloud, steam, haze,
down, unhorse, go down; (adj, v) exhilarating, moving; (n) awakening, evaporation, vapour, fume; (adj, n)
dismantle; (adj) dismast. wakening, stimulation; (v) rouse. gas, air; (adj, v) bluster; (v) boast.
ANTONYMS: (v) mount, ascend. ANTONYMS: (adj) conciliatory, dull, wonted: (adj, n) habitual, ordinary,
harbor: (n) dock, asylum, wharf; (n, v) relaxing. usual, familiar; (adj) everyday,
cover, port, harbour, shelter; (v) scalp: (v) pare, flay, peel, excoriate, general, conventional, routine; (n)
shield, contain, cherish, conceal. decorticate; (n) tegument, head, cutis, accustomed, common, regular.
ANTONYM: (v) relieve. scaup; (adj) lifted.
"'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 it.
We must, then, turn in our trail and get without the line of their lookouts, 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, and that instantly."
Further words were unnecessary; for Hawkeye, merely uttering the mandate
to "follow," moved along the route by which they had just entered their present
critical and even dangerous situation. Their progress, like their late dialogue, was
guarded, and without noise; for none knew at what moment a passing patrol, or
a crouching picket of the enemy, might rise upon their path. As they held their
silent way along the margin of the pond, again Heyward and the scout stole
furtive glances at its appalling dreariness. They looked in vain for the form they
had so recently seen stalking along in silent shores, while a low and regular
wash of the little waves, by announcing that the waters were not yet subsided,
furnished a frightful memorial of the deed of blood they had just witnessed. Like
all that passing and gloomy scene, the low basin, however, quickly melted in the
darkness, and became blended with the mass of black objects in the rear of the
travelers.%
Hawkeye soon deviated from the line of their retreat, and striking off
towards the mountains which form the western boundary of the narrow plain, he
led his followers, with swift steps, deep within the shadows that were cast from
their high and broken summits. The route was now painful; lying over ground
ragged with rocks, and intersected with ravines, and their progress
proportionately slow. Bleak and black hills lay on every side of them,
compensating in some degree for the additional toil of the march by the sense of
security they imparted. At length the party began slowly to rise a steep and
rugged ascent, by a path that curiously wound among rocks and trees, avoiding
the one and supported by the other, in a manner that showed it had been devised
by men long practised in the arts of the wilderness. As they gradually rose from
Thesaurus
began: (v) Gan. ANTONYMS: (n) brightness, adequately, balancedly, equally,
compensating: (n) compensation, cheerfulness, splendor. harmoniously, appropriately.
reparation; (adj) compensatory, intersected: (adj) decussated. stalking: (n) deerstalking, hunting,
satisfactory, atoning. melted: (adj) molten, fluid, liquified, chaff, harassment, still hunt, shuck,
crouching: (adj) sneaking, huddled, dissolved, liquefied, baked, fluent, pestering, pursuit, husk, nuisance,
obsequious, squat, hunkered, touched, limpid, sorry, flowing. angry walk.
cowering, hunkered down; (v) picket: (n) watch, pale, palisade, fence, toil: (n, v) labor, work, drudge, sweat,
submissive, resigned. post, stake, sentinel, sentry, guard, drudgery, grind, labour, travail; (v)
dreariness: (n) desolation, tedium, piquet; (adj, v) moor. plod; (n) effort, exertion.
dullness, gloominess, boringness, proportionately: (adv) relatively, pro ANTONYMS: (n) pastime,
dulness, depression, boredom, rata, in proportion, correspondingly, entertainment, fun, relaxation; (v)
sadness, bleakness, gloom. symmetrically, commensurately, laze, neglect.
the level of the valleys, the thick darkness which usually precedes the approach
of day began to disperse, and objects were seen in the plain and palpable colors
with which they had been gifted by nature. When they issued from the stunted
woods which clung to the barren sides of the mountain, upon a flat and mossy
rock that formed its summit, they met the morning, as it came blushing above the
green pines of a hill that lay on the opposite side of the valley of the Horican.%
The scout now told the sisters to dismount; and taking the bridles from the
mouths, and the saddles off the backs of the jaded beasts, he turned them loose,
to glean a scanty subsistence among the shrubs and meager herbage of that
elevated region.
"Go," he said, "and seek your food where natur' gives it to you; and beware
that you become not food to ravenous wolves yourselves, among these hills."
"Have we no further need of them?" demanded Heyward.
"See, and judge with your own eyes," said the scout, advancing toward the
eastern brow of the mountain, whither he beckoned for the whole party to
follow; "if it was as easy to look into the heart of man as it is to spy out the
nakedness of Montcalm's camp from this spot, hypocrites would grow scarce,
and the cunning of a Mingo might prove a losing game, compared to the honesty
of a Delaware."
When the travelers reached the verge of the precipices they saw, at a glance,
the truth of the scout's declaration, and the admirable foresight with which he
had led them to their commanding station.
The mountain on which they stood, elevated perhaps a thousand feet in the
air, was a high cone that rose a little in advance of that range which stretches for
miles along the western shores of the lake, until meeting its sisters miles beyond
the water, it ran off toward the Canadas, in confused and broken masses of rock,
thinly sprinkled with evergreens. Immediately at the feet of the party, the
southern shore of the Horican swept in a broad semicircle from mountain to
mountain, marking a wide strand, that soon rose into an uneven and somewhat
elevated plain. To the north stretched the limpid, and, as it appeared from that
dizzy height, the narrow sheet of the "holy lake," indented with numberless
Thesaurus
glean: (v) cull, garner, reap, harvest, limpid: (adj) transparent, bright, perceptible. ANTONYMS: (adj)
gather, extract, accumulate, winnow, diaphanous, crystal clear, crystalline, imaginary, intangible, impalpable,
assemble, pick up, to gather. perspicuous, pellucid, lucid, liquid, doubtful, furtive, imperceptible,
indented: (adj) concave, hollow, hyaline, glassy. ANTONYM: (adj) insignificant, obscure, unclear.
serrated, jagged, crenelated, opaque. scanty: (adj) insufficient, few,
crenelate, crenellated, crenellate, nakedness: (n) nudity, altogether, inadequate, bare, deficient, poor,
embattled, notched; (n) fancier. baldness, nude, nudeness, undress, narrow, scant, light; (adj, v) spare,
jaded: (adj) tired, fatigued, worn, birthday suit, openness, status, lean. ANTONYMS: (adj) generous,
weary, wearied, fed up, satiate, emptiness, frankness. abundant, ample, strong.
worn-out, bored, satiated, sick. palpable: (adj) tangible, obvious, semicircle: (n) arch, semi-circles, half
ANTONYMS: (adj) fresh, innocent, evident, apparent, clear, transparent, circle, half-circle, plane figure, arc,
brilliant. indubitable, noticeable, lucid, patent, curve.
bays, embellished by fantastic headlands, and dotted with countless islands. At

the distance of a few leagues, the bed of the water became lost among mountains,
or was wrapped in the masses of vapor that came slowly rolling along their
bosom, before a light morning air. But a narrow opening between the crests of
the hills pointed out the passage by which they found their way still further
north, to spread their pure and ample sheets again, before pouring out their
tribute into the distant Champlain. To the south stretched the defile, or rather
broken plain, so often mentioned. For several miles in this direction, the
mountains appeared reluctant to yield their dominion, but within reach of the
eye they diverged, and finally melted into the level and sandy lands, across
which we have accompanied our adventurers in their double journey. Along
both ranges of hills, which bounded the opposite sides of the lake and valley,
clouds of light vapor were rising in spiral wreaths from the uninhabited woods,
looking like the smoke of hidden cottages; or rolled lazily down the declivities,
to mingle with the fogs of the lower land. A single, solitary, snow-white cloud
floated above the valley, and marked the spot beneath which lay the silent pool
of the "bloody pond."%
Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its western than to its eastern
margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts and low buildings of William Henry.
Two of the sweeping bastions appeared to rest on the water which washed their
bases, while a deep ditch and extensive morasses guarded its other sides and
angles. The land had been cleared of wood for a reasonable distance around the
work, but every other part of the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except
where the limpid water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their black
and naked heads above the undulating outline of the mountain ranges. In its
front might be seen the scattered sentinels, who held a weary watch against their
numerous foes; and within the walls themselves, the travelers looked down upon
men still drowsy with a night of vigilance. Toward the southeast, but in
immediate contact with the fort, was an entrenched camp, posted on a rocky
eminence, that would have been far more eligible for the work itself, in which
Hawkeye pointed out the presence of those auxiliary regiments that had so
recently left the Hudson in their company. From the woods, a little further to the
Thesaurus
auxiliary: (adj, n) assistant, accessory, listless. ANTONYMS: (adj) energetic, lethargically, sleepily, drowsily,
adjunct, subsidiary; (adj) ancillary, awake, lively, vigorous, vivacious, apathetically. ANTONYMS: (adv)
additional, extra, secondary, refreshed. dynamically, vigorously.
supplementary; (n) adjutant, aide. eminence: (n) distinction, elevation, mellowed: (adj) mature, easygoing,
ANTONYMS: (n) chief, principal; altitude, celebrity, superiority, rank, high, maturer, ripe.
(adj) primary. excellence, fame, glory, prominence, ramparts: (n) rampart, fortification.
bays: (n) decoration, chaplet, civic status. ANTONYMS: (n) uninhabited: (adj) empty, desert,
crown, crown, laurels, Bayes, bay, insignificance, cavity, depression, desolate, vacant, unoccupied,
honor, garland, palm, trophy. unimportance, dip, commonness, unpopulated, uninhabitable, lonely,
drowsy: (adj, n) sleepy; (adj) lazy, inferiority. untenanted, unsettled, waste.
comatose, somnolent, slow, lethargic, lazily: (adv) indolently, idly, slothfully, ANTONYMS: (adj) inhabited,
sluggish, dull, indolent, soporific, languidly, slowly, torpidly, supinely, overcrowded, populous.
south, rose numerous dark and lurid smokes, that were easily to be
distinguished from the purer exhalations of the springs, and which the scout also
showed to Heyward, as evidences that the enemy lay in force in that direction.%
But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was on the
western bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern termination. On a
strip of land, which appeared from his stand too narrow to contain such an army,
but which, in truth, extended many hundreds of yards from the shores of the
Horican to the base of the mountain, were to be seen the white tents and military
engines of an encampment of ten thousand men. Batteries were already thrown
up in their front, and even while the spectators above them were looking down,
with such different emotions, on a scene which lay like a map beneath their feet,
the roar of artillery rose from the valley, and passed off in thundering echoes
along the eastern hills.
"Morning is just touching them below," said the deliberate and musing scout,
"and the watchers have a mind to wake up the sleepers by the sound of cannon.
We are a few hours too late! Montcalm has already filled the woods with his
accursed Iroquois."
"The place is, indeed, invested," returned Duncan; "but is there no expedient
by which we may enter? capture in the works would be far preferable to falling
again into the hands of roving Indians."
"See!" exclaimed the scout, unconsciously directing the attention of Cora to
the quarters of her own father, "how that shot has made the stones fly from the
side of the commandant's house! Ay! these Frenchers will pull it to pieces faster
than it was put together, solid and thick though it be!"
"Heyward, I sicken at the sight of danger that I cannot share," said the
undaunted but anxious daughter. "Let us go to Montcalm, and demand
admission: he dare not deny a child the boon."
"You would scarce find the tent of the Frenchman with the hair on your
head"; said the blunt scout. "If I had but one of the thousand boats which lie
empty along that shore, it might be done! Ha! here will soon be an end of the
firing, for yonder comes a fog that will turn day to night, and make an Indian
Thesaurus
expedient: (adj) fit, advisable, scarce: (adj) rare, insufficient, deficient, thundering: (adj) thumping,
becoming, desirable, adequate, apt, infrequent, uncommon, scant, scanty, whopping, lumpish, gaunt, hulky,
convenient, suitable; (n) contrivance, few, sparse; (adv) just, barely. lubberly, spanking, big, loud, striking
resource, artifice. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) plentiful, terror; (n) thunder.
inappropriate, inexpedient, common, adequate, strong, usual, unconsciously: (adv) instinctively,
impractical, futile, detrimental, extensive. unintentionally, unthinkingly,
inconvenient, foolish. sicken: (v) repel, nauseate, revolt, unwittingly, ignorantly, innocently,
lurid: (adj) ghastly, grisly, gruesome, disgust, pall, shock, offend, appall, comatosely, automatically,
loud, frightful, sharp, shocking, scandalize, get sick, languish. obliviously, unsuspectingly,
gaudy, sensational, hideous, horrific. ANTONYMS: (v) attract, delight. inadvertently. ANTONYMS: (adv)
ANTONYMS: (adj) subtle, muted, spectators: (n) spectator, gallery, consciously, deliberately, knowingly,
bland, dull, modest. viewer, viewers, attendance. purposely.
arrow more dangerous than a molded cannon. Now, if you are equal to the
work, and will follow, I will make a push; for I long to get down into that camp,
if it be only to scatter some Mingo dogs that I see lurking in the skirts of yonder
thicket of birch."
"We are equal," said Cora, firmly; "on such an errand we will follow to any
danger."
The scout turned to her with a smile of honest and cordial approbation, as he
answered:
"I would I had a thousand men, of brawny limbs and quick eyes, that feared
death as little as you! I'd send them jabbering Frenchers back into their den
again, afore the week was ended, howling like so many fettered hounds or
hungry wolves. But, sir," he added, turning from her to the rest of the party, "the
fog comes rolling down so fast, we shall have but just the time to meet it on the
plain, and use it as a cover. Remember, if any accident should befall me, to keep
the air blowing on your left cheeks--or, rather, follow the Mohicans; they'd scent
their way, be it in day or be it at night."
He then waved his hand for them to follow, and threw himself down the
steep declivity, with free, but careful footsteps. Heyward assisted the sisters to
descend, and in a few minutes they were all far down a mountain whose sides
they had climbed with so much toil and pain.%
The direction taken by Hawkeye soon brought the travelers to the level of the
plain, nearly opposite to a sally-port in the western curtain of the fort, which lay
itself at the distance of about half a mile from the point where he halted to allow
Duncan to come up with his charge. In their eagerness, and favored by the
nature of the ground, they had anticipated the fog, which was rolling heavily
down the lake, and it became necessary to pause, until the mists had wrapped
the camp of the enemy in their fleecy mantle. The Mohicans profited by the
delay, to steal out of the woods, and to make a survey of surrounding objects.
They were followed at a little distance by the scout, with a view to profit early by
their report, and to obtain some faint knowledge for himself of the more
immediate localities.
Thesaurus
approbation: (n, v) praise; (n) unaffected, gracious, honest; (n) gabby; (n) jabber, gabble, babble,
applause, agreement, approval, liqueur. ANTONYMS: (adj) gibberish.
acclaim, sanction, commendation, unfriendly, stern, cold, cool, lurking: (n) ambush; (adj) snaky,
admiration, permission, appreciation, disagreeable, aloof, reserved, distant, backstair, backstairs, clandestine,
favor. ANTONYMS: (n) rude, uncordial, unpleasant. concealed, dormant, latent, potential,
condemnation, disapproval, errand: (n) chore, mission, job, task, skulking, sneaky.
criticism. assignment, embassy, duty, charge, scatter: (n, v) spread, spray; (v)
befall: (v) bechance, become, happen, messenger, communication, work. disperse, dispel, disseminate,
fall, arise, come about, occur, betide, fettered: (adj) bound, in fetters, in distribute, break up, dissipate,
chance, transpire, pass. bonds, responsible. sprinkle, circulate, diffuse.
cordial: (adj) genial, warm, affable, jabbering: (adj) babbling, blithering, ANTONYMS: (v) collect, reform,
amiable, friendly, genuine, ardent, blathering, loquacious, voluble, attract, concentrate.
In a very few moments he returned, his face reddened with vexation, while
he muttered his disappointment in words of no very gentle import.%
"Here has the cunning Frenchman been posting a picket directly in our path,"
he said; "red-skins and whites; and we shall be as likely to fall into their midst as
to pass them in the fog!"
"Cannot we make a circuit to avoid the danger," asked Heyward, "and come
into our path again when it is passed?"
"Who that once bends from the line of his march in a fog can tell when or
how to find it again! The mists of Horican are not like the curls from a peace-
pipe, or the smoke which settles above a mosquito fire."
He was yet speaking, when a crashing sound was heard, and a cannon-ball
entered the thicket, striking the body of a sapling, and rebounding to the earth,
its force being much expended by previous resistance. The Indians followed
instantly like busy attendants on the terrible messenger, and Uncas commenced
speaking earnestly and with much action, in the Delaware tongue.
"It may be so, lad," muttered the scout, when he had ended; "for desperate
fevers are not to be treated like a toothache. Come, then, the fog is shutting in."
"Stop!" cried Heyward; "first explain your expectations."
"'Tis soon done, and a small hope it is; but it is better than nothing. This shot
that you see," added the scout, kicking the harmless iron with his foot, "has
plowed the 'arth in its road from the fort, and we shall hunt for the furrow it has
made, when all other signs may fail. No more words, but follow, or the fog may
leave us in the middle of our path, a mark for both armies to shoot at."
Heyward perceiving that, in fact, a crisis had arrived, when acts were more
required than words, placed himself between the sisters, and drew them swiftly
forward, keeping the dim figure of their leader in his eye. It was soon apparent
that Hawkeye had not magnified the power of the fog, for before they had
proceeded twenty yards, it was difficult for the different individuals of the party
to distinguish each other in the vapor.
Thesaurus
attendants: (n) entourage, followers, departed, unpursed, bypast, bygone, rebounding: (adj) leaping back, driven
retinue, tendance, persons present, deceased, gone, completely back, repercussive.
suite. exhausted; (v) expending. reddened: (adj) red, ablaze, aflame,
bends: (n) caisson disease, furrow: (n, v) fold, crinkle, crease, flushed, crimson, inflamed, blazing,
aeroembolism, air embolism, bend, groove, line, chamfer, rut; (n) aroused, blemished, red as scarlet,
gas embolism, compressed air channel, cut, ditch, trough. spotty.
sickness. ANTONYMS: (n) ridge; (v) smooth. toothache: (v) tic douloureux,
crashing: (n) destruction, thunder; mosquito: (n) fly, crocodile, alacran, torticollis, tormina; (n) aerodontalgia.
(adj) roaring, deafening, wicked, alligator, mosquitoes, midge, vexation: (adj, n) annoyance, nuisance;
booming. octopus, mugger, dipterous insect, (n) irritation, worry, aggravation,
curls: (n) hair, tresses, ringlets. dipteron, dipteran. displeasure, chagrin, chafe, anger,
expended: (adj) spent, finished, dead, plowed: (v) plucked; (adj) drunk. frustration, botheration.
They had made their little circuit to the left, and were already inclining again
toward the right, having, as Heyward thought, got over nearly half the distance
to the friendly works, when his ears were saluted with the fierce summons,
apparently within twenty feet of them, of:
"Qui va la?"
"Push on!" whispered the scout, once more bending to the left.%
"Push on!" repeated Heyward; when the summons was renewed by a dozen
voices, each of which seemed charged with menace.
"C'est moi," cried Duncan, dragging rather than leading those he supported
swiftly onward.
"Bete!--qui?--moi!"
"Ami de la France."
"Tu m'as plus l'air d'un ennemi de la France; arrete ou pardieu je te ferai ami
du diable. Non! feu, camarades, feu!"
The order was instantly obeyed, and the fog was stirred by the explosion of
fifty muskets. Happily, the aim was bad, and the bullets cut the air in a direction
a little different from that taken by the fugitives; though still so nigh them, that to
the unpractised ears of David and the two females, it appeared as if they
whistled within a few inches of the organs. The outcry was renewed, and the
order, not only to fire again, but to pursue, was too plainly audible. When
Heyward briefly explained the meaning of the words they heard, Hawkeye
halted and spoke with quick decision and great firmness.
"Let us deliver our fire," he said; "they will believe it a sortie, and give way,
or they will wait for reinforcements."
The scheme was well conceived, but failed in its effects. The instant the
French heard the pieces, it seemed as if the plain was alive with men, muskets
rattling along its whole extent, from the shores of the lake to the furthest
boundary of the woods.
Thesaurus
conceived: (adj) formed. inclining: (adj) oblique, shelving; (n) racket. ANTONYM: (n) acceptance.
dozen: (adj, n) XII; (n) dozens, boxcars. leaning, tendency, disposition, pieces: (n) debris, trash.
dragging: (n) pulled wire, stemming, movement, proclivity, sentiment, sortie: (n) raid, charge, foray, attack,
haulage; (adj) slow, sickly, slack, propensity, predilection, partiality. coupe de main, dash, mission,
unfit, sluggish, tardy, tedious; (v) menace: (n) threat, danger; (n, v) outing, expedition, outbreak; (v)
involve. ANTONYMS: (adj) energetic, hazard, risk, peril; (v) endanger, frolic.
energizing, exciting, prompt, short. imperil, intimidate, jeopardize, summons: (n) call, invitation, bidding,
furthest: (adj) furthermost, extreme, threaten, bully. ANTONYMS: (v) process, writ, invocation, warrant,
farthermost, remotest, ultimate, help, protect, guard; (n) pleasure. command; (n, v) summon; (v)
utmost, uttermost, most remote, final, outcry: (n, v) clamor, exclaim, call, demand, cite.
outermost; (adv) most. ANTONYMS: shout, vociferation; (n) noise, unpractised: (adj) inexperienced, raw,
(adj) nearest, near. exclamation, din, uproar, commotion, green, fresh, unskilled.
"We shall draw their entire army upon us, and bring on a general assault,"
said Duncan: "lead on, my friend, for your own life and ours."
The scout seemed willing to comply; but, in the hurry of the moment, and in
the change of position, he had lost the direction. In vain he turned either cheek
toward the light air; they felt equally cool. In this dilemma, Uncas lighted on the
furrow of the cannon ball, where it had cut the ground in three adjacent ant-
hills.%
"Give me the range!" said Hawkeye, bending to catch a glimpse of the
direction, and then instantly moving onward.
Cries, oaths, voices calling to each other, and the reports of muskets, were
now quick and incessant, and, apparently, on every side of them. Suddenly a
strong glare of light flashed across the scene, the fog rolled upward in thick
wreaths, and several cannons belched across the plain, and the roar was thrown
heavily back from the bellowing echoes of the mountain.
"'Tis from the fort!" exclaimed Hawkeye, turning short on his tracks; "and we,
like stricken fools, were rushing to the woods, under the very knives of the
Maquas."
The instant their mistake was rectified, the whole party retraced the error
with the utmost diligence. Duncan willingly relinquished the support of Cora to
the arm of Uncas and Cora as readily accepted the welcome assistance. Men, hot
and angry in pursuit, were evidently on their footsteps, and each instant
threatened their capture, if not their destruction.
"Point de quartier aux coquins!" cried an eager pursuer, who seemed to direct
the operations of the enemy.
"Stand firm, and be ready, my gallant Sixtieths!" suddenly exclaimed a voice
above them; "wait to see the enemy, fire low and sweep the glacis."
"Father! father!" exclaimed a piercing cry from out the mist: "it is I! Alice! thy
own Elsie! Spare, oh! save your daughters!"
"Hold!" shouted the former speaker, in the awful tones of parental agony, the
sound reaching even to the woods, and rolling back in solemn echo. "'Tis she!
Thesaurus
bellowing: (n) roaring, roar, bellows, ANTONYMS: (n) dullness, dimness. utmost: (adj, n) maximum, extreme,
hollo, holloa, rout, yowl, boation, incessant: (adj) endless, continual, uttermost, furthermost, best, highest;
mugiency, hollering; (adj) mugient. everlasting, eternal, constant, (adj, adv) farthest; (adj, v) supreme;
cannon: (n) clash, carom, gun, shank, continuous, perpetual, unremitting, (adj) last, furthest; (adj, n, v) greatest.
basilisk, gun of position, carambole, interminable, persistent; (adj, v) ANTONYMS: (adj) moderate, worst.
carronade, culverin, field piece, frequent. ANTONYMS: (adj) willingly: (adv) readily, voluntarily,
howitzer. intermittent, occasional, sporadic, cheerfully, spontaneously, helpfully,
footsteps: (n) road, footprints, way, broken, finite. disposedly, actively, openly,
trail, path, track, footpath. pursuer: (n) follower, plaintiff, obligingly, eagerly; (adj, adv) freely.
glare: (n) glance, brilliance, radiance, petitioner, persecutor, hunter, ANTONYMS: (adv) grudgingly,
brightness; (n, v) glower, flash, shine, disciple, accuser, prosecutor, reluctantly, uncooperatively,
scowl, beam, frown; (v) flame. attendant, beau, driver. unenthusiastically.
God has restored me to my children! Throw open the sally-port; to the field,
Sixtieths, to the field; pull not a trigger, lest ye kill my lambs! Drive off these
dogs of France with your steel."
Duncan heard the grating of the rusty hinges, and darting to the spot,
directed by the sound, he met a long line of dark red warriors, passing swiftly
toward the glacis. He knew them for his own battalion of the Royal Americans,
and flying to their head, soon swept every trace of his pursuers from before the
works.%
For an instant, Cora and Alice had stood trembling and bewildered by this
unexpected desertion; but before either had leisure for speech, or even thought,
an officer of gigantic frame, whose locks were bleached with years and service,
but whose air of military grandeur had been rather softened than destroyed by
time, rushed out of the body of mist, and folded them to his bosom, while large
scalding tears rolled down his pale and wrinkled cheeks, and he exclaimed, in
the peculiar accent of Scotland:
"For this I thank thee, Lord! Let danger come as it will, thy servant is now
prepared!"
Thesaurus
battalion: (n) host, regiment, ANTONYMS: (n) appearance, ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasing,
squadron, company, unit, throng, attention, preservation. soothing, smooth, harmonious.
garrison, detachment, corps, brigade; glacis: (n) talus, casemate. locks: (n) hair, tresses, head of hair.
(n, v) battalia. grandeur: (n) dignity, splendor, softened: (adj) diffused, muffled,
bleached: (adj) blanched, artificial, magnitude, brilliance, glory, pomp, muted, quiet, slow, touched,
attenuate, attenuated, biased, elegance, majesty, magnificence, sluggish, soften, pultaceous,
colored, coloured, dyed, faded, faint, grandness; (adj, n) solemnity. subdued, low-key.
fair. ANTONYMS: (n) modesty, wrinkled: (adj, n) rough, rugged; (adj)
desertion: (n) abandonment, defection, simplicity. puckered, creased, wrinkly, wizened,
apostasy, dereliction, withdrawal, grating: (adj) hoarse, strident, harsh, crumpled, lined, gnarled, unironed,
secession, rejection, decampment, discordant, gravelly, raspy, gruff, crinkled. ANTONYMS: (adj)
exposure, leaving, disappearance. raucous; (n, v) lattice; (n) grate, grid. unwrinkled, ironed, straight.
CHAPTER 15
"Then go we in, to know his embassy;

Which I could, with ready guess, declare,
Before the Frenchmen speak a word of it."
King Henry V
A few succeeding days were passed amid the privations, the uproar, and the
dangers of the siege, which was vigorously pressed by a power, against whose
approaches Munro possessed no competent means of resistance. It appeared as if
Webb, with his army, which lay slumbering on the banks of the Hudson, had
utterly forgotten the strait to which his countrymen were reduced. Montcalm
had filled the woods of the portage with his savages, every yell and whoop from
whom rang through the British encampment, chilling the hearts of men who
were already but too much disposed to magnify the danger.%
Not so, however, with the besieged. Animated by the words, and stimulated
by the examples of their leaders, they had found their courage, and maintained
their ancient reputation, with a zeal that did justice to the stern character of their
commander. As if satisfied with the toil of marching through the wilderness to
encounter his enemy, the French general, though of approved skill, had
neglected to seize the adjacent mountains; whence the besieged might have been
Thesaurus
animated: (adj) alive, lively, animate, disposed: (adj) prone, apt, ready, restore, surrender, give, remove.
perky, spirited, sprightly, brisk, subject, prepared, liable, game, succeeding: (adj) following,
cheerful, quick, vivacious, airy. inclined, fain, likely, minded. subsequent, after, consecutive,
ANTONYMS: (adj) lethargic, dull, ANTONYMS: (adj) ailing, posterior, ensuing, consequent,
blank, lifeless, spiritless, stiff, indisposed, unlikely, disinclined, successive, consequential; (adj, adv)
unanimated, bored, impassive, reluctant, impervious. later; (v) succeed. ANTONYMS: (adj)
unexciting, dead. marching: (n) walking, mar, drill; (adj) outgoing, preceding.
chilling: (adj) icy, bloodcurdling, ongoing, moving. zeal: (adj, n) eagerness; (n) fervor,
wintry, macabre, ghastly, cold, scary, seize: (v) catch, capture, grab, arrest, enthusiasm, devotion, passion,
apathetic; (n) cooling, freezing, clutch, get, apprehend, receive, vehemence, fire, fervency, heat,
refrigeration. ANTONYM: (adj) annex, clasp; (n, v) grapple. fervour, ardour. ANTONYMS: (n)
reassuring. ANTONYMS: (v) baulk, relinquish, apathy, lethargy, patience.
exterminated with impunity, and which, in the more modern warfare of the
country, would not have been neglected for a single hour. This sort of contempt
for eminences, or rather dread of the labor of ascending them, might have been
termed the besetting weakness of the warfare of the period. It originated in the
simplicity of the Indian contests, in which, from the nature of the combats, and
the density of the forests, fortresses were rare, and artillery next to useless. The
carelessness engendered by these usages descended even to the war of the
Revolution and lost the States the important fortress of Ticonderoga opening a
way for the army of Burgoyne into what was then the bosom of the country. We
look back at this ignorance, or infatuation, whichever it may be called, with
wonder, knowing that the neglect of an eminence, whose difficulties, like those
of Mount Defiance, have been so greatly exaggerated, would, at the present time,
prove fatal to the reputation of the engineer who had planned the works at their
base, or to that of the general whose lot it was to defend them.%
The tourist, the valetudinarian, or the amateur of the beauties of nature, who,
in the train of his four-in-hand, now rolls through the scenes we have attempted
to describe, in quest of information, health, or pleasure, or floats steadily toward
his object on those artificial waters which have sprung up under the
administration of a statesman who has dared to stake his political character on
the hazardous issue, is not to suppose that his ancestors traversed those hills, or
struggled with the same currents with equal facility. The transportation of a
single heavy gun was often considered equal to a victory gained; if happily, the
difficulties of the passage had not so far separated it from its necessary
concomitant, the ammunition, as to render it no more than a useless tube of
unwieldy iron.
The evils of this state of things pressed heavily on the fortunes of the resolute
Scotsman who now defended William Henry. Though his adversary neglected
the hills, he had planted his batteries with judgment on the plain, and caused
them to be served with vigor and skill. Against this assault, the besieged could
only oppose the imperfect and hasty preparations of a fortress in the wilderness.
Thesaurus
besetting: (adj) rife, prevalent, fascination, enchantment, gross unwieldy: (adj) clumsy, cumbersome,
prevailing, urgent, epidemic, credulity; (adj, n) passion, fervor, unmanageable, heavy, bulky,
compulsive; (v) fixed, hackneyed, fanaticism; (n) crush, idolatry, love, ponderous, gawky, massive,
ingrafted, inveterate, permanent. hobby. ANTONYM: (n) indifference. ungainly, lumbering; (v) cumbrous.
evils: (n) mala. resolute: (adj, n) constant, firm, fixed, ANTONYMS: (adj) convenient,
exterminated: (adj) broken, extinct, steady; (adj, v) determined; (adj) manageable, wieldy, compact, handy,
destroyed completely, lost, wiped inflexible, brave, adamant, dogged, dainty, light.
out, annihilated. unbending, courageous. valetudinarian: (adj) sickly, infirm,
impunity: (n) impune, come off, ANTONYMS: (adj) weak, uncertain, valetudinarianism; (n) sick person,
freedom, immunity, permission, uncommitted, timid, fickle, feeble, sufferer, diseased person.
forgiveness. ANTONYM: (n) liability. indecisive, flexible, flippant, hesitant, whichever: (adv) any; (adj) a few, one,
infatuation: (adj) devotion, undecided. several, some.
It was in the afternoon of the fifth day of the siege, and the fourth of his own
service in it, that Major Heyward profited by a parley that had just been beaten,
by repairing to the ramparts of one of the water bastions, to breathe the cool air
from the lake, and to take a survey of the progress of the siege. He was alone, if
the solitary sentinel who paced the mound be excepted; for the artillerists had
hastened also to profit by the temporary suspension of their arduous duties. The
evening was delightfully calm, and the light air from the limpid water fresh and
soothing. It seemed as if, with the termination of the roar of artillery and the
plunging of shot, nature had also seized the moment to assume her mildest and
most captivating form. The sun poured down his parting glory on the scene,
without the oppression of those fierce rays that belong to the climate and the
season. The mountains looked green, and fresh, and lovely, tempered with the
milder light, or softened in shadow, as thin vapors floated between them and the
sun. The numerous islands rested on the bosom of the Horican, some low and
sunken, as if embedded in the waters, and others appearing to hover about the
element, in little hillocks of green velvet; among which the fishermen of the
beleaguering army peacefully rowed their skiffs, or floated at rest on the glassy
mirror in quiet pursuit of their employment.%
The scene was at once animated and still. All that pertained to nature was
sweet, or simply grand; while those parts which depended on the temper and
movements of man were lively and playful.
Two little spotless flags were abroad, the one on a salient angle of the fort,
and the other on the advanced battery of the besiegers; emblems of the truth
which existed, not only to the acts, but it would seem, also, to the enmity of the
combatants.
Behind these again swung, heavily opening and closing in silken folds, the
rival standards of England and France.
A hundred gay and thoughtless young Frenchmen were drawing a net to the
pebbly beach, within dangerous proximity to the sullen but silent cannon of the
fort, while the eastern mountain was sending back the loud shouts and gay
merriment that attended their sport. Some were rushing eagerly to enjoy the
Thesaurus
beleaguering: (n) military blockade, aggression, rancor, ill will, antipathy, grating, flinty, beachy, stony, gravel.
Syracuse, besieging, Corregidor, hatred, war, dislike. ANTONYMS: plunging: (adv) diving, headlong,
Lucknow, Orleans, Atlanta. (n) friendship, friendliness, affinity, pitching, headfirst; (adj) precipitous,
captivating: (adj, v) enchanting, love, kindness, affection, adoration, low, plummeting; (n) descent.
charming, engaging; (adj) attractive, amity, cooperation, goodwill. spotless: (adj) faultless, clean,
absorbing, alluring, bewitching, excepted: (v) except; (adj) let off, innocent, pure, guiltless, flawless,
delightful, engrossing, lovely, excused. chaste, perfect, impeccable,
enthralling. ANTONYMS: (adj) parley: (v) negotiate, converse, confer, unblemished, stainless.
repellent, boring, unpleasant, consult; (n, v) talk, treat; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) dirty, messy,
unappealing, forgettable, annoying. conversation, interview, colloquy, blemished, filthy, soiled, shameful,
enmity: (n, v) animosity; (n) meeting, consultation. tainted, guilty, blameworthy, impure,
antagonism, animus, hostility, pebbly: (adj) shingly, rocky, rough, imperfect.
aquatic games of the lake, and others were already toiling their way up the
neighboring hills, with the restless curiosity of their nation. To all these sports
and pursuits, those of the enemy who watched the besieged, and the besieged
themselves, were, however, merely the idle though sympathizing spectators.
Here and there a picket had, indeed, raised a song, or mingled in a dance, which
had drawn the dusky savages around them, from their lairs in the forest. In
short, everything wore rather the appearance of a day of pleasure, than of an
hour stolen from the dangers and toil of a bloody and vindictive warfare.%
Duncan had stood in a musing attitude, contemplating this scene a few
minutes, when his eyes were directed to the glacis in front of the sally-port
already mentioned, by the sounds of approaching footsteps. He walked to an
angle of the bastion, and beheld the scout advancing, under the custody of a
French officer, to the body of the fort. The countenance of Hawkeye was haggard
and careworn, and his air dejected, as though he felt the deepest degradation at
having fallen into the power of his enemies. He was without his favorite weapon,
and his arms were even bound behind him with thongs, made of the skin of a
deer. The arrival of flags to cover the messengers of summons, had occurred so
often of late, that when Heyward first threw his careless glance on this group, he
expected to see another of the officers of the enemy, charged with a similar office
but the instant he recognized the tall person and still sturdy though downcast
features of his friend, the woodsman, he started with surprise, and turned to
descend from the bastion into the bosom of the work.
The sounds of other voices, however, caught his attention, and for a moment
caused him to forget his purpose. At the inner angle of the mound he met the
sisters, walking along the parapet, in search, like himself, of air and relief from
confinement. They had not met from that painful moment when he deserted
them on the plain, only to assure their safety. He had parted from them worn
with care, and jaded with fatigue; he now saw them refreshed and blooming,
though timid and anxious. Under such an inducement it will cause no surprise
that the young man lost sight for a time, of other objects in order to address
Thesaurus
bastion: (n) fortress, stronghold, ANTONYMS: (adj) cheerful, disincentive, deterrent.
fortification, fort, redoubt, bulwark, vivacious, cheery, elated, joyous, up, sympathizing: (adj) gentle, mild,
Acropolis, parapet; (v) banquette, positive. merciful, humane, compassionate,
redan, ravelin. haggard: (adj) emaciated, gaunt, benevolent, pitiful, kind.
careworn: (adj) tired, drawn, worn, cadaverous, careworn, tired, worn, toiling: (adj) labouring, drudging,
weary, harassed, under pressure, lean, thin, wasted, pinched, squalid. busy.
wan, pinched, stressed, fraught, ANTONYMS: (adj) relaxed, carefree, vindictive: (adj) vengeful, malicious,
bony. ANTONYM: (adj) relaxed. healthy. revengeful, unforgiving, punitive,
downcast: (adj) depressed, dejected, inducement: (n) enticement, malevolent, remorseless, implacable,
dispirited, blue, desolate, attraction, cause, incitement, impulse, despiteful, vindicative, virulent.
disconsolate, gloomy, low, sad, temptation, bait, impetus, occasion, ANTONYMS: (adj) nice, charitable,
downhearted, discouraged. motive, goad. ANTONYMS: (n) forgiving, helpful, merciful, tolerant.
them. He was, however, anticipated by the voice of the ingenuous and youthful
Alice.%
"Ah! thou tyrant! thou recreant knight! he who abandons his damsels in the
very lists," she cried; "here have we been days, nay, ages, expecting you at our
feet, imploring mercy and forgetfulness of your craven backsliding, or I should
rather say, backrunning--for verily you fled in the manner that no stricken deer,
as our worthy friend the scout would say, could equal!"
"You know that Alice means our thanks and our blessings," added the graver
and more thoughtful Cora. "In truth, we have a little wonder why you should so
rigidly absent yourself from a place where the gratitude of the daughters might
receive the support of a parent's thanks."
"Your father himself could tell you, that, though absent from your presence, I
have not been altogether forgetful of your safety," returned the young man; "the
mastery of yonder village of huts," pointing to the neighboring entrenched camp,
"has been keenly disputed; and he who holds it is sure to be possessed of this
fort, and that which it contains. My days and nights have all been passed there
since we separated, because I thought that duty called me thither. But," he
added, with an air of chagrin, which he endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to
conceal, "had I been aware that what I then believed a soldier's conduct could be
so construed, shame would have been added to the list of reasons."
"Heyward! Duncan!" exclaimed Alice, bending forward to read his half-
averted countenance, until a lock of her golden hair rested on her flushed cheek,
and nearly concealed the tear that had started to her eye; "did I think this idle
tongue of mine had pained you, I would silence it forever. Cora can say, if Cora
would, how justly we have prized your services, and how deep -- I had almost
said, how fervent -- is our gratitude."
"And will Cora attest the truth of this?" cried Duncan, suffering the cloud to
be chased from his countenance by a smile of open pleasure. "What says our
graver sister? Will she find an excuse for the neglect of the knight in the duty of
a soldier?"
Thesaurus
attest: (n, v) certify; (v) assert, verify, letdown, humiliation; (n, v) disquiet, faithless, scary, fearful, dastard.
assure, protest, argue, confirm, gangrene; (v) disappoint, mortify. thou: (n) chiliad, grand, m, g, one
witness, vouch, demonstrate, ANTONYMS: (v) please, delight; (n) thousand, gramme, gram, gm,
evidence. ANTONYMS: (v) deny, pride, satisfaction. gigabyte, Gb, curtilage.
disprove, refute, belie. pained: (adj) offended, aggrieved, tyrant: (n) dictator, oppressor,
backsliding: (n) defection, apostasy, distressed, displeased, sore, grieved, autocrat, disciplinarian, bully,
recidivation, failure; (adj) pollution, miserable, injured, wounded, authoritarian, sovereign, czar,
reprobation, declension, worried, upset. ANTONYM: (adj) monarch, suzerain, stickler.
demoralization, depravity, unaffected. verily: (adj, adv) really; (adv) indeed, in
perversion, pravity. recreant: (adj, n) coward, renegade, reality, genuinely, quitely, actually,
chagrin: (n) mortification, vexation, poltroon; (adj, adv) cowardly; (n) selfly, truely, identically, exactly;
annoyance, shame, disappointment, apostate, deserter; (adj) disloyal, (adv, int) in truth.
Cora made no immediate answer, but turned her face toward the water, as if
looking on the sheet of the Horican. When she did bend her dark eyes on the
young man, they were yet filled with an expression of anguish that at once drove
every thought but that of kind solicitude from his mind.%
"You are not well, dearest Miss Munro!" he exclaimed; "we have trifled while
you are in suffering!"
"'Tis nothing," she answered, refusing his support with feminine reserve.
"That I cannot see the sunny side of the
picture of life, like this artless but ardent enthusiast," she added, laying her
hand lightly, but affectionately, on the arm of her sister, "is the penalty of
experience, and, perhaps, the misfortune of my nature. See," she continued, as if
determined to shake off infirmity, in a sense of duty; "look around you, Major
Heyward, and tell me what a prospect is this for the daughter of a soldier whose
greatest happiness is his honor and his military renown."
"Neither ought nor shall be tarnished by circumstances over which he has
had no control," Duncan warmly replied. "But your words recall me to my own
duty. I go now to your gallant father, to hear his determination in matters of the
last moment to the defense. God bless you in every fortune, noble -- Cora -- I
may and must call you." She frankly gave him her hand, though her lip
quivered, and her cheeks gradually became of ashly paleness. "In every fortune, I
know you will be an ornament and honor to your sex. Alice, adieu" -- his voice
changed from admiration to tenderness -- "adieu, Alice; we shall soon meet
again; as conquerors, I trust, and amid rejoicings!"
Without waiting for an answer from either, the young man threw himself
down the grassy steps of the bastion, and moving rapidly across the parade, he
was quickly in the presence of their father. Munro was pacing his narrow
apartment with a disturbed air and gigantic strides as Duncan entered.
"You have anticipated my wishes, Major Heyward," he said; "I was about to
request this favor."
Thesaurus
affectionately: (adv) lovingly, frigid, dispassionate, cold, disloyal, imbecility; (n) feebleness, impotence,
tenderly, warmly, dearly, caringly, impassive, calm. disability, decrepitude, illness,
devotedly, kindly, ardently, artless: (adj) ingenuous, simple, sickness, disease, weakness.
cordially, amorously, dotingly. innocent, naive, open, candid, ANTONYMS: (n) health, wellness,
ANTONYMS: (adv) disapprovingly, unsophisticated, unpretentious, strength.
frostily, roughly. unaffected, sincere, rugged. refusing: (adj) negative, dismissive,
ardent: (adj, n) enthusiastic, glowing; ANTONYMS: (adj) artful, denying, recusative, noncompliant.
(adj, v) burning, fervent, sophisticated, complicated, tarnished: (adj) stained, tainted, dim,
impassioned; (adj) keen, vehement, unnatural, pretentious, insincere, besmirched, spotted, imperfect,
eager, warm, acute, fervid. disingenuous, affected, forced, damaged, flyblown, dull, messy,
ANTONYMS: (adj) apathetic, cool, experienced, cunning. maggoty. ANTONYMS: (adj) clean,
unenthusiastic, traitorous, mild, infirmity: (adj, n) frailty, foible, unblemished, famous.
"I am sorry to see, sir, that the messenger I so warmly recommended has
returned in custody of the French! I hope there is no reason to distrust his
fidelity?"
"The fidelity of 'The Long Rifle' is well known to me," returned Munro, "and
is above suspicion; though his usual good fortune seems, at last, to have failed.
Montcalm has got him, and with the accursed politeness of his nation, he has
sent him in with a doleful tale, of 'knowing how I valued the fellow, he could not
think of retaining him.' A Jesuitical way that, Major Duncan Heyward, of telling
a man of his misfortunes!"
"But the general and his succor?"
"Did ye look to the south as ye entered, and could ye not see them?" said the
old soldier, laughing bitterly.%
"Hoot! hoot! you're an impatient boy, sir, and cannot give the gentlemen
leisure for their march!"
"They are coming, then? The scout has said as much?"
"When? and by what path? for the dunce has omitted to tell me this. There is
a letter, it would seem, too; and that is the only agreeable part of the matter. For
the customary attentions of your Marquis of Montcalm -- I warrant me, Duncan,
that he of Lothian would buy a dozen such marquisates -- but if the news of the
letter were bad, the gentility of this French monsieur would certainly compel
him to let us know it."
"He keeps the letter, then, while he releases the messenger?"
"Ay, that does he, and all for the sake of what you call your 'bonhommie' I
would venture, if the truth was known, the fellow's grandfather taught the noble
science of dancing."
"But what says the scout? he has eyes and ears, and a tongue. What verbal
report does he make?"
"Oh! sir, he is not wanting in natural organs, and he is free to tell all that he
has seen and heard. The whole amount is this; there is a fort of his majesty's on
the banks of the Hudson, called Edward, in honor of his gracious highness of
Thesaurus
compel: (v) force, coerce, pressure, loggerhead, ignoramus, numskull, loftiness, nobility, greatness,
necessitate, enforce, command, ass, bonehead, booby, dunderhead, eminence, size, stateliness, majesty,
oblige, require, make, obligate, press. dullard, dummy. ANTONYMS: (n) high, grandeur.
ANTONYMS: (v) impede, deter, thinker, scholar, intellectual, genius. hoot: (n, v) hiss, boo, cry, jeer, mock,
check, block, request, prevent. gentility: (n) elegance, cultivation, beep; (n) gibe, honk, catcall; (v) call,
doleful: (adj) mournful, sorrowful, politeness, decorum, genteelness, howl.
sad, disconsolate, melancholy, breeding, courtesy, nobility, politeness: (n) civility, courteousness,
miserable, piteous, dolorous, somber, aristocracy, propriety; (adj) urbanity. courtliness, manners, decorum,
woeful; (adj, v) dolesome. ANTONYMS: (n) vulgarity, gentility, good manners, niceness,
ANTONYMS: (adj) gleeful, happy, rudeness. refinement, gallantry, decency.
glad, cheery, elated, euphoric. gentlemen: (n) sirs, messieurs. ANTONYMS: (n) vulgarity,
dunce: (n) dolt, blockhead, highness: (n) excellency, altitude, rudeness, incivility, neglect.
York, you'll know; and it is well filled with armed men, as such a work should
be."%
"But was there no movement, no signs of any intention to advance to our
relief?"
"There were the morning and evening parades; and when one of the
provincial loons -- you'll know, Duncan, you're half a Scotsman yourself -- when
one of them dropped his powder over his porretch, if it touched the coals, it just
burned!" Then, suddenly changing his bitter, ironical manner, to one more grave
and thoughtful, he continued: "and yet there might, and must be, something in
that letter which it would be well to know!"
"Our decision should be speedy," said Duncan, gladly availing himself of this
change of humor, to press the more important objects of their interview; "I
cannot conceal from you, sir, that the camp will not be much longer tenable; and
I am sorry to add, that things appear no better in the fort; more than half the
guns are bursted."
"And how should it be otherwise? Some were fished from the bottom of the
lake; some have been rusting in woods since the discovery of the country; and
some were never guns at all--mere privateersmen's playthings! Do you think, sir,
you can have Woolwich Warren in the midst of a wilderness, three thousand
miles from Great Britain?"
"The walls are crumbling about our ears, and provisions begin to fail us,"
continued Heyward, without regarding the new burst of indignation; "even the
men show signs of discontent and alarm."
"Major Heyward," said Munro, turning to his youthful associate with the
dignity of his years and superior rank; "I should have served his majesty for half
a century, and earned these gray hairs in vain, were I ignorant of all you say, and
of the pressing nature of our circumstances; still, there is everything due to the
honor of the king's arms, and something to ourselves. While there is hope of
succor, this fortress will I defend, though it be to be done with pebbles gathered
on the lake shore. It is a sight of the letter, therefore, that we want, that we may
Thesaurus
coals: (n) ashes, fire, residue, embers. castle, stronghold, citadel, alcazar, corrosion, corroding, oxidisation;
discontent: (n) disapproval, tower, presidio, redoubt; (n, v) keep. (adj) acid.
discontentment, disaffection, guns: (n) weapons, weaponry, arms, tenable: (adj) reasonable, justifiable,
displeasure, disappointment, arsenal, armaments, artillery. maintainable, plausible, invulnerable,
discontentedness, unrest; (adj) ironical: (adj) sarcastic, satirical, dry, excusable, believable, credible,
melancholy, dissatisfied, disgruntled, burlesque, wry, sardonic, satiric, defendable, sensible. ANTONYMS:
discontented. ANTONYMS: (n) derisive, caustic, quizzical; (n) (adj) unbelievable, untenable.
contentment, pleasure, accord, humorous. youthful: (adj) immature, fresh, green,
happiness; (v) content; (adj, n) happy; pebbles: (n) shingle, grit, gravel, juvenile, vernal, adolescent, childish,
(adj) contented. stones. new, tender, sappy, beardless.
earned: (adj) deserved, realized, due. rusting: (n) rust, rust fungus, ANTONYMS: (adj) adult, mature,
fortress: (n) fort, bulwark, fortification, oxidation, oxidization, erosion, experienced, sophisticated, late.
know the intentions of the man the earl of Loudon has left among us as his
substitute."
"And can I be of service in the matter?"
"Sir, you can; the marquis of Montcalm has, in addition to his other civilities,
invited me to a personal interview between the works and his own camp; in
order, as he says, to impart some additional information. Now, I think it would
not be wise to show any undue solicitude to meet him, and I would employ you,
an officer of rank, as my substitute; for it would but ill comport with the honor of
Scotland to let it be said one of her gentlemen was outdone in civility by a native
of any other country on earth."
Without assuming the supererogatory task of entering into a discussion of
the comparative merits of national courtesy, Duncan cheerfully assented to
supply the place of the veteran in the approaching interview. A long and
confidential communication now succeeded, during which the young man
received some additional insight into his duty, from the experience and native
acuteness of his commander, and then the former took his leave.%
As Duncan could only act as the representative of the commandant of the
fort, the ceremonies which should have accompanied a meeting between the
heads of the adverse forces were, of course, dispensed with. The truce still
existed, and with a roll and beat of the drum, and covered by a little white flag,
Duncan left the sally-port, within ten minutes after his instructions were ended.
He was received by the French officer in advance with the usual formalities, and
immediately accompanied to a distant marquee of the renowned soldier who led
the forces of France.
The general of the enemy received the youthful messenger, surrounded by
his principal officers, and by a swarthy band of the native chiefs, who had
followed him to the field, with the warriors of their several tribes. Heyward
paused short, when, in glancing his eyes rapidly over the dark group of the
latter, he beheld the malignant countenance of Magua, regarding him with the
calm but sullen attention which marked the expression of that subtle savage. A
slight exclamation of surprise even burst from the lips of the young man, but
Thesaurus
comport: (v) bear, act, carry, acquit, withdraw. carrier, apostle, errand.
behave, hold, demean, do, suit, agree, marquee: (n) pavilion, canopy, tent, officers: (n) executive committee, staff.
accord. marquise, umbrella, parasol, supererogatory: (adj, v) spare; (adj)
formalities: (n) ceremony, etiquette, marchioness, sunshade, collapsible excess, extra, superfluous,
observance, process, procedure, shelter, cover, covering. supernumerary, unnecessary,
protocol, manners, official procedure, marquis: (n) lord, marquisate, noble, additional, surplus, unasked,
rules and regulations, code of margrave, nobleman, Donald Robert supererogative; (v) duplicate.
conduct, ceremonial. perry marquis, don marquis, Markis. truce: (n, v) respite; (n) peace, breather,
impart: (v) give, convey, disclose, merits: (n) qualities. reprieve, ceasefire agreement,
communicate, announce, grant, messenger: (n, v) herald; (n) harbinger, agreement, pact, accord; (v) rest,
reveal, hand, bestow, divulge, confer. runner, emissary, bearer, pause, lull. ANTONYMS: (n)
ANTONYMS: (v) withhold, ambassador, precursor, courier, disagreement, fight, war.
instantly, recollecting his errand, and the presence in which he stood, he

suppressed every appearance of emotion, and turned to the hostile leader, who
had already advanced a step to receive him.%
The marquis of Montcalm was, at the period of which we write, in the flower
of his age, and, it may be added, in the zenith of his fortunes. But even in that
enviable situation, he was affable, and distinguished as much for his attention to
the forms of courtesy, as for that chivalrous courage which, only two short years
afterward, induced him to throw away his life on the plains of Abraham.
Duncan, in turning his eyes from the malign expression of Magua, suffered them
to rest with pleasure on the smiling and polished features, and the noble military
air, of the French general.
"Monsieur," said the latter, "j'ai beaucoup de plaisir a -- bah! -- ou est cet
interprete?"
"Je crois, monsieur, qu'il ne sear pas necessaire," Heyward modestly replied;
"je parle un peu francais."
"Ah! j'en suis bien aise," said Montcalm, taking Duncan familiarly by the arm,
and leading him deep into the marquee, a little out of earshot; "je deteste ces
fripons-la; on ne sait jamais sur quel pie on est avec eux. Eh, bien! monsieur," he
continued still speaking in French; "though I should have been proud of
receiving your commandant, I am very happy that he has seen proper to employ
an officer so distinguished, and who, I am sure, is so amiable, as yourself."
Duncan bowed low, pleased with the compliment, in spite of a most heroic
determination to suffer no artifice to allure him into forgetfulness of the interest
of his prince; and Montcalm, after a pause of a moment, as if to collect his
thoughts, proceeded:
"Your commandant is a brave man, and well qualified to repel my assault.
Mais, monsieur, is it not time to begin to take more counsel of humanity, and less
of your courage? The one as strongly characterizes the hero as the other."
Thesaurus
affable: (adj) civil, gracious, polite, ANTONYMS: (adv) now, previously, sound.
friendly, courteous, amiable, genial, before. parle: (n, v) parley.
approachable, sociable, decent, allure: (n, v) tempt, decoy, lure, repel: (v) nauseate, revolt, disgust,
pleasant. ANTONYMS: (adj) appeal, draw, entice, seduce; (v) repulse, sicken, rebuff, decline,
reserved, hostile, unfriendly, attract, persuade; (n) attraction, displease, drive back, reject, refuse.
complaining, cold, impolite, charisma. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYMS: (v) draw, charm,
miserable, grumbling, grouchy, repulsion, ugliness, repulsiveness; (v) welcome, incline, yield, please,
distant, disdainful. repel, dissuade, discourage, threaten, delight.
afterward: (adv, conj) then, after that; warn, deter, prevent. sear: (v) burn, char, cauterize, parch,
(adv) thereafter, afterwards, later, earshot: (n) earreach, audience, scald, brand, fry, singe, broil; (adj, v)
subsequently, later on, next, soon; auditory modality, stone's throw, dry; (adj) sere.
(adj) following; (n) future. audition, auditory sense, range; (n, v)
"We consider the qualities as inseparable," returned Duncan, smiling; "but

while we find in the vigor of your excellency every motive to stimulate the one,
we can, as yet, see no particular call for the exercise of the other."%
Montcalm, in his turn, slightly bowed, but it was with the air of a man too
practised to remember the language of flattery. After musing a moment, he
added:
"It is possible my glasses have deceived me, and that your works resist our
cannon better than I had supposed. You know our force?"
"Our accounts vary," said Duncan, carelessly; "the highest, however, has not
exceeded twenty thousand men."
The Frenchman bit his lip, and fastened his eyes keenly on the other as if to
read his thoughts; then, with a readiness peculiar to himself, he continued, as if
assenting to the truth of an enumeration which quite doubled his army:
"It is a poor compliment to the vigilance of us soldiers, monsieur, that, do
what we will, we never can conceal our numbers. If it were to be done at all, one
would believe it might succeed in these woods. Though you think it too soon to
listen to the calls of humanity," he added, smiling archly, "I may be permitted to
believe that gallantry is not forgotten by one so young as yourself. The daughters
of the commandant, I learn, have passed into the fort since it was invested?"
"It is true, monsieur; but, so far from weakening our efforts, they set us an
example of courage in their own fortitude. Were nothing but resolution
necessary to repel so accomplished a soldier as M. de Montcalm, I would gladly
trust the defense of William Henry to the elder of those ladies."
"We have a wise ordinance in our Salique laws, which says, 'The crown of
France shall never degrade the lance to the distaff'," said Montcalm, dryly, and
with a little hauteur; but instantly adding, with his former frank and easy air: "as
all the nobler qualities are hereditary, I can easily credit you; though, as I said
before, courage has its limits, and humanity must not be forgotten. I trust,
monsieur, you come authorized to treat for the surrender of the place?"
Thesaurus
archly: (adv) mischievously, sly, (adj, n, v) abase; (adj, v) debauch, glory.
wickedly, playfully, waggishly, lessen. ANTONYMS: (v) honor, gallantry: (adj, n) prowess, daring,
roguishly, shrewdly, wily, admire, aggrade, elevate, uplift, spirit, fearlessness; (n) heroism,
consummately, roundly, craftily. worship, respect, promote, praise, bravery, valor, courage, chivalry,
assenting: (adj) assentient, consenting, dignify, purify. courtesy, courageousness.
acquiescent, unanimous, in accord, dryly: (adv) coldly, sternly, sourly, ANTONYMS: (n) cowardice,
favorable; (n) agreement, accession, sarcastically, laconically, huskily. cowardliness, rudeness.
confession; (adv) consentingly; (v) ANTONYMS: (adv) interestingly, hauteur: (n) arrogance, pride, disdain,
agree. ANTONYM: (adj) conflicting. warmly. conceit, assumption, conceitedness,
degrade: (v) cheapen, demean, excellency: (n) highness, merit, insolence, loftiness, lordliness, airs,
corrupt, decrease, dishonor, majesty, mightiness, virtue, splendor, elegance. ANTONYM: (n) modesty.
disparage; (n, v) disgrace, reduce; superiority, worship, grace, chastity, laws: (n) Pentateuch, Torah.
"Has your excellency found our defense so feeble as to believe the measure
necessary?"
"I should be sorry to have the defense protracted in such a manner as to
irritate my red friends there," continued Montcalm, glancing his eyes at the
group of grave and attentive Indians, without attending to the other's questions;
"I find it difficult, even now, to limit them to the usages of war."
Heyward was silent; for a painful recollection of the dangers he had so
recently escaped came over his mind, and recalled the images of those
defenseless beings who had shared in all his sufferings.%
"Ces messieurs-la," said Montcalm, following up the advantage which he
conceived he had gained, "are most formidable when baffled; and it is
unnecessary to tell you with what difficulty they are restrained in their anger. Eh
bien, monsieur! shall we speak of the terms?"
"I fear your excellency has been deceived as to the strength of William Henry,
and the resources of its garrison!"
"I have not sat down before Quebec, but an earthen work, that is defended by
twenty-three hundred gallant men," was the laconic reply.
"Our mounds are earthen, certainly--nor are they seated on the rocks of Cape
Diamond; but they stand on that shore which proved so destructive to Dieskau
and his army. There is also a powerful force within a few hours' march of us,
which we account upon as a part of our means."
"Some six or eight thousand men," returned Montcalm, with much apparent
indifference, "whom their leader wisely judges to be safer in their works than in
the field."
It was now Heyward's turn to bite his lip with vexation as the other so coolly
alluded to a force which the young man knew to be overrated. Both mused a
little while in silence, when Montcalm renewed the conversation, in a way that
showed he believed the visit of his guest was solely to propose terms of
capitulation. On the other hand, Heyward began to throw sundry inducements
in the way of the French general, to betray the discoveries he had made through
Thesaurus
betray: (v) deceive, bewray, sell, grass, irritate: (adj, v) incense; (v) gall, fret, protracted: (adj, v) extended, lingering,
dupe, reveal, mislead, disclose, chafe, harass, grate, displease, vex, continued; (adj) prolonged, lengthy,
accuse, befool, bamboozle. goad, aggravate, anger. extensive, prolix, chronic,
ANTONYMS: (v) protect, undeceive, ANTONYMS: (v) soothe, pacify, lengthened, slow, spun out.
hide, defend, withhold. please, help, calm, encourage, ANTONYMS: (adj) brief, abrupt,
capitulation: (n) submission, yielding, placate. short, concise, easy.
cession, deference, fall, loss, giving judges: (n) judge, adjudicators, jury. sundry: (adj) several, different,
up, resignation, summary, obedience, laconic: (adj) curt, brief, terse, diverse, assorted, miscellaneous,
compliance. ANTONYMS: (n) compendious, succinct, pithy, many, varied, mixed, divers, various;
victory, resistance. compact, taciturn, laconical, (n) sundries. ANTONYMS: (adj)
defended: (adj) shielded, secured, summary, short. ANTONYM: (adj) uniform, homogeneous.
watched over, secure, sacred. voluble.
the intercepted letter. The artifice of neither, however, succeeded; and after a
protracted and fruitless interview, Duncan took his leave, favorably impressed
with an opinion of the courtesy and talents of the enemy's captain, but as
ignorant of what he came to learn as when he arrived. Montcalm followed him
as far as the entrance of the marquee, renewing his invitations to the
commandant of the fort to give him an immediate meeting in the open ground
between the two armies.%
There they separated, and Duncan returned to the advanced post of the
French, accompanied as before; whence he instantly proceeded to the fort, and to
the quarters of his own commander.
Thesaurus
arrived: (adv) here, at home; (adj) fort: (n) fortress, citadel, fortification, amazed, susceptible, stupefied,
accepted. stronghold, bastion, defense, stunned, confused, bemused; (v)
favorably: (adv, v) advantageously, bulwark, refuge, defence, garrison; imprinted, stamped, carved.
fully, considerably; (adv) (v) fortify. ANTONYM: (adj) unimpressed.
sympathetically, auspiciously, ignorant: (adj) unconscious, unwitting, renewing: (adj) renewal, restorative,
favourably, agreeably, aright, rude, illiterate, uneducated, blind, reviving, recuperative, promoting
fortunately, luckily, usefully. dull, unaware, uninformed, recuperation, grateful, revitalising,
ANTONYMS: (adv) unhelpfully, unlearned, innocent. ANTONYMS: revitalizing.
disapprovingly, unfavorably, (adj) conscious, versed, cultured, talents: (adj) talent, ability, capacity,
inauspiciously, disdainfully, ill, educated, informed, wary, literate, parts, ingenuity, cleverness, turn; (n)
ominously, threateningly, unfriendly, aware, polite. faculty, endowment, genius,
unfortunately, unsuccessfully. impressed: (adj) touched, bewildered, accomplishment.
CHAPTER 16
"Edgar: Before you fight the battle ope this letter."%

King Lear
Major Heyward found Munro attended only by his daughters. Alice sat upon
his knee, parting the gray hairs on the forehead of the old man with her delicate
fingers; and whenever he affected to frown on her trifling, appeasing his
assumed anger by pressing her ruby lips fondly on his wrinkled brow. Cora was
seated nigh them, a calm and amused looker-on; regarding the wayward
movements of her more youthful sister with that species of maternal fondness
which characterized her love for Alice. Not only the dangers through which they
had passed, but those which still impended above them, appeared to be
momentarily forgotten, in the soothing indulgence of such a family meeting. It
seemed as if they had profited by the short truce, to devote an instant to the
purest and best affection; the daughters forgetting their fears, and the veteran his
cares, in the security of the moment. Of this scene, Duncan, who, in his eagerness
to report his arrival, had entered unannounced, stood many moments an
unobserved and a delighted spectator. But the quick and dancing eyes of Alice
soon caught a glimpse of his figure reflected from a glass, and she sprang
blushing from her father's knee, exclaiming aloud:
Thesaurus
appeasing: (v) appease; (adj) placative, (adv) coldly, ill. unheeded, unregarded, unthought of,
placating, soothing, satisfactory, fondness: (n) affection, attachment, unperceived; (adj) ignored, not
conciliatory, pacific. ANTONYM: love, taste, regard, appetite, noticed, hidden, unmarked, unnoted;
(adj) hostile. tenderness, partiality, endearment, (adv) secretly. ANTONYM: (adj)
blushing: (adj) rosy, coy, blushful, liking, relish. ANTONYMS: (n) evident.
flushed, red, shy, bashful, aversion, indifference, neglect, wayward: (adj) contrary, disobedient,
overmodest, ruddy; (adv) blushingly, antipathy, detachment, hatred. obstinate, stubborn, intractable,
ablush. ANTONYM: (adj) pale. forgetting: (v) forget; (adj) oblivious; unruly, capricious; (adj, n) freakish,
fondly: (adv) lovingly, tenderly, (n) disregard. crotchety, wanton, fanciful.
warmly, kindly, caringly, adoringly, unannounced: (adj) unheralded, ANTONYMS: (adj) controllable,
devotedly, amorously, dearly, unexpected. good, manageable, biddable.
dotingly, foolishly. ANTONYMS: unobserved: (adj, v) unseen; (v)
"Major Heyward!"%
"What of the lad?" demanded her father; "I have sent him to crack a little with
the Frenchman. Ha, sir, you are young, and you're nimble! Away with you, ye
baggage; as if there were not troubles enough for a soldier, without having his
camp filled with such prattling hussies as yourself!"
Alice laughingly followed her sister, who instantly led the way from an
apartment where she perceived their presence was no longer desirable. Munro,
instead of demanding the result of the young man's mission, paced the room for
a few moments, with his hands behind his back, and his head inclined toward
the floor, like a man lost in thought. At length he raised his eyes, glistening with
a father's fondness, and exclaimed:
"They are a pair of excellent girls, Heyward, and such as any one may boast
of."
"You are not now to learn my opinion of your daughters, Colonel Munro."
"True, lad, true," interrupted the impatient old man; "you were about opening
your mind more fully on that matter the day you got in, but I did not think it
becoming in an old soldier to be talking of nuptial blessings and wedding jokes
when the enemies of his king were likely to be unbidden guests at the feast. But I
was wrong, Duncan, boy, I was wrong there; and I am now ready to hear what
you have to say."
"Notwithstanding the pleasure your assurance gives me, dear sir, I have just
now, a message from Montcalm --"
"Let the Frenchman and all his host go to the devil, sir!" exclaimed the hasty
veteran. "He is not yet master of William Henry, nor shall he ever be, provided
Webb proves himself the man he should. No, sir, thank Heaven we are not yet in
such a strait that it can be said Munro is too much pressed to discharge the little
domestic duties of his own family. Your mother was the only child of my bosom
friend, Duncan; and I'll just give you a hearing, though all the knights of St.
Louis were in a body at the sally-port, with the French saint at their head, crying
to speak a word under favor. A pretty degree of knighthood, sir, is that which
Thesaurus
baggage: (n) bag, bags, trunk, pack, hasty: (adj) fast, abrupt, cursory, fleet, riantly.
gear, equipment, stuff, effects, sudden, rash, impetuous, careless, nuptial: (adj, n) bridal, marriage; (adj)
suitcases, woman, thing. speedy, hurried, quick. ANTONYMS: marital, matrimonial, spousal,
boast: (v) bluster, brag, blow, crow, (adj) deliberate, considered, leisurely, connubial, hymeneal, conjugal,
gasconade, show off, rodomontade, sensible, gradual, thorough, cautious, wedding, married; (n) matrimony.
exult; (n, v) vaunt, pride; (n) careful, roundabout, prudent, perceived: (adj) sensed, apparent,
arrogance. ANTONYMS: (n) patient. supposed, professed, ostensible.
deprecation; (v) downplay, lack. knighthood: (n) chivalry, knight, troubles: (n) dilemma, evils, harms,
glistening: (adj) shining, glossy, shiny, nobility, aristocracy. ills.
glisten, brilliant, beaming, sleek, laughingly: (adv) merrily, gaily, unbidden: (adj) unbid, uninvited,
lustrous, sparkling, reflecting light, lightheartedly, playfully, dizzily, spontaneous, voluntary, willing,
gleaming. ANTONYM: (adj) dull. giddily, perkily, flippantly, smilingly, unwanted.
can be bought with sugar hogsheads! and then your twopenny marquisates. The
thistle is the order for dignity and antiquity; the veritable 'nemo me impune
lacessit' of chivalry. Ye had ancestors in that degree, Duncan, and they were an
ornament to the nobles of Scotland."
Heyward, who perceived that his superior took a malicious pleasure in
exhibiting his contempt for the message of the French general, was fain to humor
a spleen that he knew would be short-lived; he therefore, replied with as much
indifference as he could assume on such a subject:
"My request, as you know, sir, went so far as to presume to the honor of
being your son."
"Ay, boy, you found words to make yourself very plainly comprehended.
But, let me ask ye, sir, have you been as intelligible to the girl?"
"On my honor, no," exclaimed Duncan, warmly; "there would have been an
abuse of a confided trust, had I taken advantage of my situation for such a
purpose."
"Your notions are those of a gentleman, Major Heyward, and well enough in
their place. But Cora Munro is a maiden too discreet, and of a mind too elevated
and improved, to need the guardianship even of a father."
"Cora!"
"Ay -- Cora! we are talking of your pretensions to Miss Munro, are we not,
sir?"
"I -- I -- I was not conscious of having mentioned her name," said Duncan,
stammering.%
"And to marry whom, then, did you wish my consent, Major Heyward?"
demanded the old soldier, erecting himself in the dignity of offended feeling.
"You have another, and not less lovely child."
"Alice!" exclaimed the father, in an astonishment equal to that with which
Duncan had just repeated the name of her sister.
"Such was the direction of my wishes, sir."
Thesaurus
antiquity: (n) ancientness, ancientry, malicious: (adj) evil, vicious, strip.
past, relic, status quo, artefact, venomous, spiteful, unkind, cruel, thistle: (adj) porcupine, beard,
artifact, oldness, old age, hoariness; poisonous, mean, mischievous, hedgehog, feather, mote, chevaux de
(adj, n) age. ANTONYMS: (n) today, pernicious, nasty. ANTONYMS: (adj) frise, dust, down, brier; (n) nodding
newness, modernity. kind, harmless, kindhearted, loving, thistle, carline thistle.
fain: (adj) willing, prepared, ready, unmalicious, compassionate, good, twopenny: (adj) sixpenny, tuppeny,
favorable, heart and soul, prone; (adv) merciful, pleasant, provoked. cheap, priced.
gladly, lief, readily, willingly; (v) nobles: (n) landed gentry, upper class. veritable: (adj, v) real, true, actual,
optative. ornament: (n) decoration, adornment, very; (adj) genuine, authentic, bona
maiden: (n) maid, girl, demoiselle, embellishment, decor; (v) beautify, fide, unquestionable, factual,
damosel, wench, fille, lass, miss; (adj) decorate, deck, embellish, adorn; (n, truthful, right. ANTONYMS: (adj)
first, initiatory, unmarried. v) garnish, dress. ANTONYM: (v) false, unreal.
The young man awaited in silence the result of the extraordinary effect
produced by a communication, which, as it now appeared, was so unexpected.
For several minutes Munro paced the chamber with long and rapid strides, his
rigid features working convulsively, and every faculty seemingly absorbed in the
musings of his own mind. At length, he paused directly in front of Heyward, and
riveting his eyes upon those of the other, he said, with a lip that quivered
violently:
"Duncan Heyward, I have loved you for the sake of him whose blood is in
your veins; I have loved you for your own good qualities; and I have loved you,
because I thought you would contribute to the happiness of my child. But all this
love would turn to hatred, were I assured that what I so much apprehend is
true."%
"God forbid that any act or thought of mine should lead to such a change!"
exclaimed the young man, whose eye never quailed under the penetrating look it
encountered. Without adverting to the impossibility of the other's
comprehending those feelings which were hid in his own bosom, Munro
suffered himself to be appeased by the unaltered countenance he met, and with a
voice sensibly softened, he continued:
"You would be my son, Duncan, and you're ignorant of the history of the
man you wish to call your father. Sit ye down, young man, and I will open to you
the wounds of a seared heart, in as few words as may be suitable."
By this time, the message of Montcalm was as much forgotten by him who
bore it as by the man for whose ears it was intended. Each drew a chair, and
while the veteran communed a few moments with his own thoughts, apparently
in sadness, the youth suppressed his impatience in a look and attitude of
respectful attention. At length, the former spoke:
"You'll know, already, Major Heyward, that my family was both ancient and
honorable," commenced the Scotsman; "though it might not altogether be
endowed with that amount of wealth that should correspond with its degree. I
was, maybe, such an one as yourself when I plighted my faith to Alice Graham,
the only child of a neighboring laird of some estate. But the connection was
Thesaurus
endowed: (adj) gifted, clever, cute, choice, contradiction, contradiction in ANTONYMS: (adj) cheeky,
felicitous, competent, blessed, artistic, terms, doubtfulness. ANTONYMS: impudent, insolent, rude,
brilliant, ingenious, talented, (n) possibility, probability. contemptuous, disobedient, scornful,
qualitied. laird: (n) count, heritor, armiger, nasty, sneering, irreverent, impolite.
forbid: (v) prohibit, ban, disallow, bar, vavasour, mesne Lord, landed riveting: (adj) fascinating, gripping,
obstruct, exclude, deny, avert, gentry, squire, landholder, lord, enthralling, captivating, enchanting,
frustrate, to prohibit, enjoin. landowner. alluring; (adj, v) absorbing,
ANTONYMS: (v) allow, let, approve, plighted: (adj) intended, engaged. interesting, mesmerizing; (v) fasten,
authorize, stand. respectful: (adj) deferential, mannerly, exciting.
impossibility: (n) impossibleness, dutiful, courteous, attentive, seared: (adj) arid, dry as a bone,
option, nonexistence, absurdity, obedient, reverential, regardful, recusant, parched. ANTONYM: (adj)
inability, impracticability, alternative, reverent, polite, humble. wet.
disagreeable to her father, on more accounts than my poverty. I did, therefore,

what an honest man should -- restored the maiden her troth, and departed the
country in the service of my king. I had seen many regions, and had shed much
blood in different lands, before duty called me to the islands of the West Indies.
There it was my lot to form a connection with one who in time became my wife,
and the mother of Cora. She was the daughter of a gentleman of those isles, by a
lady whose misfortune it was, if you will," said the old man, proudly, "to be
descended, remotely, from that unfortunate class who are so basely enslaved to
administer to the wants of a luxurious people. Ay, sir, that is a curse, entailed on
Scotland by her unnatural union with a foreign and trading people. But could I
find a man among them who would dare to reflect on my child, he should feel
the weight of a father's anger! Ha! Major Heyward, you are yourself born at the
south, where these unfortunate beings are considered of a race inferior to your
own."
"'Tis most unfortunately true, sir," said Duncan, unable any longer to prevent
his eyes from sinking to the floor in embarrassment.%
"And you cast it on my child as a reproach! You scorn to mingle the blood of
the Heywards with one so degraded -- lovely and virtuous though she be?"
fiercely demanded the jealous parent.
"Heaven protect me from a prejudice so unworthy of my reason!" returned
Duncan, at the same time conscious of such a feeling, and that as deeply rooted
as if it had been ingrafted in his nature. "The sweetness, the beauty, the witchery
of your younger daughter, Colonel Munro, might explain my motives without
imputing to me this injustice."
"Ye are right, sir," returned the old man, again changing his tones to those of
gentleness, or rather softness; "the girl is the image of what her mother was at her
years, and before she had become acquainted with grief. When death deprived
me of my wife I returned to Scotland, enriched by the marriage; and, would you
think it, Duncan! the suffering angel had remained in the heartless state of
celibacy twenty long years, and that for the sake of a man who could forget her!
Thesaurus
basely: (adv) vilely, bottomly, dishonored, corrupted, contemptible, sympathetic, concerned, flattering,
sordidly, shamefully, foully, base. ANTONYM: (adj) good. generous.
menially, lowly, depravedly, enslaved: (adj) captive, locked up, ingrafted: (v) hackneyed, inveterate,
villainously, badly, poorly. charmed, incarcerated, in bondage, in permanent, rooted; (adj) implanted.
celibacy: (n) single, unmarried, prison, bound, subject, beguiled, troth: (n) faith, engagement, betrothal,
abstinence, virginity, celibate, cringing; (v) subjected. plight, vow, loyalty, espousal,
bachelorship, condition, heartless: (adj) hardhearted, ruthless, fidelity, truth, verity, veracity.
maidenhood, single blessedness, cruel, pitiless, obdurate, merciless, witchery: (adj, n) fascination,
status, virtue. ANTONYMS: (n) unfeeling, unkind, stony, insensitive, enchantment; (n) sorcery, glamour,
dissipation, excess, indulgence. grim. ANTONYMS: (adj) kind, spell, magic, black magic,
degraded: (adj) debased, low, ignoble, caring, hearted, warmhearted, necromancy, enticement, allurement,
debauched, depraved, abject, sordid, compassionate, softhearted, merciful, temptation.
She did more, sir; she overlooked my want of faith, and, all difficulties being
now removed, she took me for her husband."
"And became the mother of Alice?" exclaimed Duncan, with an eagerness that
might have proved dangerous at a moment when the thoughts of Munro were
less occupied that at present.%
"She did, indeed," said the old man, "and dearly did she pay for the blessing
she bestowed. But she is a saint in heaven, sir; and it ill becomes one whose foot
rests on the grave to mourn a lot so blessed. I had her but a single year, though; a
short term of happiness for one who had seen her youth fade in hopeless
pining."
There was something so commanding in the distress of the old man, that
Heyward did not dare to venture a syllable of consolation. Munro sat utterly
unconscious of the other's presence, his features exposed and working with the
anguish of his regrets, while heavy tears fell from his eyes, and rolled unheeded
from his cheeks to the floor. At length he moved, and as if suddenly recovering
his recollection; when he arose, and taking a single turn across the room, he
approached his companion with an air of military grandeur, and demanded:
"Have you not, Major Heyward, some communication that I should hear
from the marquis de Montcalm?"
Duncan started in his turn, and immediately commenced in an embarrassed
voice, the half-forgotten message. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the evasive
though polite manner with which the French general had eluded every attempt
of Heyward to worm from him the purport of the communication he had
proposed making, or on the decided, though still polished message, by which he
now gave his enemy to understand, that, unless he chose to receive it in person,
he should not receive it at all. As Munro listened to the detail of Duncan, the
excited feelings of the father gradually gave way before the obligations of his
station, and when the other was done, he saw before him nothing but the
veteran, swelling with the wounded feelings of a soldier.
"You have said enough, Major Heyward," exclaimed the angry old man;
"enough to make a volume of commentary on French civility. Here has this
Thesaurus
dearly: (adv) affectionately, preciously, ANTONYMS: (adj) forthright, direct, remembrance, recognition, memento,
darlingly, sweetly, petly, unambiguous, straightforward, memorial, commemoration, memoir,
expensively, belovedly, intimately, honest, candid, straight, clear, retrospect.
highly, heartfeltly, lovely. careless. regrets: (n) regret, declination, RSVP
dwell: (adj, v) inhabit; (v) reside, bide, fade: (adj, v) vanish, drop; (v) dissolve, regrets only, acknowledgement,
live, stay, lodge, delay, occupy, decline, evaporate, discolor, droop, acknowledgment, celestial latitude,
continue, be, settle. ANTONYM: (v) die, languish, expire; (n, v) wither. excuse, Dec.
wander. ANTONYMS: (v) increase, grow, swelling: (n) protuberance, lump,
evasive: (adj) shifty, oblique, flourish, enhance, surge, sharpen, swell, intumescence, growth,
ambiguous, devious, elusory, brighten, color, wax, stay, rally. projection, prominence, bulge,
shuffling, roundabout, deceitful, recollection: (n, v) mind; (n) dropsy; (adj, v) inflated; (adj)
equivocal, indefinite, furtive. reminiscence, recall, anamnesis, growing. ANTONYM: (n) decline.
gentleman invited me to a conference, and when I send him a capable substitute,

for ye're all that, Duncan, though your years are but few, he answers me with a
riddle."
"He may have thought less favorably of the substitute, my dear sir; and you
will remember that the invitation, which he now repeats, was to the
commandant of the works, and not to his second."
"Well, sir, is not a substitute clothed with all the power and dignity of him
who grants the commission? He wishes to confer with Munro! Faith, sir, I have
much inclination to indulge the man, if it should only be to let him behold the
firm countenance we maintain in spite of his numbers and his summons. There
might be not bad policy in such a stroke, young man."
Duncan, who believed it of the last importance that they should speedily
come to the contents of the letter borne by the scout, gladly encouraged this
idea.%
"Without doubt, he could gather no confidence by witnessing our
indifference," he said.
"You never said truer word. I could wish, sir, that he would visit the works in
open day, and in the form of a storming party; that is the least failing method of
proving the countenance of an enemy, and would be far preferable to the
battering system he has chosen. The beauty and manliness of warfare has been
much deformed, Major Heyward, by the arts of your Monsieur Vauban. Our
ancestors were far above such scientific cowardice!"
"It may be very true, sir; but we are now obliged to repel art by art. What is
your pleasure in the matter of the interview?"
"I will meet the Frenchman, and that without fear or delay; promptly, sir, as
becomes a servant of my royal master. Go, Major Heyward, and give them a
flourish of the music; and send out a messenger to let them know who is coming.
We will follow with a small guard, for such respect is due to one who holds the
honor of his king in keeping; and hark'ee, Duncan," he added, in a half whisper,
Thesaurus
battering: (n) batter, beating, combat, ANTONYMS: (v) withdraw, deny, speedily: (adj, adv) quickly, quick,
fighting, fight, whipping, attack, dishonor, retrieve, take. immediately; (adv) rapidly, promptly,
mugging, physical attack, spanking, indulge: (n, v) gratify, humor; (v) hastily, swiftly, fast, apace, hurriedly,
rough treatment. coddle, cosset, baby, pamper, spoil, fleetly. ANTONYMS: (adv) later,
clothed: (adj) dressed, wrapped, satisfy, please, mollycoddle, cocker. eventually.
cloaked, robed, covered, attired, ANTONYMS: (v) frustrate, deprive, storming: (n) assault, storm, night
vested, absorbed, decent; (v) stifle, neglect, deny, displease, fast. raid, beginning, sortie, onset,
accustomed, arrayed. ANTONYM: manliness: (n) manfulness, manhood, bravado; (adj) tempestuous, angry,
(adj) unclothed. masculinity, energy, maleness, stormy, turbulent.
confer: (v) give, accord, award, afford, courage, gallantry, valor, sex, stroke: (adj, n) blow; (n, v) touch,
grant, discuss, converse, consult, comeliness, developed manhood. caress, mark, buffet, lick, pat; (n) beat,
show; (n, v) talk; (adj, v) present. ANTONYM: (n) femininity. hit, knock, bang.
though they were alone, "it may be prudent to have some aid at hand, in case
there should be treachery at the bottom of it all."
The young man availed himself of this order to quit the apartment; and, as
the day was fast coming to a close, he hastened without delay, to make the
necessary arrangements. A very few minutes only were necessary to parade a
few files, and to dispatch an orderly with a flag to announce the approach of the
commandant of the fort. When Duncan had done both these, he led the guard to
the sally-port, near which he found his superior ready, waiting his appearance.
As soon as the usual ceremonials of a military departure were observed, the
veteran and his more youthful companion left the fortress, attended by the
escort.%
They had proceeded only a hundred yards from the works, when the little
array which attended the French general to the conference was seen issuing from
the hollow way which formed the bed of a brook that ran between the batteries
of the besiegers and the fort. From the moment that Munro left his own works to
appear in front of his enemy's, his air had been grand, and his step and
countenance highly military. The instant he caught a glimpse of the white plume
that waved in the hat of Montcalm, his eye lighted, and age no longer appeared
to possess any influence over his vast and still muscular person.
"Speak to the boys to be watchful, sir," he said, in an undertone, to Duncan;
"and to look well to their flints and steel, for one is never safe with a servant of
these Louis's; at the same time, we shall show them the front of men in deep
security. Ye'll understand me, Major Heyward!"
He was interrupted by the clamor of a drum from the approaching
Frenchmen, which was immediately answered, when each party pushed an
orderly in advance, bearing a white flag, and the wary Scotsman halted with his
guard close at his back. As soon as this slight salutation had passed, Montcalm
moved toward them with a quick but graceful step, baring his head to the
veteran, and dropping his spotless plume nearly to the earth in courtesy. If the
air of Munro was more commanding and manly, it wanted both the ease and
insinuating polish of that of the Frenchman. Neither spoke for a few moments,
Thesaurus
baring: (n) uncovering, denudation, consignment, expedition, celerity, stilted, heavy, coarse, strenuous.
disforestation, exposure, husking. quickness; (v) send, accelerate, salutation: (n, v) salute; (n) reception,
commanding: (adj) imperative, deliver, quicken, slay. ANTONYMS: hail, hello, welcome, address,
imperious, peremptory, bossy, (n) receiving, receipt, dawdling, compliment, hullo, recognition,
imposing, ascendant, compelling, delay, loitering, silence; (v) keep, interpellation, pax.
magnificent; (adj, n) grand, start, begin, hold, retain. treachery: (n) betrayal, disloyalty,
impressive; (adv) commandingly. files: (n) archives. infidelity, duplicity, treason, perfidy,
ANTONYMS: (adj) inferior, graceful: (adj) beautiful, delicate, falseness, faithlessness,
unassertive, indecisive, amiable, easy, fine, charming, fair, perfidiousness, guile, dishonesty.
unimpressive, insignificant, airy, becoming, lovely, lithe. ANTONYMS: (n) loyalty,
subservient. ANTONYMS: (adj) inelegant, stocky, faithfulness, fidelity, reliability,
dispatch: (n, v) speed, rush; (n) awkward, vigorous, jerky, ugly, allegiance, goodness.
each regarding the other with curious and interested eyes. Then, as became his
superior rank and the nature of the interview, Montcalm broke the silence. After
uttering the usual words of greeting, he turned to Duncan, and continued, with a
smile of recognition, speaking always in French:
"I am rejoiced, monsieur, that you have given us the pleasure of your
company on this occasion. There will be no necessity to employ an ordinary
interpreter; for, in your hands, I feel the same security as if I spoke your
language myself."
Duncan acknowledged the compliment, when Montcalm, turning to his
guard, which in imitation of that of their enemies, pressed close upon him,
continued:
"En arriere, mes enfants -- il fait chaud ---retirez-vous un peu."
Before Major Heyward would imitate this proof of confidence, he glanced his
eyes around the plain, and beheld with uneasiness the numerous dusky groups
of savages, who looked out from the margin of the surrounding woods, curious
spectators of the interview.%
"Monsieur de Montcalm will readily acknowledge the difference in our
situation," he said, with some embarrassment, pointing at the same time toward
those dangerous foes, who were to be seen in almost every direction. "were we to
dismiss our guard, we should stand here at the mercy of our enemies."
"Monsieur, you have the plighted faith of 'un gentilhomme Francais', for
your safety," returned Montcalm, laying his hand impressively on his heart; "it
should suffice."
"It shall. Fall back," Duncan added to the officer who led the escort; "fall back,
sir, beyond hearing, and wait for orders."
Munro witnessed this movement with manifest uneasiness; nor did he fail to
demand an instant explanation.
"Is it not our interest, sir, to betray distrust?" retorted Duncan. "Monsieur de
Montcalm pledges his word for our safety, and I have ordered the men to
withdraw a little, in order to prove how much we depend on his assurance."
Thesaurus
compliment: (n, v) praise, honor; (v) nod; (v) salute. ANTONYM: (n) expounder, program.
laud, flattery, applaud, greet, goodbye. manifest: (adj) evident, distinct,
adulation, congratulate, belaud; (n) imitation: (adj, n) fake, sham, conspicuous, clear, patent, plain; (v)
eulogy, tribute. ANTONYMS: (n) reproduction; (n) dummy, forgery, display, demonstrate, exhibit,
criticism, reproach, disparagement; mockery, copy, emulation; (n, v) evidence; (n, v) declare.
(n, v) slander, libel; (v) criticize, parody; (adj) false, bogus. ANTONYMS: (v) hide; (adj) hidden,
denounce, disparage, denigrate, ANTONYMS: (adj) genuine, real, obscure, secret, inconspicuous,
complain, belittle. natural; (n) original, formalism. veiled, furtive, avoidable,
gentilhomme: (adj) gentleman. interpreter: (n) commentator, ambiguous; (adv) absent.
greeting: (n) welcome, salutation, interpretive program, exponent, occasion: (n, v) cause; (n) case, event,
address, greet, compliments, explainer, translator, mouthpiece, juncture, episode, incident; (v) bring
acknowledgment, accost, hello, hullo, ambassador, prophet, bagman, about, create, beget, make, induce.
"It may be all right, sir, but I have no overweening reliance on the faith of
these marquesses, or marquis, as they call themselves. Their patents of nobility
are too common to be certain that they bear the seal of true honor."
"You forget, dear sir, that we confer with an officer, distinguished alike in
Europe and America for his deeds. From a soldier of his reputation we can have
nothing to apprehend."
The old man made a gesture of resignation, though his rigid features still
betrayed his obstinate adherence to a distrust, which he derived from a sort of
hereditary contempt of his enemy, rather than from any present signs which
might warrant so uncharitable a feeling. Montcalm waited patiently until this
little dialogue in demi-voice was ended, when he drew nigher, and opened the
subject of their conference.%
"I have solicited this interview from your superior, monsieur," he said,
"because I believe he will allow himself to be persuaded that he has already done
everything which is necessary for the honor of his prince, and will now listen to
the admonitions of humanity. I will forever bear testimony that his resistance has
been gallant, and was continued as long as there was hope."
When this opening was translated to Munro, he answered with dignity, but
with sufficient courtesy:
"However I may prize such testimony from Monsieur Montcalm, it will be
more valuable when it shall be better merited."
The French general smiled, as Duncan gave him the purport of this reply, and
observed:
"What is now so freely accorded to approved courage, may be refused to
useless obstinacy. Monsieur would wish to see my camp, and witness for
himself our numbers, and the impossibility of his resisting them with success?"
"I know that the king of France is well served," returned the unmoved
Scotsman, as soon as Duncan ended his translation; "but my own royal master
has as many and as faithful troops."
Thesaurus
adherence: (n) observance, loyalty, resolve, resoluteness, impenitency, overweening: (adj) overbearing,
coherence, cohesion, commitment, pertinacity. ANTONYMS: (n) overconfident, imperious, disdainful,
tenacity, constancy, fidelity, cooperation, compliance. vain, bumptious, immodest,
devotion, attachment, faithfulness. obstinate: (adj) obdurate, inflexible, domineering, uppity, consequential,
ANTONYMS: (n) disloyalty, intractable, determined, inveterate, uppish. ANTONYMS: (adj) modest,
disobedience. disobedient, willful, stubborn, unassuming.
deeds: (n) works, activity, actions, contrary, wayward, dogged. resisting: (adj) tough, tenacious,
conduct, background, events, ANTONYMS: (adj) flexible, sequacious, stringy, tough as
happenings, performance, activities. amenable, irresolute, cooperative, whitleather, resistant, recalcitrant,
obstinacy: (n) stubbornness, firmness, easygoing, docile, biddable, opposing, making resistance, loath;
bullheadedness, determination, agreeable, accommodating, (v) resist.
contumacy, mulishness, impenitence, malleable, gentle. solicited: (adj) requested.
"Though not at hand, fortunately for us," said Montcalm, without waiting, in
his ardor, for the interpreter. "There is a destiny in war, to which a brave man
knows how to submit with the same courage that he faces his foes."
"Had I been conscious that Monsieur Montcalm was master of the English, I
should have spared myself the trouble of so awkward a translation," said the
vexed Duncan, dryly; remembering instantly his recent by-play with Munro.%
"Your pardon, monsieur," rejoined the Frenchman, suffering a slight color to
appear on his dark cheek. "There is a vast difference between understanding and
speaking a foreign tongue; you will, therefore, please to assist me still." Then,
after a short pause, he added: "These hills afford us every opportunity of
reconnoitering your works, messieurs, and I am possibly as well acquainted
with their weak condition as you can be yourselves."
"Ask the French general if his glasses can reach to the Hudson," said Munro,
proudly; "and if he knows when and where to expect the army of Webb."
"Let General Webb be his own interpreter," returned the politic Montcalm,
suddenly extending an open letter toward Munro as he spoke; "you will there
learn, monsieur, that his movements are not likely to prove embarrassing to my
army."
The veteran seized the offered paper, without waiting for Duncan to translate
the speech, and with an eagerness that betrayed how important he deemed its
contents. As his eye passed hastily over the words, his countenance changed
from its look of military pride to one of deep chagrin; his lip began to quiver;
and suffering the paper to fall from his hand, his head dropped upon his chest,
like that of a man whose hopes were withered at a single blow. Duncan caught
the letter from the ground, and without apology for the liberty he took, he read
at a glance its cruel purport. Their common superior, so far from encouraging
them to resist, advised a speedy surrender, urging in the plainest language, as a
reason, the utter impossibility of his sending a single man to their rescue.
"Here is no deception!" exclaimed Duncan, examining the billet both inside
and out; "this is the signature of Webb, and must be the captured letter."
Thesaurus
billet: (n) position, note, berth, job, vibrate; (n, v) palpitate, quaver; (n) convert, define, turn, understand,
bar, post, ticket, quarters; (v) quarter, vibration, tremor. alter. ANTONYM: (v) stagnate.
accommodate, lodge. reconnoitering: (n) reconnaissance, vexed: (adj) troubled, irritated, angry,
extending: (adj) expanding. reconnoitring, scouting, exploratory pestered, peeved, harassed, sore,
politic: (adj, v) tactful; (adj) discreet, survey. harried, uneasy, cross, offended.
judicious, circumspect, shrewd, speedy: (adj, v) rapid, prompt, fleet, ANTONYMS: (adj) calm,
prudent, suave, calculating, tricky, swift; (adj) fast, agile, ready, uncomplicated.
cute, chary. ANTONYMS: (adj) immediate, cursory, hurried, brisk. withered: (adj) wizened, sear,
injudicious, unwise, impolitic, ANTONYMS: (adj) leisurely, shriveled, thin, shrunken, dry, dried
foolish. plodding. up, wilted, faded, wizen; (v) lame.
quiver: (adj, n, v) shudder, shiver, translate: (v) construe, transform, ANTONYM: (adj) plump.
tremble, shake; (v) flicker, flutter, decipher, explain, render, read,
"The man has betrayed me!" Munro at length bitterly exclaimed; "he has
brought dishonor to the door of one where disgrace was never before known to
dwell, and shame has he heaped heavily on my gray hairs."
"Say not so," cried Duncan; "we are yet masters of the fort, and of our honor.
Let us, then, sell our lives at such a rate as shall make our enemies believe the
purchase too dear."
"Boy, I thank thee," exclaimed the old man, rousing himself from his stupor;
"you have, for once, reminded Munro of his duty. We will go back, and dig our
graves behind those ramparts."
"Messieurs," said Montcalm, advancing toward them a step, in generous
interest, "you little know Louis de St. Veran if you believe him capable of
profiting by this letter to humble brave men, or to build up a dishonest
reputation for himself. Listen to my terms before you leave me."
"What says the Frenchman?" demanded the veteran, sternly; "does he make a
merit of having captured a scout, with a note from headquarters? Sir, he had
better raise this siege, to go and sit down before Edward if he wishes to frighten
his enemy with words."
Duncan explained the other's meaning.%
"Monsieur de Montcalm, we will hear you," the veteran added, more calmly,
as Duncan ended.
"To retain the fort is now impossible," said his liberal enemy; "it is necessary
to the interests of my master that it should be destroyed; but as for yourselves
and your brave comrades, there is no privilege dear to a soldier that shall be
denied."
"Our colors?" demanded Heyward.
"Carry them to England, and show them to your king."
"Our arms?"
"Keep them; none can use them better."
"Our march; the surrender of the place?"
Thesaurus
dishonest: (adj) crooked, corrupt, respect; (n) laurels, reverence, esteem, sternly: (adv) severely, strictly,
crafty, underhand, fraudulent, admiration, worthiness; (v) revere, austerely, harshly, rigidly, grimly,
deceptive, wrong, disloyal, dignify, credit, reward, award. rigorously, stringently, seriously,
untruthful, unscrupulous, shifty. frighten: (v) cow, alarm, daunt, terrify, relentlessly, solemnly. ANTONYMS:
ANTONYMS: (adj) truthful, appall, scare, affright, intimidate, (adv) leniently, lightheartedly, kindly,
principled, sincere, sporting, terrorize, appal; (n, v) fright. warmly, cheerfully.
aboveboard, straightforward, ANTONYMS: (v) comfort, reassure, stupor: (n) lethargy, stupefaction,
trustworthy, open, moral, fair, legal. soothe, calm. coma, shock, insensibility,
dishonor: (n, v) shame, discredit, heaped: (adj) dense, cumulative, unconsciousness, trance,
degrade, affront, abuse, taint; (v) concentrated, collective, coacervate, sluggishness, torpor, haze,
defile, violate; (n) disrepute, infamy, thick. grogginess. ANTONYMS: (n)
degradation. ANTONYMS: (n, v) masters: (n) Edgar lee Masters. alertness, awareness, wakefulness.
"Shall all be done in a way most honorable to yourselves."

Duncan now turned to explain these proposals to his commander, who heard
him with amazement, and a sensibility that was deeply touched by so unusual
and unexpected generosity.%
"Go you, Duncan," he said; "go with this marquess, as, indeed, marquess he
should be; go to his marquee and arrange it all. I have lived to see two things in
my old age that never did I expect to behold. An Englishman afraid to support a
friend, and a Frenchman too honest to profit by his advantage."
So saying, the veteran again dropped his head to his chest, and returned
slowly toward the fort, exhibiting, by the dejection of his air, to the anxious
garrison, a harbinger of evil tidings.
From the shock of this unexpected blow the haughty feelings of Munro never
recovered; but from that moment there commenced a change in his determined
character, which accompanied him to a speedy grave. Duncan remained to settle
the terms of the capitulation. He was seen to re- enter the works during the first
watches of the night, and immediately after a private conference with the
commandant, to leave them again. It was then openly announced that hostilities
must cease -- Munro having signed a treaty by which the place was to be yielded
to the enemy, with the morning; the garrison to retain their arms, the colors and
their baggage, and, consequently, according to military opinion, their honor.
Thesaurus
amazement: (n) admiration, wonder, ANTONYMS: (n) cheerfulness, don marquis, Donald Robert perry
surprise, consternation, stupefaction, ecstasy, encouragement, hopefulness, marquis, lord.
stupor, wonderment, feeling, alarm, joy, cheer. recovered: (adj) cured, retrieved, well,
jolt; (v) amaze. ANTONYMS: (n) garrison: (n) fortification, fortress, well again, healthier, aged,
preparation, indifference, stronghold, troops, presidio, defense, improved, whole, better, corned.
expectation, coolness, cool, base, citadel, soldiery; (n, v) defend; ANTONYM: (adj) worse.
composure, calmness, contempt, (v) send. sensibility: (adj, n, v) feeling, notion;
belief. harbinger: (n) forerunner, precursor, (n, v) sensation, appreciation, sense;
dejection: (n) discouragement, sign, portent, messenger, augury; (v) (n) emotion, sensitivity,
depression, sadness, despair, sorrow, announce, annunciate, foreshadow; consciousness, perceptivity,
woe, grief, melancholy, blues, (n, v) augur, presage. awareness; (adj, n) sentiment.
desolation, despondency. marquess: (n) noble, peer, nobleman, ANTONYM: (n) insensitivity.
CHAPTER 17
"Weave we the woof.%

The thread is spun. The web is wove. The work is done."
Gray
The hostile armies, which lay in the wilds of the Horican, passed the night of
the ninth of August, 1757, much in the manner they would, had they
encountered on the fairest field of Europe. While the conquered were still,
sullen, and dejected, the victors triumphed. But there are limits alike to grief and
joy; and long before the watches of the morning came the stillness of those
boundless woods was only broken by a gay call from some exulting young
Frenchman of the advanced pickets, or a menacing challenge from the fort,
which sternly forbade the approach of any hostile footsteps before the stipulated
moment. Even these occasional threatening sounds ceased to be heard in that
dull hour which precedes the day, at which period a listener might have sought
in vain any evidence of the presence of those armed powers that then slumbered
on the shores of the "holy lake."
It was during these moments of deep silence that the canvas which concealed
the entrance to a spacious marquee in the French encampment was shoved aside,
and a man issued from beneath the drapery into the open air. He was enveloped
Thesaurus
canvas: (n) duck, sail, sheet, tarpaulin, forbade: (v) prohibit, to prohibit. wide, ample, commodious, vast,
cloth, tarp, burlap; (n, v) canvass; (v) heard: (n) hearing. capacious, comprehensive, open,
painting, tableau, solicit. listener: (n, v) auditor; (n) great. ANTONYMS: (adj) cramped,
conquered: (adj) overcome, eavesdropper, audience, observer, narrow, airless, overcrowded.
vanquished, overwhelmed, crushed, perceiver, hearkener, attender, spun: (adj) spined; (v) rotate, revolve.
subdued, profligate, routed, attendee, attendant, beholder. stipulated: (adj) fixed, formal, certain,
overthrown, done for, under enemy ninth: (adv) ninthly; (n) common conventional, customary, firm,
control, baffled. ANTONYMS: (adj) fraction. predetermined, abstracted.
victorious, liberated. pickets: (n) stakes. thread: (n) screw thread, yarn, rope,
drapery: (n) drape, clothing, dress, sought: (adj) required, quest, seeking, wire, twine, ligature; (adj, n, v) line,
blind, raiment, costume, toilette, popular. file; (n, v) string together; (adj, v)
furnishings, trim, guise, toilet. spacious: (adj) broad, extensive, large, range; (v) penetrate.
in a cloak that might have been intended as a protection from the chilling damps
of the woods, but which served equally well as a mantle to conceal his person.
He was permitted to pass the grenadier, who watched over the slumbers of the
French commander, without interruption, the man making the usual salute
which betokens military deference, as the other passed swiftly through the little
city of tents, in the direction of William Henry. Whenever this unknown
individual encountered one of the numberless sentinels who crossed his path, his
answer was prompt, and, as it appeared, satisfactory; for he was uniformly
allowed to proceed without further interrogation.%
With the exception of such repeated but brief interruptions, he had moved
silently from the center of the camp to its most advanced outposts, when he drew
nigh the soldier who held his watch nearest to the works of the enemy. As he
approached he was received with the usual challenge:
"Qui vive?"
"France," was the reply.
"Le mot d'ordre?"
"La victorie," said the other, drawing so nigh as to be heard in a loud whisper.
"C'est bien," returned the sentinel, throwing his musket from the charge to
his shoulder; "vous promenez bien matin, monsieur!"
"Il est necessaire d'etre vigilant, mon enfant," the other observed, dropping a
fold of his cloak, and looking the soldier close in the face as he passed him, still
continuing his way toward the British fortification. The man started; his arms
rattled heavily as he threw them forward in the lowest and most respectful
salute; and when he had again recovered his piece, he turned to walk his post,
muttering between his teeth:
"Il faut etre vigilant, en verite! je crois que nous avons la, un caporal qui ne
dort jamais!"
The officer proceeded, without affecting to hear the words which escaped the
sentinel in his surprise; nor did he again pause until he had reached the low
strand, and in a somewhat dangerous vicinity to the western water bastion of the
Thesaurus
caporal: (n) choregus, collector, musket: (n) fusil, blunderbuss, gun, disconcerted, discomposed,
flugelman, linkboy. rifle. bewildered, beside oneself, abashed,
damps: (adj) humid. muttering: (n) grumbling, mutter, addled. ANTONYM: (adj) calm.
interruption: (n) disruption, murmuring, grumble, murmuration, salute: (v) greet, hail, kiss, accost,
intermission, halt, pause, suspension, murmur vowel, complaint, heart acknowledge, buss; (n) salutation,
discontinuance, hiatus; (n, v) break, murmur, cardiac murmur; (adj) bow, salaam; (n, v) address,
hindrance, impediment; (v) interrupt. mumbling, faint. compliment.
ANTONYMS: (n) permanence, help, nous: (n) head, brain, mind, intellect, uniformly: (adv) equally, evenly,
respect. gumption, common sense, ego, consistently, regularly,
mantle: (n) cloak, cape, pall, blanket, mother wit, noddle, reason, parts. homogeneously, identically, steadily,
curtain, blind, coat; (n, v) cover, veil; rattled: (adj) hot and bothered, unvaryingly; (adj, adv) ever, always,
(adj, n, v) blush, flush. perturbed, upset, unsettled, puzzled, invariably.
fort. The light of an obscure moon was just sufficient to render objects, though
dim, perceptible in their outlines. He, therefore, took the precaution to place
himself against the trunk of a tree, where he leaned for many minutes, and
seemed to contemplate the dark and silent mounds of the English works in
profound attention. His gaze at the ramparts was not that of a curious or idle
spectator; but his looks wandered from point to point, denoting his knowledge
of military usages, and betraying that his search was not unaccompanied by
distrust. At length he appeared satisfied; and having cast his eyes impatiently
upward toward the summit of the eastern mountain, as if anticipating the
approach of the morning, he was in the act of turning on his footsteps, when a
light sound on the nearest angle of the bastion caught his ear, and induced him
to remain.%
Just then a figure was seen to approach the edge of the rampart, where it
stood, apparently contemplating in its turn the distant tents of the French
encampment. Its head was then turned toward the east, as though equally
anxious for the appearance of light, when the form leaned against the mound,
and seemed to gaze upon the glassy expanse of the waters, which, like a
submarine firmament, glittered with its thousand mimic stars. The melancholy
air, the hour, together with the vast frame of the man who thus leaned, musing,
against the English ramparts, left no doubt as to his person in the mind of the
observant spectator. Delicacy, no less than prudence, now urged him to retire;
and he had moved cautiously round the body of the tree for that purpose, when
another sound drew his attention, and once more arrested his footsteps. It was a
low and almost inaudible movement of the water, and was succeeded by a
grating of pebbles one against the other. In a moment he saw a dark form rise, as
it were, out of the lake, and steal without further noise to the land, within a few
feet of the place where he himself stood. A rifle next slowly rose between his eyes
and the watery mirror; but before it could be discharged his own hand was on
the lock.
"Hugh!" exclaimed the savage, whose treacherous aim was so singularly and
so unexpectedly interrupted.
Thesaurus
denoting: (adj) significant. tilted, inclined, educated. unclear, inaudible, inconspicuous,
firmament: (n) sphere, welkin, heaven, observant: (adj) mindful, watchful, obscure, undetectable, invisible.
heavens, celestial sphere, expanse, alert, cautious, circumspect, careful, rampart: (n) wall, fortification,
arena, field, vault of heaven, domain, aware, heedful, vigilant, awake, keen. earthwork, guard, embankment,
area. ANTONYMS: (adj) unobservant, barricade, defense, barrier; (v)
glassy: (adj, v) glossy; (adj) clear, dreaming, insensitive, unprepared, battlement, circumvallation; (n, v)
glazed, smooth, flat, crystalline, dead, oblivious. vallum.
dull, hyaline, transparent; (v) perceptible: (adj) conspicuous, unaccompanied: (adj) lone, solitary,
glabrous. ANTONYMS: (adj) alert, appreciable, evident, discernible, unescorted, unaided, unattended;
bumpy, dull, expressive, murky, obvious, visible, palpable, apparent, (adj, adv) only, on your own, without
rough. detectable, manifest, observable. help; (adv) solo, singly, by yourself.
leaned: (v) erudite, lettered; (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) intangible, ANTONYM: (adj) together.
Without making any reply, the French officer laid his hand on the shoulder of
the Indian, and led him in profound silence to a distance from the spot, where
their subsequent dialogue might have proved dangerous, and where it seemed
that one of them, at least, sought a victim. Then throwing open his cloak, so as to
expose his uniform and the cross of St. Louis which was suspended at his breast,
Montcalm sternly demanded:
"What means this? Does not my son know that the hatchet is buried between
the English and his Canadian Father?"
"What can the Hurons do?" returned the savage, speaking also, though
imperfectly, in the French language.%
"Not a warrior has a scalp, and the pale faces make friends!"
"Ha, Le Renard Subtil! Methinks this is an excess of zeal for a friend who was
so late an enemy! How many suns have set since Le Renard struck the war-post
of the English?"
"Where is that sun?" demanded the sullen savage. "Behind the hill; and it is
dark and cold. But when he comes again, it will be bright and warm. Le Subtil is
the sun of his tribe. There have been clouds, and many mountains between him
and his nation; but now he shines and it is a clear sky!"
"That Le Renard has power with his people, I well know," said Montcalm;
"for yesterday he hunted for their scalps, and to-day they hear him at the council-
fire."
"Magua is a great chief."
"Let him prove it, by teaching his nation how to conduct themselves toward
our new friends."
"Why did the chief of the Canadas bring his young men into the woods, and
fire his cannon at the earthen house?" demanded the subtle Indian.
"To subdue it. My master owns the land, and your father was ordered to
drive off these English squatters. They have consented to go, and now he calls
them enemies no longer."
Thesaurus
breast: (n) boob, udder, tit, titty, chest, enclose, suppress, shield, shelter, prosaic.
knocker, mammilla, bust, pap, heart; insulate, hide, guard, drape. subdue: (adj, n, v) conquer; (v)
(n, v) front. louis: (n) Joe Louis. overpower, crush, defeat, quell,
cloak: (n, v) veil, mask, camouflage, methinks: (adv) meseems. quash, suppress, restrain; (n, v)
wrap, masquerade, screen, pall; (n) mountains: (n) plenty, mountain reduce; (adj, v) repress; (adv, v)
cape; (v) conceal, dissemble, hide. range, mountain chain. control. ANTONYMS: (v) incite,
ANTONYMS: (v) reveal, uncloak, profound: (adj) abstruse, intense, enliven, resist, submit.
unmask; (n, v) uncover. heavy, important, sound, bottomless, toward: (prep) to, towards,
expose: (v) endanger, exhibit, betray, grave, obscure, utter, abysmal; (adj, v) approaching, headed for, just before,
detect, display, air, uncover, debunk, solid. ANTONYMS: (adj) shallow, of, in the direction of; (adv, prep) on;
denude, unfold, divulge. trivial, lightweight, stupid, simple, (adv) about, around, by.
ANTONYMS: (v) conceal, cover, mild, facile, slight, insignificant, ANTONYMS: (prep) from, away.
"'Tis well. Magua took the hatchet to color it with blood. It is now bright;
when it is red, it shall be buried."
"But Magua is pledged not to sully the lilies of France. The enemies of the
great king across the salt lake are his enemies; his friends, the friends of the
Hurons."
"Friends!" repeated the Indian in scorn. "Let his father give Magua a hand."
Montcalm, who felt that his influence over the warlike tribes he had gathered
was to be maintained by concession rather than by power, complied reluctantly
with the other's request. The savage placed the fingers of the French commander
on a deep scar in his bosom, and then exultingly demanded:
"Does my father know that?"
"What warrior does not? 'Tis where a leaden bullet has cut."
"And this?" continued the Indian, who had turned his naked back to the
other, his body being without its usual calico mantle.%
"This! -- my son has been sadly injured here; who has done this?"
"Magua slept hard in the English wigwams, and the sticks have left their
mark," returned the savage, with a hollow laugh, which did not conceal the fierce
temper that nearly choked him. Then, recollecting himself, with sudden and
native dignity, he added: "Go; teach your young men it is peace. Le Renard Subtil
knows how to speak to a Huron warrior."
Without deigning to bestow further words, or to wait for any answer, the
savage cast his rifle into the hollow of his
arm, and moved silently through the encampment toward the woods where
his own tribe was known to lie. Every few yards as he proceeded he was
challenged by the sentinels; but he stalked sullenly onward, utterly disregarding
the summons of the soldiers, who only spared his life because they knew the air
and tread no less than the obstinate daring of an Indian.
Montcalm lingered long and melancholy on the strand where he had been
left by his companion, brooding deeply on the temper which his ungovernable
Thesaurus
brooding: (adj) pondering, thoughtful, cautious, dull, afraid, chicken, fearful, mockery. ANTONYMS: (n, v) respect,
contemplative, hatching, meditative, unadventurous, wimpy. praise; (v) appreciate, revere, value,
pensive, wistful; (v) brewing, demanded: (adj) urgent, popular, approve, admire, accept; (n)
batching; (n) chick management, requisitory. admiration, commendation, humility.
parturition. ANTONYMS: (adj) lilies: (n) lily. sully: (n, v) foul, defile, dirty; (adj, n, v)
shallow, cheerful. scar: (n, v) mark, blemish, seam, stain, soil; (adj, v) tarnish; (v) besmirch,
daring: (adj, n) bold, courageous, brand; (n) cicatrix, cicatrice, defect, contaminate, smear, pollute, corrupt,
adventurous; (adj) audacious, scratch, injury; (v) disfigure. taint. ANTONYMS: (v) respect,
venturesome, intrepid; (n) bravery, ANTONYM: (v) enhance. purify, clean, cleanse, dignify.
audacity, boldness, courage, scorn: (v) despise, contemn, reject; (n, tread: (n, v) pace, walk, rate, march,
adventurousness. ANTONYMS: (n) v) ridicule, neglect, disregard, deride, tramp; (n) gait, stride, footstep,
cowardice, timidity; (adj) timid, slight; (n) contempt, derision, footfall, track; (v) trample.
ally had just discovered. Already had his fair fame been tarnished by one horrid
scene, and in circumstances fearfully resembling those under which he now
found himself. As he mused he became keenly sensible of the deep responsibility
they assume who disregard the means to attain the end, and of all the danger of
setting in motion an engine which it exceeds human power to control. Then
shaking off a train of reflections that he accounted a weakness in such a moment
of triumph, he retraced his steps toward his tent, giving the order as he passed to
make the signal that should arouse the army from its slumbers.%
The first tap of the French drums was echoed from the bosom of the fort, and
presently the valley was filled with the strains of martial music, rising long,
thrilling and lively above the rattling accompaniment. The horns of the victors
sounded merry and cheerful flourishes, until the last laggard of the camp was at
his post; but the instant the British fifes had blown their shrill signal, they
became mute. In the meantime the day had dawned, and when the line of the
French army was ready to receive its general, the rays of a brilliant sun were
glancing along the glittering array. Then that success, which was already so well
known, was officially announced; the favored band who were selected to guard
the gates of the fort were detailed, and defiled before their chief; the signal of
their approach was given, and all the usual preparations for a change of masters
were ordered and executed directly under the guns of the contested works.
A very different scene presented itself within the lines of the Anglo-American
army. As soon as the warning signal was given, it exhibited all the signs of a
hurried and forced departure. The sullen soldiers shouldered their empty tubes
and fell into their places, like men whose blood had been heated by the past
contest, and who only desired the opportunity to revenge an indignity which
was still wounding to their pride, concealed as it was under the observances of
military etiquette.
Women and children ran from place to place, some bearing the scanty
remnants of their baggage, and others searching in the ranks for those
countenances they looked up to for protection.
Thesaurus
defiled: (adj) impure, polluted, dirty, accompaniments, additions, strident, keen, shrewd; (v) shriek,
maculate, debauched, contaminated, embellishments. screech, scream, yell; (adj, v) high,
corrupt, violated, tainted, abusive, indignity: (n) dishonor, contumely, sharp. ANTONYMS: (adj) low, quiet,
adulterate. ANTONYMS: (adj) humiliation, contempt, outrage, resonant.
hallowed, purified, sanctified, disdain, offence, disgrace, strains: (n) tension, tenseness.
cleansed, untarnished. degradation; (n, v) insult, abuse. wounding: (n) wound, injury; (adj)
drums: (n) drumming. ANTONYMS: (n) honor, glory, pride. hurtful, spiteful, traumatic, grievous,
etiquette: (n) decorum, rite, civility, laggard: (adj) slow, slack, lagging, offensive, stabbing, inflicting
protocol, label, form, convention, tardy, lazy, remiss, poky, pokey; (n) wounds, impertinent, harmful.
decency, formality, tag, custom. drone, lagger, idler. ANTONYM: ANTONYMS: (adj) harmless,
flourishes: (n) added extras, (adj) prompt. complimentary, kind, polite,
trappings, superfluities, trimmings, shrill: (adj) piercing, penetrating, sympathetic.
Munro appeared among his silent troops firm but dejected. It was evident
that the unexpected blow had struck deep into his heart, though he struggled to
sustain his misfortune with the port of a man.%
Duncan was touched at the quiet and impressive exhibition of his grief. He
had discharged his own duty, and he now pressed to the side of the old man, to
know in what particular he might serve him.
"My daughters," was the brief but expressive reply.
"Good heavens! are not arrangements already made for their convenience?"
"To-day I am only a soldier, Major Heyward," said the veteran. "All that you
see here, claim alike to be my children."
Duncan had heard enough. Without losing one of those moments which had
now become so precious, he flew toward the quarters of Munro, in quest of the
sisters. He found them on the threshold of the low edifice, already prepared to
depart, and surrounded by a clamorous and weeping assemblage of their own
sex, that had gathered about the place, with a sort of instinctive consciousness
that it was the point most likely to be protected. Though the cheeks of Cora were
pale and her countenance anxious, she had lost none of her firmness; but the eyes
of Alice were inflamed, and betrayed how long and bitterly she had wept. They
both, however, received the young man with undisguised pleasure; the former,
for a novelty, being the first to speak.
"The fort is lost," she said, with a melancholy smile; "though our good name, I
trust, remains."
"'Tis brighter than ever. But, dearest Miss Munro, it is time to think less of
others, and to make some provision for yourself. Military usage -- pride -- that
pride on which you so much value yourself, demands that your father and I
should for a little while continue with the troops. Then where to seek a proper
protector for you against the confusion and chances of such a scene?"
"None is necessary," returned Cora; "who will dare to injure or insult the
daughter of such a father, at a time like this?"
Thesaurus
assemblage: (n) meeting, collection, continue, remain, appear, converge, protector: (n) guard, guardian, patron,
congregation, set, multitude, crew, return. champion, custodian, conservator,
confluence, gathering, gang, inflamed: (adj) impassioned, excited, escort, hero, paladin, supporter,
convention, convocation. angry, hot, flaming, ablaze, irritated, benefactor.
ANTONYMS: (v) dispersal, passionate, painful, burning; (n) red. undisguised: (adj) downright, plain,
scattering. instinctive: (adj) inherent, inborn, overt, naked, bare, frank, literal,
cheeks: (n) Gemini, twins, couple, automatic, natural, mechanical, obvious, ingenuous, simple, honest.
posterior, pair, deuce, two, duet. spontaneous, intuitive, unconscious, weeping: (adj) tearful, lachrymose,
depart: (v) go, deviate, decease, gut, reflex; (adj, v) involuntary. dolourous, dolorous; (n, v) lament,
diverge, start, stray, wander, leave, ANTONYMS: (adj) learned, stilted, lamentation; (v) wailing; (n) sobbing,
die, vary, part. ANTONYMS: (v) stay, deliberate, factual, systematic, tears, cry; (adj, n) howling.
arrive, enter, come, abide, conform, trained, spiritual. ANTONYM: (n) celebration.
"I would not leave you alone," continued the youth, looking about him in a
hurried manner, "for the command of the best regiment in the pay of the king.
Remember, our Alice is not gifted with all your firmness, and God only knows
the terror she might endure."
"You may be right," Cora replied, smiling again, but far more sadly than
before. "Listen! chance has already sent us a friend when he is most needed."
Duncan did listen, and on the instant comprehended her meaning. The low
and serious sounds of the sacred music, so well known to the eastern provinces,
caught his ear, and instantly drew him to an apartment in an adjacent building,
which had already been deserted by its customary tenants. There he found
David, pouring out his pious feelings through the only medium in which he ever
indulged. Duncan waited, until, by the cessation of the movement of the hand,
he believed the strain was ended, when, by touching his shoulder, he drew the
attention of the other to himself, and in a few words explained his wishes.%
"Even so," replied the single-minded disciple of the King of Israel, when the
young man had ended; "I have found much that is comely and melodious in the
maidens, and it is fitting that we who have consorted in so much peril, should
abide together in peace. I will attend them, when I have completed my morning
praise, to which nothing is now wanting but the doxology. Wilt thou bear a part,
friend? The meter is common, and the tune 'Southwell'."
Then, extending the little volume, and giving the pitch of the air anew with
considerate attention, David recommenced and finished his strains, with a
fixedness of manner that it was not easy to interrupt. Heyward was fain to wait
until the verse was ended; when, seeing David relieving himself from the
spectacles, and replacing the book, he continued.
"It will be your duty to see that none dare to approach the ladies with any
rude intention, or to offer insult or taunt at the misfortune of their brave father.
In this task you will be seconded by the domestics of their household."
"Even so."
Thesaurus
anew: (adv) again, newly, lately, unsympathetic. stillness; (adj) stability.
recently, over again, once more, once disciple: (n) adherent, follower, relieving: (adj) pertinent, comforting,
again, new; (adj) only yesterday, the devotee, scholar, pupil, believer, applicable; (n) encouragement.
other day, just now. proselyte, cohort, learner, partisan, taunt: (n, v) ridicule, gibe, flout, insult,
considerate: (adj, n) thoughtful, votary. ANTONYMS: (n) leader, mock, deride, sneer, twit, quip; (n)
benevolent, nice, gentle, sympathetic, teacher, God, instructor. scoff; (v) bait. ANTONYMS: (n, v)
humane; (adj) magnanimous, kind, doxology: (n) hosanna, hymn, grace, respect, compliment; (v) applaud,
polite, delicate, discreet. praise, glorification, anthem. comfort.
ANTONYMS: (adj) uncaring, fixedness: (adj, n) firmness, constancy, wilt: (v) flag, shrivel, sag, weaken,
thoughtless, tactless, inconsiderate, stronghold; (n) fixity, immovability, fade, languish, dry, wither, collapse,
selfish, rude, unkind, unforgiving, immobility, unchangeableness, tire; (n) wilting. ANTONYMS: (v)
offhand, disrespectful, unchangingness, unchangeability, flourish, rise, rally.
"It is possible that the Indians and stragglers of the enemy may intrude, in
which case you will remind them of the terms of the capitulation, and threaten to
report their conduct to Montcalm. A word will suffice."
"If not, I have that here which shall," returned David, exhibiting his book,
with an air in which meekness and confidence were singularly blended. Here are
words which, uttered, or rather thundered, with proper emphasis, and in
measured time, shall quiet the most unruly temper:
"'Why rage the heathen furiously'?"
"Enough," said Heyward, interrupting the burst of his musical invocation;

"we understand each other; it is time that we should now assume our respective
duties."
Gamut cheerfully assented, and together they sought the females. Cora
received her new and somewhat extraordinary protector courteously, at least;
and even the pallid features of Alice lighted again with some of their native
archness as she thanked Heyward for his care. Duncan took occasion to assure
them he had done the best that circumstances permitted, and, as he believed,
quite enough for the security of their feelings; of danger there was none. He then
spoke gladly of his intention to rejoin them the moment he had led the advance a
few miles toward the Hudson, and immediately took his leave.%
By this time the signal for departure had been given, and the head of the
English column was in motion. The sisters started at the sound, and glancing
their eyes around, they saw the white uniforms of the French grenadiers, who
had already taken possession of the gates of the fort. At that moment an
enormous cloud seemed to pass suddenly above their heads, and, looking
upward, they discovered that they stood beneath the wide folds of the standard
of France.
"Let us go," said Cora; "this is no longer a fit place for the children of an
English officer."
Thesaurus
archness: (n) playfulness, craftiness, ambit, ut, orbit, series, variety, invocation: (v) entreaty, obsecration,
cunning, wiliness, slyness, perkiness, sweep, spectrum, stretch. solicitation; (n) prayer,
flippancy, hatred, astuteness, malice, gates: (n) bill Gates. implementation, intercession,
pertness. ANTONYM: (n) humility. grenadiers: (n) Macrouridae. petition, rogation, benediction,
courteously: (adv) graciously, civilly, interrupting: (adj) cross, interchanged, apostrophe; (n, v) supplication.
considerately, decorously, decently, interpelling, meddlesome, adverse, meekness: (n) humbleness, modesty,
gallantly, obligingly, urbanely, defensive, contrary, interpellant, submission, obedience, compliance,
suavely, thoughtfully, kindly. interruptive. gentleness, tameness,
ANTONYMS: (adv) coarsely, intrude: (v) interfere, trespass, submissiveness, docility, lowliness,
uncooperatively, disrespectfully, encroach, infringe, impose, obtrude, tractability. ANTONYMS: (n)
impolitely. disturb, interrupt, impinge, barge in, arrogance, ferocity, wildness.
gamut: (n) scale, reach, compass, butt in. ANTONYM: (v) disregard.
Alice clung to the arm of her sister, and together they left the parade,
accompanied by the moving throng that surrounded them.%
As they passed the gates, the French officers, who had learned their rank,
bowed often and low, forbearing, however, to intrude those attentions which
they saw, with peculiar tact, might not be agreeable. As every vehicle and each
beast of burden was occupied by the sick and wounded, Cora had decided to
endure the fatigues of a foot march, rather than interfere with their comforts.
Indeed, many a maimed and feeble soldier was compelled to drag his exhausted
limbs in the rear of the columns, for the want of the necessary means of
conveyance in that wilderness. The whole, however, was in motion; the weak
and wounded, groaning and in suffering; their comrades silent and sullen; and
the women and children in terror, they knew not of what.
As the confused and timid throng left the protecting mounds of the fort, and
issued on the open plain, the whole scene was at once presented to their eyes. At
a little distance on the right, and somewhat in the rear, the French army stood to
their arms, Montcalm having collected his parties, so soon as his guards had
possession of the works. They were attentive but silent observers of the
proceedings of the vanquished, failing in none of the stipulated military honors,
and offering no taunt or insult, in their success, to their less fortunate foes. Living
masses of the English, to the amount, in the whole, of near three thousand, were
moving slowly across the plain, toward the common center, and gradually
approached each other, as they converged to the point of their march, a vista cut
through the lofty trees, where the road to the Hudson entered the forest. Along
the sweeping borders of the woods hung a dark cloud of savages, eyeing the
passage of their enemies, and hovering at a distance, like vultures who were only
kept from swooping on their prey by the presence and restraint of a superior
army. A few had straggled among the conquered columns, where they stalked in
sullen discontent; attentive, though, as yet, passive observers of the moving
multitude.
The advance, with Heyward at its head, had already reached the defile, and
was slowly disappearing, when the attention of Cora was drawn to a collection
Thesaurus
comforts: (n) amenities, bread and short, game, cut off; (n) wounded. disperse.
butter, convenience, conveniences. tact: (n) diplomacy, delicacy, finesse, timid: (adj) shy, afraid, diffident, coy,
forbearing: (adj) patient, clement, address, discretion, skill, bashful, nervous, frightened,
tolerant, lenient, easy, indulgent, consideration, refinement, grace, apprehensive, modest; (adj, adv)
permissive, charitable, merciful, thoughtfulness, tactfulness. cowardly; (adj, n) cautious.
compassionate, meek. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (n) frankness, ANTONYMS: (adj, n) brave; (adj)
(adj) impatient, unforgiving. carelessness, thoughtlessness, confident, bold, fearless, resolute,
groaning: (adj) moaning, groaningly, insensitivity, clumsiness. forward, daring, brazen, extrovert,
inarticulate. throng: (n, v) swarm, herd, mob, flock, brash, talkative.
honors: (n) formality. press; (n) multitude, host, horde, vultures: (n) ospreys, hawks,
maimed: (adj) disabled, mutilated, mass, assembly, concourse. Falconiformes, eagles, caracaras.
deformed, truncated, faulty, cut ANTONYMS: (n) trickle, few; (v) women: (n) sex, gentle sex.
of stragglers by the sounds of contention. A truant provincial was paying the

forfeit of his disobedience, by being plundered of those very effects which had
caused him to desert his place in the ranks. The man was of powerful frame, and
too avaricious to part with his goods without a struggle. Individuals from either
party interfered; the one side to prevent and the other to aid in the robbery.
Voices grew loud and angry, and a hundred savages appeared, as it were, by
magic, where a dozen only had been seen a minute before. It was then that Cora
saw the form of Magua gliding among his countrymen, and speaking with his
fatal and artful eloquence. The mass of women and children stopped, and
hovered together like alarmed and fluttering birds. But the cupidity of the Indian
was soon gratified, and the different bodies again moved slowly onward.%
The savages now fell back, and seemed content to let their enemies advance
without further molestation. But, as the female crowd approached them, the
gaudy colors of a shawl attracted the eyes of a wild and untutored Huron. He
advanced to seize it without the least hesitation. The woman, more in terror than
through love of the ornament, wrapped her child in the coveted article, and
folded both more closely to her bosom. Cora was in the act of speaking, with an
intent to advise the woman to abandon the trifle, when the savage relinquished
his hold of the shawl, and tore the screaming infant from her arms. Abandoning
everything to the greedy grasp of those around her, the mother darted, with
distraction in her mien, to reclaim her child. The Indian smiled grimly, and
extended one hand, in sign of a willingness to exchange, while, with the other, he
flourished the babe over his head, holding it by the feet as if to enhance the value
of the ransom.
"Here -- here -- there -- all -- any -- everything!" exclaimed the breathless
woman, tearing the lighter articles of dress from her person with ill-directed and
trembling fingers; "take all, but give me my babe!"
The savage spurned the worthless rags, and perceiving that the shawl had
already become a prize to another, his bantering but sullen smile changing to a
gleam of ferocity, he dashed the head of the infant against a rock, and cast its
quivering remains to her very feet. For an instant the mother stood, like a statue
Thesaurus
artful: (adj) crafty, cunning, scheming, bodies: (n) people, public. dull, quality.
wily, shrewd, insidious, designing, cupidity: (n) covetousness, greed, molestation: (adj, n) annoyance; (n)
sly, adroit, subtle, disingenuous. avariciousness, greediness, lust, disturbance, badgering, baiting,
ANTONYMS: (adj) artless, unskillful, acquisitiveness, cacoethes, voracity, molest, hindrance, affliction,
inept, ingenuous, unskilled, open, desire, eagerness; (adj) avidity. inconvenience, sexual harassment;
straight. ANTONYMS: (n) aversion, dislike, (adj) infestation, outrage.
avaricious: (adj) greedy, grasping, distaste. ranks: (n) rank and file.
acquisitive, avid, miserly, grabby, gaudy: (adj) flashy, loud, showy, spurned: (adj) jilted, unloved.
parsimonious, penurious; (adj, v) garish, flamboyant, tasteless, colorful, truant: (n) deserter, hooky player,
mercenary, sordid, extortionate. tacky, brassy, tawdry, florid. nonattender, fugitive, wrongdoer,
bantering: (adj) banteringly, satirical, ANTONYMS: (adj) tasteful, idler, absentee, absenter, offender; (v)
jovial, facetious, humorous. restrained, muted, drab, modest, shirk; (adj) AWOL.
of despair, looking wildly down at the unseemly object, which had so lately
nestled in her bosom and smiled in her face; and then she raised her eyes and
countenance toward heaven, as if calling on God to curse the perpetrator of the
foul deed. She was spared the sin of such a prayer for, maddened at his
disappointment, and excited at the sight of blood, the Huron mercifully drove
his tomahawk into her own brain. The mother sank under the blow, and fell,
grasping at her child, in death, with the same engrossing love that had caused
her to cherish it when living.%
At that dangerous moment, Magua placed his hands to his mouth, and raised
the fatal and appalling whoop. The scattered Indians started at the well-known
cry, as coursers bound at the signal to quit the goal; and directly there arose such
a yell along the plain, and through the arches of the wood, as seldom burst from
human lips before. They who heard it listened with a curdling horror at the
heart, little inferior to that dread which may be expected to attend the blasts of
the final summons.
More than two thousand raving savages broke from the forest at the signal,
and threw themselves across the fatal plain with instinctive alacrity. We shall not
dwell on the revolting horrors that succeeded. Death was everywhere, and in his
most terrific and disgusting aspects. Resistance only served to inflame the
murderers, who inflicted their furious blows long after their victims were
beyond the power of their resentment. The flow of blood might be likened to the
outbreaking of a torrent; and as the natives became heated and maddened by the
sight, many among them even kneeled to the earth, and drank freely, exultingly,
hellishly, of the crimson tide.
The trained bodies of the troops threw themselves quickly into solid masses,
endeavoring to awe their assailants by the imposing appearance of a military
front. The experiment in some measure succeeded, though far too many suffered
their unloaded muskets to be torn from their hands, in the vain hope of
appeasing the savages.
In such a scene none had leisure to note the fleeting moments. It might have
been ten minutes (it seemed an age) that the sisters had stood riveted to one spot,
Thesaurus
aspects: (adj) moods, features. tiresome, unexciting. wrongdoer, hoodlum.
coursers: (n) Charadrii, suborder hellishly: (adv) satanically, devilishly, unloaded: (adj) untrammeled, not
Charadrii, avocets, genus Cursorius. wickedly, fiendishly, diabolically, fraught, unfraught, not burdened.
curdling: (n) clotting, solidification, beastly, demonically, satanicly, unseemly: (adj) indecent, unbecoming,
clot, activity, breaking, blood clotting, unholy, extremely. indelicate, inappropriate, gross,
blood coagulation. inflame: (v) burn, fire, enkindle, incite, impolite, unbefitting; (adj, v)
engrossing: (adj) fascinating, riveting, kindle, ignite, incense, arouse, heat, indecorous; (adj, adv) uncomely; (adv)
gripping, captivating, entrancing, agitate; (adj, v) irritate. ANTONYMS: indecently, unbecomingly.
enthralling, beguiling, charming, (v) dampen, blanch, inhibit, improve. ANTONYMS: (adj) proper,
enchanting; (adj, v) interesting; (v) perpetrator: (n) offender, doer, appropriate, dignified, due, fitting,
engross. ANTONYMS: (adj) criminal, performer, actor, agent, polite, suitable, correct, decent,
uninteresting, dull, monotonous, delinquent, malefactor, crook, sensitive.
horror-stricken and nearly helpless. When the first blow was struck, their
screaming companions had pressed upon them in a body, rendering flight
impossible; and now that fear or death had scattered most, if not all, from around
them, they saw no avenue open, but such as conducted to the tomahawks of their
foes. On every side arose shrieks, groans, exhortations and curses. At this
moment, Alice caught a glimpse of the vast form of her father, moving rapidly
across the plain, in the direction of the French army. He was, in truth, proceeding
to Montcalm, fearless of every danger, to claim the tardy escort for which he had
before conditioned. Fifty glittering axes and barbed spears were offered
unheeded at his life, but the savages respected his rank and calmness, even in
their fury. The dangerous weapons were brushed aside by the still nervous arm
of the veteran, or fell of themselves, after menacing an act that it would seem no
one had courage to perform. Fortunately, the vindictive Magua was searching for
his victim in the very band the veteran had just quitted.%
"Father -- father -- we are here!" shrieked Alice, as he passed, at no great
distance, without appearing to heed them. "Come to us, father, or we die!"
The cry was repeated, and in terms and tones that might have melted a heart
of stone, but it was unanswered. Once, indeed, the old man appeared to catch
the sound, for he paused and listened; but Alice had dropped senseless on the
earth, and Cora had sunk at her side, hovering in untiring tenderness over her
lifeless form. Munro shook his head in disappointment, and proceeded, bent on
the high duty of his station.
"Lady," said Gamut, who, helpless and useless as he was, had not yet
dreamed of deserting his trust, "it is the jubilee of the devils, and this is not a
meet place for Christians to tarry in. Let us up and fly."
"Go," said Cora, still gazing at her unconscious sister; "save thyself. To me
thou canst not be of further use."
David comprehended the unyielding character of her resolution, by the
simple but expressive gesture that accompanied her words. He gazed for a
moment at the dusky forms that were acting their hellish rites on every side of
him, and his tall person grew more erect while his chest heaved, and every
Thesaurus
barbed: (adj) mordant, thorny, sharp, impending, flying, high. provoked, prudent, useful,
pungent, caustic, spiny, cutting, lifeless: (adj) inanimate, dull, insipid, worthwhile.
acrid, spiteful, acid; (v) barded. defunct, inactive, flat, exanimate, unanswered: (v) unrefuted,
ANTONYM: (adj) smooth. dreary, tedious, inert, lackluster. unconfuted; (adj) unsolved,
curses: (n) abuse. ANTONYMS: (adj) lively, stiff, alive, unresolved, unrequited,
fearless: (adj, n) daring; (adj) brave, interesting, awake, moving, upright, unreciprocated, unsettled.
dauntless, courageous, undaunted, bright, brilliant, firm, inspiring. untiring: (adj) indefatigable,
intrepid, heroic, audacious, gallant, senseless: (adj) foolish, mindless, unflagging, persistent, assiduous,
confident, valiant. ANTONYMS: (adj) preposterous, pointless, irrational, industrious, persevering,
afraid, frightened, scared, absurd, stupid, insensible, idiotic, indomitable, diligent, hardworking,
apprehensive, terrified, timid. fatuous, purposeless. ANTONYMS: patient, unfaltering. ANTONYMS:
hovering: (adj) suspended, poised, (adj) meaningful, wise, conscious, (adj) irresolute, failing, weary.
feature swelled, and seemed to speak with the power of the feelings by which he
was governed.%
"If the Jewish boy might tame the great spirit of Saul by the sound of his
harp, and the words of sacred song, it may not be amiss," he said, "to try the
potency of music here."
Then raising his voice to its highest tone, he poured out a strain so powerful
as to be heard even amid the din of that bloody field. More than one savage
rushed toward them, thinking to rifle the unprotected sisters of their attire, and
bear away their scalps; but when they found this strange and unmoved figure
riveted to his post, they paused to listen. Astonishment soon changed to
admiration, and they passed on to other and less courageous victims, openly
expressing their satisfaction at the firmness with which the white warrior sang
his death song. Encouraged and deluded by his success, David exerted all his
powers to extend what he believed so holy an influence. The unwonted sounds
caught the ears of a distant savage, who flew raging from group to group, like
one who, scorning to touch the vulgar herd, hunted for some victim more
worthy of his renown. It was Magua, who uttered a yell of pleasure when he
beheld his ancient prisoners again at his mercy.
"Come," he said, laying his soiled hands on the dress of Cora, "the wigwam
of the Huron is still open. Is it not better than this place?"
"Away!" cried Cora, veiling her eyes from his revolting aspect.
The Indian laughed tauntingly, as he held up his reeking hand, and
answered: "It is red, but it comes from white veins!"
"Monster! there is blood, oceans of blood, upon thy soul; thy spirit has moved
this scene."
"Magua is a great chief!" returned the exulting savage, "will the dark-hair go
to his tribe?"
"Never! strike if thou wilt, and complete thy revenge." He hesitated a
moment, and then catching the light and senseless form of Alice in his arms, the
subtle Indian moved swiftly across the plain toward the woods.
Thesaurus
expressing: (adj) significant; (n) soiled: (adj) grubby, dirty, nasty, unguarded, open, naked, helpless,
speech. grimy, unclean, filthy, muddy, black, defenseless, unshielded, uncovered,
harp: (n) lyre, harmonica, harper, lute, mucky, polluted, foul. ANTONYMS: unarmed, undefended, insecure.
mouth harp; (v) dwell, ingeminate, (adj) pure, immaculate. ANTONYMS: (adj) armed, protected,
iterate, restate, reiterate, retell. tame: (v) break, subdue, soften, secure, invulnerable.
oceans: (n) ocean, load, lot, bushel, domesticate; (adj) meek, docile, vulgar: (adj) rude, coarse, plebeian,
mass, stack, mountain, heap. bland, domestic, gentle, slow; (adj, v) nasty, common, foul, indecent, gross,
raging: (adj) hot, angry, fierce, irate, moderate. ANTONYMS: (adj) unrefined; (adj, n) low, vile.
wild, infuriated, enraged, vehement, exciting, bright, unmanageable, ANTONYMS: (adj) refined,
heated; (adj, n) mad, rabid. interesting, untamed, inspiring, sophisticated, tasteful, polite,
ANTONYMS: (adj) calm, mild, brilliant, colorful, rebellious, lively. aesthetic, muted, fashionable, decent,
contained. unprotected: (adj) exposed, artistic, pleasant, clean.
"Hold!" shrieked Cora, following wildly on his footsteps; "release the child!
wretch! what is't you do?"
But Magua was deaf to her voice; or, rather, he knew his power, and was
determined to maintain it.%
"Stay -- lady -- stay," called Gamut, after the unconscious Cora. "The holy
charm is beginning to be felt, and soon shalt thou see this horrid tumult stilled."
Perceiving that, in his turn, he was unheeded, the faithful David followed the
distracted sister, raising his voice again in sacred song, and sweeping the air to
the measure, with his long arm, in diligent accompaniment. In this manner they
traversed the plain, through the flying, the wounded and the dead. The fierce
Huron was, at any time, sufficient for himself and the victim that he bore; though
Cora would have fallen more than once under the blows of her savage enemies,
but for the extraordinary being who stalked in her rear, and who now appeared
to the astonished natives gifted with the protecting spirit of madness.
Magua, who knew how to avoid the more pressing dangers, and also to
elude pursuit, entered the woods through a low ravine, where he quickly found
the Narragansetts, which the travelers had abandoned so shortly before,
awaiting his appearance, in custody of a savage as fierce and malign in his
expression as himself. Laying Alice on one of the horses, he made a sign to Cora
to mount the other.
Notwithstanding the horror excited by the presence of her captor, there was a
present relief in escaping from the bloody scene enacting on the plain, to which
Cora could not be altogether insensible. She took her seat, and held forth her
arms for her sister, with an air of entreaty and love that even the Huron could
not deny. Placing Alice, then, on the same animal with Cora, he seized the bridle,
and commenced his route by plunging deeper into the forest. David, perceiving
that he was left alone, utterly disregarded as a subject too worthless even to
destroy, threw his long limb across the saddle of the beast they had deserted, and
made such progress in the pursuit as the difficulties of the path permitted.
They soon began to ascend; but as the motion had a tendency to revive the
dormant faculties of her sister, the attention of Cora was too much divided
Thesaurus
accompaniment: (n) concomitant, part, subjugator, vanquisher. elude: (adj, v) evade, circumvent; (v)
backing, escort, support, occurrence, distracted: (adj) demented, inattentive, dodge, duck, avoid, skirt, escape,
protection, companionship, addition; abstracted, crazy, frenzied, baffle, defy, shirk, bilk. ANTONYMS:
(adv) second, bass. distraught, preoccupied, distressed, (v) face, encounter, meet, acquire.
ascend: (n, v) mount; (v) arise, scale, confused; (adj, v) mad, disconcerted. enacting: (adj) legislative; (n) acting.
uprise, climb, go up, come up, ANTONYMS: (adj) attentive, alert, entreaty: (n) plea, prayer, request,
increase, elevate; (n) ascending, assured, calm, mellow. petition, adjuration, supplication,
ascent. ANTONYMS: (v) descend, dormant: (adj) inactive, torpid, inert, suit, demand, desire, invocation; (v)
drop, decline, fall, lower, set, sink. smoldering, suspended, inoperative, solicitation.
captor: (n) kidnapper, soul, person, potential, sluggish, quiescent, latent, escaping: (n) evasion, getaway, break,
somebody, someone, hijacker, quiet. ANTONYMS: (adj) overt, breakout, running away, running off,
surpriser, capturer, defeater, extinct, dynamic, alive, awake. run-around; (adj) fugitive.
between the tenderest solicitude in her behalf, and in listening to the cries which
were still too audible on the plain, to note the direction in which they journeyed.
When, however, they gained the flattened surface of the mountain-top, and
approached the eastern precipice, she recognized the spot to which she had once
before been led under the more friendly auspices of the scout. Here Magua
suffered them to dismount; and notwithstanding their own captivity, the
curiosity which seems inseparable from horror, induced them to gaze at the
sickening sight below.%
The cruel work was still unchecked. On every side the captured were flying
before their relentless persecutors, while the armed columns of the Christian king
stood fast in an apathy which has never been explained, and which has left an
immovable blot on the otherwise fair escutcheon of their leader. Nor was the
sword of death stayed until cupidity got the mastery of revenge. Then, indeed,
the shrieks of the wounded, and the yells of their murderers grew less frequent,
until, finally, the cries of horror were lost to their ear, or were drowned in the
loud, long and piercing whoops of the triumphant savages.
Thesaurus
apathy: (n) indifference, inactivity, custody, agency. offensive, repulsive, foul, nauseating,
lassitude, inertia, lethargy, passivity, blot: (n, v) spot, blemish, smudge, noisome, obnoxious, loathsome,
supineness, passiveness, mark, slur, taint, shame; (v) tarnish, repugnant, abominable.
lukewarmness, emotionlessness, blob; (n) blotch; (adj, n) fault. ANTONYMS: (adj) attractive,
impassivity. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYMS: (v) dampen, grace, pleasant, delightful, wholesome,
keenness, energy, interest, soak, wet, beautify, improve, light, appealing, wonderful.
inquisitiveness, vitality, drive, enhance. unchecked: (adj) unbridled,
eagerness, concern, involvement, escutcheon: (n) buckler, shield, uncontrolled, rampant, uncaught,
enjoyment, desire. esquire, protection, plate, arms, a unbuttoned, uninhibited,
auspices: (n) auspice, aegis, patronage, shield, cover plate, escocheon, finger unconstrained, unprevented,
forecast, backing, security, plate. untrammeled, wild, unrestricted.
sponsorship, guidance, means, sickening: (adj) revolting, nauseous,
CHAPTER 18
"Why, anything;
An honorable murderer, if you will;
For naught I did in hate, but all in honor."%
Othello
The bloody and inhuman scene rather incidentally mentioned than described
in the preceding chapter, is conspicuous in the pages of colonial history by the
merited title of "The Massacre of William Henry." It so far deepened the stain
which a previous and very similar event had left upon the reputation of the
French commander that it was not entirely erased by his early and glorious
death. It is now becoming obscured by time; and thousands, who know that
Montcalm died like a hero on the plains of Abraham, have yet to learn how much
he was deficient in that moral courage without which no man can be truly great.
Pages might yet be written to prove, from this illustrious example, the defects of
human excellence; to show how easy it is for generous sentiments, high
courtesy, and chivalrous courage to lose their influence beneath the chilling
blight of selfishness, and to exhibit to the world a man who was great in all the
minor attributes of character, but who was found wanting when it became
necessary to prove how much principle is superior to policy. But the task would
exceed our prerogatives; and, as history, like love, is so apt to surround her
Thesaurus
blight: (n, v) blast, decay, plague; (v) complete, present, sound, strong, ferocious, remorseless, barbarous,
damage, wither, blemish, perish; (n) confident. relentless, barbaric. ANTONYMS:
bane, pest, curse, rust. ANTONYMS: erased: (adj) dead, forgotten. (adj) sympathetic, kind, humane.
(v) aid, help, guard, protect, enhance, illustrious: (adj, n) glorious, selfishness: (n) greed, egotism,
improve; (n) health, boon, bounty. celebrated, excellent, grand; (adj) greediness, meanness, individuality,
deepened: (adj) concentrated, famous, bright, eminent, famed, opportunism, expedience,
gathered. distinguished, brilliant, well-known. individualism, self, selfness, selfish.
deficient: (adj) wanting, inadequate, ANTONYMS: (adj) unknown, ANTONYMS: (n) altruism,
scanty, imperfect, short, scarce, less, obscure, ordinary, undistinguished, selflessness, sensitivity,
lacking, low, meager, insufficient. lowly. thoughtfulness, conformity,
ANTONYMS: (adj) sufficient, perfect, inhuman: (adj) heartless, cruel, generosity.
ample, flawless, enough, excessive, atrocious, brutal, cold, harsh, sentiments: (n) breast.
heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness, it is probable that Louis de

Saint Veran will be viewed by posterity only as the gallant defender of his
country, while his cruel apathy on the shores of the Oswego and of the Horican
will be forgotten. Deeply regretting this weakness on the part of a sister muse,
we shall at once retire from her sacred precincts, within the proper limits of our
own humble vocation.%
The third day from the capture of the fort was drawing to a close, but the
business of the narrative must still detain the reader on the shores of the "holy
lake." When last seen, the environs of the works were filled with violence and
uproar. They were now possessed by stillness and death. The blood-stained
conquerors had departed; and their camp, which had so lately rung with the
merry rejoicings of a victorious army, lay a silent and deserted city of huts. The
fortress was a smoldering ruin; charred rafters, fragments of exploded artillery,
and rent mason-work covering its earthen mounds in confused disorder.
A frightful change had also occurred in the season. The sun had hid its
warmth behind an impenetrable mass of vapor, and hundreds of human forms,
which had blackened beneath the fierce heats of August, were stiffening in their
deformity before the blasts of a premature November. The curling and spotless
mists, which had been seen sailing above the hills toward the north, were now
returning in an interminable dusky sheet, that was urged along by the fury of a
tempest. The crowded mirror of the Horican was gone; and, in its place, the
green and angry waters lashed the shores, as if indignantly casting back its
impurities to the polluted strand. Still the clear fountain retained a portion of its
charmed influence, but it reflected only the somber gloom that fell from the
impending heavens. That humid and congenial atmosphere which commonly
adorned the view, veiling its harshness, and softening its asperities, had
disappeared, the northern air poured across the waste of water so harsh and
unmingled, that nothing was left to be conjectured by the eye, or fashioned by
the fancy.
The fiercer element had cropped the verdure of the plain, which looked as
though it were scathed by the consuming lightning. But, here and there, a dark
Thesaurus
conjectured: (adj) supposed, vicinage. smoldering: (adj) latent, unexerted,
opinionative. impurities: (n) dross, bastard, scum, smouldering, on fire, ablaze, aflame,
cropped: (adj) close. cinder. angry, blazing, burning, flaming; (v)
deformity: (n) malformation, muse: (v) meditate, ponder, deliberate, smolder.
disfigurement, defect, blemish, consider, cogitate, reflect, brood, somber: (adj) gloomy, melancholy,
disfiguration, defacement, disability, ruminate, speculate, think, mull. solemn, dull, grave, drab, sober,
abnormality, distortion, clubfoot; (adj, ANTONYM: (v) wander. dark, sullen, dim, dismal.
n) irregularity. precincts: (n) entourage, arena, ANTONYMS: (adj) bright, funny,
environs: (adj, n) purlieus; (n) vicinity, outskirts, neighbourhood, walk, cheery, frivolous, fussy.
confines, outskirts, environment, neighborhood, proximity, stiffening: (n) stiffness, rigidification,
entourage, precincts, scene, surroundings, vicinity, limitations, reinforcement, process, rigidifying,
surround, surroundings; (adj) suburbs. procedure.
green tuft rose in the midst of the desolation; the earliest fruits of a soil that had
been fattened with human blood. The whole landscape, which, seen by a
favoring light, and in a genial temperature, had been found so lovely, appeared
now like some pictured allegory of life, in which objects were arrayed in their
harshest but truest colors, and without the relief of any shadowing.%
The solitary and arid blades of grass arose from the passing gusts fearfully
perceptible; the bold and rocky mountains were too distinct in their barrenness,
and the eye even sought relief, in vain, by attempting to pierce the illimitable
void of heaven, which was shut to its gaze by the dusky sheet of ragged and
driving vapor.
The wind blew unequally; sometimes sweeping heavily along the ground,
seeming to whisper its moanings in the cold ears of the dead, then rising in a
shrill and mournful whistling, it entered the forest with a rush that filled the air
with the leaves and branches it scattered in its path. Amid the unnatural shower,
a few hungry ravens struggled with the gale; but no sooner was the green ocean
of woods which stretched beneath them, passed, than they gladly stopped, at
random, to their hideous banquet.
In short, it was a scene of wildness and desolation; and it appeared as if all
who had profanely entered it had been stricken, at a blow, by the relentless arm
of death. But the prohibition had ceased; and for the first time since the
perpetrators of those foul deeds which had assisted to disfigure the scene were
gone, living human beings had now presumed to approach the place.
About an hour before the setting of the sun, on the day already mentioned,
the forms of five men might have been seen issuing from the narrow vista of
trees, where the path to the Hudson entered the forest, and advancing in the
direction of the ruined works. At first their progress was slow and guarded, as
though they entered with reluctance amid the horrors of the post, or dreaded the
renewal of its frightful incidents. A light figure preceded the rest of the party,
with the caution and activity of a native; ascending every hillock to reconnoiter,
and indicating by gestures, to his companions, the route he deemed it most
prudent to pursue. Nor were those in the rear wanting in every caution and
Thesaurus
assisted: (adj) aided. straighten. reconnoiter: (v) explore, investigate,
barrenness: (n) infertility, fattened: (adj) finished. observe, reconnoitre, survey, pry,
unproductiveness, fruitlessness, favoring: (adj) affirmative, examine, inspect; (n) scan, sound,
poverty, poorness, sterility, dryness, encouraging, auspicious, being rummage.
aridness, bareness, quality, prospered, beneficial, affirmatory; (n) unequally: (adv) irregularly,
infecundity. ANTONYMS: (n) convenient, contributing, beautiful, disproportionately, unfairly,
fruitfulness, humidity. conducive, promotion. unlikely, roughly, lopsidedly,
disfigure: (adj, v) mutilate, mangle, illimitable: (adj) endless, infinite, disparately, partially,
maim; (v) deform, blemish, mar, boundless, limitless, unlimited, unsymmetrically, unbalancedly,
damage, contort, blot, ruin, injure. immense, eternal, measureless, disproportionally. ANTONYMS:
ANTONYMS: (v) beautify, embellish, interminable, unmeasurable, (adv) evenly, fairly.
adorn, heal, decorate, enhance, unmeasured.
foresight known to forest warfare. One among them, he also was an Indian,
moved a little on one flank, and watched the margin of the woods, with eyes
long accustomed to read the smallest sign of danger. The remaining three were
white, though clad in vestments adapted, both in quality and color, to their
present hazardous pursuit--that of hanging on the skirts of a retiring army in the
wilderness.%
The effects produced by the appalling sights that constantly arose in their
path to the lake shore, were as different as the characters of the respective
individuals who composed the party. The youth in front threw serious but
furtive glances at the mangled victims, as he stepped lightly across the plain,
afraid to exhibit his feelings, and yet too inexperienced to quell entirely their
sudden and powerful influence. His red associate, however, was superior to such
a weakness. He passed the groups of dead with a steadiness of purpose, and an
eye so calm, that nothing but long and inveterate practise could enable him to
maintain. The sensations produced in the minds of even the white men were
different, though uniformly sorrowful. One, whose gray locks and furrowed
lineaments, blending with a martial air and tread, betrayed, in spite of the
disguise of a woodsman's dress, a man long experienced in scenes of war, was
not ashamed to groan aloud, whenever a spectacle of more than usual horror
came under his view. The young man at his elbow shuddered, but seemed to
suppress his feelings in tenderness to his companion. Of them all, the straggler
who brought up the rear appeared alone to betray his real thoughts, without fear
of observation or dread of consequences. He gazed at the most appalling sight
with eyes and muscles that knew not how to waver, but with execrations so
bitter and deep as to denote how much he denounced the crime of his enemies.
The reader will perceive at once, in these respective characters, the Mohicans,
and their white friend, the scout; together with Munro and Heyward. It was, in
truth, the father in quest of his children, attended by the youth who felt so deep a
stake in their happiness, and those brave and trusty foresters, who had already
proved their skill and fidelity through the trying scenes related.
Thesaurus
clad: (adj) dressed, attired, clothed, disabled, broken, maimed, distorted, trusty: (adj) trustworthy, honest,
coated, garbed; (n) cladding; (prep) damaged, blasted. faithful, dependable, responsible,
gowned; (v) costume, shod, dress, quell: (adj, v) appease, pacify, calm; (v) constant, loyal, true, authentic, solid,
attire. ANTONYMS: (adj) undressed, overpower, crush, allay, put down, sure. ANTONYMS: (adj)
unclothed. suppress, conquer, defeat, quash. untrustworthy, inconstant, corrupt,
furrowed: (adj) wrinkled, lined, ANTONYMS: (v) prompt, submit, disloyal.
wrinkly, crumpled, corrugated, resist, aggravate, incite. vestments: (n) canonicals, dress,
corrugate, furrowy, porcate, rugged, sorrowful: (adj) melancholy, doleful, clothes, bedclothes, garb.
uneven. ANTONYM: (adj) sad, rueful, lugubrious, gloomy, waver: (v) vacillate, fluctuate, hesitate,
unfurrowed. dreary, grievous, piteous, unhappy, totter, hover, wave; (n, v) quiver,
mangled: (adj, prep) lacerated, rent; mournful. ANTONYMS: (adj) flicker, shake, flutter, tremble.
(adj) deformed, mutilated, lacerate, cheerful, content, joyful, successful. ANTONYMS: (v) resolve, continue.
When Uncas, who moved in front, had reached the center of the plain, he
raised a cry that drew his companions in a body to the spot. The young warrior
had halted over a group of females who lay in a cluster, a confused mass of dead.
Notwithstanding the revolting horror of the exhibition, Munro and Heyward
flew toward the festering heap, endeavoring, with a love that no unseemliness
could extinguish, to discover whether any vestiges of those they sought were to
be seen among the tattered and many-colored garments. The father and the lover
found instant relief in the search; though each was condemned again to
experience the misery of an uncertainty that was hardly less insupportable than
the most revolting truth. They were standing, silent and thoughtful, around the
melancholy pile, when the scout approached. Eyeing the sad spectacle with an
angry countenance, the sturdy woodsman, for the first time since his entering the
plain, spoke intelligibly and aloud:
"I have been on many a shocking field, and have followed a trail of blood for
weary miles," he said, "but never have I found the hand of the devil so plain as it
is here to be seen! Revenge is an Indian feeling, and all who know me know that
there is no cross in my veins; but this much will I say -- here, in the face of
heaven, and with the power of the Lord so manifest in this howling wilderness --
that should these Frenchers ever trust themselves again within the range of a
ragged bullet, there is one rifle which shall play its part so long as flint will fire or
powder burn! I leave the tomahawk and knife to such as have a natural gift to
use them. What say you, Chingachgook," he added, in Delaware; "shall the
Hurons boast of this to their women when the deep snows come?"
A gleam of resentment flashed across the dark lineaments of the Mohican
chief; he loosened his knife in his sheath; and then turning calmly from the sight,
his countenance settled into a repose as deep as if he knew the instigation of
passion.%
"Montcalm! Montcalm!" continued the deeply resentful and less self-
restrained scout; "they say a time must come when all the deeds done in the flesh
will be seen at a single look; and that by eyes cleared from mortal infirmities.
Woe betide the wretch who is born to behold this plain, with the judgment
Thesaurus
betide: (v) bechance, come, become, sanies. ANTONYM: (adj) healthy. understandingly, comprehensively.
transpire, occur, happen, develop, insupportable: (adj, v) insufferable, ANTONYMS: (adv) unintelligibly,
arise, be, rise, break. intolerable; (adj) indefensible, incomprehensibly, incoherently.
extinguish: (v) destroy, exterminate, unbearable, excruciating, self-restrained: (adj) staid, continent,
eradicate, douse, annihilate, unjustifiable, unendurable, temperate.
consume, wipe out, end, suppress, impossible, unsupportable, heavy, unseemliness: (n) indecency,
quash; (adj, v) allay. ANTONYMS: (v) obnoxious. ANTONYM: (adj) indecorum, indiscretion, ineptitude,
ignite, build, create, encourage, bearable. ineptness, rudeness, tactlessness,
inflame, sustain, protect. intelligibly: (adv) comprehensibly, unsuitability, indecorousness, bad
festering: (adj) rotten, infected, rotting, understandably, clear, simply, taste, inappropriateness.
pussy, septic; (n) pus, festerment, comprehensible, distinctly, ANTONYMS: (n) politeness,
suppuration, bodily fluid, activity, intelligible, cogently, aloud, propriety, decency.
hanging about his soul! Ha -- as I am a man of white blood, yonder lies a red-
skin, without the hair of his head where nature rooted it! Look to him, Delaware;
it may be one of your missing people; and he should have burial like a stout
warrior. I see it in your eye, Sagamore; a Huron pays for this, afore the fall winds
have blown away the scent of the blood!"
Chingachgook approached the mutilated form, and, turning it over, he found
the distinguishing marks of one of those six allied tribes, or nations, as they were
called, who, while they fought in the English ranks, were so deadly hostile to his
own people. Spurning the loathsome object with his foot, he turned from it with
the same indifference he would have quitted a brute carcass. The scout
comprehended the action, and very deliberately pursued his own way,
continuing, however, his denunciations against the French commander in the
same resentful strain.%
"Nothing but vast wisdom and unlimited power should dare to sweep off
men in multitudes," he added; "for it is only the one that can know the necessity
of the judgment; and what is there, short of the other, that can replace the
creatures of the Lord? I hold it a sin to kill the second buck afore the first is
eaten, unless a march in front, or an ambushment, be contemplated. It is a
different matter with a few warriors in open and rugged fight, for 'tis their gift to
die with the rifle or the tomahawk in hand; according as their natures may
happen to be, white or red. Uncas, come this way, lad, and let the ravens settle
upon the Mingo. I know, from often seeing it, that they have a craving for the
flesh of an Oneida; and it is as well to let the bird follow the gift of its natural
appetite."
"Hugh!" exclaimed the young Mohican, rising on the extremities of his feet,
and gazing intently in his front, frightening the ravens to some other prey by the
sound and the action.
"What is it, boy?" whispered the scout, lowering his tall form into a
crouching attitude, like a panther about to take his leap; "God send it be a tardy
Frencher, skulking for plunder. I do believe 'killdeer' would take an uncommon
range today!"
Thesaurus
contemplated: (adj) intended, willful. truncated, crippled, lacerated, pleased.
loathsome: (adj) foul, hideous, shapeless, mutilous, mutilate, rugged: (adj, n) rough, jagged, ragged;
distasteful, disgusting, hateful, lopped, lacerate, imperfect. (adj) difficult, rocky, tough, broken,
abominable, revolting, execrable, plunder: (n, v) pillage, spoil; (v) robust, hilly, strong, craggy.
loathly, nauseous, horrible. despoil, harry, devastate, maraud, ANTONYMS: (adj) delicate, easy,
ANTONYMS: (adj) delightful, nice, destroy, strip, ransack; (n) booty, smooth, flimsy, fragile, soft, weak,
noble, inoffensive, pleasant, depredation. feeble.
admirable, good, attractive. resentful: (adj) angry, indignant, skulking: (adj) surreptitious, stealthy,
lowering: (adj) heavy, dismal, gloomy, malicious, resent, embittered, lurking, hiding, clandestine,
threatening, dark, glum, murky; (n) rancorous, envious, jealous, offended, backstairs, concealed, cowardly; (n)
fall, drop, cut, decline. hurt, mad. ANTONYMS: (adj) malingering, dodging, evasion.
mutilated: (adj) maimed, disabled, resigned, unresentful, willing, sweet, spurning: (n) disbelief, renunciation.
Uncas, without making any reply, bounded away from the spot, and in the
next instant he was seen tearing from a bush, and waving in triumph, a fragment
of the green riding-veil of Cora. The movement, the exhibition, and the cry which
again burst from the lips of the young Mohican, instantly drew the whole party
about him.%
"My child!" said Munro, speaking quickly and wildly; "give me my child!"
"Uncas will try," was the short and touching answer.
The simple but meaning assurance was lost on the father, who seized the
piece of gauze, and crushed it in his hand, while his eyes roamed fearfully
among the bushes, as if he equally dreaded and hoped for the secrets they might
reveal.
"Here are no dead," said Heyward; "the storm seems not to have passed this
way."
"That's manifest; and clearer than the heavens above our heads," returned the
undisturbed scout; "but either she, or they that have robbed her, have passed the
bush; for I remember the rag she wore to hide a face that all did love to look
upon. Uncas, you are right; the dark-hair has been here, and she has fled like a
frightened fawn, to the wood; none who could fly would remain to be murdered.
Let us search for the marks she left; for, to Indian eyes, I sometimes think a
humming-bird leaves his trail in the air."
The young Mohican darted away at the suggestion, and the scout had hardly
done speaking, before the former raised a cry of success from the margin of the
forest. On reaching the spot, the anxious party perceived another portion of the
veil fluttering on the lower branch of a beech.
"Softly, softly," said the scout, extending his long rifle in front of the eager
Heyward; "we now know our work, but the beauty of the trail must not be
deformed. A step too soon may give us hours of trouble. We have them, though;
that much is beyond denial."
"Bless ye, bless ye, worthy man!" exclaimed Munro; "whither then, have they
fled, and where are my babes?"
Thesaurus
bless: (v) consecrate, celebrate, bushes: (n) underbrush, thicket, lachrymation, lacrimation, riving
sanctify, anoint, eulogize, sign, undergrowth, minor league. ahead, tear, lancination.
praise, keep, grant, glorify; (n) gauze: (n) film, curtain, blind, undisturbed: (adj) peaceful, quiet,
blessing. ANTONYMS: (v) curse, bandage, mask, mantle, muslin, tranquil, serene, placid, still, easy,
condemn, disapprove, damn, screen, gauze bandage, shutter, daze. smooth, uninterrupted, untroubled,
disallow, deny. heavens: (n) firmament, heaven, sky, composed. ANTONYMS: (adj) tense,
bounded: (adj) restricted, limited, welkin, sphere, atmosphere, celestial anxious, agitated, bothered,
delimited, encircled, enclosed, sphere, space, skies, area, vault of disordered, disturbed, noisy, scared.
confined, leap, spring, bordered, heaven. waving: (adj) flying, aflare, fluttering,
circumscribed, constrained. secrets: (n) secrecy. flaring, flared, curly, burning,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unbounded, tearing: (adj) fierce, violent, vehement, blazing, billowy, palpitating; (n)
unconfined, unlimited, free. furious, ripping, ferocious; (n) wafture.
"The path they have taken depends on many chances. If they have gone
alone, they are quite as likely to move in a circle as straight, and they may be
within a dozen miles of us; but if the Hurons, or any of the French Indians, have
laid hands on them, 'tis probably they are now near the borders of the Canadas.
But what matters that?" continued the deliberate scout, observing the powerful
anxiety and disappointment the listeners exhibited; "here are the Mohicans and I
on one end of the trail, and, rely on it, we find the other, though they should be a
hundred leagues asunder! Gently, gently, Uncas, you are as impatient as a man
in the settlements; you forget that light feet leave but faint marks!"
"Hugh!" exclaimed Chingachgook, who had been occupied in examining an
opening that had been evidently made through the low underbrush which
skirted the forest; and who now stood erect, as he pointed downward, in the
attitude and with the air of a man who beheld a disgusting serpent.%
"Here is the palpable impression of the footstep of a man," cried Heyward,
bending over the indicated spot; "he has trod in the margin of this pool, and the
mark cannot be mistaken. They are captives."
"Better so than left to starve in the wilderness," returned the scout; "and they
will leave a wider trail. I would wager fifty beaver skins against as many flints,
that the Mohicans and I enter their wigwams within the month! Stoop to it,
Uncas, and try what you can make of the moccasin; for moccasin it plainly is,
and no shoe."
The young Mohican bent over the track, and removing the scattered leaves
from around the place, he examined it with much of that sort of scrutiny that a
money dealer, in these days of pecuniary doubts, would bestow on a suspected
due-bill. At length he arose from his knees, satisfied with the result of the
examination.
"Well, boy," demanded the attentive scout; "what does it say? Can you make
anything of the tell-tale?"
"Le Renard Subtil!"
Thesaurus
doubts: (adj) doubting. prone, flaccid, flat. commercial, economic, nummulary,
downward: (adv) underneath, under, footstep: (n) pace, footfall, track, sumptuary, numismatical, pecunial,
below, downwards, downwardly, footmark, vestige, tread, trail, stride, crumenal.
beneath, down below; (adj) downcast, degree; (n, v) step, action. removing: (adj) departing.
sloping, depressed, downright. knees: (n) knee. skins: (n) cash, folding money.
ANTONYMS: (adv) up; (adj) rising. listeners: (n) listener, viewers, starve: (v) fast, crave, lust, hunger,
erect: (adj) upright, vertical, spectators, addressees. thirst, perish, be hungry, deprive,
straightforward; (v) build, raise, rear, moccasin: (n) shoe, veldtschoen, stogy, benumb; (adj, v) pinch; (adj) gripe.
construct, assemble, lift, put up, put moccasins, legging, gums, greave, ANTONYMS: (v) feed, eat.
together. ANTONYMS: (v) dismantle, gamashes, Gamache, galligaskin, wager: (n, v) stake, hazard, risk,
wreck, topple, level, demolish, buskin. venture, gamble, chance; (v) lay,
destroy; (adj) prostrate, drooping, pecuniary: (adj) financial, fiscal, pledge, pawn, play; (n) stakes.
"Ha! that rampaging devil again! there will never be an end of his loping till
'killdeer' has said a friendly word to him."
Heyward reluctantly admitted the truth of this intelligence, and now
expressed rather his hopes than his doubts by saying:
"One moccasin is so much like another, it is probable there is some mistake."
"One moccasin like another! you may as well say that one foot is like another;
though we all know that some are long, and others short; some broad and others
narrow; some with high, and some with low insteps; some intoed, and some out.
One moccasin is no more like another than one book is like another: though they
who can read in one are seldom able to tell the marks of the other. Which is all
ordered for the best, giving to every man his natural advantages. Let me get
down to it, Uncas; neither book nor moccasin is the worse for having two
opinions, instead of one." The scout stooped to the task, and instantly added:
"You are right, boy; here is the patch we saw so often in the other chase. And
the fellow will drink when he can get an opportunity; your drinking Indian
always learns to walk with a wider toe than the natural savage, it being the gift
of a drunkard to straddle, whether of white or red skin. 'Tis just the length and
breadth, too! look at it, Sagamore; you measured the prints more than once,
when we hunted the varmints from Glenn's to the health springs."
Chingachgook complied; and after finishing his short examination, he arose,
and with a quiet demeanor, he merely pronounced the word:
"Magua!"
"Ay, 'tis a settled thing; here, then, have passed the dark-hair and Magua."
"And not Alice?" demanded Heyward.%
"Of her we have not yet seen the signs," returned the scout, looking closely
around at the trees, the bushes and the ground. "What have we there? Uncas,
bring hither the thing you see dangling from yonder thorn-bush."
When the Indian had complied, the scout received the prize, and holding it
on high, he laughed in his silent but heartfelt manner.
Thesaurus
breadth: (n) width, spread, amplitude, inebriate, toper, sot, bibber, lush, salient, evident, definite, bold,
wideness, size, length, latitude, imbiber. palpable. ANTONYMS: (adj) faint,
extent, area, broadness, stretch. heartfelt: (adj) cordial, sincere, devout, inconspicuous, indefinite, loose,
ANTONYMS: (n) length, longitude, dear, genuine, wholehearted, frank, slight, small.
emptiness, thinness. deep, honest, fervent, real. stooped: (adj) hunched, stoop,
dangling: (adj) suspended, pendent, ANTONYMS: (adj) dishonest, stooping, crooked, bended, not
pendant, limp, floppy, pendulous; (n) unenthusiastic, impassive. straight, inclined, not erect, arched,
suspension, abeyance, break, patch: (v) piece; (n) plot, fleck, darn, asymmetrical, droopy.
abatement; (adv) adangle. blot, freckle, bed, maculation, field; straddle: (n, v) stride; (v) range,
ANTONYM: (adj) upright. (n, v) botch, repair. ramble, play fast and loose, coquet,
drunkard: (n) alcoholic, drinker, pronounced: (adj) clear, emphatic, shuffle, be on the fence, bestride; (n)
boozer, dipsomaniac, rummy, distinct, prominent, notable, obvious, stalk, strut, stump.
"'Tis the tooting we'pon of the singer! now we shall have a trail a priest might
travel," he said. "Uncas, look for the marks of a shoe that is long enough to
uphold six feet two of tottering human flesh. I begin to have some hopes of the
fellow, since he has given up squalling to follow some better trade."%
"At least he has been faithful to his trust," said Heyward. "And Cora and
Alice are not without a friend."
"Yes," said Hawkeye, dropping his rifle, and leaning on it with an air of
visible contempt, "he will do their singing. Can he slay a buck for their dinner;
journey by the moss on the beeches, or cut the throat of a Huron? If not, the first
catbird he meets is the cleverer of the two. Well, boy, any signs of such a
foundation?"
"Here is something like the footstep of one who has worn a shoe; can it be
that of our friend?"
"Touch the leaves lightly or you'll disconsart the formation. That! that is the
print of a foot, but 'tis the dark-hair's; and small it is, too, for one of such a noble
height and grand appearance. The singer would cover it with his heel."
"Where! let me look on the footsteps of my child," said Munro, shoving the
bushes aside, and bending fondly over the nearly obliterated impression.
Though the tread which had left the mark had been light and rapid, it was still
plainly visible. The aged soldier examined it with eyes that grew dim as he
gazed; nor did he rise from this stooping posture until Heyward saw that he had
watered the trace of his daughter's passage with a scalding tear. Willing to divert
a distress which threatened each moment to break through the restraint of
appearances, by giving the veteran something to do, the young man said to the
scout:
"As we now possess these infallible signs, let us commence our march. A
moment, at such a time, will appear an age to the captives."
"It is not the swiftest leaping deer that gives the longest chase," returned
Hawkeye, without moving his eyes from the different marks that had come
under his view; "we know that the rampaging Huron has passed, and the dark-
Thesaurus
beeches: (n) Fagus. lost, forgotten, invisible; (v) erased, broken, trembling, cracked; (v)
infallible: (adj) sure, inevitable, effaced. drooping; (n) convulsion.
positive, inerrable, unfailing, slay: (n, v) murder, assassinate; (v) uphold: (n, v) support; (v) preserve,
absolute, confident, definite, dispatch, execute, slaughter, destroy, defend, maintain, continue, endorse,
dependable; (adj, v) unerring; (n) massacre, put to death, remove, confirm, countenance, bolster,
sterling. ANTONYMS: (adj) fallible, finish, butcher. encourage, back. ANTONYMS: (v)
faulty. squalling: (adj) unquiet. infringe, discontinue, weaken,
leaping: (n) jump, bounce, bound, stooping: (adj) hunched, crooked, contradict, endanger, abandon,
leap, spring, saltation, bouncing; (v) asymmetrical, not erect, not straight, oppose, quit, undermine, end.
jumping; (adj, v) bounding; (adj) corrupt; (n) patronage. watered: (adj) irriguous, dewy,
springing; (adv) leapingly. tottering: (adj) unsteady, ramshackle, watermarked, moist.
obliterated: (adj) obliterate, destroyed, easily shaken, tottery, sick, rocky,
hair, and the singer, but where is she of the yellow locks and blue eyes? Though
little, and far from being as bold as her sister, she is fair to the view, and pleasant
in discourse. Has she no friend, that none care for her?"
"God forbid she should ever want hundreds! Are we not now in her pursuit?
For one, I will never cease the search till she be found."
"In that case we may have to journey by different paths; for here she has not
passed, light and little as her footsteps would be."
Heyward drew back, all his ardor to proceed seeming to vanish on the
instant. Without attending to this sudden change in the other's humor, the scout
after musing a moment continued:
"There is no woman in this wilderness could leave such a print as that, but
the dark-hair or her sister. We know that the first has been here, but where are
the signs of the other? Let us push deeper on the trail, and if nothing offers, we
must go back to the plain and strike another scent. Move on, Uncas, and keep
your eyes on the dried leaves. I will watch the bushes, while your father shall run
with a low nose to the ground. Move on, friends; the sun is getting behind the
hills."
"Is there nothing that I can do?" demanded the anxious Heyward.%
"You?" repeated the scout, who, with his red friends, was already advancing
in the order he had prescribed; "yes, you can keep in our rear and be careful not
to cross the trail."
Before they had proceeded many rods, the Indians stopped, and appeared to
gaze at some signs on the earth with more than their usual keenness. Both father
and son spoke quick and loud, now looking at the object of their mutual
admiration, and now regarding each other with the most unequivocal pleasure.
"They have found the little foot!" exclaimed the scout, moving forward,
without attending further to his own portion of the duty. "What have we here?
An ambushment has been planted in the spot! No, by the truest rifle on the
frontiers, here have been them one-sided horses again! Now the whole secret is
out, and all is plain as the north star at midnight. Yes, here they have mounted.
Thesaurus
keenness: (n) ardor, eagerness, planted: (adj) ingrained, established, unequivocal: (adj, v) clear, positive,
enthusiasm, acumen, sharpness, zeal, set, concealed. definite; (adj) decided, explicit,
acuity, quickness, diligence, fervor; prescribed: (adj) set, appointed, unambiguous, categorical, plain,
(n, v) edge. ANTONYMS: (n) formal, official, positive, decreed, definitive, unmistakable; (adj, n)
unwillingness, dullness, indifference, rigid, definite, fixed, obstinate, legal. certain. ANTONYMS: (adj) equivocal,
faintness, dislike, patience, ANTONYM: (adj) informal. indefinite, obscured, vague,
reluctance. seeming: (adj) ostensible, superficial, ambiguous, implicit, uncertain.
one-sided: (adj) unfair, unilateral, illusory, outward, probable, vanish: (n, v) disappear; (adj, v) fade;
unjust, unequal, uneven, prejudiced, deceptive, specious; (adj, n) (v) disperse, pass, go, die, dissipate,
colored, doctrinaire, dogmatic, appearance, semblance; (n) aspect, evaporate, depart, flee, melt away.
intolerant, jaundiced. show. ANTONYMS: (adj) actual, ANTONYMS: (v) come, arrive, wax,
paths: (n) path. deep, inner. stay.
There the beasts have been bound to a sapling, in waiting; and yonder runs the
broad path away to the north, in full sweep for the Canadas."
"But still there are no signs of Alice, of the younger Miss Munro," said
Duncan.%
"Unless the shining bauble Uncas has just lifted from the ground should
prove one. Pass it this way, lad, that we may look at it."
Heyward instantly knew it for a trinket that Alice was fond of wearing, and
which he recollected, with the tenacious memory of a lover, to have seen, on the
fatal morning of the massacre, dangling from the fair neck of his mistress. He
seized the highly prized jewel; and as he proclaimed the fact, it vanished from
the eyes of the wondering scout, who in vain looked for it on the ground, long
after it was warmly pressed against the beating heart of Duncan.
"Pshaw!" said the disappointed Hawkeye, ceasing to rake the leaves with the
breech of his rifle; "'tis a certain sign of age, when the sight begins to weaken.
Such a glittering gewgaw, and not to be seen! Well, well, I can squint along a
clouded barrel yet, and that is enough to settle all disputes between me and the
Mingoes. I should like to find the thing, too, if it were only to carry it to the right
owner, and that would be bringing the two ends of what I call a long trail
together, for by this time the broad St. Lawrence, or perhaps, the Great Lakes
themselves, are between us."
"So much the more reason why we should not delay our march," returned
Heyward; "let us proceed."
"Young blood and hot blood, they say, are much the same thing. We are not
about to start on a squirrel hunt, or to drive a deer into the Horican, but to outlie
for days and nights, and to stretch across a wilderness where the feet of men
seldom go, and where no bookish knowledge would carry you through
harmless. An Indian never starts on such an expedition without smoking over his
council-fire; and, though a man of white blood, I honor their customs in this
particular, seeing that they are deliberate and wise. We will, therefore, go back,
and light our fire to-night in the ruins of the old fort, and in the morning we shall
Thesaurus
bauble: (adj) gimcrack; (n) trinket, clear. bank, conserve; (adj) courser.
ornament, trifle, bagatelle, gaud, gewgaw: (adj, n) frippery, finery; (n) tenacious: (adj) obstinate, dogged,
bangle, novelty; (adj, n) toy, gewgaw, gaud, trinket, trifle, fallal, adhesive, persistent, resolute, tough,
plaything. knickknack; (adj) plaything, tinsel, sticky; (adj, v) strong, steadfast; (v)
bookish: (adj) academic, studious, toy, gimcrack. retentive; (adj, n) firm. ANTONYMS:
learned, literary, intellectual, nights: (adj) nightly; (n) night. (adj) fickle, loose, slack, surrendering,
educated, pedantic; (v) blue, solid, squint: (n) look, strabismus, cast; (v) unattached, weak, compliant,
scholastic, profound. leer, skew, blink, squinch; (adj) yielding, malleable.
clouded: (adj, n) cloudy; (adj) gloomy, sidelong, askant, cross-eyed, asquint. trinket: (n) trifle, novelty, charm,
dark, overcast, obscure, blurred, squirrel: (n) hackee, spermophile, gaud, jewel, fallal; (adj, n) bauble,
foggy, misty, hazy, bleary; (v) baranduki, burunduki, gopher, gewgaw, gimcrack; (adj) toy, paper
cymophanous. ANTONYM: (adj) baronduki, barunduki, collector; (v) pellet.
be fresh, and ready to undertake our work like men, and not like babbling
women or eager boys."
Heyward saw, by the manner of the scout, that altercation would be useless.
Munro had again sunk into that sort of apathy which had beset him since his
late overwhelming misfortunes, and from which he was apparently to be roused
only by some new and powerful excitement. Making a merit of necessity, the
young man took the veteran by the arm, and followed in the footsteps of the
Indians and the scout, who had already begun to retrace the path which
conducted them to the plain.%
Thesaurus
altercation: (n, v) quarrel, squabble; (n) excellence, worth, desert; (n) virtue, interested.
affray, scrap, fight, hassle, credit, significance, value, goodness, sunk: (adj) sunken, undone, finished,
disagreement, fracas, strife, quality; (v) rate. ANTONYMS: (n) ruined, profound, immersed,
controversy, contest. ANTONYMS: demerit, disgrace, fault, damaged, lowed, lying flat; (v) cut
(n) union, harmony, concord, insignificance, mediocrity, up, dashed.
agreement, unity, consensus. commonness. veteran: (adj) experienced, skilled,
begun: (adj) present. retrace: (v) recollect, recall, trace, seasoned, skillful, versed, practiced,
beset: (v) beleaguer, afflict, assault, etymologize, recognize, construct, old; (n) campaigner, vet, oldtimer,
siege, molest, worry, attack, plague, call up, bethink oneself, speculate; (n, old stager. ANTONYMS: (adj) green,
obsess, assail; (adv, v) surround. v) reconsider; (n) flyback. amateur.
conducted: (adj) directed, guided. roused: (adj) excited, awake,
merit: (n, v) deserve; (adj, n) susceptible, emotional, elated,
CHAPTER 19
"Salarino: Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh;
what's that good for.%
Shylock: To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my
revenge."
Merchant of Venice
The shades of evening had come to increase the dreariness of the place, when
the party entered the ruins of William Henry. The scout and his companions
immediately made their preparations to pass the night there; but with an
earnestness and sobriety of demeanor that betrayed how much the unusual
horrors they had just witnessed worked on even their practised feelings. A few
fragments of rafters were reared against a blackened wall; and when Uncas had
covered them slightly with brush, the temporary accommodations were deemed
sufficient. The young Indian pointed toward his rude hut when his labor was
ended; and Heyward, who understood the meaning of the silent gestures, gently
urged Munro to enter. Leaving the bereaved old man alone with his sorrows,
Duncan immediately returned into the open air, too much excited himself to seek
the repose he had recommended to his veteran friend.
Thesaurus
bereaved: (v) minus, cut off, deprive, insincerity, flippancy. sobriety: (n) temperance, seriousness,
divest, denuded; (adj) grieving, forfeit: (n) penalty, deprivation, cost; soberness, graveness, abstinence,
mourning, sad, sorrowing, orbate. (v) abandon, forgo, relinquish, waive; earnestness, composure, sedateness,
blackened: (adj) sulphured, (n, v) sacrifice, pawn; (adj) confiscate, staidness; (adj, n) gravity; (adj)
blackening, colored, coloured, filthy, lost. ANTONYMS: (n) retention; (v) rationality. ANTONYMS: (n) excess,
achromatic, colorful. claim, redeem, receive, maintain. drunkenness, flippancy.
earnestness: (n) seriousness, sincerity, horrors: (adj) pessimism, vapors, withal: (adv) nevertheless,
gravity, fervor, devotion, graveness, spleen, megrims; (n) delirium notwithstanding, however, even so,
staidness, honesty; (adj, n) ardor, zeal, tremens. all the same, nonetheless, with; (adj)
intentness. ANTONYMS: (n) ruins: (n) debris, wreck, remains, likewise; (n) sufficiency, adequacy,
slackness, lightness, carelessness, remainder, carcass, wreckage, relics, enough.
frivolousness, cheerfulness, rubbish, shell, remnants, hulk. worked: (adj) elaborated, beaten.
While Hawkeye and the Indians lighted their fire and took their evening's
repast, a frugal meal of dried bear's meat, the young man paid a visit to that
curtain of the dilapidated fort which looked out on the sheet of the Horican. The
wind had fallen, and the waves were already rolling on the sandy beach beneath
him, in a more regular and tempered succession. The clouds, as if tired of their
furious chase, were breaking asunder; the heavier volumes, gathering in black
masses about the horizon, while the lighter scud still hurried above the water, or
eddied among the tops of the mountains, like broken flights of birds, hovering
around their roosts. Here and there, a red and fiery star struggled through the
drifting vapor, furnishing a lurid gleam of brightness to the dull aspect of the
heavens. Within the bosom of the encircling hills, an impenetrable darkness had
already settled; and the plain lay like a vast and deserted charnel-house, without
omen or whisper to disturb the slumbers of its numerous and hapless tenants.%
Of this scene, so chillingly in accordance with the past, Duncan stood for
many minutes a rapt observer. His eyes wandered from the bosom of the mound,
where the foresters were seated around their glimmering fire, to the fainter light
which still lingered in the skies, and then rested long and anxiously on the
embodied gloom, which lay like a dreary void on that side of him where the
dead reposed. He soon fancied that inexplicable sounds arose from the place,
though so indistinct and stolen, as to render not only their nature but even their
existence uncertain. Ashamed of his apprehensions, the young man turned
toward the water, and strove to divert his attention to the mimic stars that dimly
glimmered on its moving surface. Still, his too-conscious ears performed their
ungrateful duty, as if to warn him of some lurking danger. At length, a swift
trampling seemed, quite audibly, to rush athwart the darkness. Unable any
longer to quiet his uneasiness, Duncan spoke in a low voice to the scout,
requesting him to ascend the mound to the place where he stood. Hawkeye
threw his rifle across an arm and complied, but with an air so unmoved and
calm, as to prove how much he counted on the security of their position.
Thesaurus
accordance: (n) harmony, agreement, coldly, bloodcurdlingly, ghastly. audible, strong, definite.
conformity, unison, concordance, frugal: (adj) thrifty, abstemious, rapt: (adj) engrossed, intent, ecstatic,
coincidence, accordancy, admission, sparing, austere, prudent, careful, preoccupied, spellbound, captive,
fitness, consensus, concent. provident, moderate, parsimonious; enthralled, attentive, fixed,
athwart: (adj, adv, n, prep) across; (adv, (adj, v) chary; (v) scant. ANTONYMS: enwrapped; (v) engrossed in.
prep) aslant, cross; (adj, adv, prep) (adj) extravagant, luxurious, wasteful, ANTONYMS: (adj) detached,
thwart; (adj, adv) crosswise; (adv) hedonistic, abundant, lavish. inattentive, uninterested, bored.
sideways, obliquely, transversely, indistinct: (adj) indefinite, inarticulate, scud: (v) race, scoot, rush, rack, dash,
traverse, overthwart, crossways. faint, dull, fuzzy, indeterminate, run, navigate, flash, flit; (n) scudding,
chillingly: (adv) icily, frigidly, hazy, neutral; (adj, n) confused, shower.
macabrely, scarily, terrifyingly, cloudy, dark. ANTONYMS: (adj) stars: (n) heavenly bodies, fate.
frighteningly, gruesomely, wintrily, clear, slight, separate, certain, precise, strove: (v) strive.
"Listen!" said Duncan, when the other placed himself deliberately at his
elbow; "there are suppressed noises on the plain which may show Montcalm has
not yet entirely deserted his conquest."
"Then ears are better than eyes," said the undisturbed scout, who, having just
deposited a portion of a bear between his grinders, spoke thick and slow, like
one whose mouth was doubly occupied. "I myself saw him caged in Ty, with all
his host; for your Frenchers, when they have done a clever thing, like to get back,
and have a dance, or a merry-making, with the women over their success."
"I know not. An Indian seldom sleeps in war, and plunder may keep a Huron
here after his tribe has departed. It would be well to extinguish the fire, and have
a watch -- listen! you hear the noise I mean!"
"An Indian more rarely lurks about the graves. Though ready to slay, and not
over regardful of the means, he is commonly content with the scalp, unless when
blood is hot, and temper up; but after spirit is once fairly gone, he forgets his
enmity, and is willing to let the dead find their natural rest. Speaking of spirits,
major, are you of opinion that the heaven of a red-skin and of us whites will be of
one and the same?"
"No doubt -- no doubt. I thought I heard it again! or was it the rustling of the
leaves in the top of the beech?"
"For my own part," continued Hawkeye, turning his face for a moment in the
direction indicated by Heyward, but with a vacant and careless manner, "I
believe that paradise is ordained for happiness; and that men will be indulged in
it according to their dispositions and gifts. I, therefore, judge that a red-skin is
not far from the truth when he believes he is to find them glorious hunting
grounds of which his traditions tell; nor, for that matter, do I think it would be
any disparagement to a man without a cross to pass his time --"
"You hear it again?" interrupted Duncan.%
"Ay, ay; when food is scarce, and when food is plenty, a wolf grows bold,"
said the unmoved scout. "There would be picking, too, among the skins of the
devils, if there was light and time for the sport. But, concerning the life that is to
Thesaurus
caged: (adj) jailed, imprisoned, departed: (adj) dead, bygone, late, graves: (n) Robert Graves, Robert
incarcerated, confined, enslaved, in former, bypast, defunct, past, left; Ranke Graves.
prison, behind bars, restrained, (adj, v) gone, extinct; (n) decedent. leaves: (n) departure, leaving, plants,
trapped, locked up. ANTONYMS: (adj) remaining, alive. trees, vegetation.
careless: (adj) forgetful, inattentive, disparagement: (n, v) detraction, ordained: (adj) destined, prescribed,
insouciant, haphazard, cursory, dispraise; (n) aspersion, derogation, appointed, predestined, fated,
reckless, lax, unwary, sloppy; (adj, calumny, contempt, depreciation, preordained, meant, legal, lawful,
adv) thoughtless; (adj, v) heedless. defamation, degradation, disgrace, dedicated, inevitable.
ANTONYMS: (adj) cautious, prudent, scorn. ANTONYMS: (n) adoration, regardful: (adj) observant, mindful,
meticulous, thoughtful, diligent, credit, commendation, acclaim, deferential, respectful, careful,
attentive, thorough, wary, guarded, compliment, admiration, dutiful, heedful, obedient, deferent,
methodical, strict. glorification, respect. considerate, thoughtful.
come, major; I have heard preachers say, in the settlements, that heaven was a
place of rest. Now, men's minds differ as to their ideas of enjoyment. For myself,
and I say it with reverence to the ordering of Providence, it would be no great
indulgence to be kept shut up in those mansions of which they preach, having a
natural longing for motion and the chase."%
Duncan, who was now made to understand the nature of the noise he had
heard, answered, with more attention to the subject which the humor of the scout
had chosen for discussion, by saying:
"It is difficult to account for the feelings that may attend the last great
change."
"It would be a change, indeed, for a man who has passed his days in the open
air," returned the single-minded scout; "and who has so often broken his fast on
the head waters of the Hudson, to sleep within sound of the roaring Mohawk.
But it is a comfort to know we serve a merciful Master, though we do it each
after his fashion, and with great tracts of wilderness atween us -- what goes
there?"
"Is it not the rushing of the wolves you have mentioned?"
Hawkeye slowly shook his head, and beckoned for Duncan to follow him to a
spot to which the glare from the fire did not extend. When he had taken this
precaution, the scout placed himself in an attitude of intense attention and
listened long and keenly for a repetition of the low sound that had so
unexpectedly startled him. His vigilance, however, seemed exercised in vain; for
after a fruitless pause, he whispered to Duncan:
"We must give a call to Uncas. The boy has Indian senses, and he may hear
what is hid from us; for, being a white-skin, I will not deny my nature."
The young Mohican, who was conversing in a low voice with his father,
started as he heard the moaning of an owl, and, springing on his feet, he looked
toward the black mounds, as if seeking the place whence the sounds proceeded.
The scout repeated the call, and in a few moments, Duncan saw the figure of
Uncas stealing cautiously along the rampart, to the spot where they stood.
Thesaurus
indulgence: (adj, n) gratification, unenthusiastically, apathetically, inarticulate, dirgeful; (n)
delight; (n) allowance, extravagance, faintly, reluctantly, patiently, complaining, mourning.
debauchery, hobby, tolerance, passively, halfheartedly, vaguely. preach: (v) lecture, exhort, moralize,
luxury, enjoyment, leniency, pardon. merciful: (adj) humane, gracious, advocate, sermonize, urge, hold
ANTONYMS: (n) denial, virtue, lenient, compassionate, kind, forth, admonish, evangelize,
intolerance, uprightness, necessity, clement, benign, kindly, gentle, prophesy, moralise.
indifference, dismay, severity. beneficent, forgiving. ANTONYMS: single-minded: (adj) honest,
keenly: (adv) eagerly, zealously, (adj) pitiless, merciless, unforgiving, unyielding, unwavering,
piercingly, acutely, cuttingly, spiteful, harsh, impatient, severe, uncompromising, unbending,
ardently, strongly, lively, hardhearted. stubborn, steady, steadfast, rigid,
penetratingly, fervently, avidly. moaning: (n, v) lamentation; (adj) relentless, purposeful.
ANTONYMS: (adv) groaning, whining, funereal,
Hawkeye explained his wishes in a very few words, which were spoken in
the Delaware tongue. So soon as Uncas was in possession of the reason why he
was summoned, he threw himself flat on the turf; where, to the eyes of Duncan,
he appeared to lie quiet and motionless. Surprised at the immovable attitude of
the young warrior, and curious to observe the manner in which he employed his
faculties to obtain the desired information, Heyward advanced a few steps, and
bent over the dark object on which he had kept his eye riveted. Then it was he
discovered that the form of Uncas vanished, and that he beheld only the dark
outline of an inequality in the embankment.%
"What has become of the Mohican?" he demanded of the scout, stepping back
in amazement; "it was here that I saw him fall, and could have sworn that here
he yet remained."
"Hist! speak lower; for we know not what ears are open, and the Mingoes are
a quick-witted breed. As for Uncas, he is out on the plain, and the Maquas, if any
such are about us, will find their equal."
"You think that Montcalm has not called off all his Indians? Let us give the
alarm to our companions, that we may stand to our arms. Here are five of us,
who are not unused to meet an enemy."
"Not a word to either, as you value your life. Look at the Sagamore, how like
a grand Indian chief he sits by the fire. If there are any skulkers out in the
darkness, they will never discover, by his countenance, that we suspect danger at
hand."
"But they may discover him, and it will prove his death. His person can be
too plainly seen by the light of that fire, and he will become the first and most
certain victim."
"It is undeniable that now you speak the truth," returned the scout, betraying
more anxiety than was usual; "yet what can be done? A single suspicious look
might bring on an attack before we are ready to receive it. He knows, by the call I
gave to Uncas, that we have struck a scent; I will tell him that we are on the trail
of the Mingoes; his Indian nature will teach him how to act."
Thesaurus
motionless: (adj) inactive, inert, affianced, inveterate. unused: (adj, v) unaccustomed; (adj)
immobile, stationary, fixed, turf: (n) sward, greensward, ground, idle, fresh, extra, uncommon,
unmoving, quiescent, dead, torpid; grass, field, peat, lawn, green, divot, unfamiliar, not used, surplus,
(adj, adv) calm, at rest. ANTONYMS: Corso, race course. leftover, clean, inactive.
(adj) mobile, active, alive, flowing. undeniable: (adj) incontrovertible, ANTONYMS: (adj) used,
quick-witted: (adj) sharp, intelligent, irrefutable, certain, indisputable, knowledgeable, accustomed, busy,
resourceful, witty, clever, acute, positive, incontestable, obvious, active, working, main.
bright, ingenious, nimble, keen, indubitable, unquestionable, vanished: (adj, v) extinct, lost; (adj)
quick. conclusive, evident. ANTONYMS: disappeared, departed, missing, died
sworn: (adj) extreme, mortal, (adj) disputable, dubious, doubted, out, absent, dead, wiped out, bygone;
implacable, engaged, dedicated, contestable, questionable, debatable, (v) exhausted. ANTONYMS: (adj)
committed, betrothed, bespoken, uncertain, equivocal, unconvincing. found, living.
The scout applied his fingers to his mouth, and raised a low hissing sound,
that caused Duncan at first to start aside, believing that he heard a serpent. The
head of Chingachgook was resting on a hand, as he sat musing by himself but
the moment he had heard the warning of the animal whose name he bore, he
arose to an upright position, and his dark eyes glanced swiftly and keenly on
every side of him. With his sudden and, perhaps, involuntary movement, every
appearance of surprise or alarm ended. His rifle lay untouched, and apparently
unnoticed, within reach of his hand. The tomahawk that he had loosened in his
belt for the sake of ease, was even suffered to fall from its usual situation to the
ground, and his form seemed to sink, like that of a man whose nerves and sinews
were suffered to relax for the purpose of rest. Cunningly resuming his former
position, though with a change of hands, as if the movement had been made
merely to relieve the limb, the native awaited the result with a calmness and
fortitude that none but an Indian warrior would have known how to exercise.%
But Heyward saw that while to a less instructed eye the Mohican chief
appeared to slumber, his nostrils were expanded, his head was turned a little to
one side, as if to assist the organs of hearing, and that his quick and rapid glances
ran incessantly over every object within the power of his vision.
"See the noble fellow!" whispered Hawkeye, pressing the arm of Heyward;
"he knows that a look or a motion might disconsart our schemes, and put us at
the mercy of them imps—"
He was interrupted by the flash and report of a rifle. The air was filled with
sparks of fire, around that spot where the eyes of Heyward were still fastened,
with admiration and wonder. A second look told him that Chingachgook had
disappeared in the confusion. In the meantime, the scout had thrown forward his
rifle, like one prepared for service, and awaited impatiently the moment when an
enemy might rise to view. But with the solitary and fruitless attempt made on the
life of Chingachgook, the attack appeared to have terminated. Once or twice the
listeners thought they could distinguish the distant rustling of bushes, as bodies
of some unknown description rushed through them; nor was it long before
Hawkeye pointed out the "scampering of the wolves," as they fled precipitately
Thesaurus
hissing: (adj) sibilant, sibilous, unconscious, unintentional, forced, over, extinct, accomplished, closed,
sibilatory; (n) whistling, heckling, mechanical, unthinking, reluctant, highly skilled; (adj, adv) ended,
scoffing, sibilance, taunts, sibilation, unwilling, compulsory, inadvertent, finished, done; (adv) completed.
white noise; (v) fizzle. ANTONYM: accidental. ANTONYMS: (adj) tomahawk: (n) gisarme, halberd,
(n) applause. voluntary, intentional, intended, partisan, weapon, Bowie knife.
incessantly: (adv) constantly, willing. unnoticed: (v) unheeded, unthought
endlessly, continually, perpetually, musing: (adj) contemplative, of, unregarded; (adj) disregarded,
continuously, unceasingly, eternally, meditative, thoughtful, pensive; (n) unmarked, hidden, neglected,
persistently, unremittingly, meditation, consideration, reflection, ignored, obscure; (adj, v)
unendingly, steadily. ANTONYMS: rumination, reverie, thought, unremarked, unobserved.
(adv) sporadically, briefly. cogitation. ANTONYMS: (adj) evident, seen,
involuntary: (adj) instinctive, terminated: (adj) complete, all over, noticeable, noted, obvious.
before the passage of some intruder on their proper domains. After an impatient
and breathless pause, a plunge was heard in the water, and it was immediately
followed by the report of another rifle.%
"There goes Uncas!" said the scout; "the boy bears a smart piece! I know its
crack, as well as a father knows the language of his child, for I carried the gun
myself until a better offered."
"What can this mean?" demanded Duncan, "we are watched, and, as it would
seem, marked for destruction."
"Yonder scattered brand can witness that no good was intended, and this
Indian will testify that no harm has been done," returned the scout, dropping his
rifle across his arm again, and following Chingachgook, who just then
reappeared within the circle of light, into the bosom of the work. "How is it,
Sagamore? Are the Mingoes upon us in earnest, or is it only one of those reptiles
who hang upon the skirts of a war-party, to scalp the dead, go in, and make their
boast among the squaws of the valiant deeds done on the pale faces?"
Chingachgook very quietly resumed his seat; nor did he make any reply,
until after he had examined the firebrand which had been struck by the bullet
that had nearly proved fatal to himself. After which he was content to reply,
holding a single finger up to view, with the English monosyllable:
"One."
"I thought as much," returned Hawkeye, seating himself; "and as he had got
the cover of the lake afore Uncas pulled upon him, it is more than probable the
knave will sing his lies about some great ambushment, in which he was outlying
on the trail of two Mohicans and a white hunter -- for the officers can be
considered as little better than idlers in such a scrimmage. Well, let him -- let
him. There are always some honest men in every nation, though heaven knows,
too, that they are scarce among the Maquas, to look down an upstart when he
brags ag'in the face of reason. The varlet sent his lead within whistle of your ears,
Sagamore."
Thesaurus
breathless: (adj, adv) out of breath; aggressor, go between, gatecrasher, reptiles: (n) Vertebrata, subphylum
(adj) panting, inanimate, stalker, boarder; (adj, n) stranger. Craniata, Permian, mammals, fishes,
breathtaking, winded, choking, knave: (n) cheat, jack, blackguard, Craniata, birds, amphibians,
puffing; (v) all agog, aghast; (adj, n) crook, rascal, villain, cad, scalawag, Subphylum Vertebrata.
eager; (n) in hysterics. ANTONYMS: scallywag, scoundrel, varlet. testify: (v) declare, certify, affirm,
(adj) dull, expected, boring. monosyllable: (n) word, polysyllable, evidence, protest, prove,
firebrand: (n) instigator, brand, dissyllable. demonstrate, manifest, express,
troublemaker, inciter, incendiary, plunge: (n, v) drop, dive, fall, jump; (v) show, vouch.
firewood, pyromaniac, scalawag, douse, duck, submerge, crash, dunk, upstart: (n) mushroom, nouveau riche,
blade, radical, instigant. plummet; (adj, v) immerse. skipjack, climber, arriviste, social
intruder: (n) trespasser, interloper, ANTONYMS: (n, v) rise; (v) hesitate; climber, unknown, smart aleck, sleep;
encroacher, raider, invader, (n) improvement. (adj) parvenue, cockhorse.
Chingachgook turned a calm and incurious eye toward the place where the
ball had struck, and then resumed his former attitude, with a composure that
could not be disturbed by so trifling an incident. Just then Uncas glided into the
circle, and seated himself at the fire, with the same appearance of indifference as
was maintained by his father.%
Of these several moments Heyward was a deeply interested and wondering
observer. It appeared to him as though the foresters had some secret means of
intelligence, which had escaped the vigilance of his own faculties. In place of that
eager and garrulous narration with which a white youth would have
endeavored to communicate, and perhaps exaggerate, that which had passed out
in the darkness of the plain, the young warrior was seemingly content to let his
deeds speak for themselves. It was, in fact, neither the moment nor the occasion
for an Indian to boast of his exploits; and it is probably that, had Heyward
neglected to inquire, not another syllable would, just then, have been uttered on
the subject.
"What has become of our enemy, Uncas?" demanded Duncan; "we heard
your rifle, and hoped you had not fired in vain."
The young chief removed a fold of his hunting skirt, and quietly exposed the
fatal tuft of hair, which he bore as the symbol of victory. Chingachgook laid his
hand on the scalp, and considered it for a moment with deep attention. Then
dropping it, with disgust depicted in his strong features, he ejaculated:
"Oneida!"
"Oneida!" repeated the scout, who was fast losing his interest in the scene, in
an apathy nearly assimilated to that of his red associates, but who now advanced
in uncommon earnestness to regard the bloody badge. "By the Lord, if the
Oneidas are outlying upon the trail, we shall by flanked by devils on every side
of us! Now, to white eyes there is no difference between this bit of skin and that
of any other Indian, and yet the Sagamore declares it came from the poll of a
Mingo; nay, he even names the tribe of the poor devil, with as much ease as if the
scalp was the leaf of a book, and each hair a letter. What right have Christian
whites to boast of their learning, when a savage can read a language that would
Thesaurus
badge: (n) sign, emblem, insignia, attract, allure, charm, entice, please. uninterested, negligent, unconcerned,
medal, token, plaque, symbol, logo, exaggerate: (v) boast, aggravate, casual, detached, nonchalant, aloof,
indication, identification, amplify, dramatize, overdo, lackadaisical, apathetic, vacant.
characteristic. overdraw, brag, overstate, magnify, narration: (n) description, recital,
depicted: (adj) pictured, represented, aggrandize, enhance. ANTONYMS: narrative, explanation, history, tale,
graphic, delineated; (v) depict. (v) minimize, alleviate, weaken. report, relation, story, recitation,
disgust: (n) antipathy, aversion, garrulous: (adj) talkative, chatty, rehearsal.
abhorrence, abomination, detestation, gabby, verbose, wordy, syllable: (n) antepenultimate,
dislike, repugnance; (n, v) shock, conversational, glib, talky, windy, antepenult, penultima, penultimate,
distaste; (v) nauseate, displease. voluble, effusive. ANTONYMS: (adj) articulate, utter, linguistic unit, solfa
ANTONYMS: (n, v) delight; (n) love, taciturn, concise, reticent. syllable, speech sound, syllabe,
attraction, liking, adoration; (v) incurious: (adj) uninquisitive, language unit.
prove too much for the wisest of them all! What say you, lad, of what people
was the knave?"%
Uncas raised his eyes to the face of the scout, and answered, in his soft voice:
"Oneida."
"Oneida, again! when one Indian makes a declaration it is commonly true;
but when he is supported by his people, set it down as gospel!"
"The poor fellow has mistaken us for French," said Heyward; "or he would
not have attempted the life of a friend."
"He mistake a Mohican in his paint for a Huron! You would be as likely to
mistake the white-coated grenadiers of Montcalm for the scarlet jackets of the
Royal Americans," returned the scout. "No, no, the sarpent knew his errand; nor
was there any great mistake in the matter, for there is but little love atween a
Delaware and a Mingo, let their tribes go out to fight for whom they may, in a
white quarrel. For that matter, though the Oneidas do serve his sacred majesty,
who is my sovereign lord and master, I should not have deliberated long about
letting off 'killdeer' at the imp myself, had luck thrown him in my way."
"That would have been an abuse of our treaties, and unworthy of your
character."
"When a man consort much with a people," continued Hawkeye, "if they
were honest and he no knave, love will grow up atwixt them. It is true that white
cunning has managed to throw the tribes into great confusion, as respects friends
and enemies; so that the Hurons and the Oneidas, who speak the same tongue,
or what may be called the same, take each other's scalps, and the Delawares are
divided among themselves; a few hanging about their great council-fire on their
own river, and fighting on the same side with the Mingoes while the greater part
are in the Canadas, out of natural enmity to the Maquas -- thus throwing
everything into disorder, and destroying all the harmony of warfare. Yet a red
natur' is not likely to alter with every shift of policy; so that the love atwixt a
Mohican and a Mingo is much like the regard between a white man and a
sarpent."
Thesaurus
attempted: (adj) unsuccessful. king, royalty, highness. cerise; (n) vermilion, orange red,
consort: (n, v) associate, husband; (n) ANTONYMS: (n) austerity, redness.
companion; (v) agree, affiliate, assort, simplicity. sovereign: (n) ruler, king, lord,
accord, mix, keep company, socialize, quarrel: (adj, n, v) dispute; (n, v) fight, emperor; (adj) independent,
group. ANTONYMS: (v) disagree, feud, brawl, row, altercation, argue, autonomous, imperial, royal, free,
estrange, differ, dissociate, avoid; (n) conflict, squabble; (n) dissension, regal; (adj, n) prince. ANTONYMS:
foe, rival, antagonist, enemy. difference. ANTONYMS: (n) (adj) dependent, ineffective, useless.
destroying: (v) destroy; (adj) deadly, agreement, reconciliation, warfare: (n) conflict, fighting, battle,
deleterious, murderous; (n) disposal. acceptance, concord, consensus; (v) contest, combat, action, struggle,
majesty: (adj, n) grandeur, splendor, agree. hostility, hostilities, opposition, jihad.
nobility; (n) dignity, loftiness, scarlet: (adj) crimson, ruddy, carmine, ANTONYM: (n) harmony.
magnificence, stateliness, greatness, ruby, sanguine, rubicund, reddish,
"I regret to hear it; for I had believed those natives who dwelt within our
boundaries had found us too just and liberal, not to identify themselves fully
with our quarrels."
"Why, I believe it is natur' to give a preference to one's own quarrels before
those of strangers. Now, for myself, I do love justice; and, therefore, I will not say
I hate a Mingo, for that may be unsuitable to my color and my religion, though I
will just repeat, it may have been owing to the night that 'killdeer' had no hand
in the death of this skulking Oneida."
Then, as if satisfied with the force of his own reasons, whatever might be
their effect on the opinions of the other disputant, the honest but implacable
woodsman turned from the fire, content to let the controversy slumber. Heyward
withdrew to the rampart, too uneasy and too little accustomed to the warfare of
the woods to remain at ease under the possibility of such insidious attacks. Not
so, however, with the scout and the Mohicans. Those acute and long-practised
senses, whose powers so often exceed the limits of all ordinary credulity, after
having detected the danger, had enabled them to ascertain its magnitude and
duration. Not one of the three appeared in the least to doubt their perfect
security, as was indicated by the preparations that were soon made to sit in
council over their future proceedings.%
The confusion of nations, and even of tribes, to which Hawkeye alluded,
existed at that period in the fullest force. The great tie of language, and, of course,
of a common origin, was severed in many places; and it was one of its
consequences, that the Delaware and the Mingo (as the people of the Six Nations
were called) were found fighting in the same ranks, while the latter sought the
scalp of the Huron, though believed to be the root of his own stock. The
Delawares were even divided among themselves. Though love for the soil which
had belonged to his ancestors kept the Sagamore of the Mohicans with a small
band of followers who were serving at Edward, under the banners of the English
king, by far the largest portion of his nation were known to be in the field as
allies of Montcalm. The reader probably knows, if enough has not already been
gleaned form this narrative, that the Delaware, or Lenape, claimed to be the
Thesaurus
accustomed: (adj, n) habitual; (adj) ascertain: (v) determine, find out, wily, elusive. ANTONYMS: (adj)
familiar, normal, wonted, usual, learn, discover, check, tell, control, straightforward, harmless.
natural, everyday, ordinary, find, ensure, detect; (adj, v) establish. owing: (adj) due, unpaid, unsettled,
habituated, common, traditional. ANTONYM: (v) disprove. outstanding, overdue, owed, payable,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unusual, green, credulity: (n) credulousness, undischarged, indebted, fulfilling
unseasoned, unconventional, trustingness, trust, innocence, obligation, lawful. ANTONYM: (adj)
untrained, abnormal, trustfulness, faith, lack of caution, settled.
uncharacteristic, exceptional. navet, unwariness, acceptance. severed: (adj) cut off, cut, broken,
ancestors: (n) family, ancestor, lineage, ANTONYM: (n) wariness. separate, Severn, disconnected, rent
pedigree, parents, majority, insidious: (adj) cunning, crafty, off, disrupt, disengaged, torn,
intimates, genealogy, family tree, deceitful, deceptive, guileful, subtle, disrupted.
associates, relatives. treacherous, devious; (adj, v) sly, strangers: (n) stranger.
progenitors of that numerous people, who once were masters of most of the
eastern and northern states of America, of whom the community of the Mohicans
was an ancient and highly honored member.%
It was, of course, with a perfect understanding of the minute and intricate
interests which had armed friend against friend, and brought natural enemies to
combat by each other's side, that the scout and his companions now disposed
themselves to deliberate on the measures that were to govern their future
movements, amid so many jarring and savage races of men. Duncan knew
enough of Indian customs to understand the reason that the fire was replenished,
and why the warriors, not excepting Hawkeye, took their seats within the curl of
its smoke with so much gravity and decorum. Placing himself at an angle of the
works, where he might be a spectator of the scene without, he awaited the result
with as much patience as he could summon.
After a short and impressive pause, Chingachgook lighted a pipe whose bowl
was curiously carved in one of the soft stones of the country, and whose stem
was a tube of wood, and commenced smoking. When he had inhaled enough of
the fragrance of the soothing weed, he passed the instrument into the hands of
the scout. In this manner the pipe had made its rounds three several times, amid
the most profound silence, before either of the party opened his lips. Then the
Sagamore, as the oldest and highest in rank, in a few calm and dignified words,
proposed the subject for deliberation. He was answered by the scout; and
Chingachgook rejoined, when the other objected to his opinions. But the youthful
Uncas continued a silent and respectful listener, until Hawkeye, in
complaisance, demanded his opinion. Heyward gathered from the manners of
the different speakers, that the father and son espoused one side of a disputed
question, while the white man maintained the other. The contest gradually grew
warmer, until it was quite evident the feelings of the speakers began to be
somewhat enlisted in the debate.
Notwithstanding the increasing warmth of the amicable contest, the most
decorous Christian assembly, not even excepting those in which its reverend
ministers are collected, might have learned a wholesome lesson of moderation
Thesaurus
complaisance: (adj, n) affability, defiant, unseemly. except for, exclusive of; (prep) aside
civility; (n) courtesy, deference, decorum: (n) propriety, gentility, from, besides, apart from, barring,
respect, compliancy, agreeableness, decorousness, dignity, fitness, excluding, with the exception of; (v)
submission, amenity, politeness; (adj) manners, correctness, ceremony, saving. ANTONYM: (prep) including.
gallantry. properness, politeness, grace. inhaled: (adj) breathed in.
decorous: (adj) decent, appropriate, ANTONYMS: (n) impoliteness, jarring: (adj, n) harsh, dissonant,
conventional, sedate, correct, modest, rudeness, informality, indecorum, inconsistent; (adj) rough,
prim, proper; (adj, v) becoming, impropriety, indecency, corruption, inharmonious, strident, grating,
seemly, comely. ANTONYMS: (adj) abandon, vulgarity. jolting, raucous, cacophonous,
impolite, improper, misbehaving, espoused: (adj) affianced, matrimonial, bumpy. ANTONYMS: (adj) soft,
unsuitable, unrefined, relaxed, betrothed; (n) better half. usual.
inappropriate, rowdy, undignified, excepting: (conj, prep) but, bar; (n, prep) progenitors: (n) lineage.
from the forbearance and courtesy of the disputants. The words of Uncas were
received with the same deep attention as those which fell from the maturer
wisdom of his father; and so far from manifesting any impatience, neither spoke
in reply, until a few moments of silent meditation were, seemingly, bestowed in
deliberating on what had already been said.%
The language of the Mohicans was accompanied by gestures so direct and
natural that Heyward had but little difficulty in following the thread of their
argument. On the other hand, the scout was obscure; because from the lingering
pride of color, he rather affected the cold and artificial manner which
characterizes all classes of Anglo-Americans when unexcited. By the frequency
with which the Indians described the marks of a forest trial, it was evident they
urged a pursuit by land, while the repeated sweep of Hawkeye's arm toward the
Horican denoted that he was for a passage across its waters.
The latter was to every appearance fast losing ground, and the point was
about to be decided against him, when he arose to his feet, and shaking off his
apathy, he suddenly assumed the manner of an Indian, and adopted all the arts
of native eloquence. Elevating an arm, he pointed out the track of the sun,
repeating the gesture for every day that was necessary to accomplish their
objects. Then he delineated a long and painful path, amid rocks and water-
courses. The age and weakness of the slumbering and unconscious Munro were
indicated by signs too palpable to be mistaken. Duncan perceived that even his
own powers were spoken lightly of, as the scout extended his palm, and
mentioned him by the appellation of the "Open Hand" -- a name his liberality
had purchased of all the friendly tribes. Then came a representation of the light
and graceful movements of a canoe, set in forcible contrast to the tottering steps
of one enfeebled and tired. He concluded by pointing to the scalp of the Oneida,
and apparently urging the necessity of their departing speedily, and in a manner
that should leave no trail.
The Mohicans listened gravely, and with countenances that reflected the
sentiments of the speaker. Conviction gradually wrought its influence, and
toward the close of Hawkeye's speech, his sentences were accompanied by the
Thesaurus
classes: (n) lessons. adynamic; (adj, v) sickly, vacillating; (adj) largesse, gift. ANTONYM: (n)
deliberating: (adj) deliberative, (v) weak, accessible. illiberality.
pondering. forcible: (adj) forceful, active, maturer: (adj) overripe, ripe, ripened.
delineated: (adj) portrayed, lineal, energetic, powerful, strong, violent, unexcited: (adj) unaffected, calm,
graphic, represented. coercive, vigorous, effective, unimpressed, untouched, unstruck,
departing: (adj, v) parting; (adj, n) convincing; (prep) conclusive. unshocked, unmoved,
leaving, going away; (adj) outgoing, ANTONYMS: (adj) weak, gentle, unenthusiastic; (adj, v) unstirred; (v)
outbound, outward, passing, peaceful. unimpassioned, unperturbed.
decedent, valedictory, retiring; (v) liberality: (n, v) charity, almsgiving; ANTONYMS: (adj) enthusiastic,
depart. ANTONYM: (n) arrival. (adj, n) bounty; (n) largess, frivolous.
enfeebled: (adj) infirm, enervated, munificence, benevolence, wrought: (adj) shaped, done, worked,
feeble, decrepit, crippled, old, beneficence, generousness, tolerance; worked up, formed.
customary exclamation of commendation. In short, Uncas and his father became

converts to his way of thinking, abandoning their own previously expressed
opinions with a liberality and candor that, had they been the representatives of
some great and civilized people, would have infallibly worked their political
ruin, by destroying forever their reputation for consistency.%
The instant the matter in discussion was decided, the debate, and everything
connected with it, except the result appeared to be forgotten. Hawkeye, without
looking round to read his triumph in applauding eyes, very composedly
stretched his tall frame before the dying embers, and closed his own organs in
sleep.
Left now in a measure to themselves, the Mohicans, whose time had been so
much devoted to the interests of others, seized the moment to devote some
attention to themselves. Casting off at once the grave and austere demeanor of an
Indian chief, Chingachgook commenced speaking to his son in the soft and
playful tones of affection. Uncas gladly met the familiar air of his father; and
before the hard breathing of the scout announced that he slept, a complete
change was effected in the manner of his two associates.
It is impossible to describe the music of their language, while thus engaged in
laughter and endearments, in such a way as to render it intelligible to those
whose ears have never listened to its melody. The compass of their voices,
particularly that of the youth, was wonderful--extending from the deepest bass
to tones that were even feminine in softness. The eyes of the father followed the
plastic and ingenious movements of the son with open delight, and he never
failed to smile in reply to the other's contagious but low laughter. While under
the influence of these gentle and natural feelings, no trace of ferocity was to be
seen in the softened features of the Sagamore. His figured panoply of death
looked more like a disguise assumed in mockery than a fierce annunciation of a
desire to carry destruction in his footsteps.
After an hour had passed in the indulgence of their better feelings,
Chingachgook abruptly announced his desire to sleep, by wrapping his head in
his blanket and stretching his form on the naked earth. The merriment of Uncas
Thesaurus
annunciation: (n) enunciation, composedly: (adv) serenely, calmly, infallibly: (adv) unerringly,
promulgation, proclamation, quietly, placidly, coolly, sedately, unfailingly, inerrably, assuredly,
declaration, Lady Day, Annunciation steadily, soberly, unperturbedly, certainly, firmly.
Day. staidly, relaxedly. ANTONYM: (adv) playful: (adj) frisky, humorous,
applauding: (adj) plauditory. nervously. kittenish, mischievous, skittish,
candor: (adj, n) honesty, sincerity, contagious: (adj) catching, impish, naughty, merry, lighthearted,
truth, abandon, fidelity, uprightness; communicable, pestiferous, frivolous, frolicsome. ANTONYMS:
(n) frankness, integrity, fairness, transmissible, epidemic, (adj) serious, lethargic, solemn, staid,
candidness, outspokenness. transmittable, poisonous, spreading, subdued, heavy.
ANTONYMS: (n) unfairness, pestilent; (n) infection; (v) infect. wrapping: (n) covering, wrapper,
indirectness, deception, doublespeak, ANTONYMS: (adj) noncontagious, envelope, bandage, wrap, swathe,
delicacy, conformity, caution, tact. noninfectious. case, packaging, plaster, film, lint.
instantly ceased; and carefully raking the coals in such a manner that they
should impart their warmth to his father's feet, the youth sought his own pillow
among the ruins of the place.%
Imbibing renewed confidence from the security of these experienced
foresters, Heyward soon imitated their example; and long before the night had
turned, they who lay in the bosom of the ruined work, seemed to slumber as
heavily as the unconscious multitude whose bones were already beginning to
bleach on the surrounding plain.
Thesaurus
bones: (n) bone, frame, corpse, dry multitude: (n) flock, horde, crowd, ruined: (adj, v) lost; (adj) dilapidated,
bones, framework, maraca, host, throng, concourse, mob, masses, desolate, broke, broken, bankrupt,
physician, finger cymbals, tymbal, mass, herd, swarm. ANTONYM: (n) finished, devastated, desolated,
wreck, timbrel. trickle. insolvent, spoiled. ANTONYMS: (adj)
feet: (v) legs, pegs, pins, trotters; (n) pillow: (v) rest, breathe, lie, not move; solvent, pure, rich, whole.
foots, ft, fete, meter, rescue. (adj) wadding; (n) throw pillow, unconscious: (adj) involuntary,
instantly: (adv, n) directly; (adj, adv) Wanger, bed pillow, feather bed, long unaware, ignorant, unwitting,
immediately, at once; (adv) pillow, padding. subconscious, oblivious, automatic,
instantaneously, promptly, forthwith, renewed: (adj) changed, born again, insensible, unintentional, instinctive,
now, readily, quickly, momently, new, fresh, redintegrate, senseless. ANTONYMS: (adj)
momentarily. ANTONYMS: (adv) rehabilitated, transformed, conscious, awake, deliberate, aware,
later, slowly, gradually. regenerate, reformed, Renate. voluntary, intentional, alive, wary.
CHAPTER 20
"Land of Albania! let me bend mine eyes

On thee; thou rugged nurse of savage men!"
Childe Harold
The heavens were still studded with stars, when Hawkeye came to arouse
the sleepers. Casting aside their cloaks Munro and Heyward were on their feet
while the woodsman was still making his low calls, at the entrance of the rude
shelter where they had passed the night. When they issued from beneath its
concealment, they found the scout awaiting their appearance nigh by, and the
only salutation between them was the significant gesture for silence, made by
their sagacious leader.%
"Think over your prayers," he whispered, as they approached him; "for He to
whom you make them, knows all tongues; that of the heart, as well as those of
the mouth. But speak not a syllable; it is rare for a white voice to pitch itself
properly in the woods, as we have seen by the example of that miserable devil,
the singer. Come," he continued, turning toward a curtain of the works; "let us
get into the ditch on this side, and be regardful to step on the stones and
fragments of wood as you go."
Thesaurus
arouse: (v) wake, stir, agitate, excite, unbend, leave. inoffensive.
awaken, stimulate, anger, kindle, ditch: (n) canal, channel, dike; (v) sagacious: (adj, v) judicious, prudent,
provoke, raise; (n, v) rouse. desert, dump, chuck, abandon, discreet; (adj) rational, astute, acute,
ANTONYMS: (v) calm, dampen, discard, cut, leave; (n, v) moat. discerning, keen, perspicacious,
stifle, sedate, quiet, pacify, bore, ANTONYMS: (v) accept, take, adopt, intelligent, shrewd. ANTONYMS:
allay, lull, quench, suppress. maintain; (n) ridge. (adj) foolish, stupid, dense.
awaiting: (adj) looming, imminent, in rude: (adj, n) rough, impudent, coarse, studded: (adj) muricated, bristling,
the near future, pending, expectant. abrupt, bold; (adj) blunt, peopled, crowded, manifold,
bend: (n, v) bow, turn, arch, arc, crook, discourteous, impolite, brutal, crude, multinominal, multiple, multiplied,
twist, elbow; (adj, n, v) curve; (v) mean. ANTONYMS: (adj) polite, multitudinous, populous; (v)
stoop, crouch; (adj, v) flex. refined, courteous, chivalrous, civil, freckled.
ANTONYMS: (n, v) square; (v) align, proper, decent, exact, clean, gentle,
His companions complied, though to two of them the reasons of this

extraordinary precaution were yet a mystery. When they were in the low cavity
that surrounded the earthen fort on three sides, they found that passage nearly
choked by the ruins. With care and patience, however, they succeeded in
clambering after the scout, until they reached the sandy shore of the Horican.%
"That's a trail that nothing but a nose can follow," said the satisfied scout,
looking back along their difficult way; "grass is a treacherous carpet for a flying
party to tread on, but wood and stone take no print from a moccasin. Had you
worn your armed boots, there might, indeed, have been something to fear; but
with the deer-skin suitably prepared, a man may trust himself, generally, on
rocks with safety. Shove in the canoe nigher to the land, Uncas; this sand will
take a stamp as easily as the butter of the Jarmans on the Mohawk. Softly, lad,
softly; it must not touch the beach, or the knaves will know by what road we
have left the place."
The young man observed the precaution; and the scout, laying a board from
the ruins to the canoe, made a sign for the two officers to enter. When this was
done, everything was studiously restored to its former disorder; and then
Hawkeye succeeded in reaching his little birchen vessel, without leaving behind
him any of those marks which he appeared so much to dread. Heyward was
silent until the Indians had cautiously paddled the canoe some distance from the
fort, and within the broad and dark shadows that fell from the eastern mountain
on the glassy surface of the lake; then he demanded:
"What need have we for this stolen and hurried departure?"
"If the blood of an Oneida could stain such a sheet of pure water as this we
float on," returned the scout, "your two eyes would answer your own question.
Have you forgotten the skulking reptile Uncas slew?"
"By no means. But he was said to be alone, and dead men give no cause for
fear."
"Ay, he was alone in his deviltry! but an Indian whose tribe counts so many
warriors, need seldom fear his blood will run without the death shriek coming
speedily from some of his enemies."
Thesaurus
cavity: (n) antrum, cave, hole, pocket, foreboding, terror. ANTONYMS: stain: (n, v) spot, blemish, tarnish, blot,
hollow, void, pit, chamber, caries, (adj) pleasing, welcomed, pleasant; dye, smear, disgrace, mark, soil, dirt,
depression, hollowness. (v) welcome, want; (n) reassurance, defile. ANTONYMS: (v) enhance,
ANTONYMS: (n) hump, lump. fearlessness, confidence, security, dignify, clean.
counts: (adj) details, particulars, items. ease, calm. treacherous: (adj) unfaithful, deceitful,
deviltry: (n) devilment, devilry, reptile: (n) reptilian, creeper, basilisk, false, perfidious, dangerous, disloyal,
rascality, blaze, evil, immorality, sneak, wretch, mammal, bird, unreliable, unsafe, Punic, fraudulent,
iniquity, misbehavior, misbehaviour, shellfish; (adj) abject, vile, sordid. faithless. ANTONYMS: (adj) faithful,
wickedness, misdeed. shove: (n, v) thrust, jostle, poke, elbow, loyal, honest, safe, true, genuine,
dread: (n, v) apprehension, fear, panic; prod, boost, hustle; (v) press, impel, forthright, stable, harmless,
(n) anxiety, awe, consternation, shift, stuff. ANTONYMS: (v) pull, dependable, open.
alarm, trepidation, dismay, leave.
"But our presence -- the authority of Colonel Munro -- would prove sufficient
protection against the anger of our allies, especially in a case where the wretch so
well merited his fate. I trust in Heaven you have not deviated a single foot from
the direct line of our course with so slight a reason!"
"Do you think the bullet of that varlet's rifle would have turned aside,
though his sacred majesty the king had stood in its path?" returned the stubborn
scout. "Why did not the grand Frencher, he who is captain-general of the
Canadas, bury the tomahawks of the Hurons, if a word from a white can work so
strongly on the natur' of an Indian?"
The reply of Heyward was interrupted by a groan from Munro; but after he
had paused a moment, in deference to the sorrow of his aged friend he resumed
the subject.%
"The marquis of Montcalm can only settle that error with his God," said the
young man solemnly.
"Ay, ay, now there is reason in your words, for they are bottomed on religion
and honesty. There is a vast difference between throwing a regiment of white
coats atwixt the tribes and the prisoners, and coaxing an angry savage to forget
he carries a knife and rifle, with words that must begin with calling him your
son. No, no," continued the scout, looking back at the dim shore of William
Henry, which was now fast receding, and laughing in his own silent but heartfelt
manner; "I have put a trail of water atween us; and unless the imps can make
friends with the fishes, and hear who has paddled across their basin this fine
morning, we shall throw the length of the Horican behind us before they have
made up their minds which path to take."
"With foes in front, and foes in our rear, our journey is like to be one of
danger."
"Danger!" repeated Hawkeye, calmly; "no, not absolutely of danger; for, with
vigilant ears and quick eyes, we can manage to keep a few hours ahead of the
knaves; or, if we must try the rifle, there are three of us who understand its gifts
as well as any you can name on the borders. No, not of danger; but that we shall
have what you may call a brisk push of it, is probable; and it may happen, a
Thesaurus
brisk: (adj) bracing, agile, alive, bright, soap; (adv) coaxingly; (adj) ceremoniously, importantly.
lively, acute, alert, energetic, ingratiatory, persuasive, oily. ANTONYMS: (adv) cheerfully,
sprightly; (adj, v) quick, smart. groan: (n, v) grumble, murmur, cry, flippantly.
ANTONYMS: (adj) soporific, sigh, mutter, squeak, rumble, scrape; stubborn: (adj) contrary, hard,
sluggish, hesitant, tedious, (v) howl, complain; (n) complaint. intractable, perverse, rigid,
temperate, inactive, civil, torpid, receding: (n) disappearance, fadeout, determined, persistent, refractory,
slack, serious, lethargic. recession, niche; (adj) moving back, tenacious, obdurate, inveterate.
bullet: (n) shot, round, pellet, slug, low, hairless, balding, going out, ANTONYMS: (adj) compliant,
projectile, missile, stone, carcass, recessive, retiring. irresolute, flexible, amenable, docile,
delivery, grenade, sphere. solemnly: (adv) earnestly, gravely, easygoing, malleable, agreeable,
coaxing: (n) blarney, flattery, sweet majestically, stately, sternly, staidly, accommodating, cooperative, feeble.
talk, temptation, enticement, soft thoughtfully, soberly, formally,
brush, a scrimmage, or some such divarsion, but always where covers are good,
and ammunition abundant."
It is possible that Heyward's estimate of danger differed in some degree from
that of the scout, for, instead of replying, he now sat in silence, while the canoe
glided over several miles of water. Just as the day dawned, they entered the
narrows of the lake, and stole swiftly and cautiously among their numberless
little islands. It was by this road that Montcalm had retired with his army, and
the adventurers knew not but he had left some of his Indians in ambush, to
protect the rear of his forces, and collect the stragglers. They, therefore,
approached the passage with the customary silence of their guarded habits.%
Chingachgook laid aside his paddle; while Uncas and the scout urged the
light vessel through crooked and intricate channels, where every foot that they
advanced exposed them to the danger of some sudden rising on their progress.
The eyes of the Sagamore moved warily from islet to islet, and copse to copse, as
the canoe proceeded; and, when a clearer sheet of water permitted, his keen
vision was bent along the bald rocks and impending forests that frowned upon
the narrow strait.
Heyward, who was a doubly interested spectator, as well from the beauties
of the place as from the apprehension natural to his situation, was just believing
that he had permitted the latter to be excited without sufficient reason, when the
paddle ceased moving, in obedience to a signal from Chingachgook.
"Hugh!" exclaimed Uncas, nearly at the moment that the light tap his father
had made on the side of the canoe notified them of the vicinity of danger.
"What now?" asked the scout; "the lake is as smooth as if the winds had never
blown, and I can see along its sheet for miles; there is not so much as the black
head of a loon dotting the water."
The Indian gravely raised his paddle, and pointed in the direction in which
his own steady look was riveted. Duncan's eyes followed the motion. A few rods
in their front lay another of the wooded islets, but it appeared as calm and
peaceful as if its solitude had never been disturbed by the foot of man.
Thesaurus
copse: (n) brush, coppice, brake, severely, solemnly, badly, staidly, paddle: (n) blade, vane, oar, rowing;
brushwood, forest, underwood, momentously, heavily, earnestly, (v) dabble, dodder, row, pull, spank,
grove, spinney, thicket, undergrowth, weightily, grievously. ANTONYMS: toddle, totter.
canebrake. (adv) lightheartedly, mildly, slightly; solitude: (n) desolation, loneliness,
crooked: (adj) bent, corrupt, dishonest, (adj) soft. seclusion, privacy, aloneness,
curved, unfair, deformed; (adj, n, v) islet: (n) island, ait, reef, holm, atoll, isolation, retirement, lonesomeness,
awry; (adj, v) irregular, askew, wry, eyot, breaker, coral reef, coral Island, retreat, desert, solitariness.
indirect. ANTONYMS: (adj) straight, wight. ANTONYMS: (n) companionship,
honest, principled, even, aboveboard, loon: (n) idler, lout, bum, gaffer, closeness.
lawful, level, moral, flat, aligned, birdbrain, diver, dunce, oaf, rube, stole: (n) wrap, stolen, scarf, stolon,
honorable. runnion, underling. stealing, robe, alb, tunicle, surplice,
gravely: (adv) seriously, soberly, narrows: (n) inlet, bay. alba, cassock.
"I see nothing," he said, "but land and water; and a lovely scene it is."
"Hist!" interrupted the scout. "Ay, Sagamore, there is always a reason for
what you do. 'Tis but a shade, and yet it is not natural. You see the mist, major,
that is rising above the island; you can't call it a fog, for it is more like a streak of
thin cloud --"
"It is vapor from the water."
"That a child could tell. But what is the edging of blacker smoke that hangs
along its lower side, and which you may trace down into the thicket of hazel?
'Tis from a fire; but one that, in my judgment, has been suffered to burn low."
"Let us, then, push for the place, and relieve our doubts," said the impatient
Duncan; "the party must be small that can lie on such a bit of land."
"If you judge of Indian cunning by the rules you find in books, or by white
sagacity, they will lead you astray, if not to your death," returned Hawkeye,
examining the signs of the place with that acuteness which distinguished him. "If
I may be permitted to speak in this matter, it will be to say, that we have but two
things to choose between: the one is, to return, and give up all thoughts of
following the Hurons --"
"Never!" exclaimed Heyward, in a voice far too loud for their circumstances.%
"Well, well," continued Hawkeye, making a hasty sign to repress his
impatience; "I am much of your mind myself; though I thought it becoming my
experience to tell the whole. We must, then, make a push, and if the Indians or
Frenchers are in the narrows, run the gauntlet through these toppling
mountains. Is there reason in my words, Sagamore?"
The Indian made no other answer than by dropping his paddle into the
water, and urging forward the canoe. As he held the office of directing its course,
his resolution was sufficiently indicated by the movement. The whole party now
plied their paddles vigorously, and in a very few moments they had reached a
point whence they might command an entire view of the northern shore of the
island, the side that had hitherto been concealed.
Thesaurus
astray: (adj, adv) adrift, off course; (adj) lace, trimming, boundary, galloon, impatient: (adj) eager, anxious,
lost, wrong, disoriented, awry; (adv) hem, list, frame. petulant, fidgety, vexed, keen, edgy,
amiss, widely, far, afield, aside. gauntlet: (n) mitt, sleeve, wristband, quick, avid, irritable, fretful.
ANTONYM: (adj) accurate. gantlet, mitten, gloves; (v) corner ANTONYMS: (adj) patient, enduring,
books: (n) notebook, account, ledger, stone, armored vest, buffer, mask, unenthusiastic, calm, happy, relaxed,
literature, accountancy. call to arms. slow.
directing: (adj) guiding, directive, impatience: (n) annoyance, eagerness, repress: (v) inhibit, crush, quash,
administrative, determinative, anger, intolerance, restlessness, control, suppress, put down, bridle,
directional, sovereign, commanding, fidget, nervousness, fidgetiness, keep down, subdue, restrain, reduce.
controlling; (n) administration, enthusiasm, edginess; (adj) ANTONYMS: (v) declare, liberate,
conducting, conservation. nonendurance. ANTONYMS: (n) incite.
edging: (n) border, edge, brim, brink, calmness, endurance, apathy. toppling: (adj) falling.
"There they are, by all the truth of signs," whispered the scout, "two canoes
and a smoke. The knaves haven't yet got their eyes out of the mist, or we should
hear the accursed whoop. Together, friends! we are leaving them, and are
already nearly out of whistle of a bullet."
The well-known crack of a rifle, whose ball came skipping along the placid
surface of the strait, and a shrill yell from the island, interrupted his speech, and
announced that their passage was discovered. In another instant several savages
were seen rushing into canoes, which were soon dancing over the water in
pursuit. These fearful precursors of a coming struggle produced no change in the
countenances and movements of his three guides, so far as Duncan could
discover, except that the strokes of their paddles were longer and more in
unison, and caused the little bark to spring forward like a creature possessing
life and volition.%
"Hold them there, Sagamore," said Hawkeye, looking coolly backward over
this left shoulder, while he still plied his paddle; "keep them just there. Them
Hurons have never a piece in their nation that will execute at this distance; but
'killdeer' has a barrel on which a man may calculate."
The scout having ascertained that the Mohicans were sufficient of themselves
to maintain the requisite distance, deliberately laid aside his paddle, and raised
the fatal rifle. Three several times he brought the piece to his shoulder, and when
his companions were expecting its report, he as often lowered it to request the
Indians would permit their enemies to approach a little nigher. At length his
accurate and fastidious eye seemed satisfied, and, throwing out his left arm on
the barrel, he was slowly elevating the muzzle, when an exclamation from
Uncas, who sat in the bow, once more caused him to suspend the shot.
"What, now, lad?" demanded Hawkeye; "you save a Huron from the death-
shriek by that word; have you reason for what you do?"
Uncas pointed toward a rocky shore a little in their front, whence another
war canoe was darting directly across their course. It was too obvious now that
their situation was imminently perilous to need the aid of language to confirm
it. The scout laid aside his rifle, and resumed the paddle, while Chingachgook
Thesaurus
fastidious: (adj, n) exacting, critical, pendingly, prospectively, nextly. voluntary, optional, dispensable; (n)
accurate; (adj) delicate, particular, perilous: (adj, v) dangerous, inessential, luxury.
careful, exigent, dainty, hazardous; (adj) insecure, unsafe, skipping: (n) jumping, leaping,
discriminating, nice, fussy. parlous, precarious, risky, absenteeism; (adv) skippingly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) sloppy, treacherous, dicey, critical, dodgy. leapingly.
unfastidious, careless, uncouth, ANTONYM: (adj) secure. unison: (n) agreement, union, accord,
uncritical, easy, indifferent, possessing: (adj) fruitive. coincidence, accordance, concord,
undemanding, slapdash, relaxed, requisite: (n) need, necessity, unity, unisonance, concurrence,
easygoing. requirement, must; (adj, n) necessary, consonance, concordance.
imminently: (adv) nearly, menacingly, prerequisite; (adj) required, ANTONYMS: (n) discord,
threateningly, nighly, approachingly, mandatory, needful, compulsory, disharmony, disarray.
closely, comingly, forthcomingly, obligatory. ANTONYMS: (adj)
inclined the bows of the canoe a little toward the western shore, in order to
increase the distance between them and this new enemy. In the meantime they
were reminded of the presence of those who pressed upon their rear, by wild
and exulting shouts. The stirring scene awakened even Munro from his apathy.%
"Let us make for the rocks on the main," he said, with the mien of a tired
soldier, "and give battle to the savages. God forbid that I, or those attached to me
and mine, should ever trust again to the faith of any servant of the Louis's!"
"He who wishes to prosper in Indian warfare," returned the scout, "must not
be too proud to learn from the wit of a native. Lay her more along the land,
Sagamore; we are doubling on the varlets, and perhaps they may try to strike
our trail on the long calculation."
Hawkeye was not mistaken; for when the Hurons found their course was
likely to throw them behind their chase they rendered it less direct, until, by
gradually bearing more and more obliquely, the two canoes were, ere long,
gliding on parallel lines, within two hundred yards of each other. It now became
entirely a trial of speed. So rapid was the progress of the light vessels, that the
lake curled in their front, in miniature waves, and their motion became
undulating by its own velocity. It was, perhaps, owing to this circumstance, in
addition to the necessity of keeping every hand employed at the paddles, that the
Hurons had not immediate recourse to their firearms. The exertions of the
fugitives were too severe to continue long, and the pursuers had the advantage
of numbers. Duncan observed with uneasiness, that the scout began to look
anxiously about him, as if searching for some further means of assisting their
flight.
"Edge her a little more from the sun, Sagamore," said the stubborn
woodsman; "I see the knaves are sparing a man to the rifle. A single broken bone
might lose us our scalps. Edge more from the sun and we will put the island
between us."
The expedient was not without its use. A long, low island lay at a little
distance before them, and, as they closed with it, the chasing canoe was
compelled to take a side opposite to that on which the pursued passed. The scout
Thesaurus
assisting: (adj) aiding, auxiliary, repetition, artifice, twisting, furring, collapse, decrease, dwindle, decline.
subsidiary, suffragan, adjuvant, gemination, plication, reduplication, recourse: (n, v) appeal, haunt; (n)
supporting, support, secondary, duplicity; (v) guile. refuge, expedient, resource,
supplementary, assistant; (n) helping. obliquely: (adj, adv) athwart, assistance, alternative, dependence,
ANTONYM: (adj) main. transversely, askew; (adv) aslant, haven, asylum, request.
chasing: (n) chase, engraving; (v) indirectly, slopingly, slantingly, shouts: (n) cries.
follow, pursue. sideways, sidelong, skewly, askance. sparing: (adj, n) economical, saving;
curled: (adj) coiled, curling, having ANTONYM: (adv) straight. (adj, v) scanty, poor, chary, meager,
curls, round, braided, twisted, prosper: (v) advance, flower, thrive, parsimonious, spare, moderate; (adj)
bowed, wreathy, Crull, curled up, grow, bloom, succeed, boom, get thrifty, careful. ANTONYMS: (adj)
tressed. ahead, get on; (adj) luxuriate; (n, v) spendthrift, generous, wasteful,
doubling: (n) folding, duplication, fare. ANTONYMS: (v) deteriorate, extravagant.
and his companions did not neglect this advantage, but the instant they were hid
from observation by the bushes, they redoubled efforts that before had seemed
prodigious. The two canoes came round the last low point, like two coursers at
the top of their speed, the fugitives taking the lead. This change had brought
them nigher to each other, however, while it altered their relative positions.%
"You showed knowledge in the shaping of a birchen bark, Uncas, when you
chose this from among the Huron canoes," said the scout, smiling, apparently
more in satisfaction at their superiority in the race than from that prospect of
final escape which now began to open a little upon them. "The imps have put all
their strength again at the paddles, and we are to struggle for our scalps with bits
of flattened wood, instead of clouded barrels and true eyes. A long stroke, and
together, friends."
"They are preparing for a shot," said Heyward; "and as we are in a line with
them, it can scarcely fail."
"Get you, then, into the bottom of the canoe," returned the scout; "you and the
colonel; it will be so much taken from the size of the mark."
Heyward smiled, as he answered:
"It would be but an ill example for the highest in rank to dodge, while the
warriors were under fire."
"Lord! Lord! That is now a white man's courage!" exclaimed the scout; "and
like to many of his notions, not to be maintained by reason. Do you think the
Sagamore, or Uncas, or even I, who am a man without a cross, would deliberate
about finding a cover in the scrimmage, when an open body would do no good?
For what have the Frenchers reared up their Quebec, if fighting is always to be
done in the clearings?"
"All that you say is very true, my friend," replied Heyward; "still, our
customs must prevent us from doing as you wish."
A volley from the Hurons interrupted the discourse, and as the bullets
whistled about them, Duncan saw the head of Uncas turned, looking back at
himself and Munro. Notwithstanding the nearness of the enemy, and his own
Thesaurus
dodge: (n, v) stratagem, maneuver; (v) sundries, opinion, concept, ideas, monstrous. ANTONYMS: (adj)
avoid, evade, escape, elude, duck, ribbon, philosophy, odds and ends; unexceptional, normal, average, tiny,
fudge; (n) contrivance, cheat, scheme. (adj) irrational. weak.
ANTONYMS: (v) confront, notwithstanding: (adv, conj) redoubled: (adj) ingeminate.
encounter, meet, accept. nevertheless, although, even though, shaping: (adj, n) forming; (adj)
nearness: (n) closeness, contiguity, yet, but; (conj) albeit; (adv) formative, molding; (n) forging,
vicinity, familiarity, adjacency, nonetheless, though, still, all the grooving, rifling, defining, form,
proximity, propinquity, presence, same; (prep) despite. organization, making, conformation.
immediacy, neighborhood, nearby. prodigious: (adj) gigantic, enormous, volley: (n, v) hail, firing, blast,
ANTONYMS: (n) distance, farness, huge, phenomenal, portentous, explosion; (adj, n, v) burst, discharge;
remoteness. stupendous, exceptional, colossal, (n) fusillade, shower, storm, barrage,
notions: (n) belief, thinking, thought, immense, gargantuan; (adj, v) fire.
great personal danger, the countenance of the young warrior expressed no other
emotion, as the former was compelled to think, than amazement at finding men
willing to encounter so useless an exposure. Chingachgook was probably better
acquainted with the notions of white men, for he did not even cast a glance aside
from the riveted look his eye maintained on the object by which he governed
their course. A ball soon struck the light and polished paddle from the hands of
the chief, and drove it through the air, far in the advance. A shout arose from the
Hurons, who seized the opportunity to fire another volley. Uncas described an
arc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe passed swiftly on,
Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing it on high, he gave the war-
whoop of the Mohicans, and then lent his strength and skill again to the
important task.%
The clamorous sounds of "Le Gros Serpent!" "La Longue Carabine!" "Le Cerf
Agile!" burst at once from the canoes behind, and seemed to give new zeal to the
pursuers. The scout seized "killdeer" in his left hand, and elevating it about his
head, he shook it in triumph at his enemies. The savages answered the insult
with a yell, and immediately another volley succeeded. The bullets pattered
along the lake, and one even pierced the bark of their little vessel. No perceptible
emotion could be discovered in the Mohicans during this critical moment, their
rigid features expressing neither hope nor alarm; but the scout again turned his
head, and, laughing in his own silent manner, he said to Heyward:
"The knaves love to hear the sounds of their pieces; but the eye is not to be
found among the Mingoes that can calculate a true range in a dancing canoe!
You see the dumb devils have taken off a man to charge, and by the smallest
measurement that can be allowed, we move three feet to their two!"
Duncan, who was not altogether as easy under this nice estimate of distances
as his companions, was glad to find, however, that owing to their superior
dexterity, and the diversion among their enemies, they were very sensibly
obtaining the advantage. The Hurons soon fired again, and a bullet struck the
blade of Hawkeye's paddle without injury.
Thesaurus
dexterity: (n) agility, cleverness, healthy, successful, luxuriant, pierced: (adj) punctured, perforate,
ability, aptitude, skill, deftness, booming, verdant, lush, auspicious, penetrated, cut, cleft.
expertise; (adj, n) art, cunning; (n, v) favorable, rich. ANTONYMS: (adj) sensibly: (adv) sanely, intelligently,
adroitness, address. ANTONYMS: (n) arid, declining, fading, poor, rationally, pragmatically,
clumsiness, awkwardness, unhealthy. realistically, cleverly, politically,
ineptitude, inability, uselessness, insult: (n, v) contumely, affront, abuse, perceptibly, soundly, noticeably,
inexperience, ineptness, inaccuracy. flout, outrage, wound, taunt; (n) wisely. ANTONYMS: (adv) foolishly,
diversion: (n) amusement, disgrace, indignity, contempt; (v) cut. ludicrously, ridiculously,
entertainment, pastime, deviation, ANTONYMS: (n, v) compliment, unreasonably, illogically, madly,
distraction, detour, fun, sport, praise; (v) flatter, consecrate; (n) irrationally, hastily, stupidly,
recreation, digression, deflexion. privilege. irresponsibly, immaturely.
flourishing: (adj) thriving, palmy, lent: (n) Quadragesima, Lententide.
"That will do," said the scout, examining the slight indentation with a curious
eye; "it would not have cut the skin of an infant, much less of men, who, like us,
have been blown upon by the heavens in their anger. Now, major, if you will try
to use this piece of flattened wood, I'll let 'killdeer' take a part in the
conversation."
Heyward seized the paddle, and applied himself to the work with an
eagerness that supplied the place of skill, while Hawkeye was engaged in
inspecting the priming of his rifle. The latter then took a swift aim and fired. The
Huron in the bows of the leading canoe had risen with a similar object, and he
now fell backward, suffering his gun to escape from his hands into the water. In
an instant, however, he recovered his feet, though his gestures were wild and
bewildered. At the same moment his companions suspended their efforts, and
the chasing canoes clustered together, and became stationary. Chingachgook
and Uncas profited by the interval to regain their wind, though Duncan
continued to work with the most persevering industry. The father and son now
cast calm but inquiring glances at each other, to learn if either had sustained any
injury by the fire; for both well knew that no cry or exclamation would, in such a
moment of necessity have been permitted to betray the accident. A few large
drops of blood were trickling down the shoulder of the Sagamore, who, when he
perceived that the eyes of Uncas dwelt too long on the sight, raised some water
in the hollow of his hand, and washing off the stain, was content to manifest, in
this simple manner, the slightness of the injury.%
"Softly, softly, major," said the scout, who by this time had reloaded his rifle;
"we are a little too far already for a rifle to put forth its beauties, and you see
yonder imps are holding a council. Let them come up within striking distance --
my eye may well be trusted in such a matter -- and I will trail the varlets the
length of the Horican, guaranteeing that not a shot of theirs shall, at the worst,
more than break the skin, while 'killdeer' shall touch the life twice in three times."
"We forget our errand," returned the diligent Duncan. "For God's sake let us
profit by this advantage, and increase our distance from the enemy."
Thesaurus
backward: (adj, adv) late, behindhand; clear, oriented, precise, interested, analytical, probing,
(adj) tardy, retarded, reluctant, coy, understanding, alert. intrusive; (adj, n) questioning; (v)
slow, laggard, dilatory; (adv) behind, clustered: (adj) agglomerated, inquire; (n) enquiry, question,
backwardly. ANTONYMS: (adj, adv) agglomerative, bunched, bunchy, examination. ANTONYM: (adj)
ahead; (adv) onward; (adj) quick, gregarious, concentrated, uninquiring.
developing, advanced, confident, conglomerate, collective. inspecting: (n) inspection; (v) inspect;
brilliant, bold. indentation: (n) pit, depression, (adj) curious, inspective.
bewildered: (adj) bemused, confused, hollow, impression, indent, dip, stationary: (adj) motionless, fixed, set,
confounded, perplexed, befuddled, notch, impress, concavity; (n, v) nick; quiescent, permanent, immobile,
puzzled, dumbfounded, taken aback, (adj) concave. ANTONYMS: (n) steady, static, constant, unmoving,
addled, disoriented; (adj, v) lost. lump, bump. still. ANTONYMS: (adj) mobile,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unimpressed, inquiring: (adj) inquisitive, quizzical, shifting, flowing.
"Give me my children," said Munro, hoarsely; "trifle no longer with a father's

agony, but restore me my babes."
Long and habitual deference to the mandates of his superiors had taught the
scout the virtue of obedience. Throwing a last and lingering glance at the distant
canoes, he laid aside his rifle, and, relieving the wearied Duncan, resumed the
paddle, which he wielded with sinews that never tired. His efforts were
seconded by those of the Mohicans and a very few minutes served to place such
a sheet of water between them and their enemies, that Heyward once more
breathed freely.%
The lake now began to expand, and their route lay along a wide reach, that
was lined, as before, by high and ragged mountains. But the islands were few,
and easily avoided. The strokes of the paddles grew more measured and regular,
while they who plied them continued their labor, after the close and deadly
chase from which they had just relieved themselves, with as much coolness as
though their speed had been tried in sport, rather than under such pressing, nay,
almost desperate, circumstances.
Instead of following the western shore, whither their errand led them, the
wary Mohican inclined his course more toward those hills behind which
Montcalm was known to have led his army into the formidable fortress of
Ticonderoga. As the Hurons, to every appearance, had abandoned the pursuit,
there was no apparent reason for this excess of caution. It was, however,
maintained for hours, until they had reached a bay, nigh the northern
termination of the lake. Here the canoe was driven upon the beach, and the
whole party landed. Hawkeye and Heyward ascended an adjacent bluff, where
the former, after considering the expanse of water beneath him, pointed out to
the latter a small black object, hovering under a headland, at the distance of
several miles.
"Do you see it?" demanded the scout. "Now, what would you account that
spot, were you left alone to white experience to find your way through this
wilderness?"
Thesaurus
avoided: (adj) unpopular. usual; (adj) chronic, conventional, untidy, unkempt; (adj, v) threadbare;
bluff: (v) beguile, delude, blague; (n) confirmed, accustomed, natural, (n) harsh. ANTONYMS: (adj) smart,
bravado, cheat, hill; (adj) rough, commonplace, everyday, ordinary. elegant, smooth, new, even.
direct, blunt, candid; (adj, n) peak. ANTONYMS: (adj) occasional, strokes: (n) approval, reward,
ANTONYMS: (n) truth, honesty; (v) infrequent, mild, irregular, recognition, prize, acclaim, credit,
reveal, guide; (adj) roundabout, exceptional, erratic, abnormal, brownie points.
suave, subtle, hesitant. innovative. termination: (n) close, end, conclusion,
expanse: (n) breadth, expansion, headland: (n) promontory, head, result, dissolution, cessation,
space, region, compass, extent, orbit, foreland, point, ness, bluff, mull, expiration, finale, finish, completion,
latitude, acreage, dilation, length. prominence, spit, hill, abuttal. issue. ANTONYMS: (n) beginning,
ANTONYM: (n) closeness. ragged: (adj, n) shabby; (adj) seedy, preservation, initiation, inauguration,
habitual: (adj, n) common, frequent, worn, hoarse, jagged, scruffy, torn, creation.
"But for its distance and its magnitude, I should suppose it a bird. Can it be a
living object?"
"'Tis a canoe of good birchen bark, and paddled by fierce and crafty Mingoes.
Though Providence has lent to those who inhabit the woods eyes that would be
needless to men in the settlements, where there are inventions to assist the sight,
yet no human organs can see all the dangers which at this moment circumvent
us. These varlets pretend to be bent chiefly on their sun-down meal, but the
moment it is dark they will be on our trail, as true as hounds on the scent. We
must throw them off, or our pursuit of Le Renard Subtil may be given up. These
lakes are useful at times, especially when the game take the water," continued the
scout, gazing about him with a countenance of concern; "but they give no cover,
except it be to the fishes. God knows what the country would be, if the
settlements should ever spread far from the two rivers. Both hunting and war
would lose their beauty."
"Let us not delay a moment, without some good and obvious cause."
"I little like that smoke, which you may see worming up along the rock above
the canoe," interrupted the abstracted scout. "My life on it, other eyes than ours
see it, and know its meaning. Well, words will not mend the matter, and it is
time that we were doing."
Hawkeye moved away from the lookout, and descended, musing
profoundly, to the shore. He communicated the result of his observations to his
companions, in Delaware, and a short and earnest consultation succeeded. When
it terminated, the three instantly set about executing their new resolutions.%
The canoe was lifted from the water, and borne on the shoulders of the party,
they proceeded into the wood, making as broad and obvious a trail as possible.
They soon reached the water-course, which they crossed, and, continuing
onward, until they came to an extensive and naked rock. At this point, where
their footsteps might be expected to be no longer visible, they retraced their route
to the brook, walking backward, with the utmost care. They now followed the
bed of the little stream to the lake, into which they immediately launched their
canoe again. A low point concealed them from the headland, and the margin of
Thesaurus
crafty: (adj) cunning, adroit, sly, astute, lodge, settle, people, live, indwell, be, fracture.
artful, wily, clever, tricky, shifty, exist; (n) habit. ANTONYMS: (v) needless: (adj, v) unnecessary,
designing, scheming. ANTONYMS: desert, vacate. superfluous; (adj) futile, dispensable,
(adj) naive, open, honest, guileless, lookout: (n, v) guard, prospect, bootless, excessive, preventable,
artless, straightforward, trustworthy, expectation; (n) scout, watch, sentry, meaningless, pointless, wanton,
ingenuous, blatant, straight. sentinel, outlook, post, picture; (v) unavailing. ANTONYMS: (adj)
executing: (n) performing, execution, landscape. essential, worthwhile, inevitable,
decapitation, capital punishment, mend: (adj, v) improve; (v) correct, justifiable.
electrocution, death penalty, cure, heal, doctor, better, amend, organs: (n) offal, haslet, giblet, chitlins,
crucifixion, implementation, corporal restore, convalesce; (n, v) fix, patch. chitlings, chitterlings, insides, tongue,
punishment; (v) perform, execute. ANTONYMS: (v) worsen, tear, variety meat, sweetbread, tripe.
inhabit: (v) reside, abide, occupy, smash, decline, deteriorate; (n)
the lake was fringed for some distance with dense and overhanging bushes.
Under the cover of these natural advantages, they toiled their way, with patient
industry, until the scout pronounced that he believed it would be safe once more
to land.%
The halt continued until evening rendered objects indistinct and uncertain to
the eye. Then they resumed their route, and, favored by the darkness, pushed
silently and vigorously toward the western shore. Although the rugged outline
of mountain, to which they were steering, presented no distinctive marks to the
eyes of Duncan, the Mohican entered the little haven he had selected with the
confidence and accuracy of an experienced pilot.
The boat was again lifted and borne into the woods, where it was carefully
concealed under a pile of brush. The adventurers assumed their arms and packs,
and the scout announced to Munro and Heyward that he and the Indians were at
last in readiness to proceed.
Thesaurus
brush: (n, v) broom, touch, kiss; (v) anchorage, cover, housing; (n, v) steering: (n) management, steerage,
sweep, polish, graze, clean; (n) shelter. direction, navigation, driving,
brushwood, conflict, copse, readiness: (n) facility, ease, expedition, pilotage, control, aim, attitude
encounter. preparation, promptness, knack, control, piloting, managing.
dense: (adj, v) compact, close; (adj) dexterity, eagerness, quickness, vigorously: (adv) smartly, strongly,
thick, crowded, deep, heavy, stupid, fitness; (adj, n) alacrity. ANTONYMS: energetically, mightily, forcefully,
impenetrable, solid, crass, dim. (n) reluctance, delay. heartily, actively, robustly, freshly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) insightful, bright, silently: (adv) mutely, stilly, quietly, vehemently, ardently. ANTONYMS:
loose, sparse, simple, readable, noiselessly, soundlessly, taciturnly, (adv) lifelessly, wearily, passively,
clever, intelligent, sharp, thin, alert. wordlessly, secretly, speechlessly, languorously, slowly, submissively,
haven: (n) harbor, port, asylum, placidly, tacitly. ANTONYMS: (adv) weakly, impassively, gently,
harbour, refuge, retreat, destination, loudly, audibly, openly, brazenly. lethargically.
CHAPTER 21
"If you find a man there, he shall die a flea's death."

Merry Wives of Windsor
The party had landed on the border of a region that is, even to this day, less
known to the inhabitants of the States than the deserts of Arabia, or the steppes
of Tartary. It was the sterile and rugged district which separates the tributaries
of Champlain from those of the Hudson, the Mohawk, and the St. Lawrence.
Since the period of our tale the active spirit of the country has surrounded it with
a belt of rich and thriving settlements, though none but the hunter or the savage
is ever known even now to penetrate its wild recesses.%
As Hawkeye and the Mohicans had, however, often traversed the mountains
and valleys of this vast wilderness, they did not hesitate to plunge into its depth,
with the freedom of men accustomed to its privations and difficulties. For many
hours the travelers toiled on their laborious way, guided by a star, or following
the direction of some water-course, until the scout called a halt, and holding a
short consultation with the Indians, they lighted their fire, and made the usual
preparations to pass the remainder of the night where they then were.
Imitating the example, and emulating the confidence of their more
experienced associates, Munro and Duncan slept without fear, if not without
Thesaurus
associates: (n) staff, membership, ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, effortless, antiseptic, futile, vain, poor, arid,
circle, entourage, intimates, people. undemanding, light, brisk. aseptic; (adj, v) fruitless; (v) abortive.
deserts: (n) desert, just deserts, due, merry: (adj) joyful, lively, cheerful, ANTONYMS: (adj) fertile,
compensation, comeupance. glad, jolly, facetious, frolicsome, unhygienic, dirty, productive,
guided: (adj) conducted, directed, led. lighthearted, festive; (adj, n) fruitful, exciting, creative.
hunter: (n) fowler, huntsman, trapper, convivial, jovial. ANTONYMS: (adj) thriving: (adj) successful, prosperous,
Nimrod, seeker, tracker, falconer, gloomy, miserable, serious, uptight. prospering, booming, rich, affluent,
hawker, courser, watch, ticker. penetrate: (v) bore, imbue, fathom, growing, lush, lucky, healthy,
laborious: (adj) hard, arduous, infiltrate, pierce, permeate, cut, filter, luxuriant. ANTONYMS: (adj)
backbreaking, heavy, industrious, interpenetrate, get through, enter. declining, languishing, arid,
diligent, grueling, assiduous, separates: (n) coordinates. moribund, dying, disappearing,
exhausting, formidable, tough. sterile: (adj) infertile, barren, effete, poor, unwell.
uneasiness. The dews were suffered to exhale, and the sun had dispersed the
mists, and was shedding a strong and clear light in the forest, when the travelers
resumed their journey.%
After proceeding a few miles, the progress of Hawkeye, who led the
advance, became more deliberate and watchful. He often stopped to examine the
trees; nor did he cross a rivulet without attentively considering the quantity, the
velocity, and the color of its waters. Distrusting his own judgment, his appeals to
the opinion of Chingachgook were frequent and earnest. During one of these
conferences Heyward observed that Uncas stood a patient and silent, though, as
he imagined, an interested listener. He was strongly tempted to address the
young chief, and demand his opinion of their progress; but the calm and
dignified demeanor of the native induced him to believe, that, like himself, the
other was wholly dependent on the sagacity and intelligence of the seniors of the
party. At last the scout spoke in English, and at once explained the
embarrassment of their situation.
"When I found that the home path of the Hurons run north," he said, "it did
not need the judgment of many long years to tell that they would follow the
valleys, and keep atween the waters of the Hudson and the Horican, until they
might strike the springs of the Canada streams, which would lead them into the
heart of the country of the Frenchers. Yet here are we, within a short range of the
Scaroons, and not a sign of a trail have we crossed! Human natur' is weak, and it
is possible we may not have taken the proper scent."
"Heaven protect us from such an error!" exclaimed Duncan. "Let us retrace
our steps, and examine as we go, with keener eyes. Has Uncas no counsel to
offer in such a strait?"
The young Mohican cast a glance at his father, but, maintaining his quiet and
reserved mien, he continued silent. Chingachgook had caught the look, and
motioning with his hand, he bade him speak. The moment this permission was
accorded, the countenance of Uncas changed from its grave composure to a
gleam of intelligence and joy. Bounding forward like a deer, he sprang up the
side of a little acclivity, a few rods in advance, and stood, exultingly, over a spot
Thesaurus
attentively: (adv) carefully, mindfully, undignified, foolish, dishonorable, keener: (v) Indian giver, floater,
watchfully, observantly, heedfully, boisterous, unceremonious, repeater.
vigilantly, cautiously, considerately, unseemly, vulgar, poor, lowly, proceeding: (n) matter, transaction,
diligently, alertly, obligingly. modest, base. affair, procedure, lawsuit,
ANTONYMS: (adv) unhelpfully, exhale: (v) breathe, blow, emit, expire, proceedings; (v) deed, act; (n, v)
neglectfully, abruptly, carelessly, evaporate, breathe out, respire, measure; (adv, n) happening; (adj, adv,
hastily, casually. smoke, steam, transpire, give off. v) going on.
bade: (v) bid, command, bad. eyes: (n) sight, eye, vision, view, baby shedding: (n) molting, abscission,
dignified: (adj) exalted, majestic, blues, guard, propensity, eyen. fluffing, effusion, moulting,
noble, grand, lofty, respectable, gleam: (n, v) glance, beam, blaze, biological process, desquamation,
solemn, distinguished, lordly, high; shine, glimmer, glow, flash, flicker, sloughing, emission; (adj, n) peeling;
(adj, v) great. ANTONYMS: (adj) sparkle, glitter; (v) twinkle. (adj) flaking.
of fresh earth, that looked as though it had been recently upturned by the
passage of some heavy animal. The eyes of the whole party followed the
unexpected movement, and read their success in the air of triumph that the
youth assumed.%
"'Tis the trail!" exclaimed the scout, advancing to the spot; "the lad is quick of
sight and keen of wit for his years."
"'Tis extraordinary that he should have withheld his knowledge so long,"
muttered Duncan, at his elbow.
"It would have been more wonderful had he spoken without a bidding. No,
no; your young white, who gathers his learning from books and can measure
what he knows by the page, may conceit that his knowledge, like his legs,
outruns that of his fathers', but, where experience is the master, the scholar is
made to know the value of years, and respects them accordingly."
"See!" said Uncas, pointing north and south, at the evident marks of the broad
trail on either side of him, "the dark-hair has gone toward the forest."
"Hound never ran on a more beautiful scent," responded the scout, dashing
forward, at once, on the indicated route; "we are favored, greatly favored, and
can follow with high noses. Ay, here are both your waddling beasts: this Huron
travels like a white general. The fellow is stricken with a judgment, and is mad!
Look sharp for wheels, Sagamore," he continued, looking back, and laughing in
his newly awakened satisfaction; "we shall soon have the fool journeying in a
coach, and that with three of the best pair of eyes on the borders in his rear."
The spirits of the scout, and the astonishing success of the chase, in which a
circuitous distance of more than forty miles had been passed, did not fail to
impart a portion of hope to the whole party. Their advance was rapid; and made
with as much confidence as a traveler would proceed along a wide highway. If a
rock, or a rivulet, or a bit of earth harder than common, severed the links of the
clew they followed, the true eye of the scout recovered them at a distance, and
seldom rendered the delay of a single moment necessary. Their progress was
much facilitated by the certainty that Magua had found it necessary to journey
through the valleys; a circumstance which rendered the general direction of the
Thesaurus
circuitous: (adj) roundabout, winding, conceit: (n) pretension, vanity, self- highway: (n) highroad, way, path,
devious, tortuous, meandering, esteem, pride, assumption, egotism, route, street, thoroughfare, course,
oblique, complicated, labyrinthine, fancy, haughtiness, conception, main road, expressway, bus, freeway.
crooked, collateral, circumlocutional. caprice, quip. ANTONYMS: (n) scholar: (n) learner, academic, student,
ANTONYMS: (adj) straight, direct. humility, timidity, selflessness, pundit, apprentice, intellectual, brain,
circumstance: (n) affair, incident, humbleness, reserve. exhibitioner, academician, professor,
matter, event, occasion, chance, dashing: (adj) stylish, dapper, gallant, disciple. ANTONYM: (n) teacher.
accident, opportunity, adventure, showy, smart, snappy, impetuous, travels: (n) actions, expedition.
casualty, fact. rakish, raffish, brave; (adj, n) spruce. upturned: (adj) retrousse, overturned,
clew: (n) cue, clod, glob, knob, ANTONYMS: (adj) boring, unstylish, upside-down, broken, disordered,
footmark, footprint, vestige; (v) point dull, bumbling, bland, awkward, disquieted, distressed, disturbed,
out; (adj) pellet, globule, Pelote. drab, graceless. confused, topsy-turvy, shapely.
route sure. Nor had the Huron entirely neglected the arts uniformly practised by
the natives when retiring in front of an enemy. False trails and sudden turnings
were frequent, wherever a brook or the formation of the ground rendered them
feasible; but his pursuers were rarely deceived, and never failed to detect their
error, before they had lost either time or distance on the deceptive track.%
By the middle of the afternoon they had passed the Scaroons, and were
following the route of the declining sun. After descending an eminence to a low
bottom, through which a swift stream glided, they suddenly came to a place
where the party of Le Renard had made a halt. Extinguished brands were lying
around a spring, the offals of a deer were scattered about the place, and the trees
bore evident marks of having been browsed by the horses. At a little distance,
Heyward discovered, and contemplated with tender emotion, the small bower
under which he was fain to believe that Cora and Alice had reposed. But while
the earth was trodden, and the footsteps of both men and beasts were so plainly
visible around the place, the trail appeared to have suddenly ended.
It was easy to follow the tracks of the Narragansetts, but they seemed only to
have wandered without guides, or any other object than the pursuit of food. At
length Uncas, who, with his father, had endeavored to trace the route of the
horses, came upon a sign of their presence that was quite recent. Before following
the clew, he communicated his success to his companions; and while the latter
were consulting on the circumstance, the youth reappeared, leading the two
fillies, with their saddles broken, and the housings soiled, as though they had
been permitted to run at will for several days.
"What should this prove?" said Duncan, turning pale, and glancing his eyes
around him, as if he feared the brush and leaves were about to give up some
horrid secret.
"That our march is come to a quick end, and that we are in an enemy's
country," returned the scout. "Had the knave been pressed, and the gentle ones
wanted horses to keep up with the party, he might have taken their scalps; but
without an enemy at his heels, and with such rugged beasts as these, he would
not hurt a hair of their heads. I know your thoughts, and shame be it to our color
Thesaurus
bower: (n) arbour, alcove, pergola, decreasing, dropping, falling, ANTONYMS: (adj) impossible,
hermitage, grotto, framing, sloping, degressive, occasive; (adv) unlikely, impracticable, impractical,
framework, summer house; (v) downward. ANTONYM: (adj) inconceivable, infeasible, unfeasible,
inclose, embower, enclose. upward. unrealistic, implausible.
declining: (adj) deteriorating, extinguished: (adj) extinct, out, dead, plainly: (adv) evidently, manifestly,
decreasing, waning, falling, down, quenched, allayed, destroyed; (n) clearly, distinctly, openly, obviously,
decadent, fading, lessening, defunctness, complete annihilation, patently, overtly, definitely; (adj, adv)
diminishing, sloping; (n) decrease. experimental extinction, frankly, honestly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
ANTONYMS: (adj) thriving, extermination, extinction. imperceptibly, vaguely, obscurely,
burgeoning, growing. feasible: (adj) probable, possible, fit, figuratively, unclearly, politely,
descending: (v) descend; (adj) viable, available, practical, credible, incoherently, implicitly, finely,
downhill, down, descendent, achievable, likely, doable, realizable. ambiguously, covertly.
that you have reason for them; but he who thinks that even a Mingo would ill-
treat a woman, unless it be to tomahawk her, knows nothing of Indian natur', or
the laws of the woods. No, no; I have heard that the French Indians had come
into these hills to hunt the moose, and we are getting within scent of their camp.
Why should they not? The morning and evening guns of Ty may be heard any
day among these mountains; for the Frenchers are running a new line atween the
provinces of the king and the Canadas. It is true that the horses are here, but the
Hurons are gone; let us, then, hunt for the path by which they parted."
Hawkeye and the Mohicans now applied themselves to their task in good
earnest. A circle of a few hundred feet in circumference was drawn, and each of
the party took a segment for his portion. The examination, however, resulted in
no discovery. The impressions of footsteps were numerous, but they all appeared
like those of men who had wandered about the spot, without any design to quit
it. Again the scout and his companions made the circuit of the halting place, each
slowly following the other, until they assembled in the center once more, no
wiser than when they started.%
"Such cunning is not without its deviltry," exclaimed Hawkeye, when he met
the disappointed looks of his assistants.
"We must get down to it, Sagamore, beginning at the spring, and going over
the ground by inches. The Huron shall never brag in his tribe that he has a foot
which leaves no print."
Setting the example himself, the scout engaged in the scrutiny with renewed
zeal. Not a leaf was left unturned. The sticks were removed, and the stones
lifted; for Indian cunning was known frequently to adopt these objects as covers,
laboring with the utmost patience and industry, to conceal each footstep as they
proceeded. Still no discovery was made. At length Uncas, whose activity had
enabled him to achieve his portion of the task the soonest, raked the earth across
the turbid little rill which ran from the spring, and diverted its course into
another channel. So soon as its narrow bed below the dam was dry, he stooped
over it with keen and curious eyes. A cry of exultation immediately announced
Thesaurus
assistants: (n) cabinet. unfocused, preoccupied. moose: (n) European elk, coyote,
brag: (n, v) bluster, vaunt, crow; (v) halting: (adj) halt, hesitant, broken, caribou, Alces Alces, sambar, musk
pride, gasconade, blow, show off, crude, grotesque, barbarous; (adj, v) ox, deer, cervid.
rodomontade; (n) boasting, bragging; lame, crippled; (adv) haltingly; (v) rill: (n) channel, streamlet, creek,
(adj) great. drooping, flagging. ANTONYMS: rivulet, run, runnel, stream, bourn,
circumference: (n) circuit, border, (adj) easy, firm. beck, arroyo, watercourse.
perimeter, boundary, periphery, ill-treat: (v) abuse, mistreat, misuse, turbid: (adj, v) thick; (adj) murky,
outline, brim, compass, circle, edge, crucify, wrong, harm, ill-use, opaque, cloudy, dirty, misty, foggy,
rim. ANTONYMS: (n) middle, inside, persecute, corrupt, outrage, molest. mirky, feculent, vaporous, nebulous.
interior, center. laboring: (adj) working, labouring, ANTONYM: (adj) clear.
diverted: (adj) abstracted, entertained, toiling, drudging, labors, work, unturned: (v) undeviating; (adj) not
pleased, inattentive, sidetracked, elaborate, employed, busy. turned, unswerving, undistorted.
the success of the young warrior. The whole party crowded to the spot where
Uncas pointed out the impression of a moccasin in the moist alluvion.%
"This lad will be an honor to his people," said Hawkeye, regarding the trail
with as much admiration as a naturalist would expend on the tusk of a
mammoth or the rib of a mastodon; "ay, and a thorn in the sides of the Hurons.
Yet that is not the footstep of an Indian! the weight is too much on the heel, and
the toes are squared, as though one of the French dancers had been in, pigeon-
winging his tribe! Run back, Uncas, and bring me the size of the singer's foot.
You will find a beautiful print of it just opposite yon rock, agin the hillside."
While the youth was engaged in this commission, the scout and
Chingachgook were attentively considering the impressions. The measurements
agreed, and the former unhesitatingly pronounced that the footstep was that of
David, who had once more been made to exchange his shoes for moccasins.
"I can now read the whole of it, as plainly as if I had seen the arts of Le
Subtil," he added; "the singer being a man whose gifts lay chiefly in his throat
and feet, was made to go first, and the others have trod in his steps, imitating
their formation."
"But," cried Duncan, "I see no signs of --"
"The gentle ones," interrupted the scout; "the varlet has found a way to carry
them, until he supposed he had thrown any followers off the scent. My life on it,
we see their pretty little feet again, before many rods go by."
The whole party now proceeded, following the course of the rill, keeping
anxious eyes on the regular impressions. The water soon flowed into its bed
again, but watching the ground on either side, the foresters pursued their way
content with knowing that the trail lay beneath. More than half a mile was
passed, before the rill rippled close around the base of an extensive and dry rock.
Here they paused to make sure that the Hurons had not quitted the water.
It was fortunate they did so. For the quick and active Uncas soon found the
impression of a foot on a bunch of moss, where it would seem an Indian had
inadvertently trodden. Pursuing the direction given by this discovery, he
Thesaurus
expend: (v) disburse, exhaust, spend, purposely. uneven, wavelike, in waves, wavy,
dissipate, squander, use, deplete, mammoth: (adj) gigantic, jumbo, huge, frilly, frilled, billowy, agitated,
employ, to spend, absorb, swallow colossal, immense, enormous, ruffled.
up. ANTONYMS: (v) save, hold, monstrous, gargantuan, vast, great; squared: (adj) squarer, squaring, agree,
keep. (adj, n) monster. ANTONYMS: (adj) exact, balanced, even, equal,
inadvertently: (adv) accidentally, tiny, small. correspondent, quadrate, correspond.
heedlessly, unwittingly, mastodon: (n) proboscidean, thorn: (n) barb, prickle, bramble,
unintentionally, negligently, casually, mastodont. spike, point, brier, pricker, needle,
thoughtlessly, unawares, naturalist: (n) natural scientist, sticker, fang; (adj, n) sting.
involuntarily, by accident; (adj, adv) naturalistic, Steller, life scientist, tusk: (n) ivory, fang, torsk, dentine,
inattentively. ANTONYMS: (adv) ecologist, environmentalist, faunist. dentin, bone, tush; (adj) nib; (v)
mindfully, wittingly, deliberately, rippled: (adj) crinkly, having a ripple, detusk, horn, take away.
entered the neighboring thicket, and struck the trail, as fresh and obvious as it
had been before they reached the spring. Another shout announced the good
fortune of the youth to his companions, and at once terminated the search.%
"Ay, it has been planned with Indian judgment," said the scout, when the
party was assembled around the place, "and would have blinded white eyes."
"Shall we proceed?" demanded Heyward.
"Softly, softly, we know our path; but it is good to examine the formation of
things. This is my schooling, major; and if one neglects the book, there is little
chance of learning from the open land of Providence. All is plain but one thing,
which is the manner that the knave contrived to get the gentle ones along the
blind trail. Even a Huron would be too proud to let their tender feet touch the
water."
"Will this assist in explaining the difficulty?" said Heyward, pointing toward
the fragments of a sort of handbarrow, that had been rudely constructed of
boughs, and bound together with withes, and which now seemed carelessly cast
aside as useless.
"'Tis explained!" cried the delighted Hawkeye. "If them varlets have passed a
minute, they have spent hours in striving to fabricate a lying end to their trail!
Well, I've known them to waste a day in the same manner to as little purpose.
Here we have three pair of moccasins, and two of little feet. It is amazing that
any mortal beings can journey on limbs so small! Pass me the thong of buckskin,
Uncas, and let me take the length of this foot. By the Lord, it is no longer than a
child's and yet the maidens are tall and comely. That Providence is partial in its
gifts, for its own wise reasons, the best and most contented of us must allow."
"The tender limbs of my daughters are unequal to these hardships," said
Munro, looking at the light footsteps of his children, with a parent's love; "we
shall find their fainting forms in this desert."
"Of that there is little cause of fear," returned the scout, slowly shaking his
head; "this is a firm and straight, though a light step, and not over long. See, the
heel has hardly touched the ground; and there the dark-hair has made a little
Thesaurus
contented: (adj) content, happy, devise, contrive, make, build, erect; respectfully, graciously, decently,
comfortable, quiet, cheerful, smug, (adv, v) invent; (n, v) coin, forge. civilly, properly, attentively,
complacent, satisfied, easy, proud, ANTONYMS: (v) demolish, ruin, agreeably, tactfully, thoughtfully,
delighted. ANTONYMS: (adj) break. acceptably, gently.
discontented, unhappy, depressed, fainting: (n) swoon, syncope, striving: (n) nisus, pains, endeavor,
unsatisfied, sad, anxious. deliquium, lipothymy, prostration, strife, try, strain, attempt, strive,
contrived: (adj) affected, unnatural, stupor; (adj) lipothymic. ambition, struggle, exertion.
false, forced, labored, spurious, handbarrow: (n) framing. ANTONYM: (adj) unmotivated.
feigned, unreal, strained, built, rudely: (adv) crudely, coarsely, thong: (n) strap, lash, whip, knout,
artificially formal. ANTONYM: (adj) uncivilly, indelicately, impolitely, bathing suit, braid, bullwhip, casual,
sincere. roughly, harshly, vulgarly, brutally, casual shoe, cowhide, slipper.
fabricate: (v) construct, concoct, create, meanly, wildly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
jump, from root to root. No, no; my knowledge for it, neither of them was nigh
fainting, hereaway. Now, the singer was beginning to be footsore and leg-weary,
as is plain by his trail. There, you see, he slipped; here he has traveled wide and
tottered; and there again it looks as though he journeyed on snowshoes. Ay, ay, a
man who uses his throat altogether, can hardly give his legs a proper training."
From such undeniable testimony did the practised woodsman arrive at the
truth, with nearly as much certainty and precision as if he had been a witness of
all those events which his ingenuity so easily elucidated. Cheered by these
assurances, and satisfied by a reasoning that was so obvious, while it was so
simple, the party resumed its course, after making a short halt, to take a hurried
repast.%
When the meal was ended, the scout cast a glance upward at the setting sun,
and pushed forward with a rapidity which compelled Heyward and the still
vigorous Munro to exert all their muscles to equal. Their route now lay along the
bottom which has already been mentioned. As the Hurons had made no further
efforts to conceal their footsteps, the progress of the pursuers was no longer
delayed by uncertainty. Before an hour had elapsed, however, the speed of
Hawkeye sensibly abated, and his head, instead of maintaining its former direct
and forward look, began to turn suspiciously from side to side, as if he were
conscious of approaching danger. He soon stopped again, and waited for the
whole party to come up.
"I scent the Hurons," he said, speaking to the Mohicans; "yonder is open sky,
through the treetops, and we are getting too nigh their encampment. Sagamore,
you will take the hillside, to the right; Uncas will bend along the brook to the
left, while I will try the trail. If anything should happen, the call will be three
croaks of a crow. I saw one of the birds fanning himself in the air, just beyond
the dead oak -- another sign that we are approaching an encampment."
The Indians departed their several ways without reply, while Hawkeye
cautiously proceeded with the two gentlemen. Heyward soon pressed to the side
of their guide, eager to catch an early glimpse of those enemies he had pursued
with so much toil and anxiety. His companion told him to steal to the edge of the
Thesaurus
conceal: (v) hide, disguise, bury, done. pursued: (n) hunted person.
screen, cloak, smother, shield, exert: (v) wield, employ, act, use, sagamore: (n) chief, boss, cockarouse,
suppress, mask, obscure; (n, v) veil. apply, strain, operate, have recourse werowance, chieftain, sheik, head,
ANTONYMS: (v) reveal, show, to, profit by; (n) excite, energize. captain, commander, general, leader.
expose, divulge, clarify, uncover, fanning: (n) ventilation. suspiciously: (adj, adv) doubtfully,
disclose, tell, admit, spotlight, flaunt. footsore: (adj) tired, fatigued; (v) skeptically, hesitantly, unbelievingly;
crow: (n, v) brag, cry, snigger; (v) toilworn. (adv) mistrustfully, warily,
exult, triumph, cackle, chuckle, talk hillside: (n) acclivity, slope, bank, uncertainly, shadily, dubiously,
big; (n) gasconade, crowing; (adj) declivity, hill, gradient, hill-side, watchfully, questioningly.
raven. mountain waist, the area half way up ANTONYMS: (adv) carelessly,
elapsed: (adj) gone, forgotten, lapsed, a mountain, mountainside, side. gullibly, thoughtlessly, certainly,
back, beyond, onwards, over and muscles: (n) sinew, strength. confidently.
wood, which, as usual, was fringed with a thicket, and wait his coming, for he
wished to examine certain suspicious signs a little on one side. Duncan obeyed,
and soon found himself in a situation to command a view which he found as
extraordinary as it was novel.%
The trees of many acres had been felled, and the glow of a mild summer's
evening had fallen on the clearing, in beautiful contrast to the gray light of the
forest. A short distance from the place where Duncan stood, the stream had
seemingly expanded into a little lake, covering most of the low land, from
mountain to mountain. The water fell out of this wide basin, in a cataract so
regular and gentle, that it appeared rather to be the work of human hands than
fashioned by nature. A hundred earthen dwellings stood on the margin of the
lake, and even in its waters, as though the latter had overflowed its usual banks.
Their rounded roofs, admirably molded for defense against the weather,
denoted more of industry and foresight than the natives were wont to bestow on
their regular habitations, much less on those they occupied for the temporary
purposes of hunting and war. In short, the whole village or town, whichever it
might be termed, possessed more of method and neatness of execution, than the
white men had been accustomed to believe belonged, ordinarily, to the Indian
habits. It appeared, however, to be deserted. At least, so thought Duncan for
many minutes; but, at length, he fancied he discovered several human forms
advancing toward him on all fours, and apparently dragging in the train some
heavy, and as he was quick to apprehend, some formidable engine. Just then a
few dark-looking heads gleamed out of the dwellings, and the place seemed
suddenly alive with beings, which, however, glided from cover to cover so
swiftly, as to allow no opportunity of examining their humors or pursuits.
Alarmed at these suspicious and inexplicable movements, he was about to
attempt the signal of the crows, when the rustling of leaves at hand drew his eyes
in another direction.
The young man started, and recoiled a few paces instinctively, when he
found himself within a hundred yards of a stranger Indian. Recovering his
recollection on the instant, instead of sounding an alarm, which might prove
Thesaurus
admirably: (adv) superbly, perfectly, foresight: (n) prevision, forecast, understandable, explicable,
excellently, admirable, marvellously, caution, prospicience, calculation, mundane, apparent, explainable,
heroically, bravely, brilliantly, nicely, prescience, prediction, precaution, straightforward, natural, legible.
creditably, ably. ANTONYMS: (adv) vision, foresightedness; (n, v) neatness: (n) trimness, dexterity,
badly, inadequately, dishonorably, expectation. ANTONYM: (n) orderliness, tidiness, spruceness,
execrably, incompetently, poorly. hindsight. cleanliness, precision, compactness,
fancied: (adj) unreal, chimerical, inexplicable: (adj) incomprehensible, purity, cleanness, elegance.
fictional, fanciful, fictitious, mysterious, unaccountable, ANTONYMS: (n) untidiness,
fabricated, preferred, assumed, inscrutable, unfathomable, enigmatic, largeness, clumsiness, disorder,
illusory, imagined, ideal. baffling, indecipherable, inelegance, clutter, chaos, messiness.
fashioned: (adj) formed, featured, unexplained, incognizable, pursuits: (n) diversion, duties.
fictitious, intentional, bent, wrought. preternatural. ANTONYMS: (adj)
fatal to himself, he remained stationary, an attentive observer of the other's

motions.%
An instant of calm observation served to assure Duncan that he was
undiscovered. The native, like himself, seemed occupied in considering the low
dwellings of the village, and the stolen movements of its inhabitants. It was
impossible to discover the expression of his features through the grotesque mask
of paint under which they were concealed, though Duncan fancied it was rather
melancholy than savage. His head was shaved, as usual, with the exception of
the crown, from whose tuft three or four faded feathers from a hawk's wing were
loosely dangling. A ragged calico mantle half encircled his body, while his nether
garment was composed of an ordinary shirt, the sleeves of which were made to
perform the office that is usually executed by a much more commodious
arrangement. His legs were, however, covered with a pair of good deer-skin
moccasins. Altogether, the appearance of the individual was forlorn and
miserable.
Duncan was still curiously observing the person of his neighbor when the
scout stole silently and cautiously to his side.
"You see we have reached their settlement or encampment," whispered the
young man; "and here is one of the savages himself, in a very embarrassing
position for our further movements."
Hawkeye started, and dropped his rifle, when, directed by the finger of his
companion, the stranger came under his view. Then lowering the dangerous
muzzle he stretched forward his long neck, as if to assist a scrutiny that was
already intensely keen.
"The imp is not a Huron," he said, "nor of any of the Canada tribes; and yet
you see, by his clothes, the knave has been plundering a white. Ay, Montcalm
has raked the woods for his inroad, and a whooping, murdering set of varlets
has he gathered together. Can you see where he has put his rifle or his bow?"
"He appears to have no arms; nor does he seem to be viciously inclined.
Unless he communicate the alarm to his fellows, who, as you see, are dodging
about the water, we have but little to fear from him."
Thesaurus
commodious: (adj) capacious, wide, cheerless, wretched, abject. (n) foreigner.
roomy, spacious, comfortable, ANTONYMS: (adj) happy, hopeful, undiscovered: (v) solved,
voluminous, extensive, useful, large; fine. undeveloped, unexplained, untraced;
(adj, v) convenient, easy. inroad: (n) foray, attack, incursion, (adj) unnoticed, remote, unexplored,
ANTONYMS: (adj) small, invasion, aggression, penetration, unheard-of, silly, unacquainted with,
uncomfortable, tight, incommodious, offence, influx, intrusion; (n, v) raid; foolish.
confined, squeezed. (v) invade. viciously: (adv) wickedly, wildly,
executed: (adj) finished, fulfilled, neighbor: (v) abut, adjoin, populate, savagely, maliciously, evilly,
complete. touch; (n) acquaintance, wrongly, nastily, cruelly, fiercely,
forlorn: (adj) hopeless, desolate, neighborhood, national; (adj) spitefully, badly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
despairing, unhappy, miserable, neighborly, neighbouring, gently, harmoniously, peacefully,
deserted, disconsolate, downcast, neighboring, adjacent. ANTONYM: genially, tamely.
The scout turned to Heyward, and regarded him a moment with unconcealed
amazement. Then opening wide his mouth, he indulged in unrestrained and
heartfelt laughter, though in that silent and peculiar manner which danger had
so long taught him to practise.%
Repeating the words, "Fellows who are dodging about the water!" he added,
"so much for schooling and passing a boyhood in the settlements! The knave has
long legs, though, and shall not be trusted. Do you keep him under your rifle
while I creep in behind, through the bush, and take him alive. Fire on no
account."
Heyward had already permitted his companion to bury part of his person in
the thicket, when, stretching forth his arm, he arrested him, in order to ask:
"If I see you in danger, may I not risk a shot?"
Hawkeye regarded him a moment, like one who knew not how to take the
question; then, nodding his head, he answered, still laughing, though inaudibly:
"Fire a whole platoon, major."
In the next moment he was concealed by the leaves. Duncan waited several
minutes in feverish impatience, before he caught another glimpse of the scout.
Then he reappeared, creeping along the earth, from which his dress was hardly
distinguishable, directly in the rear of his intended captive. Having reached
within a few yards of the latter, he arose to his feet, silently and slowly. At that
instant, several loud blows were struck on the water, and Duncan turned his
eyes just in time to perceive that a hundred dark forms were plunging, in a body,
into the troubled little sheet. Grasping his rifle his looks were again bent on the
Indian near him. Instead of taking the alarm, the unconscious savage stretched
forward his neck, as if he also watched the movements about the gloomy lake,
with a sort of silly curiosity. In the meantime, the uplifted hand of Hawkeye was
above him. But, without any apparent reason, it was withdrawn, and its owner
indulged in another long, though still silent, fit of merriment. When the peculiar
and hearty laughter of Hawkeye was ended, instead of grasping his victim by
the throat, he tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and exclaimed aloud:
Thesaurus
boyhood: (n) babyhood, adolescence, frenzied, fevered, excited, sick, regiment, corps, column, team,
youth, youthhood, infancy, girlhood, fanatical; (adj, v) hot, flushed; (adj, n) squad, section, sotnia, patrol.
age, boyism, puberty. ANTONYM: hysterical. ANTONYMS: (adj) calm, regarded: (adj) reputed.
(n) adulthood. afebrile, collected, composed, unrestrained: (adj, n, v) loose; (adj)
captive: (n) convict, prisoner of war, mellow. unconstrained, wild, uncontrolled,
slave, detainee, jailbird, gaolbird; hearty: (adj) heartfelt, healthy, genial, immoderate, extravagant,
(adj) confined, imprisoned, rapt, sturdy, cheering, fervent, unconfined, mad, uninhibited; (adj, v)
jailed, amoroso. ANTONYMS: (adj) wholehearted, lusty, enthusiastic, dissolute, wanton. ANTONYMS:
free, uninterested, unconfined, convivial; (adj, n) well. ANTONYMS: (adj) restrained, restricted, contained,
liberated, emancipated, disillusioned; (adj) unhealthy, frail, old, weak, limited, partial, biddable, frugal,
(n) guard, captor. sluggish, unwholesome, meager. hidden, inhibited, manageable,
feverish: (adj) febrile, feverous, fiery, platoon: (n) army, group, outfit, reserved.
"How now, friend! have you a mind to teach the beavers to sing?"%
"Even so," was the ready answer. "It would seem that the Being that gave
them power to improve His gifts so well, would not deny them voices to
proclaim His praise."
Thesaurus
beavers: (n) Sciuromorpha, suborder contributions, charity, caliber, aid, herald, decree, divulge, notify,
Sciuromorpha, Rodentia, Castoridae, munificence, bounty. ANTONYM: annunciate.
agoutis, order Rodentia, family (n) meanness. ready: (v) prepare, fix; (adj, v) fit,
Castoridae. improve: (v) advance, heal, help, disposed, willing; (adj) quick,
deny: (v) controvert, rebuff, contradict, emend, amend, ameliorate, correct, prompt, nimble, apt; (adj, n)
disavow, gainsay, reject, oppose, reform, gain, educate, restore. available, dexterous. ANTONYMS:
refuse, disown, abnegate, renounce. ANTONYMS: (v) deteriorate, regress, (adj) unwilling, reluctant,
ANTONYMS: (v) affirm, claim, spoil, lower, impair, downgrade, unavailable, unready, unripe,
acknowledge, declare, maintain, brutalize, ruin, diminish, exacerbate, difficult, unenthusiastic, young.
agree, spoil, accept, accede, allow, hinder. teach: (v) enlighten, educate, instruct,
argue. proclaim: (v) declare, assert, advertise, coach, indoctrinate, drill, learn,
gifts: (n) money, generosity, broadcast, promulgate, enunciate, lecture, school; (adj, v) guide, show.
CHAPTER 22
"Bottom: Abibl we all met?

Quince: Pat--pat; and here's a marvelous
Convenient place for our rehearsal."
The reader may better imagine, than we describe the surprise of Heyward.
His lurking Indians were suddenly converted into four-footed beasts; his lake
into a beaver pond; his cataract into a dam, constructed by those industrious and
ingenious quadrupeds; and a suspected enemy into his tried friend, David
Gamut, the master of psalmody. The presence of the latter created so many
unexpected hopes relative to the sisters that, without a moment's hesitation, the
young man broke out of his ambush, and sprang forward to join the two
principal actors in the scene.%
The merriment of Hawkeye was not easily appeased. Without ceremony, and
with a rough hand, he twirled the supple Gamut around on his heel, and more
than once affirmed that the Hurons had done themselves great credit in the
fashion of his costume. Then, seizing the hand of the other, he squeezed it with a
grip that brought tears into the eyes of the placid David, and wished him joy of
his new condition.
Thesaurus
constructed: (adj) made, formed, ANTONYMS: (adj) indolent, idle, pome, quince bush, Cydonia.
synthetic. destructive, weary, careless. seizing: (v) seize; (n) seizure, clutches,
costume: (n) clothing, clothes, apparel, marvelous: (adj) wonderful, fantastic, prehension, taking, apprehension,
garb, suit, outfit, uniform, garments, incredible, fabulous, extraordinary, capture, infection; (adj) catching,
drapery; (n, v) dress; (v) clothe. tremendous, grand, astonishing, galling, controlling.
heel: (n) blackguard, dog, counter, terrific, great; (adj, v) prodigious. squeezed: (adj) cramped.
cad, villain, scoundrel, shoe, sole, ANTONYMS: (adj) ordinary, supple: (adj, v) flexible, pliable, limber,
bounder, tree rest; (v) lean. mundane, abysmal, bad, dreadful, pliant; (adj) lithe, soft, plastic,
industrious: (adj) diligent, assiduous, unworthy, dire, humdrum, graceful, lithesome, lissom, lissome.
indefatigable, busy, energetic, unimpressive, unremarkable, boring. ANTONYMS: (adj) rigid, inflexible,
hardworking, laborious, tireless, quince: (n) Cydonia oblonga, false stocky, clumsy, hard, rough, slow,
earnest, keen, enterprising. fruit, genus Cydonia, melocotoon, tight, unyielding.
"You were about opening your throat-practisings among the beavers, were
ye?" he said. "The cunning devils know half the trade already, for they beat the
time with their tails, as you heard just now; and in good time it was, too, or
'killdeer' might have sounded the first note among them. I have known greater
fools, who could read and write, than an experienced old beaver; but as for
squalling, the animals are born dumb! What think you of such a song as this?"
David shut his sensitive ears, and even Heyward apprised as he was of the
nature of the cry, looked upward in quest of the bird, as the cawing of a crow
rang in the air about them.%
"See!" continued the laughing scout, as he pointed toward the remainder of
the party, who, in obedience to the signal, were already approaching; "this is
music which has its natural virtues; it brings two good rifles to my elbow, to say
nothing of the knives and tomahawks. But we see that you are safe; now tell us
what has become of the maidens."
"They are captives to the heathen," said David; "and, though greatly troubled
in spirit, enjoying comfort and safety in the body."
"Both!" demanded the breathless Heyward.
"Even so. Though our wayfaring has been sore and our sustenance scanty, we
have had little other cause for complaint, except the violence done our feelings,
by being thus led in captivity into a far land."
"Bless ye for these very words!" exclaimed the trembling Munro; "I shall then
receive my babes, spotless and angel-like, as I lost them!"
"I know not that their delivery is at hand," returned the doubting David; "the
leader of these savages is possessed of an evil spirit that no power short of
Omnipotence can tame. I have tried him sleeping and waking, but neither
sounds nor language seem to touch his soul."
"Where is the knave?" bluntly interrupted the scout.
"He hunts the moose to-day, with his young men; and tomorrow, as I hear,
they pass further into the forests, and nigher to the borders of Canada. The elder
maiden is conveyed to a neighboring people, whose lodges are situate beyond
Thesaurus
apprised: (adj) conscious, informed, ANTONYMS: (n) release, ANTONYMS: (n) disobedience,
familiar, knowledgeable. emancipation, liberty. defiance, naughtiness, resistance,
bluntly: (adv) frankly, directly, rudely, conveyed: (v) borne, sent. divergence, chaos, wildness.
bluffly, coarsely, forthrightly, doubting: (adj) doubtful, distrustful, tails: (n) dress suit, tail coat, full dress,
candidly, curtly, brusquely, gruffly, disbelieving, incredulous, doubt, tail, waste, evening dress, dress coat,
openly. ANTONYMS: (adv) skeptical, suspicious, sceptical, wary, coat, morning coat, cutaway,
deceitfully, hesitantly, indirectly, doubts, distrusting. ANTONYM: formalwear.
guardedly, politely. (adj) credulous. virtues: (n) brawn, sinew, qualities,
captivity: (n) incarceration, obedience: (n) meekness, submission, nerve, manner, habit, disposition,
imprisonment, internment, slavery, deference, obeisance, acquiescence, custom.
thralldom, thrall, thraldom, limbo, subordination, bow, observance, waking: (adj) wakeful; (n) awakening,
restraint, fetters, enslavement. docility, loyalty, allegiance. wakefulness, consciousness.
yonder black pinnacle of rock; while the younger is detained among the women
of the Hurons, whose dwellings are but two short miles hence, on a table-land,
where the fire had done the office of the axe, and prepared the place for their
reception."%
"Alice, my gentle Alice!" murmured Heyward; "she has lost the consolation of
her sister's presence!"
"Even so. But so far as praise and thanksgiving in psalmody can temper the
spirit in affliction, she has not suffered."
"Has she then a heart for music?"
"Of the graver and more solemn character; though it must be acknowledged
that, in spite of all my endeavors, the maiden weeps oftener than she smiles. At
such moments I forbear to press the holy songs; but there are many sweet and
comfortable periods of satisfactory communication, when the ears of the savages
are astounded with the upliftings of our voices."
"And why are you permitted to go at large, unwatched?"
David composed his features into what he intended should express an air of
modest humility, before he meekly replied:
"Little be the praise to such a worm as I. But, though the power of psalmody
was suspended in the terrible business of that field of blood through which we
have passed, it has recovered its influence even over the souls of the heathen,
and I am suffered to go and come at will."
The scout laughed, and, tapping his own forehead significantly, he perhaps
explained the singular indulgence more satisfactorily when he said:
"The Indians never harm a non-composser. But why, when the path lay open
before your eyes, did you not strike back on your own trail (it is not so blind as
that which a squirrel would make), and bring in the tidings to Edward?"
The scout, remembering only his own sturdy and iron nature, had probably
exacted a task that David, under no circumstances, could have performed. But,
without entirely losing the meekness of his air, the latter was content to answer:
Thesaurus
astounded: (adj) amazed, stunned, meekly: (adv) humbly, submissively, rugged, firm, mighty, robust, healthy,
flabbergasted, bewildered, tamely, compliantly, obediently, muscular; (adj, n) burly, brawny.
dumbfounded, surprised, staggered, docilely, peacefully, lowly, modestly, ANTONYMS: (adj) flimsy, puny,
astonied, dazed, astound, aghast. placidly, kindly. ANTONYMS: (adv) fragile, rickety, slight, ramshackle,
endeavors: (n) activities, deeds, haughtily, harshly, wildly, infirm, frail, feeble, delicate, soft.
events, Comings and Goings, arrogantly, assertively, brashly. tapping: (n) draining of the furnace,
undertakings, accomplishments, pinnacle: (n) apex, top, height, crest, paracentesis, to tap, tick, tapotement,
happenings. zenith, crown, summit, acme, sound, patter, drainage, clapping,
forbear: (v) refrain, desist, help, heyday, climax, culmination. casting, restriking.
tolerate, abide, eschew, endure, ANTONYMS: (n) nadir, base, bottom, worm: (v) squirm, wriggle, twist,
relinquish; (n) predecessor, trough. spiral, helix, writhe; (n) helminth,
progenitor, forebear. sturdy: (adj) strong, stout, solid, maggot; (adj) emmet, midge, fly.
"Though my soul would rejoice to visit the habitations of Christendom once

more, my feet would rather follow the tender spirits intrusted to my keeping,
even into the idolatrous province of the Jesuits, than take one step backward,
while they pined in captivity and sorrow."
Though the figurative language of David was not very intelligible, the
sincere and steady expression of his eye, and the glow of his honest countenance,
were not easily mistaken. Uncas pressed closer to his side, and regarded the
speaker with a look of commendation, while his father expressed his satisfaction
by the ordinary pithy exclamation of approbation. The scout shook his head as
he rejoined:
"The Lord never intended that the man should place all his endeavors in his
throat, to the neglect of other and better gifts! But he has fallen into the hands of
some silly woman, when he should have been gathering his education under a
blue sky, among the beauties of the forest. Here, friend; I did intend to kindle a
fire with this tooting-whistle of thine; but, as you value the thing, take it, and
blow your best on it."
Gamut received his pitch-pipe with as strong an expression of pleasure as he
believed compatible with the grave functions he exercised. After essaying its
virtues repeatedly, in contrast with his own voice, and, satisfying himself that
none of its melody was lost, he made a very serious demonstration toward
achieving a few stanzas of one of the longest effusions in the little volume so
often mentioned.%
Heyward, however, hastily interrupted his pious purpose by continuing
questions concerning the past and present condition of his fellow captives, and in
a manner more methodical than had been permitted by his feelings in the
opening of their interview. David, though he regarded his treasure with longing
eyes, was constrained to answer, especially as the venerable father took a part in
the interrogatories, with an interest too imposing to be denied. Nor did the scout
fail to throw in a pertinent inquiry, whenever a fitting occasion presented. In this
manner, though with frequent interruptions which were filled with certain
threatening sounds from the recovered instrument, the pursuers were put in
Thesaurus
figurative: (adj) metaphorical, figural, apathy, disinclination; (adj) satisfied, rejoice: (v) cheer, gladden, triumph,
emblematic, representative, florid, unconcerned. revel, jubilate, gratify, gloat, please;
flowery, symbolic, allusive, graphic, pertinent: (adj) apropos, appropriate, (n, v) delight, glory, joy.
not literal; (n) tropical. ANTONYMS: relevant, applicable, fitting, suitable, ANTONYMS: (v) lament, mourn,
(adj) factual, nonfigurative. related, adequate, opportune, pat; complain.
idolatrous: (adj) loving, profane, (adj, n) apposite. ANTONYMS: (adj) venerable: (adj) ancient, reverend,
heathen, heretical, idolatrical, idolish, inappropriate, unrelated, immaterial. estimable, August, respectable, aged,
idolous, pagan. pithy: (adj, v) brief, compact; (adj) distinguished, sacred, worthy, of
longing: (n, v) desire, aspiration; (adj) laconic, curt, succinct, short, forceful, long standing, revered. ANTONYMS:
eager, wistful, nostalgic; (n) nostalgia, sententious, meaty; (v) dense, close. (adj) unworthy, unimpressive,
wish, hankering, urge, appetite; (adj, ANTONYMS: (adj) bland, lengthy, undignified, disreputable.
n) yearning. ANTONYMS: (n) mild, verbose, convoluted.
possession of such leading circumstances as were likely to prove useful in

accomplishing their great and engrossing object -- the recovery of the sisters. The
narrative of David was simple, and the facts but few.%
Magua had waited on the mountain until a safe moment to retire presented
itself, when he had descended, and taken the route along the western side of the
Horican in direction of the Canadas. As the subtle Huron was familiar with the
paths, and well knew there was no immediate danger of pursuit, their progress
had been moderate, and far from fatiguing. It appeared from the unembellished
statement of David, that his own presence had been rather endured than desired;
though even Magua had not been entirely exempt from that veneration with
which the Indians regard those whom the Great Spirit had visited in their
intellects. At night, the utmost care had been taken of the captives, both to
prevent injury from the damps of the woods and to guard against an escape. At
the spring, the horses were turned loose, as has been seen; and, notwithstanding
the remoteness and length of their trail, the artifices already named were
resorted to, in order to cut off every clue to their place of retreat. On their arrival
at the encampment of his people, Magua, in obedience to a policy seldom
departed from, separated his prisoners. Cora had been sent to a tribe that
temporarily occupied an adjacent valley, though David was far too ignorant of
the customs and history of the natives, to be able to declare anything satisfactory
concerning their name or character. He only knew that they had not engaged in
the late expedition against William Henry; that, like the Hurons themselves they
were allies of Montcalm; and that they maintained an amicable, though a
watchful intercourse with the warlike and savage people whom chance had, for a
time, brought in such close and disagreeable contact with themselves.
The Mohicans and the scout listened to his interrupted and imperfect
narrative, with an interest that obviously increased as he proceeded; and it was
while attempting to explain the pursuits of the community in which Cora was
detained, that the latter abruptly demanded:
"Did you see the fashion of their knives? were they of English or French
formation?"
Thesaurus
accomplishing: (n) doing; (adj) prison, under arrest. farawayness, remotion, loneliness,
effectual. exempt: (v) absolve, discharge, longinquity, reserve, abstraction,
amicable: (adj) affable, kind, amiable, dispense, forgive, relieve, justify, separation, standoffishness; (adj, n)
cordial, gracious, genial, familiar, except; (adj, v) free; (adj) immune, at farness. ANTONYMS: (n) warmth,
peaceful, peaceable, congenial, liberty, released. ANTONYMS: (adj, accessibility, inclusion, friendliness,
amical. ANTONYMS: (adj) hostile, v) nonexempt; (adj) liable, taxable, closeness, approachability.
unfriendly, unpleasant, aggressive, bound; (v) enforce, blame, include. unembellished: (adj) plain,
nasty, standoffish, disagreeable, fatiguing: (adj) arduous, tiresome, unadorned, simple, austere, bare,
inaccessible. tedious, hard, laborious, wearisome, apparent, unvarnished, severe,
detained: (adj) seized, locked up, wearing, strenuous, exhausting, honest, manifest, undecorated.
jailed, intransitive, tardy, inside, trying, onerous. ANTONYMS: (adj) fancy, figurative,
caged, captive, behind bars; (n) in remoteness: (n) aloofness, detachment, fussy.
"My thoughts were bent on no such vanities, but rather mingled in

consolation with those of the maidens."
"The time may come when you will not consider the knife of a savage such a
despicable vanity," returned the scout, with a strong expression of contempt for
the other's dullness. "Had they held their corn feast -- or can you say anything of
the totems of the tribe?"
"Of corn, we had many and plentiful feasts; for the grain, being in the milk is
both sweet to the mouth and comfortable to the stomach. Of totem, I know not
the meaning; but if it appertaineth in any wise to the art of Indian music, it need
not be inquired after at their hands. They never join their voices in praise, and it
would seem that they are among the profanest of the idolatrous."
"Therein you belie the natur' of an Indian. Even the Mingo adores but the
true and loving God. 'Tis wicked fabrication of the whites, and I say it to the
shame of my color that would make the warrior bow down before images of his
own creation. It is true, they endeavor to make truces to the wicked one -- as who
would not with an enemy he cannot conquer! but they look up for favor and
assistance to the Great and Good Spirit only."
"It may be so," said David; "but I have seen strange and fantastic images
drawn in their paint, of which their admiration and care savored of spiritual
pride; especially one, and that, too, a foul and loathsome object."
"Was it a sarpent?" quickly demanded the scout.%
"Much the same. It was in the likeness of an abject and creeping tortoise."
"Hugh!" exclaimed both the attentive Mohicans in a breath; while the scout
shook his head with the air of one who had made an important but by no means
a pleasing discovery. Then the father spoke, in the language of the Delawares,
and with a calmness and dignity that instantly arrested the attention even of
those to whom his words were unintelligible. His gestures were impressive, and
at times energetic. Once he lifted his arm on high; and, as it descended, the action
threw aside the folds of his light mantle, a finger resting on his breast, as if he
would enforce his meaning by the attitude. Duncan's eyes followed the
Thesaurus
abject: (adj) contemptible, pitiful, low, creeping: (n) creep, crawl, locomotion, dullness: (n) apathy, bluntness,
wretched, despicable, sordid, base, spreading; (v) lentor; (adj) reptile, boredom, dreariness, flatness,
mean, vile; (n) ignominious, dirty. slow, reptant, reptatory, serpiginous, tedium, obtuseness, torpor,
ANTONYMS: (adj) honorable, moving. monotony, lethargy; (adj, n) phlegm.
hopeful, magnificent, esteemed, despicable: (adj) vile, base, ANTONYMS: (n) brightness,
proud, dignified, commendable, abominable, mean, abject, miserable, intensity, brilliance, excitement,
noble, exalted, worthy, happy. dishonorable, filthy, dirty, hateful, intelligence, shine, asperity,
belie: (v) falsify, contradict, negate, ignoble. ANTONYMS: (adj) animation, gloss, clarity, variation.
misrepresent, betray, calumniate, honorable, creditable, praiseworthy, therein: (adv) in this, in there.
defame, dissemble, color, distort, worthy, noble, loveable, likable, totem: (n) clan, God, kin, kin group,
garble. ANTONYMS: (v) indicate, laudable, endearing, commendable, kindred, kinship group, column,
verify, prove, affirm, attest, reveal. lovable. emblem.
movement, and he perceived that the animal just mentioned was beautifully,
though faintly, worked in blue tint, on the swarthy breast of the chief. All that he
had ever heard of the violent separation of the vast tribes of the Delawares
rushed across his mind, and he awaited the proper moment to speak, with a
suspense that was rendered nearly intolerable by his interest in the stake. His
wish, however, was anticipated by the scout who turned from his red friend,
saying:
"We have found that which may be good or evil to us, as heaven disposes.
The Sagamore is of the high blood of the Delawares, and is the great chief of their
Tortoises! That some of this stock are among the people of whom the singer tells
us, is plain by his words; and, had he but spent half the breath in prudent
questions that he has blown away in making a trumpet of his throat, we might
have known how many warriors they numbered. It is, altogether, a dangerous
path we move in; for a friend whose face is turned from you often bears a
bloodier mind than the enemy who seeks your scalp."
"Explain," said Duncan.%
"'Tis a long and melancholy tradition, and one I little like to think of; for it is
not to be denied that the evil has been mainly done by men with white skins. But
it has ended in turning the tomahawk of brother against brother, and brought the
Mingo and the Delaware to travel in the same path."
"You, then, suspect it is a portion of that people among whom Cora resides?"
The scout nodded his head in assent, though he seemed anxious to waive the
further discussion of a subject that appeared painful. The impatient Duncan now
made several hasty and desperate propositions to attempt the release of the
sisters. Munro seemed to shake off his apathy, and listened to the wild schemes
of the young man with a deference that his gray hairs and reverend years should
have denied. But the scout, after suffering the ardor of the lover to expend itself a
little, found means to convince him of the folly of precipitation, in a manner that
would require their coolest judgment and utmost fortitude.
"It would be well," he added, "to let this man go in again, as usual, and for
him to tarry in the lodges, giving notice to the gentle ones of our approach, until
Thesaurus
assent: (n) acceptance, acquiescence, undesirable, hard, excruciating, tint: (n, v) color, tinge, hue, stain, dye,
approval, agreement, compliance, difficult. ANTONYMS: (adj) bearable, tinct; (n) shade, tincture, tone, cast;
admission, approbation; (v) accede, tolerable, acceptable, reasonable, (v) paint. ANTONYMS: (n) white,
accord, agree; (adj, v) acquiesce. nice, understandable, lovable, pallor; (v) whiten, pale.
ANTONYMS: (v) resist, disagree, excusable, inoffensive, manageable. trumpet: (n) horn, cornet, bugle,
disapprove, reject, refuse; (n) prudent: (adj, v) discreet; (adj) clarion, trump, brass, trombone; (v)
disagreement, refusal, resistance. cautious, circumspect, reasonable, proclaim, promulgate, show off,
bears: (n) fissiped, badgers, Carnivora, chary, economical, careful, frugal, blare.
order Carnivora. deliberate, advisable, canny. waive: (v) forgo, relinquish, dispense
intolerable: (adj) unbearable, ANTONYMS: (adj) imprudent, with, resign, surrender, forfeit, give
insupportable, painful, obnoxious, reckless, spendthrift, stupid, careless, up, abandon, spare, abdicate, release.
detestable, inexcusable, deplorable, unwise, unsafe, tactless. ANTONYM: (v) enforce.
we call him out, by signal, to consult. You know the cry of a crow, friend, from
the whistle of the whip-poor-will?"%
"'Tis a pleasing bird," returned David, "and has a soft and melancholy note!
though the time is rather quick and ill-measured."
"He speaks of the wish-ton-wish," said the scout; "well, since you like his
whistle, it shall be your signal. Remember, then, when you hear the whip-poor-
will's call three times repeated, you are to come into the bushes where the bird
might be supposed --"
"Stop," interrupted Heyward; "I will accompany him."
"You!" exclaimed the astonished Hawkeye; "are you tired of seeing the sun
rise and set?"
"David is a living proof that the Hurons can be merciful."
"Ay, but David can use his throat, as no man in his senses would pervart the
gift."
"I too can play the madman, the fool, the hero; in short, any or everything to
rescue her I love. Name your objections no longer: I am resolved."
Hawkeye regarded the young man a moment in speechless amazement. But
Duncan, who, in deference to the other's skill and services, had hitherto
submitted somewhat implicitly to his dictation, now assumed the superior, with
a manner that was not easily resisted. He waved his hand, in sign of his dislike to
all remonstrance, and then, in more tempered language, he continued:
"You have the means of disguise; change me; paint me, too, if you will; in
short, alter me to anything -- a fool."
"It is not for one like me to say that he who is already formed by so powerful
a hand as Providence, stands in need of a change," muttered the discontented
scout. "When you send your parties abroad in war, you find it prudent, at least,
to arrange the marks and places of encampment, in order that they who fight on
your side may know when and where to expect a friend."
Thesaurus
astonished: (adj) astonish, dissatisfied, displeased, miserable, sufferer, raver, nutcase.
dumbfounded, flabbergasted, put out, ungratified. ANTONYMS: pleasing: (adj, n) acceptable; (adj)
stunned, aghast, bewildered, (adj) pleased, satisfied, happy, amiable, lovable, amusing, attractive,
astounded, taken aback, content. gratifying, lovely, pleasant,
thunderstruck, astonied; (v) amaze. implicitly: (adv) unquestioningly, charming, delightful, inviting.
dictation: (n) command, bidding, bid, absolutely, tacitly, virtually, ANTONYMS: (adj) unpleasant,
dictate, control, behest, charge, indirectly, silently, unspokenly, unwelcome, infuriating,
commission, order, direction, inherently, obliquely, completely, disappointing, straight, hurtful,
commandment. unexpressedly. ANTONYMS: (adv) maddening, displeasing, discordant,
discontented: (adj, v) querulous, openly, explicitly. harsh, frustrating.
complaining; (adj) disaffected, madman: (n) bedlamite, maniac, crazy, waved: (adj) undulating, wavy, curly,
disgruntled, malcontent, unsatisfied, loony, nut, madcap, looney, loco, not dated, undated.
"Listen," interrupted Duncan; "you have heard from this faithful follower of
the captives, that the Indians are of two tribes, if not of different nations. With
one, whom you think to be a branch of the Delawares, is she you call the 'dark-
hair'; the other, and younger, of the ladies, is undeniably with our declared
enemies, the Hurons. It becomes my youth and rank to attempt the latter
adventure. While you, therefore, are negotiating with your friends for the release
of one of the sisters, I will effect that of the other, or die."
The awakened spirit of the young soldier gleamed in his eyes, and his form
became imposing under its influence. Hawkeye, though too much accustomed to
Indian artifices not to foresee the danger of the experiment, knew not well how
to combat this sudden resolution.%
Perhaps there was something in the proposal that suited his own hardy
nature, and that secret love of desperate adventure, which had increased with his
experience, until hazard and danger had become, in some measure, necessary to
the enjoyment of his existence. Instead of continuing to oppose the scheme of
Duncan, his humor suddenly altered, and he lent himself to its execution.
"Come," he said, with a good-humored smile; "the buck that will take to the
water must be headed, and not followed. Chingachgook has as many different
paints as the engineer officer's wife, who takes down natur' on scraps of paper,
making the mountains look like cocks of rusty hay, and placing the blue sky in
reach of your hand. The Sagamore can use them, too. Seat yourself on the log;
and my life on it, he can soon make a natural fool of you, and that well to your
liking."
Duncan complied; and the Mohican, who had been an attentive listener to the
discourse, readily undertook the office. Long practised in all the subtle arts of his
race, he drew, with great dexterity and quickness, the fantastic shadow that the
natives were accustomed to consider as the evidence of a friendly and jocular
disposition. Every line that could possibly be interpreted into a secret inclination
for war, was carefully avoided; while, on the other hand, he studied those
conceits that might be construed into amity.
Thesaurus
amity: (n) friendship, concord, leader. ANTONYMS: (adj) solemn, gloomy.
companionship, benevolence, peace, foresee: (v) expect, forecast, anticipate, paints: (n) colors.
harmony, friendliness, brotherhood, envisage, previse, foreknow, scraps: (n) garbage, odds and ends,
fellowship, sympathy, camaraderie. prophesy, provide, foresaw, predict, scrap, bits, food waste, leftover, trash,
ANTONYMS: (n) hostility, discord, see. waste, oddments, leftovers, residue.
antagonism, war, animosity. good-humored: (adj) affable, cheerful, undeniably: (adv) certainly, clearly,
becomes: (v) become. good-natured, pleasant, sweet, positively, unarguably, easily,
follower: (n) backer, devotee, fan, funny, amicable, congenial, mild, incontrovertibly, without doubt,
admirer, adherent, cohort, apostle, obliging. without a doubt, unquestionably,
partisan, believer, attendant; (adj) jocular: (adj) jocose, amusing, comical, unmistakably, unavoidably.
lover. ANTONYMS: (n) detractor, facetious, funny, cheerful, jesting, ANTONYMS: (adv) arguably,
rebel, superior, disbeliever, cynic, hilarious, droll, frolicsome, bright. possibly, unclearly.
In short, he entirely sacrificed every appearance of the warrior to the

masquerade of a buffoon. Such exhibitions were not uncommon among the
Indians, and as Duncan was already sufficiently disguised in his dress, there
certainly did exist some reason for believing that, with his knowledge of French,
he might pass for a juggler from Ticonderoga, straggling among the allied and
friendly tribes.%
When he was thought to be sufficiently painted, the scout gave him much
friendly advice; concerted signals, and appointed the place where they should
meet, in the event of mutual success. The parting between Munro and his young
friend was more melancholy; still, the former submitted to the separation with an
indifference that his warm and honest nature would never have permitted in a
more healthful state of mind. The scout led Heyward aside, and acquainted him
with his intention to leave the veteran in some safe encampment, in charge of
Chingachgook, while he and Uncas pursued their inquires among the people
they had reason to believe were Delawares. Then, renewing his cautions and
advice, he concluded by saying, with a solemnity and warmth of feeling, with
which Duncan was deeply touched:
"And, now, God bless you! You have shown a spirit that I like; for it is the
gift of youth, more especially one of warm blood and a stout heart. But believe
the warning of a man who has reason to know all he says to be true. You will
have occasion for your best manhood, and for a sharper wit than what is to be
gathered in books, afore you outdo the cunning or get the better of the courage of
a Mingo. God bless you! if the Hurons master your scalp, rely on the promise of
one who has two stout warriors to back him. They shall pay for their victory,
with a life for every hair it holds. I say, young gentleman, may Providence bless
your undertaking, which is altogether for good; and, remember, that to outwit
the knaves it is lawful to practise things that may not be naturally the gift of a
white-skin."
Duncan shook his worthy and reluctant associate warmly by the hand, once
more recommended his aged friend to his care, and returning his good wishes,
he motioned to David to proceed. Hawkeye gazed after the high-spirited and
Thesaurus
buffoon: (n) fool, jester, clown, zany, salubrious, beneficial, hygienic, prestigiator, conveyer.
merry Andrew, mimic, pantaloon, sanitary, wholesome, salutary, masquerade: (n, v) disguise, pose,
joker, scaramouch, droll, buffo. remedial, good, nourishing. revel; (n) camouflage, masque, fancy
cautions: (adj) guardful. ANTONYMS: (adj) unhealthful, dress, pretense, fake, cover; (v)
concerted: (adj) joint, united, unsanitary, unhealthy. impersonate, pretend.
cooperative, unanimous, concurrent, high-spirited: (adj) valiant, valorous, outwit: (v) circumvent, outsmart,
accordant, joined, collective, spirited, manful, vivacious, outfox, deceive, overreach, trick,
undivided, accommodative, acting effervescent, exuberant, jaunty, airy, frustrate, outmanoeuvre, baffle,
together. ANTONYMS: (adj) ebullient, martial. bamboozle, cheat.
individual, uncoordinated, weak, juggler: (n) performer, magician, practise: (v) execute, practice, perform,
disorganized, disordered, solitary. cheat, conjurer, prestidigitator, exercise, drill, do, rehearse, learn,
healthful: (adj) healthy, hale, deceiver, trickster, jockey, take, work out, read.
adventurous young man for several moments, in open admiration; then, shaking
his head doubtingly, he turned, and led his own division of the party into the
concealment of the forest.%
The route taken by Duncan and David lay directly across the clearing of the
beavers, and along the margin of their pond.
When the former found himself alone with one so simple, and so little
qualified to render any assistance in desperate emergencies, he first began to be
sensible of the difficulties of the task he had undertaken. The fading light
increased the gloominess of the bleak and savage wilderness that stretched so far
on every side of him, and there was even a fearful character in the stillness of
those little huts, that he knew were so abundantly peopled. It struck him, as he
gazed at the admirable structures and the wonderful precautions of their
sagacious inmates, that even the brutes of these vast wilds were possessed of an
instinct nearly commensurate with his own reason; and he could not reflect,
without anxiety, on the unequal contest that he had so rashly courted. Then came
the glowing image of Alice; her distress; her actual danger; and all the peril of his
situation was forgotten. Cheering David, he moved on with the light and
vigorous step of youth and enterprise.
After making nearly a semicircle around the pond, they diverged from the
water-course, and began to ascend to the level of a slight elevation in that bottom
land, over which they journeyed. Within half an hour they gained the margin of
another opening that bore all the signs of having been also made by the beavers,
and which those sagacious animals had probably been induced, by some
accident, to abandon, for the more eligible position they now occupied. A very
natural sensation caused Duncan to hesitate a moment, unwilling to leave the
cover of their bushy path, as a man pauses to collect his energies before he essays
any hazardous experiment, in which he is secretly conscious they will all be
needed. He profited by the halt, to gather such information as might be obtained
from his short and hasty glances.
On the opposite side of the clearing, and near the point where the brook
tumbled over some rocks, from a still higher level, some fifty or sixty lodges,
Thesaurus
abundantly: (adv) copiously, richly, commensurate: (adj) equal, sufficient, cheer, happiness.
fully, generously, bounteously, commensurable, proportionate, peopled: (adj) multinominal, multiple,
plentifully, plenteously, freely, equivalent, comparable, coextensive, manifold, multiplied, multitudinous,
exuberantly, largely, bountifully. tangible, valid, level, competent. populous, inhabited, thick, studded,
ANTONYMS: (adv) fruitlessly, ANTONYMS: (adj) inappropriate, teeming, crowded. ANTONYM: (adj)
insufficiently, stingily, meagerly, inconsistent, incommensurate, uninhabited.
scantily. divergent, inadequate. peril: (n, v) hazard, risk, endanger,
bushy: (adj) dense, shagged, shaggy, gloominess: (n) desolation, sadness, menace, adventure; (n) danger,
hairy, bearded, brushy, gross, depression, dejection, darkness, jeopardy, chance; (v) imperil, expose,
bushies, pilous, pappous, hispid. melancholy, pessimism, bleakness, compromise. ANTONYM: (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) bald, neat, dreariness, sombreness, dimness. security.
unhealthy, tidy, thin, sparse, sleek. ANTONYMS: (n) cheerfulness, light, tumbled: (adj) disordered.
rudely fabricated of logs brush, and earth intermingled, were to be discovered.

They were arranged without any order, and seemed to be constructed with very
little attention to neatness or beauty. Indeed, so very inferior were they in the
two latter particulars to the village Duncan had just seen, that he began to expect
a second surprise, no less astonishing that the former. This expectation was is no
degree diminished, when, by the doubtful twilight, he beheld twenty or thirty
forms rising alternately from the cover of the tall, coarse grass, in front of the
lodges, and then sinking again from the sight, as it were to burrow in the earth.
By the sudden and hasty glimpses that he caught of these figures, they seemed
more like dark, glancing specters, or some other unearthly beings, than creatures
fashioned with the ordinary and vulgar materials of flesh and blood. A gaunt,
naked form was seen, for a single instant, tossing its arms wildly in the air, and
then the spot it had filled was vacant; the figure appearing suddenly in some
other and distant place, or being succeeded by another, possessing the same
mysterious character. David, observing that his companion lingered, pursued the
direction of his gaze, and in some measure recalled the recollection of Heyward,
by speaking.%
"There is much fruitful soil uncultivated here," he said; "and, I may add,
without the sinful leaven of self-commendation, that, since my short sojourn in
these heathenish abodes, much good seed has been scattered by the wayside."
"The tribes are fonder of the chase than of the arts of men of labor," returned
the unconscious Duncan, still gazing at the objects of his wonder.
"It is rather joy than labor to the spirit, to lift up the voice in praise; but sadly
do these boys abuse their gifts. Rarely have I found any of their age, on whom
nature has so freely bestowed the elements of psalmody; and surely, surely, there
are none who neglect them more. Three nights have I now tarried here, and three
several times have I assembled the urchins to join in sacred song; and as often
have they responded to my efforts with whoopings and howlings that have
chilled my soul!"
"Of whom speak you?"
Thesaurus
alternately: (adv) alternatively, by tramontane, barbarous, gentile, tossing: (n) cast; (adj) moving.
turns, in turn, secondarily, brutal, ethnic, ferocious. uncultivated: (adj) savage, ignorant,
reciprocally, mutually, off-and-on, leaven: (n) barm, yeast, leavening, uneducated, wild, fresh, uncivilized,
rather, anthemwise, secondly; (adj, element; (v) lift, raise, temper, rude, untutored, uncultured, artless,
adv) on and off. elevate; (adj) denaturalize, denature, lowbrow. ANTONYMS: (adj)
fabricated: (adj) fictitious, false, fake, distain. cultivated, familiar, refined.
ben trovato, unfounded, pretended, objects: (n) things, stuff, matter, unearthly: (adj) weird, ghostly,
feigned, forged, sham, improbable, material, substance. uncanny, ethereal, unworldly,
made-up. ANTONYMS: (adj) factual, sojourn: (adj, v) reside, inhabit; (n) preternatural, spectral, eerie,
truthful, honest, true. residence, abode; (adj, n, v) stay; (v) spiritual, strange, heavenly.
heathenish: (adj) pagan, gothic, remain, lodge, abide, live; (n, v) ANTONYMS: (adj) natural, physical,
paganish, savage, doggerel, delay, domicile. acceptable, normal, human.
"Of those children of the devil, who waste the precious moments in yonder
idle antics. Ah! the wholesome restraint of discipline is but little known among
this self-abandoned people. In a country of birches, a rod is never seen, and it
ought not to appear a marvel in my eyes, that the choicest blessings of
Providence are wasted in such cries as these."%
David closed his ears against the juvenile pack, whose yell just then rang
shrilly through the forest; and Duncan, suffering his lip to curl, as in mockery of
his own superstition, said firmly:
"We will proceed."
Without removing the safeguards form his ears, the master of song complied,
and together they pursued their way toward what David was sometimes wont to
call the "tents of the Philistines."
Thesaurus
antics: (n) sport, monkey business. mockery: (n) gibe, jeer, irony, farce, notion, lore, folklore, fanaticism,
choicest: (adj) optimum, best. charade, derision, parody, mock, fallacy, belief, magic. ANTONYMS:
curl: (n, v) crimp, loop, kink, roll, scorn, imitation, burlesque. (n) science, truth.
wave; (adj, v) bow; (adj, n) lock, tress; ANTONYM: (n) approval. wholesome: (adj) healthy, beneficial,
(v) crinkle, fold; (adj) crisp. rang: (n) rung. salubrious, healthful, salutary, sound,
ANTONYMS: (v) align, straighten, shrilly: (adv) sharply, acutely, good, nutritious, nourishing, pure,
uncurl, unwind. penetratingly, stridently, noisily, hale. ANTONYMS: (adj)
marvel: (n, v) wonder; (n) prodigy, harshly, raucously, keenly, loudly, unwholesome, unhealthy, impure,
curiosity, phenomenon, amazement, discordantly, shrewdly. ANTONYM: indecent, sordid, warped, tainted,
miracle, portent, marl, surprise, (adv) softly. decadent, deadly, unsavory.
admiration; (v) admire. ANTONYMS: superstition: (n) superstitious, taboo,
(v) disregard; (n) nightmare. religion, old wives' tale, superstitious
CHAPTER 23
"But though the beast of game

The privilege of chase may claim;
Though space and law the stag we lend
Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend;
Whoever recked, where, how, or when
The prowling fox was trapped or slain?"%
Lady of the Lake
It is unusual to find an encampment of the natives, like those of the more

instructed whites, guarded by the presence of armed men. Well informed of the
approach of every danger, while it is yet at a distance, the Indian generally rests
secure under his knowledge of the signs of the forest, and the long and difficult
paths that separate him from those he has most reason to dread. But the enemy
who, by any lucky concurrence of accidents, has found means to elude the
vigilance of the scouts, will seldom meet with sentinels nearer home to sound the
alarm. In addition to this general usage, the tribes friendly to the French knew
too well the weight of the blow that had just been struck, to apprehend any
immediate danger from the hostile nations that were tributary to the crown of
Britain.
Thesaurus
beast: (n) animal, monster, swine, ANTONYMS: (n) disagreement, tributary: (n) feeder, branch, affluent,
fiend, creature, scavenger, savage, conflict, refusal, rejection. arm, stream, brook, watercourse; (adj)
critter, animate being, barbarian; (adj) guarded: (adj) wary, careful, chary, secondary, subsidiary, contributory,
bear. ANTONYM: (n) man. circumspect, cagey, vigilant, subordinate. ANTONYMS: (adj)
chase: (v) pursue, trail, follow, track, watchful, conditional, discreet, original, primary, source.
stalk, expel, banish, go after; (n, v) gingerly, conservative. ANTONYMS: usage: (n, v) practice, use,
hunt, search; (n) game. ANTONYMS: (adj) frank, careless, trusting, reckless, employment, convention, usance;
(v) escape, lead, find, precede. open, unwary, natural. (adj, n, v) habit; (n) method,
concurrence: (n) coincidence, accord, instructed: (adj) taught, tutored, consuetude, wont, exercise; (v)
assent, concord, consent, agreement, enlightened, intelligent, arranged, application.
approval, compliance, concourse, instruct, experienced, qualified; (v)
conjunction, confluence. erudite, lettered, leaned.
When Duncan and David, therefore, found themselves in the center of the
children, who played the antics already mentioned, it was without the least
previous intimation of their approach. But so soon as they were observed the
whole of the juvenile pack raised, by common consent, a shrill and warning
whoop; and then sank, as it were, by magic, from before the sight of their
visitors. The naked, tawny bodies of the crouching urchins blended so nicely at
that hour, with the withered herbage, that at first it seemed as if the earth had, in
truth, swallowed up their forms; though when surprise permitted Duncan to
bend his look more curiously about the spot, he found it everywhere met by
dark, quick, and rolling eyeballs.%
Gathering no encouragement from this startling presage of the nature of the
scrutiny he was likely to undergo from the more mature judgments of the men,
there was an instant when the young soldier would have retreated. It was,
however, too late to appear to hesitate. The cry of the children had drawn a
dozen warriors to the door of the nearest lodge, where they stood clustered in a
dark and savage group, gravely awaiting the nearer approach of those who had
unexpectedly come among them.
David, in some measure familiarized to the scene, led the way with a
steadiness that no slight obstacle was likely to disconcert, into this very building.
It was the principal edifice of the village, though roughly constructed of the bark
and branches of trees; being the lodge in which the tribe held its councils and
public meetings during their temporary residence on the borders of the English
province. Duncan found it difficult to assume the necessary appearance of
unconcern, as he brushed the dark and powerful frames of the savages who
thronged its threshold; but, conscious that his existence depended on his
presence of mind, he trusted to the discretion of his companion, whose footsteps
he closely followed, endeavoring, as he proceeded, to rally his thoughts for the
occasion. His blood curdled when he found himself in absolute contact with such
fierce and implacable enemies; but he so far mastered his feelings as to pursue
his way into the center of the lodge, with an exterior that did not betray the
weakness. Imitating the example of the deliberate Gamut, he drew a bundle of
Thesaurus
bundle: (n, v) pack, cluster, clump, depressed, declining, downcast, black.
wad; (n) sheaf, pile, batch, stack, down in the mouth, cut down, thronged: (adj) throng, busy,
package, group, heap. ANTONYMS: beaten. populous, brisk, teeming, swarming,
(v) scatter, separate, disperse, divide. presage: (v) foretell, foreshadow, sprightly, sensitive, replete,
disconcert: (n, v) discompose, indicate, portend, augur, overflowing; (n) persistent.
disappoint; (v) confuse, discomfit, prognosticate, predict; (n, v) unconcern: (n) apathy, nonchalance,
baffle, derange, abash, throw, upset, forebode; (n) foreboding, portent, insouciance, coldness, detachment,
unsettle, distract. ANTONYMS: (v) sign. impassiveness, insensibility,
comfort, soothe, settle, please, retreated: (adj) withdrawn, people. disregard, phlegm, carelessness,
encourage. tawny: (n) tan, buff; (adj, n) brown, lethargy. ANTONYMS: (n)
mastered: (adj) down pat, low, auburn; (adj) luteous, golden, sallow, responsiveness, worry, anxiety,
downhearted, perfecter, dispirited, russet, chestnut, creamy, moderately interest.
fragrant brush from beneath a pile that filled the corner of the hut, and seated
himself in silence.%
So soon as their visitor had passed, the observant warriors fell back from the
entrance, and arranging themselves about him, they seemed patiently to await
the moment when it might comport with the dignity of the stranger to speak. By
far the greater number stood leaning, in lazy, lounging attitudes, against the
upright posts that supported the crazy building, while three or four of the oldest
and most distinguished of the chiefs placed themselves on the earth a little more
in advance.
A flaring torch was burning in the place, and set its red glare from face to
face and figure to figure, as it waved in the currents of air. Duncan profited by its
light to read the probable character of his reception, in the countenances of his
hosts. But his ingenuity availed him little, against the cold artifices of the people
he had encountered. The chiefs in front scarce cast a glance at his person, keeping
their eyes on the ground, with an air that might have been intended for respect,
but which it was quite easy to construe into distrust. The men in the shadow
were less reserved. Duncan soon detected their searching, but stolen, looks
which, in truth, scanned his person and attire inch by inch; leaving no emotion of
the countenance, no gesture, no line of the paint, nor even the fashion of a
garment, unheeded, and without comment.
At length one whose hair was beginning to be sprinkled with gray, but whose
sinewy limbs and firm tread announced that he was still equal to the duties of
manhood, advanced out of the gloom of a corner, whither he had probably
posted himself to make his observations unseen, and spoke. He used the
language of the Wyandots, or Hurons; his words were, consequently,
unintelligible to Heyward, though they seemed, by the gestures that
accompanied them, to be uttered more in courtesy than anger. The latter shook
his head, and made a gesture indicative of his inability to reply.
"Do none of my brothers speak the French or the English?" he said, in the
former language, looking about him from countenance to countenance, in hopes
of finding a nod of assent.
Thesaurus
arranging: (n) arrange, arrangements, (v) glaring; (n) flare; (adv) flaringly. patiently: (adv) perseveringly,
disposition, composing, composition, garment: (n, v) garb, apparel; (n) invalidly, quietly, uncomplainingly,
order, position, set, orchestration, habiliment, habit, gown, vest, things, persistently, forbearingly, resignedly,
organization, agreement. guise; (v) clothe, tog, raiment. steadily, doggedly, calmly, meekly.
await: (v) anticipate, abide, bide, tarry, hosts: (n) armies, Sabaoth. ANTONYM: (adv) eagerly.
wait, attend, look, hope, approach, indicative: (adj, n) declarative; (adj) posted: (adj) knowledgeable, learned.
loom, come on. ANTONYM: (v) significant, suggestive, meaningful, unseen: (adj, v) unknown; (adj)
doubt. demonstrative, significative, invisible, concealed, hidden,
detected: (adj) apparent, convicted, indicatory, reminiscent; (n) indicative unobserved, secret, veiled, latent; (v)
detect. mood, common mood; (v) indicating. unheeded, unperceived; (n) spiritual
flaring: (adj) flared, flaming, burning, ANTONYMS: (adj) hidden, secretive. world. ANTONYMS: (adj) seen,
blazing, tawdry, ablaze, garish, fiery; oldest: (n) elder, doyen; (adj) older. visible, open, famous, noticeable.
Though more than one had turned, as if to catch the meaning of his words,
they remained unanswered.%
"I should be grieved to think," continued Duncan, speaking slowly, and using
the simplest French of which he was the master, "to believe that none of this wise
and brave nation understand the language that the'Grand Monarque' uses when
he talks to his children. His heart would be heavy did he believe his red warriors
paid him so little respect!"
A long and grave pause succeeded, during which no movement of a limb,
nor any expression of an eye, betrayed the expression produced by his remark.
Duncan, who knew that silence was a virtue among his hosts, gladly had
recourse to the custom, in order to arrange his ideas. At length the same warrior
who had before addressed him replied, by dryly demanding, in the language of
the Canadas:
"When our Great Father speaks to his people, is it with the tongue of a
Huron?"
"He knows no difference in his children, whether the color of the skin be red,
or black, or white," returned Duncan, evasively; "though chiefly is he satisfied
with the brave Hurons."
"In what manner will he speak," demanded the wary chief, "when the
runners count to him the scalps which five nights ago grew on the heads of the
Yengeese?"
"They were his enemies," said Duncan, shuddering involuntarily; "and
doubtless, he will say, it is good; my Hurons are very gallant."
"Our Canada father does not think it. Instead of looking forward to reward
his Indians, his eyes are turned backward. He sees the dead Yengeese, but no
Huron. What can this mean?"
"A great chief, like him, has more thoughts than tongues. He looks to see that
no enemies are on his trail."
Thesaurus
chiefly: (adv) principally, primarily, undoubtedly, probably, sorrowful, upset, woeful, pained,
above all, especially, headly, mostly, unquestionably, clearly, without affected, brokenhearted.
largely, primely, predominantly; (adj, doubt, presumably; (adj) sure; (adv, v) runners: (n) runner.
adv) mainly, particularly. questionless; (adj, adv) no doubt, to be simplest: (adj) rudimentary.
ANTONYM: (adv) partially. sure. ANTONYMS: (adj) improbably, wary: (adj) cautious, vigilant, careful,
custom: (n) habit, convention, usage, uncertain, unlikely, questionable. guarded, circumspect, suspicious,
practice, consuetude, fashion, evasively: (adv) shiftily, deceptively, shy, alert, chary, attentive, leery.
method, mores; (n, v) use, accustom; elusively, indirectly, deceitfully, ANTONYMS: (adj) unwary, careless,
(adj) bespoke. ANTONYMS: (n) fad, shufflingly, falsely, misleadingly, trusting, reckless, heedless, foolish,
innovation, phenomenon, rage, ambiguously, cautiously, carefully. unsuspecting, thoughtless, oblivious,
rarity. ANTONYM: (adv) carelessly. forgetful, eager.
doubtless: (adv) assuredly, grieved: (adj) sore, sad, sorry, whether: (pron) where.
"The canoe of a dead warrior will not float on the Horican," returned the
savage, gloomily. "His ears are open to the Delawares, who are not our friends,
and they fill them with lies."
"It cannot be. See; he has bid me, who am a man that knows the art of
healing, to go to his children, the red Hurons of the great lakes, and ask if any are
sick!"
Another silence succeeded this annunciation of the character Duncan had
assumed. Every eye was simultaneously bent on his person, as if to inquire into
the truth or falsehood of the declaration, with an intelligence and keenness that
caused the subject of their scrutiny to tremble for the result. He was, however,
relieved again by the former speaker.%
"Do the cunning men of the Canadas paint their skins?" the Huron coldly
continued; "we have heard them boast that their faces were pale."
"When an Indian chief comes among his white fathers," returned Duncan,
with great steadiness, "he lays aside his buffalo robe, to carry the shirt that is
offered him. My brothers have given me paint and I wear it."
A low murmur of applause announced that the compliment of the tribe was
favorably received. The elderly chief made a gesture of commendation, which
was answered by most of his companions, who each threw forth a hand and
uttered a brief exclamation of pleasure. Duncan began to breathe more freely,
believing that the weight of his examination was past; and, as he had already
prepared a simple and probable tale to support his pretended occupation, his
hopes of ultimate success grew brighter.
After a silence of a few moments, as if adjusting his thoughts, in order to
make a suitable answer to the declaration their guests had just given, another
warrior arose, and placed himself in an attitude to speak. While his lips were yet
in the act of parting, a low but fearful sound arose from the forest, and was
immediately succeeded by a high, shrill yell, that was drawn out, until it equaled
the longest and most plaintive howl of the wolf. The sudden and terrible
interruption caused Duncan to start from his seat, unconscious of everything but
the effect produced by so frightful a cry. At the same moment, the warriors
Thesaurus
adjusting: (v) adjust; (n) adjusting invention, dishonesty; (adj, n) deceit, drone; (v) complain, bubble, breathe.
operation. falsity. ANTONYMS: (n) fact, robe: (n, v) dress, array, vest, garb,
applause: (n, v) acclaim, praise; (n) honesty, reality. apparel; (v) clothe, attire, rig; (n)
admiration, approval, eulogy, gloomily: (adv) murkily, obscurely, gown, cloak, garment.
compliment, plaudit, commendation, drearily, darkly, somberly, morosely, tremble: (adj, n, v) shiver; (n, v) quiver,
clapping, clap, ovation. sadly, sorrowfully, despondently, shudder, thrill, palpitate; (adj, v)
ANTONYMS: (n) disapproval, Boos, unhappily, glumly. ANTONYMS: totter, quake; (n) throb; (v) flutter,
booing, denigration, hisses, hissing, (adv) brightly, favorably, happily, quail, falter. ANTONYMS: (v) steady,
rejection, condemnation, criticism, optimistically, contentedly; (adj) calm.
jeering. auspiciously. wolf: (n) philanderer, coyote, brute,
falsehood: (n) fable, fabrication, murmur: (n, v) grumble, mumble, skirt chaser, beast; (v) gobble, gorge,
deception, untruth, lie, fib, fiction, hum, whisper, mutter, whine, babble, guzzle, consume, swallow, bolt.
glided in a body from the lodge, and the outer air was filled with loud shouts,
that nearly drowned those awful sounds, which were still ringing beneath the
arches of the woods. Unable to command himself any longer, the youth broke
from the place, and presently stood in the center of a disorderly throng, that
included nearly everything having life, within the limits of the encampment.
Men, women, and children; the aged, the inform, the active, and the strong, were
alike abroad, some exclaiming aloud, others clapping their hands with a joy that
seemed frantic, and all expressing their savage pleasure in some unexpected
event. Though astounded, at first, by the uproar, Heyward was soon enabled to
find its solution by the scene that followed.%
There yet lingered sufficient light in the heavens to exhibit those bright
openings among the tree-tops, where different paths left the clearing to enter the
depths of the wilderness. Beneath one of them, a line of warriors issued from the
woods, and advanced slowly toward the dwellings. One in front bore a short
pole, on which, as it afterwards appeared, were suspended several human scalps.
The startling sounds that Duncan had heard were what the whites have not
inappropriately called the "death-hallo"; and each repetition of the cry was
intended to announce to the tribe the fate of an enemy. Thus far the knowledge
of Heyward assisted him in the explanation; and as he now knew that the
interruption was caused by the unlooked-for return of a successful war-party,
every disagreeable sensation was quieted in inward congratulation, for the
opportune relief and insignificance it conferred on himself.
When at the distance of a few hundred feet from the lodges the newly arrived
warriors halted. Their plaintive and terrific cry, which was intended to represent
equally the wailings of the dead and the triumph to the victors, had entirely
ceased. One of their number now called aloud, in words that were far from
appalling, though not more intelligible to those for whose ears they were
intended, than their expressive yells. It would be difficult to convey a suitable
idea of the savage ecstasy with which the news thus imparted was received. The
whole encampment, in a moment, became a scene of the most violent bustle and
commotion. The warriors drew their knives, and flourishing them, they arranged
Thesaurus
clapping: (n) clap, acclaim, hand, inadequately, unbecomingly, ANTONYMS: (n) seriousness,
clapping of hands, cheering, inopportunely, wrongly, ineptly, importance, gravity, appropriateness,
handclap, ovation, slapping, plaudit, indecently, incorrectly, value, fame.
round, approval. incongruously, unfittingly, inaptly. opportune: (adj, v) appropriate; (adj)
conferred: (adj) given, presented. ANTONYMS: (adv) suitably, favorable, apropos, auspicious,
congratulation: (n) compliment, harmoniously, correctly, properly, expedient, happy, handy, timely,
greeting, congratulate, fittingly. felicitous, favourable; (v) becoming.
congratulations, acknowledgement, insignificance: (n) unimportance, ANTONYMS: (adj) untimely,
gratulation, acknowledgment. insignificancy, indifference, disadvantageous, inappropriate,
drowned: (adj) prostrate, sunken; (v) immateriality, inconsiderableness, inconvenient, unfortunate, unlucky.
drenched, drent. slightness, smallness, meanness, quieted: (adj) composed.
inappropriately: (adv) improperly, littleness, futility, inconsequentiality.
themselves in two lines, forming a lane that extended from the war-party to the
lodges. The squaws seized clubs, axes, or whatever weapon of offense first
offered itself to their hands, and rushed eagerly to act their part in the cruel game
that was at hand. Even the children would not be excluded; but boys, little able
to wield the instruments, tore the tomahawks from the belts of their fathers, and
stole into the ranks, apt imitators of the savage traits exhibited by their parents.%
Large piles of brush lay scattered about the clearing, and a wary and aged
squaw was occupied in firing as many as might serve to light the coming
exhibition. As the flame arose, its power exceeded that of the parting day, and
assisted to render objects at the same time more distinct and more hideous. The
whole scene formed a striking picture, whose frame was composed of the dark
and tall border of pines. The warriors just arrived were the most distant figures.
A little in advance stood two men, who were apparently selected from the rest,
as the principal actors in what was to follow. The light was not strong enough to
render their features distinct, though it was quite evident that they were
governed by very different emotions. While one stood erect and firm, prepared
to meet his fate like a hero, the other bowed his head, as if palsied by terror or
stricken with shame. The high-spirited Duncan felt a powerful impulse of
admiration and pity toward the former, though no opportunity could offer to
exhibit his generous emotions. He watched his slightest movement, however,
with eager eyes; and, as he traced the fine outline of his admirably proportioned
and active frame, he endeavored to persuade himself, that, if the powers of man,
seconded by such noble resolution, could bear one harmless through so severe a
trial, the youthful captive before him might hope for success in the hazardous
race he was about to run. Insensibly the young man drew nigher to the swarthy
lines of the Hurons, and scarcely breathed, so intense became his interest in the
spectacle. Just then the signal yell was given, and the momentary quiet which
had preceded it was broken by a burst of cries, that far exceeded any before
heard. The more abject of the two victims continued motionless; but the other
bounded from the place at the cry, with the activity and swiftness of a deer.
Instead of rushing through the hostile lines, as had been expected, he just entered
the dangerous defile, and before time was given for a single blow, turned short,
Thesaurus
clubs: (n) spades. temporary, impermanent, temporal. shapely, regular, properly adapted,
hideous: (adj) dreadful, frightful, ANTONYMS: (adj) lasting, lengthy, even, balanced. ANTONYM: (adj)
fearful, ghastly, horrid, ugly, long. asymmetrical.
repulsive, lurid, horrible, grisly, palsied: (adj) paralyzed, disabled, render: (v) interpret, explain, give,
grim. ANTONYMS: (adj) lovely, motionless, unsteady, weak, offer, furnish, pay, construe, return,
pleasant, beautiful, wonderful. comatose, unconscious; (v) paralyse, provide, impart, translate.
insensibly: (adv) imperceptibly, paralyze, withered. traits: (v) lineaments, area, expanse,
apathetically, numbly, motionlessly, piles: (adj, n) hemorrhoids, heaps, lots, exposition, extent, length, tract, trace;
inertly. loads, plenty; (n) hemorrhoid, stacks, (n) character, nature, personality.
momentary: (adj) brief, fugitive, haemorrhoid, tons; (adj) heartburn, wield: (v) ply, wave, exercise,
transient, short, instantaneous, hernia. brandish, hold, manipulate, flourish,
ephemeral, passing, momentaneous, proportioned: (adj) attemperate, exert, manage, use, swing.
and leaping the heads of a row of children, he gained at once the exterior and
safer side of the formidable array. The artifice was answered by a hundred voices
raised in imprecations; and the whole of the excited multitude broke from their
order, and spread themselves about the place in wild confusion.%
A dozen blazing piles now shed their lurid brightness on the place, which
resembled some unhallowed and supernatural arena, in which malicious
demons had assembled to act their bloody and lawless rites. The forms in the
background looked like unearthly beings, gliding before the eye, and cleaving
the air with frantic and unmeaning gestures; while the savage passions of such
as passed the flames were rendered fearfully distinct by the gleams that shot
athwart their inflamed visages.
It will easily be understood that, amid such a concourse of vindictive
enemies, no breathing time was allowed the fugitive. There was a single moment
when it seemed as if he would have reached the forest, but the whole body of his
captors threw themselves before him, and drove him back into the center of his
relentless persecutors. Turning like a headed deer, he shot, with the swiftness of
an arrow, through a pillar of forked flame, and passing the whole multitude
harmless, he appeared on the opposite side of the clearing. Here, too, he was met
and turned by a few of the older and more subtle of the Hurons. Once more he
tried the throng, as if seeking safety in its blindness, and then several moments
succeeded, during which Duncan believed the active and courageous young
stranger was lost.
Nothing could be distinguished but a dark mass of human forms tossed and
involved in inexplicable confusion. Arms, gleaming knives, and formidable
clubs, appeared above them, but the blows were evidently given at random. The
awful effect was heightened by the piercing shrieks of the women and the fierce
yells of the warriors. Now and then Duncan caught a glimpse of a light form
cleaving the air in some desperate bound, and he rather hoped than believed that
the captive yet retained the command of his astonishing powers of activity.
Suddenly the multitude rolled backward, and approached the spot where he
himself stood. The heavy body in the rear pressed upon the women and children
Thesaurus
blindness: (n) cecity, sightlessness, intrepid, spirited, heroic, undaunted, wrongful, seditious. ANTONYM:
ablepsy, ignorance, prestriction, manly, confident. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj) orderly.
excecation, cataract, fog, anopia; (adj, timid, wimpy, weak, spineless, unhallowed: (adj) ungodly, impious,
n) darkness; (adj) anopsy. pusillanimous, fearful, fainthearted, profane, demonic, unsanctified,
cleaving: (adj) adapted, coherent, afraid, despicable. diabolic, sinful, wicked, infernal,
accordant. forked: (adj) bifurcate, divided, impure, unchaste. ANTONYM: (adj)
concourse: (n) assemblage, swarm, branching, bifurcated, furcated, holy.
multitude, throng, company, biramous, double, forked road, unmeaning: (adj) insignificant,
merging, crowd, aggregation, furcate, tined, forky. meaningless, senseless, nonsensical,
meeting, gathering, legion. lawless: (adj) disorderly, illicit, irrational, expressionless, gibberish,
courageous: (adj, n) bold; (adj) anarchical, illegitimate, anarchic, foolish, peanut, weetless,
audacious, fearless, valiant, gallant, unlawful, unruly, illegal, mutinous, undistinguished.
in front, and bore them to the earth. The stranger reappeared in the confusion.
Human power could not, however, much longer endure so severe a trial. Of this
the captive seemed conscious. Profiting by the momentary opening, he darted
from among the warriors, and made a desperate, and what seemed to Duncan a
final effort to gain the wood. As if aware that no danger was to be apprehended
from the young soldier, the fugitive nearly brushed his person in his flight. A tall
and powerful Huron, who had husbanded his forces, pressed close upon his
heels, and with an uplifted arm menaced a fatal blow. Duncan thrust forth a foot,
and the shock precipitated the eager savage headlong, many feet in advance of
his intended victim. Thought itself is not quicker than was the motion with
which the latter profited by the advantage; he turned, gleamed like a meteor
again before the eyes of Duncan, and, at the next moment, when the latter
recovered his recollection, and gazed around in quest of the captive, he saw him
quietly leaning against a small painted post, which stood before the door of the
principal lodge.%
Apprehensive that the part he had taken in the escape might prove fatal to
himself, Duncan left the place without delay. He followed the crowd, which
drew nigh the lodges, gloomy and sullen, like any other multitude that had been
disappointed in an execution. Curiosity, or perhaps a better feeling, induced him
to approach the stranger. He found him, standing with one arm cast about the
protecting post, and breathing thick and hard, after his exertions, but disdaining
to permit a single sign of suffering to escape. His person was now protected by
immemorial and sacred usage, until the tribe in council had deliberated and
determined on his fate. It was not difficult, however, to foretell the result, if any
presage could be drawn from the feelings of those who crowded the place.
There was no term of abuse known to the Huron vocabulary that the
disappointed women did not lavishly expend on the successful stranger. They
flouted at his efforts, and told him, with bitter scoffs, that his feet were better
than his hands; and that he merited wings, while he knew not the use of an
arrow or a knife. To all this the captive made no reply; but was content to
preserve an attitude in which dignity was singularly blended with disdain.
Thesaurus
apprehended: (adj) arrested, seized, calculate, portend, prophesy, menaced: (adj) doomed, exposed.
understood, under arrest, in custody, forebode. meteor: (n) shooting star, aerolite,
detained, appreciated, immemorial: (adj) ancient, fireball, falling star, bolide, meteorite,
comprehended. prescriptive, pristine, primaeval, meteoroid, effluvium, emanation,
endure: (adj, n, v) continue, support; primeval, traditional, old, eternal, evaporation, exhalation.
(n, v) bear, suffer, stand, be; (v) customary. scoffs: (n) derision, jeering, mocking.
accept, undergo, allow, stay, tolerate. lavishly: (adv) profusely, profligately, singularly: (adv) peculiarly, uniquely,
ANTONYMS: (v) perish, die, break, prodigally, copiously, generously, unusually, curiously, rarely,
fall, discontinue, crumble, end, enjoy, richly, wastefully, abundantly, uncommonly, oddly, solely,
resign, quit, collapse. luxuriously, plentifully, amply. exceptionally, individually; (adj, adv)
foretell: (v) forecast, anticipate, augur, ANTONYMS: (adv) meagerly, remarkably.
bode, predict, presage, announce, frugally, cheaply, scantily. wings: (n) insignia, agency.
Exasperated as much by his composure as by his good-fortune, their words

became unintelligible, and were succeeded by shrill, piercing yells. Just then the
crafty squaw, who had taken the necessary precaution to fire the piles, made her
way through the throng, and cleared a place for herself in front of the captive.
The squalid and withered person of this hag might well have obtained for her the
character of possessing more than human cunning. Throwing back her light
vestment, she stretched forth her long, skinny arm, in derision, and using the
language of the Lenape, as more intelligible to the subject of her gibes, she
commenced aloud:
"Look you, Delaware," she said, snapping her fingers in his face; "your nation
is a race of women, and the hoe is better fitted to your hands than the gun. Your
squaws are the mothers of deer; but if a bear, or a wildcat, or a serpent were born
among you, ye would flee. The Huron girls shall make you petticoats, and we
will find you a husband."
A burst of savage laughter succeeded this attack, during which the soft and
musical merriment of the younger females strangely chimed with the cracked
voice of their older and more malignant companion. But the stranger was
superior to all their efforts. His head was immovable; nor did he betray the
slightest consciousness that any were present, except when his haughty eye
rolled toward the dusky forms of the warriors, who stalked in the background
silent and sullen observers of the scene.%
Infuriated at the self-command of the captive, the woman placed her arms
akimbo; and, throwing herself into a posture of defiance, she broke out anew, in
a torrent of words that no art of ours could commit successfully to paper. Her
breath was, however, expended in vain; for, although distinguished in her nation
as a proficient in the art of abuse, she was permitted to work herself into such a
fury as actually to foam at the mouth, without causing a muscle to vibrate in the
motionless figure of the stranger. The effect of his indifference began to extend
itself to the other spectators; and a youngster, who was just quitting the
condition of a boy to enter the state of manhood, attempted to assist the
termagant, by flourishing his tomahawk before their victim, and adding his
Thesaurus
akimbo: (adj) geniculated, knock competent, deft. ANTONYMS: (adj) drought, trickle, shower.
kneed, crinkled; (n) knuckle, fluke, inept, amateur, untrained, vestment: (n, v) dress, vesture,
kimbo, crane, groin, crotch, knee, inexperienced, bad. clothing, apparel; (n) chasuble,
zigzag. quitting: (n) departure, resignation. garment, alb, cassock, surplice, garb,
derision: (n) contempt, mockery, termagant: (adj, n) virago; (adj) vixen, attire.
scorn, banter, jeering, disdain, scoff, pugnacious, rambunctious, turbulent, vibrate: (v) shake, shiver, oscillate,
insult, irony, sport, gibe. tumultuous; (n) fury, hag, dragon, tremble, quiver, shudder, swing,
ANTONYMS: (n) applause, esteem, shrewmouse, harridan. wobble, palpitate, thrill, throb.
admiration, praise, approval. torrent: (n) flood, cloudburst, wildcat: (adj) unauthorized; (n)
proficient: (adj, n) expert, professional; overflow, stream, downpour, rain, catamount, lynx, catamountain,
(adj) able, accomplished, practiced, shower, soaker, inundation; (adj, n) savage, margay, serval, beast, puma,
good, adroit, capable, skillful, volley, eruption. ANTONYMS: (n) cougar, eyra.
empty boasts to the taunts of the women. Then, indeed, the captive turned his
face toward the light, and looked down on the stripling with an expression that
was superior to contempt. At the next moment he resumed his quiet and
reclining attitude against the post. But the change of posture had permitted
Duncan to exchange glances with the firm and piercing eyes of Uncas.%
Breathless with amazement, and heavily oppressed with the critical situation
of his friend, Heyward recoiled before the look, trembling lest its meaning might,
in some unknown manner, hasten the prisoner's fate. There was not, however,
any instant cause for such an apprehension. Just then a warrior forced his way
into the exasperated crowd. Motioning the women and children aside with a
stern gesture, he took Uncas by the arm, and led him toward the door of the
council-lodge. Thither all the chiefs, and most of the distinguished warriors,
followed; among whom the anxious Heyward found means to enter without
attracting any dangerous attention to himself.
A few minutes were consumed in disposing of those present in a manner
suitable to their rank and influence in the tribe. An order very similar to that
adopted in the preceding interview was observed; the aged and superior chiefs
occupying the area of the spacious apartment, within the powerful light of a
glaring torch, while their juniors and inferiors were arranged in the background,
presenting a dark outline of swarthy and marked visages. In the very center of
the lodge, immediately under an opening that admitted the twinkling light of
one or two stars, stood Uncas, calm, elevated, and collected. His high and
haughty carriage was not lost on his captors, who often bent their looks on his
person, with eyes which, while they lost none of their inflexibility of purpose,
plainly betrayed their admiration of the stranger's daring.
The case was different with the individual whom Duncan had observed to
stand forth with his friend, previously to the desperate trial of speed; and who,
instead of joining in the chase, had remained, throughout its turbulent uproar,
like a cringing statue, expressive of shame and disgrace. Though not a hand had
been extended to greet him, nor yet an eye had condescended to watch his
movements, he had also entered the lodge, as though impelled by a fate to
Thesaurus
cringing: (adj) obsequious, servile, glaring: (adj) conspicuous, bright, reclining: (adj, v) leaning; (adj)
slavish, abject, groveling, oily, blatant, egregious, obvious, plain, recumbent, decumbent, accumbent,
grovelling, fawning, beggarly, flaming, garish, crying, gross, glary. lying, lying down, obligatory, idle,
contemptible, ignoble. ANTONYMS: (adj) soft, prone, prostrate; (n) relaxation.
disposing: (adv) disposingly; (v) inconspicuous, dull, minor. stripling: (n) lad, boy, adolescent,
dispose; (adj) decretive, dispositive; impelled: (adj) prompted, provoked, teenager, youth, rocker, youngster,
(n) distribution. determined, compulsive, encouraged, young man, child, pachuco; (adj)
exasperated: (adj) incensed, annoyed, goaded, motivated, bound. younker.
enraged, angered, indignant, mad, oppressed: (adj) laden, persecuted, twinkling: (n) moment, jiffy, minute,
irate, irritated, cheesed off, testy; (adj, broken, burdened, drawn, gloomy, second, flash, trice, twinkle, wink,
prep) provoked. ANTONYM: (adj) aggrieved, downcast, heavy, ladened, split second, breath; (adj) sparkling.
pleased. loaded. ANTONYM: (adj) dull.
whose decrees he submitted, seemingly, without a struggle. Heyward profited

by the first opportunity to gaze in his face, secretly apprehensive he might find
the features of another acquaintance; but they proved to be those of a stranger,
and, what was still more inexplicable, of one who bore all the distinctive marks
of a Huron warrior. Instead of mingling with his tribe, however, he sat apart, a
solitary being in a multitude, his form shrinking into a crouching and abject
attitude, as if anxious to fill as little space as possible. When each individual had
taken his proper station, and silence reigned in the place, the gray-haired chief
already introduced to the reader, spoke aloud, in the language of the Lenni
Lenape.%
"Delaware," he said, "though one of a nation of women, you have proved
yourself a man. I would give you food; but he who eats with a Huron should
become his friend. Rest in peace till the morning sun, when our last words shall
be spoken."
"Seven nights, and as many summer days, have I fasted on the trail of the
Hurons," Uncas coldly replied; "the children of the Lenape know how to travel
the path of the just without lingering to eat."
"Two of my young men are in pursuit of your companion," resumed the
other, without appearing to regard the boast of his captive; "when they get back,
then will our wise man say to you 'live' or 'die'."
"Has a Huron no ears?" scornfully exclaimed Uncas; "twice, since he has been
your prisoner, has the Delaware heard a gun that he knows. Your young men
will never come back!"
A short and sullen pause succeeded this bold assertion. Duncan, who
understood the Mohican to allude to the fatal rifle of the scout, bent forward in
earnest observation of the effect it might produce on the conquerors; but the chief
was content with simply retorting:
"If the Lenape are so skillful, why is one of their bravest warriors here?"
"He followed in the steps of a flying coward, and fell into a snare. The
cunning beaver may be caught."
Thesaurus
acquaintance: (n) connection, friend, milquetoast; (adj) gutless, ANTONYMS: (adv) publicly,
acquaintanceship, mate, awareness, chickenhearted, pusillanimous, deliberately, brazenly.
associate, buddy, friendship, chicken-hearted. ANTONYMS: (n) snare: (n, v) mesh, gin, ambush, hook;
intercourse, companion; (n, v) daredevil, stalwart; (adj) brave. (v) catch, ensnare, entrap, entangle,
knowledge. ANTONYMS: (n) eats: (n) grub, chuck, food, meat, meal, capture, enmesh; (n) lure.
ignorance, inexperience, diet, nurture, eat, dinner, board, feed. solitary: (adj) forlorn, only, alone,
unfamiliarity, animosity, enemy. gray-haired: (adj) old, long in the single, lonely, lone, sole,
allude: (v) advert, refer, hint, glance, tooth. unaccompanied, isolated; (adj, n)
intimate, suggest, touch, bring up, secretly: (adv) privately, confidentially, recluse; (n) hermit. ANTONYMS:
mean, notice, pertain. quietly, stealthily, surreptitiously, (adj) sociable, combined, common,
coward: (n) cur, pantywaist, sneak, furtively, in secret, darkly, outgoing.
dastard, milksop, weakling, secretively, clandestinely, occultly.
As Uncas thus replied, he pointed with his finger toward the solitary Huron,
but without deigning to bestow any other notice on so unworthy an object. The
words of the answer and the air of the speaker produced a strong sensation
among his auditors. Every eye rolled sullenly toward the individual indicated by
the simple gesture, and a low, threatening murmur passed through the crowd.
The ominous sounds reached the outer door, and the women and children
pressing into the throng, no gap had been left, between shoulder and shoulder,
that was not now filled with the dark lineaments of some eager and curious
human countenance.%
In the meantime, the more aged chiefs, in the center, communed with each
other in short and broken sentences. Not a word was uttered that did not convey
the meaning of the speaker, in the simplest and most energetic form. Again, a
long and deeply solemn pause took place. It was known, by all present, to be the
brave precursor of a weighty and important judgment. They who composed the
outer circle of faces were on tiptoe to gaze; and even the culprit for an instant
forgot his shame in a deeper emotion, and exposed his abject features, in order to
cast an anxious and troubled glance at the dark assemblage of chiefs. The silence
was finally broken by the aged warrior so often named. He arose from the earth,
and moving past the immovable form of Uncas, placed himself in a dignified
attitude before the offender. At that moment, the withered squaw already
mentioned moved into the circle, in a slow, sidling sort of a dance, holding the
torch, and muttering the indistinct words of what might have been a species of
incantation. Though her presence was altogether an intrusion, it was unheeded.
Approaching Uncas, she held the blazing brand in such a manner as to cast
its red glare on his person, and to expose the slightest emotion of his
countenance. The Mohican maintained his firm and haughty attitude; and his
eyes, so far from deigning to meet her inquisitive look, dwelt steadily on the
distance, as though it penetrated the obstacles which impeded the view and
looked into futurity. Satisfied with her examination, she left him, with a slight
expression of pleasure, and proceeded to practise the same trying experiment on
her delinquent countryman.
Thesaurus
countryman: (n) peasant, villager, guilty, negligent; (adj, v) remiss; (adj, magic spell, chant, wizardry, open
rustic, native, churl, compatriot, n) derelict. ANTONYMS: (adj) sesame, adjuration.
carle, fellow countryman, clown, trustworthy, responsible, behaving. inquisitive: (adj) inquiring,
hick, swain. ANTONYMS: (n) futurity: (n) hereafter, futurition, speculative, nosy, prying,
foreigner, outlander. timing, millennium, offing, future questioning, nosey, meddling,
culprit: (adj, n) convict; (n) delinquent, tense, afterlife, time to come; (v) Int investigative, meddlesome, quizzical,
accused, malefactor, perpetrator, he womb of time. ANTONYMS: (n) overcurious. ANTONYMS: (adj)
transgressor, prisoner, sinner, past, pastness. apathetic, uninterested.
offender; (adj) guilty, felon. impeded: (adj) blocked, disabled, tiptoe: (v) tip, tippytoe, creep, patter,
delinquent: (n) culprit, criminal, hampered, crippled, slow. skirt, skip, tilt, sidle, lean; (adj) alert;
juvenile delinquent, trespasser, incantation: (n) spell, magic, sorcery, (n) quieter. ANTONYM: (v) clump.
defaulter, crook; (adj) neglectful, enchantment, witchcraft, conjuration,
The young Huron was in his war paint, and very little of a finely molded
form was concealed by his attire. The light rendered every limb and joint
discernible, and Duncan turned away in horror when he saw they were writhing
in irrepressible agony. The woman was commencing a low and plaintive howl
at the sad and shameful spectacle, when the chief put forth his hand and gently
pushed her aside.%
"Reed-that-bends," he said, addressing the young culprit by name, and in his
proper language, "though the Great Spirit has made you pleasant to the eyes, it
would have been better that you had not been born. Your tongue is loud in the
village, but in battle it is still. None of my young men strike the tomahawk
deeper into the war- post -- none of them so lightly on the Yengeese. The enemy
know the shape of your back, but they have never seen the color of your eyes.
Three times have they called on you to come, and as often did you forget to
answer. Your name will never be mentioned again in your tribe -- it is already
forgotten."
As the chief slowly uttered these words, pausing impressively between each
sentence, the culprit raised his face, in deference to the other's rank and years.
Shame, horror, and pride struggled in its lineaments. His eye, which was
contracted with inward anguish, gleamed on the persons of those whose breath
was his fame; and the latter emotion for an instant predominated. He arose to his
feet, and baring his bosom, looked steadily on the keen, glittering knife, that was
already upheld by his inexorable judge. As the weapon passed slowly into his
heart he even smiled, as if in joy at having found death less dreadful than he had
anticipated, and fell heavily on his face, at the feet of the rigid and unyielding
form of Uncas.
The squaw gave a loud and plaintive yell, dashed the torch to the earth, and
buried everything in darkness. The whole shuddering group of spectators glided
from the lodge like troubled sprites; and Duncan thought that he and the yet
throbbing body of the victim of an Indian judgment had now become its only
tenants.
Thesaurus
commencing: (adj) initial, incipient; (v) wanton, inextinguishable, rampant, excellent.
commence; (adv) startingly; (prep) effervescent; (v) ungovernable, sprites: (n) red sprites, atmospheric
starting, from; (n) start, initiation, volcanic, stanchless, simmering. electricity.
commencement, origination, ANTONYM: (adj) orderly. throbbing: (adj, n) beating; (n)
inauguration. shameful: (adj) scandalous, pounding, pulsation, pulse, ache,
inexorable: (adj) adamant, dishonorable, opprobrious, shocking, palpitation, sting; (adj) painful,
unrelenting, stern, cruel, relentless, ignominious, disreputable, pulsatile, palpitating, palpitant.
austere, adamantine, inflexible, despicable; (adj, v) foul, base, gross, ANTONYM: (n) pleasure.
remorseless, stiff; (adj, v) inevitable. black. ANTONYMS: (adj) honorable, writhing: (adj, n) twisting; (adj)
ANTONYM: (adj) gentle. noble, dignified, admirable, faultless, wriggly, squirming, wiggling,
irrepressible: (adj) uncontrollable, reputable, glorious, compassionate, wiggly, twisty, tortuous, snaky,
uncontainable, unmanageable, praiseworthy, commendable, winding, sinuous; (n) twist.
CHAPTER 24
"Thus spoke the sage: the kings without delay

Dissolve the council, and their chief obey."%
Pope's Iliad
A single moment served to convince the youth that he was mistaken. A hand
was laid, with a powerful pressure, on his arm, and the low voice of Uncas
muttered in his ear:
"The Hurons are dogs. The sight of a coward's blood can never make a
warrior tremble. The 'Gray Head' and the Sagamore are safe, and the rifle of
Hawkeye is not asleep. Go -- Uncas and the 'Open Hand' are now strangers. It is
enough."
Heyward would gladly have heard more, but a gentle push from his friend
urged him toward the door, and admonished him of the danger that might
attend the discovery of their intercourse. Slowly and reluctantly yielding to the
necessity, he quitted the place, and mingled with the throng that hovered nigh.
The dying fires in the clearing cast a dim and uncertain light on the dusky
figures that were silently stalking to and fro; and occasionally a brighter gleam
than common glanced into the lodge, and exhibited the figure of Uncas still
maintaining its upright attitude near the dead body of the Huron.
Thesaurus
admonished: (adj) reprimanded, right. vertical. ANTONYMS: (adj) prone,
reproved, chastened. muttered: (adj) garbled, incoherent, disreputable, degenerate, hanging,
intercourse: (n) contact, coition, broken, inarticulate. unwholesome, dishonest,
conversation, communication, coitus, reluctantly: (adv) loathly, aversely, dishonorable, lying, horizontal,
dealings, converse, commerce, grudgingly, backwardly, hesitantly, falling; (adv) horizontally.
liaison, congress; (adj, n) reluctant, slowly, unenthusiastically, yielding: (adj, v) flexible, pliable,
acquaintance. indisposedly, lothly, charily. supple, tractable, pliant; (adj)
mistaken: (adj) wrong, erroneous, ANTONYMS: (adv) freely, compliant, submissive, soft, obedient,
false, misguided, inaccurate, wholeheartedly. docile; (n) submission. ANTONYMS:
fallacious, untrue, misleading, upright: (adj) perpendicular, erect, (adj) hard, firm, inflexible, solid,
confused, improper, error. fair, good, righteous, just, virtuous, rigid, obstinate, stiff, stubborn,
ANTONYMS: (adj) accurate, wise, true, honorable, plumb; (adj, n) unyielding, rebellious.
A knot of warriors soon entered the place again, and reissuing, they bore the
senseless remains into the adjacent woods. After this termination of the scene,
Duncan wandered among the lodges, unquestioned and unnoticed, endeavoring
to find some trace of her in whose behalf he incurred the risk he ran. In the
present temper of the tribe it would have been easy to have fled and rejoined his
companions, had such a wish crossed his mind. But, in addition to the never-
ceasing anxiety on account of Alice, a fresher though feebler interest in the fate
of Uncas assisted to chain him to the spot. He continued, therefore, to stray from
hut to hut, looking into each only to encounter additional disappointment, until
he had made the entire circuit of the village. Abandoning a species of inquiry
that proved so fruitless, he retraced his steps to the council-lodge, resolved to
seek and question David, in order to put an end to his doubts.%
On reaching the building, which had proved alike the seat of judgment and
the place of execution, the young man found that the excitement had already
subsided. The warriors had reassembled, and were now calmly smoking, while
they conversed gravely on the chief incidents of their recent expedition to the
head of the Horican. Though the return of Duncan was likely to remind them of
his character, and the suspicious circumstances of his visit, it produced no visible
sensation. So far, the terrible scene that had just occurred proved favorable to his
views, and he required no other prompter than his own feelings to convince him
of the expediency of profiting by so unexpected an advantage.
Without seeming to hesitate, he walked into the lodge, and took his seat with
a gravity that accorded admirably with the deportment of his hosts. A hasty but
searching glance sufficed to tell him that, though Uncas still remained where he
had left him, David had not reappeared. No other restraint was imposed on the
former than the watchful looks of a young Huron, who had placed himself at
hand; though an armed warrior leaned against the post that formed one side of
the narrow doorway. In every other respect, the captive seemed at liberty; still he
was excluded from all participation in the discourse, and possessed much more
of the air of some finely molded statue than a man having life and volition.
Thesaurus
deportment: (n, v) bearing, demeanor, underclassman, neophyte, fledgeling, digress, straggle, meander, depart,
conduct, carriage; (n) manner, entrant, fledgling. deviate, rove, drift, err. ANTONYM:
attitude, demeanour, behaviour, imposed: (adj) compulsory, obligatory. (v) settle.
comportment, dealing, air. knot: (n) bow, cluster, lump, gang, unquestioned: (adj) undisputed,
expediency: (n) utility, convenience, joint; (v) entangle, knit, bind; (n, v) unquestionable, unanimous, clear-
advantage, fitness, advisability, tie, loop, tangle. ANTONYMS: (v) cut, accepted, axiomatic, proverbial;
pertinence, expedient, benefit, unravel, undo, unknot, disentangle. (adj, v) unchallenged; (v) uncontested,
effectiveness, value, pertinency. never-ceasing: (adj) immortal. uncontradicted.
ANTONYMS: (n) impracticality, prompter: (n) autocue, supporter, volition: (n, v) will, testament; (n)
inconvenience, inexpedience, tempter, call boy, helper, theater choice, option, selection,
unsuitability, uselessness. prompter, help, device, assistant. determination, conation, preference,
fresher: (n) fresh, lowerclassman, stray: (v) wander, ramble, range, velleity, free will; (v) purpose.
Heyward had too recently witnessed a frightful instance of the prompt

punishments of the people into whose hands he had fallen to hazard an exposure
by any officious boldness. He would greatly have preferred silence and
meditation to speech, when a discovery of his real condition might prove so
instantly fatal. Unfortunately for this prudent resolution, his entertainers
appeared otherwise disposed. He had not long occupied the seat wisely taken a
little in the shade, when another of the elder warriors, who spoke the French
language, addressed him:
"My Canada father does not forget his children," said the chief; "I thank him.
An evil spirit lives in the wife of one of my young men. Can the cunning stranger
frighten him away?"%
Heyward possessed some knowledge of the mummery practised among the
Indians, in the cases of such supposed visitations. He saw, at a glance, that the
circumstance might possibly be improved to further his own ends. It would,
therefore, have been difficult, just then to have uttered a proposal that would
have given him more satisfaction. Aware of the necessity of preserving the
dignity of his imaginary character, however, he repressed his feelings, and
answered with suitable mystery:
"Spirits differ; some yield to the power of wisdom, while others are too
strong."
"My brother is a great medicine," said the cunning savage; "he will try?"
A gesture of assent was the answer. The Huron was content with the
assurance, and, resuming his pipe, he awaited the proper moment to move. The
impatient Heyward, inwardly
execrating the cold customs of the savages, which required such sacrifices to
appearance, was fain to assume an air of indifference, equal to that maintained
by the chief, who was, in truth, a near relative of the afflicted woman. The
minutes lingered, and the delay had seemed an hour to the adventurer in
empiricism, when the Huron laid aside his pipe and drew his robe across his
breast, as if about to lead the way to the lodge of the invalid. Just then, a warrior
of powerful frame, darkened the door, and stalking silently among the attentive
Thesaurus
adventurer: (n) venturer, speculator, ANTONYMS: (n) cowardice, shyness, nonsensicality, masque, false colors,
plunger, argonaut, traveler, timidity, meekness, reticence. sport, joke, escapade.
daredevil, gambler, adventurers, darkened: (adj) darkens, obscured, officious: (adj, v) meddlesome; (adj)
carpetbagger, divers, mercenary. old, obfuscate, murky, cloudy, busy, interfering, meddling,
ANTONYMS: (n) killjoy, milquetoast. opaque, overcast. obtrusive, impertinent, pragmatical,
afflicted: (adj) miserable, distressed, empiricism: (n) experimentalism, busybodied, overbearing, nosy; (v)
stricken, pitiful, sorrowful, ill, quackery, rule of thumb, experience, pushing. ANTONYM: (adj) meek.
woeful, dejected, sorry; (v) afflict, charlatanism, charlatanry, empiricist repressed: (adj) inhibited, suppressed,
displeased. philosophy, positive, positivist, pent-up, forgotten, subconscious,
boldness: (n) prowess, face, daring, discovery, sensationalism. inner, composed, reserved,
valor, nerve, assurance, heroism, mummery: (adj) tomfoolery, vagary; unconscious.
audaciousness, spirit, cheek, valour. (n) flummery, pleasantry, nonsense, sacrifices: (n) holocaust.
group, he seated himself on one end of the low pile of brush which sustained
Duncan. The latter cast an impatient look at his neighbor, and felt his flesh creep
with uncontrollable horror when he found himself in actual contact with
Magua.%
The sudden return of this artful and dreaded chief caused a delay in the
departure of the Huron. Several pipes, that had been extinguished, were lighted
again; while the newcomer, without speaking a word, drew his tomahawk from
his girdle, and filling the bowl on its head began to inhale the vapors of the
weed through the hollow handle, with as much indifference as if he had not been
absent two weary days on a long and toilsome hunt. Ten minutes, which
appeared so many ages to Duncan, might have passed in this manner; and the
warriors were fairly enveloped in a cloud of white smoke before any of them
spoke.
"Welcome!" one at length uttered; "has my friend found the moose?"
"The young men stagger under their burdens," returned Magua. "Let 'Reed-
that-bends' go on the hunting path; he will meet them."
A deep and awful silence succeeded the utterance of the forbidden name.
Each pipe dropped from the lips of its owner as though all had inhaled an
impurity at the same instant. The smoke wreathed above their heads in little
eddies, and curling in a spiral form it ascended swiftly through the opening in
the roof of the lodge, leaving the place beneath clear of its fumes, and each dark
visage distinctly visible. The looks of most of the warriors were riveted on the
earth; though a few of the younger and less gifted of the party suffered their wild
and glaring eyeballs to roll in the direction of a white-headed savage, who sat
between two of the most venerated chiefs of the tribe. There was nothing in the
air or attire of this Indian that would seem to entitle him to such a distinction.
The former was rather depressed, than remarkable for the bearing of the natives;
and the latter was such as was commonly worn by the ordinary men of the
nation. Like most around him for more than a minute his look, too, was on the
ground; but, trusting his eyes at length to steal a glance aside, he perceived that
Thesaurus
curling: (adj) curled, curly, moving, foulness, corruption. ANTONYM: (n) pilfer; (n) bargain; (n, v) snatch.
curled up; (adv) curlingly; (n) croquet, cleanliness. venerated: (adj) reverenced, reverend,
pallone, polo, tipcat, golf, curling inhale: (v) absorb, imbibe, draw, suck, sublime, venerable, honored,
edge. drag, breathe in, drink, attract, respected, admired, inspiring awe,
entitle: (v) dub, style, designate, inspire, respire; (n, v) sniff. acclaimed, August, beloved.
christen, empower, term, baptize, ANTONYMS: (v) blow, expire. weed: (n) grass, marijuana, pot, plant,
authorize; (n, v) title, name, stagger: (adj, adv, v) startle; (v) fireweed, smoke, ganja; (v) eliminate,
denominate. ANTONYMS: (v) astonish, reel, shock, hobble, shake, hoe, plow; (adj) pick.
disqualify, debar. flounder, totter; (n, v) lurch, pitch; wreathed: (adj) ringed, serpentine,
impurity: (n) impureness, pollution, (adj, v) flabbergast. coiled, circular, circinate, bent,
filth, dirtiness, admixture, steal: (v) purloin, abstract, sneak, filch, annulate, tortile, torqued,
defilement, dirt, dross, adulteration, pinch, creep, misappropriate, rob, surrounded, curled.
he was becoming an object of general attention. Then he arose and lifted his voice
in the general silence.%
"It was a lie," he said; "I had no son. He who was called by that name is
forgotten; his blood was pale, and it came not from the veins of a Huron; the
wicked Chippewas cheated my squaw. The Great Spirit has said, that the family
of Wiss-entush should end; he is happy who knows that the evil of his race dies
with himself. I have done."
The speaker, who was the father of the recreant young Indian, looked round
and about him, as if seeking commendation of his stoicism in the eyes of the
auditors. But the stern customs of his people had made too severe an exaction of
the feeble old man. The expression of his eye contradicted his figurative and
boastful language, while every muscle in his wrinkled visage was working with
anguish. Standing a single minute to enjoy his bitter triumph, he turned away, as
if sickening at the gaze of men, and, veiling his face in his blanket, he walked
from the lodge with the noiseless step of an Indian seeking, in the privacy of his
own abode, the sympathy of one like himself, aged, forlorn and childless.
The Indians, who believe in the hereditary transmission of virtues and defects
in character, suffered him to depart in silence. Then, with an elevation of
breeding that many in a more cultivated state of society might profitably
emulate, one of the chiefs drew the attention of the young men from the
weakness they had just witnessed, by saying, in a cheerful voice, addressing
himself in courtesy to Magua, as the newest comer:
"The Delawares have been like bears after the honey pots, prowling around
my village. But who has ever found a Huron asleep?"
The darkness of the impending cloud which precedes a burst of thunder was
not blacker than the brow of Magua as he exclaimed:
"The Delawares of the Lakes!"
"Not so. They who wear the petticoats of squaws, on their own river. One of
them has been passing the tribe."
"Did my young men take his scalp?"
Thesaurus
abode: (n) dwelling, house, residence, blackmail, reclamation, concluding, fashionable, stylish, final.
place, domicile, lodge, abidance, revendication, tax, requirement, profitably: (adv) advantageously,
mansion, lodging, address, seat. enforcement, force, imposition, helpfully, fruitfully, productively,
comer: (n) newcomer, arriver, traveler, assessment. favorably, lucratively, usefully,
traveller, contender, competitor, impending: (adj) forthcoming, close, gainfully, economically, prolifically,
competition, visitor, whiz kid, Young future, coming, approaching, near, expediently. ANTONYMS: (adv)
Turk; (adj) fresh. prospective, pending, at hand, fruitlessly, unproductively,
emulate: (v) contend, compete, upcoming, threatening. unhelpfully.
imitate, rival, contest, echo, ANTONYMS: (adj) distant, unlikely, thunder: (adj, n, v) boom; (n, v) roar,
reproduce, follow, ape, mimic; (adj) past. bang, roll, bellow; (adj, n) peal; (adj, v)
vie. newest: (adj) last, up-to-the-minute, explode, detonate; (v) howl, rumble,
exaction: (n) extortion, demand, up-to-date, novel, fresh, hot, lowest, fulminate.
"His legs were good, though his arm is better for the hoe than the tomahawk,"
returned the other, pointing to the immovable form of Uncas.%
Instead of manifesting any womanish curiosity to feast his eyes with the sight
of a captive from a people he was known to have so much reason to hate, Magua
continued to smoke, with the meditative air that he usually maintained, when
there was no immediate call on his cunning or his eloquence. Although secretly
amazed at the facts communicated by the speech of the aged father, he permitted
himself to ask no questions, reserving his inquiries for a more suitable moment.
It was only after a sufficient interval that he shook the ashes from his pipe,
replaced the tomahawk, tightened his girdle, and arose, casting for the first time
a glance in the direction of the prisoner, who stood a little behind him. The wary,
though seemingly abstracted Uncas, caught a glimpse of the movement, and
turning suddenly to the light, their looks met. Near a minute these two bold and
untamed spirits stood regarding one another steadily in the eye, neither quailing
in the least before the fierce gaze he encountered. The form of Uncas dilated, and
his nostrils opened like those of a tiger at bay; but so rigid and unyielding was
his posture, that he might easily have been converted by the imagination into an
exquisite and faultless representation of the warlike deity of his tribe. The
lineaments of the quivering features of Magua proved more ductile; his
countenance gradually lost its character of defiance in an expression of ferocious
joy, and heaving a breath from the very bottom of his chest, he pronounced
aloud the formidable name of:
"Le Cerf Agile!"
Each warrior sprang upon his feet at the utterance of the well-known
appellation, and there was a short period during which the stoical constancy of
the natives was completely conquered by surprise. The hated and yet respected
name was repeated as by one voice, carrying the sound even beyond the limits of
the lodge. The women and children, who lingered around the entrance, took up
the words in an echo, which was succeeded by another shrill and plaintive howl.
The latter was not yet ended, when the sensation among the men had entirely
abated. Each one in presence seated himself, as though ashamed of his
Thesaurus
constancy: (n) allegiance, devotion, malleable, yielding, lithesome, excepting, except.
resolution, fidelity, loyalty, limber, tensile, supple, limp, tensible, stoical: (adj, n) stoic; (adj) indifferent,
steadfastness, faithfulness, tractable. ANTONYMS: (adj) rigid, patient, imperturbable, calm,
steadiness, firmness, perseverance, stiff, unyielding, hard. spirited, princely, phlegmatic,
unchangeableness. ANTONYMS: (n) meditative: (adj, v) thoughtful, exalted, elevated, lofty.
inconstancy, inconsistency, pensive; (adj) wistful, reflective, tightened: (adj) secure, securer, firm.
changefulness, instability, disloyalty, broody, museful, ruminative, untamed: (adj) unbroken, barbarous,
unfaithfulness, unreliability, musing, brooding; (v) philosophical, fierce, feral, barbarian, wild,
dishonesty. sedate. unpolished, uncivilised, uncivilized,
dilated: (adj) wide, inflated, reserving: (adj) reserve, deducting, uncombed, ferocious. ANTONYMS:
ampulliform. save, reservative, prevent, not (adj) cultivated, tame.
ductile: (adj) pliable, flexible, including, leaving out, keeping,
precipitation; but it was many minutes before their meaning eyes ceased to roll
toward their captive, in curious examination of a warrior who had so often
proved his prowess on the best and proudest of their nation. Uncas enjoyed his
victory, but was content with merely exhibiting his triumph by a quiet smile -- an
emblem of scorn which belongs to all time and every nation.%
Magua caught the expression, and raising his arm, he shook it at the captive,
the light silver ornaments attached to his bracelet rattling with the trembling
agitation of the limb, as, in a tone of vengeance, he exclaimed, in English:
"Mohican, you die!"
"The healing waters will never bring the dead Hurons to life," returned
Uncas, in the music of the Delawares; "the tumbling river washes their bones;
their men are squaws: their women owls. Go! call together the Huron dogs, that
they may look upon a warrior, My nostrils are offended; they scent the blood of
a coward."
The latter allusion struck deep, and the injury rankled. Many of the Hurons
understood the strange tongue in which the captive spoke, among which number
was Magua. This cunning savage beheld, and instantly profited by his
advantage. Dropping the light robe of skin from his shoulder, he stretched forth
his arm, and commenced a burst of his dangerous and artful eloquence.
However much his influence among his people had been impaired by his
occasional and besetting weakness, as well as by his desertion of the tribe, his
courage and his fame as an orator were undeniable. He never spoke without
auditors, and rarely without making converts to his opinions. On the present
occasion, his native powers were stimulated by the thirst of revenge.
He again recounted the events of the attack on the island at Glenn's, the death
of his associates and the escape of their most formidable enemies. Then he
described the nature and position of the mount whither he had led such captives
as had fallen into their hands. Of his own bloody intentions toward the maidens,
and of his baffled malice he made no mention, but passed rapidly on to the
surprise of the party by "La Longue Carabine," and its fatal termination. Here he
paused, and looked about him, in affected veneration for the departed, but, in
Thesaurus
bracelet: (n) annulus, armlet, circlet, owls: (n) order Strigiformes, ANTONYM: (n) dislike.
wristband, necklace, ring, hoop, Strigiformes. tumbling: (adj) falling, billowing,
areola, circle, anklet, annulet. powers: (n) authority, capacity, dropping, rolled; (adj, adv) plunging;
offended: (adj) angry, affronted, strength, administration. (n) gymnastics, acrobatics, stunting,
aggrieved, pained, wronged, prowess: (n) bravery, valor, art, stunt flying, rumbling; (adv)
annoyed, insulted, shocked, vexed, heroism, proficiency, mastery, headfirst.
resentful, injured. ANTONYMS: (adj) expertise, gallantry, intrepidity, vengeance: (n) retribution, reprisal,
indifferent, proud, unconcerned. chivalry, skill. ANTONYMS: (n) retaliation, requital, avengement,
orator: (n) elocutionist, speechmaker, inability, ineptitude. wrath, vendetta, spite, revengeance;
speaker, lecturer, Cicero, speechifier, thirst: (n, v) hunger, lust, wish; (n) (n, v) avenge, resentment.
demagog, demagogue, eulogist; (v) longing, yen, craving, hankering, ANTONYMS: (n) forgiveness,
oratrix, oratress. dryness, appetite; (v) starve, crave. acceptance.
truth, to note the effect of his opening narrative. As usual, every eye was riveted
on his face. Each dusky figure seemed a breathing statue, so motionless was the
posture, so intense the attention of the individual.%
Then Magua dropped his voice which had hitherto been clear, strong and
elevated, and touched upon the merits of the dead. No quality that was likely to
command the sympathy of an Indian escaped his notice. One had never been
known to follow the chase in vain; another had been indefatigable on the trail of
their enemies. This was brave, that generous. In short, he so managed his
allusions, that in a nation which was composed of so few families, he contrived
to strike every chord that might find, in its turn, some breast in which to vibrate.
"Are the bones of my young men," he concluded, "in the burial-place of the
Hurons? You know they are not. Their spirits are gone toward the setting sun,
and are already crossing the great waters, to the happy hunting-grounds. But
they departed without food, without guns or knives, without moccasins, naked
and poor as they were born. Shall this be? Are their souls to enter the land of the
just like hungry Iroquois or unmanly Delawares, or shall they meet their friends
with arms in their hands and robes on their backs? What will our fathers think
the tribes of the Wyandots have become? They will look on their children with a
dark eye, and say, 'Go! a Chippewa has come hither with the name of a Huron.'
Brothers, we must not forget the dead; a red-skin never ceases to remember. We
will load the back of this Mohican until he staggers under our bounty, and
dispatch him after my young men. They call to us for aid, though our ears are not
open; they say, 'Forget us not.' When they see the spirit of this Mohican toiling
after them with his burden, they will know we are of that mind. Then will they
go on happy; and our children will say, 'So did our fathers to their friends, so
must we do to them.' What is a Yengee? we have slain many, but the earth is
still pale. A stain on the name of Huron can only be hid by blood that comes
from the veins of an Indian. Let this Delaware die."
The effect of such an harangue, delivered in the nervous language and with
the emphatic manner of a Huron orator, could scarcely be mistaken. Magua had
so artfully blended the natural sympathies with the religious superstition of his
Thesaurus
bounty: (adj, n) largesse; (n) low, sunken, undignified, lowered. energetic, unremitting, indomitable,
abundance, bounteousness, emphatic: (adj) decided, categorical, laborious, unwearying, unwearied.
premium, blessing, prize, expressive, forceful, pronounced, ANTONYMS: (adj) idle, feeble,
munificence, beneficence, generosity; assertive, loud, important, unrelenting, weary.
(v) benefaction; (n, v) gift. emphatical, insistent; (adj, v) posture: (n) attitude, condition, stance,
ANTONYMS: (n) miserliness, fine, absolute. ANTONYMS: (adj) deportment, aspect, circumstance,
insufficiency, penalty, meanness. insignificant, unassertive, manner, figure, mien; (n, v) pose,
elevated: (adj) exalted, towering, understated, unemphatic, place.
noble, lofty, grand, great, majestic, halfhearted. robes: (n) garb, fine clothes, costume,
tall, elated, magnanimous; (adj, v) families: (n) family. best clothes.
steep. ANTONYMS: (adj) base, lowly, indefatigable: (adj) tireless, assiduous, staggers: (v) fuss, rout, racket, bustle,
decreased, humble, inferior, lessened, unflagging, untiring, inexhaustible, hubbub, subsultus; (n) epilepsy.
auditors, that their minds, already prepared by custom to sacrifice a victim to the
manes of their countrymen, lost every vestige of humanity in a wish for revenge.
One warrior in particular, a man of wild and ferocious mien, had been
conspicuous for the attention he had given to the words of the speaker. His
countenance had changed with each passing emotion, until it settled into a look
of deadly malice. As Magua ended he arose and, uttering the yell of a demon, his
polished little axe was seen glancing in the torchlight as he whirled it above his
head. The motion and the cry were too sudden for words to interrupt his bloody
intention. It appeared as if a bright gleam shot from his hand, which was crossed
at the same moment by a dark and powerful line. The former was the tomahawk
in its passage; the latter the arm that Magua darted forward to divert its aim. The
quick and ready motion of the chief was not entirely too late. The keen weapon
cut the war plume from the scalping tuft of Uncas, and passed through the frail
wall of the lodge as though it were hurled from some formidable engine.%
Duncan had seen the threatening action, and sprang upon his feet, with a
heart which, while it leaped into his throat, swelled with the most generous
resolution in behalf of his friend. A glance told him that the blow had failed, and
terror changed to admiration. Uncas stood still, looking his enemy in the eye
with features that seemed superior to emotion. Marble could not be colder,
calmer, or steadier than the countenance he put upon this sudden and vindictive
attack. Then, as if pitying a want of skill which had proved so fortunate to
himself, he smiled, and muttered a few words of contempt in his own tongue.
"No!" said Magua, after satisfying himself of the safety of the captive; "the sun
must shine on his shame; the squaws must see his flesh tremble, or our revenge
will be like the play of boys. Go! take him where there is silence; let us see if a
Delaware can sleep at night, and in the morning die."
The young men whose duty it was to guard the prisoner instantly passed
their ligaments of bark across his arms, and led him from the lodge, amid a
profound and ominous silence. It was only as the figure of Uncas stood in the
opening of the door that his firm step hesitated. There he turned, and, in the
sweeping and haughty glance that he threw around the circle of his enemies,
Thesaurus
demon: (n) ghost, fiend, incubus, slender, light, slim; (v) faint. sinister, minatory, unlucky,
monster, daemon, ogre, daimon, ANTONYMS: (adj) substantial, forbidding, minacious. ANTONYMS:
goblin, deuce, genie, elf. ANTONYM: robust, tough, fit, healthy, hearty, (adj) promising, auspicious,
(n) saint. perfect, weighty, well, capable, reassuring, bright, lucky, wonderful.
divert: (adj, v) distract; (v) entertain, sturdy. pitying: (adj) sympathetic, merciful,
avert, delight, deflect, deviate, interrupt: (v) disturb, break, hinder, pity, pityingly, gloomy, meritless,
beguile, depart, disport, digress, intermit, stop, cut, break in, arrest, pitiful, sorry, sorry for, humane,
sidetrack. ANTONYMS: (v) bore, check; (n, v) suspend; (adj, v) pause. dreary.
irritate, maintain, set, upset, stay, ANTONYMS: (v) cheer, respect, shine: (n, v) light, sheen, flash, glitter,
displease, sadden. restore. sparkle, polish, rub; (v) burnish,
frail: (adj, v) weak, feeble; (adj) fragile, ominous: (adj) baleful, inauspicious, gleam, blaze; (n) radiance.
flimsy, delicate, breakable, rickety, ill, menacing, threatening, black,
Duncan caught a look which he was glad to construe into an expression that he
was not entirely deserted by hope.%
Magua was content with his success, or too much occupied with his secret
purposes to push his inquiries any further. Shaking his mantle, and folding it on
his bosom, he also quitted the place, without pursuing a subject which might
have proved so fatal to the individual at his elbow. Notwithstanding his rising
resentment, his natural firmness, and his anxiety on behalf of Uncas, Heyward
felt sensibly relieved by the absence of so dangerous and so subtle a foe. The
excitement produced by the speech gradually subsided. The warriors resumed
their seats and clouds of smoke once more filled the lodge. For near half an hour,
not a syllable was uttered, or scarcely a look cast aside; a grave and meditative
silence being the ordinary succession to every scene of violence and commotion
among these beings, who were alike so impetuous and yet so self-restrained.
When the chief, who had solicited the aid of Duncan, finished his pipe, he
made a final and successful movement toward departing. A motion of a finger
was the intimation he gave the supposed physician to follow; and passing
through the clouds of smoke, Duncad was glad, on more accounts than one, to be
able at last to breathe the pure air of a cool and refreshing summer evening.
Instead of pursuing his way among those lodges where Heyward had
already made his unsuccessful search, his companion turned aside, and
proceeded directly toward the base of an adjacent mountain, which overhung the
temporary village. A thicket of brush skirted its foot, and it became necessary to
proceed through a crooked and narrow path. The boys had resumed their sports
in the clearing, and were enacting a mimic chase to the post among themselves.
In order to render their games as like the reality as possible, one of the boldest of
their number had conveyed a few brands into some piles of tree-tops that had
hitherto escaped the burning. The blaze of one of these fires lighted the way of
the chief and Duncan, and gave a character of additional wildness to the rude
scenery. At a little distance from a bald rock, and directly in its front, they
entered a grassy opening, which they prepared to cross. Just then fresh fuel was
added to the fire, and a powerful light penetrated even to that distant spot. It fell
Thesaurus
bald: (adj) hairless, simple, austere, agitation. ANTONYMS: (n) peace, medic, quack, surgeon, leech,
meager, raw, barefaced, stark, plain, order, calm, serenity, calmness, houseman, MD, allergist, intern.
nude, naked; (adj, v) threadbare. stillness, quiet, tranquility, inactivity. refreshing: (adj) bracing, invigorating,
ANTONYMS: (adj) ornate, furry, folding: (n) foldaway, plication, refreshful, pleasant, fresh, cool,
hirsute, woolly, embellished, foldable, bend, crease, bending, refresh, refreshingly, crisp, tonic,
adorned, decorated. flexure, pleating, collapsable, pleasing. ANTONYMS: (adj)
blaze: (n, v) flash, glare, flame, mark, collapsible, doubling. unwelcome, soporific, tiring,
scintillation; (n) fire, light, burning, mimic: (adj, v) mock; (v) imitate, relaxing, musty.
inflammation, sheen; (adj, v) burn. mime, copy, impersonate, parody, scenery: (n) scene, prospect,
commotion: (n) tumult, ado, emulate; (n, v) counterfeit; (n) panorama, landscape, outlook,
disturbance, turmoil, stir, din, flurry, imitator, mimicker, ape. nature, picture, vista, set, backdrop,
fuss, bedlam, tempest; (n, v) physician: (n) doctor, medico, doc, background.
upon the white surface of the mountain, and was reflected downward upon a
dark and mysterious-looking being that arose, unexpectedly, in their path. The
Indian paused, as if doubtful whether to proceed, and permitted his companion
to approach his side. A large black ball, which at first seemed stationary, now
began to move in a manner that to the latter was inexplicable. Again the fire
brightened and its glare fell more distinctly on the object. Then even Duncan
knew it, by its restless and sidling attitudes, which kept the upper part of its form
in constant motion, while the animal itself appeared seated, to be a bear. Though
it growled loudly and fiercely, and there were instants when its glistening
eyeballs might be seen, it gave no other indications of hostility. The Huron, at
least, seemed assured that the intentions of this singular intruder were
peaceable, for after giving it an attentive examination, he quietly pursued his
course.%
Duncan, who knew that the animal was often domesticated among the
Indians, followed the example of his companion, believing that some favorite of
the tribe had found its way into the thicket, in search of food. They passed it
unmolested. Though obliged to come nearly in contact with the monster, the
Huron, who had at first so warily determined the character of his strange visitor,
was now content with proceeding without wasting a moment in further
examination; but Heyward was unable to prevent his eyes from looking
backward, in salutary watchfulness against attacks in the rear. His uneasiness
was in no degree diminished when he perceived the beast rolling along their
path, and following their footsteps. He would have spoken, but the Indian at that
moment shoved aside a door of bark, and entered a cavern in the bosom of the
mountain.
Profiting by so easy a method of retreat, Duncan stepped after him, and was
gladly closing the slight cover to the opening, when he felt it drawn from his
hand by the beast, whose shaggy form immediately darkened the passage. They
were now in a straight and long gallery, in a chasm of the rocks, where retreat
without encountering the animal was impossible. Making the best of the
circumstances, the young man pressed forward, keeping as close as possible to
Thesaurus
diminished: (adj) abated, weakened, moderate, meek, serene; (adj, v) rugged. ANTONYMS: (adj) sleek,
lessened, atrophied, belittled, peaceful. ANTONYMS: (adj) tidy.
attenuate, reduced, lower, argumentative, belligerent, stepped: (v) advanced, gone, stopen.
attenuated, cut, short. intemperate, quarrelsome, crooked, unmolested: (adj) undisturbed,
domesticated: (adj) tame, vernacular, disruptive, harsh, disordered. untroubled, unthreatened, peaceable,
subdued, gentle, tamed, naturalized, salutary: (adj) beneficial, salubrious, tranquil, still, smooth, safe, quiet; (v)
submissive, depressed, crushed, good, healthful, healthy, wholesome, unafflicted, unplagued.
cade, broken. ANTONYM: (adj) wild. helpful, curative, benign, useful, wasting: (n) homicide, atrophy,
indications: (n) discriminating marks, advantageous. slaughter, slaying, cachexia,
indicia, chance. shaggy: (adj) bushy, hirsute, hairy, assassination, cachexy, amyotrophy,
peaceable: (adj) gentle, calm, pacific, bearded, shagged, pilous, brushy, carnage; (adj) consuming,
amicable, quiet, friendly, inoffensive, unkempt, hispid; (adj, n) ragged; (n) consumptive.
his conductor. The bear growled frequently at his heels, and once or twice its
enormous paws were laid on his person, as if disposed to prevent his further
passage into the den.%
How long the nerves of Heyward would have sustained him in this
extraordinary situation, it might be difficult to decide, for, happily, he soon
found relief. A glimmer of light had constantly been in their front, and they now
arrived at the place whence it proceeded.
A large cavity in the rock had been rudely fitted to answer the purposes of
many apartments. The subdivisions were simple but ingenious, being composed
of stone, sticks, and bark, intermingled. Openings above admitted the light by
day, and at night fires and torches supplied the place of the sun. Hither the
Hurons had brought most of their valuables, especially those which more
particularly pertained to the nation; and hither, as it now appeared, the sick
woman, who was believed to be the victim of supernatural power, had been
transported also, under an impression that her tormentor would find more
difficulty in making his assaults through walls of stone than through the leafy
coverings of the lodges. The apartment into which Duncan and his guide first
entered, had been exclusively devoted to her accommodation. The latter
approached her bedside, which was surrounded by females, in the center of
whom Heyward was surprised to find his missing friend David.
A single look was sufficient to apprise the pretended leech that the invalid
was far beyond his powers of healing. She lay in a sort of paralysis, indifferent to
the objects which crowded before her sight, and happily unconscious of
suffering. Heyward was far from regretting that his mummeries were to be
performed on one who was much too ill to take an interest in their failure or
success. The slight qualm of conscience which had been excited by the intended
deception was instantly appeased, and he began to collect his thoughts, in order
to enact his part with suitable spirit, when he found he was about to be
anticipated in his skill by an attempt to prove the power of music.
Gamut, who had stood prepared to pour forth his spirit in song when the
visitors entered, after delaying a moment, drew a strain from his pipe, and
Thesaurus
apprise: (v) acquaint, notify, inform, revoke, stop. paralyzation, disability; (adj)
brief, instruct, announce, apprize, leafy: (adj) green, verdant, lush, consumption, decline, syncope,
appreciate, advertise, warn, tell. foliose, foliate, leafed, luxuriant, sideration.
delaying: (adj) dilatory, lingering, foliaceous, leaved, bowery, qualm: (n) misgiving, doubt, nausea,
protractive, backward, behindhand, flourishing. ANTONYMS: (adj) distrust, compunction, uncertainty,
continuing, flagging, hesitant, slow; leafless, urban, withering. regret, hesitation, apprehension, fear;
(n) hesitation, dalliance. leech: (n) parasite, bloodsucker, (adj, n) suspicion.
enact: (v) constitute, pass, command, physician, doctor, sponger, tormentor: (n) pest, tormenter,
act, ordain, order, prescribe, legislate, hirudinean, freeloader, sycophant, torturer, pesterer, annoyer, teaser,
play, perform; (adj, v) establish. vampire; (v) bleed, phlebotomize. tease, tantalizer, persecutor, gadfly,
ANTONYMS: (v) cancel, abolish, paralysis: (n) anaesthesia, numbness, flat.
annul, fail, reject, repeal, veto, apoplexy, akinesia, alalia, valuables: (n) swag, plunder.
commenced a hymn that might have worked a miracle, had faith in its efficacy
been of much avail. He was allowed to proceed to the close, the Indians
respecting his imaginary infirmity, and Duncan too glad of the delay to hazard
the slightest interruption. As the dying cadence of his strains was falling on the
ears of the latter, he started aside at hearing them repeated behind him, in a voice
half human and half sepulchral. Looking around, he beheld the shaggy monster
seated on end in a shadow of the cavern, where, while his restless body swung in
the uneasy manner of the animal, it repeated, in a sort of low growl, sounds, if
not words, which bore some slight resemblance to the melody of the singer.%
The effect of so strange an echo on David may better be imagined than
described. His eyes opened as if he doubted their truth; and his voice became
instantly mute in excess of wonder. A deep-laid scheme, of communicating some
important intelligence to Heyward, was driven from his recollection by an
emotion which very nearly resembled fear, but which he was fain to believe was
admiration. Under its influence, he exclaimed aloud: "She expects you, and is at
hand"; and precipitately left the cavern.
Thesaurus
avail: (n, v) advantage, assist, aid, dramaturgy; (v) communicate; (adj) prematurely; (adj, adv) headlong.
profit, benefit, help; (adj, n) service; communicant, dramaturgic. ANTONYM: (adv) deliberately.
(n) good, assistance, utility; (v) do. growl: (adj, n, v) snarl; (n, v) roar, bark, respecting: (prep) about, regarding,
ANTONYMS: (v) useless, hurt, howl, yap, moan, thunder; (v) gnarl, apropos, as regards, pertaining to;
hinder, harm; (n) inappropriateness. mutter, complain, croak. (adj) relative, not absolute,
cadence: (n) beat, tempo, measure, hymn: (n) song, canticle, chant, pertaining, referring, loving.
rhythm, cadency, descent, time; (n, v) anthem, carol, chorale, doxology; (v) sepulchral: (adj, v) hollow, hoarse; (v)
pace; (v) gait, step, rate. glorify, laud, sing, extol. mortuary, harsh, rough, horrisonous,
communicating: (n) communication, precipitately: (adv) rashly, grum; (adj) ghastly, raucous, husky;
intercommunication, suasion, immediately, instantly, passionately, (n) funeral.
expression, transmission, rapidly, precipitously, impetuously, slightest: (adj) minimal, first, smallest
examination, intercourse, impulsively, foolhardily, amount.
CHAPTER 25
"Snug: Have you the lion's part written? Pray you, if it be, give it to me,
for I am slow of study.%
Quince: You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring."
There was a strange blending of the ridiculous with that which was solemn
in this scene. The beast still continued its rolling, and apparently untiring
movements, though its ludicrous attempt to imitate the melody of David ceased
the instant the latter abandoned the field. The words of Gamut were, as has been
seen, in his native tongue; and to Duncan they seem pregnant with some hidden
meaning, though nothing present assisted him in discovering the object of their
allusion. A speedy end was, however, put to every conjecture on the subject, by
the manner of the chief, who advanced to the bedside of the invalid, and
beckoned away the whole group of female attendants that had clustered there to
witness the skill of the stranger. He was implicitly, though reluctantly, obeyed;
and when the low echo which rang along the hollow, natural gallery, from the
distant closing door, had ceased, pointing toward his insensible daughter, he
said:
"Now let my brother show his power."
Thesaurus
blending: (n) mixture, amalgamation, rebound, reply; (v) reproduce, disable. ANTONYMS: (adj) valid,
combination, incorporation, union, reverberate, imitate; (n) repercussion, legitimate, current, healthy, true,
synthesis, fusion, intermixture, reaction, replication. watertight, correct.
concoction, centralization; (adj) extempore: (adj) extemporary, ludicrous: (adj) absurd, ridiculous,
merging. ANTONYM: (n) separation. offhanded, offhand, at short notice, farcical, foolish, laughable, comical,
conjecture: (n) supposition, improvised, unprepared; (adj, adv) grotesque, derisory, droll,
speculation, assumption, surmise, impromptu, ad-lib; (adv) preposterous, jocular. ANTONYMS:
hypothesis; (v) suppose, believe, extemporaneously, extemporarily, (adj) sane, impressive.
anticipate, assume, speculate; (n, v) without preparation. melody: (n) air, tune, music, measure,
estimate. ANTONYMS: (n) certainty; invalid: (adj) false, illogical, harmony, aria, song, strain, line,
(v) demonstrate, know, learn, prove. unreasonable, null, weak, void, melodic phrase; (n, v) chant.
echo: (n, v) answer, repeat, resound, unhealthy, sick, flawed; (n) infirm; (v)
Thus unequivocally called on to exercise the functions of his assumed

character, Heyward was apprehensive that the smallest delay might prove
dangerous. Endeavoring, then, to collect his ideas, he prepared to perform that
species of incantation, and those uncouth rites, under which the Indian conjurers
are accustomed to conceal their ignorance and impotency. It is more than
probable that, in the disordered state of his thoughts, he would soon have fallen
into some suspicious, if not fatal, error had not his incipient attempts been
interrupted by a fierce growl from the quadruped. Three several times did he
renew his efforts to proceed, and as often was he met by the same unaccountable
opposition, each interruption seeming more savage and threatening than the
preceding.%
"The cunning ones are jealous," said the Huron; "I go. Brother, the woman is
the wife of one of my bravest young men; deal justly by her. Peace!" he added,
beckoning to the discontented beast to be quiet; "I go."
The chief was as good as his word, and Duncan now found himself alone in
that wild and desolate abode with the helpless invalid and the fierce and
dangerous brute. The latter listened to the movements of the Indian with that air
of sagacity that a bear is known to possess, until another echo announced that he
had also left the cavern, when it turned and came waddling up to Duncan before
whom it seated itself in its natural attitude, erect like a man. The youth looked
anxiously about him for some weapon, with which he might make a resistance
against the attack he now seriously expected.
It seemed, however, as if the humor of the animal had suddenly changed.
Instead of continuing its discontented growls, or manifesting any further signs of
anger, the whole of its shaggy body shook violently, as if agitated by some
strange internal convulsion. The huge and unwieldy talons pawed stupidly
about the grinning muzzle, and while Heyward kept his eyes riveted on its
movements with jealous watchfulness, the grim head fell on one side and in its
place appeared the honest sturdy countenance of the scout, who was indulging
from the bottom of his soul in his own peculiar expression of merriment.
Thesaurus
beckoning: (adj) irresistible. nascent, imperfectly formed, insanely, unwisely, doltishly, crassly,
convulsion: (adj, n, v) spasm; (n) fit, commencing, first, undeveloped; (adj, densely. ANTONYMS: (adv)
paroxysm, commotion, attack, v) introductory; (v) inceptive; (n) shrewdly, brightly, sensibly, wisely,
clonus, shake, seizure, upheaval, beginning. sensitively, prudently, carefully.
cramp; (adj, n) disturbance. quadruped: (n) beast, tetrapod, talons: (v) claws, tenaculum, unguis,
ANTONYM: (n) peace. mollusk, insect, mammal, creature, tentacle, teeth; (n) clutches.
impotency: (n) weakness, biped; (adj) quadrupedal. uncouth: (adj) rough, rude, barbarous,
powerlessness, impuissance, ANTONYM: (adj) bipedal. vulgar, crude, awkward, clumsy,
disability, quality, sterility, infertility, rites: (n) money, finances, wake, gross, unrefined, ungainly, common.
helplessness, incapability, inability, religion. ANTONYMS: (adj) refined, couth,
imbecility. stupidly: (adv) dully, thickly, obtusely, polite, sophisticated, pleasant,
incipient: (adj) initial, budding, senselessly, fatuously, slowly, proper, genteel.
"Hist!" said the wary woodsman, interrupting Heyward's exclamation of

surprise; "the varlets are about the place, and any sounds that are not natural to
witchcraft would bring them back upon us in a body."%
"Tell me the meaning of this masquerade; and why you have attempted so
desperate an adventure?"
"Ah, reason and calculation are often outdone by accident," returned the
scout. "But, as a story should always commence at the beginning, I will tell you
the whole in order. After we parted I placed the commandant and the Sagamore
in an old beaver lodge, where they are safer from the Hurons than they would be
in the garrison of Edward; for your high north-west Indians, not having as yet
got the traders among them, continued to venerate the beaver. After which
Uncas and I pushed for the other encampment as was agreed. Have you seen the
lad?"
"To my great grief! He is captive, and condemned to die at the rising of the
sun."
"I had misgivings that such would be his fate," resumed the scout, in a less
confident and joyous tone. But soon regaining his naturally firm voice, he
continued: "His bad fortune is the true reason of my being here, for it would
never do to abandon such a boy to the Hurons. A rare time the knaves would
have of it, could they tie 'The Bounding Elk' and 'The Long Carabine', as they call
me, to the same stake! Though why they have given me such a name I never
knew, there being as little likeness between the gifts of 'killdeer' and the
performance of one of your real Canada carabynes, as there is between the natur'
of a pipe-stone and a flint."
"Keep to your tale," said the impatient Heyward; "we know not at what
moment the Hurons may return."
"No fear of them. A conjurer must have his time, like a straggling priest in
the settlements. We are as safe from interruption as a missionary would be at the
beginning of a two hours' discourse. Well, Uncas and I fell in with a return party
of the varlets; the lad was much too forward for a scout; nay, for that matter,
Thesaurus
conjurer: (n) performer, illusionist, correspondence, facsimile; (adj, n) reappearance, indemnity, issue,
conjuror, wizard, juggler, figure, form, semblance. recapture, recurrence, redress.
prestidigitator, sorcerer, conjure man, ANTONYMS: (n) difference, ANTONYM: (n) loss.
necromancer, enchanter, pythonist. diversity, dissimilarity, unlikeness, venerate: (v) honor, idolize, adore,
hours: (n) period, duty period; (adv) contrast. respect, worship, reverence, esteem,
o'clock. misgivings: (n) anxiety, doubt, fear, admire, glorify, prize.
joyous: (adj) happy, gleeful, elated, misgiving, apprehension, fear, ANTONYMS: (v) scorn, dishonor,
jolly, glad, gay, jovial, merry, festive, suspicion, doubts, concern, despise.
cheerful, jocund. ANTONYMS: (adj) consternation, disbelief, foreboding. witchcraft: (n) incantation, sorcery,
despairing, joyless, miserable. ANTONYM: (n) equanimity. witchery, enchantment, spell, black
likeness: (n) resemblance, copy, effigy, regaining: (n) regain, clawback, magic, necromancy, fascination,
image, affinity, similarity, proceeds, payoff, paying back, charm, black art, glamour.
being of hot blood, he was not so much to blame; and, after all, one of the Hurons
proved a coward, and in fleeing led him into an ambushment."%
"And dearly has he paid for the weakness."
The scout significantly passed his hand across his own throat, and nodded, as
if he said, "I comprehend your meaning." After which he continued, in a more
audible though scarcely more intelligible language:
"After the loss of the boy I turned upon the Hurons, as you may judge. There
have been scrimmages atween one or two of their outlyers and myself; but that is
neither here nor there. So, after I had shot the imps, I got in pretty nigh to the
lodges without further commotion. Then what should luck do in my favor but
lead me to the very spot where one of the most famous conjurers of the tribe was
dressing himself, as I well knew, for some great battle with Satan -- though why
should I call that luck, which it now seems was an especial ordering of
Providence. So a judgmatical rap over the head stiffened the lying impostor for a
time, and leaving him a bit of walnut for his supper, to prevent an uproar, and
stringing him up atween two saplings, I made free with his finery, and took the
part of the bear on myself, in order that the operations might proceed."
"And admirably did you enact the character; the animal itself might have
been shamed by the representation."
"Lord, major," returned the flattered woodsman, "I should be but a poor
scholar for one who has studied so long in the wilderness, did I not know how to
set forth the movements or natur' of such a beast. Had it been now a catamount,
or even a full-size panther, I would have embellished a performance for you
worth regarding. But it is no such marvelous feat to exhibit the feats of so dull a
beast; though, for that matter, too, a bear may be overacted. Yes, yes; it is not
every imitator that knows natur' may be outdone easier than she is equaled. But
all our work is yet before us. Where is the gentle one?"
"Heaven knows. I have examined every lodge in the village, without
discovering the slightest trace of her presence in the tribe."
Thesaurus
catamount: (n) jaguar, bobcat, cougar, feat: (n) deed, accomplishment, fake, imposter, sham, charlatan,
mountain lion, panther, lynx, puma, achievement, act, effort, performance, deceiver, faker, cheater, pretender.
Felis concolor, caracal, mountain-cat, action, triumph, attainment, trick; overacted: (adj) affectedly dramatic,
catamountain. (adj) fetis . ANTONYM: (n) inaction. overdone, overwrought, sentimental.
comprehend: (v) grasp, catch, see, flattered: (adj) pleased. shamed: (adj) dishonored, ashamed,
comprise, appreciate, feel, sense, fleeing: (v) flee; (adj) runaway, hangdog, guilty, discredited,
apperceive, read; (adj, v) understand; fugitive, evanescent. abashed, sheepish, embarrassed,
(n, v) embrace. ANTONYMS: (v) imitator: (n) mimic, follower, shamefaced, bullied, cowed.
mistake, misapprehend, exclude, impersonator, copycat, ape, walnut: (n) wood, walnut tree; (v)
misunderstand, misconceive. emulator, mimicker, copier, aper, succotash, waffle, vanilla, trepang,
examined: (adj) qualified, studied, copyist, somebody. porterhouse steak, supawn, salmis,
considered. impostor: (n) fraud, cheat, hypocrite, sea slug, sauerkraut.
"You heard what the singer said, as he left us: 'She is at hand, and expects
you'?"
"I have been compelled to believe he alluded to this unhappy woman."
"The simpleton was frightened, and blundered through his message; but he
had a deeper meaning. Here are walls enough to separate the whole settlement.
A bear ought to climb; therefore will I take a look above them. There may be
honey-pots hid in these rocks, and I am a beast, you know, that has a hankering
for the sweets."
The scout looked behind him, laughing at his own conceit, while he
clambered up the partition, imitating, as he went, the clumsy motions of the
beast he represented; but the instant the summit was gained he made a gesture
for silence, and slid down with the utmost precipitation.%
"She is here," he whispered, "and by that door you will find her. I would have
spoken a word of comfort to the afflicted soul; but the sight of such a monster
might upset her reason. Though for that matter, major, you are none of the most
inviting yourself in your paint."
Duncan, who had already swung eagerly forward, drew instantly back on
hearing these discouraging words.
"Am I, then, so very revolting?" he demanded, with an air of chagrin.
"You might not startle a wolf, or turn the Royal Americans from a discharge;
but I have seen the time when you had a better favored look; your streaked
countenances are not ill-judged of by the squaws, but young women of white
blood give the preference to their own color. See," he added, pointing to a place
where the water trickled from a rock, forming a little crystal spring, before it
found an issue through the adjacent crevices; "you may easily get rid of the
Sagamore's daub, and when you come back I will try my hand at a new
embellishment. It's as common for a conjurer to alter his paint as for a buck in
the settlements to change his finery."
The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to enforce
his advice. He was yet speaking when Duncan availed himself of the water. In a
Thesaurus
daub: (n, v) smear, splotch, smudge; ornamentation, enhancement, simpleton: (n) fool, blockhead, dolt,
(v) spread, besmear, plaster, coat, enrichment, beautification, dunce, numskull, ninny,
bedaub, stain; (n) blot, spot. embroidery, garnish, hyperbole. nincompoop, booby, sap, dummy,
discouraging: (adj) discouragingly, ANTONYM: (n) understatement. dullard.
chill, disappointing, disheartening, hankering: (n) craving, desire, wish, startle: (n, v) start, jump; (v) frighten,
bad, bleak, gloomy, sad, eagerness, yen, thirst, avidity, scare, astonish, shock, astound,
demoralizing, daunting, dispiriting. appetite, yearning, urge, hunger. amaze, shake, threaten, electrify.
ANTONYMS: (adj) encouraging, ANTONYMS: (n) aversion, dislike. ANTONYM: (v) soothe.
uplifting, inspiring, heartening, ill-judged: (adj) imprudent, impolitic, streaked: (adj) veined, striped, streaky,
comfortable, hopeful. injudicious, incautious. brindled, lined, mottled, virgated,
embellishment: (n) decoration, rocks: (n) sunken rocks, family jewels, patterned; (v) areolar, cancellated,
adornment, ornament, flourish, coral reef. grated.
moment every frightful or offensive mark was obliterated, and the youth
appeared again in the lineaments with which he had been gifted by nature. Thus
prepared for an interview with his mistress, he took a hasty leave of his
companion, and disappeared through the indicated passage. The scout witnessed
his departure with complacency, nodding his head after him, and muttering his
good wishes; after which he very coolly set about an examination of the state of
the larder, among the Hurons, the cavern, among other purposes, being used as
a receptacle for the fruits of their hunts.%
Duncan had no other guide than a distant glimmering light, which served,
however, the office of a polar star to the lover. By its aid he was enabled to enter
the haven of his hopes, which was merely another apartment of the cavern, that
had been solely appropriated to the safekeeping of so important a prisoner as a
daughter of the commandant of William Henry. It was profusely strewed with
the plunder of that unlucky fortress. In the midst of this confusion he found her
he sought, pale, anxious and terrified, but lovely. David had prepared her for
such a visit.
"Duncan!" she exclaimed, in a voice that seemed to tremble at the sounds
created by itself.
"Alice!" he answered, leaping carelessly among trunks, boxes, arms, and
furniture, until he stood at her side.
"I knew that you would never desert me," she said, looking up with a
momentary glow on her otherwise dejected countenance. "But you are alone!
Grateful as it is to be thus remembered, I could wish to think you are not entirely
alone."
Duncan, observing that she trembled in a manner which betrayed her
inability to stand, gently induced her to be seated, while he recounted those
leading incidents which it has been our task to accord. Alice listened with
breathless interest; and though the young man touched lightly on the sorrows of
the stricken father; taking care, however, not to wound the self-love of his
auditor, the tears ran as freely down the cheeks of the daughter as though she
had never wept before. The soothing tenderness of Duncan, however, soon
Thesaurus
appropriated: (adj) taken, destined, profusely: (adv) lavishly, copiously, hands, responsibility; (adj) tutelage.
taken over, confiscate, confiscated, extravagantly, bountifully, self-love: (n) egoism, vanity, pride,
condemned, seized, reserved. generously, plentifully, galore, arrogance.
complacency: (n) contentment, prodigally, richly, excessively, amply. soothing: (adj) calming, soft, smooth,
conceit, satisfaction, self-satisfaction, ANTONYMS: (adv) meagerly, pacifying, quiet, restful, bland, calm,
comfort, entire satisfaction, peace of stingily, thinly. assuasive; (adj, n) softening; (n)
mind, gratification; (adj) amiability, receptacle: (n) box, holder, case, torus, alleviation. ANTONYMS: (adj)
soft tongue, mansuetude. can, outlet, pocket, pyx, beehive, upsetting, disturbing, hostile, scary,
larder: (n) storeroom, pantry, food, cuspidor, pix. worrying, stimulating, exasperating,
victuals, viands, provisions, safekeeping: (n) keeping, care, annoying, invigorating, painful,
provender, stowage, stillroom, guardianship, charge, protection, intimidating.
commissariat, spence. conservation, preservation, trust, strewed: (v) besprent, sprinkled over.
quieted the first burst of her emotions, and she then heard him to the close with
undivided attention, if not with composure.%
"And now, Alice," he added, "you will see how much is still expected of you.
By the assistance of our experienced and invaluable friend, the scout, we may
find our way from this savage people, but you will have to exert your utmost
fortitude. Remember that you fly to the arms of your venerable parent, and how
much his happiness, as well as your own, depends on those exertions."
"Can I do otherwise for a father who has done so much for me?"
"And for me, too," continued the youth, gently pressing the hand he held in
both his own.
The look of innocence and surprise which he received in return convinced
Duncan of the necessity of being more explicit.
"This is neither the place nor the occasion to detain you with selfish wishes,"
he added; "but what heart loaded like mine would not wish to cast its burden?
They say misery is the closest of all ties; our common suffering in your behalf left
but little to be explained between your father and myself."
"And, dearest Cora, Duncan; surely Cora was not forgotten?"
"Not forgotten! no; regretted, as woman was seldom mourned before. Your
venerable father knew no difference between his children; but I -- Alice, you will
not be offended when I say, that to me her worth was in a degree obscured --"
"Then you knew not the merit of my sister," said Alice, withdrawing her
hand; "of you she ever speaks as of one who is her dearest friend."
"I would gladly believe her such," returned Duncan, hastily; "I could wish her
to be even more; but with you, Alice, I have the permission of your father to
aspire to a still nearer and dearer tie."
Alice trembled violently, and there was an instant during which she bent her
face aside, yielding to the emotions common to her sex; but they quickly passed
away, leaving her mistress of her deportment, if not of her affections.
Thesaurus
aspire: (v) aim, lust, hanker, crave, interested, stingy, egocentric, self- violently: (adj, adv) vehemently, hotly,
plan, hope, want, rise, purpose, wish, centered, covetous. ANTONYMS: madly, ardently; (adv) wildly,
long. ANTONYM: (v) wallow. (adj) selfless, altruistic, generous, passionately, strongly, hard,
detain: (v) arrest, confine, catch, altruism, considerate, philanthropic, furiously, turbulently; (adv, n)
capture, apprehend, stay, keep, jail, thoughtful, constructive, concerned, vigorously. ANTONYMS: (adv)
imprison, incarcerate, retard. abstemious, kind. gently, nonviolently, feebly,
ANTONYMS: (v) free, liberate, rush. undivided: (adj) complete, whole, impassively, peacefully, tamely.
obscured: (adj) hidden, blind, covered, unbroken, total, single, integral, withdrawing: (adj) receding, outgoing,
clouded, darkened, covert, dim, continuous, united, full, exclusive, retiring, moving back, modest, lowly;
intangible, unnoticed, ulterior, privy. solid. ANTONYMS: (adj) partial, (n) departure, privacy, seclusion,
selfish: (adj) mean, greedy, mercenary, separate, broken, imperfect, cancellation.
egotistical, egotistic, egoistic, self- individual.
"Heyward," she said, looking him full in the face with a touching expression
of innocence and dependency, "give me the sacred presence and the holy
sanction of that parent before you urge me further."
"Though more I should not, less I could not say," the youth was about to
answer, when he was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder. Starting to his
feet, he turned, and, confronting the intruder, his looks fell on the dark form and
malignant visage of Magua. The deep guttural laugh of the savage sounded, at
such a moment, to Duncan, like the hellish taunt of a demon. Had he pursued the
sudden and fierce impulse of the instant, he would have cast himself on the
Huron, and committed their fortunes to the issue of a deadly struggle. But,
without arms of any description, ignorant of what succor his subtle enemy could
command, and charged with the safety of one who was just then dearer than
ever to his heart, he no sooner entertained than he abandoned the desperate
intention.%
"What is your purpose?" said Alice, meekly folding her arms on her bosom,
and struggling to conceal an agony of apprehension in behalf of Heyward, in the
usual cold and distant manner with which she received the visits of her captor.
The exulting Indian had resumed his austere countenance, though he drew
warily back before the menacing glance of the young man's fiery eye. He
regarded both his captives for a moment with a steady look, and then, stepping
aside, he dropped a log of wood across a door different from that by which
Duncan had entered. The latter now comprehended the manner of his surprise,
and, believing himself irretrievably lost, he drew Alice to his bosom, and stood
prepared to meet a fate which he hardly regretted, since it was to be suffered in
such company. But Magua meditated no immediate violence. His first measures
were very evidently taken to secure his new captive; nor did he even bestow a
second glance at the motionless forms in the center of the cavern, until he had
completely cut off every hope of retreat through the private outlet he had
himself used. He was watched in all his movements by Heyward, who, however,
remained firm, still folding the fragile form of Alice to his heart, at once too
Thesaurus
austere: (adj) ascetic, stern, severe, glowing; (adj) fervent, ablaze, hot, outlet: (n) market, egress, store, exit,
harsh, plain, rigorous, rigid, fervid, impassioned, peppery; (adj, v) opening, drain, emporium, way out,
abstemious, stark, astringent, stiff. fierce, violent. ANTONYMS: (adj) hole, issue, outfall. ANTONYM: (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) ornate, luxurious, calm, passionless, dispassionate, entrance.
frivolous, hedonistic, extravagant, indifferent, placid, gentle, cool; (adv) sanction: (n, v) warrant, countenance,
lush, elaborate, spending, sunny, easygoing. assent, consent, license; (v) approve,
warm, indulgent. fortunes: (n) adventures, fortune, okay, authorize; (n) endorsement,
confronting: (n) braving, facing, personal narrative, life, journal. permission, authority. ANTONYMS:
tackling, opposition, grappling, irretrievably: (adv) permanently, for (v) forbid, prohibit, disapprove,
coping with; (adj) opposed. all time, irremediably, forever, reject, outlaw, debar; (n, v) ban, veto;
entertained: (adj) diverted, pleased. irrecoverably, once and for all, (n) reward, prohibition, refusal.
fiery: (adj, n) burning, passionate, irrevocably, irreversibly. sounded: (adj) measured, oral.
proud and too hopeless to ask favor of an enemy so often foiled. When Magua
had effected his object he approached his prisoners, and said in English:
"The pale faces trap the cunning beavers; but the red-skins know how to take
the Yengeese."
"Huron, do your worst!" exclaimed the excited Heyward, forgetful that a
double stake was involved in his life; "you and your vengeance are alike
despised."
"Will the white man speak these words at the stake?" asked Magua;
manifesting, at the same time, how little faith he had in the other's resolution by
the sneer that accompanied his words.%
"Here; singly to your face, or in the presence of your nation."
"Le Renard Subtil is a great chief!" returned the Indian; "he will go and bring
his young men, to see how bravely a pale face can laugh at tortures."
He turned away while speaking, and was about to leave the place through
the avenue by which Duncan had approached, when a growl caught his ear, and
caused him to hesitate. The figure of the bear appeared in the door, where it sat,
rolling from side to side in its customary restlessness. Magua, like the father of
the sick woman, eyed it keenly for a moment, as if to ascertain its character. He
was far above the more vulgar superstitions of his tribe, and so soon as he
recognized the well-known attire of the conjurer, he prepared to pass it in cool
contempt. But a louder and more threatening growl caused him again to pause.
Then he seemed as if suddenly resolved to trifle no longer, and moved resolutely
forward.
The mimic animal, which had advanced a little, retired slowly in his front,
until it arrived again at the pass, when, rearing on his hinder legs, it beat the air
with its paws, in the manner practised by its brutal prototype.
"Fool!" exclaimed the chief, in Huron, "go play with the children and squaws;
leave men to their wisdom."
He once more endeavored to pass the supposed empiric, scorning even the
parade of threatening to use the knife, or tomahawk, that was pendent from his
Thesaurus
empiric: (n) quack, impostor, unsettled, undecided, pensile, singly: (adv) one by one, separately,
mountebank, empiricist, Gypsy, drooping, projecting; (n) stipend. independently, severally, solely,
medicaster, quacksalver, rearing: (n) breeding, nurture, respectively; (adj, adv) alone, only,
saltimbanco, saltimbanque; (adj) education, bringing up, raising, merely; (adj) single, particularly.
empirical, experiential. fostering, upbringing, background, ANTONYM: (adv) multiply.
foiled: (adj) frustrated, disappointed, fosterage, nursing; (adj) rampant. sneer: (n, v) deride, jeer, scorn, flout,
discomfited, defeated, restlessness: (n) anxiety, disquiet, ridicule, scoff, mock, leer, grimace,
disappointingly unsuccessful, done impatience, fidget, uneasiness, gird; (n) smirk.
for, embarrassed, balked, baffled, disquietude, unrest, fidgetiness, trifle: (n, v) play; (adj, n, v) trinket; (v)
unsuccessful, discouraged. agitation, insomnia; (adj, n) dally, fiddle, flirt, fool, frivol; (n)
pendent: (adj) pendulous, suspended, nervousness. ANTONYMS: (n) calm, nothing, triviality, detail; (adj, n)
pendant, dangling, pending, contentment, restfulness, peace. bagatelle.
belt. Suddenly the beast extended its arms, or rather legs, and inclosed him in a
grasp that might have vied with the far-famed power of the "bear's hug" itself.
Heyward had watched the whole procedure, on the part of Hawkeye, with
breathless interest. At first he relinquished his hold of Alice; then he caught up a
thong of buckskin, which had been used around some bundle, and when he
beheld his enemy with his two arms pinned to his side by the iron muscles of the
scout, he rushed upon him, and effectually secured them there. Arms, legs, and
feet were encircled in twenty folds of the thong, in less time than we have taken
to record the circumstance. When the formidable Huron was completely
pinioned, the scout released his hold, and Duncan laid his enemy on his back,
utterly helpless.%
Throughout the whole of this sudden and extraordinary operation, Magua,
though he had struggled violently, until assured he was in the hands of one
whose nerves were far better strung than his own, had not uttered the slightest
exclamation. But when Hawkeye, by way of making a summary explanation of
his conduct, removed the shaggy jaws of the beast, and exposed his own rugged
and earnest countenance to the gaze of the Huron, the philosophy of the latter
was so far mastered as to permit him to utter the never failing:
"Hugh!"
"Ay, you've found your tongue," said his undisturbed conqueror; "now, in
order that you shall not use it to our ruin, I must make free to stop your mouth."
As there was no time to be lost, the scout immediately set about effecting so
necessary a precaution; and when he had gagged the Indian, his enemy might
safely have been considered as "hors de combat."
"By what place did the imp enter?" asked the industrious scout, when his
work was ended. "Not a soul has passed my way since you left me."
Duncan pointed out the door by which Magua had come, and which now
presented too many obstacles to a quick retreat.
"Bring on the gentle one, then," continued his friend; "we must make a push
for the woods by the other outlet."
Thesaurus
formidable: (adj) grim, appalling, patience, pedestal, stamina. demolish, destroy; (n, v) doom,
awful, difficult, forbidding, heavy, pinned: (adj) fastened, engaged, ravage, destruction, damage.
dreadful, fearful, uphill, trying, helpless, stapled, intended; (adv) ANTONYMS: (v) conserve, enhance,
tough. ANTONYMS: (adj) under. save, restore, improve; (n, v) respect;
insignificant, easy, comforting, feeble, retreat: (v) retire, withdraw, depart; (n) (n) making, success, triumph, rise,
cheerful. refuge, departure, asylum, den, lair, preservation.
inclosed: (adj) confined, entrails, retirement; (n, v) resort, return. utter: (v) say, state, speak, breathe,
included, internal, intestine. ANTONYMS: (n) raid, development, articulate, deliver, voice, pronounce;
jaws: (n) jaw, chops, fauces, chaps, extension, arrival, company; (v) (adj, n, v) express, declare; (adj, v) tell.
mandible, maw, lips, holding device; progress, remain. ANTONYMS: (adj) qualified,
(v) mazard. ruin: (n) devastation, desolation; (adj, incomplete, uncertain, rather, slight;
legs: (v) pegs, trotters, pins; (n) n) downfall; (v) break, consume, (v) conceal, hide, block.
"'Tis impossible!" said Duncan; "fear has overcome her, and she is helpless.
Alice! my sweet, my own Alice, arouse yourself; now is the moment to fly. 'Tis in
vain! she hears, but is unable to follow. Go, noble and worthy friend; save
yourself, and leave me to my fate."
"Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!" returned the
scout. "There, wrap her in them Indian cloths. Conceal all of her little form. Nay,
that foot has no fellow in the wilderness; it will betray her. All, every part. Now
take her in your arms, and follow. Leave the rest to me."
Duncan, as may be gathered from the words of his companion, was eagerly
obeying; and, as the other finished speaking, he took the light person of Alice in
his arms, and followed in the footsteps of the scout. They found the sick woman
as they had left her, still alone, and passed swiftly on, by the natural gallery, to
the place of entrance. As they approached the little door of bark, a murmur of
voices without announced that the friends and relatives of the invalid were
gathered about the place, patiently awaiting a summons to re-enter.%
"If I open my lips to speak," Hawkeye whispered, "my English, which is the
genuine tongue of a white-skin, will tell the varlets that an enemy is among
them. You must give 'em your jargon, major; and say that we have shut the evil
spirit in the cave, and are taking the woman to the woods in order to find
strengthening roots. Practise all your cunning, for it is a lawful undertaking."
The door opened a little, as if one without was listening to the proceedings
within, and compelled the scout to cease his directions. A fierce growl repelled
the eavesdropper, and then the scout boldly threw open the covering of bark,
and left the place, enacting the character of a bear as he proceeded. Duncan kept
close at his heels, and soon found himself in the center of a cluster of twenty
anxious relatives and friends.
The crowd fell back a little, and permitted the father, and one who appeared
to be the husband of the woman, to approach.
"Has my brother driven away the evil spirit?" demanded the former. "What
has he in his arms?"
Thesaurus
boldly: (adj, adv) courageously, eavesdropper: (v) auditor, hearer, strengthening: (n) fortification,
valiantly, heroically; (adv) fearlessly, informer, listener; (n) snooper, concentration, reinforcement,
daringly, bravely, intrepidly, tapper, snoop, quidnunc, Paul Pry, consolidation, transformation,
impudently, audaciously, newsmonger, delator. transmutation, reenforcement,
shamelessly, brashly. ANTONYMS: hears: (v) hear. reinforcing, intensification; (v)
(adv) discreetly, modestly, nervously, lawful: (adj) legal, just, rightful, strengthen; (adj) bracing.
hesitantly, shyly, fearfully, meekly, constitutional, true, right, justifiable, ANTONYM: (n) weakening.
submissively, secretly, respectfully, licit, regular; (n, v) allowable; (adj, v) wrap: (v) envelop, cover, roll, wind,
diffidently. permissible. ANTONYMS: (adj) shroud, enfold, enclose, drape; (n, v)
directions: (n) advice, instruction, unlawful, prohibited, cloak, swathe; (n) wrapping.
guidance, instructions, briefing, unconstitutional. ANTONYMS: (v) uncover, undo,
commands, orders, will. obeying: (adv) under. unwind, expose, reveal.
"Thy child," returned Duncan, gravely; "the disease has gone out of her; it is
shut up in the rocks. I take the woman to a distance, where I will strengthen her
against any further attacks. She will be in the wigwam of the young man when
the sun comes again."
When the father had translated the meaning of the stranger's words into the
Huron language, a suppressed murmur announced the satisfaction with which
this intelligence was received. The chief himself waved his hand for Duncan to
proceed, saying aloud, in a firm voice, and with a lofty manner:
"Go; I am a man, and I will enter the rock and fight the wicked one."
Heyward had gladly obeyed, and was already past the little group, when
these startling words arrested him.%
"Is my brother mad?" he exclaimed; "is he cruel? He will meet the disease,
and it will enter him; or he will drive out the disease, and it will chase his
daughter into the woods. No; let my children wait without, and if the spirit
appears beat him down with clubs. He is cunning, and will bury himself in the
mountain, when he sees how many are ready to fight him."
This singular warning had the desired effect. Instead of entering the cavern,
the father and husband drew their tomahawks, and posted themselves in
readiness to deal their vengeance on the imaginary tormentor of their sick
relative, while the women and children broke branches from the bushes, or
seized fragments of the rock, with a similar intention. At this favorable moment
the counterfeit conjurers disappeared.
Hawkeye, at the same time that he had presumed so far on the nature of the
Indian superstitions, was not ignorant that they were rather tolerated than relied
on by the wisest of the chiefs. He well knew the value of time in the present
emergency. Whatever might be the extent of the self-delusion of his enemies, and
however it had tended to assist his schemes, the slightest cause of suspicion,
acting on the subtle nature of an Indian, would be likely to prove fatal. Taking
the path, therefore, that was most likely to avoid observation, he rather skirted
than entered the village. The warriors were still to be seen in the distance, by the
fading light of the fires, stalking from lodge to lodge. But the children had
Thesaurus
announced: (adj) proclaimed, weakening, decaying. ANTONYMS: lowly, base, modest, deferential,
declared. (adj) thriving, increasing, growing. humble.
counterfeit: (adj, n, v) sham; (n, v) imaginary: (adj) fictitious, unreal, presumed: (adj) supposed, reputed,
copy, duplicate; (adj, v) mock, falsify; false, mythical, illusory, ideal, putative, understood, alleged,
(adj) false, artificial, assumed; (adj, n) hypothetical, visionary, fictional, probable, theoretical.
imitation; (v) forge, ape. notional, chimerical. ANTONYMS: suppressed: (adj) stifled, smothered,
ANTONYMS: (adj) genuine, real, (adj) real, palpable, actual, concrete, strangled, repressed, downtrodden,
authentic, true, actual; (n) original. prosaic, normal, true. buried, hidden, pent-up, latent,
fading: (n) attenuation, bleaching, lofty: (adj, v) high, elevated; (adj) untold; (n) subordinate.
discoloration, disappearance, exalted, eminent, arrogant, grand, ANTONYMS: (adj) publicized, overt.
evaporation, colour fading, decay; tall, haughty, great, distinguished, tolerated: (adj) permissive, permitted,
(adj) disappearing, paling, majestic. ANTONYMS: (adj) short, permitting, suffered, admissible.
abandoned their sports for their beds of skins, and the quiet of night was already
beginning to prevail over the turbulence and excitement of so busy and
important an evening.%
Alice revived under the renovating influence of the open air, and, as her
physical rather than her mental powers had been the subject of weakness, she
stood in no need of any explanation of that which had occurred.
"Now let me make an effort to walk," she said, when they had entered the
forest, blushing, though unseen, that she had not been sooner able to quit the
arms of Duncan; "I am indeed restored."
"Nay, Alice, you are yet too weak."
The maiden struggled gently to release herself, and Heyward was compelled
to part with his precious burden. The representative of the bear had certainly
been an entire stranger to the delicious emotions of the lover while his arms
encircled his mistress; and he was, perhaps, a stranger also to the nature of that
feeling of ingenuous shame that oppressed the trembling Alice. But when he
found himself at a suitable distance from the lodges he made a halt, and spoke
on a subject of which he was thoroughly the master.
"This path will lead you to the brook," he said; "follow its northern bank until
you come to a fall; mount the hill on your right, and you will see the fires of the
other people. There you must go and demand protection; if they are true
Delawares you will be safe. A distant flight with that gentle one, just now, is
impossible. The Hurons would follow up our trail, and master our scalps before
we had got a dozen miles. Go, and Providence be with you."
"And you!" demanded Heyward, in surprise; "surely we part not here?"
"The Hurons hold the pride of the Delawares; the last of the high blood of the
Mohicans is in their power," returned the scout; "I go to see what can be done in
his favor. Had they mastered your scalp, major, a knave should have fallen for
every hair it held, as I promised; but if the young Sagamore is to be led to the
stake, the Indians shall see also how a man without a cross can die."
Thesaurus
mistress: (n) dame, concubine, part. ANTONYMS: (v) stay, occupy, push, precede.
madame, inamorata, lady, lover, enter, maintain, start, come, arrive. trembling: (adj, n) shaking; (adj, n, v)
fancy woman, doxy, girl, kept revived: (adj) fresh, refreshed, tremor; (adj) shaky, quaking,
woman, missis. animated, revitalized, alive, shivering, flutter; (n) palpitation,
prevail: (n, v) triumph, control, invigorated, new. quiver, vibration, shiver, quake.
govern; (v) dominate, overcome, sports: (n) athletics; (adj) sporting. ANTONYMS: (adj) stable, steady.
outweigh, obtain, persist, carry, stake: (n, v) risk, chance, venture, bet, turbulence: (n) disorder, confusion,
vanquish; (adj) preponderate. wager, post, pole, gamble, support; agitation, commotion, fury, turmoil,
ANTONYM: (v) lose. (n) interest, shaft. upheaval, uproar, turbulency,
quit: (adj, n, v) leave; (v) go, drop, trail: (n, v) track, haul, trace, tail, hunt, hubbub, violence. ANTONYMS: (n)
break, cease, give up, depart, end, path, train; (v) drag, pursue, chase, peace, calmness, order.
discontinue; (adj, v) discharge; (n, v) draw. ANTONYMS: (n) room; (v)
Not in the least offended with the decided preference that the sturdy
woodsman gave to one who might, in some degree, be called the child of his
adoption, Duncan still continued to urge such reasons against so desperate an
effort as presented themselves. He was aided by Alice, who mingled her
entreaties with those of Heyward that he would abandon a resolution that
promised so much danger, with so little hope of success. Their eloquence and
ingenuity were expended in vain. The scout heard them attentively, but
impatiently, and finally closed the discussion, by answering, in a tone that
instantly silenced Alice, while it told Heyward how fruitless any further
remonstrances would be.%
"I have heard," he said, "that there is a feeling in youth which binds man to
woman closer than the father is tied to the son. It may be so. I have seldom been
where women of my color dwell; but such may be the gifts of nature in the
settlements. You have risked life, and all that is dear to you, to bring off this
gentle one, and I suppose that some such disposition is at the bottom of it all. As
for me, I taught the lad the real character of a rifle; and well has he paid me for it.
I have fou't at his side in many a bloody scrimmage; and so long as I could hear
the crack of his piece in one ear, and that of the Sagamore in the other, I knew no
enemy was on my back. Winters and summer, nights and days, have we roved
the wilderness in company, eating of the same dish, one sleeping while the other
watched; and afore it shall be said that Uncas was taken to the torment, and I at
hand -- There is but a single Ruler of us all, whatever may the color of the skin;
and Him I call to witness, that before the Mohican boy shall perish for the want
of a friend, good faith shall depart the 'arth, and 'killdeer' become as harmless as
the tooting we'pon of the singer!"
Duncan released his hold on the arm of the scout, who turned, and steadily
retraced his steps toward the lodges. After pausing a moment to gaze at his
retiring form, the successful and yet sorrowful Heyward and Alice took their
way together toward the distant village of the Delawares.
Thesaurus
answering: (adj) respondent, destructive, poisonous, toxic, serious, ruin, annihilate. ANTONYMS: (v)
responsive, according, agreeing, offensive, malicious, hurtful, noxious, survive, live, appear.
responsory; (n) respondency. unpleasant. shall: (n) must, necessity; (v) require,
disposition: (n) attitude, character, impatiently: (adv) petulantly, bequeath, leave.
disposal, tendency, predisposition, restlessly, keenly, intolerantly, silenced: (adj) mute, muffled,
inclination, propensity, bias, hastily, avidly, uneasily, disabled.
arrangement, direction, aptitude. enthusiastically, edgily, fidgetily, sleeping: (adj) asleep, inactive, latent,
harmless: (adj) safe, benign, restively. ANTONYMS: (adv) sleepy, vegetive, vegetative; (n)
inoffensive, hurtless, innocent, uncomplainingly, calmly, dormancy, noctambulism,
innoxious, intact, simple; (n) silly; unenthusiastically, lightly. quiescence, quiescency, short sleep.
(adj, n) foolish; (v) weaponless. perish: (v) expire, pass away, decease, ANTONYMS: (adj) active; (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) lethal, damaging, go, fade, decay, depart, fall, pass, waking.
CHAPTER 26
"Bottom: Let me play the lion too."%

Notwithstanding the high resolution of Hawkeye he fully comprehended all

the difficulties and danger he was about to incur. In his return to the camp, his
acute and practised intellects were intently engaged in devising means to
counteract a watchfulness and suspicion on the part of his enemies, that he knew
were, in no degree, inferior to his own. Nothing but the color of his skin had
saved the lives of Magua and the conjurer, who would have been the first victims
sacrificed to his own security, had not the scout believed such an act, however
congenial it might be to the nature of an Indian, utterly unworthy of one who
boasted a descent from men that knew no cross of blood. Accordingly, he trusted
to the withes and ligaments with which he had bound his captives, and pursued
his way directly toward the center of the lodges. As he approached the buildings,
his steps become more deliberate, and his vigilant eye suffered no sign, whether
friendly or hostile, to escape him. A neglected hut was a little in advance of the
others, and appeared as if it had been deserted when half completed -- most
probably on account of failing in some of the more important requisites; such as
wood or water. A faint light glimmered through its cracks, however, and
announced that, notwithstanding its imperfect structure, it was not without a
Thesaurus
congenial: (adj, v) concordant, ANTONYMS: (v) help, cooperate, (adj) better, choice, excellent,
consonant, accordant; (adj) assist, approve, coordinate, support, premium, adscript, perfect, higher,
compatible, affable, kindred, genial, back, reinforce. quality, senior; (adj, n) superscript;
kind, pleasant, pleasing, delightful. devising: (n) cartography, devisal, (n) boss.
ANTONYMS: (adj) uncongenial, mapmaking, making; (adj) practised: (adj) practiced, expert,
unfriendly, disagreeable, hostile, cartographical, original, cartographic. adept, good, trained, proficient,
incompatible, despicable, incur: (n, v) contract; (v) catch, get, seasoned, skilful, skilled, skillful,
abominable, unsavory, reserved. incite, begin, cause, encounter, versed.
counteract: (v) antagonize, experience, obtain, suffer, receive. requisites: (n) provisos, rudiments,
counterbalance, check, balance, inferior: (adj) secondary, bad, humble, conditions, fundamentals, necessities,
cancel, hinder, neutralize, contradict, poor, junior, petty, lesser, cheap, nuts and bolts, terms, stipulations,
resist, compensate, contravene. base, feeble, vulgar. ANTONYMS: prerequisites, basics.
tenant. Thither, then, the scout proceeded, like a prudent general, who was about
to feel the advanced positions of his enemy, before he hazarded the main attack.%
Throwing himself into a suitable posture for the beast he represented,
Hawkeye crawled to a little opening, where he might command a view of the
interior. It proved to be the abiding place of David Gamut. Hither the faithful
singing-master had now brought himself, together with all his sorrows, his
apprehensions, and his meek dependence on the protection of Providence. At the
precise moment when his ungainly person came under the observation of the
scout, in the manner just mentioned, the woodsman himself, though in his
assumed character, was the subject of the solitary being's profounded reflections.
However implicit the faith of David was in the performance of ancient
miracles, he eschewed the belief of any direct supernatural agency in the
management of modern morality. In other words, while he had implicit faith in
the ability of Balaam's ass to speak, he was somewhat skeptical on the subject of
a bear's singing; and yet he had been assured of the latter, on the testimony of his
own exquisite organs. There was something in his air and manner that betrayed
to the scout the utter confusion of the state of his mind. He was seated on a pile
of brush, a few twigs from which occasionally fed his low fire, with his head
leaning on his arm, in a posture of melancholy musing. The costume of the
votary of music had undergone no other alteration from that so lately described,
except that he had covered his bald head with the triangular beaver, which had
not proved sufficiently alluring to excite the cupidity of any of his captors.
The ingenious Hawkeye, who recalled the hasty manner in which the other
had abandoned his post at the bedside of the sick woman, was not without his
suspicions concerning the subject of so much solemn deliberation. First making
the circuit of the hut, and ascertaining that it stood quite alone, and that the
character of its inmate was likely to protect it from visitors, he ventured through
its low door, into the very presence of Gamut. The position of the latter brought
the fire between them; and when Hawkeye had seated himself on end, near a
minute elapsed, during which the two remained regarding each other without
speaking. The suddenness and the nature of the surprise had nearly proved too
Thesaurus
abiding: (adj) immortal, stable, unattractive, dull, repulsive. meek: (adj) lowly, docile, gentle, tame,
constant, everlasting, lasting, deliberation: (n) cogitation, counsel, low, submissive, compliant, mild,
enduring, perpetual, eternal, debate, caution, thought, advisement, modest, quiet, kind. ANTONYMS:
perennial, continuing, imperishable. attention, contemplation, (adj) assertive, bossy, haughty,
ANTONYMS: (adj) ephemeral, consultation; (adj, n) calculation, arrogant, overbearing, rebellious,
fleeting, impermanent, temporary, circumspection. ANTONYMS: (n) disobedient, wild, harsh, brash.
passing, mortal, erratic, inconstant. thoughtlessness, carelessness, skeptical: (adj) disbelieving, skeptic,
alluring: (adj) tempting, charming, impetuosity, distraction, rashness. sceptical, distrustful, doubting,
attractive, enticing, beguiling, inmate: (n) captive, convict, gaolbird, doubtful, dubious, suspicious,
glamorous, magnetic, enchanting, denizen, prisoner, con, patient, unbelieving, freethinking, cynical.
enthralling, appealing, appetizing. jailbird, lodger, occupant, resident. ANTONYMS: (adj) credulous,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unappealing, ANTONYM: (n) outpatient. believing, sure, convinced.
much for -- we will not say the philosophy -- but for the pitch and resolution of
David. He fumbled for his pitch-pipe, and arose with a confused intention of
attempting a musical exorcism.%
"Dark and mysterious monster!" he exclaimed, while with trembling hands
he disposed of his auxiliary eyes, and sought his never-failing resource in
trouble, the gifted version of the psalms; "I know not your nature nor intents; but
if aught you meditate against the person and rights of one of the humblest
servants of the temple, listen to the inspired language of the youth of Israel, and
repent."
The bear shook his shaggy sides, and then a well-known voice replied:
"Put up the tooting we'pon, and teach your throat modesty. Five words of
plain and comprehendible English are worth just now an hour of squalling."
"What art thou?" demanded David, utterly disqualified to pursue his
original intention, and nearly gasping for breath.
"A man like yourself; and one whose blood is as little tainted by the cross of a
bear, or an Indian, as your own. Have you so soon forgotten from whom you
received the foolish instrument you hold in your hand?"
"Can these things be?" returned David, breathing more freely, as the truth
began to dawn upon him. "I have found many marvels during my sojourn with
the heathen, but surely nothing to excel this."
"Come, come," returned Hawkeye, uncasing his honest countenance, the
better to assure the wavering confidence of his companion; "you may see a skin,
which, if it be not as white as one of the gentle ones, has no tinge of red to it that
the winds of the heaven and the sun have not bestowed. Now let us to business."
"First tell me of the maiden, and of the youth who so bravely sought her,"
interrupted David.
"Ay, they are happily freed from the tomahawks of these varlets. But can you
put me on the scent of Uncas?"
Thesaurus
bravely: (adv) courageously, fearlessly, disentitled, incapable, incompetent, humility, diffidence, humbleness,
valiantly, boldly, intrepidly, unable, unfit, deficient, barred, demureness, coyness, gentleness,
dauntlessly, gallantly, audaciously, unentitled, banned, not entitled. continence; (adj, n) decency, honesty.
undauntedly, heroically, doughtily. ANTONYM: (adj) eligible. ANTONYMS: (n) arrogance,
ANTONYMS: (adv) timidly, fearfully, freed: (adj) disentangled, emancipated, immodesty, spectacle, flamboyance,
execrably, nervously. disengaged, liberated, extricated, abandon, bigheadedness, pretension,
comprehendible: (adj) accessible, freer, unchained, untied, loosened, decadence, boldness.
understandable, apprehensible, disillusioned, not tied up. tinge: (n, v) color, hue, tint, dye, stain,
thinkable, approachable, cognizable, gasping: (adj) panting, winded, blown, touch, tincture; (n) shade, cast,
graspable, intelligible, lucid, out of breath, thirsty, pursy; (v) undertone; (adj, n, v) dash.
luminous, perceivable. spavined, touched in the wind. ANTONYMS: (v) whiten, pale; (n)
disqualified: (adj) ineligible, modesty: (n) reserve, bashfulness, white, information, pallor.
"The young man is in bondage, and much I fear his death is decreed. I greatly
mourn that one so well disposed should die in his ignorance, and I have sought a
goodly hymn --"
"Can you lead me to him?"
"The task will not be difficult," returned David, hesitating; "though I greatly
fear your presence would rather increase than mitigate his unhappy fortunes."
"No more words, but lead on," returned Hawkeye, concealing his face again,
and setting the example in his own person, by instantly quitting the lodge.%
As they proceeded, the scout ascertained that his companion found access to
Uncas, under privilege of his imaginary infirmity, aided by the favor he had
acquired with one of the guards, who, in consequence of speaking a little
English, had been selected by David as the subject of a religious conversion. How
far the Huron comprehended the intentions of his new friend may well be
doubted; but as exclusive attention is as flattering to a savage as to a more
civilized individual, it had produced the effect we have mentioned. It is
unnecessary to repeat the shrewd manner with which the scout extracted these
particulars from the simple David; neither shall we dwell in this place on the
nature of the instruction he delivered, when completely master of all the
necessary facts; as the whole will be sufficiently explained to the reader in the
course of the narrative.
The lodge in which Uncas was confined was in the very center of the village,
and in a situation, perhaps, more difficult than any other to approach, or leave,
without observation. But it was not the policy of Hawkeye to affect the least
concealment. Presuming on his disguise, and his ability to sustain the character
he had assumed, he took the most plain and direct route to the place. The hour,
however, afforded him some little of that protection which he appeared so much
to despise. The boys were already buried in sleep, and all the women, and most
of the warriors, had retired to their lodges for the night. Four or five of the latter
only lingered about the door of the prison of Uncas, wary but close observers of
the manner of their captive.
Thesaurus
bondage: (n) thrall, thraldom, decreed: (adj) appointed, lawful, virtuously, soundly, uprightly; (adj)
thralldom, slavery, captivity, prescribed, legal, inevitable, sizable, handsome, respectable.
enslavement, duress, restraint, yoke, appointive. mitigate: (n, v) alleviate, palliate,
vassalage; (adj, n) villenage. despise: (v) disdain, loathe, appease; (adj, n, v) assuage, allay; (v)
ANTONYMS: (n) independence, depreciate, abhor, dislike, detest, lessen, relieve, abate, lighten; (adj, v)
emancipation, freedom. slight, hate; (n, v) contemn; (n) moderate, soften. ANTONYMS: (v)
civilized: (adj) civil, refined, polite, contempt, deride. ANTONYMS: (v) increase, intensify, aggravate.
civilised, cultivated, educated, respect, love, adore, appreciate, presuming: (adj) forward, arrogant,
courteous, urbane, kind, gentle, cherish, like, praise, accept. insolent, familiar, overconfident,
genteel. ANTONYMS: (adj) uncouth, extracted: (v) descended, extraught. conceited, assuming, rash, brash,
noncivilized, discourteous, loutish, goodly: (adv) benignly, kindly, pretentious, confident.
rude, inhumane, wild. strongly, rightly, graciously,
At the sight of Gamut, accompanied by one in the well-known masquerade of

their most distinguished conjurer, they readily made way for them both. Still
they betrayed no intention to depart. On the other hand, they were evidently
disposed to remain bound to the place by an additional interest in the mysterious
mummeries that they of course expected from such a visit.%
From the total inability of the scout to address the Hurons in their own
language, he was compelled to trust the conversation entirely to David.
Notwithstanding the simplicity of the latter, he did ample justice to the
instructions he had received, more than fulfilling the strongest hopes of his
teacher.
"The Delawares are women!" he exclaimed, addressing himself to the savage
who had a slight understanding of the language in which he spoke; "the
Yengeese, my foolish countrymen, have told them to take up the tomahawk, and
strike their fathers in the Canadas, and they have forgotten their sex. Does my
brother wish to hear 'Le Cerf Agile' ask for his petticoats, and see him weep
before the Hurons, at the stake?"
The exclamation "Hugh!" delivered in a strong tone of assent, announced the
gratification the savage would receive in witnessing such an exhibition of
weakness in an enemy so long hated and so much feared.
"Then let him step aside, and the cunning man will blow upon the dog. Tell it
to my brothers."
The Huron explained the meaning of David to his fellows, who, in their turn,
listened to the project with that sort of satisfaction that their untamed spirits
might be expected to find in such a refinement in cruelty. They drew back a little
from the entrance and motioned to the supposed conjurer to enter. But the bear,
instead of obeying, maintained the seat it had taken, and growled:
"The cunning man is afraid that his breath will blow upon his brothers, and
take away their courage too," continued David, improving the hint he received;
"they must stand further off."
Thesaurus
ample: (adj) abundant, big, broad, gentleness, friendliness, humanity, purification, gentility, polish, finish,
copious, large, plentiful, heavy, benevolence, sensitivity, liberty, civilization, nicety, courtesy, grace;
liberal, roomy, affluent, considerable. decency. (adj, n) elegance. ANTONYMS: (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) small, meager, fulfilling: (adj) satisfying, satisfactory, vulgarity, adulteration, tackiness,
insufficient, scarce, sparse, scant, pleasing, uplifting, pleasurable, uncouthness, tastelessness,
cramped, narrow, partial, sketchy, effectual; (n) execution, enforcement. inelegance, coarseness, clumsiness,
slender. ANTONYM: (adj) frustrating. awkwardness, crudeness.
cruelty: (n) brutality, cruelness, hint: (v) suggest; (adj, n) trace; (n) weep: (v) wail, bawl, lament, sob,
oppression, barbarity, ferociousness, suggestion, intimation, inkling, cue, blubber, moan, howl, drip, greet,
tyranny, violence, atrocity, ferocity, allusion; (n, v) tip, touch, dash; (adj, v) whimper; (n) tear.
mercilessness, harshness. intimate. ANTONYM: (n) overtone.
ANTONYMS: (n) compassion, refinement: (n) culture, cultivation,
The Hurons, who would have deemed such a misfortune the heaviest
calamity that could befall them, fell back in a body, taking a position where they
were out of earshot, though at the same time they could command a view of the
entrance to the lodge. Then, as if satisfied of their safety, the scout left his
position, and slowly entered the place. It was silent and gloomy, being tenanted
solely by the captive, and lighted by the dying embers of a fire, which had been
used for the purposed of cookery.%
Uncas occupied a distant corner, in a reclining attitude, being rigidly bound,
both hands and feet, by strong and painful withes. When the frightful object first
presented itself to the young Mohican, he did not deign to bestow a single glance
on the animal. The scout, who had left David at the door, to ascertain they were
not observed, thought it prudent to preserve his disguise until assured of their
privacy. Instead of speaking, therefore, he exerted himself to enact one of the
antics of the animal he represented. The young Mohican, who at first believed his
enemies had sent in a real beast to torment him, and try his nerves, detected in
those performances that to Heyward had appeared so accurate, certain
blemishes, that at once betrayed the counterfeit. Had Hawkeye been aware of the
low estimation in which the skillful Uncas held his representations, he would
probably have prolonged the entertainment a little in pique. But the scornful
expression of the young man's eye admitted of so many constructions, that the
worthy scout was spared the mortification of such a discovery. As soon,
therefore, as David gave the preconcerted signal, a low hissing sound was heard
in the lodge in place of the fierce growlings of the bear.
Uncas had cast his body back against the wall of the hut and closed his eyes,
as if willing to exclude so contemptible and disagreeable an object from his
sight. But the moment the noise of the serpent was heard, he arose, and cast his
looks on each side of him, bending his head low, and turning it inquiringly in
every direction, until his keen eye rested on the shaggy monster, where it
remained riveted, as though fixed by the power of a charm. Again the same
sounds were repeated, evidently proceeding from the mouth of the beast. Once
Thesaurus
contemptible: (adj) abject, mean, base, inquisitively, nosily, curiously, privacy: (n) secrecy, confidentiality,
pitiful, little, worthless, unworthy, pryingly, interestedly, searchingly, darkness, retreat, privateness,
miserable, ignoble, abominable, inquiring, quizzically, intrusively. concealment, loneliness, shelter,
shameful. ANTONYMS: (adj) mortification: (n) chagrin, solitude, retirement, isolation.
estimable, admired, deserving, embarrassment, shame, gangrene, ANTONYM: (n) company.
worthy, honorable, respectable, disappointment, disgrace, corruption, purposed: (adj, v) intended; (adj)
respectful, noble, generous, necrosis, degradation; (adj, n) deliberate, designed, forcible,
commendable, good. vexation; (adj) grievance. betrothed, made tense, extended,
deign: (v) lower oneself, vouchsafe, pique: (v) nettle, insult, outrage, undesigned; (v) free, not accidental,
stoop, descend, lower, grant, move, irritate, fret; (n) grudge, annoyance, voluntary.
stoop to, allow, fall, come from. umbrage, irritation; (n, v) anger, tenanted: (adj) occupied, engaged,
inquiringly: (adv) enquiringly, spite. having tenants, resided in.
more the eyes of the youth roamed over the interior of the lodge, and returning
to the former resting place, he uttered, in a deep, suppressed voice:
"Hawkeye!"
"Cut his bands," said Hawkeye to David, who just then approached them.%
The singer did as he was ordered, and Uncas found his limbs released. At the
same moment the dried skin of the animal rattled, and presently the scout arose
to his feet, in proper person. The Mohican appeared to comprehend the nature of
the attempt his friend had made, intuitively, neither tongue nor feature
betraying another symptom of surprise. When Hawkeye had cast his shaggy
vestment, which was done by simply loosing certain thongs of skin, he drew a
long, glittering knife, and put it in the hands of Uncas.
"The red Hurons are without," he said; "let us be ready." At the same time he
laid his finger significantly on another similar weapon, both being the fruits of
his prowess among their enemies during the evening.
"We will go," said Uncas.
"Whither?"
"To the Tortoises; they are the children of my grandfathers."
"Ay, lad," said the scout in English -- a language he was apt to use when a
little abstracted in mind; "the same blood runs in your veins, I believe; but time
and distance has a little changed its color. What shall we do with the Mingoes at
the door? They count six, and this singer is as good as nothing."
"The Hurons are boasters," said Uncas, scornfully; "their 'totem' is a moose,
and they run like snails. The Delawares are children of the tortoise, and they
outstrip the deer."
"Ay, lad, there is truth in what you say; and I doubt not, on a rush, you
would pass the whole nation; and, in a straight race of two miles, would be in,
and get your breath again, afore a knave of them all was within hearing of the
other village. But the gift of a white man lies more in his arms than in his legs. As
for myself, I can brain a Huron as well as a better man; but when it comes to a
race the knaves would prove too much for me."
Thesaurus
dried: (adj) arid, desiccated, cottage; (v) quarter, accommodate, resting: (adj) idle, quiescent, inactive,
dehydrated, shriveled, shrunken, fix. ANTONYMS: (v) dislodge, evict. dormant, quiet, sleeping, reclining,
drained, torrid, parched, withered; loosing: (adj) disengaging, detaching. obligatory, unemployed, asleep; (n)
(n) drier, dryer. outstrip: (v) outdo, exceed, beat, repose.
intuitively: (adv) impulsively, surpass, distance, outshine, symptom: (n) indication, note, mark,
viscerally, unconsciously, outdistance, outrun, better, best, evidence, manifestation, token,
automatically, mechanically, outclass. signal, characteristic, omen,
inbornly, inherently, innately, presently: (adv) instantly, directly, Trousseau's sign, ague.
involuntarily, nonrationally, currently, before long, shortly, soon, tortoise: (v) sluggard, loiterer, lingerer;
perceptively. now, at present, readily, just, (n) gopher, desert tortoise, gopher
lodge: (n, v) cabin, place, house; (adj, v) actually. ANTONYMS: (adv) later, tortoise, giant tortoise, gopher turtle,
live, dwell, reside, inhabit; (n) now, formerly. testudo.
Uncas, who had already approached the door, in readiness to lead the way,
now recoiled, and placed himself, once more, in the bottom of the lodge. But
Hawkeye, who was too much occupied with his own thoughts to note the
movement, continued speaking more to himself than to his companion.%
"After all," he said, "it is unreasonable to keep one man in bondage to the gifts
of another. So, Uncas, you had better take the lead, while I will put on the skin
again, and trust to cunning for want of speed."
The young Mohican made no reply, but quietly folded his arms, and leaned
his body against one of the upright posts that supported the wall of the hut.
"Well," said the scout looking up at him, "why do you tarry? There will be
time enough for me, as the knaves will give chase to you at first."
"Uncas will stay," was the calm reply.
"For what?"
"To fight with his father's brother, and die with the friend of the Delawares."
"Ay, lad," returned Hawkeye, squeezing the hand of Uncas between his own
iron fingers; "'twould have been more like a Mingo than a Mohican had you left
me. But I thought I would make the offer, seeing that youth commonly loves life.
Well, what can't be done by main courage, in war, must be done by
circumvention. Put on the skin; I doubt not you can play the bear nearly as well
as myself."
Whatever might have been the private opinion of Uncas of their respective
abilities in this particular, his grave countenance manifested no opinion of his
superiority. He silently and expeditiously encased himself in the covering of the
beast, and then awaited such other movements as his more aged companion saw
fit to dictate.
"Now, friend," said Hawkeye, addressing David, "an exchange of garments
will be a great convenience to you, inasmuch as you are but little accustomed to
the make-shifts of the wilderness. Here, take my hunting shirt and cap, and give
me your blanket and hat. You must trust me with the book and spectacles, as
Thesaurus
circumvention: (n) avoidance, escape, fleetly, quickly, efficiently, hastily, shirt: (n) Jersey, chemise, blouse, hair
evasion, collusion, dodging, agilely, speedily, fast, expeditely, shirt, dress shirt, evening shirt, polo
ingannation, encompassment, fastly. shirt.
circumvent, frustration, detour, folded: (adj) plaited, pleated, doubled, spectacles: (n) glasses, specs, spectacle,
supercherie. artful, braided, corrugated, doubled eyeglass, goggles, lorgnette, monocle,
dictate: (n, v) command, charge, order, over, fluted. bifocals, dark glasses, optical
decree; (n) bidding, behest, edict; (v) garments: (n) attire, clothing, dress, instrument, shades.
bid, prescribe, rule, ordain. apparel, raiment, outfit, costume, squeezing: (n) constriction,
ANTONYMS: (v) request, ask, garb, array, gear, anything worthless. compression, pressure, squeeze,
record; (n, v) obey. inasmuch: (adv) gradually, pro tanto, crushing, compressing, expulsion,
encased: (adj) incased, sheathed. so, since, as, that, because, inasmuch extrusion, distress, power play; (v)
expeditiously: (adv) swiftly, rapidly, as, seeing that, for. expression.
well as the tooter, too; if we ever meet again, in better times, you shall have all
back again, with many thanks into the bargain."
David parted with the several articles named with a readiness that would
have done great credit to his liberality, had he not certainly profited, in many
particulars, by the exchange. Hawkeye was not long in assuming his borrowed
garments; and when his restless eyes were hid behind the glasses, and his head
was surmounted by the triangular beaver, as their statures were not dissimilar,
he might readily have passed for the singer, by starlight. As soon as these
dispositions were made, the scout turned to David, and gave him his parting
instructions.%
"Are you much given to cowardice?" he bluntly asked, by way of obtaining a
suitable understanding of the whole case before he ventured a prescription.
"My pursuits are peaceful, and my temper, I humbly trust, is greatly given to
mercy and love," returned David, a little nettled at so direct an attack on his
manhood; "but there are none who can say that I have ever forgotten my faith in
the Lord, even in the greatest straits."
"Your chiefest danger will be at the moment when the savages find out that
they have been deceived. If you are not then knocked on the head, your being a
non-composser will protect you; and you'll then have a good reason to expect to
die in your bed. If you stay, it must be to sit down here in the shadow, and take
the part of Uncas, until such times as the cunning of the Indians discover the
cheat, when, as I have already said, your times of trial will come. So choose for
yourself -- to make a rush or tarry here."
"Even so," said David, firmly; "I will abide in the place of the Delaware.
Bravely and generously has he battled in my behalf, and this, and more, will I
dare in his service."
"You have spoken as a man, and like one who, under wiser schooling, would
have been brought to better things. Hold your head down, and draw in your
legs; their formation might tell the truth too early. Keep silent as long as may be;
and it would be wise, when you do speak, to break out suddenly in one of your
shoutings, which will serve to remind the Indians that you are not altogether as
Thesaurus
abide: (v) endure, bide, undergo, dissimilar: (adj) different, disparate, haughtily, pompously,
tolerate, take, suffer, stomach, bear, diverse, heterogeneous, unlike, ostentatiously, unrepentantly,
brook; (adj, v) stay, dwell. divergent, distinct, not like, not affluently, brashly, pretentiously.
ANTONYMS: (v) check, depart, similar, unequal, separate. schooling: (n, v) training; (n) learning,
disallow, disapprove, disbelieve, ANTONYMS: (adj) similar, like, alike, instruction, school, drilling, teaching,
journey, dodge, leave, migrate, move, equal, matched, same, uniform, pedagogy, edification, coaching,
pass. indistinct. preparation, doctrine.
cheat: (n, v) trick, con, fake, sham; (n) humbly: (adv) lowly, meanly, starlight: (n) rushlight, moonlight,
fraud, bilk, impostor; (v) defraud, modestly, submissively, low, shyly, firelight, candlelight.
beguile, betray, fleece. ANTONYMS: lowlily, naturally, regretfully, triangular: (adj) tripartite, trilateral,
(v) support, repay, help, contribute, remorsefully, repentantly. trigonal, deltoid, triangled, angular,
aid. ANTONYMS: (adv) conceitedly, multilateral, angulate.
responsible as men should be. If however, they take your scalp, as I trust and
believe they will not, depend on it, Uncas and I will not forget the deed, but
revenge it as becomes true warriors and trusty friends."
"Hold!" said David, perceiving that with this assurance they were about to
leave him; "I am an unworthy and humble follower of one who taught not the
damnable principle of revenge. Should I fall, therefore, seek no victims to my
manes, but rather forgive my destroyers; and if you remember them at all, let it
be in prayers for the enlightening of their minds, and for their eternal welfare."
The scout hesitated, and appeared to muse.%
"There is a principle in that," he said, "different from the law of the woods;
and yet it is fair and noble to reflect upon." Then heaving a heavy sigh, probably
among the last he ever drew in pining for a condition he had so long abandoned,
he added: "it is what I would wish to practise myself, as one without a cross of
blood, though it is not always easy to deal with an Indian as you would with a
fellow Christian. God bless you, friend; I do believe your scent is not greatly
wrong, when the matter is duly considered, and keeping eternity before the eyes,
though much depends on the natural gifts, and the force of temptation."
So saying, the scout returned and shook David cordially by the hand; after
which act of friendship he immediately left the lodge, attended by the new
representative of the beast.
The instant Hawkeye found himself under the observation of the Hurons, he
drew up his tall form in the rigid manner of David, threw out his arm in the act
of keeping time, and commenced what he intended for an imitation of his
psalmody. Happily for the success of this delicate adventure, he had to deal with
ears but little practised in the concord of sweet sounds, or the miserable effort
would infallibly have been detected. It was necessary to pass within a dangerous
proximity of the dark group of the savages, and the voice of the scout grew
louder as they drew nigher. When at the nearest point the Huron who spoke the
English thrust out an arm, and stopped the supposed singing-master.
Thesaurus
concord: (n) agreement, accordance, damnable: (adj) cursed, damned, unenlightening, unilluminating.
unity, harmony, union, unison, abominable, hateful, accursed, heaving: (v) tremor, twitter; (adj)
alliance, tune; (n, v) concert, peace; (v) devilish, infernal, disgusting, sinful, swelling, full, full up, jammed; (n)
agree. ANTONYMS: (n) discord, deplorable, offensive. ANTONYMS: murmur, forcing out, groan, grumble,
conflict, war, disunity, disarray; (v) (adj) commendable, laudable, mutter. ANTONYM: (adj) deserted.
disagree. praiseworthy. pining: (adj, n) longing; (adj)
cordially: (adv) warmly, genially, enlightening: (adj) edifying, languishing, languid, marcid,
kindly, sincerely, heartfeltly, instructive, illuminating, didactic, amorously pensive, dull, eager; (n)
ardently, friendly, jovially, earnestly, educational, calming, pinning, hankering, craving, desire.
affectionately, harmoniously. communicative, clarifying, useful, sigh: (n, v) groan, suspire, murmur; (v)
ANTONYMS: (adv) disagreeably, taming, revealing. ANTONYMS: (adj) breathe, languish, pine; (n) breath,
frostily. mystifying, unedifying, wail, whimper, whine, suspiration.
"The Delaware dog!" he said, leaning forward, and peering through the dim
light to catch the expression of the other's features; "is he afraid? Will the Hurons
hear his groans?"
A growl, so exceedingly fierce and natural, proceeded from the beast, that
the young Indian released his hold and started aside, as if to assure himself that
it was not a veritable bear, and no counterfeit, that was rolling before him.
Hawkeye, who feared his voice would betray him to his subtle enemies, gladly
profited by the interruption, to break out anew in such a burst of musical
expression as would, probably, in a more refined state of society have been
termed "a grand crash." Among his actual auditors, however, it merely gave him
an additional claim to that respect which they never withhold from such as are
believed to be the subjects of mental alienation. The little knot on Indians drew
back in a body, and suffered, as they thought, the conjurer and his inspired
assistant to proceed.%
It required no common exercise of fortitude in Uncas and the scout to
continue the dignified and deliberate pace they had assumed in passing the
lodge; especially as they immediately perceived that curiosity had so far
mastered fear, as to induce the watchers to approach the hut, in order to witness
the effect of the incantations. The least injudicious or impatient movement on the
part of David might betray them, and time was absolutely necessary to insure
the safety of the scout. The loud noise the latter conceived it politic to continue,
drew many curious gazers to the doors of the different huts as thy passed; and
once or twice a dark-looking warrior stepped across their path, led to the act by
superstition and watchfulness. They were not, however, interrupted, the
darkness of the hour, and the boldness of the attempt, proving their principal
friends.
The adventurers had got clear of the village, and were now swiftly
approaching the shelter of the woods, when a loud and long cry arose from the
lodge where Uncas had been confined. The Mohican started on his feet, and
shook his shaggy covering, as though the animal he counterfeited was about to
make some desperate effort.
Thesaurus
alienation: (n) estrangement, surpassingly, extraordinarily, greatly, refined: (adj) delicate, cultured,
abalienation, disaffection, dislike, awfully, terrifically, eminently. graceful, polite, gentle, urbane,
separation, transfer, breach, frenzy, ANTONYMS: (adv) slightly, hardly, courteous, courtly, cultivated; (adj, n)
insanity, conveyance; (adj) madness. insufficiently, somewhat. polished, pure. ANTONYMS: (adj)
assure: (n, v) certify, warrant, vouch; induce: (v) generate, tempt, cause, unrefined, raw, uncouth, rough,
(v) secure, persuade, satisfy, reassure, impel, bring, create, draw, engender, careless, crude, brute, boorish, plain,
affirm, promise, ascertain; (adj, v) beget, get, infer. ANTONYMS: (v) lowly, inelegant.
ensure. ANTONYMS: (v) alarm, prevent, restrain. withhold: (v) reserve, keep, suppress,
disclaim, deny, disbelieve, insure: (v) assure, secure, guarantee, deny, retain, hold, detain, restrain,
undermine. cover, underwrite, ensure, abstain, check; (adj, v) stint.
exceedingly: (adj, adv) very, highly; indemnify, ascertain, control, cinch, ANTONYMS: (v) transmit, release,
(adv) too, exceptionally, overly, verify. show, lavish, add.
"Hold!" said the scout, grasping his friend by the shoulder, "let them yell
again! 'Twas nothing but wonderment."
He had no occasion to delay, for at the next instant a burst of cries filled the
outer air, and ran along the whole extent of the village. Uncas cast his skin, and
stepped forth in his own beautiful proportions. Hawkeye tapped him lightly on
the shoulder, and glided ahead.%
"Now let the devils strike our scent!" said the scout, tearing two rifles, with all
their attendant accouterments, from beneath a bush, and flourishing "killdeer" as
he handed Uncas his weapon; "two, at least, will find it to their deaths."
Then, throwing their pieces to a low trail, like sportsmen in readiness for
their game, they dashed forward, and were soon buried in the somber darkness
of the forest.
Thesaurus
attendant: (n) companion, follower, burst: (adj, n, v) crack; (adj, v) split, instant: (adj, n) present; (adj)
assistant, escort, subordinate, blow up, explode, splinter, detonate; immediate, prompt; (n) flash, minute,
employee, guide, varlet; (adj) (n, v) rupture, blast; (adj, n) flash; (v) jiffy, point, second; (adj, v) exigent;
accompanying, concomitant, break out, belch. ANTONYMS: (v) (adj, n, v) pressing, urgent.
incidental. ANTONYMS: (n) attach, join, connect, fasten, trickle. ANTONYMS: (n) age, eternity; (adj)
superior, boss; (adj) absent, unrelated, dashed: (v) ashamed, cut up, sunk; considered, delayed, slow.
significant. (adj) broken, done for, dejected, proportions: (n) size, magnitude,
buried: (adj) hidden, covert, interred, discouraged, dotted. capacity, scope, figure, confines,
underground, inhumed, profound, forth: (adv) away, along, onward, acreage.
covered, ulterior; (v) perdu, imbed, ahead, before, on, off, on the high tapped: (adj) poor, powerless, helpless.
embed. ANTONYMS: (adj) explicit, road, on the road, on the way, under ANTONYM: (adj) untapped.
overt. way.
CHAPTER 27
"Antony: I shall remember:

When C'sar says Do this, it is performed."%
Julius Caesar
The impatience of the savages who lingered about the prison of Uncas, as has
been seen, had overcome their dread of the conjurer's breath. They stole
cautiously, and with beating hearts, to a crevice, through which the faint light of
the fire was glimmering. For several minutes they mistook the form of David for
that of the prisoner; but the very accident which Hawkeye had foreseen
occurred. Tired of keeping the extremities of his long person so near together, the
singer gradually suffered the lower limbs to extend themselves, until one of his
misshapen feet actually came in contact with and shoved aside the embers of the
fire. At first the Hurons believed the Delaware had been thus deformed by
witchcraft. But when David, unconscious of being observed, turned his head,
and exposed his simple, mild countenance, in place of the haughty lineaments of
their prisoner, it would have exceeded the credulity of even a native to have
doubted any longer. They rushed together into the lodge, and, laying their
hands, with but little ceremony, on their captive, immediately detected the
imposition. Then arose the cry first heard by the fugitives. It was succeeded by
the most frantic and angry demonstrations of vengeance. David, however, firm
Thesaurus
beating: (n) reverse, defeat, whipping, thoughtlessly, wastefully, tactlessly, trick, deceit, imposture, demand,
thrashing, battery, flogging, rashly, liberally. hoax, tax, swindle, wile, infliction.
pounding, pulsation, pulse, rout; (adj) foreseen: (v) foresee, long expected; laying: (n) egg laying, placing,
pulsing. ANTONYMS: (n) victory, (adj) envisioned, foretold, contingent, parturition, place, repose, setting,
win. concourse, coming, casual, put, position, lay, oyster park,
cautiously: (adv) guardedly, adventitious, accidental, predictable. oviposition.
prudently, warily, circumspectly, frantic: (adj) desperate, crazy, excited, misshapen: (adj) deformed,
charily, discreetly, vigilantly, timidly, distraught, frenetic, distracted; (adj, malformed, shapeless, crooked, ugly,
attentively, watchfully, sparingly. v) frenzied, furious, wild, raging; (n) contorted, monstrous, unshapely,
ANTONYMS: (adv) openly, maniac. ANTONYMS: (adj) mellow, grotesque, deformity, perverted.
irresponsibly, imprudently, bravely, composed. ANTONYMS: (adj) straight,
recklessly, incautiously, imposition: (adj, n) exaction; (n) cheat, attractive.
in his determination to cover the retreat of his friends, was compelled to believe
that his own final hour had come. Deprived of his book and his pipe, he was fain
to trust to a memory that rarely failed him on such subjects; and breaking forth in
a loud and impassioned strain, he endeavored to smooth his passage into the
other world by singing the opening verse of a funeral anthem. The Indians were
seasonably reminded of his infirmity, and, rushing into the open air, they
aroused the village in the manner described.%
A native warrior fights as he sleeps, without the protection of anything
defensive. The sounds of the alarm were, therefore, hardly uttered before two
hundred men were afoot, and ready for the battle or the chase, as either might be
required. The escape was soon known; and the whole tribe crowded, in a body,
around the council-lodge, impatiently awaiting the instruction of their chiefs. In
such a sudden demand on their wisdom, the presence of the cunning Magua
could scarcely fail of being needed. His name was mentioned, and all looked
round in wonder that he did not appear. Messengers were then despatched to his
lodge requiring his presence.
In the meantime, some of the swiftest and most discreet of the young men
were ordered to make the circuit of the clearing, under cover of the woods, in
order to ascertain that their suspected neighbors, the Delawares, designed no
mischief. Women and children ran to and fro; and, in short, the whole
encampment exhibited another scene of wild and savage confusion. Gradually,
however, these symptoms of disorder diminished; and in a few minutes the
oldest and most distinguished chiefs were assembled in the lodge, in grave
consultation.
The clamor of many voices soon announced that a party approached, who
might be expected to communicate some intelligence that would explain the
mystery of the novel surprise. The crowd without gave way, and several
warriors entered the place, bringing with them the hapless conjurer, who had
been left so long by the scout in duress.
Notwithstanding this man was held in very unequal estimation among the
Hurons, some believing implicitly in his power, and others deeming him an
Thesaurus
anthem: (n) song, hymn, chorale, estimation: (n) deference, assessment, damage, ill, detriment, disadvantage,
canticle, chant, choral, carol, psalm, calculation, approximation, devilry, caper, devilment,
paean, national anthem, chaunt. appraisal, attention; (n, v) esteem, maleficence. ANTONYMS: (n)
aroused: (adj) ablaze, aflame, consideration, regard, reputation, obedience, beneficence, help.
passionate, hot, agitated, inflamed, credit. ANTONYMS: (n) calculation, neighbors: (n) neighbourhood.
susceptible, tense, fascinated, disbelief, doubt. seasonably: (adv) early, patly, early
emotional, elated. impassioned: (adj) fervent, fanatical, fruit, fitly, forth with, fortunately,
deeming: (v) deem. fiery, burning, passionate, hot, torrid, happily, incidentally, pat, timely,
duress: (n) compulsion, coercion, vehement, keen, zealous; (adj, v) betimes. ANTONYM: (adv)
constraint, pressure, force, durance, enthusiastic. ANTONYMS: (adj) unseasonably.
menace, threat, enforcement, impassive, indifferent, calm. symptoms: (n) syndrome.
intimidation, coaction. mischief: (adj, n) evil, hurt, harm; (n)
impostor, he was now listened to by all with the deepest attention. When his
brief story was ended, the father of the sick woman stepped forth, and, in a few
pithy expression, related, in his turn, what he knew. These two narratives gave a
proper direction to the subsequent inquiries, which were now made with the
characteristic cunning of savages.%
Instead of rushing in a confused and disorderly throng to the cavern, ten of
the wisest and firmest among the chiefs were selected to prosecute the
investigation. As no time was to be lost, the instant the choice was made the
individuals appointed rose in a body and left the place without speaking. On
reaching the entrance, the younger men in advance made way for their seniors;
and the whole proceeded along the low, dark gallery, with the firmness of
warriors ready to devote themselves to the public good, though, at the same
time, secretly doubting the nature of the power with which they were about to
contend.
The outer apartment of the cavern was silent and gloomy. The woman lay in
her usual place and posture, though there were those present who affirmed they
had seen her borne to the woods by the supposed "medicine of the white men."
Such a direct and palpable contradiction of the tale related by the father caused
all eyes to be turned on him. Chafed by the silent imputation, and inwardly
troubled by so unaccountable a circumstance, the chief advanced to the side of
the bed, and, stooping, cast an incredulous look at the features, as if distrusting
their reality. His daughter was dead.
The unerring feeling of nature for a moment prevailed and the old warrior
hid his eyes in sorrow. Then, recovering his self-possession, he faced his
companions, and, pointing toward the corpse, he said, in the language of his
people:
"The wife of my young man has left us! The Great Spirit is angry with his
children."
The mournful intelligence was received in solemn silence. After a short
pause, one of the elder Indians was about to speak, when a dark-looking object
was seen rolling out of an adjoining apartment, into the very center of the room
Thesaurus
chafed: (adj) uncomfortable, sore, irregular; (adj, v) lawless. incomingly; (adj) inwards.
painful, galled, angry; (v) fretted, ANTONYMS: (adj) orderly, neat, ANTONYM: (adv) openly.
agitated. arranged, peaceful, organized, prosecute: (v) pursue, persecute,
contend: (v) wrestle, compete, conflict, systematized, conforming, ordered, follow, chase, engage, indict, litigate,
combat, argue, war, clash, altercate, restrained, behaved, coherent. drive, execute, accuse; (n, v) sue.
struggle, contest; (n, v) allege. imputation: (n) blame, charge, ANTONYM: (v) pardon.
ANTONYMS: (v) retreat, harmonize, accusation, impeachment, attribution, unerring: (adj) sure, certain, inerrant,
abandon, deny, cede, agree, ascription; (adj, n) slur; (adj) blot, inerrable, accurate, exact, faithful,
surrender, desert. reproach, stain, spot. perfect, unblemished, constant, right.
disorderly: (adj) wild, disordered, inwardly: (adv) inside, interiorly, ANTONYMS: (adj) erring, imperfect,
chaotic, boisterous, jumbled, innerly, within, secretly, intrinsically, mistaken, inaccurate, faulty.
disorganized, unruly, rowdy, untidy, intimately, privately, spiritually,
where they stood. Ignorant of the nature of the beings they had to deal with, the
whole party drew back a little, and, rising on end, exhibited the distorted but still
fierce and sullen features of Magua. The discovery was succeeded by a general
exclamation of amazement.%
As soon, however, as the true situation of the chief was understood, several
knives appeared, and his limbs and tongue were quickly released. The Huron
arose, and shook himself like a lion quitting his lair. Not a word escaped him,
though his hand played convulsively with the handle of his knife, while his
lowering eyes scanned the whole party, as if they sought an object suited to the
first burst of his vengeance.
It was happy for Uncas and the scout, and even David, that they were all
beyond the reach of his arm at such a moment; for, assuredly, no refinement in
cruelty would then have deferred their deaths, in opposition to the promptings
of the fierce temper that nearly choked him. Meeting everywhere faces that he
knew as friends, the savage grated his teeth together like rasps of iron, and
swallowed his passion for want of a victim on whom to vent it. This exhibition of
anger was noted by all present; and from an apprehension of exasperating a
temper that was already chafed nearly to madness, several minutes were
suffered to pass before another word was uttered. When, however, suitable time
had elapsed, the oldest of the party spoke.
"My friend has found an enemy," he said. "Is he nigh that the Hurons might
take revenge?"
"Let the Delaware die!" exclaimed Magua, in a voice of thunder.
Another longer and expressive silence was observed, and was broken, as
before, with due precaution, by the same individual.
"The Mohican is swift of foot, and leaps far," he said; "but my young men are
on his trail."
"Is he gone?" demanded Magua, in tones so deep and guttural, that they
seemed to proceed from his inmost chest.
"An evil spirit has been among us, and the Delaware has blinded our eyes."
Thesaurus
apprehension: (n) alarm, safely, insuredly, decidedly. barred.
comprehension, dread, misgiving, deferred: (adj) put off, delayed, lair: (n) burrow, hole, hideaway,
understanding, capture, foreboding, belated, late, later than usual. hiding place, hideout, cell, retreat,
arrest, trepidation; (n, v) doubt, ANTONYMS: (adj) hurried, hastened, earth, sanctum sanctorum; (adj) sty,
appreciation. ANTONYMS: (n) expedited, advanced, early. sink of corruption.
release, confidence, calmness, exasperating: (adj) annoying, longer: (adj) longest, better, lengest;
tranquility, freeing, bothersome, maddening, infuriating, (adv) farther; (n) yearner, thirster.
misunderstanding, peace, relief, trying, irritating, tedious, vexatious, vent: (n) exit, opening, flue, chimney,
bravery, calm, equanimity. vexing, galling, exacerbating. escape, blowhole; (n, v) discharge,
assuredly: (adv) certainly, confidently, ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasing, air, release; (v) emit, ventilate.
positively, securely, indeed, pleasant, satisfying. ANTONYMS: (n) door, closure; (v)
definitely, undoubtedly, admittedly, grated: (v) areolar, streaked; (adj) block, suppress.
"An evil spirit!" repeated the other, mockingly; "'tis the spirit that has taken
the lives of so many Hurons; the spirit that slew my young men at 'the tumbling
river'; that took their scalps at the 'healing spring'; and who has, now, bound the
arms of Le Renard Subtil!"
"Of whom does my friend speak?"
"Of the dog who carries the heart and cunning of a Huron under a pale skin --
La Longue Carabine."
The pronunciation of so terrible a name produced the usual effect among his
auditors. But when time was given for reflection, and the warriors remembered
that their formidable and daring enemy had even been in the bosom of their
encampment, working injury, fearful rage took the place of wonder, and all those
fierce passions with which the bosom of Magua had just been struggling were
suddenly transferred to his companions. Some among them gnashed their teeth
in anger, others vented their feelings in yells, and some, again, beat the air as
frantically as if the object of their resentment were suffering under their blows.
But this sudden outbreaking of temper as quickly subsided in the still and sullen
restraint they most affected in their moments of inaction.%
Magua, who had in his turn found leisure for reflection, now changed his
manner, and assumed the air of one who knew how to think and act with a
dignity worthy of so grave a subject.
"Let us go to my people," he said; "they wait for us."
His companions consented in silence, and the whole of the savage party left
the cavern and returned to the council-lodge. When they were seated, all eyes
turned on Magua, who understood, from such an indication, that, by common
consent, they had devolved the duty of relating what had passed on him. He
arose, and told his tale without duplicity or reservation. The whole deception
practised by both Duncan and Hawkeye was, of course, laid naked, and no room
was found, even for the most superstitious of the tribe, any longer to affix a
doubt on the character of the occurrences. It was but too apparent that they had
been insultingly, shamefully, disgracefully deceived. When he had ended, and
resumed his seat, the collected tribe -- for his auditors, in substance, included all
Thesaurus
affix: (n, v) annex; (adj, v) attach, fix; desperately, wildly, distractedly, sarcastically, satirically, mockly,
(v) adjoin, append, add on, fasten, furiously, excitedly, deliriously, scoffingly, sardonically, gibingly.
join, connect, stick; (n) addition. ravingly, distraughtly, fiercely, shamefully: (adv) ignominiously,
ANTONYMS: (v) unfasten, remove, crazily. ANTONYMS: (adv) sensibly, ingloriously, scandalously,
loosen, delete. cautiously, peacefully, sluggishly. infamously, shockingly,
duplicity: (n) deception, dishonesty, insultingly: (adv) offensively, discreditably, basely, outrageously;
artifice, craft, deceitfulness, guile, scurrilously, opprobriously, (adv, v) dishonorably, foully, nastily.
treachery, betrayal, chicanery, fraud, contemptuously, foully, scornfully, ANTONYMS: (adv) commendably,
trickery. ANTONYMS: (n) loyalty, injuriously, rudely, impertinently, compassionately, nobly.
sincerity, straightforwardness, provokingly, sarcastically. slew: (n) wad, turning, sight, heap,
allegiance, truthfulness. mockingly: (adv) jeeringly, sneeringly, stack, lot, flock; (v) rotate, slue,
frantically: (adv) frenziedly, ironically, derisorily, scornfully, swerve, veer.
the fighting men of the party -- sat regarding each other like men astonished
equally at the audacity and the success of their enemies. The next consideration,
however, was the means and opportunities for revenge.%
Additional pursuers were sent on the trail of the fugitives; and then the chiefs
applied themselves, in earnest, to the business of consultation. Many different
expedients were proposed by the elder warriors, in succession, to all of which
Magua was a silent and respectful listener. That subtle savage had recovered his
artifice and self-command, and now proceeded toward his object with his
customary caution and skill. It was only when each one disposed to speak had
uttered his sentiments, that he prepared to advance his own opinions. They were
given with additional weight from the circumstance that some of the runners had
already returned, and reported that their enemies had been traced so far as to
leave no doubt of their having sought safety in the neighboring camp of their
suspected allies, the Delawares. With the advantage of possessing this important
intelligence, the chief warily laid his plans before his fellows, and, as might have
been anticipated from his eloquence and cunning, they were adopted without a
dissenting voice. They were, briefly, as follows, both in opinions and in motives.
It has been already stated that, in obedience to a policy rarely departed from,
the sisters were separated so soon as they reached the Huron village. Magua had
early discovered that in retaining the person of Alice, he possessed the most
effectual check on Cora. When they parted, therefore, he kept the former within
reach of his hand, consigning the one he most valued to the keeping of their
allies. The arrangement was understood to be merely temporary, and was made
as much with a view to flatter his neighbors as in obedience to the invariable
rule of Indian policy.
While goaded incessantly by these revengeful impulses that in a savage
seldom slumber, the chief was still attentive to his more permanent personal
interests. The follies and disloyalty committed in his youth were to be expiated
by a long and painful penance, ere he could be restored to the full enjoyment of
the confidence of his ancient people; and without confidence there could be no
authority in an Indian tribe. In this delicate and arduous situation, the crafty
Thesaurus
allies: (n) alignment, alinement, treachery, dishonesty, unfaithfulness, invariable: (adj) fixed, consistent,
associates, cohorts, partners. sedition, faithlessness, perfidy, even, immutable, steady,
audacity: (n) nerve, audaciousness, infidelity, deceitfulness, duplicity. unchanging, stable, uniform, set,
effrontery, arrogance, temerity, ANTONYMS: (n) loyalty, undeviating, unchanged.
cheek, impertinence, insolence, faithfulness, honesty, allegiance, ANTONYMS: (adj) changing,
courage; (n, v) impudence; (adj, n) commitment, dedication, reliability. dynamic, erratic, irregular, varied.
presumption. ANTONYMS: (n) dissenting: (adj) dissident, heretical, penance: (n) atonement, sacrament,
cowardice, propriety, decorum, discordant, profane, unorthodox, confession, compunction, penalty,
circumspection, courtesy, fear, uncooperative, skeptical, expiation, remorse, repentance,
respect, spinelessness, reticence. sacrilegious, recalcitrant; (v) punishment, reparation, hair shirt.
consigning: (n) delegation. disagreeing, disagree. ANTONYMS: retaining: (adj) retentive; (n)
disloyalty: (n) treason, betrayal, (adj) conformist, cooperative. employment, reservation.
native had neglected no means of increasing his influence; and one of the
happiest of his expedients had been the success with which he had cultivated the
favor of their powerful and dangerous neighbors. The result of his experiment
had answered all the expectations of his policy; for the Hurons were in no degree
exempt from that governing principle of nature, which induces man to value his
gifts precisely in the degree that they are appreciated by others.%
But, while he was making this ostensible sacrifice to general considerations,
Magua never lost sight of his individual motives. The latter had been frustrated
by the unlooked-for events which had placed all his prisoners beyond his
control; and he now found himself reduced to the necessity of suing for favors to
those whom it had so lately been his policy to oblige.
Several of the chiefs had proposed deep and treacherous schemes to surprise
the Delawares and, by gaining possession of their camp, to recover their
prisoners by the same blow; for all agreed that their honor, their interests, and
the peace and happiness of their dead countrymen, imperiously required them
speedily to immolate some victims to their revenge. But plans so dangerous to
attempt, and of such doubtful issue, Magua found little difficulty in defeating.
He exposed their risk and fallacy with his usual skill; and it was only after he
had removed every impediment, in the shape of opposing advice, that he
ventured to propose his own projects.
He commenced by flattering the self-love of his auditors; a never-failing
method of commanding attention. When he had enumerated the many different
occasions on which the Hurons had exhibited their courage and prowess, in the
punishment of insults, he digressed in a high encomium on the virtue of
wisdom. He painted the quality as forming the great point of difference between
the beaver and other brutes; between the brutes and men; and, finally, between
the Hurons, in particular, and the rest of the human race. After he had
sufficiently extolled the property of discretion, he undertook to exhibit in what
manner its use was applicable to the present situation of their tribe. On the one
hand, he said, was their great pale father, the governor of the Canadas, who had
looked upon his children with a hard eye since their tomahawks had been so red;
Thesaurus
defeating: (adj) anatreptic; (n) victory, sophistry; (adj, n) subterfuge. obligate, necessitate, enforce, impel.
conquest. ANTONYMS: (n) fact, truth, validity, ANTONYMS: (v) displease, request,
encomium: (n) eulogy, panegyric, verity, understanding, correctness. hinder.
paean, glorification, compliment, impediment: (n, v) hindrance, check, ostensible: (adj) seeming, alleged,
tribute, approval, kudos; (n, v) praise, difficulty, delay; (n) bar, hitch, specious, superficial, nominal,
applause; (v) acclaim. barrier, obstruction, drawback, manifest, outward, pretended,
extolled: (adj) decorated, dignified, encumbrance, block. ANTONYMS: unreal, supposed, colorable.
exalted, elevated, adorned, (n) benefit, boost, incentive, strength. ANTONYMS: (adj) real, actual,
emblazoned, inscribed. insults: (adj) insulting; (n) abuse, genuine.
fallacy: (n) delusion, deception, swearing. suing: (adj) suppliant, begging,
paralogism, illusion, misconception, oblige: (v) coerce, force, drive, beseeching, entreating, imploring; (n)
falsehood, inaccuracy, idol, falsity, constrain, make, bind, accommodate, prayer, entreaty.
on the other, a people as numerous as themselves, who spoke a different

language, possessed different interests, and loved them not, and who would be
glad of any pretense to bring them in disgrace with the great white chief. Then he
spoke of their necessities; of the gifts they had a right to expect for their past
services; of their distance from their proper hunting-grounds and native villages;
and of the necessity of consulting prudence more, and inclination less, in so
critical circumstances. When he perceived that, while the old men applauded his
moderation, many of the fiercest and most distinguished of the warriors listened
to these politic plans with lowering looks, he cunningly led them back to the
subject which they most loved. He spoke openly of the fruits of their wisdom,
which he boldly pronounced would be a complete and final triumph over their
enemies. He even darkly hinted that their success might be extended, with
proper caution, in such a manner as to include the destruction of all whom they
had reason to hate. In short, he so blended the warlike with the artful, the
obvious with the obscure, as to flatter the propensities of both parties, and to
leave to each subject of hope, while neither could say it clearly comprehended his
intentions.%
The orator, or the politician, who can produce such a state of things, is
commonly popular with his contemporaries, however he may be treated by
posterity. All perceived that more was meant than was uttered, and each one
believed that the hidden meaning was precisely such as his own faculties
enabled him to understand, or his own wishes led him to anticipate.
In this happy state of things, it is not surprising that the management of
Magua prevailed. The tribe consented to act with deliberation, and with one
voice they committed the direction of the whole affair to the government of the
chief who had suggested such wise and intelligible expedients.
Magua had now attained one great object of all his cunning and enterprise.
The ground he had lost in the favor of his people was completely regained, and
he found himself even placed at the head of affairs. He was, in truth, their ruler;
and, so long as he could maintain his popularity, no monarch could be more
despotic, especially while the tribe continued in a hostile country. Throwing off,
Thesaurus
applauded: (adj) famous, highly democratic, liberal. soberness, easing. ANTONYMS: (n)
praised, commended. flatter: (v) fawn, adulate, wheedle, intemperance, overindulgence,
darkly: (adv) murkily, dimly, cajole, soap, kowtow, blandish, excess, increase, immoderation,
obscurely, duskily, somberly, grovel, butter up; (n, v) court; (n) strength, extremism, indulgence,
shadily, mistily, secretly, dismally, caress. ANTONYMS: (v) insult, impatience, harshness, abandon.
heavily, overcastly. ANTONYM: disparage, criticize, discourage. necessities: (n) supplies, necessity,
(adv) openly. hinted: (adj) veiled, roundabout, not essential, wants, support,
despotic: (adj) arbitrary, dictatorial, explicit, implicit, coded, oblique. subsistence, requirement, bread.
tyrannical, authoritarian, absolute, moderation: (n) abstinence, posterity: (n) race, descendants, issue,
imperious, oppressive, autocratical, abstemiousness, moderateness, offspring, descendant, future,
domineering, overbearing, abatement, measure, alleviation, generation, progeny, breed,
tyrannous. ANTONYMS: (adj) sobriety, patience, restraint, descendent, spat.
therefore, the appearance of consultation, he assumed the grave air of authority

necessary to support the dignity of his office.%
Runners were despatched for intelligence in different directions; spies were
ordered to approach and feel the encampment of the Delawares; the warriors
were dismissed to their lodges, with an intimation that their services would soon
be needed; and the women and children were ordered to retire, with a warning
that it was their province to be silent. When these several arrangements were
made, Magua passed through the village, stopping here and there to pay a visit
where he thought his presence might be flattering to the individual. He
confirmed his friends in their confidence, fixed the wavering, and gratified all.
Then he sought his own lodge. The wife the Huron chief had abandoned, when
he was chased from among his people, was dead. Children he had none; and he
now occupied a hut, without companion of any sort. It was, in fact, the
dilapidated and solitary structure in which David had been discovered, and
whom he had tolerated in his presence, on those few occasions when they met,
with the contemptuous indifference of a haughty superiority.
Hither, then, Magua retired, when his labors of policy were ended. While
others slept, however, he neither knew or sought repose. Had there been one
sufficiently curious to have watched the movements of the newly elected chief,
he would have seen him seated in a corner of his lodge, musing on the subject of
his future plans, from the hour of his retirement to the time he had appointed for
the warriors to assemble again. Occasionally the air breathed through the
crevices of the hut, and the low flame that fluttered about the embers of the fire
threw their wavering light on the person of the sullen recluse. At such moments
it would not have been difficult to have fancied the dusky savage the Prince of
Darkness brooding on his own fancied wrongs, and plotting evil.
Long before the day dawned, however, warrior after warrior entered the
solitary hut of Magua, until they had collected to the number of twenty. Each
bore his rifle, and all the other accouterments of war, though the paint was
uniformly peaceful. The entrance of these fierce-looking beings was unnoticed:
Thesaurus
assemble: (v) accumulate, aggregate, sarcastic, disrespectful; (adj, v) flame: (adj, n) fire, sweetheart; (adj, v)
meet, gather, convene, call, set up, supercilious. ANTONYMS: (adj) burn, glow; (n, v) flash; (n) ardour,
collect, group, make, get together. approving, complimentary, burning, fervor, enthusiasm,
ANTONYMS: (v) dismantle, disband, deferential, humble, polite, respected, combustion, sheen.
disassemble, scatter, part, separate, admiring. plotting: (n) machinations, intrigues,
disintegrate, disconnect, dismiss, dilapidated: (adj, v) bedraggled, evaluation; (adj) scheming,
distribute, demobilize. frayed; (adj) decayed, decrepit, perfidious, sly, treacherous, deep,
breathed: (adj) unvoiced, inaudible, derelict, shabby, worn out, rickety, insidious, false, faithless.
breathing, aphonic. broken, ragged, damaged. recluse: (n) hermit, anchoret, solitary,
contemptuous: (adj) scornful, ANTONYMS: (adj) pristine, elegant, ascetic, eremite, loner, troglodyte;
disdainful, insulting, arrogant, trim, tidy, thriving, sound, solid, (adj) reclusive, secluded, cloistered,
proud, haughty, derisive, cynical, intact, sturdy, habitable. withdrawn. ANTONYM: (n) native.
some seating themselves in the shadows of the place, and others standing like
motionless statues, until the whole of the designated band was collected.%
Then Magua arose and gave the signal to proceed, marching himself in
advance. They followed their leader singly, and in that well-known order which
has obtained the distinguishing appellation of "Indian file." Unlike other men
engaged in the spirit-stirring business of war, they stole from their camp
unostentatiously and unobserved resembling a band of gliding specters, more
than warriors seeking the bubble reputation by deeds of desperate daring.
Instead of taking the path which led directly toward the camp of the
Delawares, Magua led his party for some distance down the windings of the
stream, and along the little artificial lake of the beavers. The day began to dawn
as they entered the clearing which had been formed by those sagacious and
industrious animals. Though Magua, who had resumed his ancient garb, bore
the outline of a fox on the dressed skin which formed his robe, there was one
chief of his party who carried the beaver as his peculiar symbol, or "totem."
There would have been a species of profanity in the omission, had this man
passed so powerful a community of his fancied kindred, without bestowing
some evidence of his regard. Accordingly, he paused, and spoke in words as
kind and friendly as if he were addressing more intelligent beings. He called the
animals his cousins, and reminded them that his protecting influence was the
reason they remained unharmed, while many avaricious traders were
prompting the Indians to take their lives. He promised a continuance of his
favors, and admonished them to be grateful. After which, he spoke of the
expedition in which he was himself engaged, and intimated, though with
sufficient delicacy and circumlocution, the expediency of bestowing on their
relative a portion of that wisdom for which they were so renowned.
During the utterance of this extraordinary address, the companions of the
speaker were as grave and as attentive to his language as though they were all
equally impressed with its propriety. Once or twice black objects were seen
rising to the surface of the water, and the Huron expressed pleasure, conceiving
that his words were not bestowed in vain. Just as he ended his address, the head
Thesaurus
conceiving: (n) fantasy, daydream; frock, outfit, clothes; (v) clothe. inducement, provocation, hint,
(adj) imaginant, original. intimated: (adj) tacit, furtive, dejected. invitation, leading question,
delicacy: (adj, n) weakness, fragility, kindred: (adj) cognate, akin, similar, suggestion; (v) to prompt.
tidbit; (n) finesse, daintiness, delicate, allied, related; (n) kin, consanguinity, unharmed: (adj) intact, safe,
elegance, sensitivity, luxury, treat, relation, folk, folks, kin group. unscathed, uninjured, whole, unhurt,
airiness. ANTONYMS: (n) sturdiness, profanity: (n) blasphemy, oath, untouched, safe and sound, sound,
toughness, durability, frankness, irreverence, obscenity, swearing, secure; (adj, adv) in one piece.
inelegance, ruggedness, vulgarity, profanation, sacrilege, swear word, ANTONYMS: (adj) hurt, injured,
tactlessness, insensitivity, inaccuracy, expletive, disrespect, utterance. broken, marred.
clumsiness. ANTONYM: (n) purity. unostentatiously: (adv)
garb: (n, v) dress, apparel, array, prompting: (n) stimulation, unpretentiously, unobtrusively,
garment; (n) attire, clothing, costume, instigation, prompt, influence, plainly, modestly, restrainedly.
of a large beaver was thrust from the door of a lodge, whose earthen walls had
been much injured, and which the party had believed, from its situation, to be
uninhabited. Such an extraordinary sign of confidence was received by the orator
as a highly favorable omen; and though the animal retreated a little precipitately,
he was lavish of his thanks and commendations.%
When Magua thought sufficient time had been lost in gratifying the family
affection of the warrior, he again made the signal to proceed. As the Indians
moved away in a body, and with a step that would have been inaudible to the
ears of any common man, the same venerable-looking beaver once more
ventured his head from its cover. Had any of the Hurons turned to look behind
them, they would have seen the animal watching their movements with an
interest and sagacity that might easily have been mistaken for reason. Indeed, so
very distinct and intelligible were the devices of the quadruped, that even the
most experienced observer would have been at a loss to account for its actions,
until the moment when the party entered the forest, when the whole would have
been explained, by seeing the entire animal issue from the lodge, uncasing, by
the act, the grave features of Chingachgook from his mask of fur.
Thesaurus
affection: (n) charity, attachment, frustrating, disagreeable, dissemble; (n) guise, blind, curtain.
fondness, heart, love, disease, nature, heartbreaking, annoying, unpleasant. ANTONYMS: (v) unmask, enhance,
feeling, affectionateness, tenderness, lavish: (v) dissipate; (adj) exuberant, reinforce, reveal, expose, amplify.
kindness. ANTONYMS: (n) disgust, generous, copious, prodigal, ample, observer: (n) bystander, spectator,
neglect, malice, loathing, dislike, abundant, bountiful, excessive, witness, viewer, watcher, eyewitness,
detachment, coldness, roughness. improvident; (adj, v) profuse. onlooker, commentator, student,
gratifying: (adj) agreeable, pleasant, ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, scant, spotter, finder. ANTONYM: (n)
enjoyable, delightful, pleasurable, economical, impoverished, frugal, participant.
rewarding, welcome, satisfying, nice; unadorned, plain; (v) stint, skimp, omen: (n, v) harbinger, bode, herald,
(adj, v) grateful; (v) gratify. begrudge, economize. augury; (n) indication, portent,
ANTONYMS: (adj) disappointing, mask: (n, v) cover, veil, hide, conceal, forerunner, foreboding, sign, mark,
unwelcome, unrewarding, disguise, screen, camouflage; (v) auspice.
CHAPTER 28
"Brief, I pray for you; for you see, 'tis a busy time with me."%
Much Ado About Nothing
The tribe, or rather half tribe, of Delawares, which has been so often
mentioned, and whose present place of encampment was so nigh the temporary
village of the Hurons, could assemble about an equal number of warriors with
the latter people. Like their neighbors, they had followed Montcalm into the
territories of the English crown, and were making heavy and serious inroads on
the hunting-grounds of the Mohawks; though they had seen fit, with the
mysterious reserve so common among the natives, to withhold their assistance at
the moment when it was most required. The French had accounted for this
unexpected defection on the part of their ally in various ways. It was the
prevalent opinion, however, that they had been influenced by veneration for the
ancient treaty, that had once made them dependent on the Six Nations for
military protection, and now rendered them reluctant to encounter their former
masters. As for the tribe itself, it had been content to announce to Montcalm,
through his emissaries, with Indian brevity, that their hatchets were dull, and
time was necessary to sharpen them. The politic captain of the Canadas had
deemed it wiser to submit to entertain a passive friend, than by any acts of ill-
judged severity to convert him into an open enemy.
Thesaurus
brevity: (n) briefness, shortness, cherish, beguile, admit, harshness, roughness, intensity,
succinctness, transience, terseness, accommodate, harbor, hold, distract; inclemency, asperity, gravity,
abruptness, crispness, duration, (n, v) interest. ANTONYMS: (v) hardness, tyranny, violence.
economy, length, brevities. disregard, ignore, banish, forget, tire, ANTONYMS: (n) leniency,
ANTONYMS: (n) lengthiness, length. displease. pleasantness, flexibility, clemency,
defection: (n) apostasy, desertion, prevalent: (adj, v) prevailing; (adj) softness, insignificance, warmth,
rejection, decampment, renunciation, predominant, general, common, lenience, brightness.
abscondment, abandonment, popular, preponderant, rife, sharpen: (v) focus, edge, hone,
repudiation, forsaking, backsliding, extensive, dominant, epidemic; (adj, intensify, sharp, increase, heighten,
defect. ANTONYMS: (n) faithfulness, n) current. ANTONYMS: (adj) rare, whet, pare, improve; (n, v) point.
loyalty, staunchness, steadfastness. uncommon, sparse, limited. ANTONYMS: (v) blunt, dull, flatten,
entertain: (v) amuse, delight, bear, severity: (n) rigor, austerity, soften, spoil, blur, quench.
On that morning when Magua led his silent party from the settlement of the
beavers into the forests, in the manner described, the sun rose upon the Delaware
encampment as if it had suddenly burst upon a busy people, actively employed
in all the customary avocations of high noon. The women ran from lodge to
lodge, some engaged in preparing their morning's meal, a few earnestly bent on
seeking the comforts necessary to their habits, but more pausing to exchange
hasty and whispered sentences with their friends. The warriors were lounging in
groups, musing more than they conversed and when a few words were uttered,
speaking like men who deeply weighed their opinions. The instruments of the
chase were to be seen in abundance among the lodges; but none departed. Here
and there a warrior was examining his arms, with an attention that is rarely
bestowed on the implements, when no other enemy than the beasts of the forest
is expected to be encountered. And occasionally, the eyes of a whole group were
turned simultaneously toward a large and silent lodge in the center of the
village, as if it contained the subject of their common thoughts.%
During the existence of this scene, a man suddenly appeared at the furthest
extremity of a platform of rock which formed the level of the village. He was
without arms, and his paint tended rather to soften than increase the natural
sternness of his austere countenance. When in full view of the Delawares he
stopped, and made a gesture of amity, by throwing his arm upward toward
heaven, and then letting it fall impressively on his breast. The inhabitants of the
village answered his salute by a low murmur of welcome, and encouraged him
to advance by similar indications of friendship. Fortified by these assurances, the
dark figure left the brow of the natural rocky terrace, where it had stood a
moment, drawn in a strong outline against the blushing morning sky, and
moved with dignity into the very center of the huts. As he approached, nothing
was audible but the rattling of the light silver ornaments that loaded his arms
and neck, and the tinkling of the little bells that fringed his deerskin moccasins.
He made, as he advanced, many courteous signs of greeting to the men he
passed, neglecting to notice the women, however, like one who deemed their
favor, in the present enterprise, of no importance. When he had reached the
group in which it was evident, by the haughtiness of their common mien, that
Thesaurus
courteous: (adj, v) civil; (adj) affable, warmly, passionately. ANTONYMS: solidify, set, congeal, exacerbate,
attentive, gracious, decorous, (adv) indifferently, insincerely, freeze, sharpen, stand, increase.
chivalrous, bland, thoughtful, unconcernedly, jokingly. sternness: (n) harshness, rigor,
urbane, mannerly, gentlemanly. fortified: (adj) secure, watched over, strictness, austerity, rigour, asperity,
ANTONYMS: (adj) rude, impolite, shielded, securer, secured, carrying inclemency, hardness, grimness,
boorish, insulting, unmannerly, gruff, weapons, safeguarded, protected, unpermissiveness, acrimony.
improper, vulgar, unhelpful, fast, equipped, defended. ANTONYMS: (n) leniency, warmth,
neglectful, graceless. ANTONYM: (adj) unarmed. pleasantness, cheerfulness.
deerskin: (n) suede. soften: (adj, v) moderate, mitigate, tinkling: (adj) clinking, tinkly,
earnestly: (adj, adv) seriously; (adv) mollify, assuage, relieve; (v) melt, tintinnabulary, reverberant; (n) ting.
eagerly, intently, zealously, solemnly, dull, relent, mute, alleviate; (adj, n, v) weighed: (adj) determined, deliberate,
ardently, fervently, heartily, gravely, palliate. ANTONYMS: (v) harden, tared.
the principal chiefs were collected, the stranger paused, and then the Delawares
saw that the active and erect form that stood before them was that of the well-
known Huron chief, Le Renard Subtil.%
His reception was grave, silent, and wary. The warriors in front stepped
aside, opening the way to their most approved orator by the action; one who
spoke all those languages that were cultivated among the northern aborigines.
"The wise Huron is welcome," said the Delaware, in the language of the
Maquas; "he is come to eat his 'succotash', with his brothers of the lakes."
"He is come," repeated Magua, bending his head with the dignity of an
eastern prince.
The chief extended his arm and taking the other by the wrist, they once more
exchanged friendly salutations. Then the Delaware invited his guest to enter his
own lodge, and share his morning meal. The invitation was accepted; and the
two warriors, attended by three or four of the old men, walked calmly away,
leaving the rest of the tribe devoured by a desire to understand the reasons of so
unusual a visit, and yet not betraying the least impatience by sign or word.
During the short and frugal repast that followed, the conversation was
extremely circumspect, and related entirely to the events of the hunt, in which
Magua had so lately been engaged. It would have been impossible for the most
finished breeding to wear more of the appearance of considering the visit as a
thing of course, than did his hosts, notwithstanding every individual present was
perfectly aware that it must be connected with some secret object and that
probably of importance to themselves. When the appetites of the whole were
appeased, the squaws removed the trenchers and gourds, and the two parties
began to prepare themselves for a subtle trial of their wits.
"Is the face of my great Canada father turned again toward his Huron
children?" demanded the orator of the Delawares.
"When was it ever otherwise?" returned Magua. "He calls my people 'most
beloved'."
Thesaurus
aborigines: (n) indigene, prudent, guarded, alert, cagey, exchanged: (adj) counterchanged,
autochthones. vigilant, wary, watchful, thoughtful, bartered, substituted.
calmly: (adv) stilly, tranquilly, coolly, considerate. ANTONYMS: (adj) rash, lately: (adv) tardily, newly, freshly,
serenely, placidly, sedately, incautious, bold, careless, unwary, belatedly, slowly, latterly, deadly;
smoothly, peacefully, easily, tactless, open. (adj, adv) anew, late, afresh; (adj)
undisturbedly, steadily. cultivated: (adj) cultured, refined, recent.
ANTONYMS: (adv) anxiously, tame, educated, sophisticated, salutations: (n) respects.
hysterically, nervously, agitatedly, elegant, urbane, polished, walked: (adj) exempt; (v) yode.
uncontrollably, histrionically, accomplished, civil, polite. wits: (n) intellect, mind, wit, brains,
restlessly, frantically, irritably, ANTONYMS: (adj) wild, untamed, common sense, presence,
emotionally, tensely. uncouth, coarse, graceless. percipience, observation, mother wit,
circumspect: (adj) careful, cautious, devoured: (adj) eaten up. right mind, judgment.
The Delaware gravely bowed his acquiescence to what he knew to be false,

and continued:
"The tomahawks of your young men have been very red."
"It is so; but they are now bright and dull; for the Yengeese are dead, and the
Delawares are our neighbors."
The other acknowledged the pacific compliment by a gesture of the hand,
and remained silent. Then Magua, as if recalled to such a recollection, by the
allusion to the massacre, demanded:
"Does my prisoner give trouble to my brothers?"
"She is welcome."
"The path between the Hurons and the Delawares is short and it is open; let
her be sent to my squaws, if she gives trouble to my brother."
"She is welcome," returned the chief of the latter nation, still more
emphatically.%
The baffled Magua continued silent several minutes, apparently indifferent,
however, to the repulse he had received in this his opening effort to regain
possession of Cora.
"Do my young men leave the Delawares room on the mountains for their
hunts?" he at length continued.
"The Lenape are rulers of their own hills," returned the other a little
haughtily.
"It is well. Justice is the master of a red-skin. Why should they brighten their
tomahawks and sharpen their knives against each other? Are not the pale faces
thicker than the swallows in the season of flowers?"
"Good!" exclaimed two or three of his auditors at the same time.
Magua waited a little, to permit his words to soften the feelings of the
Delawares, before he added:
"Have there not been strange moccasins in the woods? Have not my brothers
scented the feet of white men?"
Thesaurus
acquiescence: (n) compliance, consent, spoil. annihilate, butcher, slay; (n) mass
resignation, permission, sanction, gives: (n) give, offer, provide, grant, murder, bloodshed, killing.
approval, accord, agreement, accord. prisoner: (n) captive, hostage, jailbird,
submission, conformity; (n, v) assent. haughtily: (adv) proudly, loftily, accused, con, gaolbird, criminal,
ANTONYMS: (n) disagreement, superciliously, imperiously, detainee, inmate, defendant,
insubordination, rebellion, defiance, overbearingly, scornfully, unfortunate.
rejection. condescendingly, snobbishly, regain: (v) retrieve, recoup, recuperate,
brighten: (adj, v) clear up; (v) light, disdainfully, superiorly, pompously. reclaim, recapture, redeem, get,
illuminate, burnish, clear, gild, glow, ANTONYMS: (adv) humbly, discover, feel, recall, get back.
perk up, cheer, irradiate, enliven. modestly, feebly, meekly. swallows: (n) sparrows, rooks, robins,
ANTONYMS: (v) upset, sadden, massacre: (n, v) murder, carnage, Passeriformes, Hirundinidae, etc,
overcast, fade, dim, depress, blacken, butchery; (v) exterminate, kill, order Passeriformes.
"Let my Canada father come," returned the other, evasively; "his children are
ready to see him."
"When the great chief comes, it is to smoke with the Indians in their
wigwams. The Hurons say, too, he is welcome. But the Yengeese have long arms,
and legs that never tire! My young men dreamed they had seen the trail of the
Yengeese nigh the village of the Delawares!"
"They will not find the Lenape asleep."
"It is well. The warrior whose eye is open can see his enemy," said Magua,
once more shifting his ground, when he found himself unable to penetrate the
caution of his companion. "I have brought gifts to my brother. His nation would
not go on the warpath, because they did not think it well, but their friends have
remembered where they lived."
When he had thus announced his liberal intention, the crafty chief arose, and
gravely spread his presents before the dazzled eyes of his hosts. They consisted
principally of trinkets of little value, plundered from the slaughtered females of
William Henry. In the division of the baubles the cunning Huron discovered no
less art than in their selection. While he bestowed those of greater value on the
two most distinguished warriors, one of whom was his host, he seasoned his
offerings to their inferiors with such well-timed and apposite compliments, as
left them no ground of complaint. In short, the whole ceremony contained such a
happy blending of the profitable with the flattering, that it was not difficult for
the donor immediately to read the effect of a generosity so aptly mingled with
praise, in the eyes of those he addressed.%
This well-judged and politic stroke on the part of Magua was not without
instantaneous results. The Delawares lost their gravity in a much more cordial
expression; and the host, in particular, after contemplating his own liberal share
of the spoil for some moments with peculiar gratification, repeated with strong
emphasis, the words:
"My brother is a wise chief. He is welcome."
Thesaurus
apposite: (adj) pertinent, appropriate, salutation, respect, applause, flattery, hardened, confirmed, practised,
opportune, apropos, suitable, fit, acclamation, regards, approbation. accustomed, sophisticated.
applicable, adequate, correct, dazzled: (adj) confused, dazzle, ANTONYMS: (adj) green,
germane, fitting. ANTONYM: (adj) bewildered, blind, blinder, unseasoned, inexperienced, mild.
wrong. fascinated, unsighted. trinkets: (n) finery, jewels.
aptly: (adv) fitly, appropriately, offerings: (n) aid, assistance, charity, warpath: (n) belligerence, belligerency,
adroitly, appositely, fittingly, contributions, gifts, help. hostility, path.
properly, readily, felicitously, plundered: (adj) pillaged, despoiled, well-judged: (adj) judicious.
handily, ably, pronely. ANTONYMS: raped, robbed, emptier, empty, well-timed: (adj) timely, seasonable,
(adv) incompetently, unsuitably. fleeced, ransacked. opportune, happy, auspicious,
compliments: (n) respects, seasoned: (adj) veteran, flavoured, favorable, felicitous, appropriate,
commendation, wish, greetings, flavored, mature, ripe, versed, prosperous, propitious, ripe.
"The Hurons love their friends the Delawares," returned Magua. "Why
should they not? they are colored by the same sun, and their just men will hunt
in the same grounds after death. The red-skins should be friends, and look with
open eyes on the white men. Has not my brother scented spies in the woods?"
The Delaware, whose name in English signified "Hard Heart," an appellation
that the French had translated into "le Coeur- dur," forgot that obduracy of
purpose, which had probably obtained him so significant a title. His countenance
grew very sensibly less stern and he now deigned to answer more directly.%
"There have been strange moccasins about my camp. They have been tracked
into my lodges."
"Did my brother beat out the dogs?" asked Magua, without adverting in any
manner to the former equivocation of the chief.
"It would not do. The stranger is always welcome to the children of the
Lenape."
"The stranger, but not the spy."
"Would the Yengeese send their women as spies? Did not the Huron chief
say he took women in the battle?"
"He told no lie. The Yengeese have sent out their scouts. They have been in
my wigwams, but they found there no one to say welcome. Then they fled to the
Delawares -- for, say they, the Delawares are our friends; their minds are turned
from their Canada father!"
This insinuation was a home thrust, and one that in a more advanced state of
society would have entitled Magua to the reputation of a skillful diplomatist.
The recent defection of the tribe had, as they well knew themselves, subjected the
Delawares to much reproach among their French allies; and they were now made
to feel that their future actions were to be regarded with jealousy and distrust.
There was no deep insight into causes and effects necessary to foresee that such a
situation of things was likely to prove highly prejudicial to their future
movements. Their distant villages, their hunting-grounds and hundreds of their
women and children, together with a material part of their physical force, were
Thesaurus
diplomatist: (n) consul, ambassador, intimation, accusation, indication, prejudicial: (adj) pernicious, hurtful,
official, functionary, embassy, sarcasm, attribution, imputation. damaging, injurious, harmful,
diplomatic minister, nuncio, minister, jealousy: (n) suspicion, jealous, noxious, disadvantageous, adverse,
plenipotentiary, jay, page. jealousness, envy, envious, alertness, mischievous, prejudicious, noisome.
equivocation: (n) evasion, quibble, distrust, contention, competition, ANTONYMS: (adj) beneficial,
ambiguity, casuistry, scruple, qualm. helpful.
misrepresentation, hedging, obduracy: (adj, n) hardness of heart; signified: (n) common sense,
equivocalness, tergiversation, (n) stubbornness, inflexibility, acceptation, good sense, horse sense,
circumlocution, deception; (n, v) obstinacy, unyieldingness, adamance, mother wit, sensation, sense, sensory
shuffling. firmness, resoluteness, resolution; faculty, sentience, sentiency; (adj)
insinuation: (n) hint, innuendo, (adj) heart of stone, obduration. implied.
suggestion, implication, reference, ANTONYM: (n) flexibility.
actually within the limits of the French territory. Accordingly, this alarming
annunciation was received, as Magua intended, with manifest disapprobation, if
not with alarm.%
"Let my father look in my face," said Le Coeur-dur; "he will see no change. It
is true, my young men did not go out on the war-path; they had dreams for not
doing so. But they love and venerate the great white chief."
"Will he think so when he hears that his greatest enemy is fed in the camp of
his children? When he is told a bloody Yengee smokes at your fire? That the
pale face who has slain so many of his friends goes in and out among the
Delawares? Go! my great Canada father is not a fool!"
"Where is the Yengee that the Delawares fear?" returned the other; "who has
slain my young men? Who is the mortal enemy of my Great Father?"
"La Longue Carabine!"
The Delaware warriors started at the well-known name, betraying by their
amazement, that they now learned, for the first time, one so famous among the
Indian allies of France was within their power.
"What does my brother mean?" demanded Le Coeur-dur, in a tone that, by its
wonder, far exceeded the usual apathy of his race.
"A Huron never lies!" returned Magua, coldly, leaning his head against the
side of the lodge, and drawing his slight robe across his tawny breast. "Let the
Delawares count their prisoners; they will find one whose skin is neither red nor
pale."
A long and musing pause succeeded. The chief consulted apart with his
companions, and messengers despatched to collect certain others of the most
distinguished men of the tribe.
As warrior after warrior dropped in, they were each made acquainted, in
turn, with the important intelligence that Magua had just communicated. The air
of surprise, and the usual low, deep, guttural exclamation, were common to
them all. The news spread from mouth to mouth, until the whole encampment
became powerfully agitated. The women suspended their labors, to catch such
Thesaurus
agitated: (adj) upset, excited, nervous, deathly, earthly; (n) man, individual, continuation, start; (v) proceed.
restive, tumultuous, distressed, tense, creature, person, human being, body. powerfully: (adv) strongly, potently,
jumpy, overwrought, anxious, ANTONYMS: (adj, n) immortal; (adj) vigorously, puissantly, effectively,
alarmed. ANTONYMS: (adj) calm, eternal, heavenly, mild, perfect, forcefully, robustly, intensely,
lethargic, tranquil, relaxed, assured, spiritual. violently, hardily, firmly.
cool, still. neither: (conj) either, no-one, not ANTONYMS: (adv) gently, faintly,
leaning: (adj, n) bent, disposition, either, nor, nother. powerlessly, slightly, mildly, feebly,
partiality; (n) propensity, bias, pause: (n, v) halt, interruption, ineffectively, loosely, calmly.
tendency, incline, lean; (adj) tilted, adjournment, delay, respite, stop; suspended: (adj) hanging, dormant,
canted, inclined. ANTONYMS: (n) (adj, n, v) rest; (n) intermission, gap; pendulous, abeyant, dangling, in
antipathy, dislike; (adj) upright. (adj, v) discontinue; (v) hesitate. abeyance, inactive, pendant, in
mortal: (adj) deadly, fatal, lethal, ANTONYMS: (n) decisiveness, suspension, pensile, suspensory.
syllables as unguardedly fell from the lips of the consulting warriors. The boys
deserted their sports, and walking fearlessly among their fathers, looked up in
curious admiration, as they heard the brief exclamations of wonder they so freely
expressed the temerity of their hated foe. In short, every occupation was
abandoned for the time, and all other pursuits seemed discarded in order that
the tribe might freely indulge, after their own peculiar manner, in an open
expression of feeling.%
When the excitement had a little abated, the old men disposed themselves
seriously to consider that which it became the honor and safety of their tribe to
perform, under circumstances of so much delicacy and embarrassment. During
all these movements, and in the midst of the general commotion, Magua had not
only maintained his seat, but the very attitude he had originally taken, against
the side of the lodge, where he continued as immovable, and, apparently, as
unconcerned, as if he had no interest in the result. Not a single indication of the
future intentions of his hosts, however, escaped his vigilant eyes. With his
consummate knowledge of the nature of the people with whom he had to deal,
he anticipated every measure on which they decided; and it might almost be
said, that, in many instances, he knew their intentions, even before they became
known to themselves.
The council of the Delawares was short. When it was ended, a general bustle
announced that it was to be immediately succeeded by a solemn and formal
assemblage of the nation. As such meetings were rare, and only called on
occasions of the last importance, the subtle Huron, who still sat apart, a wily and
dark observer of the proceedings, now knew that all his projects must be brought
to their final issue. He, therefore, left the lodge and walked silently forth to the
place, in front of the encampment, whither the warriors were already beginning
to collect.
It might have been half an hour before each individual, including even the
women and children, was in his place. The delay had been created by the grave
preparations that were deemed necessary to so solemn and unusual a conference.
But when the sun was seen climbing above the tops of that mountain, against
Thesaurus
called: (adj) named, titled, chosen, heroically, courageously, valiantly; detached, insouciant, casual, careless,
known as; (v) nempt, ycleped. (adv) dauntlessly, bravely, gallantly, nonchalant, thoughtless, easygoing,
consummate: (adj, v) perfect; (n, v) undauntedly, audaciously, listless, carefree; (adj, n) cold.
conclude, crown; (v) accomplish, unflinchingly. ANTONYMS: (adv) ANTONYMS: (adj) caring, eager,
achieve, execute; (adj) accomplished, nervously, cautiously, timidly. troubled, sensitive, uptight, craving,
absolute, profound, matchless, temerity: (n) nerve, effrontery, involved, energetic, interested,
masterful. ANTONYMS: (adj) hardihood, boldness, rashness, annoyed, strict.
inadequate, mediocre, incomplete, imprudence, audaciousness, unguardedly: (adv) unprotectedly,
deficient, amateurish, untrained, carelessness, assurance, indiscretion, unwarily, carelessly, rashly,
abysmal, inept; (v) start, initiate, venturesomeness. ANTONYMS: (n) insecurely, heedlessly, indiscreetly,
begin. caution, care, reticence. exposedly, defenselessly,
fearlessly: (adj, adv) daringly, boldly, unconcerned: (adj) apathetic, imprudently, directly.
whose bosom the Delawares had constructed their encampment, most were
seated; and as his bright rays darted from behind the outline of trees that fringed
the eminence, they fell upon as grave, as attentive, and as deeply interested a
multitude, as was probably ever before lighted by his morning beams. Its
number somewhat exceeded a thousand souls.%
In a collection of so serious savages, there is never to be found any impatient
aspirant after premature distinction, standing ready to move his auditors to
some hasty, and, perhaps, injudicious discussion, in order that his own
reputation may be the gainer. An act of so much precipitancy and presumption
would seal the downfall of precocious intellect forever. It rested solely with the
oldest and most experienced of the men to lay the subject of the conference
before the people. Until such a one chose to make some movement, no deeds in
arms, no natural gifts, nor any renown as an orator, would have justified the
slightest interruption. On the present occasion, the aged warrior whose privilege
it was to speak, was silent, seemingly oppressed with the magnitude of his
subject. The delay had already continued long beyond the usual deliberative
pause that always preceded a conference; but no sign of impatience or surprise
escaped even the youngest boy. Occasionally an eye was raised from the earth,
where the looks of most were riveted, and strayed toward a particular lodge, that
was, however, in no manner distinguished from those around it, except in the
peculiar care that had been taken to protect it against the assaults of the weather.
At length one of those low murmurs, that are so apt to disturb a multitude,
was heard, and the whole nation arose to their feet by a common impulse. At
that instant the door of the lodge in question opened, and three men, issuing
from it, slowly approached the place of consultation. They were all aged, even
beyond that period to which the oldest present had reached; but one in the
center, who leaned on his companions for support, had numbered an amount of
years to which the human race is seldom permitted to attain. His frame, which
had once been tall and erect, like the cedar, was now bending under the pressure
of more than a century. The elastic, light step of an Indian was gone, and in its
place he was compelled to toil his tardy way over the ground, inch by inch. His
Thesaurus
aspirant: (n) applicant, claimant, making, ascension, lift, salvation, genius, brainpower. ANTONYM: (n)
amateur, contender, contestant, victory, creation, beginning. stupidity.
postulant, entrant; (adj, n) hopeful; elastic: (adj) flexible, springy, soft, precipitancy: (n) haste, temerity,
(adj) aspiring, ambitious, wishful. pliable, resilient, limber, pliant, hastiness, rashness, hurriedness,
cedar: (n) true cedar, pahautea, yielding, ductile, buoyant; (n) rubber abruptness, indiscretion,
kawaka, deodar, cedar tree. band. ANTONYMS: (adj) rigid, stiff, inconsideration, precipitation,
chose: (v) choose, opt, decide; (n) inflexible, inelastic, unadaptable, brusqueness; (adj, n) precipitousness.
thing. intolerant, firm, hard, unyielding. precocious: (adj) advanced, early, pert,
downfall: (n) ruin, decline, gainer: (n) diving, weight gainer, dive. premature, impudent, obtrusive,
destruction, debacle, defeat, descent, intellect: (n) mind, intelligence, precipitate, bright, saucy, bumptious,
decadence, failure, undoing, understanding, reason, brains, head, developed. ANTONYMS: (adj)
devastation, bane. ANTONYMS: (n) intellectual, apprehension, psyche, backward, retarded.
dark, wrinkled countenance was in singular and wild contrast with the long
white locks which floated on his shoulders, in such thickness, as to announce
that generations had probably passed away since they had last been shorn.%
The dress of this patriarch -- for such, considering his vast age, in
conjunction with his affinity and influence with his people, he might very
properly be termed -- was rich and imposing, though strictly after the simple
fashions of the tribe. His robe was of the finest skins, which had been deprived of
their fur, in order to admit of a hieroglyphical representation of various deeds in
arms, done in former ages. His bosom was loaded with medals, some in massive
silver, and one or two even in gold, the gifts of various Christian potentates
during the long period of his life. He also wore armlets, and cinctures above the
ankles, of the latter precious metal. His head, on the whole of which the hair had
been permitted to grow, the pursuits of war having so long been abandoned, was
encircled by a sort of plated diadem, which, in its turn, bore lesser and more
glittering ornaments, that sparkled amid the glossy hues of three drooping
ostrich feathers, dyed a deep black, in touching contrast to the color of his snow-
white locks. His tomahawk was nearly hid in silver, and the handle of his knife
shone like a horn of solid gold.
So soon as the first hum of emotion and pleasure, which the sudden
appearance of this venerated individual created, had a little subsided, the name
of "Tamenund" was whispered from mouth to mouth. Magua had often heard
the fame of this wise and just Delaware; a reputation that even proceeded so far
as to bestow on him the rare gift of holding secret communion with the Great
Spirit, and which has since transmitted his name, with some slight alteration, to
the white usurpers of his ancient territory, as the imaginary tutelar saint of a vast
empire. The Huron chief, therefore, stepped eagerly out a little from the throng,
to a spot whence he might catch a nearer glimpse of the features of the man,
whose decision was likely to produce so deep an influence on his own fortunes.
The eyes of the old man were closed, as though the organs were wearied with
having so long witnessed the selfish workings of the human passions. The color
of his skin differed from that of most around him, being richer and darker, the
Thesaurus
communion: (n) communication, ANTONYMS: (n) detachment, uncial.
denomination, intercourse, alliance, disconnection, division, separation. ostrich: (n) Struthio Camelus, ratite,
Eucharist, faction, sacrament, traffic, diadem: (n) crown, coronet, tiara, flightless bird; (adj) camel bird, doe,
sharing, fellowship, Holy circlet, sovereignty, headdress, crest, greyhound, hare, gazelle, antelope,
Communion. ANTONYMS: (n) power, capitulum, cap of eagle, courser.
hostility, disunity, distance, maintenance, crown jewels. patriarch: (n) forefather, paterfamilias,
disagreement, alienation, contention. drooping: (adj) flabby, pendulous, father, head, chief, old man,
conjunction: (n) coincidence, limp, flaccid, cernuous, flagging, antediluvian, head of household,
concurrence, association, coalition, languid, floppy, lax, tired; (n) droop. elder, founder, senior. ANTONYM:
alliance, cohesion, anastomosis, ANTONYMS: (adj) taut, firm. (n) matriarch.
concomitance, confluence, generations: (n) generation, family. tutelar: (adj) custodial, guardian,
amalgamation; (v) joinder. hieroglyphical: (v) runic, cuneiform, protective.
latter having been produced by certain delicate and mazy lines of complicated
and yet beautiful figures, which had been traced over most of his person by the
operation of tattooing. Notwithstanding the position of the Huron, he passed the
observant and silent Magua without notice, and leaning on his two venerable
supporters proceeded to the high place of the multitude, where he seated himself
in the center of his nation, with the dignity of a monarch and the air of a father.%
Nothing could surpass the reverence and affection with which this
unexpected visit from one who belongs rather to another world than to this, was
received by his people. After a suitable and decent pause, the principal chiefs
arose, and, approaching the patriarch, they placed his hands reverently on their
heads, seeming to entreat a blessing. The younger men were content with
touching his robe, or even drawing nigh his person, in order to breathe in the
atmosphere of one so aged, so just, and so valiant. None but the most
distinguished among the youthful warriors even presumed so far as to perform
the latter ceremony, the great mass of the multitude deeming it a sufficient
happiness to look upon a form so deeply venerated, and so well beloved. When
these acts of affection and respect were performed, the chiefs drew back again to
their several places, and silence reigned in the whole encampment.
After a short delay, a few of the young men, to whom instructions had been
whispered by one of the aged attendants of Tamenund, arose, left the crowd, and
entered the lodge which has already been noted as the object of so much
attention throughout that morning. In a few minutes they reappeared, escorting
the individuals who had caused all these solemn preparations toward the seat of
judgment. The crowd opened in a lane; and when the party had re-entered, it
closed in again, forming a large and dense belt of human bodies, arranged in an
open circle.
Thesaurus
beloved: (adj, n) dear, darling, entreat: (v) beg, beseech, ask, implore, religiously, devoutly, deferentially,
favorite, pet; (adj) precious, loved, pray, adjure, appeal, request, conjure, worshipfully, solemnly, godly,
cherished; (n) love, dearest, honey, crave, bid. ANTONYMS: (v) demand, courteously, politely, obsequiously.
sweetheart. ANTONYMS: (adj) reject. ANTONYM: (adv) irreverently.
detested, despised, disliked. mazy: (adj) labyrinthian, knotty, touching: (adj, v) affecting; (adj)
blessing: (n) benediction, approval, complex, involved, tortuous, sinuous, poignant, pitiful, pathetic, adjacent,
mercy, felicity, benison, benefit, luck, intricate, anfractuous; (v) rivulose, adjoining, emotional; (n) touch,
advantage, boon, bless, godsend. reclivate, scolecoid. contact; (prep) concerning, about.
ANTONYMS: (n) curse, misfortune, monarch: (n) sovereign, lord, emperor, ANTONYMS: (adj) unaffecting,
disaster, condemnation, adversity, ruler, czar, despot, autocrat, tsar, everyday, heartwarming, unmoving,
desecration, refusal, veto, tzar, Danaus Plexippus; (adj) prince. heartbreaking, emotionless,
disadvantage. reverently: (adv) reverentially, piously, unemotional, impassive.
CHAPTER 29
"The assembly seated, rising o'er the rest,

Achilles thus the king of men addressed."
Pope's Homer
Cora stood foremost among the prisoners, entwining her arms in those of
Alice, in the tenderness of sisterly love. Notwithstanding the fearful and
menacing array of savages on every side of her, no apprehension on her own
account could prevent the nobler-minded maiden from keeping her eyes
fastened on the pale and anxious features of the trembling Alice. Close at their
side stood Heyward, with an interest in both, that, at such a moment of intense
uncertainty, scarcely knew a preponderance in favor of her whom he most
loved. Hawkeye had placed himself a little in the rear, with a deference to the
superior rank of his companions, that no similarity in the state of their present
fortunes could induce him to forget. Uncas was not there.%
When perfect silence was again restored, and after the usual long, impressive
pause, one of the two aged chiefs who sat at the side of the patriarch arose, and
demanded aloud, in very intelligible English:
"Which of my prisoners is La Longue Carabine?"
Thesaurus
fearful: (adj, n) afraid; (adj, v) dreadful, insignificant, inferior, worst, ANTONYMS: (n) difference, contrast,
cowardly; (adj) terrible, secondary. disparity, isolation.
apprehensive, awful, timid, anxious, o'er: (adv) on, upon, across. sisterly: (adj) sororal, fatherly,
craven, frightful, eerie. ANTONYMS: preponderance: (n) predominance, motherly, sisterlike. ANTONYM:
(adj) rational, calm, confident, bold, bulk, prevalence, dominance, (adj) brotherly.
unimpressed, charming, fearless, advantage, majority, influence, tenderness: (n) fondness, soreness,
courageous, reassuring, unafraid, ascendency, ascendancy, overweight, love, affection, sympathy; (adj, n)
wonderful. privilege. clemency, mildness, compassion,
foremost: (adj, adv, v) first; (adj, n) similarity: (n) parallelism, likeness, gentleness, softness, delicacy.
chief, capital, leading, cardinal, kinship, parallel, identity, ANTONYMS: (n) pleasure, dryness,
principal, main; (adj) best, front, conformity, parity, semblance, hatred, strength, detachment.
central, top. ANTONYMS: (adj) last, sameness, affinity, comparison.
Neither Duncan nor the scout answered. The former, however, glanced his
eyes around the dark and silent assembly, and recoiled a pace, when they fell on
the malignant visage of Magua. He saw, at once, that this wily savage had some
secret agency in their present arraignment before the nation, and determined to
throw every possible impediment in the way of the execution of his sinister
plans. He had witnessed one instance of the summary punishments of the
Indians, and now dreaded that his companion was to be selected for a second. In
this dilemma, with little or no time for reflection, he suddenly determined to
cloak his invaluable friend, at any or every hazard to himself. Before he had time,
however, to speak, the question was repeated in a louder voice, and with a
clearer utterance.%
"Give us arms," the young man haughtily replied, "and place us in yonder
woods. Our deeds shall speak for us!"
"This is the warrior whose name has filled our ears!" returned the chief,
regarding Heyward with that sort of curious interest which seems inseparable
from man, when first beholding one of his fellows to whom merit or accident,
virtue or crime, has given notoriety. "What has brought the white man into the
camp of the Delawares?"
"My necessities. I come for food, shelter, and friends."
"It cannot be. The woods are full of game. The head of a warrior needs no
other shelter than a sky without clouds; and the Delawares are the enemies, and
not the friends of the Yengeese. Go, the mouth has spoken, while the heart said
nothing."
Duncan, a little at a loss in what manner to proceed, remained silent; but the
scout, who had listened attentively to all that passed, now advanced steadily to
the front.
"That I did not answer to the call for La Longue Carabine, was not owing
either to shame or fear," he said, "for neither one nor the other is the gift of an
honest man. But I do not admit the right of the Mingoes to bestow a name on one
whose friends have been mindful of his gifts, in this particular; especially as
their title is a lie, 'killdeer' being a grooved barrel and no carabyne. I am the man,
Thesaurus
arraignment: (n) accusation, built-in, indispensable, infrangible, fame, infamy, disrepute, note,
impeachment, arraign, prosecution, innate, unseparable; (v) severable, notability, prominence, flagrancy,
challenge, charge, instrument, unseparated. ANTONYMS: (adj) distinction; (adj, n) renown.
allegation, blame, denunciation, separable, dividable, isolatable. ANTONYM: (n) obscurity.
reproach. mindful: (adj) aware, attentive, passed: (adj) accepted, approved,
beholding: (n) fusion, seeing, visual careful, observant, conscious, legal, gone.
perception, look. heedful, considerate, cautious, sinister: (adj) dark, forbidding, black,
grooved: (adj) fluted, ribbed, cognizant, regardful, thoughtful. menacing, wicked, baleful,
channeled, established, flutelike, ANTONYMS: (adj) unmindful, threatening, malevolent, malign,
accustomed, methodical, ridged, fine. heedless, inattentive, oblivious, inauspicious, vicious. ANTONYMS:
inseparable: (adj) indissoluble, forgetful. (adj) innocent, hospitable, good,
inextricable, inherent, indiscerptible, notoriety: (n) publicity, reputation, normal, favorable.
however, that got the name of Nathaniel from my kin; the compliment of
Hawkeye from the Delawares, who live on their own river; and whom the
Iroquois have presumed to style the 'Long Rifle', without any warranty from him
who is most concerned in the matter."
The eyes of all present, which had hitherto been gravely scanning the person
of Duncan, were now turned, on the instant, toward the upright iron frame of
this new pretender to the distinguished appellation. It was in no degree
remarkable that there should be found two who were willing to claim so great an
honor, for impostors, though rare, were not unknown among the natives; but it
was altogether material to the just and severe intentions of the Delawares, that
there should be no mistake in the matter. Some of their old men consulted
together in private, and then, as it would seem, they determined to interrogate
their visitor on the subject.%
"My brother has said that a snake crept into my camp," said the chief to
Magua; "which is he?"
The Huron pointed to the scout.
"Will a wise Delaware believe the barking of a wolf?" exclaimed Duncan, still
more confirmed in the evil intentions of his ancient enemy: " a dog never lies, but
when was a wolf known to speak the truth?"
The eyes of Magua flashed fire; but suddenly recollecting the necessity of
maintaining his presence of mind, he turned away in silent disdain, well assured
that the sagacity of the Indians would not fail to extract the real merits of the
point in controversy. He was not deceived; for, after another short consultation,
the wary Delaware turned to him again, and expressed the determination of the
chiefs, though in the most considerate language.
"My brother has been called a liar," he said, "and his friends are angry. They
will show that he has spoken the truth. Give my prisoners guns, and let them
prove which is the man."
Magua affected to consider the expedient, which he well knew proceeded
from distrust of himself, as a compliment, and made a gesture of acquiescence,
Thesaurus
barking: (adj) latrant; (n) abay, juice, quotation; (n, v) quote. sham, hypocrite, claimant, cheat,
latration. ANTONYMS: (v) insert, add; (n) quack, shammer, humbug; (v)
evil: (adj) bad, criminal, corrupt, whole. fanfaron.
wicked, destructive, depraved; (adj, hitherto: (adv) as yet, yet, so far, up to scanning: (n) search, scan,
n) ill, detriment; (n) adversity, now, until now, thus far, before, photography.
disaster, depravity. ANTONYMS: (n) hereunto, to date, still, all the same. snake: (n) serpent, ophidian, viper,
goodness, righteousness, morality; interrogate: (n, v) question, pump; (v) constrictor, hydra, elapid; (v) wind,
(adj) kindhearted, righteous, benign, ask, demand, examine, enquire, twist, curl, weave; (n, v) sneak.
moral, pure, upright, virtuous, catechize, query, quiz, probe, warranty: (n) warrant, security,
sinless. investigate. ANTONYMS: (v) reply, guaranty, assurance, authority,
extract: (v) draw, derive, elicit, educe, answer. deposit, sanction, surety, pledge,
abstract, distill, draw out; (n) essence, pretender: (n) fraud, fake, imposter, bond, bail.
well content that his veracity should be supported by so skillful a marksman as

the scout. The weapons were instantly placed in the hands of the friendly
opponents, and they were bid to fire, over the heads of the seated multitude, at
an earthen vessel, which lay, by accident, on a stump, some fifty yards from the
place where they stood.%
Heyward smiled to himself at the idea of a competition with the scout,
though he determined to persevere in the deception, until apprised of the real
designs of Magua.
Raising his rifle with the utmost care, and renewing his aim three several
times, he fired. The bullet cut the wood within a few inches of the vessel; and a
general exclamation of satisfaction announced that the shot was considered a
proof of great skill in the use of a weapon. Even Hawkeye nodded his head, as if
he would say, it was better than he expected. But, instead of manifesting an
intention to contend with the successful marksman, he stood leaning on his rifle
for more than a minute, like a man who was completely buried in thought. From
this reverie, he was, however, awakened by one of the young Indians who had
furnished the arms, and who now touched his shoulder, saying in exceedingly
broken English:
"Can the pale face beat it?"
"Yes, Huron!" exclaimed the scout, raising the short rifle in his right hand,
and shaking it at Magua, with as much apparent ease as if it were a reed; "yes,
Huron, I could strike you now, and no power on earth could prevent the deed!
The soaring hawk is not more certain of the dove than I am this moment of you,
did I choose to send a bullet to your heart! Why should I not? Why! -- because
the gifts of my color forbid it, and I might draw down evil on tender and
innocent heads. If you know such a being as God, thank Him, therefore, in your
inward soul; for you have reason!"
The flushed countenance, angry eye and swelling figure of the scout,
produced a sensation of secret awe in all that heard him. The Delawares held
their breath in expectation; but Magua himself, even while he distrusted the
Thesaurus
dove: (n) turtledove, squab, emblem, ANTONYMS: (v) surrender, stop, confuse, stamp, baffle, perplex,
pacificist, pacifist, poultry, dover, quit. nonplus, puzzle, bewilder, mystify.
pigeon, Holy Spirit, culver, peacenik. reverie: (n) dream, fantasy, air castle, ANTONYM: (v) explain.
hawk: (v) peddle, cough, expectorate, brown study, revery, trance, veracity: (n) truth, accuracy, exactness,
sell, vend, hunt, huckster; (n) eagle, abstraction, castle in Spain, castle in truthfulness, fact, reality, precision;
goshawk, harrier, buzzard. the air; (adj) preoccupation, (adj) probity; (adj, n) faithfulness,
marksman: (n) bowman, shot, shooter, distraction. ANTONYM: (n) reality. sincerity, candor. ANTONYMS: (n)
sharpshooter, crack shot, markman, soaring: (adj) high, towering, flying, mendacity, falsehood, falsity,
sniper, buckshot. eminent, beetling; (n) glide, gliding, dishonesty.
persevere: (v) persist, continue, sailing, rise, flight, sailplaning. vessel: (n) ship, pot, jar, duct, vas,
endure, abide, go on, hang on, hold ANTONYM: (adj) low. boat, craft, container, bowl, barrel,
on, follow, keep, remain, pursue. stump: (n) stub, end, pulpit; (v) canal.
forbearance of his enemy, remained immovable and calm, where he stood

wedged in by the crowd, as one who grew to the spot.%
"Beat it," repeated the young Delaware at the elbow of the scout.
"Beat what, fool! -- what?" exclaimed Hawkeye, still flourishing the weapon
angrily above his head, though his eye no longer sought the person of Magua.
"If the white man is the warrior he pretends," said the aged chief, "let him
strike nigher to the mark."
The scout laughed aloud -- a noise that produced the startling effect of an
unnatural sound on Heyward; then dropping the piece, heavily, into his
extended left hand, it was discharged, apparently by the shock, driving the
fragments of the vessel into the air, and scattering them on every side. Almost at
the same instant, the rattling sound of the rifle was heard, as he suffered it to fall,
contemptuously, to the earth.
The first impression of so strange a scene was engrossing admiration. Then a
low, but increasing murmur, ran through the multitude, and finally swelled into
sounds that denoted a lively opposition in the sentiments of the spectators. While
some openly testified their satisfaction at so unexampled dexterity, by far the
larger portion of the tribe were inclined to believe the success of the shot was the
result of accident. Heyward was not slow to confirm an opinion that was so
favorable to his own pretensions.
"It was chance!" he exclaimed; "none can shoot without an aim!"
"Chance!" echoed the excited woodsman, who was now stubbornly bent on
maintaining his identity at every hazard, and on whom the secret hints of
Heyward to acquiesce in the deception were entirely lost. "Does yonder lying
Huron, too, think it chance? Give him another gun, and place us face to face,
without cover or dodge, and let Providence, and our own eyes, decide the matter
atween us! I do not make the offer, to you, major; for our blood is of a color, and
we serve the same master."
"That the Huron is a liar, is very evident," returned Heyward, coolly; "you
have yourself heard him asset you to be La Longue Carabine."
Thesaurus
acquiesce: (v) assent, accept, agree, ANTONYM: (adv) approvingly. tenaciously, unyieldingly, firmly,
consent, acknowledge, yield, submit, discharged: (adj) released, exempt, waywardly, contrarily,
concur, permit, surrender, defer. clear, freer, free, fired, finished, pertinaciously, insistently.
ANTONYMS: (v) resist, disagree, drained, dismissed, defunct, ANTONYMS: (adv) feebly, helpfully,
dissent, protest, object, fight, deadened. openly, hesitantly.
challenge, rebuff. scattering: (n) diffusion, dissipation, unexampled: (adj) new, unique,
contemptuously: (adv) scornfully, dispersion, distribution, scatter, unparalleled, rare, novel,
sneeringly, insultingly, dissemination, sprinkle, sprinkling, undescribed, peerless, inimitable,
disparagingly, superciliously, strewing; (adj, n) spreading; (adj) singular, fantastic, fresh.
derisively, condescendingly, distributive. wedged: (adj) impacted, cuneiform,
disrespectfully, haughtily, stubbornly: (adv) obdurately, jammed, fast, compacter, stuck,
contumeliously, sardonically. mulishly, persistently, doggedly, compact. ANTONYM: (adj) free.
It were impossible to say what violent assertion the stubborn Hawkeye

would have next made, in his headlong wish to vindicate his identity, had not
the aged Delaware once more interposed.%
"The hawk which comes from the clouds can return when he will," he said;
"give them the guns."
This time the scout seized the rifle with avidity; nor had Magua, though he
watched the movements of the marksman with jealous eyes, any further cause
for apprehension.
"Now let it be proved, in the face of this tribe of Delawares, which is the
better man," cried the scout, tapping the butt of his piece with that finger which
had pulled so many fatal triggers.
"You see that gourd hanging against yonder tree, major; if you are a
marksman fit for the borders, let me see you break its shell!"
Duncan noted the object, and prepared himself to renew the trial. The gourd
was one of the usual little vessels used by the Indians, and it was suspended
from a dead branch of a small pine, by a thong of deerskin, at the full distance of
a hundred yards. So strangely compounded is the feeling of self-love, that the
young soldier, while he knew the utter worthlessness of the suffrages of his
savage umpires, forgot the sudden motives of the contest in a wish to excel. It
had been seen, already, that his skill was far from being contemptible, and he
now resolved to put forth its nicest qualities. Had his life depended on the issue,
the aim of Duncan could not have been more deliberate or guarded. He fired;
and three or four young Indians, who sprang forward at the report, announced
with a shout, that the ball was in the tree, a very little on one side of the proper
object. The warriors uttered a common ejaculation of pleasure, and then turned
their eyes, inquiringly, on the movements of his rival.
"It may do for the Royal Americans!" said Hawkeye, laughing once more in
his own silent, heartfelt manner; "but had my gun often turned so much from the
true line, many a marten, whose skin is now in a lady's muff, would still be in
the woods; ay, and many a bloody Mingo, who has departed to his final account,
would be acting his deviltries at this very day, atween the provinces. I hope the
Thesaurus
assertion: (n) statement, argument, cat, beech marten, fisher cat. exonerate, exculpate; (v) excuse,
claim, avowal, contention, charge, muff: (n, v) blunder, mollycoddle, slip; acquit, defend, maintain, uphold,
testimony, profession, allegation, (v) bungle, botch, miss, flub, muck assert, rationalize. ANTONYMS: (v)
accusation, position. ANTONYMS: up, bobble, fail, spoil. punish, blame, accuse, condemn.
(n) denial, disavowal, uncertainty. pine: (v) languish, long, ache, droop, worthlessness: (n) emptiness,
butt: (v) bunt, abut; (n) extremity, flag, crave, fade; (n) fir; (n, v) yearn, uselessness, paltriness, trashiness,
stump, grip, stub, rump, cask, rear, sink; (adj) peak. insignificance, nothingness,
tail; (n, v) edge. renew: (v) renovate, rejuvenate, negativity, purposelessness, pride,
compounded: (adj) combined, restore, refresh, refurbish, modernize, pointlessness; (adj) inanity.
complex, compositive; (v) mingle. revive, overhaul, reinstate, reiterate, ANTONYMS: (n) importance, worth,
marten: (n) sable, fisher, musteline, mend. ANTONYMS: (v) reduce, kill. helpfulness, appropriateness.
mustelid, pekan, marten cat, black vindicate: (adj, v) absolve, clear,
squaw who owns the gourd has more of them in her wigwam, for this will never
hold water again!"
The scout had shook his priming, and cocked his piece, while speaking; and,
as he ended, he threw back a foot, and slowly raised the muzzle from the earth:
the motion was steady, uniform, and in one direction. When on a perfect level, it
remained for a single moment, without tremor or variation, as though both man
and rifle were carved in stone. During that stationary instant, it poured forth its
contents, in a bright, glancing sheet of flame. Again the young Indians bounded
forward; but their hurried search and disappointed looks announced that no
traces of the bullet were to be seen.%
"Go!" said the old chief to the scout, in a tone of strong disgust; "thou art a
wolf in the skin of a dog. I will talk to the 'Long Rifle' of the Yengeese."
"Ah! had I that piece which furnished the name you use, I would obligate
myself to cut the thong, and drop the gourd without breaking it!" returned
Hawkeye, perfectly undisturbed by the other's manner. "Fools, if you would find
the bullet of a sharpshooter in these woods, you must look in the object, and not
around it!"
The Indian youths instantly comprehended his meaning -- for this time he
spoke in the Delaware tongue -- and tearing the gourd from the tree, they held it
on high with an exulting shout, displaying a hole in its bottom, which had been
cut by the bullet, after passing through the usual orifice in the center of its upper
side. At this unexpected exhibition, a loud and vehement expression of pleasure
burst from the mouth of every warrior present. It decided the question, and
effectually established Hawkeye in the possession of his dangerous reputation.
Those curious and admiring eyes which had been turned again on Heyward,
were finally directed to the weather-beaten form of the scout, who immediately
became the principal object of attention to the simple and unsophisticated beings
by whom he was surrounded. When the sudden and noisy commotion had a
little subsided, the aged chief resumed his examination.
"Why did you wish to stop my ears?" he said, addressing Duncan; "are the
Delawares fools that they could not know the young panther from the cat?"
Thesaurus
cocked: (adj) erect, upright, vertical. vent, port, puncture, inlet, muzzle, unsophisticated: (adj) artless, naive,
displaying: (n) advertising. chops, nozzle. unaffected, natural, ingenuous,
furnished: (adj) fitted, arranged, poured: (adj) concrete. innocent, pure, rustic,
privileged, instruct, carrying sharpshooter: (n) marksman, uncomplicated, green, callow.
weapons, equipt, enlightened; (v) carabineer, crack shot, jager, ANTONYMS: (adj) refined, complex,
provide, furnish, begone, beset. musketeer, skirmisher, sniper, yager, cultured, worldly, suave, mature,
obligate: (v) oblige, bind, coerce, shot, shooter, schooner. experienced, advanced, jaded.
compel, enforce, condemn, apply; tremor: (n, v) shiver, quake, shudder, vehement: (adj) fierce, intense, violent,
(adj) bound, forced, compelled, shake; (n) agitation, vibration, strong, furious, passionate, ferocious,
constrained. ANTONYMS: (adj) earthquake, convulsion; (adj, v) eager, hot, fervent, fervid.
facultative; (v) request. flutter; (adj, n) trepidation; (v) ANTONYMS: (adj) impassionate,
orifice: (n) mouth, gap, hole, aperture, tremble. indifferent, mild, calm.
"They will yet find the Huron a singing-bird," said Duncan, endeavoring to
adopt the figurative language of the natives.%
"It is good. We will know who can shut the ears of men. Brother," added the
chief turning his eyes on Magua, "the Delawares listen."
Thus singled, and directly called on to declare his object, the Huron arose;
and advancing with great deliberation and dignity into the very center of the
circle, where he stood confronted by the prisoners, he placed himself in an
attitude to speak. Before opening his mouth, however, he bent his eyes slowly
along the whole living boundary of earnest faces, as if to temper his expressions
to the capacities of his audience. On Hawkeye he cast a glance of respectful
enmity; on Duncan, a look of inextinguishable hatred; the shrinking figure of
Alice he scarcely deigned to notice; but when his glance met the firm,
commanding, and yet lovely form of Cora, his eye lingered a moment, with an
expression that it might have been difficult to define. Then, filled with his own
dark intentions, he spoke in the language of the Canadas, a tongue that he well
knew was comprehended by most of his auditors.
"The Spirit that made men colored them differently," commenced the subtle
Huron. "Some are blacker than the sluggish bear. These He said should be
slaves; and He ordered them to work forever, like the beaver. You may hear
them groan, when the south wind blows, louder than the lowing buffaloes, along
the shores of the great salt lake, where the big canoes come and go with them in
droves. Some He made with faces paler than the ermine of the forests; and these
He ordered to be traders; dogs to their women, and wolves to their slaves. He
gave this people the nature of the pigeon; wings that never tire; young, more
plentiful than the leaves on the trees, and appetites to devour the earth. He gave
them tongues like the false call of the wildcat; hearts like rabbits; the cunning of
the hog (but none of the fox), and arms longer than the legs of the moose. With
his tongue he stops the ears of the Indians; his heart teaches him to pay warriors
to fight his battles; his cunning tells him how to get together the goods of the
earth; and his arms inclose the land from the shores of the salt-water to the
Thesaurus
devour: (v) eat, bolt, gulp, demolish, inextinguishable: (adj) indomitable, fruitful, full, abundant, rich, plenty.
guzzle, swallow, gorge, ingurgitate, impregnable, dominating, ANTONYMS: (adj) scanty, meager,
gobble, use up, absorb. ANTONYMS: quenchless, indestructible, sparse, lacking, insufficient, few,
(v) avoid, abstain, regurgitate, nibble, unquenchable; (v) incommutable, infertile.
fast, sip. indefeasible, volcanic, irreducible, rabbits: (n) order Lagomorpha, pikas,
ermine: (n) purple, pelt, fur, weasel, simmering. Lagomorpha.
pall, shorttail weasel, mantle, toga, lowing: (adj) mugient. sluggish: (adj) inert, indolent, inactive,
millinery, robes of state. pigeon: (n) dove, gull, gudgeon, cully, idle, slow, torpid, slack, languid; (adj,
inclose: (adv, v) environ, beset; (adv, n, ringdove, victim, cushat, n) lazy, drowsy, heavy.
v) encompass; (n, v) encircle, close, gobemouche, cull; (v) bilk, mulct. ANTONYMS: (adj) energetic, fast,
embrace; (adv, n) compass; (v) plentiful: (adj) opulent, bountiful, brisk, lively, alert, speedy,
circumscribe, embower, bound, gird. ample, luxuriant, liberal, copious, industrious.
islands of the great lake. His gluttony makes him sick. God gave him enough,
and yet he wants all. Such are the pale faces.%
"Some the Great Spirit made with skins brighter and redder than yonder
sun," continued Magua, pointing impressively upward to the lurid luminary,
which was struggling through the misty atmosphere of the horizon; "and these
did He fashion to His own mind. He gave them this island as He had made it,
covered with trees, and filled with game. The wind made their clearings; the sun
and rain ripened their fruits; and the snows came to tell them to be thankful.
What need had they of roads to journey by! They saw through the hills! When
the beavers worked, they lay in the shade, and looked on. The winds cooled
them in summer; in winter, skins kept them warm. If they fought among
themselves, it was to prove that they were men. They were brave; they were just;
they were happy."
Here the speaker paused, and again looked around him to discover if his
legend had touched the sympathies of his listeners. He met everywhere, with
eyes riveted on his own, heads erect and nostrils expanded, as if each individual
present felt himself able and willing, singly, to redress the wrongs of his race.
"If the Great Spirit gave different tongues to his red children," he continued,
in a low, still melancholy voice, "it was that all animals might understand them.
Some He placed among the snows, with their cousin, the bear. Some he placed
near the setting sun, on the road to the happy hunting grounds. Some on the
lands around the great fresh waters; but to His greatest, and most beloved, He
gave the sands of the salt lake. Do my brothers know the name of this favored
people?"
"It was the Lenape!" exclaimed twenty eager voices in a breath.
"It was the Lenni Lenape," returned Magua, affecting to bend his head in
reverence to their former greatness. "It was the tribes of the Lenape! The sun
rose from water that was salt, and set in water that was sweet, and never hid
himself from their eyes. But why should I, a Huron of the woods, tell a wise
people their own traditions? Why remind them of their injuries; their ancient
greatness; their deeds; their glory; their happiness; their losses; their defeats;
Thesaurus
cooled: (adj) refrigerated, frozen; (n) legend: (n) caption, fable, fiction, ripened: (adj) mature, matured,
cooler. inscription, tale, folk tale, account, elderly, aged, maturer, old, mellow,
gluttony: (n) greediness, edacity, tradition, title, story, myth. grown, full-grown, cured, adult.
voracity, rapacity, gula, esurience, misty: (adj) hazy, foggy, cloudy, ANTONYM: (adj) young.
excess, hoggishness, avidity, brumous, dim, indistinct, nebulous, sands: (n) littoral, litoral, beach, coast,
insatiability, debauchery. fuzzy, dark, dull, blurred. quicksands, shore.
greatness: (n) excellence, dimension, ANTONYMS: (adj) clear, distinct. thankful: (adj) appreciative, indebted,
dignity, bulk, size, enormousness, redress: (n, v) cure, correct, beholden, obliged, contented,
bigness, enormity, grandness, recompense, help; (v) compensate, pleased, gratified, relieved, under
magnitude, fame. ANTONYMS: (n) indemnify, expiate, rectify, atone; (n) obligation, appreciatory, welcome.
obscurity, austerity, commonness, indemnification, amends. ANTONYMS: (adj) worried,
mildness, moderation, simplicity. ANTONYM: (v) wrong. unappreciative, unthankful, sorry.
their misery? Is there not one among them who has seen it all, and who knows it
to be true? I have done. My tongue is still for my heart is of lead. I listen."
As the voice of the speaker suddenly ceased, every face and all eyes turned,
by a common movement, toward the venerable Tamenund. From the moment
that he took his seat, until the present instant, the lips of the patriarch had not
severed, and scarcely a sign of life had escaped him. He sat bent in feebleness,
and apparently unconscious of the presence he was in, during the whole of that
opening scene, in which the skill of the scout had been so clearly established. At
the nicely graduated sound of Magua's voice, however, he betrayed some
evidence of consciousness, and once or twice he even raised his head, as if to
listen. But when the crafty Huron spoke of his nation by name, the eyelids of the
old man raised themselves, and he looked out upon the multitude with that sort
of dull, unmeaning expression which might be supposed to belong to the
countenance of a specter. Then he made an effort to rise, and being upheld by his
supporters, he gained his feet, in a posture commanding by its dignity, while he
tottered with weakness.%
"Who calls upon the children of the Lenape?" he said, in a deep, guttural
voice, that was rendered awfully audible by the breathless silence of the
multitude; "who speaks of things gone? Does not the egg become a worm -- the
worm a fly, and perish? Why tell the Delawares of good that is past? Better
thank the Manitou for that which remains."
"It is a Wyandot," said Magua, stepping nigher to the rude platform on which
the other stood; "a friend of Tamenund."
"A friend!" repeated the sage, on whose brow a dark frown settled,
imparting a portion of that severity which had rendered his eye so terrible in
middle age. "Are the Mingoes rulers of the earth? What brings a Huron in here?"
"Justice. His prisoners are with his brothers, and he comes for his own."
Tamenund turned his head toward one of his supporters, and listened to the
short explanation the man gave.
Thesaurus
awfully: (adv) atrociously, hideously, feebleness: (n) weakness, frailty, proportional, regressive, calibrated;
appallingly, frightfully, fearfully, decrepitude, faintness, imbecility, (n) graduate.
ghastly, terribly, horrifically, fragility, tenuity, languor, frailness; imparting: (n) giving, conveyance,
horrendously, badly; (adj, adv) (adj, n) infirmity; (adj) feeble. conveyance of title, conveyancing,
amazingly. ANTONYMS: (adv) ANTONYMS: (n) perseverance, conveying.
pleasantly, hardly, little, mildly, success, effectiveness, competence. portion: (n, v) division, lot, allot,
satisfactorily, slightly, well, frown: (adj, v) lower; (adj, n) scowl; (n, dividend, divide; (n) piece, parcel,
adequately, superbly, somewhat. v) pout, grimace, glower, glare; (adj) fragment, component, section; (adj, n)
brow: (n) peak, brink, brows, height, black looks, gloam, glout; (v) sulk, constituent. ANTONYM: (n) whole.
summit, forehead, eyebrow, edge, gnash. ANTONYM: (v) approve. upheld: (adj) supported, bolstered,
crown, brim, border. ANTONYM: (n) graduated: (adj) gradational, swelled out.
trough. gradatory, equal, measured,
Then, facing the applicant, he regarded him a moment with deep attention;
after which he said, in a low and reluctant voice:
"Justice is the law of the great Manitou. My children, give the stranger food.
Then, Huron, take thine own and depart."
On the delivery of this solemn judgment, the patriarch seated himself, and
closed his eyes again, as if better pleased with the images of his own ripened
experience than with the visible objects of the world. Against such a decree there
was no Delaware sufficiently hardy to murmur, much less oppose himself. The
words were barely uttered when four or five of the younger warriors, stepping
behind Heyward and the scout, passed thongs so dexterously and rapidly
around their arms, as to hold them both in instant bondage. The former was too
much engrossed with his precious and nearly insensible burden, to be aware of
their intentions before they were executed; and the latter, who considered even
the hostile tribes of the Delawares a superior race of beings, submitted without
resistance. Perhaps, however, the manner of the scout would not have been so
passive, had he fully comprehended the language in which the preceding
dialogue had been conducted.%
Magua cast a look of triumph around the whole assembly before he
proceeded to the execution of his purpose. Perceiving that the men were unable
to offer any resistance, he turned his looks on her he valued most. Cora met his
gaze with an eye so calm and firm, that his resolution wavered. Then,
recollecting his former artifice, he raised Alice from the arms of the warrior
against whom she leaned, and beckoning Heyward to follow, he motioned for
the encircling crowd to open. But Cora, instead of obeying the impulse he had
expected, rushed to the feet of the patriarch, and, raising her voice, exclaimed
aloud:
"Just and venerable Delaware, on thy wisdom and power we lean for mercy!
Be deaf to yonder artful and remorseless monster, who poisons thy ears with
falsehoods to feed his thirst for blood. Thou that hast lived long, and that hast
seen the evil of the world, should know how to temper its calamities to the
miserable."
Thesaurus
applicant: (n) candidate, aspirant, incompetently, awkwardly. ANTONYMS: (n) aversion,
possible, solicitor, suppliant, engrossed: (adj) rapt, engaged, intent, disincentive, disinclination.
supplicant, contestant, applier, occupied, preoccupied, busy, monster: (n) beast, fiend, devil, freak,
claimant, contender, hopeful. fascinated, obsessed, thoughtful, brute, demon, ogre, leviathan,
decree: (n, v) command, award, rule, hooked; (adj, v) immersed. behemoth, monstrosity; (adj) huge.
act, will, dictate; (v) decide, enact, ANTONYMS: (adj) disinterested, oppose: (v) contest, contend, resist,
ordain; (n) edict, decision. bored, distracted, indifferent, contradict, controvert, contravene,
dexterously: (adv) adroitly, skillfully, unconcerned, uninterested, counteract, fight, counter, disagree,
expertly, craftily, skilfully, inattentive, carefree. dissent. ANTONYMS: (v) advocate,
dextrously, handily, cleverly, impulse: (n) pulse, urge, impulsion, agree, back, advise, promote, accept,
proficiently, aptly; (adj, adv) readily. force, motive, whim, drive, goad, submit, encourage, correspond,
ANTONYMS: (adv) ineptly, motivation, momentum, incentive. approve, favor.
The eyes of the old man opened heavily, and he once more looked upward at
the multitude. As the piercing tones of the suppliant swelled on his ears, they
moved slowly in the direction of her person, and finally settled there in a steady
gaze. Cora had cast herself to her knees; and, with hands clenched in each other
and pressed upon her bosom, she remained like a beauteous and breathing
model of her sex, looking up in his faded but majestic countenance, with a
species of holy reverence. Gradually the expression of Tamenund's features
changed, and losing their vacancy in admiration, they lighted with a portion of
that intelligence which a century before had been wont to communicate his
youthful fire to the extensive bands of the Delawares. Rising without assistance,
and seemingly without an effort, he demanded, in a voice that startled its
auditors by its firmness:
"What art thou?"%
"A woman. One of a hated race, if thou wilt -- a Yengee. But one who has
never harmed thee, and who cannot harm thy people, if she would; who asks for
succor."
"Tell me, my children," continued the patriarch, hoarsely, motioning to those
around him, though his eyes still dwelt upon the kneeling form of Cora, "where
have the Delawares camped?"
"In the mountains of the Iroquois, beyond the clear springs of the Horican."
"Many parching summers are come and gone," continued the sage, "since I
drank of the water of my own rivers. The children of Minquon are the justest
white men, but they were thirsty and they took it to themselves. Do they follow
us so far?"
"We follow none, we covet nothing," answered Cora. "Captives against our
wills, have we been brought amongst you; and we ask but permission to depart
to our own in peace. Art thou not Tamenund -- the father, the judge, I had almost
said, the prophet -- of this people?"
"I am Tamenund of many days."
Thesaurus
beauteous: (adj) pretty, lovely, fair, kneeling: (n) homage, kowtow, seer, predictor, diviner, forecaster,
comely, good-looking, handsome, kneelingly, prostration, genuflexion, visionary, foreteller, priest,
stunning. genuflection, curtsy, courtesy, clairvoyant.
covet: (v) envy, begrudge, long, crave, obeisance. suppliant: (n) petitioner, applicant,
aspire, grudge, hanker, want, wish majestic: (adj) grand, awesome, besieger, postulant, prayer, lover,
for, long for, wish. ANTONYMS: (v) stately, imperial, royal, exalted, suer; (adj) beseeching, supplicatory,
spurn, renounce, reject, ignore, glorious, kingly, August; (adj, v) imploring, humbly entreating.
forswear. imposing; (adj, adv) regal. thirsty: (adj) eager, arid, parched, avid,
harmed: (adj) aggrieved, injured, ANTONYMS: (adj) pathetic, pitiful, keen, athirst, greedy, absorbent,
impaired, incapacitated, abused, modest, lowly, undignified. ambitious; (v) craving, hungry.
debilitated, physically abused, parching: (adj) torrid, hot, parched. ANTONYMS: (adj) quenched,
battered, crippled; (v) harm, damage. prophet: (n) augur, oracle, vaticinator, satisfied, disinterested, wet.
"'Tis now some seven years that one of thy people was at the mercy of a white
chief on the borders of this province. He claimed to be of the blood of the good
and just Tamenund. 'Go', said the white man, 'for thy parent's sake thou art free.'
Dost thou remember the name of that English warrior?"%
"I remember, that when a laughing boy," returned the patriarch, with the
peculiar recollection of vast age, "I stood upon the sands of the sea shore, and
saw a big canoe, with wings whiter than the swan's, and wider than many
eagles, come from the rising sun."
"Nay, nay; I speak not of a time so very distant, but of favor shown to thy
kindred by one of mine, within the memory of thy youngest warrior."
"Was it when the Yengeese and the Dutchmanne fought for the hunting-
grounds of the Delawares? Then Tamenund was a chief, and first laid aside the
bow for the lightning of the pale faces --"
"Not yet then," interrupted Cora, "by many ages; I speak of a thing of
yesterday. Surely, surely, you forget it not."
"It was but yesterday," rejoined the aged man, with touching pathos, "that the
children of the Lenape were masters of the world. The fishes of the salt lake, the
birds, the beasts, and the Mengee of the woods, owned them for Sagamores."
Cora bowed her head in disappointment, and, for a bitter moment struggled
with her chagrin. Then, elevating her rich features and beaming eyes, she
continued, in tones scarcely less penetrating than the unearthly voice of the
patriarch himself:
"Tell me, is Tamenund a father?"
The old man looked down upon her from his elevated stand, with a
benignant smile on his wasted countenance, and then casting his eyes slowly
over the whole assemblage, he answered:
"Of a nation."
"For myself I ask nothing. Like thee and thine, venerable chief," she
continued, pressing her hands convulsively on her heart, and suffering her head
to droop until her burning cheeks were nearly concealed in the maze of dark,
Thesaurus
benignant: (adj) benevolent, benign, lightning, forked lightning, fetter, impatience, inhumanity.
gracious, merciful, humane, kindly, dart, chain lightning; (adj) wind. pathos: (v) emotion, inspiration,
kind, good, mild, genial, fond. maze: (n) tangle, snarl, web, jungle, impression, affection; (n) poignancy,
ANTONYM: (adj) malign. muddle, confusion, complication; (v) pity, ruth, commiseration, grief,
droop: (adj, v) decline; (v) dangle, wilt, eel; (adj) delicacy, knot, poignance, sympathy.
hang, flag, sink, slump, loll, collapse; awkwardness. wasted: (adj, v) squandered, rotten,
(n, v) sag, pine. ANTONYMS: (v) rise, mercy: (n) kindness, compassion, pity, decayed, effete; (adj) thin,
bloom. favor, leniency, pardon, forgiveness, cadaverous, emaciated, gaunt,
eagles: (n) order Falconiformes, grace, charity, humanity; (n, v) devastated, pointless, haggard.
caracaras, Falconiformes. quarter. ANTONYMS: (n) cruelty, ANTONYMS: (adj) bloated,
lightning: (n) levin, electricity, harshness, unkindness, severity, hypertrophied, strong, plump, obese,
thunderbolt, Leven, ignis fatuus, heat mercilessness, ruthlessness, fruitful, useful.
glossy tresses that fell in disorder upon her shoulders, "the curse of my ancestors
has fallen heavily on their child. But yonder is one who has never known the
weight of Heaven's displeasure until now. She is the daughter of an old and
failing man, whose days are near their close. She has many, very many, to love
her, and delight in her; and she is too good, much too precious, to become the
victim of that villain."
"I know that the pale faces are a proud and hungry race. I know that they
claim not only to have the earth, but that the meanest of their color is better than
the Sachems of the red man. The dogs and crows of their tribes," continued the
earnest old chieftain, without heeding the wounded spirit of his listener, whose
head was nearly crushed to the earth in shame, as he proceeded, "would bark
and caw before they would take a woman to their wigwams whose blood was
not of the color of snow. But let them not boast before the face of the Manitou too
loud. They entered the land at the rising, and may yet go off at the setting sun. I
have often seen the locusts strip the leaves from the trees, but the season of
blossoms has always come again."
"It is so," said Cora, drawing a long breath, as if reviving from a trance,
raising her face, and shaking back her shining veil, with a kindling eye, that
contradicted the death-like paleness of her countenance; "but why -- it is not
permitted us to inquire. There is yet one of thine own people who has not been
brought before thee; before thou lettest the Huron depart in triumph, hear him
speak."
Observing Tamenund to look about him doubtingly, one of his companions
said:
"It is a snake -- a red-skin in the pay of the Yengeese. We keep him for the
torture."
"Let him come," returned the sage.%
Then Tamenund once more sank into his seat, and a silence so deep prevailed
while the young man prepared to obey his simple mandate, that the leaves,
which fluttered in the draught of the light morning air, were distinctly heard
rustling in the surrounding forest.
Thesaurus
curse: (n, v) blight, plague; (n) glistening, burnished, resplendent, charm; (n) fascination, daze, dream,
anathema, blasphemy, malediction, lustrous, glassy. ANTONYMS: (adj) captivation, spell, stupor,
denunciation; (adj, v) beshrew; (v) dull, rough, coarse, shoddy. obstupefaction; (v) capture.
swear, ban, damn, vituperate. kindling: (n) combustion, firing, ANTONYMS: (n) loyalist, reality,
ANTONYMS: (n) blessing, ignition, lighting, tinder, fire, alertness.
benediction, making; (v) firewood, dismissal; (v) ignite, veil: (n, v) cover, hide, disguise, mask,
communicate. agitate, kindle. cloud, shroud, camouflage; (v) cloak,
draught: (n, v) draft, sketch, design, mandate: (n) charge, authority, behest, conceal; (n) curtain, blind.
potation, plan; (n) dose, air current, command, bidding, instruction, ANTONYMS: (v) disclose, unveil,
wind, gulp, outline; (v) blueprint. dictate, order, authorization, decree, expose.
glossy: (adj, v) sleek; (adj) smooth, commandment.
bright, glazed, brilliant, flat, trance: (adj, n) ecstasy; (n, v) coma,
CHAPTER 30
Shylock: "If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
I stand for judgment: answer, shall I have it?"%
Merchant of Venice
The silence continued unbroken by human sounds for many anxious

minutes. Then the waving multitude opened and shut again, and Uncas stood in
the living circle. All those eyes, which had been curiously studying the
lineaments of the sage, as the source of their own intelligence, turned on the
instant, and were now bent in secret admiration on the erect, agile, and faultless
person of the captive. But neither the presence in which he found himself, nor the
exclusive attention that he attracted, in any manner disturbed the self-possession
of the young Mohican. He cast a deliberate and observing look on every side of
him, meeting the settled expression of hostility that lowered in the visages of the
chiefs with the same calmness as the curious gaze of the attentive children. But
when, last in this haughty scrutiny, the person of Tamenund came under his
glance, his eye became fixed, as though all other objects were already forgotten.
Then, advancing with a slow and noiseless step up the area, he placed himself
immediately before the footstool of the sage. Here he stood unnoted, though
Thesaurus
agile: (adj) active, nimble, spry, quick, faultless: (adj) blameless, correct, (n) investigation.
adroit, deft, lively, dapper, supple, immaculate, clean, spotless, innocent, unbroken: (adj) continuous, entire,
lithe, astute. ANTONYMS: (adj) stiff, flawless, unblemished, absolute, complete, continual, constant, intact,
ponderous, brittle, logical, oafish, infallible, consummate. incessant, endless, whole, undivided,
slow, sluggish, unfit, awkward, ANTONYMS: (adj) blemished, solid. ANTONYMS: (adj)
heavy, inflexible. imperfect, faulty, shameful, soiled, intermittent, temporary, plowed,
curiously: (adv) inquisitively, blameworthy. discontinuous, disturbed, sporadic,
peculiarly, unusually, strangely, footstool: (n) footrest, hassock, partial.
nosily, pryingly, queerly, funnily, footboard, Ottoman. unnoted: (adj) unmarked, overlooked,
weirdly; (adj, adv) singularly, observing: (adj) observant, mindful, obscure, nameless, unknown; (v)
particularly. ANTONYMS: (adv) watchful, commemorative, conscious, unheeded, unthought of, unregarded,
ordinarily, typically. observative, perceptive, thoughtful; unobserved, unperceived, unseen.
keenly observant himself, until one of the chiefs apprised the latter of his
presence.%
"With what tongue does the prisoner speak to the Manitou?" demanded the
patriarch, without unclosing his eyes.
"Like his fathers," Uncas replied; "with the tongue of a Delaware."
At this sudden and unexpected annunciation, a low, fierce yell ran through
the multitude, that might not inaptly be compared to the growl of the lion, as his
choler is first awakened -- a fearful omen of the weight of his future anger. The
effect was equally strong on the sage, though differently exhibited. He passed a
hand before his eyes, as if to exclude the least evidence of so shameful a
spectacle, while he repeated, in his low, guttural tones, the words he had just
heard.
"A Delaware! I have lived to see the tribes of the Lenape driven from their
council-fires, and scattered, like broken herds of deer, among the hills of the
Iroquois! I have seen the hatchets of a strong people sweep woods from the
valleys, that the winds of heaven have spared! The beasts that run on the
mountains, and the birds that fly above the trees, have I seen living in the
wigwams of men; but never before have I found a Delaware so base as to creep,
like a poisonous serpent, into the camps of his nation."
"The singing-birds have opened their bills," returned Uncas, in the softest
notes of his own musical voice; "and Tamenund has heard their song."
The sage started, and bent his head aside, as if to catch the fleeting sounds of
some passing melody.
"Does Tamenund dream!" he exclaimed. "What voice is at his ear! Have the
winters gone backward! Will summer come again to the children of the Lenape!"
A solemn and respectful silence succeeded this incoherent burst from the lips
of the Delaware prophet. His people readily constructed his unintelligible
language into one of those mysterious conferences he was believed to hold so
frequently with a superior intelligence and they awaited the issue of the
revelation in awe. After a patient pause, however, one of the aged men,
Thesaurus
choler: (n) anger, bile, resentment, inaptly: (adv) inappropriately, poisonous: (adj) toxic, mortal,
rage, madness, dander, spleen, inadequately, incompetently, venomous, noxious, malicious, fatal,
petulance, indignation, irritability, unaptly, ineptly, inexpertly, baneful, poison, lethal, viperous,
ire. improperly, unfitly, awkwardly, mephitic. ANTONYMS: (adj)
creep: (v) grovel, sneak, steal, fawn, clumsily, unbecomingly. harmless, benevolent, edible,
lurk, truckle, cringe; (n) creeping, incoherent: (adj) disjointed, kindhearted.
crawling, toady, sycophant. disconnected, delirious, rambling, spectacle: (n) scene, pageant, display,
ANTONYMS: (v) race, dash, hasten, confused, disordered, incompatible, exhibition, phenomenon, appearance,
hurry, speed, fly. wandering, muddled, inconsistent, spectacles, view, wonder; (n, v) sight,
deer: (n) caribou, buck, fawn, stag, contradictory. ANTONYMS: (adj) parade. ANTONYM: (n)
reynard, brocket, cervid, ruminant, clear, articulate, eloquent, intelligible, understatement.
roe, roebuck, hart. lucid, sound, concise, consistent.
perceiving that the sage had lost the recollection of the subject before them,
ventured to remind him again of the presence of the prisoner.%
"The false Delaware trembles lest he should hear the words of Tamenund,"
he said. "'Tis a hound that howls, when the Yengeese show him a trail."
"And ye," returned Uncas, looking sternly around him, "are dogs that whine,
when the Frenchman casts ye the offals of his deer!"
Twenty knives gleamed in the air, and as many warriors sprang to their feet,
at this biting, and perhaps merited retort; but a motion from one of the chiefs
suppressed the outbreaking of their tempers, and restored the appearance of
quiet. The task might probably have been more difficult, had not a movement
made by Tamenund indicated that he was again about to speak.
"Delaware!" resumed the sage, "little art thou worthy of thy name. My people
have not seen a bright sun in many winters; and the warrior who deserts his tribe
when hid in clouds is doubly a traitor. The law of the Manitou is just. It is so;
while the rivers run and the mountains stand, while the blossoms come and go
on the trees, it must be so. He is thine, my children; deal justly by him."
Not a limb was moved, nor was a breath drawn louder and longer than
common, until the closing syllable of this final decree had passed the lips of
Tamenund. Then a cry of vengeance burst at once, as it might be, from the united
lips of the nation; a frightful augury of their ruthless intentions. In the midst of
these prolonged and savage yells, a chief proclaimed, in a high voice, that the
captive was condemned to endure the dreadful trial of torture by fire. The circle
broke its order, and screams of delight mingled with the bustle and tumult of
preparation. Heyward struggled madly with his captors; the anxious eye of
Hawkeye began to look around him, with an expression of peculiar earnestness;
and Cora again threw herself at the feet of the patriarch, once more a suppliant
for mercy.
Throughout the whole of these trying moments, Uncas had alone preserved
his serenity. He looked on the preparations with a steady eye, and when the
tormentors came to seize him, he met them with a firm and upright attitude. One
among them, if possible more fierce and savage than his fellows, seized the
Thesaurus
augury: (n) omen, sign, portent, deadly, dementedly, foolishly, Judas, renegade, rat, quisling,
warning, prognostic, indication, distractedly; (adj, adv) rabidly. deserter, cheat, collaborationist; (adj)
hunch, signal, foreboding, forecast, ANTONYMS: (adv) sensibly, calmly, insurgent, mutineer. ANTONYMS:
forerunner. sanely, carefully; (adj) slightly. (n) loyalist, patriot.
bustle: (adj, n, v) hurry; (n, v) flurry, serenity: (n) quiet, peace, calm, trembles: (n) animal disease,
ado, fuss, hustle; (adj, n) stir, quietness, equanimity, calmness, nervousness.
movement; (n) bother, commotion, quietude, repose; (adj, n) composure, whine: (n, v) groan, cry, whimper,
disorder; (adj, v) hasten. tranquility, placidity. ANTONYMS: grumble, sigh, wail, squeal, screech;
ANTONYMS: (n) inactivity, stillness, (n) anxiety, uproar, chaos, anger, (v) complain, howl; (n) complaint.
idleness; (v) laziness, relaxation. panic, bustle, disturbance, ANTONYMS: (n) happiness; (v)
madly: (adv) insanely, furiously, impatience, turbulence, turmoil. praise, compliment.
sorely, frantically, wildly, devilishly, traitor: (n) betrayer, conspirator,
hunting-shirt of the young warrior, and at a single effort tore it from his body.
Then, with a yell of frantic pleasure, he leaped toward his unresisting victim and
prepared to lead him to the stake. But, at that moment, when he appeared most a
stranger to the feelings of humanity, the purpose of the savage was arrested as
suddenly as if a supernatural agency had interposed in the behalf of Uncas. The
eyeballs of the Delaware seemed to start from their sockets; his mouth opened
and his whole form became frozen in an attitude of amazement. Raising his hand
with a slow and regulated motion, he pointed with a finger to the bosom of the
captive. His companions crowded about him in wonder and every eye was like
his own, fastened intently on the figure of a small tortoise, beautifully tattooed
on the breast of the prisoner, in a bright blue tint.%
For a single instant Uncas enjoyed his triumph, smiling calmly on the scene.
Then motioning the crowd away with a high and haughty sweep of his arm, he
advanced in front of the nation with the air of a king, and spoke in a voice louder
than the murmur of admiration that ran through the multitude.
"Men of the Lenni Lenape!" he said, "my race upholds the earth! Your feeble
tribe stands on my shell! What fire that a Delaware can light would burn the
child of my fathers," he added, pointing proudly to the simple blazonry on his
skin; "the blood that came from such a stock would
smother your flames! My race is the grandfather of nations!"
"Who art thou?" demanded Tamenund, rising at the startling tones he heard,
more than at any meaning conveyed by the language of the prisoner.
"Uncas, the son of Chingachgook," answered the captive modestly, turning
from the nation, and bending his head in reverence to the other's character and
years; "a son of the great Unamis."
"The hour of Tamenund is nigh!" exclaimed the sage; "the day is come, at last,
to the night! I thank the Manitou, that one is here to fill my place at the council-
fire. Uncas, the child of Uncas, is found! Let the eyes of a dying eagle gaze on the
rising sun."
Thesaurus
blazonry: (n) blazon, arms, heraldry, immodestly, elaborately, boldly, in harmony, keeping pace, keeping
quartering, coat of arms. radically, proudly, brashly, up.
interposed: (adj) interjacent, boastfully, brazenly, excessively. smother: (v) stifle, suffocate, choke,
intercedent, intervenient, proudly: (adv) haughtily, arrogantly, muffle, extinguish, put out, suppress,
parenthetical, intermediate colors, superciliously, boastfully, vainly, asphyxiate, hush up, gag, repress.
mediate. splendidly, stately, loftily, snootily, ANTONYMS: (v) express, light,
modestly: (adv) unassumingly, disdainfully, conceitedly. encourage.
demurely, humbly, reservedly, ANTONYMS: (adv) humbly, sweep: (adj, v) brush, rake; (n, v)
retiringly, unpretentiously, modestly. range, reach, sway; (n) compass,
diffidently, soberly, timidly, meekly, regulated: (adj) ordered, arranged, expanse, scope, field; (v) sail; (adj, n)
moderately. ANTONYMS: (adv) consistent, lawful, temperate, not curve.
ostentatiously, arrogantly, haphazard, organized; (adv) in time,
The youth stepped lightly, but proudly on the platform, where he became
visible to the whole agitated and wondering multitude. Tamenund held him
long at the length of his arm and read every turn in the fine lineaments of his
countenance, with the untiring gaze of one who recalled days of happiness.%
"Is Tamenund a boy?" at length the bewildered prophet exclaimed. "Have I
dreamed of so many snows -- that my people were scattered like floating sands -
- of Yengeese, more plenty than the leaves on the trees! The arrow of Tamenund
would not frighten the fawn; his arm is withered like the branch of a dead oak;
the snail would be swifter in the race; yet is Uncas before him as they went to
battle against the pale faces! Uncas, the panther of his tribe, the eldest son of the
Lenape, the wisest Sagamore of the Mohicans! Tell me, ye Delawares, has
Tamenund been a sleeper for a hundred winters?"
The calm and deep silence which succeeded these words sufficiently
announced the awful reverence with which his people received the
communication of the patriarch. None dared to answer, though all listened in
breathless expectation of what might follow. Uncas, however, looking in his face
with the fondness and veneration of a favored child, presumed on his own high
and acknowledged rank, to reply.
"Four warriors of his race have lived and died," he said, "since the friend of
Tamenund led his people in battle. The blood of the turtle has been in many
chiefs, but all have gone back into the earth from whence they came, except
Chingachgook and his son."
"It is true -- it is true," returned the sage, a flash of recollection destroying all
his pleasing fancies, and restoring him at once to a consciousness of the true
history of his nation. "Our wise men have often said that two warriors of the
unchanged race were in the hills of the Yengeese; why have their seats at the
council-fires of the Delawares been so long empty?"
At these words the young man raised his head, which he had still kept bowed
a little, in reverence; and lifting his voice so as to be heard by the multitude, as if
to explain at once and forever the policy of his family, he said aloud:
Thesaurus
aloud: (adv) loud, out loud, strong, glitter, gleam, glimmer, blink, flame; noctambulist, baggage car,
out, audibly, hard, forte. (adj, n, v) twinkle; (n) instant; (v) slumberer, dreamer, Pullman car,
ANTONYMS: (adv) softly, inaudibly, coruscate. ANTONYMS: (adj) freight car, parlor car, express car.
quietly. tasteful; (n) age; (v) dawdle. snail: (v) sluggard, loiterer, lingerer,
arrow: (n) missile, bolt, dart, barb, floating: (adv) afloat; (adj, v) buoyant; pull together; (n) conch, hodmandod,
gun, spear, bullet, cursor; (adj, n) (adj, adv) aimless; (adj) current, loose, gastropod, garden snail, edible snail,
rocket; (adj) hydrargyrum, moving, fluid, in circulation, going dodman; (adj) whelked.
quicksilver. about, flying, light. turtle: (n) terrapin, redbelly, cooter,
eldest: (adj) elder, older, oldest, eigne; restoring: (n) reinstatement, snapping turtle, box tortoise, painted
(n) offspring, progeny, doyen. restoration; (adj) grateful, refective, terrapin, marine turtle, slider, sea
fancies: (n) stock. comforting, refreshing. turtle; (adj) game, venison.
flash: (n, v) flicker, blaze, shimmer, sleeper: (n) railroad tie, crosstie, tie, went: (v) walked, proceeded.
"Once we slept where we could hear the salt lake speak in its anger. Then we
were rulers and Sagamores over the land. But when a pale face was seen on
every brook, we followed the deer back to the river of our nation. The Delawares
were gone. Few warriors of them all stayed to drink of the stream they loved.
Then said my fathers, 'Here will we hunt. The waters of the river go into the salt
lake. If we go toward the setting sun, we shall find streams that run into the great
lakes of sweet water; there would a Mohican die, like fishes of the sea, in the
clear springs. When the Manitou is ready and shall say "Come," we will follow
the river to the sea, and take our own again. Such, Delawares, is the belief of the
children of the Turtle. Our eyes are on the rising and not toward the setting sun.
We know whence he comes, but we know not whither he goes. It is enough."
The men of the Lenape listened to his words with all the respect that
superstition could lend, finding a secret charm even in the figurative language
with which the young Sagamore imparted his ideas. Uncas himself watched the
effect of his brief explanation with intelligent eyes, and gradually dropped the air
of authority he had assumed, as he perceived that his auditors were content.
Then, permitting his looks to wander over the silent throng that crowded around
the elevated seat of Tamenund, he first perceived Hawkeye in his bonds.
Stepping eagerly from his stand, he made way for himself to the side of his
friend; and cutting his thongs with a quick and angry stroke of his own knife, he
motioned to the crowd to divide. The Indians silently obeyed, and once more
they stood ranged in their circle, as before his appearance among them. Uncas
took the scout by the hand, and led him to the feet of the patriarch.%
"Father," he said, "look at this pale face; a just man, and the friend of the
Delawares."
"Is he a son of Minquon?"
"Not so; a warrior known to the Yengeese, and feared by the Maquas."
"What name has he gained by his deeds?"
"We call him Hawkeye," Uncas replied, using the Delaware phrase; "for his
sight never fails. The Mingoes know him better by the death he gives their
warriors; with them he is 'The Long Rifle'."
Thesaurus
charm: (n, v) allure, captivate, appeal, deserted, uncrowded, loose. (adv) apathetically, nonchalantly,
spell, fascinate, bewitch, conjure; (adj, divide: (n, v) cut, part, distribute, grudgingly, patiently, halfheartedly,
v) attract; (n) amulet; (v) enchant, share, split; (v) dissociate, reluctantly, unenthusiastically.
entrance. ANTONYMS: (n) ugliness, dismember, separate, dispense, lend: (v) grant, give, advance, impart,
repulsion, repulsiveness, disconnect, detach. ANTONYMS: (v) bestow, contribute, borrow, bring,
awkwardness, hatefulness, unite, join, connect, combine, add, confer; (n) lending.
unpleasantness; (v) repulse, offend, multiply, lump, link, keep, hold, wander: (n, v) stroll, saunter, tramp,
irritate, disgust, bore. gather, disarrange. drift; (v) stray, digress, err, travel,
crowded: (adj) compact, congested, eagerly: (adv) zealously, readily, roam, deviate; (adj, v) rave.
full, packed, busy, dense, populous, keenly, fervently, avidly, greedily, ANTONYMS: (v) settle, stay, think,
jammed, cramped, tight; (adj, n) enthusiastically, intently, earnestly, converge.
thronged. ANTONYMS: (adj) sparse, impatiently, actively. ANTONYMS:
"La Longue Carabine!" exclaimed Tamenund, opening his eyes, and

regarding the scout sternly. "My son has not done well to call him friend."
"I call him so who proves himself such," returned the young chief, with great
calmness, but with a steady mien. "If Uncas is welcome among the Delawares,
then is Hawkeye with his friends."
"The pale face has slain my young men; his name is great for the blows he has
struck the Lenape."
"If a Mingo has whispered that much in the ear of the Delaware, he has only
shown that he is a singing-bird," said the scout, who now believed that it was
time to vindicate himself from such offensive charges, and who spoke as the
man he addressed, modifying his Indian figures, however, with his own peculiar
notions. "That I have slain the Maquas I am not the man to deny, even at their
own council-fires; but that, knowingly, my hand has never harmed a Delaware,
is opposed to the reason of my gifts, which is friendly to them, and all that
belongs to their nation."
A low exclamation of applause passed among the warriors who exchanged
looks with each other like men that first began to perceive their error.%
"Where is the Huron?" demanded Tamenund. "Has he stopped my ears?"
Magua, whose feelings during that scene in which Uncas had triumphed may
be much better imagined than described, answered to the call by stepping boldly
in front of the patriarch.
"The just Tamenund," he said, "will not keep what a Huron has lent."
"Tell me, son of my brother," returned the sage, avoiding the dark
countenance of Le Subtil, and turning gladly to the more ingenuous features of
Uncas, "has the stranger a conqueror's right over you?"
"He has none. The panther may get into snares set by the women; but he is
strong, and knows how to leap through them."
"La Longue Carabine?"
"Laughs at the Mingoes. Go, Huron, ask your squaws the color of a bear."
Thesaurus
avoiding: (n) shunning; (adj) fugitive, leap: (n, v) bound, spring, bounce, decent; (n) defense.
antisocial. caper, dive, vault, lunge; (v) dance, perceive: (v) comprehend, apprehend,
knowingly: (adj, adv, v) wittingly; hop, start; (n) curvet. ANTONYMS: discover, see, grasp, find, know,
(adv) intentionally, consciously, (n, v) plummet; (v) surface, drop, observe, sense, appreciate; (adj, v)
designedly, shrewdly, on purpose, hesitate; (n) slump. discern. ANTONYMS: (v) Miss,
purposely, wisely, wilfully, offensive: (adj, v) foul, odious, nasty, observe, ignore.
ingeniously; (adv, v) by design. aggressive, coarse, hateful; (adj) stranger: (n) foreigner, outsider,
ANTONYMS: (adv) accidentally, distasteful, disgusting, loathsome, newcomer, outlander, immigrant,
unintentionally, unwittingly, openly. abusive, nauseous. ANTONYMS: intruder, unknown, tramontane,
laughs: (n) diversion, comedy, (adj) complimentary, pleasant, polite, trespasser; (adj) foreign, strange.
amusement, sport, recreation, defensive, tasteful, peaceful, ANTONYMS: (n) pal, native,
merriment, entertainment, levity. pleasing, savory, euphemistic, associate, resident, familiar.
"The stranger and white maiden that come into my camp together?"
"Should journey on an open path."
"And the woman that Huron left with my warriors?"
Uncas made no reply.%
"And the woman that the Mingo has brought into my camp?" repeated
Tamenund, gravely.
"She is mine," cried Magua, shaking his hand in triumph at Uncas.
"Mohican, you know that she is mine."
"My son is silent," said Tamenund, endeavoring to read the expression of the
face that the youth turned from him in sorrow.
"It is so," was the low answer.
A short and impressive pause succeeded, during which it was very apparent
with what reluctance the multitude admitted the justice of the Mingo's claim. At
length the sage, on whom alone the decision depended, said, in a firm voice:
"Huron, depart."
"As he came, just Tamenund," demanded the wily Magua, "or with hands
filled with the faith of the Delawares? The wigwam of Le Renard Subtil is
empty. Make him strong with his own."
The aged man mused with himself for a time; and then, bending his head
toward one of his venerable companions, he asked:
"Are my ears open?"
"It is true."
"Is this Mingo a chief?"
"The first in his nation."
"Girl, what wouldst thou? A great warrior takes thee to wife. Go! thy race
will not end."
"Better, a thousand times, it should," exclaimed the horror-struck Cora, "than
meet with such a degradation!"
Thesaurus
impressive: (adj) effective, indisposition, distaste, disgust, repentance, remorse; (adj, n) sadness,
commanding, striking, powerful, dislike, opposition, unwillingness, misery; (adj, n, v) distress.
imposing, influential, exciting, repugnance, diffidence, scruple. ANTONYMS: (n) joy, delight,
formidable, spectacular; (adj, n) ANTONYMS: (n) readiness, happiness, peace, hopefulness,
noble, grand. ANTONYMS: (adj) disposition, keenness, willingness, cheerfulness, shamelessness, calm,
humble, ordinary, weak, enthusiasm. content; (v) rejoice.
unremarkable, insignificant, minor, shaking: (adj, n) quivering, tremor, triumph: (v) exult, prevail, crow,
pathetic, tiny, uninteresting, jarring; (n) quiver, palpitation, quake; rejoice, succeed; (n, v) glory, win, joy;
ineffective, average. (adj) quaking, shaky, flutter, (n) victory, conquest, exultation.
mohican: (n) Mohican haircut, unsteady, shivering. ANTONYMS: (n) failure, defeat,
Mohawk. sorrow: (n, v) regret, lament, grieve; sorrow, unhappiness, dud, sadness,
reluctance: (n) aversion, hesitation, (v) mourn; (n) mourning, heartache, loss, flop; (v) fail, lose, forfeit.
"Huron, her mind is in the tents of her fathers. An unwilling maiden makes
an unhappy wigwam."
"She speaks with the tongue of her people," returned Magua, regarding his
victim with a look of bitter irony.%
"She is of a race of traders, and will bargain for a bright look. Let Tamenund
speak the words."
"Take you the wampum, and our love."
"Nothing hence but what Magua brought hither."
"Then depart with thine own. The Great Manitou forbids that a Delaware
should be unjust."
Magua advanced, and seized his captive strongly by the arm; the Delawares
fell back, in silence; and Cora, as if conscious that remonstrance would be
useless, prepared to submit to her fate without resistance.
"Hold, hold!" cried Duncan, springing forward; "Huron, have mercy! her
ransom shall make thee richer than any of thy people were ever yet known to
be."
"Magua is a red-skin; he wants not the beads of the pale faces."
"Gold, silver, powder, lead -- all that a warrior needs shall be in thy wigwam;
all that becomes the greatest chief."
"Le Subtil is very strong," cried Magua, violently shaking the hand which
grasped the unresisting arm of Cora; "he has his revenge!"
"Mighty ruler of Providence!" exclaimed Heyward, clasping his hands
together in agony, "can this be suffered! To you, just Tamenund, I appeal for
mercy."
"The words of the Delaware are said," returned the sage, closing his eyes, and
dropping back into his seat, alike wearied with his mental and his bodily
exertion. "Men speak not twice."
"That a chief should not misspend his time in unsaying what has once been
spoken is wise and reasonable," said Hawkeye, motioning to Duncan to be silent;
Thesaurus
agony: (n) torture, suffering, torment, (adj) mental, spiritual, soulful, (n) deliverance, ransom money,
distress, misery, passion, pain, grief, intellectual; (adv) mentally. assessment, benevolence, excise.
pang, sorrow, throe. ANTONYMS: gold: (n) Au, money, riches, wealth, ruler: (adj, n) governor, rule; (n) lord,
(n) pleasure, joy, euphoria, bliss, bullion, treasure, yellow, amber; (adj) potentate, monarch, leader, dynast,
happiness, ecstasy, peace, content. aureate, gilt, golden. prince, dictator, head; (adj) regent.
beads: (n) pearls, chaplet, censer, pax, mighty: (adj) immense, huge, grand, unwilling: (adj) involuntary, loath,
patera, host, cross, pyx, reliquary, intense, high, big, forcible, strong, disinclined, averse, recalcitrant,
rood, thurible. large, great; (adj, adv) powerful. backward, indisposed, grudging,
bodily: (adj) material, corporeal, ANTONYMS: (adj) puny, tiny, weak, loth, adverse, forced. ANTONYMS:
corporal, animal, carnal, somatic, insignificant. (adj) inclined, amenable, keen,
real, personal, sensual; (adv) ransom: (v) redeem, repair, extricate; prepared, ready, eager, disposed,
altogether, fleshly. ANTONYMS: (n, v) rescue, blackmail, repurchase; agreeable, accepting, happy.
"but it is also prudent in every warrior to consider well before he strikes his
tomahawk into the head of his prisoner. Huron, I love you not; nor can I say that
any Mingo has ever received much favor at my hands. It is fair to conclude that,
if this war does not soon end, many more of your warriors will meet me in the
woods. Put it to your judgment, then, whether you would prefer taking such a
prisoner as that into your encampment, or one like myself, who am a man that it
would greatly rejoice your nation to see with naked hands."
"Will 'The Long Rifle' give his life for the woman?" demanded Magua,
hesitatingly; for he had already made a motion toward quitting the place with his
victim.%
"No, no; I have not said so much as that," returned Hawkeye, drawing back
with suitable discretion, when he noted the eagerness with which Magua
listened to his proposal. "It would be an unequal exchange, to give a warrior, in
the prime of his age and usefulness, for the best woman on the frontiers. I might
consent to go into winter quarters, now -- at least six weeks afore the leaves will
turn -- on condition you will release the maiden."
Magua shook his head, and made an impatient sign for the crowd to open.
"Well, then," added the scout, with the musing air of a man who had not half
made up his mind; "I will throw 'killdeer' into the bargain. Take the word of an
experienced hunter, the piece has not its equal atween the provinces."
Magua still disdained to reply, continuing his efforts to disperse the crowd.
"Perhaps," added the scout, losing his dissembled coolness exactly in
proportion as the other manifested an indifference to the exchange, "if I should
condition to teach your young men the real virtue of the we'pon, it would
smoothe the little differences in our judgments."
Le Renard fiercely ordered the Delawares, who still lingered in an
impenetrable belt around him, in hopes he would listen to the amicable proposal,
to open his path, threatening, by the glance of his eye, another appeal to the
infallible justice of their "prophet."
Thesaurus
bargain: (adj, n, v) cheap; (n, v) dissembled: (adj) secret, treacherous. inadequate, disparate,
covenant, deal; (n) agreement, treaty, indifference: (adj, n) coldness, disproportionate, unbalanced,
arrangement, buy, chaffer; (v) phlegm; (n) detachment, unsymmetrical. ANTONYMS: (adj)
exchange, stipulate, agree. impassiveness, disregard, aloofness, equal, even, fair, identical, similar,
ANTONYM: (adj) inflated. nonchalance, neglect, unconcern, same, level, constant, balanced, like,
disperse: (v) dispel, spread, circulate, impassivity, disinterest. corresponding.
break up, disband, scatter, dissipate, ANTONYMS: (n) fervor, interest, usefulness: (n) utility, service, benefit,
diffuse, dispense, disseminate, break. eagerness, dedication, sympathy, convenience, practicality, avail,
ANTONYMS: (v) gather, collect, favorite, compassion, anxiety, helpfulness, effectiveness, efficacy,
converge, centralize, capture, responsiveness, forcefulness, care. value; (adj, n) worth. ANTONYMS:
congregate, garner, concentrate, unequal: (adj) different, unlike, (n) inefficiency, inutility, clumsiness,
swarm, crowd, aggravate. uneven, rough, lopsided, unfair, insignificance.
"What is ordered must sooner or later arrive," continued Hawkeye, turning

with a sad and humbled look to Uncas. "The varlet knows his advantage and
will keep it! God bless you, boy; you have found friends among your natural
kin, and I hope they will prove as true as some you have met who had no Indian
cross. As for me, sooner or later, I must die; it is, therefore, fortunate there are but
few to make my death-howl. After all, it is likely the imps would have managed
to master my scalp, so a day or two will make no great difference in the
everlasting reckoning of time. God bless you," added the rugged woodsman,
bending his head aside, and then instantly changing its direction again, with a
wistful look toward the youth; "I loved both you and your father, Uncas, though
our skins are not altogether of a color, and our gifts are somewhat different. Tell
the Sagamore I never lost sight of him in my greatest trouble; and, as for you,
think of me sometimes when on a lucky trail, and depend on it, boy, whether
there be one heaven or two, there is a path in the other world by which honest
men may come together again. You'll find the rifle in the place we hid it; take it,
and keep it for my sake; and, harkee, lad, as your natural gifts don't deny you the
use of vengeance, use it a little freely on the Mingoes; it may unburden griefs at
my loss, and ease your mind. Huron, I accept your offer; release the woman. I am
your prisoner!"
A suppressed, but still distinct murmur of approbation ran through the
crowd at this generous proposition; even the fiercest among the Delaware
warriors manifesting pleasure at the manliness of the intended sacrifice. Magua
paused, and for an anxious moment, it might be said, he doubted; then, casting
his eyes on Cora, with an expression in which ferocity and admiration were
strangely mingled, his purpose became fixed forever.%
He intimated his contempt of the offer with a backward motion of his head,
and said, in a steady and settled voice:
"Le Renard Subtil is a great chief; he has but one mind. Come," he added,
laying his hand too familiarly on the shoulder of his captive to urge her onward;
"a Huron is no tattler; we will go."
Thesaurus
everlasting: (adj) eternal, ceaseless, humbled: (adj) humble, humiliated, unburden: (v) discharge, relieve,
endless, constant, continual, crushed, depressed, dispirited, unload, free, clear, lighten, take
perpetual, immortal, deathless, abased, broken in, abject, ashamed; away, throw away, unburthen, shoot,
ageless, aeonian; (adj, n) lasting. (n) humbler; (v) apart. soothe. ANTONYMS: (adj) hide,
ANTONYMS: (adj) finite, ephemeral, reckoning: (n) calculation, conceal; (v) harbor, load.
fleeting, mortal, ending, terminating, computation, bill, score, computing, wistful: (adj, v) reflective, meditative,
inconstant, fragile, perishable. liquidation, clearance; (n, v) count, thoughtful; (adj) contemplative, sad,
ferocity: (n) violence, cruelty, enumeration, account, estimation. melancholy, longing, plaintive,
ferociousness, fury, rage, truculence, tattler: (n) talebearer, telltale, tattletale, wishful, yearning; (v) anxious.
atrocity, fierceness, wildness, taleteller, chatterbox, big mouth, ANTONYMS: (adj) alert, satisfied,
vehemence, anger. ANTONYMS: (n) informer, blabbermouth, jay, shallow.
meekness, friendliness, serenity. chatterer, blabber.
The maiden drew back in lofty womanly reserve, and her dark eye kindled,
while the rich blood shot, like the passing brightness of the sun, into her very
temples, at the indignity.%
"I am your prisoner, and, at a fitting time shall be ready to follow, even to my
death. But violence is unnecessary," she coldly said; and immediately turning to
Hawkeye, added: "Generous hunter! from my soul I thank you. Your offer is
vain, neither could it be accepted; but still you may serve me, even more than in
your own noble intention. Look at that drooping humbled child! Abandon her
not until you leave her in the habitations of civilized men. I will not say,"
wringing the hard hand of the scout, "that her father will reward you -- for such
as you are above the rewards of men -- but he will thank you and bless you. And,
believe me, the blessing of a just and aged man has virtue in the sight of Heaven.
Would to God I could hear one word from his lips at this awful moment!" Her
voice became choked, and, for an instant, she was silent; then, advancing a step
nigher to Duncan, who was supporting her unconscious sister, she continued, in
more subdued tones, but in which feeling and the habits of her sex maintained a
fearful struggle: "I need not tell you to cherish the treasure you will possess. You
love her, Heyward; that would conceal a thousand faults, though she had them.
She is kind, gentle, sweet, good, as mortal may be. There is not a blemish in
mind or person at which the proudest of you all would sicken. She is fair -- oh!
how surpassingly fair!" laying her own beautiful, but less brilliant, hand in
melancholy affection on the alabaster forehead of Alice, and parting the golden
hair which clustered about her brows; "and yet her soul is pure and spotless as
her skin! I could say much -- more, perhaps, than cooler reason would approve;
but I will spare you and myself --" Her voice became inaudible, and her face was
bent over the form of her sister. After a long and burning kiss, she arose, and
with features of the hue of death, but without even a tear in her feverish eye, she
turned away, and added, to the savage, with all her former elevation of manner:
"Now, sir, if it be your pleasure, I will follow."
Thesaurus
alabaster: (n) whiteness, calcite, drinkable, potable, drink, air temples: (n) brow.
gypsum, onyx marble, Oriental conditioner, penitentiary, choky, womanly: (adj, v) effeminate; (adj)
alabaster; (adj) ivory, milk, lily, prison, chokey, clink. ladylike, womanish, female,
milky, paper, white. habits: (n) behavior, decorum, womanlike, wifely, weak, maidenly,
blemish: (n, v) stain, scar, flaw, blot, pratique. matronly; (v) soft, feminate.
slur; (n) defect, stigma, fault; (v) subdued: (adj) quiet, muffled, dull, ANTONYM: (adj) unwomanly.
deface; (adj, n) imperfection; (adj, v) restrained, muted, tame, faint, wringing: (adj) saturated, soaked,
disfigure. ANTONYMS: (v) enhance, repressed, low, meek; (adj, v) soaked to the skin, soaking wet,
beautify, embellish, improve; (n) resigned. ANTONYMS: (adj) sodden, sopping, sopping wet, wet,
perfection, enhancement. enthusiastic, lively, uninhibited, wet through, wringing wet, soaking.
brows: (n) brow. unsubdued, rebellious, noisy, bright, ANTONYM: (adj) dry.
cooler: (n) beverage, freezer, elaborate, frivolous, upbeat.
"Ay, go," cried Duncan, placing Alice in the arms of an Indian girl; "go,
Magua, go. these Delawares have their laws, which forbid them to detain you;
but I -- I have no such obligation. Go, malignant monster -- why do you delay?"
It would be difficult to describe the expression with which Magua listened to
this threat to follow. There was at first a fierce and manifest display of joy, and
then it was instantly subdued in a look of cunning coldness.%
"The words are open," he was content with answering, "'The Open Hand' can
come."
"Hold," cried Hawkeye, seizing Duncan by the arm, and detaining him by
violence; "you know not the craft of the imp. He would lead you to an
ambushment, and your death --"
"Huron," interrupted Uncas, who submissive to the stern customs of his
people, had been an attentive and grave listener to all that passed; "Huron, the
justice of the Delawares comes from the Manitou. Look at the sun. He is now in
the upper branches of the hemlock. Your path is short and open. When he is seen
above the trees, there will be men on your trail."
"I hear a crow!" exclaimed Magua, with a taunting laugh. "Go!" he added,
shaking his hand at the crowd, which had slowly opened to admit his passage.
"Where are the petticoats of the Delawares! Let them send their arrows and their
guns to the Wyandots; they shall have venison to eat, and corn to hoe. Dogs,
rabbits, thieves -- I spit on you!"
His parting gibes were listened to in a dead, boding silence, and, with these
biting words in his mouth, the triumphant Magua passed unmolested into the
forest, followed by his passive captive, and protected by the inviolable laws of
Indian hospitality.
Thesaurus
biting: (adj, v) acute, acrid, sarcastic, grain; (v) feed, keep; (adj, n) ANTONYMS: (adj) acceptable,
sharp, acrimonious, pungent, severe, commonplace. breakable.
cutting; (adj) acid, bitter, barbed. hemlock: (n) hemlock spruce, poison spit: (v) drizzle, expectorate, sprinkle,
ANTONYMS: (adj) mild, blunt, kind, hemlock, California fern, Nebraska spew, drool, spike, spatter; (n)
bland, nice, soothing, sweet, hot, fern, conium maculatum, eastern broach, saliva, cape; (n, v) skewer.
complimentary, faint, sympathetic. hemlock, wood, nightshade, submissive: (adj) obedient, passive,
boding: (n) presentiment, henbane, Tsuga, poison parsley. meek, dutiful, obsequious, docile,
premonition, foreboding, portent, inviolable: (adj) sacrosanct, compliant, resigned, subject, lowly,
augury, forewarning, hunch, infrangible, hallowed, invulnerable, servile. ANTONYMS: (adj) assertive,
apprehensiveness, apprehension. inviolate, inalienable, impenetrable, resistant, disobedient, defiant,
corn: (n) clavus, cereals, Zea Mays, absolute, impregnable; (v) obstinate, rebellious, wild,
callus, wheat, Indian corn, callosity, imprescriptible, unimpeachable. intractable, proactive; (adv) bossily.
CHAPTER 31
"Fluellen: Kill the poys and the luggage! 'Tis expressly against the law
of arms; 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now, as
can be offered in the 'orld."%
King Henry V
So long as their enemy and his victim continued in sight, the multitude
remained motionless as beings charmed to the place by some power that was
friendly to the Huron; but, the instant he disappeared, it became tossed and
agitated by fierce and powerful passion. Uncas maintained his elevated stand,
keeping his eyes on the form of Cora, until the colors of her dress were blended
with the foliage of the forest; when he descended, and, moving silently through
the throng, he disappeared in that lodge from which he had so recently issued. A
few of the graver and more attentive warriors, who caught the gleams of anger
that shot from the eyes of the young chief in passing, followed him to the place
he had selected for his meditations. After which, Tamenund and Alice were
removed, and the women and children were ordered to disperse. During the
momentous hour that succeeded, the encampment resembled a hive of troubled
bees, who only awaited the appearance and example of their leader to take some
distant and momentous flight.
Thesaurus
arrant: (adj) rank, unmitigated, fierce: (adj) bitter, acute, cruel, luggage: (n) baggage, bag, gear, grip,
thorough, stark, utter, ill, gross, ferocious, brutal, grim, nasty, intense, thing, goods, stuff, things, trunk,
infamous, bad, blatant, base. ardent; (adj, v) savage, furious. suitcase, pack.
ANTONYM: (adj) minor. ANTONYMS: (adj) gentle, mild, meditations: (n) contemplation,
bees: (n) Apoidea, superfamily calm, quiet, tame, docile, weak, consideration, cogitation.
Apoidea. peaceful, pleasant. momentous: (adj, v) grave,
expressly: (adv) specially, particularly, foliage: (n) verdure, foliation, memorable; (adj) significant, weighty,
distinctly, specifically, explicitly, greenery, leaf, frond, cotyledon, material, big, consequential, serious,
especially, utterly, clearly, precisely, ramage, tigella, stem, blade, leaves. critical, crucial, great. ANTONYMS:
telly, exactly. ANTONYMS: (adv) hive: (adj) swarm, herd; (v) store, SE (adj) trivial, unimportant,
ambiguously, conditionally, nicher; (n) concourse, hiding place, inconsequential, frivolous, minor.
implicitly, indirectly, vaguely. cave, cell, den, aerie, eyry.
A young warrior at length issued from the lodge of Uncas; and, moving
deliberately, with a sort of grave march, toward a dwarf pine that grew in the
crevices of the rocky terrace, he tore the bark from its body, and then turned
whence he came without speaking. He was soon followed by another, who
stripped the sapling of its branches, leaving it a naked and blazed trunk. A third
colored the post with stripes of a dark red paint; all which indications of a hostile
design in the leaders of the nation were received by the men without in a gloomy
and ominous silence. Finally, the Mohican himself reappeared, divested of all his
attire, except his girdle and leggings, and with one-half of his fine features hid
under a cloud of threatening black.%
Uncas moved with a slow and dignified tread toward the post, which he
immediately commenced encircling with a measured step, not unlike an ancient
dance, raising his voice, at the same time, in the wild and irregular chant of his
war song. The notes were in the extremes of human sounds; being sometimes
melancholy and exquisitely plaintive, even rivaling the melody of birds -- and
then, by sudden and startling transitions, causing the auditors to tremble by their
depth and energy. The words were few and often repeated, proceeding
gradually from a sort of invocation, or hymn, to the Deity, to an intimation of the
warrior's object, and terminating as they commenced with an acknowledgment
of his own dependence on the Great Spirit. If it were possible to translate the
comprehensive and melodious language in which he spoke, the ode might read
something like the following:
"Manitou! Manitou! Manitou!

Thou art great, thou art good, thou art wise:
Manitou! Manitou! Thou art just.
"In the heavens, in the clouds, oh, I see

Many spots -- many dark, many red:
In the heavens, oh, I see
Many clouds."
Thesaurus
chant: (v) cantillate, sing, recite, subtlely; (adj, adv) intensely, emulous.
intone, intonate, utter, vocalize; (n) exceedingly. stripes: (n) stripe, chevron, grade
hymn, song, melody; (n, v) chaunt. extremes: (n) excess; (adv) overboard. insignia, streak, banding, badge,
divested: (adj) bereft, destitute, naked. gloomy: (adj) black, desolate, dejected, band, uniform.
dwarf: (adj, n) midget, miniature; (n) cheerless, depressing, dismal, terminating: (adj) final, ending,
gnome, fairy, brownie, manikin, downcast, disconsolate, melancholy, conclusive, dying, determining,
pygmy; (v) overshadow; (adj) little, funereal, downhearted. terminative, last, expiring, decisive,
runt, baby. ANTONYMS: (adj) large, ANTONYMS: (adj) encouraging, expiring groans; (n) termination.
big, huge; (v) maximize. cheery, cheerful, bright, hopeful, trunk: (n) stem, boot, torso, bole, body,
exquisitely: (adv) excellently, finely, light, promising, uplifting, joyful, stalk, snout, proboscis, stock, tree
magnificently, perfectly, beautifully, sunny, clear. trunk, box.
gorgeously, superbly, keenly, rivaling: (adj) comparative, emulative,
"In the woods, in the air, oh, I hear

The whoop, the long yell, and the cry:
In the woods, oh! I hear
The loud whoop!"
"Manitou! Manitou! Manitou!

I am weak--thou art strong; I am slow--
Manitou! Manitou!
Give me aid."
At the end of what might be called each verse he made a pause, by raising a
note louder and longer than common, that was peculiarly suited to the sentiment
just expressed. The first close was solemn, and intended to convey the idea of
veneration; the second descriptive, bordering on the alarming; and the third was
the well-known and terrific war-whoop, which burst from the lips of the young
warrior, like a combination of all the frightful sounds of battle. The last was like
the first, humble and imploring. Three times did he repeat this song, and as often
did he encircle the post in his dance.%
At the close of the first turn, a grave and highly esteemed chief of the Lenape
followed his example, singing words of his own, however, to music of a similar
character. Warrior after warrior enlisted in the dance, until all of any renown and
authority were numbered in its mazes. The spectacle now became wildly terrific;
the fierce-looking and menacing visages of the chiefs receiving additional power
from the appalling strains in which they mingled their guttural tones. Just then
Uncas struck his tomahawk deep into the post, and raised his voice in a shout,
which might be termed his own battle cry. The act announced that he had
assumed the chief authority in the intended expedition.
It was a signal that awakened all the slumbering passions of the nation. A
hundred youths, who had hitherto been restrained by the diffidence of their
years, rushed in a frantic body on the fancied emblem of their enemy, and
severed it asunder, splinter by splinter, until nothing remained of the trunk but
Thesaurus
bordering: (adj) abutting, adjoining, environ; (v) besiege, circumvent, reasonable, subdued, unemotional,
conterminous, contiguous, frontier, bound; (n, v) circle, embrace. reticent, guarded. ANTONYMS: (adj)
next, neighboring, nearby, near, ANTONYM: (v) expose. unrestrained, open, flashy, immoral,
approximate, fringent. manitou: (n) manitu, manito. ostentatious, wild, loud, theatrical,
diffidence: (n) reserve, modesty, peculiarly: (adj, adv) particularly, outgoing, extravagant, emotional.
shyness, pudency, coyness, curiously, unusually, uncommonly, shout: (n, v) cry, clamor, scream, yell,
timorousness, doubt, humility, singularly; (adv) especially, oddly, roar, call, bellow, screech; (v) bawl,
timidity, uncertainty, constraint. strangely, specifically, weirdly, hollo; (n) cheer.
ANTONYMS: (n) approachability, specially. ANTONYMS: (adv) splinter: (adj, v) break, shiver, crack;
arrogance, security, brashness. typically, ordinarily, slightly. (adj, n, v) split; (n, v) chip, fragment,
encircle: (adv, n, v) compass; (adv, v) restrained: (adj) reserved, quiet, fracture; (adj, n) shred; (n) shaving,
beset, surround, enclose, encompass, modest, temperate, discreet, limited, part; (v) smash.
its roots in the earth. During this moment of tumult, the most ruthless deeds of
war were performed on the fragments of the tree, with as much apparent ferocity
as if they were the living victims of their cruelty. Some were scalped; some
received the keen and trembling axe; and others suffered by thrusts from the
fatal knife. In short, the manifestations of zeal and fierce delight were so great
and unequivocal, that the expedition was declared to be a war of the nation.%
The instant Uncas had struck the blow, he moved out of the circle, and cast
his eyes up to the sun, which was just gaining the point, when the truce with
Magua was to end. The fact was soon announced by a significant gesture,
accompanied by a corresponding cry; and the whole of the excited multitude
abandoned their mimic warfare, with shrill yells of pleasure, to prepare for the
more hazardous experiment of the reality.
The whole face of the encampment was instantly changed. The warriors, who
were already armed and painted, became as still as if they were incapable of any
uncommon burst of emotion. On the other hand, the women broke out of the
lodges, with the songs of joy and those of lamentation so strangely mixed that it
might have been difficult to have said which passion preponderated. None,
however, was idle. Some bore their choicest articles, others their young, and
some their aged and infirm, into the forest, which spread itself like a verdant
carpet of bright green against the side of the mountain. Thither Tamenund also
retired, with calm composure, after a short and touching interview with Uncas;
from whom the sage separated with the reluctance that a parent would quit a
long lost and just recovered child. In the meantime, Duncan saw Alice to a place
of safety, and then sought the scout, with a countenance that denoted how
eagerly he also panted for the approaching contest.
But Hawkeye was too much accustomed to the war song and the enlistments
of the natives, to betray any interest in the passing scene. He merely cast an
occasional look at the number and quality of the warriors, who, from time to
time, signified their readiness to accompany Uncas to the field. In this particular
he was soon satisfied; for, as has been already seen, the power of the young chief
quickly embraced every fighting man in the nation. After this material point was
Thesaurus
embraced: (adj) popular. infirm: (adj, n, v) feeble; (adj, v) faint, inexorable, harsh, grim.
gaining: (n) acceptance, acquisition, weak, sickly, debilitated; (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) kind, charitable,
attainment, capture; (adj) ahead, impotent, fragile, decrepit, ill, gentle, compassionate, principled,
fortunate. ANTONYM: (n) loss. delicate, shaky. ANTONYMS: (adj) unmotivated, tolerant.
idle: (adj) lazy, indolent, inactive, free, whole, well, hearty. uncommon: (adj) extraordinary,
unfounded, fruitless, baseless, lamentation: (n) dirge, grief, peculiar, scarce, singular, strange,
groundless, frivolous, empty, mourning, plaint, regret, complaint, special, exceptional, infrequent, odd,
disengaged. ANTONYMS: (adj) cry, crying, wail, moan, condolence. unusual, unaccustomed.
active, employed, industrious, ANTONYM: (n) celebration. ANTONYMS: (adj) typical, usual,
energetic, meaningful, productive, ruthless: (adj) merciless, inhuman, normal, familiar, poor, ordinary, bad,
worthwhile, diligent; (v) change, run, remorseless, heartless, cruel, imperfect, customary, accustomed,
work. ferocious, unsparing, relentless, frequent.
so satisfactorily decided, he despatched an Indian boy in quest of "killdeer" and

the rifle of Uncas, to the place where they had deposited their weapons on
approaching the camp of the Delawares; a measure of double policy, inasmuch
as it protected the arms from their own fate, if detained as prisoners, and gave
them the advantage of appearing among the strangers rather as sufferers than as
men provided with means of defense and subsistence. In selecting another to
perform the office of reclaiming his highly prized rifle, the scout had lost sight of
none of his habitual caution. He knew that Magua had not come unattended,
and he also knew that Huron spies watched the movements of their new
enemies, along the whole boundary of the woods. It would, therefore, have been
fatal to himself to have attempted the experiment; a warrior would have fared no
better; but the danger of a boy would not be likely to commence until after his
object was discovered. When Heyward joined him, the scout was coolly awaiting
the result of this experiment.%
The boy , who had been well instructed, and was sufficiently crafty,
proceeded, with a bosom that was swelling with the pride of such a confidence,
and all the hopes of young ambition, carelessly across the clearing to the wood,
which he entered at a point at some little distance from the place where the guns
were secreted. The instant, however, he was concealed by the foliage of the
bushes, his dusky form was to be seen gliding, like that of a serpent, toward the
desired treasure. He was successful; and in another moment he appeared flying
across the narrow opening that skirted the base of the terrace on which the
village stood, with the velocity of an arrow, and bearing a prize in each hand. He
had actually gained the crags, and was leaping up their sides with incredible
activity, when a shot from the woods showed how accurate had been the
judgment of the scout. The boy answered it with a feeble but contemptuous
shout; and immediately a second bullet was sent after him from another part of
the cover. At the next instant he appeared on the level above, elevating his guns
in triumph, while he moved with the air of a conqueror toward the renowned
hunter who had honored him by so glorious a commission.
Thesaurus
commence: (v) begin, start, open, enthusiastically. selecting: (n) picking, option; (v)
initiate, embark, institute, introduce, gave: (v) deliver, allow, allot, provide, choose; (adj) selective, electoral,
launch, arise, inaugurate, enter. furnish, impart, administer; (n) gives. elective, eclectic.
ANTONYMS: (v) finish, stop, satisfactorily: (adv, v) well, fully, subsistence: (n) existence, life, entity,
terminate, complete, remain, rightly; (adv) sufficiently, satisfyingly, maintenance, food, support,
relinquish. fairly, amply, enough, gratifyingly, sustenance, living, livelihood, esse,
coolly: (adv) quietly, composedly, competently, pleasingly. ens.
coldly, collectedly, nonchalantly, ANTONYMS: (adv) unsatisfactorily, sufferers: (n) dead, losses, wounded,
placidly, serenely, chilly, steadily, inadequately, intolerably, badly, fatalities.
frostily, frigidly. ANTONYMS: (adv) negatively. unattended: (adj) ignored, neglected,
nervously, anxiously, agitatedly, secreted: (adj) hidden, unseen, out of alone, solitary, abandoned,
expressively, boisterously, sight. disregarded, not safeguarded, lonely.
Notwithstanding the lively interest Hawkeye had taken in the fate of his
messenger, he received "killdeer" with a satisfaction that, momentarily, drove all
other recollections from his mind. After examining the piece with an intelligent
eye, and opening and shutting the pan some ten or fifteen times, and trying
sundry other equally important experiments on the lock, he turned to the boy
and demanded with great manifestations of kindness, if he was hurt. The urchin
looked proudly up in his face, but made no reply.%
"Ah! I see, lad, the knaves have barked your arm!" added the scout, taking up
the limb of the patient sufferer, across which a deep flesh wound had been made
by one of the bullets; "but a little bruised alder will act like a charm. In the
meantime I will wrap it in a badge of wampum! You have commenced the
business of a warrior early, my brave boy, and are likely to bear a plenty of
honorable scars to your grave. I know many young men that have taken scalps
who cannot show such a mark as this. Go! " having bound up the arm; "you will
be a chief!"
The lad departed, prouder of his flowing blood than the vainest courtier
could be of his blushing ribbon; and stalked among the fellows of his age, an
object of general admiration and envy.
But, in a moment of so many serious and important duties, this single act of
juvenile fortitude did not attract the general notice and commendation it would
have received under milder auspices. It had, however, served to apprise the
Delawares of the position and the intentions of their enemies. Accordingly a
party of adventurers, better suited to the task than the weak though spirited boy,
was ordered to dislodge the skulkers. The duty was soon performed; for most of
the Hurons retired of themselves when they found they had been discovered.
The Delawares followed to a sufficient distance from their own encampment,
and then halted for orders, apprehensive of being led into an ambush. As both
parties secreted themselves, the woods were again as still and quiet as a mild
summer morning and deep solitude could render them.
The calm but still impatient Uncas now collected his chiefs, and divided his
power. He presented Hawkeye as a warrior, often tried, and always found
Thesaurus
alder: (n) wood, alder tree. juvenile: (adj) youthful, childish, enthusiastic, dashing, peppy, brave.
bruised: (adj) wounded, hurt, raw, immature, puerile, young, babyish, ANTONYMS: (adj) spiritless, lifeless,
sore, livid, tender, sensitive, rotten, callow; (n) youngster, child, youth, feeble, cowardly, apathetic, lethargic,
surbet, sore to the touch, painful. teenager. ANTONYMS: (adj, n) adult; spineless, dull, solemn, sluggish,
courtier: (n) aristocrat, official, (adj) mature, old, sensible. lackluster.
attendant, suckling. shutting: (n) closing, conclusion, end, sufferer: (n) victim, martyr, prey,
dislodge: (v) bump, shift, throw, closure, ending, finish, mop up, casualty, invalid, depressive,
extrude, banish, discharge, dislocate, culmination, closedown; (adj) diseased person, sick person,
expel, eject, free, move. ANTONYMS: confining, claudent. ANTONYM: (n) rheumatic, diabetic, neurotic.
(v) wedge, root, seat, replace, plant, opening. urchin: (n) brat, imp, elf, ragamuffin,
embed, stick, restore. spirited: (adj) animated, frisky, pixy, rogue, bairn, scamp, fairy; (adj,
experiments: (n) data. energetic, racy, bold, gritty, quick, n) chit, dwarf.
deserving of confidence. When he found his friend met with a favorable

reception, he bestowed on him the command of twenty men, like himself, active,
skillful and resolute. He gave the Delawares to understand the rank of Heyward
among the troops of the Yengeese, and then tendered to him a trust of equal
authority. But Duncan declined the charge, professing his readiness to serve as a
volunteer by the side of the scout. After this disposition, the young Mohican
appointed various native chiefs to fill the different situations of responsibility,
and, the time pressing, he gave forth the word to march. He was cheerfully, but
silently obeyed by more than two hundred men.%
Their entrance into the forest was perfectly unmolested; nor did they
encounter any living objects that could either give the alarm, or furnish the
intelligence they needed, until they came upon the lairs of their own scouts. Here
a halt was ordered, and the chiefs were assembled to hold a "whispering
council." At this meeting divers plans of operation were suggested, though none
of a character to meet the wishes of their ardent leader. Had Uncas followed the
promptings of his own inclinations, he would have led his followers to the
charge without a moment's delay, and put the conflict to the hazard of an instant
issue; but such a course would have been in opposition to all the received
practises and opinions of his countrymen. He was, therefore, fain to adopt a
caution that in the present temper of his mind he execrated, and to listen to
advice at which his fiery spirit chafed, under the vivid recollection of Cora's
danger and Magua's insolence.
After an unsatisfactory conference of many minutes, a solitary individual was
seen advancing from the side of the enemy, with such apparent haste, as to
induce the belief he might be a messenger charged with pacific overtures. When
within a hundred yards, however, of the cover behind which the Delaware
council had assembled, the stranger hesitated, appeared uncertain what course to
take, and finally halted. All eyes were turned now on Uncas, as if seeking
directions how to proceed.
"Hawkeye," said the young chief, in a low voice, "he must never speak to the
Hurons again."
Thesaurus
declined: (adj) less. contribute, render, offer, disrespect, haughtiness, crust.
deserving: (adj) meritorious, accommodate, supply, outfit, yield, ANTONYMS: (n) respect, politeness,
admirable, creditable, commendable, decorate; (n, v) give. ANTONYM: (v) meekness, shyness.
laudable, fit, good, deserved, divest. overtures: (n) overture.
condign; (v) deserve, worthy of. haste: (n, v) hurry, dash, dispatch, professing: (n) avowal, profession,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unworthy, rush; (n) celerity, expedition, community.
undeserving, unimpressive. rapidity, speed, bustle, hastiness, volunteer: (v) offer, proffer, tender,
divers: (adj, v) sundry, various, quickness. ANTONYMS: (n) delay, extend, propose, submit; (adj, n)
separate; (adj) several, many, diverse, patience, forethought, caution. voluntary; (adj) unpaid; (n) military
miscellaneous, not a few, varied; (v) insolence: (n) impertinence, volunteer, unpaid worker, worker.
diversified; (n) diver. arrogance, audacity, impudence, ANTONYMS: (v) force, obligate,
furnish: (v) afford, provide, effrontery, cheek, assumption, gall, compel, withdraw.
"His time has come," said the laconic scout, thrusting the long barrel of his
rifle through the leaves, and taking his deliberate and fatal aim. But, instead of
pulling the trigger, he lowered the muzzle again, and indulged himself in a fit of
his peculiar mirth. "I took the imp for a Mingo, as I'm a miserable sinner!" he
said; "but when my eye ranged along his ribs for a place to get the bullet in --
would you think it, Uncas -- I saw the musicianer's blower; and so, after all, it is
the man they call Gamut, whose death can profit no one, and whose life, if this
tongue can do anything but sing, may be made serviceable to our own ends. If
sounds have not lost their virtue, I'll soon have a discourse with the honest
fellow, and that in a voice he'll find more agreeable than the speech of 'killdeer'."
So saying, Hawkeye laid aside his rifle; and, crawling through the bushes
until within hearing of David, he attempted to repeat the musical effort, which
had conducted himself, with so much safety and eclat, through the Huron
encampment. The exquisite organs of Gamut could not readily be deceived (and,
to say the truth, it would have been difficult for any other than Hawkeye to
produce a similar noise), and, consequently, having once before heard the
sounds, he now knew whence they proceeded. The poor fellow appeared
relieved from a state of great embarrassment; for, pursuing the direction of the
voice -- a task that to him was not much less arduous that it would have been to
have gone up in the face of a battery -- he soon discovered the hidden songster.%
"I wonder what the Hurons will think of that!" said the scout, laughing, as he
took his companion by the arm, and urged him toward the rear. "If the knaves lie
within earshot, they will say there are two non-compossers instead of one! But
here we are safe," he added, pointing to Uncas and his associates. "Now give us
the history of the Mingo inventions in natural English, and without any ups and
downs of voice."
David gazed about him, at the fierce and wild-looking chiefs, in mute
wonder; but assured by the presence of faces that he knew, he soon rallied his
faculties so far as to make an intelligent reply.
"The heathen are abroad in goodly numbers," said David; "and, I fear, with
evil intent. There has been much howling and ungodly revelry, together with
Thesaurus
arduous: (adj) laborious, difficult, brilliance, elegance, grandness, jollification.
strenuous, onerous, heavy, uphill, vogue, magnificence; (v) ribs: (n) dinner, chest, bosom.
severe, painful, trying, tough, commendation, praise, laud; (n, v) thrusting: (n) thrust, push, jab, poke,
troublesome. ANTONYMS: (adj) acclaim. jabbing, stab, driving force, scoke,
facile, simple, painless, refreshing, mirth: (adj, n) merriment, jollity; (n) sack, punch, Phytolacca Americana.
relaxing, insignificant, light, amusement, happiness, delight, joy, ungodly: (adj) sinful, irreligious,
undemanding. hilarity, cheerfulness, festivity, iniquitous, wicked, profane, godless,
blower: (n) bellows, blast, cetacean, gladness, exhilaration. ANTONYMS: blasphemous; (adj, adv) unholy; (adv)
feeder, device, supercharger, hair (n) gloom, sadness, misery. wickedly, impiously, sinfully.
dryer, prostitute, blowing machine, revelry: (adj, n) revels; (n) debauchery, ANTONYMS: (adj) pious, reasonable,
traction motor blower; (v) bluffer. festivity, orgy, merriment, revel, sensible, moral, devout, reverent.
eclat: (n) acclamation, celebrity, carnival, mirth, gaiety, carousal,
such sounds as it is profanity to utter, in their habitations within the past hour, so
much so, in truth, that I have fled to the Delawares in search of peace."%
"Your ears might not have profited much by the exchange, had you been
quicker of foot," returned the scout a little dryly. "But let that be as it may; where
are the Hurons?"
"They lie hid in the forest, between this spot and their village in such force,
that prudence would teach you instantly to return."
Uncas cast a glance along the range of trees which concealed his own band
and mentioned the name of:
"Magua?"
"Is among them. He brought in the maiden that had sojourned with the
Delawares; and, leaving her in the cave, has put himself, like a raging wolf, at the
head of his savages. I know not what has troubled his spirit so greatly!"
"He has left her, you say, in the cave!" interrupted Heyward; "'tis well that we
know its situation! May not something be done for her instant relief?"
Uncas looked earnestly at the scout, before he asked:
"What says Hawkeye?"
"Give me twenty rifles, and I will turn to the right, along the stream; and,
passing by the huts of the beaver, will join the Sagamore and the colonel. You
shall then hear the whoop from that quarter; with this wind one may easily send
it a mile. Then, Uncas, do you drive in the front; when they come within range of
our pieces, we will give them a blow that, I pledge the good name of an old
frontiersman, shall make their line bend like an ashen bow. After which, we will
carry the village, and take the woman from the cave; when the affair may be
finished with the tribe, according to a white man's battle, by a blow and a
victory; or, in the Indian fashion, with dodge and cover. There may be no great
learning, major, in this plan, but with courage and patience it can all be done."
"I like it very much," cried Duncan, who saw that the release of Cora was the
primary object in the mind of the scout; "I like it much. Let it be instantly
attempted."
Thesaurus
ashen: (adj) wan, pasty, bloodless, disconnected, unsuccessive, bet, contract; (n) assurance; (v)
cadaverous, pale, sallow, ghastly, intervallic, episodic, gaping, periodic; covenant. ANTONYM: (v) redeem.
livid, gray, colorless, lurid. (prep) interrupt. quicker: (adv) more quickly, sooner,
ANTONYMS: (adj) rosy, dark. patience: (n) endurance, fortitude, earlier.
cave: (n) lair, hole, grotto, hollow, longanimity, equanimity, tolerance, troubled: (adj, v) concerned, solicitous;
cove, den, cell, grot, nest; (v) resignation, restraint, composure, (adj) distressed, anxious, worried,
undermine, calve. ANTONYMS: (n) sufferance; (n, v) moderation, uneasy, uncomfortable, disconcerted,
hump; (v) withstand. calmness. ANTONYMS: (n) upset, apprehensive, restless.
frontiersman: (n) Boone, colonist, impatience, eagerness, intolerance, ANTONYMS: (adj) unconcerned,
mountain man, pioneer. annoyance. composed, calm, easy, relaxed,
interrupted: (adj) discontinuous, fitful, pledge: (n, v) bond, gage, wager, tranquil, assured, carefree, brave,
intermittent, discontinued, engage, promise, plight, guarantee, stable, unaffected.
After %a short conference, the plan was matured, and rendered more
intelligible to the several parties; the different signals were appointed, and the
chiefs separated, each to his allotted station
Thesaurus
appointed: (adj) specified, prescribed, matured: (adj) ripe, experienced, free, disjunct, discrete. ANTONYMS:
destined, ordained, fit, set, fitted, developed, old, adult, mellow, (adj) attached, connected.
commissioned, nominated, maturer, ripened, ready, payable, short: (adj, v) concise, close; (adj)
designated; (v) appoint. owing. ANTONYMS: (adj) unripe, scarce, curt, brusque, sharp,
conference: (n) meeting, colloquy, young. compendious, laconic, deficient,
council, interview, consultation, plan: (n, v) aim, map, figure, scheme, scanty, diminutive. ANTONYMS:
negotiation, talk, discussion, outline, plot; (n) intent, pattern, chart; (adj) long, high, lengthy, unabridged,
congress, sitting, session. (v) intend, devise. ANTONYM: (v) sufficient, slender, rangy, rambling,
each: (adv) apiece, either, individually; improvise. overlong, extended, plentiful.
(adj) every, various, singular; (adj, det) separated: (adj, prep) separate, isolated, station: (adj, n, v) rank, standing; (v)
any; (n) anyone, an, anybody, disjoined, distinct; (adj, adv) apart; locate, put; (n, v) post, seat, position,
everyone. (adj) detached, divided, disjointed, stand, base, site, order.
CHAPTER 32
"But plagues shall spread, and funeral fires increase,

Till the great king, without a ransom paid,
To her own Chrysa send the black-eyed maid."
Pope
During the time Uncas was making this disposition of his forces, the woods
were as still, and, with the exception of those who had met in council, apparently
as much untenanted as when they came fresh from the hands of their Almighty
Creator. The eye could range, in every direction, through the long and shadowed
vistas of the trees; but nowhere was any object to be seen that did not properly
belong to the peaceful and slumbering scenery.%
Here and there a bird was heard fluttering among the branches of the
beeches, and occasionally a squirrel dropped a nut, drawing the startled looks of
the party for a moment to the place; but the instant the casual interruption
ceased, the passing air was heard murmuring above their heads, along that
verdant and undulating surface of forest, which spread itself unbroken, unless
by stream or lake, over such a vast region of country. Across the tract of
wilderness which lay between the Delawares and the village of their enemies, it
seemed as if the foot of man had never trodden, so breathing and deep was the
silence in which it lay. But Hawkeye, whose duty led him foremost in the
Thesaurus
belong: (v) appertain, pertain, lie, go, irregular, easy, cursory, coincidental, placid, tranquil, imperturbable.
belong to, attach, dwell, consist, passing, random. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) aggressive, tense,
come, rank, stand. ANTONYMS: (v) deliberate, formal, thorough, careful, noisy, turbulent, disturbed, hostile,
separate, disagree, disassociate, rushed, premeditated, disruptive, bothered, warlike,
leave, quit, differ. predetermined, planned, serious, unpeaceful, compulsory.
breathing: (adj) animate, live, living, permanent, intense. startled: (adj) dumbfounded,
respiratory, alive, above ground; (v) funeral: (n) entombment, interment, dismayed, distressed, aghast,
breathe, respire; (n) respiration, sepulture, funeral rite, wake, pyre, frightened, astonished, amazed,
instant, moment. ANTONYMS: (adj) observance, funeral sermon, funeral terrified, afraid, shocked, astounded.
inanimate, breathless, dead. pile; (adj) sepulchral; (v) bury. untenanted: (adj) vacant, uninhabited.
casual: (adj) adventitious, careless, peaceful: (adj) peaceable, quiet, gentle, ANTONYM: (adj) occupied.
chance, occasional, nonchalant, even, silent, meek, peace, staid,
adventure, knew the character of those with whom he was about to contend too
well to trust the treacherous quiet.%
When he saw his little band collected, the scout threw "killdeer" into the
hollow of his arm, and making a silent signal that he would be followed, he led
them many rods toward the rear, into the bed of a little brook which they had
crossed in advancing. Here he halted, and after waiting for the whole of his
grave and attentive warriors to close about him, he spoke in Delaware,
demanding:
"Do any of my young men know whither this run will lead us?"
A Delaware stretched forth a hand, with the two fingers separated, and
indicating the manner in which they were joined at the root, he answered:
"Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be in the big."
Then he added, pointing in the direction of the place he mentioned, "the two
make enough for the beavers."
"I thought as much," returned the scout, glancing his eye upward at the
opening in the tree-tops, "from the course it takes, and the bearings of the
mountains. Men, we will keep within the cover of its banks till we scent the
Hurons."
His companions gave the usual brief exclamation of assent, but, perceiving
that their leader was about to lead the way in person, one or two made signs that
all was not as it should be. Hawkeye, who comprehended their meaning glances,
turned and perceived that his party had been followed thus far by the singing-
master.
"Do you know, friend," asked the scout, gravely, and perhaps with a little of
the pride of conscious deserving in his manner, "that this is a band of rangers
chosen for the most desperate service, and put under the command of one who,
though another might say it with a better face, will not be apt to leave them idle.
It may not be five, it cannot be thirty minutes, before we tread on the body of a
Huron, living or dead."
Thesaurus
adventure: (n, v) venture, chance; (n) grave: (adj) solemn, serious, critical, meaningful, cramped, valid; (n)
accident, escapade, incident, event, earnest, dangerous, sedate, sad, hump, bump, hill, lump.
undertaking, consequence, essay; (v) grand; (adj, v) severe, acute; (v) indicating: (v) indicatory, indicate; (n)
risk, jeopardize. ANTONYMS: (n) engrave. ANTONYMS: (adj) indication, reference; (adj)
stillness, passiveness, inactivity, frivolous, funny, cheerful, carefree, representing, representative,
inaction, avoidance, inertia, bore. slight, nonchalant, trivial, stable, demonstrating, signifying, indicant,
bearings: (n) bearing, direction, crest, minor, insignificant, favorable. designatory, indicative of.
position. hollow: (adj, n) blank; (n) cavity, scent: (n, v) fragrance, smell, odor,
crossed: (adj) crossbred, mixed, depression, cave, dell; (adj) empty, essence, nose; (n) aroma, bouquet,
hybrid, interbred, decussated, false; (adj, n, v) concave; (n, v) redolence, odour; (adj, n) savor,
intercrossed; (v) matted, disconcerted excavate, dent, scoop. ANTONYMS: flavor. ANTONYMS: (n) stench,
dashed, unhinged, frustrated. (adj) convex, sincere, true, full, stink.
"Though not admonished of your intentions in words," returned David,

whose face was a little flushed, and whose ordinarily quiet and unmeaning eyes
glimmered with an expression of unusual fire, "your men have reminded me of
the children of Jacob going out to battle against the Shechemites, for wickedly
aspiring to wedlock with a woman of a race that was favored of the Lord. Now,
I have journeyed far, and sojourned much in good and evil with the maiden ye
seek; and, though not a man of war, with my loins girded and my sword
sharpened, yet would I gladly strike a blow in her behalf."%
The scout hesitated, as if weighing the chances of such a strange enlistment
in his mind before he answered:
"You know not the use of any we'pon. You carry no rifle; and believe me,
what the Mingoes take they will freely give again."
"Though not a vaunting and bloodily disposed Goliath," returned David,
drawing a sling from beneath his parti- colored and uncouth attire, "I have not
forgotten the example of the Jewish boy. With this ancient instrument of war
have I practised much in my youth, and peradventure the skill has not entirely
departed from me."
"Ay!" said Hawkeye, considering the deer-skin thong and apron, with a cold
and discouraging eye; "the thing might do its work among arrows, or even
knives; but these Mengwe have been furnished by the Frenchers with a good
grooved barrel a man. However, it seems to be your gift to go unharmed amid
fire; and as you have hitherto been favored -- major, you have left your rifle at a
cock; a single shot before the time would be just twenty scalps lost to no purpose
-- singer, you can follow; we may find use for you in the shoutings."
"I thank you, friend," returned David, supplying himself, like his royal
namesake, from among the pebbles of the brook; "though not given to the desire
to kill, had you sent me away my spirit would have been troubled."
"Remember," added the scout, tapping his own head significantly on that
spot where Gamut was yet sore, "we come to fight, and not to musickate. Until
the general whoop is given, nothing speaks but the rifle."
Thesaurus
aspiring: (adj) aspirant, wishful, hitch, engagement, mobilization. wedlock: (n, v) marriage, matrimony;
enterprising, envious, desirous, loins: (n) waist, body part, haunch, (n) union, wedding, polygyny,
coming; (v) aspire, vaulting. lends, pubic region, area, pubes. bigamy, intermarriage, exogamy,
ANTONYM: (adj) desperate. peradventure: (adv) perchance, endogamy, polyandry, misalliance.
bloodily: (adv) gorily, murderously, perhaps, possibly, mayhap, by wickedly: (adv) evilly, immorally,
sanguinarily, savagely, chance, haply, fortunately, gracefully, badly, iniquitously, sinfully,
bloodstainedly, sanguinely, felicitously; (n) chance; (conj) if. mischievously, naughtily, wrongly,
crimsonly, ferociously, bleedingly, vaunting: (n) ostentation, parade, perversely, depravedly, criminally.
bloodthirstily, redly. show, pompousness, pageantry, ANTONYMS: (adv) kindly,
enlistment: (n) conscription, bravado, egoism; (adj, n) boasting; virtuously, legally, rightly,
recruitment, duty tour, enrollment, (adj) vaporing, vainglorious, talking obediently.
period, check, arrest, amount of time, idly.
David nodded, as much to signify his acquiescence with the terms; and then
Hawkeye, casting another observant glance over this followers made the signal
to proceed.%
Their route lay, for the distance of a mile, along the bed of the water-course.
Though protected from any great danger of observation by the precipitous
banks, and the thick shrubbery which skirted the stream, no precaution known
to an Indian attack was neglected. A warrior rather crawled than walked on each
flank so as to catch occasional glimpses into the forest; and every few minutes
the band came to a halt, and listened for hostile sounds, with an acuteness of
organs that would be scarcely conceivable to a man in a less natural state. Their
march was, however, unmolested, and they reached the point where the lesser
stream was lost in the greater, without the smallest evidence that their progress
had been noted. Here the scout again halted, to consult the signs of the forest.
"We are likely to have a good day for a fight," he said, in English, addressing
Heyward, and glancing his eyes upward at the clouds, which began to move in
broad sheets across the firmament; "a bright sun and a glittering barrel are no
friends to true sight. Everything is favorable; they have the wind, which will
bring down their noises and their smoke, too, no little matter in itself; whereas,
with us it will be first a shot, and then a clear view. But here is an end to our
cover; the beavers have had the range of this stream for hundreds of years, and
what atween their food and their dams, there is, as you see, many a girdled stub,
but few living trees."
Hawkeye had, in truth, in these few words, given no bad description of the
prospect that now lay in their front. The brook was irregular in its width,
sometimes shooting through narrow fissures in the rocks, and at others
spreading over acres of bottom land, forming little areas that might be termed
ponds. Everywhere along its bands were the moldering relics of dead trees, in
all the stages of decay, from those that groaned on their tottering trunks to such
as had recently been robbed of those rugged coats that so mysteriously contain
their principle of life. A few long, low, and moss-covered piles were scattered
among them, like the memorials of a former and long-departed generation.
Thesaurus
bands: (n) cords, stripes. moldering: (adj, v) crumbling; (adj) leavings, remains, remnants, patera.
conceivable: (adj) imaginable, decomposing, rotting, becoming sheets: (n) rain, bed linen.
thinkable, believable, rotten, mouldering, putrefying, shrubbery: (n) brush, plantation, flora,
comprehensible, likely, earthly, blighted, moldy; (v) effete, tainted, parterre, shrub, scrub, brushwood,
potential, credible, plausible, wasted. hedge, thicket, bushes, area.
cogitable, reasonable. ANTONYMS: mysteriously: (adv) enigmatically, signify: (n, v) intend, mark; (adj, n, v)
(adj) unthinkable, difficult, strangely, obscurely, secretly, import; (v) imply, indicate, denote,
implausible, impossible, uncannily, mystically, darkly, point, stand for, express, intimate,
unimaginable. puzzlingly, weirdly, abstrusely, matter.
flank: (n) side, aspect, wing, abdomen, occultly. ANTONYM: (adv) normally. stub: (n) butt, end, counterfoil, ticket,
facet, subfigure, formation; (v) relics: (n) relic, rood, rosary, thurible, tail, remnant, base, roach, check stub;
border, skirt; (adj) cover, ward. reliquary, remainder, remain, (v) abrade, scrape.
All these minute particulars were noted by the scout, with a gravity and
interest that they probably had never before attracted. He knew that the Huron
encampment lay a short half mile up the brook; and, with the characteristic
anxiety of one who dreaded a hidden danger, he was greatly troubled at not
finding the smallest trace of the presence of his enemy. Once or twice he felt
induced to give the order for a rush, and to attempt the village by surprise; but
his experience quickly admonished him of the danger of so useless an
experiment. Then he listened intently, and with painful uncertainty, for the
sounds of hostility in the quarter where Uncas was left; but nothing was audible
except the sighing of the wind, that began to sweep over the bosom of the forest
in gusts which threatened a tempest. At length, yielding rather to his unusual
impatience than taking counsel from his knowledge, he determined to bring
matters to an issue, by unmasking his force, and proceeding cautiously, but
steadily, up the stream.%
The scout had stood, while making his observations, sheltered by a brake,
and his companions still lay in the bed of the ravine, through which the smaller
stream debouched; but on hearing his low, though intelligible, signal the whole
party stole up the bank, like so many dark specters, and silently arranged
themselves around him. Pointing in the direction he wished to proceed,
Hawkeye advanced, the band breaking off in single files, and following so
accurately in his footsteps, as to leave it, if we except Heyward and David, the
trail of but a single man.
The party was, however, scarcely uncovered before a volley from a dozen
rifles was heard in their rear; and a Delaware leaping high in to the air, like a
wounded deer, fell at his whole length, dead.
"Ah, I feared some deviltry like this!" exclaimed the scout, in English, adding,
with the quickness of thought, in his adopted tongue: "To cover, men, and
charge!"
The band dispersed at the word, and before Heyward had well recovered
from his surprise, he found himself standing alone with David. Luckily the
Hurons had already fallen back, and he was safe from their fire. But this state of
Thesaurus
brake: (n) bit, curb, brakes, pteridium propitiously, opportunely, vulnerable, sunny, exposed, public,
aquilinum, airbrake, safety lock; (v) advantageously, felicitously, as luck harsh, bleak.
retard, hinder, halt, stop, slow. would have it. ANTONYMS: (adv) smallest: (adj) least, minimal, littlest,
ANTONYMS: (n) move, start, unluckily, inauspiciously. lowest, last, first, negligible, smallest
incentive; (v) speed, go. particulars: (n) specification, data, number of, bottom, littler.
dispersed: (adj) sparse, spread, nicety, minutiae, terms, ANTONYM: (adj) maximum.
distributed, scattered, diffused, consideration, workings, fine points, uncovered: (adj) naked, open, bare,
scatter, outspread, disseminated, ins and outs. nude, unclothed, bald, unreserved,
split, dissipated, separate. sheltered: (adj) secure, comfortable, unprotected, evident, frank, manifest.
luckily: (adv) happily, prosperously, screened, safe, secluded, cozy, snug, ANTONYMS: (adj) indoor, concealed.
auspiciously, fortuitously, covered, shaded; (adj, v) private; (v) unmasking: (n) expose, exposure,
successfully, providentially, covert. ANTONYMS: (adj) detection.
things was evidently to be of short continuance; for the scout set the example of
pressing on their retreat, by discharging his rifle, and darting from tree to tree as
his enemy slowly yielded ground.%
It would seem that the assault had been made by a very small party of the
Hurons, which, however, continued to increase in numbers, as it retired on its
friends, until the return fire was very nearly, if not quite, equal to that
maintained by the advancing Delawares. Heyward threw himself among the
combatants, and imitating the necessary caution of his companions, he made
quick discharges with his own rifle. The contest now grew warm and stationary.
Few were injured, as both parties kept their bodies as much protected as possible
by the trees; never, indeed, exposing any part of their persons except in the act of
taking aim. But the chances were gradually growing unfavorable to Hawkeye
and his band. The quick-sighted scout perceived his danger without knowing
how to remedy it. He saw it was more dangerous to retreat than to maintain his
ground: while he found his enemy throwing out men on his flank; which
rendered the task of keeping themselves covered so very difficult to the
Delawares, as nearly to silence their fire. At this embarrassing moment, when
they began to think the whole of the hostile tribe was gradually encircling them,
they heard the yell of combatants and the rattling of arms echoing under the
arches of the wood at the place where Uncas was posted, a bottom which, in a
manner, lay beneath the ground on which Hawkeye and his party were
contending.
The effects of this attack were instantaneous, and to the scout and his friends
greatly relieving. It would seem that, while his own surprise had been
anticipated, and had consequently failed, the enemy, in their turn, having been
deceived in its object and in his numbers, had left too small a force to resist the
impetuous onset of the young Mohican. This fact was doubly apparent, by the
rapid manner in which the battle in the forest rolled upward toward the village,
and by an instant falling off in the number of their assailants, who rushed to
assist in maintaining the front, and, as it now proved to be, the principal point of
defense.
Thesaurus
discharging: (n) unloading, discharge, shameless, convenient, honorable, charge, aggression, onslaught,
fulfillment, acquittal; (v) unload. impressive, reassuring, wonderful. inroad, beginning, assault, birth,
echoing: (adj) resonant, hollow, instantaneous: (adj) immediate, onrush, dawn. ANTONYMS: (n)
resounding, deep, booming, loud, prompt, sudden, precipitate, termination, conclusion, departure.
ringing, spacious, vast; (n) imitation, momentary, abrupt, precipitous, unfavorable: (adj) bad, adverse,
roll. ANTONYMS: (adj) thin, weak, precipitant, swift, momentaneous, disadvantageous, detrimental,
cramped. quick. ANTONYMS: (adj) gradual, inopportune, inimical, hostile,
embarrassing: (adj) cumbersome, delayed, considered. unfriendly, harmful, unfavourable,
sticky, inconvenient, disconcerting, maintaining: (n) contention, contrary. ANTONYMS: (adj)
difficult, shameful, humiliating, continuation; (adj) affirming, favorable, becoming, nice, good,
unpleasant, perplexing, clumsy; (v) assertory. pleasant, desirable, advantageous,
embarrass. ANTONYMS: (adj) onset: (n, v) attack; (n) incursion, beneficial.
Animating his followers by his voice, and his own example, Hawkeye then
gave the word to bear down upon their foes. The charge, in that rude species of
warfare, consisted merely in pushing from cover to cover, nigher to the enemy;
and in this maneuver he was instantly and successfully obeyed. The Hurons
were compelled to withdraw, and the scene of the contest rapidly changed from
the more open ground, on which it had commenced, to a spot where the assailed
found a thicket to rest upon. Here the struggle was protracted, arduous and
seemingly of doubtful issue; the Delawares, though none of them fell, beginning
to bleed freely, in consequence of the disadvantage at which they were held.%
In this crisis, Hawkeye found means to get behind the same tree as that which
served for a cover to Heyward; most of his own combatants being within call, a
little on his right, where they maintained rapid, though fruitless, discharges on
their sheltered enemies.
"You are a young man, major," said the scout, dropping the butt of "killdeer"
to the earth, and leaning on the barrel, a little fatigued with his previous
industry; "and it may be your gift to lead armies, at some future day, ag'in these
imps, the Mingoes. You may here see the philosophy of an Indian fight. It
consists mainly in ready hand, a quick eye and a good cover. Now, if you had a
company of the Royal Americans here, in what manner would you set them to
work in this business?"
"The bayonet would make a road."
"Ay, there is white reason in what you say; but a man must ask himself, in
this wilderness, how many lives he can spare. No -- horse," continued the scout,
shaking his head, like one who mused; "horse, I am ashamed to say must sooner
or later decide these scrimmages. The brutes are better than men, and to horse
must we come at last. Put a shodden hoof on the moccasin of a red-skin, and, if
his rifle be once emptied, he will never stop to load it again."
"This is a subject that might better be discussed at another time," returned
Heyward; "shall we charge?"
"I see no contradiction to the gifts of any man in passing his breathing spells
in useful reflections," the scout replied. "As to rush, I little relish such a measure;
Thesaurus
barrel: (n) vessel, keg, roll, barrels, opposite, disagreement, paradox, foot; (v) step.
barrelful, tun, vase, cask, vat, inconsistency, reverse. ANTONYMS: lives: (n) life, living, estate, existence,
container, hogshead. (n) correspondence, confirmation, earnest living.
bayonet: (n, v) spear; (n) sword, consistency, reinforcement, concord. maneuver: (n, v) manoeuvre, scheme,
cutlass, Creese, stiletto, cimeter, emptied: (adj) empty, void, depleted, measure, act; (n) ruse, artifice, device,
broadsword, brand, dagger; (v) butt, emptier, annulled, open, vacuous. stratagem, trick; (v) guide, handle.
eviscerate. followers: (n) adherents, people, relish: (n, v) enjoy, fancy, love; (n)
bleed: (v) run, ooze, phlebotomize, entourage, claque, faithful, disciples, gusto, liking, palate, enthusiasm,
leak, percolate, shed blood, trickle, supporters, multitude, attendants, enjoyment; (adj, n) flavor; (v) bask,
hemorrhage, fleece; (n) ache, smart. support, suite. like. ANTONYM: (n) apathy.
contradiction: (n) antithesis, denial, hoof: (n) toe, sole, hooves, bottom, shodden: (adj) booted, calced,
repugnance, clash, disproof, contrast, keel, root, leg, ungula, unguis, animal roughshod, sandaled, shoed.
for a scalp or two must be thrown away in the attempt. And yet," he added,
bending his head aside, to catch the sounds of the distant combat, "if we are to be
of use to Uncas, these knaves in our front must be got rid of."
Then, turning with a prompt and decided air, he called aloud to his Indians,
in their own language. His words were answered by a shout; and, at a given
signal, each warrior made a swift movement around his particular tree. The sight
of so many dark bodies, glancing before their eyes at the same instant, drew a
hasty and consequently an ineffectual fire from the Hurons. Without stopping to
breathe, the Delawares leaped in long bounds toward the wood, like so many
panthers springing upon their prey. Hawkeye was in front, brandishing his
terrible rifle and animating his followers by his example. A few of the older and
more cunning Hurons, who had not been deceived by the artifice which had
been practiced to draw their fire, now made a close and deadly discharge of their
pieces and justified the apprehensions of the scout by felling three of his
foremost warriors. But the shock was insufficient to repel the impetus of the
charge. The Delawares broke into the cover with the ferocity of their natures and
swept away every trace of resistance by the fury of the onset.%
The combat endured only for an instant, hand to hand, and then the assailed
yielded ground rapidly, until they reached the opposite margin of the thicket,
where they clung to the cover, with the sort of obstinacy that is so often
witnessed in hunted brutes. At this critical moment, when the success of the
struggle was again becoming doubtful, the crack of a rifle was heard behind the
Hurons, and a bullet came whizzing from among some beaver lodges, which
were situated in the clearing, in their rear, and was followed by the fierce and
appalling yell of the war-whoop.
"There speaks the Sagamore!" shouted Hawkeye, answering the cry with his
own stentorian voice; "we have them now in face and back!"
The effect on the Hurons was instantaneous. Discouraged by an assault from
a quarter that left them no opportunity for cover, the warriors uttered a common
yell of disappointment, and breaking off in a body, they spread themselves
across the opening, heedless of every consideration but flight. Many fell, in
Thesaurus
animating: (adj) enlivening, disheartened, frustrated, crestfallen, dogs, Carnivora, bears, jackals.
invigorating, inspiriting, inspiring, pessimistic, depressed. ANTONYMS: prompt: (adj) agile, quick, nimble,
proceleusmatic, stirring, exhilarating, (adj) uplifted, heartened, cheered, punctual, expeditious; (v) actuate,
glad, animated, exciting; (n) inspired, cheerful, encouraged, incite, inspire, move, instigate; (adj, v)
awakening. hopeful, happy, calm, positive, fleet. ANTONYMS: (adj) late,
bounds: (n) boundary, border, limit, enthusiastic. uncertain; (v) discourage, hinder,
bound, margin, borderline, end, felling: (n) harvesting. halt.
bourn, Bourne, brink, edge. impetus: (n) impulsion, force, drive, stentorian: (adj) booming, vocal,
ANTONYMS: (n) center, middle. power, stimulus, goad, spur, piercing, strident, resonant,
discouraged: (adj) despondent, incentive, driving force, momentum; powerful, flourishing, full, fuller,
downhearted, downcast, (n, v) energy. ANTONYM: (n) inertia. palmy, stentorophonic.
demoralized, dejected, dispirited, panthers: (n) order Carnivora, lions,
making the experiment, under the bullets and the blows of the pursuing
Delawares.%
We shall not pause to detail the meeting between the scout and
Chingachgook, or the more touching interview that Duncan held with Munro. A
few brief and hurried words served to explain the state of things to both parties;
and then Hawkeye, pointing out the Sagamore to his band, resigned the chief
authority into the hands of the Mohican chief. Chingachgook assumed the station
to which his birth and experience gave him so distinguished a claim, with the
grave dignity that always gives force to the mandates of a native warrior.
Following the footsteps of the scout, he led the party back through the thicket,
his men scalping the fallen Hurons and secreting the bodies of their own dead as
they proceeded, until they gained a point where the former was content to make
a halt.
The warriors, who had breathed themselves freely in the preceding struggle,
were now posted on a bit of level ground, sprinkled with trees in sufficient
numbers to conceal them. The land fell away rather precipitately in front, and
beneath their eyes stretched, for several miles, a narrow, dark, and wooded vale.
It was through this dense and dark forest that Uncas was still contending with
the main body of the Hurons.
The Mohican and his friends advanced to the brow of the hill, and listened,
with practised ears, to the sounds of the combat. A few birds hovered over the
leafy bosom of the valley, frightened from their secluded nests; and here and
there a light vapory cloud, which seemed already blending with the atmosphere,
arose above the trees, and indicated some spot where the struggle had been
fierce and stationary.
"The fight is coming up the ascent," said Duncan, pointing in the direction of
a new explosion of firearms; "we are too much in the center of their line to be
effective."
"They will incline into the hollow, where the cover is thicker," said the scout,
"and that will leave us well on their flank. Go, Sagamore; you will hardly be in
time to give the whoop, and lead on the young men. I will fight this scrimmage
Thesaurus
combat: (n, v) fight, clash, encounter, hurried: (adj) fast, sudden, speedy, (adj) foregoing, former, previous,
conflict, war; (n) contest, action, rapid, quick, swift, headlong, abrupt, prior, past, precedent, prevenient;
brawl, fighting, fray, hostility. cursory, precipitate, prompt. (adv) forward; (prep) before.
ANTONYMS: (n) peace; (v) ANTONYMS: (adj) unhurried, ANTONYMS: (adj) following,
cooperate, agree, pacify, surrender, leisurely, considered, patient, succeeding, next, present.
compromise, favor. meticulous, thorough. pursuing: (n) pursuit, search, hunt;
dignity: (n) degree, prestige, glory, incline: (v) cant, dispose, bend; (n, v) (adj) coming, engaged.
decorum, face, distinction, honor, slope, bias, dip, tilt; (n) ascent, secreting: (n) burial, burying,
majesty, eminence, solemnity; (adj, n) gradient, grade, inclination. concealment, money laundering,
decency. ANTONYMS: (n) lowliness, ANTONYMS: (v) indispose, level; (n) activity, screening, hiding, masking;
indecency, impropriety, simplicity, hollow, descent. (adj) secretory, secernent.
cheerfulness, austerity. preceding: (adj, adv) anterior, earlier; vapory: (adj) ethereal, foggy.
with warriors of my own color. You know me, Mohican; not a Huron of them all
shall cross the swell, into your rear, without the notice of 'killdeer'."
The Indian chief paused another moment to consider the signs of the contest,
which was now rolling rapidly up the ascent, a certain evidence that the
Delawares triumphed; nor did he actually quit the place until admonished of the
proximity of his friends, as well as enemies, by the bullets of the former, which
began to patter among the dried leaves on the ground, like the bits of falling hail
which precede the bursting of the tempest. Hawkeye and his three companions
withdrew a few paces to a shelter, and awaited the issue with calmness that
nothing but great practise could impart in such a scene.%
It was not long before the reports of the rifles began to lose the echoes of the
woods, and to sound like weapons discharged in the open air. Then a warrior
appeared, here and there, driven to the skirts of the forest, and rallying as he
entered the clearing, as at the place where the final stand was to be made. These
were soon joined by others, until a long line of swarthy figures was to be seen
clinging to the cover with the obstinacy of desperation. Heyward began to grow
impatient, and turned his eyes anxiously in the direction of Chingachgook. The
chief was seated on a rock, with nothing visible but his calm visage, considering
the spectacle with an eye as deliberate as if he were posted there merely to view
the struggle.
"The time has come for the Delaware to strike!" said Duncan.
"Not so, not so," returned the scout; "when he scents his friends, he will let
them know that he is here. See, see; the knaves are getting in that clump of pines,
like bees settling after their flight. By the Lord, a squaw might put a bullet into
the center of such a knot of dark skins!"
At that instant the whoop was given, and a dozen Hurons fell by a discharge
from Chingachgook and his band. The shout that followed was answered by a
single war-cry from the forest, and a yell passed through the air that sounded as
if a thousand throats were united in a common effort. The Hurons staggered,
deserting the center of their line, and Uncas issued from the forest through the
opening they left, at the head of a hundred warriors.
Thesaurus
bits: (n) odds and ends, scraps, debris. ANTONYMS: (v) ignore, criticize. staggered: (adj) dumbfounded,
bursting: (adj) explosive, teeming, patter: (v) clatter, rumble, roll, rattle, astonished, flabbergasted, astounded,
chock-full, full, complete, drum, scuttle, skip, tiptoe; (n) line of stunned, bewildered, surprised,
paroxysmal, exploding, disruptive, gab, vernacular, jargon. thunderstruck, angular, dizzy, taken
detonating, crowded; (n) outbreak. precede: (v) lead, head, forego, aback.
ANTONYM: (adj) hungry. antecede, antedate, anticipate, swell: (n, v) rise, heave, increase,
clump: (n, v) cluster, bundle; (n) lump, introduce, forerun, pass, preface, go. wave, billow; (v) enlarge, expand,
group, clot, knot, tuft, chunk, clod, ANTONYMS: (v) succeed, postdate. puff, grow, bloat; (adj, n) dandy.
ball; (v) plod. rallying: (n) effort, mobilization, ANTONYMS: (v) deflate, desiccate,
hail: (v) address, cry, acclaim, mobilisation, mass meeting, feat, shrink, compress, concentrate, wane;
applaud, summon, accost, fall, cheer, deed, exchange; (adj) moving, (n, v) decline; (adj) bad, horrible,
salute; (n, v) call; (n) greeting. encouraging, convalescent. shabby, awful.
Waving his hands right and left, the young chief pointed out the enemy to his
followers, who separated in pursuit. The war now divided, both wings of the
broken Hurons seeking protection in the woods again, hotly pressed by the
victorious warriors of the Lenape. A minute might have passed, but the sounds
were already receding in different directions, and gradually losing their
distinctness beneath the echoing arches of the woods. One little knot of Hurons,
however, had disdained to seek a cover, and were retiring, like lions at bay,
slowly and sullenly up the acclivity which Chingachgook and his band had just
deserted, to mingle more closely in the fray. Magua was conspicuous in this
party, both by his fierce and savage mien, and by the air of haughty authority he
yet maintained.%
In his eagerness to expedite the pursuit, Uncas had left himself nearly alone;
but the moment his eye caught the figure of Le Subtil, every other consideration
was forgotten. Raising his cry of battle, which recalled some six or seven
warriors, and reckless of the disparity of their numbers, he rushed upon his
enemy. Le Renard, who watched the movement, paused to receive him with
secret joy. But at the moment when he thought the rashness of his impetuous
young assailant had left him at his mercy, another shout was given, and La
Longue Carabine was seen rushing to the rescue, attended by all his white
associates. The Huron instantly turned, and commenced a rapid retreat up the
ascent.
There was no time for greetings or congratulations; for Uncas, though
unconscious of the presence of his friends, continued the pursuit with the
velocity of the wind. In vain Hawkeye called to him to respect the covers; the
young Mohican braved the dangerous fire of his enemies, and soon compelled
them to a flight as swift as his own headlong speed. It was fortunate that the race
was of short continuance, and that the white men were much favored by their
position, or the Delaware would soon have outstripped all his companions, and
fallen a victim to his own temerity. But, ere such a calamity could happen, the
pursuers and pursued entered the Wyandot village, within striking distance of
each other.
Thesaurus
disparity: (n) disproportion, separation, uncloudedness, ANTONYMS: (adv) impassively,
disagreement, difference, dissimilarity; (adj) conspicuousness. mildly.
discrepancy, contrast, odds, ANTONYM: (n) indistinctness. velocity: (n, v) rate, pace; (n) rapidity,
inequality, dissonance, dissimilarity, expedite: (n, v) accelerate; (v) dispatch, swiftness, celerity, tempo, quickness,
divergence, gap. ANTONYMS: (n) advance, hasten, speed, quicken, haste, fleetness, fastness, dispatch.
equality, parity, similarity, assist, hurry, hurry up, rush, victorious: (adj) triumphant,
correspondence, equivalence, precipitate. ANTONYMS: (v) stop, successful, winning, jubilant, victor,
likeness, sameness, consistency, delay, halt, hinder, impede. fortunate, lifted up; (adj, v)
agreement. hotly: (adv) heatedly, passionately, triumphal, exultant, triumphing, on
distinctness: (n) clearness, sharpness, fervidly, fervently, pepperily, top. ANTONYMS: (adj) beaten,
definition, otherness, perspicuity, sultrily, intensely, sharply, torridly; unsuccessful, failing, losing,
discreteness, articulate sound, (adj, adv) violently, vehemently. sorrowful.
Excited by the presence of their dwellings, and tired of the chase, the Hurons
now made a stand, and fought around their council-lodge with the fury of
despair. The onset and the issue were like the passage and destruction of a
whirlwind. The tomahawk of Uncas, the blows of Hawkeye, and even the still
nervous arm of Munro were all busy for that passing moment, and the ground
was quickly strewed with their enemies. Still Magua, though daring and much
exposed, escaped from every effort against his life, with that sort of fabled
protection that was made to overlook the fortunes of favored heroes in the
legends of ancient poetry. Raising a yell that spoke volumes of anger and
disappointment, the subtle chief, when he saw his comrades fallen, darted away
from the place, attended by his two only surviving friends, leaving the
Delawares engaged in stripping the dead of the bloody trophies of their
victory.%
But Uncas, who had vainly sought him in the melee, bounded forward in
pursuit; Hawkeye, Heyward and David still pressing on his footsteps. The
utmost that the scout could effect, was to keep the muzzle of his rifle a little in
advance of his friend, to whom, however, it answered every purpose of a
charmed shield. Once Magua appeared disposed to make another and a final
effort to revenge his losses; but, abandoning his intention as soon as
demonstrated, he leaped into a thicket of bushes, through which he was followed
by his enemies, and suddenly entered the mouth of the cave already known to
the reader. Hawkeye, who had only forborne to fire in tenderness to Uncas,
raised a shout of success, and proclaimed aloud that now they were certain of
their game. The pursuers dashed into the long and narrow entrance, in time to
catch a glimpse of the retreating forms of the Hurons. Their passage through the
natural galleries and subterraneous apartments of the cavern was preceded by
the shrieks and cries of hundreds of women and children. The place, seen by its
dim and uncertain light, appeared like the shades of the infernal regions, across
which unhappy ghosts and savage demons were flitting in multitudes.
Still Uncas kept his eye on Magua, as if life to him possessed but a single
object. Heyward and the scout still pressed on his rear, actuated, though possibly
Thesaurus
flitting: (adj) fleeting, fugitive, ANTONYMS: (v) remember, notice, underground, subterrene,
momentary, transient, ephemeral; (v) spot, acknowledge, see, accept, subaqueous, submarine.
migration. punish. surviving: (adj) extant, living,
legends: (n) tradition, mythology, proclaimed: (adj) announced, enduring, survive, remaining,
myths. indictive, declared publicly. existing, present, ongoing, in
melee: (adj, n) fight, brawl, uproar, retreating: (n) flight; (adj) moving existence, current, absolute.
fracas, row; (n) battle royal, fray, back. vainly: (adv) uselessly, futilely,
scrimmage; (adj) disturbance; (v) stripping: (n) baring, denudation, fruitlessly, conceitedly, in vain,
brabble, brigue. striping, removal, disforestation, worthlessly, abortively, bootlessly,
overlook: (v) disregard, excuse, omit, scrubbing, strippingly, uncovering, arrogantly, unproductively; (adj, adv)
ignore, forget, fail, command, find, back washing, cornhusking. foolishly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
dominate, oversee, control, miss. subterraneous: (adj) subterranean, fruitfully, successfully, effectively.
in a less degree, by a common feeling. But their way was becoming intricate, in
those dark and gloomy passages, and the glimpses of the retiring warriors less
distinct and frequent; and for a moment the trace was believed to be lost, when a
white robe was seen fluttering in the further extremity of a passage that seemed
to lead up the mountain.%
"'Tis Cora!" exclaimed Heyward, in a voice in which horror and delight were
wildly mingled.
"Cora! Cora!" echoed Uncas, bounding forward like a deer.
"'Tis the maiden!" shouted the scout. "Courage, lady; we come! we come!"
The chase was renewed with a diligence rendered tenfold encouraging by
this glimpse of the captive. But the way was rugged, broken, and in spots nearly
impassable. Uncas abandoned his rifle, and leaped forward with headlong
precipitation. Heyward rashly imitated his example, though both were, a
moment afterward, admonished of his madness by hearing the bellowing of a
piece, that the Hurons found time to discharge down the passage in the rocks,
the bullet from which even gave the young Mohican a slight wound.
"We must close!" said the scout, passing his friends by a desperate leap; "the
knaves will pick us all off at this distance; and see, they hold the maiden so as to
shield themselves!"
Though his words were unheeded, or rather unheard, his example was
followed by his companions, who, by incredible exertions, got near enough to
the fugitives to perceive that Cora was borne along between the two warriors
while Magua prescribed the direction and manner of their flight. At this moment
the forms of all four were strongly drawn against an opening in the sky, and they
disappeared. Nearly frantic with disappointment, Uncas and Heyward increased
efforts that already seemed superhuman, and they issued from the cavern on the
side of the mountain, in time to note the route of the pursued. The course lay up
the ascent, and still continued hazardous and laborious.
Encumbered by his rifle, and, perhaps, not sustained by so deep an interest in
the captive as his companions, the scout suffered the latter to precede him a little,
Thesaurus
hazardous: (adj) risky, unsafe, difficult, knotty, hard, tricky, Musca volitans.
perilous, critical, insecure, convoluted, tortuous, inextricable, superhuman: (adj) supernatural,
precarious, dicey, chancy, uncertain; elaborate, obscure; (adj, v) involved. heavenly, preterhuman, superman,
(adj, n) daring, adventurous. ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, easy, epic, daring, godlike, gallant, brave,
ANTONYMS: (adj) secure, stable. plain. celestial, incredible. ANTONYM:
impassable: (adj) impervious, madness: (n) frenzy, insanity, lunacy, (adj) normal.
impenetrable, impracticable, idiocy, folly, delirium, insaneness; tenfold: (adj) decuple, decimal, tenth,
invincible, insuperable, inaccessible, (adj, n) furor, rage, desperation, containing ten.
unpassable, innavigable, inextricable, furore. ANTONYMS: (n) sense, unheard: (adj) aspirated, atonic, deaf,
closed, impossible. ANTONYMS: calmness, order. indistinct, involving surds, nonvocal,
(adj) passable, open. spots: (n) damp, drifter, floater, radical, sharp, silent, surd, irrational.
intricate: (adj, n) complicated; (adj) floating policy, muscae volitantes,
Uncas, in his turn, taking the lead of Heyward. In this manner, rocks, precipices
and difficulties were surmounted in an incredibly short space, that at another
time, and under other circumstances, would have been deemed almost
insuperable. But the impetuous young men were rewarded by finding that,
encumbered with Cora, the Hurons were losing ground in the race.%
"Stay, dog of the Wyandots!" exclaimed Uncas, shaking his bright tomahawk
at Magua; "a Delaware girl calls stay!"
"I will go no further!" cried Cora, stopping unexpectedly on a ledge of rock,
that overhung a deep precipice, at no great distance from the summit of the
mountain. "Kill me if thou wilt, detestable Huron; I will go no further."
The supporters of the maiden raised their ready tomahawks with the
impious joy that fiends are thought to take in mischief, but Magua stayed the
uplifted arms. The Huron chief, after casting the weapons he had wrested from
his companions over the rock, drew his knife, and turned to his captive, with a
look in which conflicting passions fiercely contended.
"Woman," he said, "chose; the wigwam or the knife of Le Subtil!"
Cora regarded him not, but dropping on her knees, she raised her eyes and
stretched her arms toward heaven, saying in a meek and yet confiding voice:
"I am thine; do with me as thou seest best!"
"Woman," repeated Magua, hoarsely, and endeavoring in vain to catch a
glance from her serene and beaming eye, "choose!"
But Cora neither heard nor heeded his demand. The form of the Huron
trembled in every fibre, and he raised his arm on high, but dropped it again with
a bewildered air, like one who doubted. Once more he struggled with himself
and lifted the keen weapon again; but just then a piercing cry was heard above
them, and Uncas appeared, leaping frantically, from a fearful height, upon the
ledge. Magua recoiled a step; and one of his assistants, profiting by the chance,
sheathed his own knife in the bosom of Cora.
The Huron sprang like a tiger on his offending and already retreating
country man, but the falling form of Uncas separated the unnatural combatants.
Thesaurus
detestable: (adj) hateful, abhorrent, (adj) reverent, devout, restrained, serene: (adj) peaceful, calm, quiet,
damnable, odious, offensive, good. placid, composed, impassive, clear,
despicable, execrable, horrible, insuperable: (adj) unconquerable, pacific, gentle, cool; (adj, v) tranquil.
infamous; (adj, v) cursed; (adj, adv) indomitable, impassable, invincible, ANTONYMS: (adj) agitated, anxious,
atrocious. ANTONYMS: (adj) unsurmountable, unbeatable, noisy, nervous, impatient, excitable,
admirable, adorable, sweet, loveable, impregnable, overwhelming, scatterbrained, harsh, boisterous,
lovable, likable, delightful, cherished, formidable, inexsuperable, excited, disturbed.
honorable, desirable, nice. unassailable. ANTONYM: (adj) sheathed: (adj) invaginated, enclosed.
impious: (adj) godless, ungodly, vulnerable. ANTONYM: (adj) unsheathed.
disrespectful, profane, unholy, sinful, offending: (adj) opprobrious, criminal, wrested: (adj) perverted, distorted,
unhallowed, wicked, iniquitous, aberrant, guilty, delinquent, twisted, wry.
irreligious, irreverent. ANTONYMS: antisocial, scurrilous, errant.
Diverted from his object by this interruption, and maddened by the murder he
had just witnessed, Magua buried his weapon in the back of the prostrate
Delaware, uttering an unearthly shout as he committed the dastardly deed. But
Uncas arose from the blow, as the wounded panther turns upon his foe, and
struck the murderer of Cora to his feet, by an effort in which the last of his failing
strength was expended. Then, with a stern and steady look, he turned to Le
Subtil, and indicated by the expression of his eye all that he would do had not
the power deserted him. The latter seized the nerveless arm of the unresisting
Delaware, and passed his knife into his bosom three several times, before his
victim, still keeping his gaze riveted on his enemy, with a look of
inextinguishable scorn, fell dead at his feet.%
"Mercy! mercy! Huron," cried Heyward, from above, in tones nearly choked
by horror; "give mercy, and thou shalt receive from it!"
Whirling the bloody knife up at the imploring youth, the victorious Magua
uttered a cry so fierce, so wild, and yet so joyous, that it conveyed the sounds of
savage triumph to the ears of those who fought in the valley, a thousand feet
below. He was answered by a burst from the lips of the scout, whose tall person
was just then seen moving swiftly toward him, along those dangerous crags,
with steps as bold and reckless as if he possessed the power to move in air. But
when the hunter reached the scene of the ruthless massacre, the ledge was
tenanted only by the dead.
His keen eye took a single look at the victims, and then shot its glances over
the difficulties of the ascent in his front. A form stood at the brow of the
mountain, on the very edge of the giddy height, with uplifted arms, in an awful
attitude of menace. Without stopping to consider his person, the rifle of
Hawkeye was raised; but a rock, which fell on the head of one of the fugitives
below, exposed the indignant and glowing countenance of the honest Gamut.
Then Magua issued from a crevice, and, stepping with calm indifference over the
body of the last of his associates, he leaped a wide fissure, and ascended the
rocks at a point where the arm of David could not reach him. A single bound
would carry him to the brow of the precipice, and assure his safety. Before taking
Thesaurus
dastardly: (adj) dastard, craven, base, v) warm; (adj, adv) aglow. ANTONYM: (n) depression.
fearful, low, shameful, ignoble, ANTONYMS: (adj) pale, wan, murderer: (n) assassin, cutthroat,
sneaky, timorous; (n) coward; (adv) unhappy, unenthusiastic, derogatory, killer, manslayer, murderess,
recreantly. ANTONYM: (adj) honest. dispassionate, unwell. executioner, thug, liquidator; (v)
giddy: (adj, v) flighty; (adj) dizzy, faint, indignant: (adj) angry, incensed, butcher; (n, v) slayer, terrorist.
silly, changeable, vertiginous, furious, enraged, wrathful, hurt, nerveless: (adj) coolheaded, feeble,
featherbrained, light, fickle, rage, provoked, hot, anger, irate. weak, cool, powerless, spineless,
capricious; (adv) careless. ANTONYMS: (adj) cool, content, impuissant, flaccid, marrowless,
ANTONYMS: (adj) serious, dull. unaffected. composed, imperturbable.
glowing: (adj, n) enthusiastic, cordial, ledge: (n) projection, bulge, jetty, victims: (n) dead, wounded, losses,
passionate; (adj) burning, fervent, board, shelf, rack, bench, hummock, fatalities.
blazing, flaming, fiery, dazzling; (adj, protrusion, rim; (adj) escarpment.
the leap, however, the Huron paused, and shaking his hand at the scout, he
shouted:
"The pale faces are dogs! the Delawares women! Magua leaves them on the
rocks, for the crows!"
Laughing hoarsely, he made a desperate leap, and fell short of his mark,
though his hands grasped a shrub on the verge of the height. The form of
Hawkeye had crouched like a beast about to take its spring, and his frame
trembled so violently with eagerness that the muzzle of the half-raised rifle
played like a leaf fluttering in the wind. Without exhausting himself with
fruitless efforts, the cunning Magua suffered his body to drop to the length of his
arms, and found a fragment for his feet to rest on. Then, summoning all his
powers, he renewed the attempt, and so far succeeded as to draw his knees on
the edge of the mountain. It was now, when the body of his enemy was most
collected together, that the agitated weapon of the scout was drawn to his
shoulder. The surrounding rocks themselves were not steadier than the piece
became, for the single instant that it poured out its contents. The arms of the
Huron relaxed, and his body fell back a little, while his knees still kept their
position. Turning a relentless look on his enemy, he shook a hand in grim
defiance. But his hold loosened, and his dark person was seen cutting the air
with its head downward, for a fleeting instant, until it glided past the fringe of
shrubbery which clung to the mountain, in its rapid flight to destruction.%
Thesaurus
crouched: (v) subjacent, squat; (adj) exhausting: (adj) difficult, grueling, shrub: (n) bush, scrub, heath,
crutched, hunkered down, hunkered, tiring, tiresome, exhaustingly, greasewood, gorse, gooseberry,
low, huddled. strenuous, draining, wearing, goldenbush, frangipanni, hawthorn,
defiance: (n) challenge, opposition, wearisome, wearying, hard. fuchsia, furze.
rebellion, insubordination, ANTONYMS: (adj) undemanding, summoning: (n) induction,
rebelliousness, disobedience, refreshing, easy, light. conjuration, conjuring, conjury,
resistance, contempt, intractableness, relentless: (adj) implacable, cruel, demand, elicitation, adjuration,
mutiny, contradiction. ANTONYMS: inflexible, stern, pitiless, harsh, exhortation.
(n) acceptance, surrender, deference, merciless, grim, obdurate, persistent, verge: (n, v) edge, skirt; (n) boundary,
conformance, submission, unrelenting. ANTONYMS: (adj) brink, margin, limit, rim, bound,
acquiescence, cooperation, loyalty, gentle, lenient, merciful, finite, soft, brim, side; (v) bend. ANTONYMS:
meekness, support, agreement. sporadic, feeble. (n) end, middle; (v) retreat.
CHAPTER 33
"They fought--like brave men, long and well,

They piled that ground with Moslem slain,
They conquered--but Bozzaris fell,
Bleeding at every vein.%
His few surviving comrades saw
His smile when rang their loud hurrah,
And the red field was won;
Then saw in death his eyelids close
Calmly, as to a night's repose,
Like flowers at set of sun."
Halleck
The sun found the Lenape, on the succeeding day, a nation of mourners. The
sounds of the battle were over, and they had fed fat their ancient grudge, and
had avenged their recent quarrel with the Mengwe, by the destruction of a whole
community. The black and murky atmosphere that floated around the spot
where the Hurons had encamped, sufficiently announced of itself, the fate of that
wandering tribe; while hundreds of ravens, that struggled above the summits of
the mountains, or swept, in noisy flocks, across the wide ranges of the woods,
furnished a frightful direction to the scene of the combat. In short, any eye at all
Thesaurus
grudge: (v) begrudge, covet; (n, v) muted, weak, tranquil, thin; (adv) orderly, gentle.
spite; (n) malice, anger, umbrage, softly. piled: (adj) heaped, dense, aggregate,
resentment, rancor, gall, pique, feud. murky: (adj) dark, gloomy, cloudy, collective, concentrated, cumulous.
hurrah: (int, n) hooray; (n) huzza, cry, dusky, dingy, misty, dim, muddy, ranges: (n) scopes.
controversy, fervor, passion, praise; opaque, dirty, black. ANTONYMS: spot: (n, v) place, speck, blemish,
(int) congratulations, bravo; (v) come; (adj) bright, light, obvious, sunny. speckle, fleck, dirty, dapple; (adj, n, v)
(adv) cheerfully. noisy: (adj) boisterous, loud, stain, soil; (n) dot, space.
loud: (adj) flashy, garish, gaudy, vociferous, clamorous, turbulent, wandering: (adj) itinerant, nomadic,
blatant, brassy, boisterous, high, tumultuous, strident, blatant, shrill, erratic, rambling, errant, migratory;
jazzy, brazen, piercing; (adj, adv) rowdy, vocal. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj, v) stray, vagrant, vagabond,
forte. ANTONYMS: (adj) tasteful, silent, peaceful, tranquil, calm, unsettled; (n) peregrination.
gentle, quiet, subtle, subdued, low, noiseless, soft, restrained, placid, ANTONYM: (adj) resident.
practised in the signs of a frontier warfare might easily have traced all those
unerring evidences of the ruthless results which attend an Indian vengeance.%
Still, the sun rose on the Lenape a nation of mourners. No shouts of success,
no songs of triumph, were heard, in rejoicings for their victory. The latest
straggler had returned from his fell employment, only to strip himself of the
terrific emblems of his bloody calling, and to join in the lamentations of his
countrymen, as a stricken people. Pride and exultation were supplanted by
humility, and the fiercest of human passions was already succeeded by the most
profound and unequivocal demonstrations of grief.
The lodges were deserted; but a broad belt of earnest faces encircled a spot in
their vicinity, whither everything possessing life had repaired, and where all
were now collected, in deep and awful silence. Though beings of every rank and
age, of both sexes, and of all pursuits, had united to form this breathing wall of
bodies, they were influenced by a single emotion. Each eye was riveted on the
center of that ring, which contained the objects of so much and of so common an
interest.
Six Delaware girls, with their long, dark, flowing tresses falling loosely across
their bosoms, stood apart, and only gave proof of their existence as they
occasionally strewed sweet-scented herbs and forest flowers on a litter of
fragrant plants that, under a pall of Indian robes, supported all that now
remained of the ardent, high-souled, and generous Cora. Her form was
concealed in many wrappers of the same simple manufacture, and her face was
shut forever from the gaze of men. At her feet was seated the desolate Munro.
His aged head was bowed nearly to the earth, in compelled submission to the
stroke of Providence; but a hidden anguish struggled about his furrowed brow,
that was only partially concealed by the careless locks of gray that had fallen,
neglected, on his temples. Gamut stood at his side, his meek head bared to the
rays of the sun, while his eyes, wandering and concerned, seemed to be equally
divided between that little volume, which contained so many quaint but holy
maxims, and the being in whose behalf his soul yearned to administer
consolation. Heyward was also nigh, supporting himself against a tree, and
Thesaurus
administer: (n, v) manage, rule, hopefulness. curtain, coffin, shroud, cloak,
minister, command; (v) dispense, bared: (adj) naked, unclothed, cerement, mantle; (adj, v) disgust.
distribute, give, operate, deal, supply, exposed. quaint: (adj) odd, funny, picturesque,
handle. ANTONYMS: (v) withhold, consolation: (n) comfort, relief, balm, comical, fanciful, curious, whimsical,
neglect, frustrate, refuse, deny, succor, ease, cheer, solacement, strange, queer, peculiar, droll.
mismanage, take. encouragement, sympathy, ANTONYMS: (adj) modern,
anguish: (n, v) pain, ache; (n) torment, alleviation, express sympathy. ordinary, dull.
agony, torture, distress, misery, ANTONYMS: (n) grief, sorrow, repaired: (adj) reconditioned,
suffering, despair, grief, sorrow. distress, discouragement, maintained, mended, fastened,
ANTONYMS: (n) pleasure, aggravation. serviced, intent, frozen, flat,
happiness, calm, euphoria, flowers: (n) analecta, anthology. serviceable.
joyfulness, ecstasy, content, peace, pall: (v) cloy, tire, jade, fatigue; (n) sweet-scented: (adj) fragrant.
endeavoring to keep down those sudden risings of sorrow that it required his
utmost manhood to subdue.%
But sad and melancholy as this group may easily be imagined, it was far less
touching than another, that occupied the opposite space of the same area. Seated,
as in life, with his form and limbs arranged in grave and decent composure,
Uncas appeared, arrayed in the most gorgeous ornaments that the wealth of the
tribe could furnish. Rich plumes nodded above his head; wampum, gorgets,
bracelets, and medals, adorned his person in profusion; though his dull eye and
vacant lineaments too strongly contradicted the idle tale of pride they would
convey.
Directly in front of the corpse Chingachgook was placed, without arms, paint
or adornment of any sort, except the bright blue blazonry of his race, that was
indelibly impressed on his naked bosom. During the long period that the tribe
had thus been collected, the Mohican warrior had kept a steady, anxious look on
the cold and senseless countenance of his son. So riveted and intense had been
that gaze, and so changeless his attitude, that a stranger might not have told the
living from the dead, but for the occasional gleamings of a troubled spirit, that
shot athwart the dark visage of one, and the deathlike calm that had forever
settled on the lineaments of the other. The scout was hard by, leaning in a
pensive posture on his own fatal and avenging weapon; while Tamenund,
supported by the elders of his nation, occupied a high place at hand, whence he
might look down on the mute and sorrowful assemblage of his people.
Just within the inner edge of the circle stood a soldier, in the military attire of
a strange nation; and without it was his warhorse, in the center of a collection of
mounted domestics, seemingly in readiness to undertake some distant journey.
The vestments of the stranger announced him to be one who held a responsible
situation near the person of the captain of the Canadas; and who, as it would
now seem, finding his errand of peace frustrated by the fierce impetuosity of his
allies, was content to become a silent and sad spectator of the fruits of a contest
that he had arrived too late to anticipate.
Thesaurus
adornment: (n) jewelry, ornaments. pensive: (adj) contemplative,
embellishment, decoration, changeless: (adj) fixed, steady, meditative, musing, wistful, dreamy,
garnishment, accessory, trim, frill, immutable, abiding, invariable, melancholy, abstracted, broody,
passementerie, trimming, garnish, stable, invariant, steadfast, reflective, moody; (adj, v) sad.
flower. unvarying, unalterable, ANTONYMS: (adj) shallow, satisfied,
avenging: (adj) justificatory, unchangeable. carefree.
vindictive, vengeful, rigorous, impetuosity: (n) eagerness, haste, heat, warhorse: (n) old hand, veteran,
ruthless, retributive, retributory; (n) violence, vehemence, impulsiveness, charger, steed, old stager, stage
revenge, vengeance, eye for an eye, impetuousness, excitability, temerity, manager, veteran soldier, vet,
reprisal. precipitation, fervency. antique, cavalry horse, mount.
bracelets: (n) trinkets, jewels, ANTONYMS: (n) deliberation,
necklaces, charms, costume jewelry, patience, consideration, carefulness.
The day was drawing to the close of its first quarter, and yet had the
multitude maintained its breathing stillness since its dawn.%
No sound louder than a stifled sob had been heard among them, nor had
even a limb been moved throughout that long and painful period, except to
perform the simple and touching offerings that were made, from time to time, in
commemoration of the dead. The patience and forbearance of Indian fortitude
could alone support such an appearance of abstraction, as seemed now to have
turned each dark and motionless figure into stone.
At length, the sage of the Delawares stretched forth an arm, and leaning on
the shoulders of his attendants, he arose with an air as feeble as if another age
had already intervened between the man who had met his nation the preceding
day, and him who now tottered on his elevated stand.
"Men of the Lenape!" he said, in low, hollow tones, that sounded like a voice
charged with some prophetic mission: "the face of the Manitou is behind a cloud!
His eye is turned from you; His ears are shut; His tongue gives no answer. You
see him not; yet His judgments are before you. Let your hearts be open and your
spirits tell no lie. Men of the Lenape! the face of the Manitou is behind a cloud."
As this simple and yet terrible annunciation stole on the ears of the
multitude, a stillness as deep and awful succeeded as if the venerated spirit they
worshiped had uttered the words without the aid of human organs; and even the
inanimate Uncas appeared a being of life, compared with the humbled and
submissive throng by whom he was surrounded. As the immediate effect,
however, gradually passed away, a low murmur of voices commenced a sort of
chant in honor of the dead. The sounds were those of females, and were
thrillingly soft and wailing. The words were connected by no regular
continuation, but as one ceased another took up the eulogy, or lamentation,
whichever it might be called, and gave vent to her emotions in such language as
was suggested by her feelings and the occasion. At intervals the speaker was
interrupted by general and loud bursts of sorrow, during which the girls around
the bier of Cora plucked the plants and flowers blindly from her body, as if
bewildered with grief. But, in the milder moments of their plaint, these emblems
Thesaurus
bier: (n) catafalque, urn, tomb, ANTONYMS: (n) damning, prophetical, prognostic, visionary,
sepulchre, cinerary urn, rack, stand, vilification, condemnation. biblical, vaticinal, sibylline,
casket, stretcher, hearse, inanimate: (adj) defunct, dull, foreshadowing, fatidical, pythonic.
sarcophagus. breathless, inorganic, inactive, ANTONYMS: (adj) unprophetic,
commemoration: (n) memorial, lifeless, exanimate, deceased, extinct, unimaginative.
celebration, reminder, recognition, unconscious, spiritless. ANTONYMS: thrillingly: (adv) electrically,
monument, ceremony, epitaph, (adj) living, animate, spirited. impressively, stirringly,
souvenir, ovation, paean, triumph. plaint: (n) complaint, mourning, stimulatingly, sensationally,
eulogy: (n, v) encomium, praise; (n) lamentation, wail, moan, jeremiad; grippingly, electrifyingly,
compliment, eulogium, paean, (v) hue and cry, hullabaloo, outcry, breathtakingly, excitingly,
panegyric, speech, tribute; (v) clamor, chorus. emotionally, movingly.
applause, acclaim, eulogize. prophetic: (adj) oracular, mantic,
of purity and sweetness were cast back to their places, with every sign of
tenderness and regret. Though rendered less connected by many and general
interruptions and outbreakings, a translation of their language would have
contained a regular descant, which, in substance, might have proved to possess a
train of consecutive ideas.%
A girl, selected for the task by her rank and qualifications, commenced by
modest allusions to the qualities of the deceased warrior, embellishing her
expressions with those oriental images that the Indians have probably brought
with them from the extremes of the other continent, and which form of
themselves a link to connect the ancient histories of the two worlds. She called
him the "panther of his tribe"; and described him as one whose moccasin left no
trail on the dews; whose bound was like the leap of a young fawn; whose eye
was brighter than a star in the dark night; and whose voice, in battle, was loud as
the thunder of the Manitou. She reminded him of the mother who bore him, and
dwelt forcibly on the happiness she must feel in possessing such a son. She bade
him tell her, when they met in the world of spirits, that the Delaware girls had
shed tears above the grave of her child, and had called her blessed.
Then, they who succeeded, changing their tones to a milder and still more
tender strain, alluded, with the delicacy and sensitiveness of women, to the
stranger maiden, who had left the upper earth at a time so near his own
departure, as to render the will of the Great Spirit too manifest to be disregarded.
They admonished him to be kind to her, and to have consideration for her
ignorance of those arts which were so necessary to the comfort of a warrior like
himself. They dwelled upon her matchless beauty, and on her noble resolution,
without the taint of envy, and as angels may be thought to delight in a superior
excellence; adding, that these endowments should prove more than equivalent
for any little imperfection in her education.
After which, others again, in due succession, spoke to the maiden herself, in
the low, soft language of tenderness and love. They exhorted her to be of cheerful
mind, and to fear nothing for her future welfare. A hunter would be her
companion, who knew how to provide for her smallest wants; and a warrior was
Thesaurus
descant: (n) song, melody, hymn, imperfection: (adj, n) frailty; (n) fault, sensitiveness: (n) sensitivity,
strain, tune; (v) sing, warble, amplify; blemish, defect, deficiency, flaw, susceptibility, antenna, sensibleness,
(n, v) discourse; (adj) enlarge, dilate. weakness, disadvantage, vice, foible, feeler, responsiveness, keenness,
embellishing: (adj) decorative, shortcoming. ANTONYMS: (n) sensation, acumen; (adj) softness,
beautifying. perfection, strength. delicacy.
endowments: (n) beneficence, matchless: (adj) inimitable, peerless, sweetness: (n) sugariness, sweet,
accomplishments, advantage. consummate, unique, unmatched, redolence, pleasantness, fragrance,
forcibly: (adv) forcefully, emphatically, unrivaled, unequaled, unparalleled, aroma, charm, perfume, amenity,
powerfully, by force, mightily, under superlative, unbeatable, unsurpassed. niceness, kindness. ANTONYMS: (n)
protest, cogently, hard, strongly, ANTONYMS: (adj) common, sourness, sharpness, unpleasantness,
convincingly, clearly. ANTONYMS: vulnerable, abysmal, mediocre, harshness, tastelessness, unkindness.
(adv) voluntarily, weakly, gently. worst. wants: (n) need, necessities.
at her side who was able to protect he against every danger. They promised that
her path should be pleasant, and her burden light. They cautioned her against
unavailing regrets for the friends of her youth, and the scenes where her father
had dwelt; assuring her that the "blessed hunting grounds of the Lenape,"
contained vales as pleasant, streams as pure; and flowers as sweet, as the
"heaven of the pale faces." They advised her to be attentive to the wants of her
companion, and never to forget the distinction which the Manitou had so wisely
established between them. Then, in a wild burst of their chant they sang with
united voices the temper of the Mohican's mind. They pronounced him noble,
manly and generous; all that became a warrior, and all that a maid might love.
Clothing their ideas in the most remote and subtle images, they betrayed, that, in
the short period of their intercourse, they had discovered, with the intuitive
perception of their sex, the truant disposition of his inclinations. The Delaware
girls had found no favor in his eyes! He was of a race that had once been lords
on the shores of the salt lake, and his wishes had led him back to a people who
dwelt about the graves of his fathers. Why should not such a predilection be
encouraged! That she was of a blood purer and richer than the rest of her nation,
any eye might have seen; that she was equal to the dangers and daring of a life in
the woods, her conduct had proved; and now, they added, the "wise one of the
earth" had transplanted her to a place where she would find congenial spirits,
and might be forever happy.%
Then, with another transition in voice and subject, allusions were made to the
virgin who wept in the adjacent lodge. They compared her to flakes of snow; as
pure, as white, as brilliant, and as liable to melt in the fierce heats of summer, or
congeal in the frosts of winter. They doubted not that she was lovely in the eyes
of the young chief, whose skin and whose sorrow seemed so like her own; but
though far from expressing such a preference, it was evident they deemed her
less excellent than the maid they mourned. Still they denied her no need her rare
charms might properly claim. Her ringlets were compared to the exuberant
tendrils of the vine, her eye to the blue vault of heavens, and the most spotless
cloud, with its glowing flush of the sun, was admitted to be less attractive than
her bloom.
Thesaurus
assuring: (adj) ensuring, insure, perceptive, automatic, intuitional, vine: (n) grapevine, grape, creeper,
insuring, assure, ensure, giving untaught, involuntary, presentative. vignette, vignoble, potato, gourd,
confidence, securing, likely, ANTONYMS: (adj) intellectual, groundnut, haoma, horsebrier, hoya.
promising. systematic, deliberate, obtuse, stilted. wisely: (adv) judiciously, prudently,
congeal: (v) clot, coagulate, freeze, jell, predilection: (n) penchant, preference, sagaciously, cleverly, discreetly,
thicken, fix, solidify, harden; (adj, v) partiality, inclination, bent, shrewdly, smartly, learnedly,
concrete, consolidate; (n, v) curdle. weakness, predisposition, liking, astutely, sharply, perspicaciously.
ANTONYMS: (v) dissolve, thin, fondness, bias, taste. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (adv) stupidly,
liquefy, thaw, liquify. (n) indifference, horror. recklessly, imprudently, immaturely,
flakes: (n) dust. vault: (n, v) leap, bound, spring, jump, illogically.
intuitive: (adj) instinctive, inborn, arch, hop, hurdle; (n) grave, tomb, wishes: (n) desires, requirements,
innate, impulsive, natural, cellar, crypt. requests, needs, will.
During these and similar songs nothing was audible but the murmurs of the
music; relieved, as it was, or rather rendered terrible, by those occasional bursts
of grief which might be called its choruses. The Delawares themselves listened
like charmed men; and it was very apparent, by the variations of their speaking
countenances, how deep and true was their sympathy. Even David was not
reluctant to lend his ears to the tones of voices so sweet; and long ere the chant
was ended, his gaze announced that his soul was enthralled.%
The scout, to whom alone, of all the white men, the words were intelligible,
suffered himself to be a little aroused from his meditative posture, and bent his
face aside, to catch their meaning, as the girls proceeded. But when they spoke of
the future prospects of Cora and Uncas, he shook his head, like one who knew
the error of their simple creed, and resuming his reclining attitude, he
maintained it until the ceremony, if that might be called a ceremony, in which
feeling was so deeply imbued, was finished. Happily for the self-command of
both Heyward and Munro, they knew not the meaning of the wild sounds they
heard.
Chingachgook was a solitary exception to the interest manifested by the
native part of the audience. His look never changed throughout the whole of the
scene, nor did a muscle move in his rigid countenance, even at the wildest or the
most pathetic parts of the lamentation. The cold and senseless remains of his son
was all to him, and every other sense but that of sight seemed frozen, in order
that his eyes might take their final gaze at those lineaments he had so long loved,
and which were now about to be closed forever from his view.
In this stage of the obsequies, a warrior much renowned for deed in arms,
and more especially for services in the recent combat, a man of stern and grave
demeanor, advanced slowly from the crowd, and placed himself nigh the person
of the dead.
"Why hast thou left us, pride of the Wapanachki?" he said, addressing himself
to the dull ears of Uncas, as if the empty clay retained the faculties of the
animated man; "thy time has been like that of the sun when in the trees; thy glory
brighter than his light at noonday. Thou art gone, youthful warrior, but a
Thesaurus
clay: (n) soil, remains, adobe, loam, obsequies: (n) funeral, exequies, mitigated, prominent, pleased, joyful,
dust, dirt, mud, bentonite, ashes; (adj, interment, obit, exequy, parentation, fresh, delighted, comfortable,
n) pottery; (adj) earthen. last rites, wake, decease, death, cheerful, happy. ANTONYM: (adj)
creed: (n) conviction, gospel, religion, funeral procession. worried.
credo, faith, tenet, dogma, doctrine, pathetic: (adj) deplorable, miserable, renowned: (adj, n) illustrious, glorious;
denomination, persuasion, church pitiful, wretched, forlorn, lamentable, (adj) famous, famed, notable, noted,
doctrine. tragic, distressing; (adj, v) touching, eminent, distinguished, great,
imbued: (adj) addicted, alive, instinct, affecting, sad. ANTONYMS: (adj) notorious, well-known.
full. strong, comical, effective, impressive, ANTONYMS: (adj) obscure,
noonday: (n) noontide, noon, high admirable, spirited, praiseworthy, anonymous, undistinguished.
noon, hour, twelve noon, afternoon; generous, fine, brilliant, decisive.
(v) tide; (adj) meridional. relieved: (adj) alleviated, thankful,
hundred Wyandots are clearing the briers from thy path to the world of the
spirits. Who that saw thee in battle would believe that thou couldst die? Who
before thee has ever shown Uttawa the way into the fight? Thy feet were like the
wings of eagles; thine arm heavier than falling branches from the pine; and thy
voice like the Manitou when He speaks in the clouds. The tongue of Uttawa is
weak," he added, looking about him with a melancholy gaze, "and his heart
exceeding heavy. Pride of the Wapanachki, why hast thou left us?"
He was succeeded by others, in due order, until most of the high and gifted
men of the nation had sung or spoken their tribute of praise over the manes of
the deceased chief. When each had ended, another deep and breathing silence
reigned in all the place.%
Then a low, deep sound was heard, like the suppressed accompaniment of
distant music, rising just high enough on the air to be audible, and yet so
indistinctly, as to leave its character, and the place whence it proceeded, alike
matters of conjecture. It was, however, succeeded by another and another strain,
each in a higher key, until they grew on the ear, first in long drawn and often
repeated interjections, and finally in words. The lips of Chingachgook had so far
parted, as to announce that it was the monody of the father. Though not an eye
was turned toward him nor the smallest sign of impatience exhibited, it was
apparent, by the manner in which the multitude elevated their heads to listen,
that they drank in the sounds with an intenseness of attention, that none but
Tamenund himself had ever before commanded. But they listened in vain. The
strains rose just so loud as to become intelligible, and then grew fainter and more
trembling, until they finally sank on the ear, as if borne away by a passing breath
of wind. The lips of the Sagamore closed, and he remained silent in his seat,
looking with his riveted eye and motionless form, like some creature that had
been turned from the Almighty hand with the form but without the spirit of a
man. The Delawares who knew by these symptoms that the mind of their friend
was not prepared for so mighty an effort of fortitude, relaxed in their attention;
and, with an innate delicacy, seemed to bestow all their thoughts on the
obsequies of the stranger maiden.
Thesaurus
exceeding: (prep) beyond, more than, hazily, mistily, inarticulately, monody: (n) monophony, threnode,
greater than; (adj) excessive, shadowily, obscurely, unclearly, music, coronach, requiem, threnody,
transcendent, extraordinary, fuzzily, confusedly, ambiguously. elegy, idyl, bucolic, rondeau, rondo.
exceptional, prodigious, surpassing, ANTONYMS: (adv) precisely, sung: (v) sing; (n) call, sung dynasty,
Olympian; (v) exceed. audibly, coherently, distinctly. strain, song dynasty, song, birdsong,
gifted: (adj) capable, accomplished, innate: (adj) inherent, congenital, birdcall; (adj) spoken, outspoken,
talented, able, apt, proficient, inbred, indigenous, instinctive, choral.
brilliant, ingenious, expert, natural, intrinsic, constitutional, tribute: (n) commendation, tax, honor,
intelligent, adept. ANTONYMS: (adj) essential, ingrained; (adj, v) born. testimonial, duty, homage, respect,
inept, dim, incompetent, mediocre, ANTONYMS: (adj) learned, eulogy, compliment; (n, v)
slow, clumsy. conditioned, acquired, trained, contribution, subsidy. ANTONYMS:
indistinctly: (adv) vaguely, dimly, spiritual. (n) blame, accusation, dishonor.
A signal was given, by one of the elder chiefs, to the women who crowded
that part of the circle near which the body of Cora lay. Obedient to the sign, the
girls raised the bier to the elevation of their heads, and advanced with slow and
regulated steps, chanting, as they proceeded, another wailing song in praise of
the deceased. Gamut, who had been a close observer of rites he deemed so
heathenish, now bent his head over the shoulder of the unconscious father,
whispering:
"They move with the remains of thy child; shall we not follow, and see them
interred with Christian burial?"
Munro started, as if the last trumpet had sounded in his ear, and bestowing
one anxious and hurried glance around him, he arose and followed in the simple
train, with the mien of a soldier, but bearing the full burden of a parent's
suffering. His friends pressed around him with a sorrow that was too strong to
be termed sympathy -- even the young Frenchman joining in the procession, with
the air of a man who was sensibly touched at the early and melancholy fate of
one so lovely. But when the last and humblest female of the tribe had joined in
the wild and yet ordered array, the men of the Lenape contracted their circle, and
formed again around the person of Uncas, as silent, as grave, and as motionless
as before.%
The place which had been chosen for the grave of Cora was a little knoll,
where a cluster of young and healthful pines had taken root, forming of
themselves a melancholy and appropriate shade over the spot. On reaching it the
girls deposited their burden, and continued for many minutes waiting, with
characteristic patience, and native timidity, for some evidence that they whose
feelings were most concerned were content with the arrangement. At length the
scout, who alone understood their habits, said, in their own language:
"My daughters have done well; the white men thank them."
Satisfied with this testimony in their favor, the girls proceeded to deposit the
body in a shell, ingeniously, and not inelegantly, fabricated of the bark of the
birch; after which they lowered it into its dark and final abode. The ceremony of
covering the remains, and concealing the marks of the fresh earth, by leaves and
Thesaurus
chanting: (n) cantillation, vocalizing, artistically. ANTONYM: (adv) (adj) defiant, assertive, rebellious,
sing, singing, intonation. ineptly. crooked, intractable, naughty, wild,
inelegantly: (adv) ungracefully, interred: (adj) buried, inhumed, resistant.
gracelessly, coarsely, awkwardly, hidden. ANTONYM: (adj) unburied. started: (adv) happening, in progress,
roughly, rudely, maladroitly, plainly, knoll: (n) hill, hillock, mound, ongoing; (v) stert, leaped.
gawkily, gauchely, ineptly. hummock, mount, bank, kopje, timidity: (n) shyness, fear,
ANTONYMS: (adv) elegantly, barrow, hammock; (v) knap; (adj) bashfulness, nervousness, reserve,
delicately, coherently, tastefully. mole. ANTONYM: (n) hollow. cowardice, fearfulness, timidness,
ingeniously: (adv) artfully, cleverly, obedient: (adj) submissive, compliant, modesty, humility, coyness.
adroitly, skillfully, inventively, good, conformable, tame, ANTONYMS: (n) confidence,
resourcefully, shrewdly, acquiescent, dutiful, meek, biddable, boastfulness, swagger, brashness,
imaginatively, cunningly, craftily, amenable, subservient. ANTONYMS: security.
other natural and customary objects, was conducted with the same simple and
silent forms. But when the labors of the kind beings who had performed these
sad and friendly offices were so far completed, they hesitated, in a way to show
that they knew not how much further they might proceed. It was in this stage of
the rites that the scout again addressed them:
"My young women have done enough," he said: "the spirit of the pale face
has no need of food or raiment, their gifts being according to the heaven of their
color. I see," he added, glancing an eye at David, who was preparing his book in
a manner that indicated an intention to lead the way in sacred song, "that one
who better knows the Christian fashions is about to speak."
The females stood modestly aside, and, from having been the principal actors
in the scene, they now became the meek and attentive observers of that which
followed. During the time David occupied in pouring out the pious feelings of
his spirit in this manner, not a sign of surprise, nor a look of impatience, escaped
them. They listened like those who knew the meaning of the strange words, and
appeared as if they felt the mingled emotions of sorrow, hope, and resignation,
they were intended to convey.%
Excited by the scene he had just witnessed, and perhaps influenced by his
own secret emotions, the master of song exceeded his usual efforts. His full rich
voice was not found to suffer by a comparison with the soft tones of the girls;
and his more modulated strains possessed, at least for the ears of those to whom
they were peculiarly addressed, the additional power of intelligence. He ended
the anthem, as he had commenced it, in the midst of a grave and solemn
stillness.
When, however, the closing cadence had fallen on the ears of his auditors, the
secret, timorous glances of the eyes, and the general and yet subdued movement
of the assemblage, betrayed that something was expected from the father of the
deceased. Munro seemed sensible that the time was come for him to exert what
is, perhaps, the greatest effort of which human nature is capable. He bared his
gray locks, and looked around the timid and quiet throng by which he was
Thesaurus
customary: (adj, n) accustomed, usual, on, extinct, lifeless, late. sinful, profane, blasphemous,
habitual; (adj) conventional, ordinary, ANTONYMS: (adj) living, awake, irreligious, uncommitted, secular,
commonplace, traditional, average, animated. irreverent.
wonted, regular, standard. midst: (adj, n) middle; (adv) mid, raiment: (n, v) dress, garb, apparel,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unusual, between; (prep) among, amid; (n) garment, clothes; (n) costume, attire,
abnormal, exceptional, core, center, thick, interior, heart, clothing, array, habit; (v) clothe.
unconventional, offbeat, irregular, waist. timorous: (adj, v) fearful, shy; (adj, adv,
innovative, different, unfamiliar, pious: (adj, n, v) devout; (adj, n) godly; v) cowardly; (adj) afraid, nervous,
extraordinary, rare. (adj) religious, holy, saintly, diffident, bashful, apprehensive,
deceased: (adj, n) departed; (n) dead devotional, pure, hypocritical, anxious, craven, coy. ANTONYMS:
person, cadaver, decedent; (adj) devoted, sanctimonious; (adj, v) (adj) brave, fearless.
defunct, asleep, passed away, passed earnest. ANTONYMS: (adj) impious,
encircled, with a firm and collected countenance. Then, motioning with his hand
for the scout to listen, he said:
"Say to these kind and gentle females, that a heart-broken and failing man
returns them his thanks. Tell them, that the Being we all worship, under different
names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall not be distant
when we may assemble around His throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or
color."
The scout listened to the tremulous voice in which the veteran delivered
these words, and shook his head slowly when they were ended, as one who
doubted their efficacy.%
"To tell them this," he said, "would be to tell them that the snows come not in
the winter, or that the sun shines fiercest when the trees are stripped of their
leaves."
Then turning to the women, he made such a communication of the other's
gratitude as he deemed most suited to the capacities of his listeners. The head of
Munro had already sunk upon his chest, and he was again fast relapsing into
melancholy, when the young Frenchman before named ventured to touch him
lightly on the elbow. As soon as he had gained the attention of the mourning old
man, he pointed toward a group of young Indians, who approached with a light
but closely covered litter, and then pointed upward toward the sun.
"I understand you, sir," returned Munro, with a voice of forced firmness; "I
understand you. It is the will of Heaven, and I submit. Cora, my child! if the
prayers of a heart-broken father could avail thee now, how blessed shouldst
thou be! Come, gentlemen," he added, looking about him with an air of lofty
composure, though the anguish that quivered in his faded countenance was far
too powerful to be concealed, "our duty here is ended; let us depart."
Heyward gladly obeyed a summons that took them from a spot where, each
instant, he felt his self-control was about to desert him. While his companions
were mounting, however, he found time to press the hand of the scout, and to
repeat the terms of an engagement they had made to meet again within the posts
of the British army. Then, gladly throwing himself into the saddle, he spurred his
Thesaurus
blessed: (adj) happy, holy, cursed, climbing; (n) ascent, setting, climb, patience, forbearance, abstinence,
sacred, damned, hallowed, blasted, frame, assembly, chassis, framework, temperance, temper, composure,
fortunate, saintly, lucky, divine. ascension; (adj, adv) rising. discipline, self-command, self-
ANTONYMS: (adj) unlucky, relapsing: (n) backsliding, lapse, possession, balance.
condemned, damned, disapproved, lapsing, recidivism, regress, atavism, stripped: (adj) naked, nude, exposed,
unhappy, unholy, secular. failure, oversight, reversion, fleeced, undressed, unclothed, stark,
litter: (adj, n) brood, jumble; (n) regression, reverting. desolate, denuded, bald, stript.
bedding, stretcher, waste, refuse, saddle: (v) charge, load, burden, suited: (adj, v) proper, fit, fitted,
junk, trash, mess; (n, v) clutter; (adj) encumber, adjure, bear down, blame; adapted, convenient; (adj)
disarray. ANTONYMS: (v) clean; (n) (n) pillion, seat, saddleback, bicycle appropriate, good, apt, eligible,
space. seat. ANTONYM: (v) relieve. capable, useful. ANTONYMS: (adj)
mounting: (n, v) mount; (adj, n) self-control: (n) self-discipline, incompatible, wrong, inappropriate.
charger to the side of the litter, whence low and stifled sobs alone announced the
presence of Alice. In this manner, the head of Munro again drooping on his
bosom, with Heyward and David following in sorrowing silence, and attended
by the aide of Montcalm with his guard, all the white men, with the exception of
Hawkeye, passed from before the eyes of the Delawares, and were buried in the
vast forests of that region.%
But the tie which, through their common calamity, had united the feelings of
these simple dwellers in the woods with the strangers who had thus transiently
visited them, was not so easily broken. Years passed away before the
traditionary tale of the white maiden, and of the young warrior of the Mohicans
ceased to beguile the long nights and tedious marches, or to animate their
youthful and brave with a desire for vengeance. Neither were the secondary
actors in these momentous incidents forgotten. Through the medium of the
scout, who served for years afterward as a link between them and civilized life,
they learned, in answer to their inquiries, that the "Gray Head" was speedily
gathered to his fathers -- borne down, as was erroneously believed, by his
military misfortunes; and that the "Open Hand" had conveyed his surviving
daughter far into the settlements of the pale faces, where her tears had at last
ceased to flow, and had been succeeded by the bright smiles which were better
suited to her joyous nature.
But these were events of a time later than that which concerns our tale.
Deserted by all of his color, Hawkeye returned to the spot where his sympathies
led him, with a force that no ideal bond of union could destroy. He was just in
time to catch a parting look of the features of Uncas, whom the Delawares were
already inclosing in his last vestment of skins. They paused to permit the
longing and lingering gaze of the sturdy woodsman, and when it was ended, the
body was enveloped, never to be unclosed again. Then came a procession like
the other, and the whole nation was collected about the temporary grave of the
chief -- temporary, because it was proper that, at some future day, his bones
should rest among those of his own people.
Thesaurus
animate: (v) inspire, encourage, concerns: (n) dealings, affairs. bereaved, unhappy, lamenting,
quicken, invigorate, stimulate, revive, erroneously: (adv) mistakenly, falsely, regretful, sad; (n) cry. ANTONYM:
hearten; (adj, v) cheer, inspirit, incorrectly, faultily, inaccurately, (adj) joyful.
exhilarate; (adj) live. ANTONYMS: fallaciously, wrong, inexactly, traditionary: (adj) traditional.
(v) deaden, inhibit, kill, discourage; untruely, misguidedly, amiss. transiently: (adv) momentarily,
(adj) inanimate, dead, dull, dispirited, ANTONYMS: (adv) accurately, fleetingly, briefly, ephemerally,
insentient, sluggish, spiritless. rightly. passingly, short-livedly, fugitively,
beguile: (v) attract, charm, enchant, forests: (n) country. fugaciously, evanescently,
allure, captivate, bluff, entrap, inclosing: (adj) inclusive, surrounding. temporarily, interimly.
enthrall, lure, fascinate; (n, v) cheat. marches: (n) precinct, Marche, stint. unclosed: (v) ajar, unstopped; (adj)
ANTONYMS: (v) protect, irritate, irk, sorrowing: (adj) sorrowful, grieving, sincere, public, plain, obvious, frank,
bore, advise, guard, annoy, repel. mournful, distressed, bereft, exposed, evident, artless, apparent.
The movement, like the feeling, had been simultaneous and general. The
same grave expression of grief, the same rigid silence, and the same deference to
the principal mourner, were observed around the place of interment as have
been already described. The body was deposited in an attitude of repose, facing
the rising sun, with the implements of war and of the chase at hand, in readiness
for the final journey. An opening was left in the shell, by which it was protected
from the soil, for the spirit to communicate with its earthly tenement, when
necessary; and the whole was concealed from the instinct, and protected from the
ravages of the beasts of prey, with an ingenuity peculiar to the natives. The
manual rites then ceased and all present reverted to the more spiritual part of the
ceremonies.%
Chingachgook became once more the object of the common attention. He had
not yet spoken, and something consolatory and instructive was expected from so
renowned a chief on an occasion of such interest. Conscious of the wishes of the
people, the stern and self-restrained warrior raised his face, which had latterly
been buried in his robe, and looked about him with a steady eye. His firmly
compressed and expressive lips then severed, and for the first time during the
long ceremonies his voice was distinctly audible. "Why do my brothers mourn?"
he said, regarding the dark race of dejected warriors by whom he was environed;
"why do my daughters weep? that a young man has gone to the happy hunting-
grounds; that a chief has filled his time with honor? He was good; he was
dutiful; he was brave. Who can deny it? The Manitou had need of such a
warrior, and He has called him away. As for me, the son and the father of Uncas,
I am a blazed pine, in a clearing of the pale faces. My race has gone from the
shores of the salt lake and the hills of the Delawares. But who can say that the
serpent of his tribe has forgotten his wisdom? I am alone --"
"No, no," cried Hawkeye, who had been gazing with a yearning look at the
rigid features of his friend, with something like his own self-command, but
whose philosophy could endure no longer; "no, Sagamore, not alone. The gifts of
our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as to journey in the same
path. I have no kin, and I may also say, like you, no people. He was your son,
Thesaurus
dutiful: (adj) duteous, good, faithful, lake: (n) pond, pool, lagoon, puddle, negative effects.
docile, devoted, deferential, lough, reservoir, loke, bayou, reverted: (adj) inverse.
compliant, loyal, pious, meek, crimson, lagune, carmine. tenement: (n) dwelling, apartment,
constant. ANTONYMS: (adj) latterly: (adv) lately, lastly, late, flat, apartment building, habitation,
unfaithful, undutiful, disrespectful, subsequently, finally, of late, newly, abode, stateroom, tablinum,
irresponsible, negligent, assertive, ultimately, secondly, freshly, residence, toft, domicile.
impious, irreverent, neglectful, afterward. ANTONYM: (adv) yearning: (n) hankering, aspiration,
thoughtful, uncaring. initially. thirst, craving, desire, hunger,
interment: (n) burial, sepulture, mourner: (n) sorrower, bearer, griever, nostalgia, eagerness; (adj) wistful,
entombment, funeral, sepulcher, unfortunate, pallbearer, wailer, pining, desirous. ANTONYMS: (adj)
committal, obsequies, arenation, weeper. disinterested; (n) dislike,
burying, grave, humation. ravages: (n) devastation, destruction, disinclination, apathy.
and a red-skin by nature; and it may be that your blood was nearer -- but, if ever
I forget the lad who has so often fou't at my side in war, and slept at my side in
peace, may He who made us all, whatever may be our color or our gifts, forget
me! The boy has left us for a time; but, Sagamore, you are not alone."
Chingachgook grasped the hand that, in the warmth of feeling, the scout had
stretched across the fresh earth, and in an attitude of friendship these two
sturdy and intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together, while scalding tears
fell to their feet, watering the grave of Uncas like drops of falling rain.%
In the midst of the awful stillness with which such a burst of feeling, coming
as it did, from the two most renowned warriors of that region, was received,
Tamenund lifted his voice to disperse the multitude.
"It is enough," he said. "Go, children of the Lenape, the anger of the Manitou
is not done. Why should Tamenund stay? The pale faces are masters of the earth,
and the time of the red men has not yet come again. My day has been too long. In
the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the
night has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the
Mohicans."
Thesaurus
drops: (n) tear. confident. ANTONYMS: (adj) fearful, fervor, geniality, affection,
friendship: (n) association, familiarity, timid, cautious, feeble. tenderness, fondness, sympathy.
affection, companionship, nearer: (adj) adjacent, narre, hither; ANTONYMS: (n) aloofness, chill,
friendliness, intimacy, company, (adv) more rapidly, sooner, quicker, chilliness, coldness, coolness,
attachment, relationship; (n, v) amity, nigher, NER, faster, earlier, Neer. unfriendliness, hostility, sourness,
concord. ANTONYMS: (n) hostility, stretched: (adj) extended, stiff, tight, abruptness, plainness, frostiness.
animosity, antagonism, conflict, tense, stretched out, strained, watering: (n) tearing, sprinkle,
formality, rivalry, hatred, expanded, outstretched, elongated, lachrymation, lacrimation, wetting,
detachment, distance, isolation. outspread, prolonged. ANTONYMS: irrigation, bodily process, body
intrepid: (adj) daring, fearless, bold, (adj) loose, short. process, replenishment of water
brave, dauntless, gallant, audacious, warmth: (adj, n) glow, fire; (n) supplies, shedding tears, activity.
hardy, adventurous, heroic, temperature, warmness, passion,
GLOSSARY
abasement: (n) humiliation, abjection, ANTONYM: (v) disperse unfortunately, correctly
depression, degeneration, fall, abrupt: (adj) sudden, brusque, sharp, acclivity: (n) rise, raise, incline,
deterioration, disgrace, degeneracy, precipitous, steep, instantaneous, upgrade, climb, elevation, gradient,
abjectness, dejection, sinking unexpected, swift, instant, hasty; (n) hill, inclination; (v) KHUDD, rising
abate: (v) bate, weaken, decline, bold. ANTONYMS: (adj) gentle, ground
remit, slack, slake, wane, relax, gradual, rambling, gracious, accommodations: (n) house, housing,
lessen, diminish, allay. courteous, polite, anticipated, kind, lodging, habitat
ANTONYMS: (v) rise, grow, calm, protracted, deliberate accompaniment: (n) concomitant,
magnify, surge, intensify, expand, abstinence: (n) temperance, part, backing, escort, support,
enlarge, enhance, amplify, prolong, abstention, forbearance, sobriety, occurrence, protection,
extend chastity, soberness, celibacy, companionship, addition; (adv)
abated: (adj) slack teetotalism, fast, abstinency, second, bass
abating: (n) dwindling, lessening, restraint. ANTONYMS: (n) excess, accompaniments: (n) equipment,
point; (adj) decreasing, waning, intoxication, revelry, intemperance, trimmings, fixing
diminishing, declining, drunkenness, dissipation, accomplish: (v) perform, reach, do,
deteriorating, fading, flagging, extravagance, wantonness compass, perfect, attain, make,
comforting abstracted: (adj) absentminded, fulfill, realize, execute, carry out.
abide: (v) endure, bide, undergo, separate, absent-minded, abstract, ANTONYMS: (v) abandon, neglect,
tolerate, take, suffer, stomach, bear, distrait, inattentive, pensive, choke, blow, lose
brook; (adj, v) stay, dwell. preoccupied, remote, lost, vacant. accomplishing: (n) doing; (adj)
ANTONYMS: (v) check, depart, ANTONYM: (adj) alert effectual
disallow, disapprove, disbelieve, abstraction: (n) abstract, reverie, accomplishment: (n) attainment,
journey, dodge, leave, migrate, engrossment, extraction, completion, exploit, performance,
move, pass withdrawal, removal, deduction, deed, skill, fulfillment, feat, action,
abiding: (adj) immortal, stable, abbreviation, preoccupancy, act, acquisition. ANTONYMS: (n)
constant, everlasting, lasting, theorisation, theorization. abandonment, washout, flop,
enduring, perpetual, eternal, ANTONYMS: (n) attentiveness, debacle, defeat
perennial, continuing, imperishable. inclusion, alertness, concentration, accordance: (n) harmony, agreement,
ANTONYMS: (adj) ephemeral, fact conformity, unison, concordance,
fleeting, impermanent, temporary, abundantly: (adv) copiously, richly, coincidence, accordancy, admission,
passing, mortal, erratic, inconstant fully, generously, bounteously, fitness, consensus, concent
abject: (adj) contemptible, pitiful, plentifully, plenteously, freely, according: (adj) pursuant, consonant,
low, wretched, despicable, sordid, exuberantly, largely, bountifully. equal, agreeable, harmonious,
base, mean, vile; (n) ignominious, ANTONYMS: (adv) fruitlessly, conformable, consistent,
dirty. ANTONYMS: (adj) honorable, insufficiently, stingily, meagerly, corresponding, respondent; (adv)
hopeful, magnificent, esteemed, scantily correspondingly, accordingly
proud, dignified, commendable, abyss: (n) gorge, ravine, chasm, gulf, accouterments: (n) equipment,
noble, exalted, worthy, happy deep, purgatory, depth, hell, gap, accoutrements, harness, outfit,
abode: (n) dwelling, house, residence, Gehenna, pit. ANTONYMS: (n) accessories, belongings, equipage,
place, domicile, lodge, abidance, junction, juncture fittings, hardware
mansion, lodging, address, seat accidentally: (adv) incidentally, accursed: (adj) execrable, abominable,
aborigines: (n) indigene, casually, fortuitously, by chance, detestable, accurst, hateful, damned,
autochthones coincidentally, adventitiously, damnable, maledict, blasted; (v)
abound: (v) swarm, teem, flow, unintentionally, contingently, atrocious, stranded
overflow, burst; (n) exuberate, haphazardly, occasionally, accuse: (v) charge, incriminate,
shower down, stream, rain, inadvertently. ANTONYMS: (adv) arraign, denounce, defame,
abundance; (adj) abundant. deliberately, knowingly, purposely, criminate, indict, fault, betray,
condemn, inculpate. ANTONYMS: adherence; (adj) partisan; (prep) on; flower
(v) absolve, exculpate, exonerate, (v) cohesive adventurer: (n) venturer, speculator,
praise, support, clear adieu: (int, n) farewell; (n) vale, plunger, argonaut, traveler,
accuser: (n) complainant, informer, valediction, goodbye, leave, cheerio, daredevil, gambler, adventurers,
disputant, controversialist, accusant, adios, bye, so long, parting; (int) bon carpetbagger, divers, mercenary.
pursuer, delator, petitioner, voyage. ANTONYM: (n) greeting ANTONYMS: (n) killjoy,
prosecutor, claimant, appeacher adjoining: (adj) contiguous, milquetoast
accustomed: (adj, n) habitual; (adj) neighbor, near, abutting, touching, adventurous: (adj) unsafe,
familiar, normal, wonted, usual, conterminous, neighboring, venturesome, enterprising, plucky,
natural, everyday, ordinary, immediate, next, vicinal; (adj, v) audacious, bold, courageous,
habituated, common, traditional. close. ANTONYMS: (adj) separate, daring, brave, foolhardy, rash.
ANTONYMS: (adj) unusual, green, divided, detached, apart, far ANTONYMS: (adj) cautious,
unseasoned, unconventional, adjunct: (n) addendum, addition, prudent, careful, timid
untrained, abnormal, appendage, extra, attachment, adversary: (n) antagonist, foe, enemy,
uncharacteristic, exceptional adjutant, increment, coadjutor; (adj, competitor, rival, opposition,
acknowledgment: (n) admission, n) assistant; (adj) auxiliary, opposer, contestant, match,
acknowledgement, acceptance, appurtenant. ANTONYMS: (n) somebody; (adj) hostile.
confession, greeting, credit, lessening, detriment ANTONYMS: (n) ally, supporter,
allowance, declaration, agreement, adjusting: (v) adjust; (n) adjusting friend, partner, helper, assistant
thanks, gratitude. ANTONYMS: (n) operation afar: (adv) off, away, far away,
rejection, ungratefulness, oversight, administer: (n, v) manage, rule, distantly, beyond, Afar off, in the
snub, ignoring, invoice, blame, minister, command; (v) dispense, distance, by far, apart; (adj)
defiance distribute, give, operate, deal, outlying, far. ANTONYMS: (adv)
acquainted: (adj) knowledgeable, supply, handle. ANTONYMS: (v) close, nearby, near; (prep) within
informed, aware, cognizant, withhold, neglect, frustrate, refuse, affable: (adj) civil, gracious, polite,
conversant, hand and glove, deny, mismanage, take friendly, courteous, amiable, genial,
intimate, thick; (adv) abreast; (v) admirable: (adj) fine, outstanding, approachable, sociable, decent,
inform, acquaint beautiful, great, commendable, pleasant. ANTONYMS: (adj)
acquiesce: (v) assent, accept, agree, lovely, good, creditable, reserved, hostile, unfriendly,
consent, acknowledge, yield, praiseworthy, worthy, grand. complaining, cold, impolite,
submit, concur, permit, surrender, ANTONYMS: (adj) appalling, poor, miserable, grumbling, grouchy,
defer. ANTONYMS: (v) resist, unworthy, despicable, contemptible, distant, disdainful
disagree, dissent, protest, object, detestable, dishonorable, rotten, affectionate: (adj) fond, tender, kind,
fight, challenge, rebuff unimpressive, loathsome, low mild, devoted, ardent, warm,
acquiescence: (n) compliance, admirably: (adv) superbly, perfectly, cordial, caring, brotherly; (adj, adv)
consent, resignation, permission, excellently, admirable, fatherly. ANTONYMS: (adj)
sanction, approval, accord, marvellously, heroically, bravely, uncaring, callous, undemonstrative,
agreement, submission, conformity; brilliantly, nicely, creditably, ably. aloof, cool, disapproving, reserved,
(n, v) assent. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYMS: (adv) badly, antagonistic, paternal, rough
disagreement, insubordination, inadequately, dishonorably, affectionately: (adv) lovingly,
rebellion, defiance, rejection execrably, incompetently, poorly tenderly, warmly, dearly, caringly,
actuated: (adj) motivated, actuate admirer: (n) enthusiast, fan, devotee, devotedly, kindly, ardently,
acuteness: (n) acuity, sharpness, supporter, votary, worshiper, cordially, amorously, dotingly.
acumen, discrimination, gravity, wooer, beau, fancier; (adj) suitor; ANTONYMS: (adv) disapprovingly,
insight, sensitivity, perspicacity, (adj, n) lover frostily, roughly
penetration, keenness, intensity. admiring: (adj) admire, admiringly, affections: (n) bosom
ANTONYMS: (n) faintness, loving, respectful, glowing, affirmed: (adj) acknowledged,
insignificance, dullness affectionate, amatory, appreciative, avowed, guaranteed
addicted: (adj) habituated, dedicated, enthusiastic, flattering, approving. affix: (n, v) annex; (adj, v) attach, fix;
habitual, hooked, devoted, ANTONYMS: (adj) defamatory, (v) adjoin, append, add on, fasten,
accustomed, captivated, devote, critical, disdainful, disapproving, join, connect, stick; (n) addition.
obsessive, obsessed; (v) dedicate. disrespectful, uncomplimentary ANTONYMS: (v) unfasten, remove,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unaccustomed, admonished: (adj) reprimanded, loosen, delete
averse, disinclined, independent, reproved, chastened afflicted: (adj) miserable, distressed,
opposed, unenthusiastic, occasional adorned: (adj) decorated, ornate, stricken, pitiful, sorrowful, ill,
adherence: (n) observance, loyalty, bedecked, decked out, fancy, woeful, dejected, sorry; (v) afflict,
coherence, cohesion, commitment, garnished, ornamented, decked, displeased
tenacity, constancy, fidelity, beautiful, inscribed, festooned affliction: (n, v) adversity; (n)
devotion, attachment, faithfulness. adornment: (n) jewelry, distress, regret, martyrdom,
ANTONYMS: (n) disloyalty, embellishment, decoration, torment, curse, trial, bane,
disobedience garnishment, accessory, trim, frill, misadventure, sorrow, agony.
adhering: (adj, v) adhesive; (n) passementerie, trimming, garnish, ANTONYMS: (n) gift, godsend,
solace, blessing harshly appeal, draw, entice, seduce; (v)
afoot: (n) afloat, prevalent; (v) on agrippina: (n) Agrippina the attract, persuade; (n) attraction,
foot, on the tapis, agoing; (adv) younger, Agrippina the elder charisma. ANTONYMS: (n)
walking, abroach; (adj) underway, aide: (n) aide-de-camp, adjutant, repulsion, ugliness, repulsiveness;
itinerant, current companion, assistant, attendant, (v) repel, dissuade, discourage,
afore: (adv) ahead, along, before, helper, help, auxiliary, aid, acolyte, threaten, warn, deter, prevent
forwards, formerly, beforehand, advisor. ANTONYMS: (n) leader, alluring: (adj) tempting, charming,
previously; (adj) erewhile, superior attractive, enticing, beguiling,
aforehand, theretofore, preceding aided: (adj) power, favored glamorous, magnetic, enchanting,
afterward: (adv, conj) then, after that; ailing: (adj) sickly, poorly, ill, unwell, enthralling, appealing, appetizing.
(adv) thereafter, afterwards, later, bad, indisposed, unhealthy, invalid, ANTONYMS: (adj) unappealing,
subsequently, later on, next, soon; morbid, weak; (n) illness. unattractive, dull, repulsive
(adj) following; (n) future. ANTONYMS: (adj) well, healthy, fit, allusion: (n) innuendo, reference,
ANTONYMS: (adv) now, robust, vigorous cue, suggestion, mention,
previously, before akimbo: (adj) geniculated, knock intimation, pointer, insinuation,
aggrieved: (adj) injured, offended, kneed, crinkled; (n) knuckle, fluke, implication, indication, clue
hurt, persecuted, harmed, pained, kimbo, crane, groin, crotch, knee, alluvion: (n) alluvium, flood,
resentful, indignant, bitter, angry, zigzag inundation, alluvio, drift, flowage,
affronted. ANTONYMS: (adj) alabaster: (n) whiteness, calcite, overflow, catastrophe, debacle,
assisted, comforted, happy, pleased, gypsum, onyx marble, Oriental placer, alluvial sediment
unaffected alabaster; (adj) ivory, milk, lily, almighty: (adj) omnipotent,
aghast: (adj) dismayed, appalled, milky, paper, white powerful, potent, great, supreme;
horrified, frightened, scared, alacrity: (n) rapidity, speed, (adj, n) divine; (n) lord, Jehovah,
terrified, confounded, astonished; promptness, activity, preparedness, deity, God, godhead. ANTONYMS:
(n) agape; (v) all agog, breathless. velocity, haste, swiftness, quickness, (adj) ineffectual, insignificant, lay,
ANTONYMS: (adj) undisturbed, expedition; (adj) life. ANTONYMS: powerless, lowly
unperturbed, unsurprised (n) aversion, reservation, reluctance, aloof: (adj) distant, reserved, cool,
agile: (adj) active, nimble, spry, indifference, hesitance, dullness, standoffish, unconcerned,
quick, adroit, deft, lively, dapper, disinclination, apathy, tardiness, indifferent, unfriendly, frigid,
supple, lithe, astute. ANTONYMS: delay arrogant, cold; (adv) afar.
(adj) stiff, ponderous, brittle, logical, alarmed: (adj) afraid, scared, ANTONYMS: (adj) friendly,
oafish, slow, sluggish, unfit, frightened, apprehensive, horrified, involved, approachable, sociable,
awkward, heavy, inflexible anxious, uneasy, agitated, shocked, outgoing, open, enthusiastic,
agitated: (adj) upset, excited, terrified, concerned. ANTONYM: relaxed, communicative, affable,
nervous, restive, tumultuous, (adj) carefree respectful
distressed, tense, jumpy, alarming: (adj) scary, alarm, awful, altercation: (n, v) quarrel, squabble;
overwrought, anxious, alarmed. formidable, shocking, appalling, (n) affray, scrap, fight, hassle,
ANTONYMS: (adj) calm, lethargic, awesome, dire, horrid, horrible, disagreement, fracas, strife,
tranquil, relaxed, assured, cool, still dreadful. ANTONYMS: (adj) controversy, contest. ANTONYMS:
agitation: (n) disturbance, soothing, lovely, normal (n) union, harmony, concord,
excitement, tumult, stirring, albany: (n) Breadalbane, capital of agreement, unity, consensus
convulsion, stir, commotion, new York alternately: (adv) alternatively, by
emotion, unrest, shake, turmoil. alder: (n) wood, alder tree turns, in turn, secondarily,
ANTONYMS: (n) serenity, calm, alienation: (n) estrangement, reciprocally, mutually, off-and-on,
equanimity, rest, peace, deterrent abalienation, disaffection, dislike, rather, anthemwise, secondly; (adj,
agreeable: (adj) accordant, nice, separation, transfer, breach, frenzy, adv) on and off
sweet, consistent, suitable, amusing, insanity, conveyance; (adj) madness altitude: (n) height, Alt, high, level,
enjoyable, affable; (adj, v) pleasant, alight: (v) light, land, perch, distance, pitch, tallness, stature,
desirable; (adj, n) acceptable. dismount, get down, settle, get off, eminence, El, length. ANTONYMS:
ANTONYMS: (adj) disagreeable, descend; (adj) ablaze, burning, (n) depth, abyss, pit
discordant, unpleasant, nasty, blazing. ANTONYM: (v) mount amazement: (n) admiration, wonder,
unwilling, resistant, aggressive, allegory: (n) fable, parable, figure of surprise, consternation,
repugnant, averse, stubborn, speech, metaphor, symbol, emblem, stupefaction, stupor, wonderment,
unacceptable apologue, story, symbolization; (adj, feeling, alarm, jolt; (v) amaze.
agreeably: (adv) enjoyably, n) simile; (adj) type. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (n) preparation,
pleasantly, sympathetically, (n) history, fact, chronicle indifference, expectation, coolness,
pleasingly, suitably, well, allotted: (adj) agreed, chosen, fixed, cool, composure, calmness,
melodically, accordingly, affably, selected contempt, belief
genially; (adv, v) happily. allude: (v) advert, refer, hint, glance, amble: (n, v) stroll, walk, ramble, trot,
ANTONYMS: (adv) disagreeably, intimate, suggest, touch, bring up, wander, run, hike; (v) mosey,
incongruously, uncooperatively, mean, notice, pertain dawdle, gallop; (n) promenade.
unhelpfully, badly, stubbornly, allure: (n, v) tempt, decoy, lure, ANTONYMS: (v) race, hurry, run,
stride exhilarating, glad, animated, inversion
ambush: (n, v) ambuscade, trap, exciting; (n) awakening antony: (n) Mark Antony, Marcus
attack, assault; (v) wait, waylay, animation: (adj, n) life, vivacity; (n) Antonius, Anthony, Antonius, mark
intercept, lurk, bushwhack, surprise; liveliness, vitality, activity, spirit, Anthony
(n) lying in wait. ANTONYMS: (v) exhilaration, dash, energy, apathy: (n) indifference, inactivity,
retreat, surrender, release; (n) suit buoyancy; (adj) alacrity. lassitude, inertia, lethargy, passivity,
amiable: (adj) friendly, genial, ANTONYMS: (n) lethargy, supineness, passiveness,
agreeable, benign, complaisant, lifelessness, inertness, inertia, lukewarmness, emotionlessness,
sweet, cordial, pleasant, likable, sluggishness, boredom impassivity. ANTONYMS: (n)
nice, lovely. ANTONYMS: (adj) annihilated: (adj) exterminated, lost, keenness, energy, interest,
disagreeable, argumentative, uncreated, wiped out, annihilate; (v) inquisitiveness, vitality, drive,
aggressive, antisocial, unkind, perished eagerness, concern, involvement,
hateful, mean, quarrelsome, rude, annihilation: (n) abolition, death, enjoyment, desire
surly, cold slaughter, destruction, obliteration, aperture: (n) breach, slit, puncture,
amicable: (adj) affable, kind, amiable, extermination, extirpation, opening, gap, cleft, perforation,
cordial, gracious, genial, familiar, disintegration, demolition, defeat, loophole, mouth, hiatus, outlet.
peaceful, peaceable, congenial, pulverization. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYM: (n) closure
amical. ANTONYMS: (adj) hostile, preservation, survival, creation, appalled: (adj) dismayed, scared,
unfriendly, unpleasant, aggressive, protection shocked, horrified, afraid, fright,
nasty, standoffish, disagreeable, annoyance: (n) anger, harassment, amazed, astonished, stunned,
inaccessible aggravation, disturbance, outraged, scandalized. ANTONYM:
amiss: (adj, adv) wrong; (adj) bad, inconvenience, pain, bother, (adj) indifferent
haywire, faulty, astray, guilty; (adv) botheration, temper, displeasure, appeased: (adj) content, pacate
badly, poorly, awry, wrongly, adrift. vexation. ANTONYMS: (n) calm, appeasing: (v) appease; (adj)
ANTONYMS: (adj, adv) right; (adv) satisfaction, patience, calmness, placative, placating, soothing,
perfectly, properly, suitably, delight, equanimity, advantage, satisfactory, conciliatory, pacific.
appropriately, correctly, well; (adj) balm ANTONYM: (adj) hostile
okay, correct, good annunciation: (n) enunciation, appellation: (n) designation,
amity: (n) friendship, concord, promulgation, proclamation, denomination, title, name,
companionship, benevolence, peace, declaration, Lady Day, nickname, epithet, moniker, term,
harmony, friendliness, brotherhood, Annunciation Day appellative, cognomen, degree
fellowship, sympathy, camaraderie. anon: (adv) directly, immediately, applauded: (adj) famous, highly
ANTONYMS: (n) hostility, discord, early, readily, soon, instantly, again, praised, commended
antagonism, war, animosity forthwith, promptly, shortly, rath applauding: (adj) plauditory
amuse: (v) please, beguile, absorb, answerable: (adj, v) amenable, liable, applause: (n, v) acclaim, praise; (n)
entertain, enjoy, disport, distract, responsible, subject, exposed, admiration, approval, eulogy,
delight, occupy, recreate, rejoice. bound; (v) uncommendable, compliment, plaudit,
ANTONYMS: (v) bore, dull, tire, exceptionable; (adj) conformable, commendation, clapping, clap,
annoy, anger, cloy, depress, weary, adequate, responsal. ANTONYMS: ovation. ANTONYMS: (n)
disappoint (adj) irrefutable, unaccountable disapproval, Boos, booing,
anew: (adv) again, newly, lately, antagonist: (n) opponent, adversary, denigration, hisses, hissing,
recently, over again, once more, enemy, foe, rival, match, opposition, rejection, condemnation, criticism,
once again, new; (adj) only opposer, assailant, opposite, jeering
yesterday, the other day, just now competitor. ANTONYMS: (n) apposite: (adj) pertinent, appropriate,
animate: (v) inspire, encourage, supporter, advocate, colleague, opportune, apropos, suitable, fit,
quicken, invigorate, stimulate, synergist, ally, defender applicable, adequate, correct,
revive, hearten; (adj, v) cheer, anthem: (n) song, hymn, chorale, germane, fitting. ANTONYM: (adj)
inspirit, exhilarate; (adj) live. canticle, chant, choral, carol, psalm, wrong
ANTONYMS: (v) deaden, inhibit, paean, national anthem, chaunt apprehend: (v) arrest, comprehend,
kill, discourage; (adj) inanimate, anticipating: (v) anticipate; (adj) grasp, catch, understand, fathom,
dead, dull, dispirited, insentient, pregnant, anticipant, hopeful, ready, realize, sense, follow, nail; (adj, v)
sluggish, spiritless oracular conceive. ANTONYMS: (v)
animated: (adj) alive, lively, animate, antics: (n) sport, monkey business misunderstand, discharge, free,
perky, spirited, sprightly, brisk, antiquity: (n) ancientness, ancientry, liberate
cheerful, quick, vivacious, airy. past, relic, status quo, artefact, apprehended: (adj) arrested, seized,
ANTONYMS: (adj) lethargic, dull, artifact, oldness, old age, hoariness; understood, under arrest, in
blank, lifeless, spiritless, stiff, (adj, n) age. ANTONYMS: (n) today, custody, detained, appreciated,
unanimated, bored, impassive, newness, modernity comprehended
unexciting, dead antithesis: (n) foil, opposite, apprehension: (n) alarm,
animating: (adj) enlivening, antagonism, contrast, reverse, comprehension, dread, misgiving,
invigorating, inspiriting, inspiring, opposition, converse, contrary, understanding, capture, foreboding,
proceleusmatic, stirring, contrariety, difference; (adj) arrest, trepidation; (n, v) doubt,
appreciation. ANTONYMS: (n) roguishly, shrewdly, wily, unskilled, open, straight
release, confidence, calmness, consummately, roundly, craftily artfully: (adv) cunningly, foxily,
tranquility, freeing, archness: (n) playfulness, craftiness, ingeniously, trickily, shrewdly,
misunderstanding, peace, relief, cunning, wiliness, slyness, skillfully, cleverly, disingenuously,
bravery, calm, equanimity perkiness, flippancy, hatred, deceitfully, sly, schemingly.
apprehensive: (adj) anxious, fearful, astuteness, malice, pertness. ANTONYMS: (adv) innocently,
uneasy, alarmed, worried, timid, ANTONYM: (n) humility openly
doubtful, shy, insecure, jealous; (adj, ardent: (adj, n) enthusiastic, glowing; artifice: (n, v) art; (n) ruse, deception,
n) nervous. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj, v) burning, fervent, contrivance, artfulness, dodge,
assured, unworried, calm, unafraid, impassioned; (adj) keen, vehement, science, trickery, wile, proficiency,
cocksure, trusting, serene, eager, warm, acute, fervid. maneuver. ANTONYMS: (n)
unconcerned, fearless, carefree, ANTONYMS: (adj) apathetic, cool, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty,
brave unenthusiastic, traitorous, mild, naivete, inability, artlessness,
apprise: (v) acquaint, notify, inform, frigid, dispassionate, cold, disloyal, incapacity, straightforwardness
brief, instruct, announce, apprize, impassive, calm artless: (adj) ingenuous, simple,
appreciate, advertise, warn, tell ardor: (adj, n) eagerness, zeal; (n) innocent, naive, open, candid,
apprised: (adj) conscious, informed, fervor, fervency, fire, flame, passion, unsophisticated, unpretentious,
familiar, knowledgeable enthusiasm, ardency, heat, avidity. unaffected, sincere, rugged.
approbation: (n, v) praise; (n) ANTONYMS: (n) apathy, coolness, ANTONYMS: (adj) artful,
applause, agreement, approval, coldness, hatred sophisticated, complicated,
acclaim, sanction, commendation, arduous: (adj) laborious, difficult, unnatural, pretentious, insincere,
admiration, permission, strenuous, onerous, heavy, uphill, disingenuous, affected, forced,
appreciation, favor. ANTONYMS: severe, painful, trying, tough, experienced, cunning
(n) condemnation, disapproval, troublesome. ANTONYMS: (adj) artlessly: (adv) openly, ingenuously,
criticism facile, simple, painless, refreshing, sincerely, naively, innocently,
appropriated: (adj) taken, destined, relaxing, insignificant, light, unaffectedly, unsophisticatedly,
taken over, confiscate, confiscated, undemanding plainly, simply, genuinely, frankly
condemned, seized, reserved arid: (adj, v) dry, dull, monotonous, ascend: (n, v) mount; (v) arise, scale,
appropriation: (n) adoption, seizure, uninteresting; (adj) barren, tedious, uprise, climb, go up, come up,
annexation, embezzlement, parched, fruitless, sterile, increase, elevate; (n) ascending,
assumption, allocation, requisition, unproductive, boring. ANTONYMS: ascent. ANTONYMS: (v) descend,
theft, capture, assignment; (v) (adj) verdant, fertile, humid, drop, decline, fall, lower, set, sink
abstraction. ANTONYMS: (n) interesting, colorful, damp, lively, ascendancy: (n) ascendance,
refusal, rejection, repayment, moist, spirited, animated, exciting supremacy, control, influence,
restoration, return, surrender arouse: (v) wake, stir, agitate, excite, power, mastery, rule, dominion,
approving: (n) adoption, awaken, stimulate, anger, kindle, domination, advantage, authority.
appreciation, admiration, provoke, raise; (n, v) rouse. ANTONYMS: (n) weakness,
acceptance; (adj) good, approbative, ANTONYMS: (v) calm, dampen, subordination
approbatory, sympathetic, stifle, sedate, quiet, pacify, bore, ascending: (adj) uphill, rising,
favourable; (adv) approvingly; (v) allay, lull, quench, suppress assurgent, climbing, ascendent; (n)
approve. ANTONYMS: (adj) arousing: (adj, n) stirring; (adj) ascension, ascent, rise, advance,
against, mocking, scornful, critical, moving, stimulating, affecting, movement; (v) go up
negative, uncomplimentary; (n) animating, hopeful, pitiful, ascent: (n) ascension, climb,
disapproval poignant; (n) awakening, start, ascending, elevation, hill, incline,
apron: (n) skirt, proscenium, pall, beginning advance, grade; (n, v) rise; (v)
pontificals, lawn sleeves, pinafore, arraignment: (n) accusation, ascend, uprise. ANTONYMS: (n)
petticoat, gathering head, wife, jupe, impeachment, arraign, prosecution, fall, drop, declivity
farthingale challenge, charge, instrument, ascertain: (v) determine, find out,
aptly: (adv) fitly, appropriately, allegation, blame, denunciation, learn, discover, check, tell, control,
adroitly, appositely, fittingly, reproach find, ensure, detect; (adj, v)
properly, readily, felicitously, arrant: (adj) rank, unmitigated, establish. ANTONYM: (v) disprove
handily, ably, pronely. thorough, stark, utter, ill, gross, ascertained: (adj) discovered,
ANTONYMS: (adv) incompetently, infamous, bad, blatant, base. determined; (v) absolute,
unsuitably ANTONYM: (adj) minor recognized, received, noted,
aquatic: (adj) marine, nautical, arrayed: (adj) armored, panoplied, notorious, decisive, unmistakable,
aqueous, oceanic, watery, clothed, clad, armed; (v) habited, unequivocal, positive
subaqueous, hydrous, aquatical, accustomed ascribe: (v) assign, impute, accredit,
aquatile; (n) flora, aquatics. artful: (adj) crafty, cunning, arrogate, attach, lay, refer,
ANTONYMS: (adj) amphibious, scheming, wily, shrewd, insidious, anthropomorphize, blame, lay
land designing, sly, adroit, subtle, claim, claim
archly: (adv) mischievously, sly, disingenuous. ANTONYMS: (adj) ascribed: (adj) accredited, qualified,
wickedly, playfully, waggishly, artless, unskillful, inept, ingenuous, credited, ascriptitious, additional,
added. ANTONYM: (adj) unofficial confidently, positively, securely, attentively: (adv) carefully,
ashen: (adj) wan, pasty, bloodless, indeed, definitely, undoubtedly, mindfully, watchfully, observantly,
cadaverous, pale, sallow, ghastly, admittedly, safely, insuredly, heedfully, vigilantly, cautiously,
livid, gray, colorless, lurid. decidedly considerately, diligently, alertly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) rosy, dark assuring: (adj) ensuring, insure, obligingly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
ashes: (n) dust, cinders, remains, insuring, assure, ensure, giving unhelpfully, neglectfully, abruptly,
cinder, clay, earth, embers, clinker; confidence, securing, likely, carelessly, hastily, casually
(adj) scoriae, mother, precipitate promising attenuated: (adj) weakened,
asiatic: (n) oriental, Irani, Bhutani, astonishment: (n) admiration, shriveled, rawboned, marcid,
coolie, Dardanian, Israelite, Laos, wonder, wonderment, surprise, barebone, tabid, extenuated,
Maldivian, turkis, cooly marvel, stupefaction, confusion, diminished, reduced, rare,
aspirant: (n) applicant, claimant, consternation, awe, alarm, startle. decreased
amateur, contender, contestant, ANTONYMS: (n) calmness, belief, attest: (n, v) certify; (v) assert, verify,
postulant, entrant; (adj, n) hopeful; contempt assure, protest, argue, confirm,
(adj) aspiring, ambitious, wishful astounded: (adj) amazed, stunned, witness, vouch, demonstrate,
aspire: (v) aim, lust, hanker, crave, flabbergasted, bewildered, evidence. ANTONYMS: (v) deny,
plan, hope, want, rise, purpose, dumbfounded, surprised, staggered, disprove, refute, belie
wish, long. ANTONYM: (v) wallow astonied, dazed, astound, aghast attire: (n, v) array, garb, apparel,
aspiring: (adj) aspirant, wishful, astray: (adj, adv) adrift, off course; wear; (n) costume, garment, outfit,
enterprising, envious, desirous, (adj) lost, wrong, disoriented, awry; clothes; (v) enrobe, clothe, dress up.
coming; (v) aspire, vaulting. (adv) amiss, widely, far, afield, ANTONYMS: (v) disrobe, bare,
ANTONYM: (adj) desperate aside. ANTONYM: (adj) accurate strip, unclothe; (n) nakedness
assailant: (n) raider, attacker, asunder: (adj, v) separate; (adv) audacious: (adj) brash, arrogant,
assaulter, invader, enemy, fighter, aside, in two; (adj, adv) in Twain; barefaced, bold, daring, impudent,
opponent, antagonist, foe, mugger; (adj) loose, distant, adrift, aloof; (v) intrepid, brave, shameless,
(adj) aggressive discrete, far between, free. enterprising, insolent. ANTONYMS:
assemblage: (n) meeting, collection, ANTONYM: (adv) together (adj) modest, timid, cautious, polite,
congregation, set, multitude, crew, athwart: (adj, adv, n, prep) across; reserved, meek, humble, fearful,
confluence, gathering, gang, (adv, prep) aslant, cross; (adj, adv, discreet, respectful
convention, convocation. prep) thwart; (adj, adv) crosswise; audacity: (n) nerve, audaciousness,
ANTONYMS: (v) dispersal, (adv) sideways, obliquely, effrontery, arrogance, temerity,
scattering transversely, traverse, overthwart, cheek, impertinence, insolence,
assemble: (v) accumulate, aggregate, crossways courage; (n, v) impudence; (adj, n)
meet, gather, convene, call, set up, atone: (v) satisfy, pay, propitiate, presumption. ANTONYMS: (n)
collect, group, make, get together. indemnify, compensate, make up, cowardice, propriety, decorum,
ANTONYMS: (v) dismantle, recoup, apologize, abye, aby, repent. circumspection, courtesy, fear,
disband, disassemble, scatter, part, ANTONYM: (v) forfeit respect, spinelessness, reticence
separate, disintegrate, disconnect, attain: (v) make, reach, achieve, audible: (adj) plain, hearable,
dismiss, distribute, demobilize acquire, gain, strike, catch, arrive at, distinct, detectable, sounding, sharp,
assent: (n) acceptance, acquiescence, find, obtain, come to. ANTONYMS: sonic, definite, discernible,
approval, agreement, compliance, (v) lose, fail, abandon, surrender, perceptible, sensory. ANTONYMS:
admission, approbation; (v) accede, differ (adj) inaudible, unintelligible,
accord, agree; (adj, v) acquiesce. attained: (adj) attains, attaint, undetectable, silent, faint
ANTONYMS: (v) resist, disagree, reached, complete, earned, fulfilled audibly: (adv) loudly, clearly, out
disapprove, reject, refuse; (n) attendant: (n) companion, follower, loud. ANTONYMS: (adv)
disagreement, refusal, resistance assistant, escort, subordinate, imperceptibly, inaudibly,
assenting: (adj) assentient, employee, guide, varlet; (adj) indistinctly, silently
consenting, acquiescent, unanimous, accompanying, concomitant, auditor: (n, v) accountant, hearer; (n)
in accord, favorable; (n) agreement, incidental. ANTONYMS: (n) listener, observer, student,
accession, confession; (adv) superior, boss; (adj) absent, perceiver, educatee, bookkeeper,
consentingly; (v) agree. ANTONYM: unrelated, significant beholder, pupil, comptroller
(adj) conflicting attendants: (n) entourage, followers, aught: (n) nil, zero, anything, ought,
assiduity: (n) application, diligence, retinue, tendance, persons present, cypher, nix, cipher, naught, null,
assiduities, assiduousness, attention, suite zip; (adj) any
ardour, tenacity, industriousness, attentive: (adj) assiduous, diligent, augury: (n) omen, sign, portent,
persistence, perseverance, intentness heedful, watchful, observant, warning, prognostic, indication,
assisting: (adj) aiding, auxiliary, advertent, mindful, careful, aware, hunch, signal, foreboding, forecast,
subsidiary, suffragan, adjuvant, alert, respectful. ANTONYMS: (adj) forerunner
supporting, support, secondary, unfocused, negligent, neglectful, auspices: (n) auspice, aegis,
supplementary, assistant; (n) forgetful, heedless, unobservant, patronage, forecast, backing,
helping. ANTONYM: (adj) main rude, unprepared, unconscious, security, sponsorship, guidance,
assuredly: (adv) certainly, uncaring, inconsiderate means, custody, agency
austere: (adj) ascetic, stern, severe, waken, revive. ANTONYMS: (v) bemused, preoccupied, helpless.
harsh, plain, rigorous, rigid, dampen, calm, retire, suppress, ANTONYM: (adj) clear
abstemious, stark, astringent, stiff. spoil, quench, douse, stifle baggage: (n) bag, bags, trunk, pack,
ANTONYMS: (adj) ornate, awakened: (adj) excited, aroused, gear, equipment, stuff, effects,
luxurious, frivolous, hedonistic, awakens, awoke, interested suitcases, woman, thing
extravagant, lush, elaborate, awakening: (n) arousal, waking up, bait: (v) badger, tease; (adj, v) molest,
spending, sunny, warm, indulgent revival, disenchantment, harass, harry; (n, v) lure, bribe; (n)
authorized: (v) allowed; (adj) awakenment, introduction, decoy, snare, temptation, attraction.
authorised, official, accredited, provocation; (adj) arousing, moving, ANTONYMS: (v) repel, repulse,
competent, lawful, legal, legitimate, animating; (v) awake. ANTONYM: pacify, mollify, please
permissible, qualified; (adj, v) (n) suppression balk: (n, v) frustrate; (n) hindrance,
privileged. ANTONYMS: (adj) awfully: (adv) atrociously, hideously, setback, barrier; (v) retard, prevent,
unauthorized, illegal, unqualified appallingly, frightfully, fearfully, flinch, traverse, hamper, baffle, foil.
auxiliary: (adj, n) assistant, accessory, ghastly, terribly, horrifically, ANTONYMS: (v) aid, facilitate,
adjunct, subsidiary; (adj) ancillary, horrendously, badly; (adj, adv) help, proceed, progress, agree,
additional, extra, secondary, amazingly. ANTONYMS: (adv) approve
supplementary; (n) adjutant, aide. pleasantly, hardly, little, mildly, bandaged: (adj) articled, apprenticed
ANTONYMS: (n) chief, principal; satisfactorily, slightly, well, banquet: (v) junket, revel, regale; (n)
(adj) primary adequately, superbly, somewhat party, celebration, carousal, treat,
avail: (n, v) advantage, assist, aid, awhile: (adj) in transitu, en passant; entertainment, spread, dinner,
profit, benefit, help; (adj, n) service; (adv) briefly reception. ANTONYM: (n) snack
(n) good, assistance, utility; (v) do. awkwardness: (n) embarrassment, bantering: (adj) banteringly, satirical,
ANTONYMS: (v) useless, hurt, stiffness, unwieldiness, jovial, facetious, humorous
hinder, harm; (n) inappropriateness inconvenience, gawkiness, baptism: (n) affusion, aspersion,
avarice: (n) cupidity, covetousness, inelegance, troublesomeness, chrism, sacrament, immersion,
rapacity, avariciousness, avidity, ineptitude, ineptness, gaucherie; designation, entrance, introduction,
eagerness, voracity, voraciousness, (adj, n) delicacy. ANTONYMS: (n) initiation, blessing; (v) baptize
stinginess; (adj, n) greediness; (adj) gracefulness, grace, comfort, barbarity: (n) atrocity, barbarousness,
extortion. ANTONYMS: (n) coordination, pride, urbanity, ease, brutality, cruelty, savagery,
philanthropy, benevolence, charity assurance, liveliness, confidence, viciousness, inhumanity,
avaricious: (adj) greedy, grasping, cooperation atrociousness, inhumaneness,
acquisitive, avid, miserly, grabby, babbling: (adj) loquacious, telltale, boorishness, ruffianism.
parsimonious, penurious; (adj, v) voluble, blatant, blathering, ANTONYMS: (n) refinement, nicety
mercenary, sordid, extortionate blithering, gabbling, garrulous, barbarous: (adj) barbaric, savage,
avenging: (adj) justificatory, jabbering; (n) stultiloquy, gothic, brutal, heathen, truculent,
vindictive, vengeful, rigorous, stultiloquence rude, fell, ferocious, fierce,
ruthless, retributive, retributory; (n) babe: (n) infant, baby, chick, sweetie, uncivilized. ANTONYMS: (adj) nice,
revenge, vengeance, eye for an eye, suckling, nursling, child, newborn, cultured, civilized, sophisticated,
reprisal chit, girl, darling. ANTONYMS: (n) refined, humane
avert: (v) avoid, ward off, turn away, grownup, adult, adolescent barbed: (adj) mordant, thorny, sharp,
repulse, elude, prevent, deflect, babes: (n) babies, babe pungent, caustic, spiny, cutting,
obviate, shunt, preclude, stop. backsliding: (n) defection, apostasy, acrid, spiteful, acid; (v) barded.
ANTONYMS: (v) exacerbate, cause, recidivation, failure; (adj) pollution, ANTONYM: (adj) smooth
focus, encourage, attract, permit reprobation, declension, bard: (n) minstrel, muse; (v) beautify,
avidity: (adj, n) greed, greediness; (n) demoralization, depravity, decorate, embellish; (adj) lyrist,
eagerness, ardor, covetousness, lust, perversion, pravity scald, skald, troubadour, trouvere,
desire, enthusiasm, rapacity, backward: (adj, adv) late, barred
cupidity, avidness behindhand; (adj) tardy, retarded, bared: (adj) naked, unclothed,
avow: (v) affirm, assert, declare, reluctant, coy, slow, laggard, exposed
protest, confess, attest, asseverate; dilatory; (adv) behind, backwardly. baring: (n) uncovering, denudation,
(adj, v) admit, acknowledge, own; ANTONYMS: (adj, adv) ahead; disforestation, exposure, husking
(n, v) aver. ANTONYMS: (v) (adv) onward; (adj) quick, bark: (n, v) skin, yelp, snarl, cry, rind,
disavow, renounce, refute, disclaim, developing, advanced, confident, shout; (v) growl, roar; (n) bay, peel,
condemn, censure brilliant, bold crust. ANTONYMS: (n, v) whisper
await: (v) anticipate, abide, bide, bade: (v) bid, command, bad barking: (adj) latrant; (n) abay,
tarry, wait, attend, look, hope, badge: (n) sign, emblem, insignia, latration
approach, loom, come on. medal, token, plaque, symbol, logo, barreled: (adj) pointed
ANTONYM: (v) doubt indication, identification, barren: (adj, n) sterile; (adj) infertile,
awaited: (adj) expected, appointed, characteristic deserted, arid, void, dry, stark,
scheduled, forthcoming, prospective baffled: (adj) bewildered, puzzled, meagre, fruitless, abortive; (n)
awaken: (v) arouse, wake, rouse, call, perplexed, confounded, at sea, waste. ANTONYMS: (adj)
stir, kindle, get up, raise, wake up, frustrated, befuddled, beaten, productive, lush, fruitful,
developing, growing, profitable, comely, good-looking, handsome, murmur, mutter
rewarding, rich, sheltered, humid, stunning bellowing: (n) roaring, roar, bellows,
populous beaver: (n) whiskers, opera hat, hollo, holloa, rout, yowl, boation,
barrenness: (n) infertility, topper, top hat, stovepipe, alpha mugiency, hollering; (adj) mugient
unproductiveness, fruitlessness, geminorum, silk hat, high hat, eager bending: (n) bow, bend, deflection,
poverty, poorness, sterility, dryness, beaver, dress hat; (adj) irrepressible deflexion, refraction, flexure, crook;
aridness, bareness, quality, beavers: (n) Sciuromorpha, suborder (adj) flexible, supple, winding,
infecundity. ANTONYMS: (n) Sciuromorpha, Rodentia, pliant. ANTONYM: (adj) stiff
fruitfulness, humidity Castoridae, agoutis, order Rodentia, bends: (n) caisson disease,
barrow: (n) tumulus, wheelbarrow, family Castoridae aeroembolism, air embolism, bend,
barrowful, cart, containerful, swine, beckoning: (adj) irresistible gas embolism, compressed air
handbarrow; (adj) knoll, hummock, beech: (n) Black beech, copper beech, sickness
hillock, mole tree, common beech, wood, beech benighted: (adj) belated, dark,
barter: (n, v) trade, swap, truck, tree, beech wood unenlightened, illiterate,
traffic, swop, switch; (v) bargain, beeches: (n) Fagus uneducated, unknowing, black,
change; (n) commutation, befall: (v) bechance, become, happen, gloomy, unpunctual, nighted
permutation, interchange fall, arise, come about, occur, betide, benignant: (adj) benevolent, benign,
basely: (adv) vilely, bottomly, chance, transpire, pass gracious, merciful, humane, kindly,
sordidly, shamefully, foully, befitting: (adj) apt, becoming, kind, good, mild, genial, fond.
menially, lowly, depravedly, suitable, apropos, decent, condign, ANTONYM: (adj) malign
villainously, badly, poorly fitting, fit; (adj, v) proper; (n) feat; bereaved: (v) minus, cut off, deprive,
basilisk: (n) reptile, basilica, iguanid, (v) meet. ANTONYMS: (adj) divest, denuded; (adj) grieving,
urchin, culverin, viper, serpent, improper, unbecoming, unfitting, mourning, sad, sorrowing, orbate
mortar, howitzer, heavy gun, field unsuitable berry: (n) fruit, kernel, berries,
piece begrudging: (adj) envious, jealous, cranberry, currant, dewberry,
bastion: (n) fortress, stronghold, bitter, dissatisfied, forced, selfish, hackberry, wintergreen,
fortification, fort, redoubt, bulwark, unwilling, involuntary whortleberry, teaberry, mulberry
Acropolis, parapet; (v) banquette, beguile: (v) attract, charm, enchant, beset: (v) beleaguer, afflict, assault,
redan, ravelin allure, captivate, bluff, entrap, siege, molest, worry, attack, plague,
battalion: (n) host, regiment, enthrall, lure, fascinate; (n, v) cheat. obsess, assail; (adv, v) surround
squadron, company, unit, throng, ANTONYMS: (v) protect, irritate, besetting: (adj) rife, prevalent,
garrison, detachment, corps, irk, bore, advise, guard, annoy, repel prevailing, urgent, epidemic,
brigade; (n, v) battalia behavior: (n, v) bearing, demeanor; compulsive; (v) fixed, hackneyed,
battering: (n) batter, beating, combat, (n) carriage, conduct, deportment, ingrafted, inveterate, permanent
fighting, fight, whipping, attack, act, behaviour, manner, character, besieged: (adj) enclosed, under
mugging, physical attack, spanking, action, morality pressure, under attack, targeted,
rough treatment beheld: (adj) visual struggling, stressed, under fire,
bauble: (adj) gimcrack; (n) trinket, behold: (v) see, view, contemplate, fraught, embattled, careworn,
ornament, trifle, bagatelle, gaud, regard, perceive, observe, look, harassed
bangle, novelty; (adj, n) toy, consider, discern, descry, watch. bestow: (v) give, confer, grant,
gewgaw, plaything ANTONYMS: (v) Miss, disregard, impart, contribute, donate, apply,
bayonet: (n, v) spear; (n) sword, ignore, overlook award; (adj, v) accord, allow,
cutlass, Creese, stiletto, cimeter, beholding: (n) fusion, seeing, visual present. ANTONYMS: (v) deprive,
broadsword, brand, dagger; (v) butt, perception, look refuse, withhold, retrieve, withdraw
eviscerate beleaguering: (n) military blockade, bestowed: (adj) presented, conferred,
bays: (n) decoration, chaplet, civic Syracuse, besieging, Corregidor, awarded, accurate
crown, crown, laurels, Bayes, bay, Lucknow, Orleans, Atlanta betide: (v) bechance, come, become,
honor, garland, palm, trophy belie: (v) falsify, contradict, negate, transpire, occur, happen, develop,
beads: (n) pearls, chaplet, censer, pax, misrepresent, betray, calumniate, arise, be, rise, break
patera, host, cross, pyx, reliquary, defame, dissemble, color, distort, betray: (v) deceive, bewray, sell,
rood, thurible garble. ANTONYMS: (v) indicate, grass, dupe, reveal, mislead,
beaming: (adj) bright, radiant, verify, prove, affirm, attest, reveal disclose, accuse, befool, bamboozle.
glowing, glad, beamy, cheerful, believer: (adj, n) convert; (n) apostle, ANTONYMS: (v) protect,
refulgent, sunny, luminous, supporter, devotee, worshipper, undeceive, hide, defend, withhold
resplendent, incandescent. abiogenist, zealot, religionist, betraying: (adj) treacherous,
ANTONYMS: (adj) gloomy, dark, proselyte, layman; (adj) pietist. revealing, Judas
dusky, frowning, sad, sullen, ANTONYMS: (n) skeptic, beware: (v) look out, caution, be
tenebrous nonbeliever, guru, God, leader, careful, guard, pay attention, take
bearings: (n) bearing, direction, crest, opponent care, watch out, mind, keep, care,
position bellow: (n, v) shout, growl, yell, cry, careful. ANTONYMS: (v) risk,
beasts: (n) stock snarl, scream, howl, call, holler; (v) disregard, invite
beauteous: (adj) pretty, lovely, fair, bawl; (n) bay. ANTONYMS: (v) bewildered: (adj) bemused, confused,
confounded, perplexed, befuddled, disfigure. ANTONYMS: (v) flourish, thrive, burgeon; (adj, v)
puzzled, dumbfounded, taken enhance, beautify, embellish, blow, fructify; (n) prime, blush,
aback, addled, disoriented; (adj, v) improve; (n) perfection, flush, bud. ANTONYMS: (v) shrivel,
lost. ANTONYMS: (adj) enhancement struggle, wane, die, deteriorate,
unimpressed, clear, oriented, blended: (adj) mixed, miscellaneous, decrease; (n) pallor, withering
precise, understanding, alert composite, assorted, alloyed, blooming: (adj) rosy, thriving,
bidding: (n) behest, order, dictate, amalgamated, beaten, adulterate, flourishing, healthy, prosperous,
charge, bid, request, call, dictation, conglomerate; (n) medley; (v) ruddy, booming, blossoming,
direction, fiat; (adj) imperative mingle cherry, verdant, green.
bier: (n) catafalque, urn, tomb, blending: (n) mixture, amalgamation, ANTONYMS: (adj) arid, pale
sepulchre, cinerary urn, rack, stand, combination, incorporation, union, blossom: (adj, n, v) flower, blow; (n,
casket, stretcher, hearse, synthesis, fusion, intermixture, v) bud; (n) blooming, heyday,
sarcophagus concoction, centralization; (adj) efflorescence; (v) prosper, flourish,
billet: (n) position, note, berth, job, merging. ANTONYM: (n) thrive, progress, unfold.
bar, post, ticket, quarters; (v) separation ANTONYMS: (v) wither,
quarter, accommodate, lodge blessings: (n) blessing, godsend deteriorate, struggle, shrivel, shrink,
birch: (v) lash, flog, scourge, wipe, blight: (n, v) blast, decay, plague; (v) fade, die; (n) withering
warm, whop; (adj) birchen; (n) birch damage, wither, blemish, perish; (n) blot: (n, v) spot, blemish, smudge,
tree, stick, white birch, rod bane, pest, curse, rust. ANTONYMS: mark, slur, taint, shame; (v) tarnish,
birchen: (adj) birken, woody (v) aid, help, guard, protect, blob; (n) blotch; (adj, n) fault.
birthplace: (n) place of birth, place, enhance, improve; (n) health, boon, ANTONYMS: (v) dampen, grace,
home town, home, source, bounty soak, wet, beautify, improve,
provenance, place of origin, blinded: (adj) blindfolded, blinder, enhance
ancestral home, spot, root, hotbed blindly, reckless, unsighted, blower: (n) bellows, blast, cetacean,
biting: (adj, v) acute, acrid, sarcastic, blindfold, dizzy feeder, device, supercharger, hair
sharp, acrimonious, pungent, blinder: (n) blind, winker, screen, dryer, prostitute, blowing machine,
severe, cutting; (adj) acid, bitter, blinded, blinker traction motor blower; (v) bluffer
barbed. ANTONYMS: (adj) mild, blindly: (adv) darkly, dimly, bluff: (v) beguile, delude, blague; (n)
blunt, kind, bland, nice, soothing, blindfoldly, purblindly, obscurely, bravado, cheat, hill; (adj) rough,
sweet, hot, complimentary, faint, heedlessly, unreasoningly, direct, blunt, candid; (adj, n) peak.
sympathetic blindfold, unsightedly, ANTONYMS: (n) truth, honesty; (v)
bivouac: (n, v) camp; (v) tent, inconsiderately, ignorantly. reveal, guide; (adj) roundabout,
encamp, dwell; (n) encampment, ANTONYMS: (adv) sensibly, suave, subtle, hesitant
cantonment, campsite, campground, carefully, considerately, purposely blunder: (n, v) mistake, stumble, slip,
laager, spial, scout blindness: (n) cecity, sightlessness, botch; (adj, n) fault; (n) error, gaffe,
blackened: (adj) sulphured, ablepsy, ignorance, prestriction, trip; (v) fail, fumble; (adj, n, v) miss.
blackening, colored, coloured, filthy, excecation, cataract, fog, anopia; ANTONYMS: (v) succeed, correct,
achromatic, colorful (adj, n) darkness; (adj) anopsy accomplish, achieve; (n)
blazing: (adj) flaming, afire, burning, blinking: (adj) flickering, bally, achievement
ardent, aflame, glaring, bright, blooming; (adj, n) winking; (n) bluntly: (adv) frankly, directly,
blatant, alight, passionate; (n) blaze. shimmer, blink, wink, twinkling, rudely, bluffly, coarsely,
ANTONYMS: (adj) freezing, quiet nictation, blink of an eye, nictitation forthrightly, candidly, curtly,
blazonry: (n) blazon, arms, heraldry, blockhouse: (v) sconce, barracoon, brusquely, gruffly, openly.
quartering, coat of arms rath, peelhouse, pah; (n) ANTONYMS: (adv) deceitfully,
bleach: (adj, v) whiten, blanch, fortification, citadel, fastness, hesitantly, indirectly, guardedly,
decolorize, wash out; (v) decolor, pillbox, stronghold, fortilage politely
fade, white, decolourize; (n) bloodily: (adv) gorily, murderously, blushing: (adj) rosy, coy, blushful,
bleaching agent, whitener, sanguinarily, savagely, flushed, red, shy, bashful,
blanching agent. ANTONYMS: (v) bloodstainedly, sanguinely, overmodest, ruddy; (adv)
melanize, yellow, blacken, crimsonly, ferociously, bleedingly, blushingly, ablush. ANTONYM:
contaminate, dye bloodthirstily, redly (adj) pale
bleached: (adj) blanched, artificial, bloodshed: (n) blood, slaughter, boast: (v) bluster, brag, blow, crow,
attenuate, attenuated, biased, massacre, bloodletting, murder, gasconade, show off, rodomontade,
colored, coloured, dyed, faded, killing, homicide, gore, bloodbath, exult; (n, v) vaunt, pride; (n)
faint, fair fighting, battue. ANTONYM: (n) arrogance. ANTONYMS: (n)
bled: (v) bleed; (n) bulla friendliness deprecation; (v) downplay, lack
bleed: (v) run, ooze, phlebotomize, bloodthirsty: (adj) murderous, brutal, boaster: (n) blowhard, vaunter,
leak, percolate, shed blood, trickle, bloody, barbarous, cruel, savage, bragger, bouncer, egoist, swellhead,
hemorrhage, fleece; (n) ache, smart fierce, ferocious, violent, egotist, swaggerer, Gascon,
blemish: (n, v) stain, scar, flaw, blot, slaughterous, sanguineous. braggadocio, Glorioso
slur; (n) defect, stigma, fault; (v) ANTONYM: (adj) pleasant boastful: (adj, v) braggart; (adj)
deface; (adj, n) imperfection; (adj, v) bloom: (adj, n, v) flower; (v) prosper, pompous, arrogant, proud,
vaunting, thrasonical, vainglorious, bounded: (adj) restricted, limited, retard, hinder, halt, stop, slow.
vain, ostentatious; (v) Thrasonic; delimited, encircled, enclosed, ANTONYMS: (n) move, start,
(adj, n) noble. ANTONYMS: (adj) confined, leap, spring, bordered, incentive; (v) speed, go
deprecating, humble, insecure circumscribed, constrained. brandishing: (n) flourish
boasting: (n) bluster, bravado, ANTONYMS: (adj) unbounded, bravely: (adv) courageously,
rodomontade, swagger, unconfined, unlimited, free fearlessly, valiantly, boldly,
braggadocio, ostentation, show; (v) bounding: (n) jumping, confinement; intrepidly, dauntlessly, gallantly,
brag; (adj) swaggering, vaporing, (v) confine, salient; (adj) terminal, audaciously, undauntedly,
strutting moving, subsultory heroically, doughtily. ANTONYMS:
boding: (n) presentiment, boundless: (adj) limitless, endless, (adv) timidly, fearfully, execrably,
premonition, foreboding, portent, unlimited, infinite, bottomless, nervously
augury, forewarning, hunch, incalculable, immense, brawny: (adj, n) hefty, burly; (adj)
apprehensiveness, apprehension immeasurable, interminable, strong, athletic, sturdy, strapping,
boldly: (adj, adv) courageously, unbounded, vast. ANTONYMS: beefy, powerful, robust, stalwart,
valiantly, heroically; (adv) (adj) limited, restricted, confined, mighty. ANTONYMS: (adj) skinny,
fearlessly, daringly, bravely, finite, incomplete, negligible, small puny, weak, frail, powerless,
intrepidly, impudently, audaciously, bounds: (n) boundary, border, limit, delicate, feeble
shamelessly, brashly. ANTONYMS: bound, margin, borderline, end, breathless: (adj, adv) out of breath;
(adv) discreetly, modestly, bourn, Bourne, brink, edge. (adj) panting, inanimate,
nervously, hesitantly, shyly, ANTONYMS: (n) center, middle breathtaking, winded, choking,
fearfully, meekly, submissively, bounty: (adj, n) largesse; (n) puffing; (v) all agog, aghast; (adj, n)
secretly, respectfully, diffidently abundance, bounteousness, eager; (n) in hysterics. ANTONYMS:
boldness: (n) prowess, face, daring, premium, blessing, prize, (adj) dull, expected, boring
valor, nerve, assurance, heroism, munificence, beneficence, breech: (n) behind, bottom, croup,
audaciousness, spirit, cheek, valour. generosity; (v) benefaction; (n, v) tail, buttock, backside scut, backside,
ANTONYMS: (n) cowardice, gift. ANTONYMS: (n) miserliness, loin, dorsum, buttocks, breeches
shyness, timidity, meekness, fine, insufficiency, penalty, brethren: (n) congregation, assembly,
reticence meanness brother, people, laity, family, flock,
bondage: (n) thrall, thraldom, bowels: (n) gut, compassion, pity, fold
thralldom, slavery, captivity, inside, bowel, viscera, innards, belly, brevity: (n) briefness, shortness,
enslavement, duress, restraint, yoke, guts, insides, intestines succinctness, transience, terseness,
vassalage; (adj, n) villenage. bower: (n) arbour, alcove, pergola, abruptness, crispness, duration,
ANTONYMS: (n) independence, hermitage, grotto, framing, economy, length, brevities.
emancipation, freedom framework, summer house; (v) ANTONYMS: (n) lengthiness,
bonne: (n) ayah, nurse, biddy inclose, embower, enclose length
bony: (adj) osseous, gaunt, lean, thin, boyhood: (n) babyhood, adolescence, brew: (n) beer, drink, concoction,
emaciated, scrawny, skinny, youth, youthhood, infancy, blend, mixture, ale; (v) concoct,
angular, lanky, meager, boney. girlhood, age, boyism, puberty. make, saturate, prepare, knead.
ANTONYMS: (adj) plump, boneless, ANTONYM: (n) adulthood ANTONYM: (v) erupt
fat, stout bracelet: (n) annulus, armlet, circlet, bridle: (n, v) curb, check, control,
bookish: (adj) academic, studious, wristband, necklace, ring, hoop, snaffle, rein, leash; (n) arrest, reins,
learned, literary, intellectual, areola, circle, anklet, annulet brake; (v) inhibit, contain.
educated, pedantic; (v) blue, solid, bracelets: (n) trinkets, jewels, ANTONYMS: (v) unbridle,
scholastic, profound necklaces, charms, costume jewelry, unharness, release
boon: (n) blessing, benefit, mercy, ornaments bridled: (adj) pent-up
concession, good, gratuity; (n, v) bracing: (n) brace, backing; (adj) brighten: (adj, v) clear up; (v) light,
benefaction, gift, grant; (adj) jocund, invigorating, brisk, exhilarating, illuminate, burnish, clear, gild,
hilarious. ANTONYMS: (n) refreshing, tonic, enlivening, cool, glow, perk up, cheer, irradiate,
disadvantage, privation, disaster, benign, energizing. ANTONYMS: enliven. ANTONYMS: (v) upset,
minus (adj) soporific, tiring, debilitating, sadden, overcast, fade, dim, depress,
bordering: (adj) abutting, adjoining, draining, exhausting, soothing, blacken, spoil
conterminous, contiguous, frontier, warm, balmy, still brightness: (n) luminance, light,
next, neighboring, nearby, near, brag: (n, v) bluster, vaunt, crow; (v) shine, clarity, lustre, glow, glare,
approximate, fringent pride, gasconade, blow, show off, glitter, luminosity; (n, v)
bosom: (n) heart, interior, boob, rodomontade; (n) boasting, illumination, gloss. ANTONYMS:
thorax, chest, bust, tit; (n, v) bragging; (adj) great (n) cloudiness, murkiness, dimness,
embrace; (v) cherish, hug; (adj) braggart: (n) boaster, braggadocio, darkness, mistiness, softness,
intimate. ANTONYMS: (n) outside, blowhard, bragger, vaunter, egoist; sadness, bleakness, dirtiness,
exteriority (v) magniloquent, Thrasonic; (adj) pessimism; (adv) seriously
bough: (n) arm, limb, bow, member, boastful, vainglorious, braggy brim: (n) rim, periphery, verge, edge,
tigella, ramage, offshoot, brake: (n) bit, curb, brakes, pteridium lip, hem, rand, margin, perimeter,
ramification, spray, sprig, stem aquilinum, airbrake, safety lock; (v) brink, limit
brimstone: (n) native sulphur, sulfur, ANTONYMS: (v) conform, calmed: (adj) composed, thankful.
native sulfur, atomic number surrender; (n) female, girl ANTONYM: (adj) worried
brink: (n, v) edge; (n) border, hem, buckskin: (n) mount, doeskin, fleece, calmer: (n) placid, quiet
threshold, boundary, brim, shore, buffalo hide, rawhide, elephant calmness: (n) calm, composure,
periphery, lip, margin, limit. hide, skin, pelt, fur quietness, poise, serenity, stillness,
ANTONYMS: (n) middle, interior, buffalo: (n) American bison, bison quiet, silence, placidity, peace; (adj,
end bison, anoa, American buffalo, zebu, n) coolness. ANTONYMS: (n)
brisk: (adj) bracing, agile, alive, yak, metropolis, Cape buffalo, city; anxiety, nervousness, restlessness,
bright, lively, acute, alert, energetic, (v) cow, bully panic, fury, unrest, intensity,
sprightly; (adj, v) quick, smart. buffoon: (n) fool, jester, clown, zany, discomposure, bustle, annoyance,
ANTONYMS: (adj) soporific, merry Andrew, mimic, pantaloon, noise
sluggish, hesitant, tedious, joker, scaramouch, droll, buffo camarade: (n) confrere, comrade,
temperate, inactive, civil, torpid, burgoyne: (n) gentleman johnny familiar, mate, companion
slack, serious, lethargic burrow: (adj, v) delve, dig, gouge, candor: (adj, n) honesty, sincerity,
broil: (n) brawl, quarrel, fight, fray, mine; (n, v) tunnel, earth; (n) lair, truth, abandon, fidelity,
feud, affray, clash; (adj, v) burn; (v) den, hole, cavity; (v) nestle. uprightness; (n) frankness, integrity,
bake, parch; (n, v) scuffle. ANTONYMS: (v) fill, plant fairness, candidness, outspokenness.
ANTONYMS: (v) freeze, refrigerate bursting: (adj) explosive, teeming, ANTONYMS: (n) unfairness,
brooding: (adj) pondering, chock-full, full, complete, indirectness, deception,
thoughtful, contemplative, hatching, paroxysmal, exploding, disruptive, doublespeak, delicacy, conformity,
meditative, pensive, wistful; (v) detonating, crowded; (n) outbreak. caution, tact
brewing, batching; (n) chick ANTONYM: (adj) hungry canoe: (n) dugout, pirogue, canoes,
management, parturition. burying: (n) entombment, caique, birchbark, dugout canoe,
ANTONYMS: (adj) shallow, inhumation birchbark canoe, felucca; (adj) self-
cheerful bushy: (adj) dense, shagged, shaggy, sufficient
brook: (v) endure, abide, stomach, hairy, bearded, brushy, gross, canopy: (n) awning, baldachin,
stand, tolerate, digest, suffer, bushies, pilous, pappous, hispid. screen, tester, sunshade, marquee,
support, undergo; (n, v) creek; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) bald, neat, blast deflector, shade, ceiling, cloth,
stream. ANTONYMS: (v) spurn, unhealthy, tidy, thin, sparse, sleek cab shield
resist, reject, prohibit busily: (adv) actively, occupiedly, caparisoned: (adj) clad
brooks: (n) streams, Brookes, van briskly, industriously, engagedly, capitulation: (n) submission,
Wyck Brooks energetically, assiduously, lively, yielding, cession, deference, fall,
brows: (n) brow officiously, fussily, meddlesomely. loss, giving up, resignation,
browse: (n) browsing; (v) scan, skim, ANTONYM: (adv) inactively summary, obedience, compliance.
crop, explore, leaf, surf, pasture, bustle: (adj, n, v) hurry; (n, v) flurry, ANTONYMS: (n) victory, resistance
glance, peruse, wander. ado, fuss, hustle; (adj, n) stir, caporal: (n) choregus, collector,
ANTONYMS: (v) study, scrutinize, movement; (n) bother, commotion, flugelman, linkboy
stare disorder; (adj, v) hasten. captivating: (adj, v) enchanting,
browsing: (n) feeding, eating, ANTONYMS: (n) inactivity, charming, engaging; (adj) attractive,
reading, bruting stillness, idleness; (v) laziness, absorbing, alluring, bewitching,
bruised: (adj) wounded, hurt, raw, relaxation delightful, engrossing, lovely,
sore, livid, tender, sensitive, rotten, butt: (v) bunt, abut; (n) extremity, enthralling. ANTONYMS: (adj)
surbet, sore to the touch, painful stump, grip, stub, rump, cask, rear, repellent, boring, unpleasant,
brushing: (n) brush, slashing, tail; (n, v) edge unappealing, forgettable, annoying
hairdressing, rub, striking, combing; cadence: (n) beat, tempo, measure, captive: (n) convict, prisoner of war,
(adj) ripping. ANTONYM: (n) set rhythm, cadency, descent, time; (n, slave, detainee, jailbird, gaolbird;
brute: (adj) brutal, harsh, gruff, v) pace; (v) gait, step, rate (adj) confined, imprisoned, rapt,
brutish; (adj, n) animal, savage; (n) caesar: (n) dictator, Gaius Julius jailed, amoroso. ANTONYMS: (adj)
barbarian, fiend, creature, monster; Caesar, Julius Caesar, king free, uninterested, unconfined,
(adv) beastly. ANTONYMS: (adj) caged: (adj) jailed, imprisoned, liberated, emancipated,
weak, refined, mild, gentle; (n) incarcerated, confined, enslaved, in disillusioned; (n) guard, captor
gentleman prison, behind bars, restrained, captivity: (n) incarceration,
bubble: (v) babble, foam, froth, trapped, locked up imprisonment, internment, slavery,
burble, effervesce, seethe, gurgle, calamity: (n) disaster, adversity, thralldom, thrall, thraldom, limbo,
fizz; (n) blister, bladder, vesicle affliction, misfortune, plague, restraint, fetters, enslavement.
bubbling: (adj) sparkling, bubbly, catastrophe, tragedy, blow, bale, ANTONYMS: (n) release,
frothy, foamy, sparkly, spumous, distress; (n, v) trouble. emancipation, liberty
effervescing, fizzy, foaming; (n) ANTONYMS: (n) blessing, boon, captor: (n) kidnapper, soul, person,
solvent popping, effervescence luck, joy, opportunity somebody, someone, hijacker,
buck: (n) dollar, stag, beau, boar, calico: (n) cambric, fabric, cashmere, surpriser, capturer, defeater,
greenback, exquisite, fop, clam, hart; chintz, cloth; (adj) motley, subjugator, vanquisher
(v) charge; (n, v) buck jump. varicoloured, pied, assorted carabine: (n) carbine
carbine: (n) rifle, escopette, caliver, everlasting, endless, continuous, ravine, hole, abysm, vacancy,
firelock, fusil, musketry, musket, unremitting, continual, unending, canyon, aperture, emptiness.
fowling piece nonstop. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYMS: (n) junction, closure
carcass: (n) body, frame, corpse, intermittent, temporary, sporadic, chaste: (adj) virtuous, moral, virgin,
cadaver, framework, shell, carrion, completed, restricted, limited, modest, unsullied, austere, vestal,
remains, dead body, skeleton, bomb fleeting, finished, concluded, severe, continent, spotless, decent.
carelessly: (adv) incautiously, hastily, ending, inconstant ANTONYMS: (adj) corrupt, wanton,
recklessly, heedlessly, casually, ceasing: (n) stopping, subsidence lewd, sleazy, promiscuous, immoral,
sloppily, imprudently, cedar: (n) true cedar, pahautea, dirty, defiled, impure, tainted
inconsiderately, rashly, negligently, kawaka, deodar, cedar tree chastened: (v) lamblike, resigned,
unwarily. ANTONYMS: (adv) celibacy: (n) single, unmarried, content; (adj) refined, reprimanded,
thoroughly, diligently, carefully, abstinence, virginity, celibate, rebuked, reproved, subdued,
warily, laboriously, thoughtfully, bachelorship, condition, contrite, remorseful
attentively, daintily, methodically, maidenhood, single blessedness, cheat: (n, v) trick, con, fake, sham; (n)
discreetly, economically status, virtue. ANTONYMS: (n) fraud, bilk, impostor; (v) defraud,
carelessness: (n) negligence, dissipation, excess, indulgence beguile, betray, fleece.
inattention, indifference, center: (n, v) centre, focus; (adj, n) ANTONYMS: (v) support, repay,
nonchalance, thoughtlessness, middle; (n) heart, core, pivot, midst, help, contribute, aid
abandon, incaution, disregard, kernel, substance, seat; (v) cheated: (adj) embittered, resentful
omission, forgetfulness, dereliction. concentrate. ANTONYMS: (n) edge, cheating: (n) cheat, dishonesty,
ANTONYMS: (n) attention, caution, outside, exterior, circumference; imposition, imposture, fraud,
alertness, vigilance, carefulness, (adj, n) border; (adj) extreme, right, duplicity, deception, chicanery; (adj)
thoughtfulness, assiduousness, left; (v) scatter, dissipate, disperse dirty, cunning, deceiving.
economy, regard, prudence, cessation: (n) pause, abatement, ANTONYMS: (adj) honest, faithful;
forethought close, stop, respite, suspension, (n) honesty, truthfulness
careworn: (adj) tired, drawn, worn, surcease, standstill, rest, cheering: (adj, n) encouraging,
weary, harassed, under pressure, termination; (n, v) death. inspiriting; (adj) comforting, hearty,
wan, pinched, stressed, fraught, ANTONYMS: (n) beginning, exhilarating, heartening, amusing;
bony. ANTONYM: (adj) relaxed continuation, commencement, (n) applause, acclaim, ovation,
carrion: (n) carcass, offal, dead body, persistence cheers. ANTONYMS: (adj)
corpse, filth, ket, any filth, caroigne; chafed: (adj) uncomfortable, sore, disheartening, heartbreaking,
(adj) garbage painful, galled, angry; (v) fretted, discouraging, depressing, dejecting,
carve: (v) cut up, cut, mold, incise, agitated disturbing
shape, inscribe, engrave, whittle, chagrin: (n) mortification, vexation, cherish: (v) care for, nurture,
slash, hew; (n) carving annoyance, shame, disappointment, treasure, entertain, cultivate, bosom,
castor: (n) caster, roller, castoreum, letdown, humiliation; (n, v) disquiet, prize, esteem, harbor; (n, v) hug,
castorite, wimple, tile, hat, genus gangrene; (v) disappoint, mortify. foster. ANTONYMS: (v) hate, scorn,
castor, billycock, fur, alpha ANTONYMS: (v) please, delight; (n) reject, denounce, despise, neglect
geminorum pride, satisfaction chestnut: (adj, n) auburn,
catamount: (n) jaguar, bobcat, cougar, champlain: (n) Samuel de Champlain commonplace; (n) chestnut tree,
mountain lion, panther, lynx, puma, changeless: (adj) fixed, steady, sweet chestnut, wood, anecdote,
Felis concolor, caracal, mountain- immutable, abiding, invariable, joke, banality; (adj) bay, trite,
cat, catamountain stable, invariant, steadfast, castaneous
cataract: (n) waterfall, torrent, falls, unvarying, unalterable, chestnuts: (n) Castanopsis, Fagaceae,
deluge, cataclysm, amaurosis, unchangeable Castanea, genus Castanea, beech
blindness, angel, flood, prestriction; chant: (v) cantillate, sing, recite, family
(v) pour intone, intonate, utter, vocalize; (n) chieftain: (n) captain, leader, tribal
catbird: (n) oscine, gray catbird hymn, song, melody; (n, v) chaunt chief, pendragon, master, headman,
cautions: (adj) guardful chanting: (n) cantillation, vocalizing, boss, head, head boss, guide,
cavalcade: (n) parade, pageant, sing, singing, intonation cacique
caravan, spectacle, celebration, charger: (n) horse, battery charger, childish: (adj) childlike, naive,
column, convoy; (adj) rank and file, steed, mount, courser, war horse, babyish, immature, simple, puerile,
line of battle, cortege; (v) file loader, hack, roadster, warhorse, infantile, juvenile, silly, frivolous,
cavern: (n) hollow, cove, vault, hole, destrier young. ANTONYMS: (adj) sensible,
enclosure, antrum, lair, antre, charmed: (adj) enchanted, delighted, old, wise, adult, jaded
socket, den; (v) cavern out fascinated, spellbound, entranced, childless: (adj) sterile, unfruitful,
cavity: (n) antrum, cave, hole, pocket, captive, beguiled, infatuated, issueless, infertile, bare, bereaved,
hollow, void, pit, chamber, caries, absorbed, enamored, captive hours bleak, unkind, unproductive, orbate
depression, hollowness. charms: (n) trinkets, jewelry, jewels chill: (adj, v) cool; (adj, n) cold; (adj)
ANTONYMS: (n) hump, lump charred: (adj) scorched, well done, bleak, icy, chilly, frosty, depressing;
ceaseless: (adj) eternal, overcooked, baked, overdone (v) freeze, dispirit, damp; (n)
uninterrupted, constant, perpetual, chasm: (n) breach, gap, hiatus, gulf, coolness. ANTONYMS: (adj, v)
warm; (n) warmth, warmness; (v) curtly, crudely, bluntly, surly, clamorous: (adj) noisy, blatant, loud,
encourage, hearten, inspirit, thaw; coarsely, impolitely, loutishly, boisterous, insistent, exigent, urgent,
(adj) hot, gregarious, friendly, illiberally, gruffly obstreperous, strident; (adj, v)
sociable circuitous: (adj) roundabout, clamant, importunate. ANTONYM:
chilled: (adj) frozen, freezing, cool, winding, devious, tortuous, (adj) tranquil
refrigerated, icy, inhibited, meandering, oblique, complicated, clapping: (n) clap, acclaim, hand,
restrained, confined, shivering, iced, labyrinthine, crooked, collateral, clapping of hands, cheering,
stiff circumlocutional. ANTONYMS: handclap, ovation, slapping,
chilling: (adj) icy, bloodcurdling, (adj) straight, direct plaudit, round, approval
wintry, macabre, ghastly, cold, circumference: (n) circuit, border, clarion: (n) horn, trombone,
scary, apathetic; (n) cooling, perimeter, boundary, periphery, ophicleide; (v) trumpet, proclaim,
freezing, refrigeration. ANTONYM: outline, brim, compass, circle, edge, promulgate, pibroch, exclaim,
(adj) reassuring rim. ANTONYMS: (n) middle, slogan; (adj) clear, fair.
chillingly: (adv) icily, frigidly, inside, interior, center ANTONYMS: (adj) soft, low, dull,
macabrely, scarily, terrifyingly, circumlocution: (n) verbiage, muffled
frighteningly, gruesomely, wintrily, ambages, equivocation, evasion, clasping: (adj) tendril
coldly, bloodcurdlingly, ghastly verboseness, verbosity, quibble, clattering: (n) crash; (adj) clattery
chink: (v) jingle, tinkle; (n) cleft, indirect expression, circumstance, cleanliness: (n) tidiness, neatness,
crevice, Chinaman, aperture, hiatus, annulling, cancellation. chastity, wont, trait, hygiene,
scissure, blunt; (n, v) clink, break ANTONYMS: (n) sanitation, purity, clarity.
chippewa: (n) Ojibwa straightforwardness, conciseness, ANTONYMS: (n) dirtiness,
chisel: (v) cut, cheat, shape, beguile, brevity impurity, squalor, uncleanliness,
screw, engrave, beat, victimize, circumspect: (adj) careful, cautious, grime
sculpture, cozen; (n) burin prudent, guarded, alert, cagey, cleaved: (adj) torn
chivalrous: (adj) gallant, brave, vigilant, wary, watchful, thoughtful, cleaving: (adj) adapted, coherent,
knightly, courteous, courageous, considerate. ANTONYMS: (adj) accordant
gentlemanly, sublime, rash, incautious, bold, careless, cleft: (adj, n) split; (n) fissure,
magnanimous, polite, thoughtful, unwary, tactless, open cleavage, crevice, rift, fracture,
considerate. ANTONYMS: (adj) circumvent: (v) elude, avoid, evade, aperture, breach, chap, chink, crack.
rude, fearful, brutish, afraid, besiege, cheat, skirt, escape, dodge, ANTONYM: (adj) united
dishonorable, cowardly, barbaric, outwit; (adv, v) surround, compass. clenched: (adj) tight, clinched
boorish ANTONYMS: (v) assist, confront, clergymen: (n) clergyman
chivalry: (n) gallantry, knighthood, aid, help clew: (n) cue, clod, glob, knob,
generosity, courtesy, knight service, circumvention: (n) avoidance, footmark, footprint, vestige; (v)
courtliness, knight errantry, escape, evasion, collusion, dodging, point out; (adj) pellet, globule,
principle, valiance; (adj, n) heroism; ingannation, encompassment, Pelote
(adj) prowess. ANTONYMS: (n) circumvent, frustration, detour, cling: (v) adhere, cleave, stick, cohere,
impoliteness, dishonor, discourtesy, supercherie hang, attach, grasp, adjoin, clutch,
cowardice civilities: (n) propriety grip, hold. ANTONYMS: (v) detach,
choicest: (adj) optimum, best civility: (n) politeness, courtesy, repel, unfasten
choked: (adj) clogged, smothered, comity, attention, propriety, clothed: (adj) dressed, wrapped,
congested, annoyed, high-strung, affability, amenity, cultivation, cloaked, robed, covered, attired,
strained, neurotic, tense, angry, complaisance, courteousness, vested, absorbed, decent; (v)
anxious, insecure civilization. ANTONYMS: (n) accustomed, arrayed. ANTONYM:
choking: (n) strangulation, throttling, rudeness, incivility, coarseness (adj) unclothed
slugging, asphyxiation; (adj) civilized: (adj) civil, refined, polite, clouded: (adj, n) cloudy; (adj)
suffocative, suffocating, smothering, civilised, cultivated, educated, gloomy, dark, overcast, obscure,
breathless, clogging, bitter, blinding courteous, urbane, kind, gentle, blurred, foggy, misty, hazy, bleary;
choler: (n) anger, bile, resentment, genteel. ANTONYMS: (adj) (v) cymophanous. ANTONYM: (adj)
rage, madness, dander, spleen, uncouth, noncivilized, discourteous, clear
petulance, indignation, irritability, loutish, rude, inhumane, wild cloudless: (adj) bright, clean, fair,
ire clad: (adj) dressed, attired, clothed, light, sunny, unclouded, pure,
chord: (n) harmony, bowstring, coated, garbed; (n) cladding; (prep) distinct, legible, perspicuous; (v)
catgut, arpeggio, ligament, sinew, gowned; (v) costume, shod, dress, unalloyed
tendon; (v) harmonize, harmonise, attire. ANTONYMS: (adj) clove: (n) syzygium aromaticum,
accord; (adj) subtense undressed, unclothed clove tree, Eugenia aromaticum,
chords: (n) key, clef clamor: (n, v) outcry, cry, clamour, garlic, gulch, gap, chasm, ravine,
christendom: (n) apostleship, church, hullabaloo, roar, shout; (n) noise, garlic clove; (v) cleave
hierarch, priesthood, Christianism, racket, uproar, exclamation, clump: (n, v) cluster, bundle; (n)
church government, ministry, hubbub. ANTONYMS: (n) silence, lump, group, clot, knot, tuft, chunk,
prelacy serenity, tranquility; (v) whisper, clod, ball; (v) plod
churlishly: (adv) rudely, roughly, mutter clumsy: (adj) bumbling, bungling,
cumbersome, unwieldy, rude, inept, white, uncolored, unbiased, pale, applause, praise; (n) approval,
inapt, maladroit, gawky, unskilled, objective, honest, genuine, real citation, approbation, tribute, credit,
wooden. ANTONYMS: (adj) colors: (n) flag, colours, paints, plaudit, acclamation, admiration.
graceful, dexterous, clever, skillful, banner, color, colour, ensign, ANTONYMS: (n) disapproval,
deft, adroit, elegant, coordinated, pigment, tint, dye, paint criticism, censure, demotion
expert, athletic, agile colt: (n) novice, filly, foal, calf, horse, commending: (adj) good, plauditory,
clustered: (adj) agglomerated, beginner, kitten, pup, fledgling, favorable, applauding,
agglomerative, bunched, bunchy, freshman, greenhorn commendatory, approving
gregarious, concentrated, comb: (v) brush, ransack, search, commensurate: (adj) equal, sufficient,
conglomerate, collective dress, eliminate, groom; (adj) weed; commensurable, proportionate,
coals: (n) ashes, fire, residue, embers (n) crest, combing, caruncle, equivalent, comparable, coextensive,
coarseness: (n) grossness, indelicacy, currycomb tangible, valid, level, competent.
inelegance, indecency, vulgarism, comely: (adj) beautiful, good-looking, ANTONYMS: (adj) inappropriate,
commonness, rudeness, inferiority, decent, fair, attractive, decorous, inconsistent, incommensurate,
crudeness, crudity, awkwardness. shapely, proper; (adj, adv, v) divergent, inadequate
ANTONYMS: (n) delicacy, purity, seemly; (adj, adv) sightly, lovely. commiseration: (n) pity, compassion,
refinement, smoothness, ANTONYMS: (adj) repulsive, sympathy, condolence, ruth, mercy,
sophistication, tastefulness, civility, homely, plain, revolting, commiserate, bowels, consolation,
grace, propriety, decency unattractive, ugly fellow feeling, acknowledgement
coaxing: (n) blarney, flattery, sweet comer: (n) newcomer, arriver, commodious: (adj) capacious, wide,
talk, temptation, enticement, soft traveler, traveller, contender, roomy, spacious, comfortable,
soap; (adv) coaxingly; (adj) competitor, competition, visitor, voluminous, extensive, useful, large;
ingratiatory, persuasive, oily whiz kid, Young Turk; (adj) fresh (adj, v) convenient, easy.
cock: (n) rooster, chicken, spigot, comforts: (n) amenities, bread and ANTONYMS: (adj) small,
Peter, prick, cockerel, tool, stopcock, butter, convenience, conveniences uncomfortable, tight,
shaft; (n, v) stack; (v) ruffle. commandant: (n) leader, chief, incommodious, confined, squeezed
ANTONYM: (v) uncock commanding officer, governor, commonplace: (adj, v) trite,
cocked: (adj) erect, upright, vertical general, officer, master, lord, hackneyed; (adj) banal, ordinary,
coiled: (adj) curled, curved, twined, generalissimo, air force officer humdrum, common, average, plain,
coiling, twisted, convoluted, rolled, commanding: (adj) imperative, mundane, dull; (n) platitude.
wavy, bent, round; (adj, v) spiral. imperious, peremptory, bossy, ANTONYMS: (adj) extraordinary,
ANTONYM: (adj) uncoiled imposing, ascendant, compelling, unusual, exceptional, infrequent,
coldly: (adv) frigidly, icily, coolly, magnificent; (adj, n) grand, rare, romantic, uncommon, weird;
indifferently, frostily, distantly, impressive; (adv) commandingly. (n) deepness, profundity,
gelidly, reservedly, bleakly, ANTONYMS: (adj) inferior, profoundness
wintrily, frozenly. ANTONYMS: unassertive, indecisive, commotion: (n) tumult, ado,
(adv) warmly, affectionately, unimpressive, insignificant, disturbance, turmoil, stir, din,
sympathetically, sensitively, kindly, subservient flurry, fuss, bedlam, tempest; (n, v)
cheerfully, emotionally commemoration: (n) memorial, agitation. ANTONYMS: (n) peace,
coldness: (n) chilliness, coolness, celebration, reminder, recognition, order, calm, serenity, calmness,
indifference, distance, apathy, monument, ceremony, epitaph, stillness, quiet, tranquility, inactivity
iciness, reserve, frost, frigidity, souvenir, ovation, paean, triumph communicating: (n) communication,
unconcern; (adj, n) cold. commence: (v) begin, start, open, intercommunication, suasion,
ANTONYMS: (n) friendliness, initiate, embark, institute, introduce, expression, transmission,
sympathy, sensitivity, hotness, heat, launch, arise, inaugurate, enter. examination, intercourse,
responsiveness, concern, brightness, ANTONYMS: (v) finish, stop, dramaturgy; (v) communicate; (adj)
kindness terminate, complete, remain, communicant, dramaturgic
colonist: (n) settler, colonizer, relinquish compassionate: (adj) merciful,
immigrant, pioneer, migrant, commenced: (v) began, Gan; (adj) clement, benevolent, kind, humane,
backwoodsman, squatter, emigrant, initiate, present tender; (adj, v) pitiful; (v) pity; (adj,
planter, migr, standish. ANTONYM: commencement: (n) opening, start, n) gentle, sympathetic, caring.
(n) emigrant origin, birth, kickoff, inauguration, ANTONYMS: (adj) unfeeling, harsh,
color: (n, v) flush, blush, tint, tinge, inception, onset, outset, origination, severe, cruel, indifferent, mean,
paint, stain; (adj, n, v) colour; (v) source. ANTONYMS: (n) middle, uncompassionate, nasty, merciless,
redden; (n) guise, complexion; (adj, termination, finishing, finish, uncaring, unhelpful
n) tone. ANTONYMS: (v) discolor, ending, conclusion, culmination compel: (v) force, coerce, pressure,
pale, show, whiten, untwist, denote, commencing: (adj) initial, incipient; necessitate, enforce, command,
depict, represent, blanch, blench (v) commence; (adv) startingly; oblige, require, make, obligate,
colored: (adj) chromatic, black, (prep) starting, from; (n) start, press. ANTONYMS: (v) impede,
tinged, tinted, colorful, dyed, initiation, commencement, deter, check, block, request, prevent
coloured, partial, dark, bleached, origination, inauguration compelled: (adj) forced, obligate,
biased. ANTONYMS: (adj) truthful, commendation: (n, v) acclaim, enforced, constrained, responsible,
answerable, unwilling, destined comprehendible: (adj) accessible, incidental, coexisting; (adj, v) joint;
compensating: (n) compensation, understandable, apprehensible, (n, v) adjunct. ANTONYMS: (adj)
reparation; (adj) compensatory, thinkable, approachable, cognizable, unrelated, accidental, separate,
satisfactory, atoning graspable, intelligible, lucid, chance, independent
complacency: (n) contentment, luminous, perceivable concord: (n) agreement, accordance,
conceit, satisfaction, self-satisfaction, comprehending: (adj) intelligent, unity, harmony, union, unison,
comfort, entire satisfaction, peace of general, observant, sympathetic, alliance, tune; (n, v) concert, peace;
mind, gratification; (adj) amiability, brotherly, conversant (v) agree. ANTONYMS: (n) discord,
soft tongue, mansuetude compressed: (adj) flat, condensed, conflict, war, disunity, disarray; (v)
complaisance: (adj, n) affability, dense, concentrated, compacted, disagree
civility; (n) courtesy, deference, tight, pointed, packed, concise, concourse: (n) assemblage, swarm,
respect, compliancy, agreeableness, close, brief multitude, throng, company,
submission, amenity, politeness; comrade: (n) colleague, chum, buddy, merging, crowd, aggregation,
(adj) gallantry fellow, compeer, partner, brother, meeting, gathering, legion
complexion: (n, v) tint; (n) cast, mate, familiar; (adj, n) associate, concurrence: (n) coincidence, accord,
character, appearance, look, hue, ally. ANTONYMS: (n) stranger, assent, concord, consent, agreement,
aspect, flush, glow, dye, fashion enemy, foe, opponent approval, compliance, concourse,
compliment: (n, v) praise, honor; (v) concealing: (n) covering, conjunction, confluence.
laud, flattery, applaud, greet, concealment, burial, stealing, ANTONYMS: (n) disagreement,
adulation, congratulate, belaud; (n) stealth, screening, burying, conflict, refusal, rejection
eulogy, tribute. ANTONYMS: (n) screenings, activity; (adj) condescend: (adj, v) deign,
criticism, reproach, disparagement; suppressive vouchsafe; (v) stoop, patronize,
(n, v) slander, libel; (v) criticize, concealment: (n) suppression, patronise, descend, lower, interact,
denounce, disparage, denigrate, confidentiality, concealing, secrecy, decline, bow, agree
complain, belittle screen, disguise, hiding, privacy, conditioned: (v) qualified; (adj) ripe,
compliments: (n) respects, camouflage, blind, covering. learned, tough, finite, healthy, in
commendation, wish, greetings, ANTONYMS: (n) discovery, condition, involuntary.
salutation, respect, applause, disclosure, exposure, expression, ANTONYMS: (adj) unconditioned,
flattery, acclamation, regards, openness, uncovering, revelation untrained
approbation conceit: (n) pretension, vanity, self- condolence: (n) compassion, pity,
complying: (adj) compliant, esteem, pride, assumption, egotism, sympathy, condolement,
submissive, consenting, fancy, haughtiness, conception, condolences, lamentation, mercy,
complaisant, assentive; (adj, v) caprice, quip. ANTONYMS: (n) mourning, acknowledgement,
tractable; (v) willing, commodious, humility, timidity, selflessness, solace, acknowledgment.
chosen, causing ease; (n) agreement humbleness, reserve ANTONYM: (n) congratulation
comport: (v) bear, act, carry, acquit, conceited: (adj) arrogant, cocky, vain, conducive: (n) advantageous,
behave, hold, demean, do, suit, boastful, proud, smug, affected, favorable; (adj) instrumental,
agree, accord assuming, egotistical, haughty, helpful, contributory, tending,
composedly: (adv) serenely, calmly, pompous. ANTONYMS: (adj) subservient, profitable, auspicious,
quietly, placidly, coolly, sedately, modest, insecure, meek, selfless, beneficial; (v) working towards.
steadily, soberly, unperturbedly, unassuming ANTONYMS: (adj) unconducive,
staidly, relaxedly. ANTONYM: conceivable: (adj) imaginable, hindering, deleterious, counter,
(adv) nervously thinkable, believable, adverse
composure: (n) calmness, serenity, comprehensible, likely, earthly, cone: (n) strobile, retinal cone,
poise, calm, equanimity, temper, potential, credible, plausible, pyramid, roll, conus, strobilus,
aplomb, tranquillity, peace, cogitable, reasonable. ANTONYMS: pinnacle, conoid, cone shape, cone
temperament, disposition. (adj) unthinkable, difficult, cell; (adj) conical
ANTONYMS: (n) panic, implausible, impossible, confederacy: (n) coalition,
discomposure, anger, nervousness, unimaginable confederation, federation,
perturbation, anxiety, agitation, conceiving: (n) fantasy, daydream; association, union, conspiracy,
turbulence, awkwardness (adj) imaginant, original cabal, combination, league, merger,
compounded: (adj) combined, concerted: (adj) joint, united, faction. ANTONYM: (n) divergence
complex, compositive; (v) mingle cooperative, unanimous, concurrent, confederated: (v) brief, close, dense,
comprehend: (v) grasp, catch, see, accordant, joined, collective, firm, not diffuse, not verbose, pithy,
comprise, appreciate, feel, sense, undivided, accommodative, acting solid, leagued; (adj) united,
apperceive, read; (adj, v) together. ANTONYMS: (adj) combined
understand; (n, v) embrace. individual, uncoordinated, weak, confer: (v) give, accord, award,
ANTONYMS: (v) mistake, disorganized, disordered, solitary afford, grant, discuss, converse,
misapprehend, exclude, concomitant: (adj, n) associate, consult, show; (n, v) talk; (adj, v)
misunderstand, misconceive attendant; (n) accompaniment; (adj) present. ANTONYMS: (v)
comprehended: (adj) understood, coincident, accompanying, withdraw, deny, dishonor, retrieve,
apprehended simultaneous, concurrent, take
conferred: (adj) given, presented opinionative encouragement, sympathy,
confiding: (adj) unsuspecting, conjunction: (n) coincidence, alleviation, express sympathy.
trustful, artless, credulous, concurrence, association, coalition, ANTONYMS: (n) grief, sorrow,
untutored, ingenu, inartificial, lain, alliance, cohesion, anastomosis, distress, discouragement,
simple, unaffected, unsophisticated concomitance, confluence, aggravation
confine: (n, v) bound, border, limit; amalgamation; (v) joinder. consolatory: (adj) consoling,
(v) bind, restrain, circumscribe, tie, ANTONYMS: (n) detachment, soothing, cheering
incarcerate, hold; (n) boundary, disconnection, division, separation consoling: (adj) consolatory,
bounds. ANTONYMS: (v) release, conjurer: (n) performer, illusionist, cheering, encouraging, grateful,
free, liberate, broaden conjuror, wizard, juggler, reassuring, soothing, calming; (n)
confinement: (n, v) childbirth, prestidigitator, sorcerer, conjure encouragement. ANTONYM: (adj)
delivery; (n) detention, custody, man, necromancer, enchanter, upsetting
restraint, internment, prison, labor, pythonist consort: (n, v) associate, husband; (n)
containment, incarceration, arrest. connecticut: (n) computed axial companion; (v) agree, affiliate,
ANTONYMS: (n) release, death, tomography, computed assort, accord, mix, keep company,
liberation tomography, computerized axial socialize, group. ANTONYMS: (v)
confines: (n) boundary, bound, tomography, Connecticut river, disagree, estrange, differ, dissociate,
barrier, compass, limit, limits, range, Constitution state, cat, Nutmeg State avoid; (n) foe, rival, antagonist,
frontier; (adj) environs, alentours; conquer: (n, v) capture; (v) subdue, enemy
(adj, n) neighborhood vanquish, surmount, suppress, constancy: (n) allegiance, devotion,
conflicting: (adj) repugnant, subjugate, overcome, overpower, resolution, fidelity, loyalty,
opposed, incompatible, clashing, quell, prevail; (adj, v) defeat. steadfastness, faithfulness,
inconsistent, opposite, contrary, ANTONYMS: (v) lose, yield, steadiness, firmness, perseverance,
divergent, adverse, paradoxical; (v) succumb, retreat, forfeit, fall, bow, unchangeableness. ANTONYMS: (n)
antagonistic. ANTONYMS: (adj) resist, fail, submit, incite inconstancy, inconsistency,
consistent, compatible, parallel, conquered: (adj) overcome, changefulness, instability,
peaceful, harmonious, vanquished, overwhelmed, crushed, disloyalty, unfaithfulness,
corresponding, agreeing, agreeable, subdued, profligate, routed, unreliability, dishonesty
congruous overthrown, done for, under enemy constrained: (adj) forced, bound, stiff,
confronting: (n) braving, facing, control, baffled. ANTONYMS: (adj) strained, awkward, compelled,
tackling, opposition, grappling, victorious, liberated limited, affected, stilted, rigid,
coping with; (adj) opposed conquering: (adj) triumphant, unnatural. ANTONYMS: (adj)
confusedly: (adv) obscurely, winning, overcoming, glorious, unrestricted, liberated, natural, open
disorderedly, perplexedly, cloudily, proud, successful; (n) conquest, construe: (v) read, interpret,
dazedly, befuddledly, muddily, seizure, reverse, subjection, expound, clarify, define, illuminate,
bemusedly, dizzily, bewilderedly, subjugation infer, explain, account for, analyse,
puzzledly conqueror: (n) champion, winner, take. ANTONYMS: (v) complicate,
congeal: (v) clot, coagulate, freeze, subjugator, vanquisher, hero, confuse, obscure, speculate
jell, thicken, fix, solidify, harden; superior, defeater, subduer, invader, consulting: (adj) consultative; (n)
(adj, v) concrete, consolidate; (n, v) colonist, Alexander. ANTONYM: (n) consultation; (v) consult
curdle. ANTONYMS: (v) dissolve, loser consuming: (adj) blazing,
thin, liquefy, thaw, liquify conscientious: (adj) scrupulous, overwhelming, burning, absorbing,
congenial: (adj, v) concordant, painstaking, honest, thorough, corrosive; (v) grating, searching,
consonant, accordant; (adj) meticulous, dutiful, close, grinding, racking; (n) consumption,
compatible, affable, kindred, genial, principled, strict; (adj, v) ethical, wasting
kind, pleasant, pleasing, delightful. moral. ANTONYMS: (adj) sloppy, consummate: (adj, v) perfect; (n, v)
ANTONYMS: (adj) uncongenial, unconscientious, immoral, conclude, crown; (v) accomplish,
unfriendly, disagreeable, hostile, irresponsible, unscrupulous, achieve, execute; (adj) accomplished,
incompatible, despicable, conscienceless, corrupt, dishonest, absolute, profound, matchless,
abominable, unsavory, reserved inexact, slack, slipshod masterful. ANTONYMS: (adj)
congratulation: (n) compliment, considerate: (adj, n) thoughtful, inadequate, mediocre, incomplete,
greeting, congratulate, benevolent, nice, gentle, deficient, amateurish, untrained,
congratulations, acknowledgement, sympathetic, humane; (adj) abysmal, inept; (v) start, initiate,
gratulation, acknowledgment magnanimous, kind, polite, delicate, begin
conjecture: (n) supposition, discreet. ANTONYMS: (adj) contagious: (adj) catching,
speculation, assumption, surmise, uncaring, thoughtless, tactless, communicable, pestiferous,
hypothesis; (v) suppose, believe, inconsiderate, selfish, rude, unkind, transmissible, epidemic,
anticipate, assume, speculate; (n, v) unforgiving, offhand, disrespectful, transmittable, poisonous, spreading,
estimate. ANTONYMS: (n) unsympathetic pestilent; (n) infection; (v) infect.
certainty; (v) demonstrate, know, consigning: (n) delegation ANTONYMS: (adj) noncontagious,
learn, prove consolation: (n) comfort, relief, balm, noninfectious
conjectured: (adj) supposed, succor, ease, cheer, solacement, contemplated: (adj) intended, willful
contemplation: (n) consideration, contrary: (adj, n) contradictory, amiable, friendly, genuine, ardent,
reflection, thought, attention, reverse; (adj) adverse, conflicting, unaffected, gracious, honest; (n)
cogitation, musing, introspection, unfavorable, perverse, cross, liqueur. ANTONYMS: (adj)
speculation, animus, deliberation; disobedient, alien, different, unfriendly, stern, cold, cool,
(n, v) study obstinate. ANTONYMS: (adj) disagreeable, aloof, reserved,
contemptible: (adj) abject, mean, similar, harmonious, helpful, distant, rude, uncordial, unpleasant
base, pitiful, little, worthless, obliging, compatible, complaisant, cordially: (adv) warmly, genially,
unworthy, miserable, ignoble, concordant, parallel, agreeable, kindly, sincerely, heartfeltly,
abominable, shameful. cooperative, favorable ardently, friendly, jovially,
ANTONYMS: (adj) estimable, contrived: (adj) affected, unnatural, earnestly, affectionately,
admired, deserving, worthy, false, forced, labored, spurious, harmoniously. ANTONYMS: (adv)
honorable, respectable, respectful, feigned, unreal, strained, built, disagreeably, frostily
noble, generous, commendable, artificially formal. ANTONYM: (adj) corroborate: (v) validate, bear out,
good sincere verify, establish, authenticate,
contemptuous: (adj) scornful, conveyance: (n) transfer, vehicle, substantiate, prove, affirm,
disdainful, insulting, arrogant, assignment, alienation, transference, demonstrate, support, attest.
proud, haughty, derisive, cynical, delivery, transportation, negotiation, ANTONYMS: (v) contradict, reject,
sarcastic, disrespectful; (adj, v) portage; (n, v) carriage, ecstasy negate, disprove, disclaim, deny,
supercilious. ANTONYMS: (adj) conveyed: (v) borne, sent undermine, cancel
approving, complimentary, convulsion: (adj, n, v) spasm; (n) fit, corroborative: (adj) corroboratory,
deferential, humble, polite, paroxysm, commotion, attack, collateral, confirmative, confirming,
respected, admiring clonus, shake, seizure, upheaval, affirmative, corroborant,
contemptuously: (adv) scornfully, cramp; (adj, n) disturbance. substantiating, verifying,
sneeringly, insultingly, ANTONYM: (n) peace verificatory, validatory,
disparagingly, superciliously, convulsions: (n) convulsion, spasm, substantiative
derisively, condescendingly, epilepsy, eclampsia, mirth corrupting: (adj) noxious, harmful,
disrespectfully, haughtily, convulsive: (adj) spastic, galvanic, degrading, unwholesome,
contumeliously, sardonically. fitful, paroxysmal, violent, choreic, corruption, baneful, debasing,
ANTONYM: (adv) approvingly unsteady, hysterical; (v) unquiet, demeaning, humiliating, infectious,
contend: (v) wrestle, compete, restless, saltatory injurious
conflict, combat, argue, war, clash, convulsively: (adv) spasmodically, costume: (n) clothing, clothes,
altercate, struggle, contest; (n, v) paroxysmally, spasticly, with apparel, garb, suit, outfit, uniform,
allege. ANTONYMS: (v) retreat, convulsions garments, drapery; (n, v) dress; (v)
harmonize, abandon, deny, cede, cookery: (n) cuisine, kitchen, clothe
agree, surrender, desert gastronomy, browning, broiling, couch: (n) bed, sofa, settee, divan;
contended: (adj) controversial preparation, culinary art, roasting, (adj, v) lie; (v) express, put, frame,
contending: (adj) contentious, toasting, frying, braising lower, repose; (adj) recline
conflicting, competitive, competing, cooled: (adj) refrigerated, frozen; (n) countenance: (n) aspect, expression,
competitory, combatant, cooler brow, complexion; (n, v) face,
challenging, factious, militant, cooler: (n) beverage, freezer, sanction, support, favor; (v) allow,
warlike, fighting drinkable, potable, drink, air tolerate, uphold. ANTONYMS: (v)
contented: (adj) content, happy, conditioner, penitentiary, choky, reject, oppose, discourage,
comfortable, quiet, cheerful, smug, prison, chokey, clink disapprove, prohibit
complacent, satisfied, easy, proud, coolly: (adv) quietly, composedly, counteract: (v) antagonize,
delighted. ANTONYMS: (adj) coldly, collectedly, nonchalantly, counterbalance, check, balance,
discontented, unhappy, depressed, placidly, serenely, chilly, steadily, cancel, hinder, neutralize,
unsatisfied, sad, anxious frostily, frigidly. ANTONYMS: contradict, resist, compensate,
continuance: (n) duration, abidance, (adv) nervously, anxiously, contravene. ANTONYMS: (v) help,
existence, endurance, protraction, agitatedly, expressively, cooperate, assist, approve,
adjournment, resumption, boisterously, enthusiastically coordinate, support, back, reinforce
prolongation, time, standing, coolness: (n) chill, cool, composure, counterfeit: (adj, n, v) sham; (n, v)
perseverance. ANTONYMS: (n) assurance, cold, calmness, copy, duplicate; (adj, v) mock,
discontinuation, destruction alienation, frigidity, equanimity, falsify; (adj) false, artificial,
contracting: (adj) astringent, systolic, chilliness, poise. ANTONYMS: (n) assumed; (adj, n) imitation; (v)
contrahent, astringent fruit, austere, friendliness, panic, approachability, forge, ape. ANTONYMS: (adj)
binding, constricting; (n) getting, mustiness, turbulence, agitation genuine, real, authentic, true, actual;
becoming infected, acquiring, copse: (n) brush, coppice, brake, (n) original
employment brushwood, forest, underwood, countryman: (n) peasant, villager,
contrariety: (n) difference, antithesis, grove, spinney, thicket, rustic, native, churl, compatriot,
discrepancy, conflict, contradiction, undergrowth, canebrake carle, fellow countryman, clown,
contrast, opposition, repugnance, cora: (n) kore, Persephone, corah silk hick, swain. ANTONYMS: (n)
antagonism, contrariness, foil cordial: (adj) genial, warm, affable, foreigner, outlander
courageous: (adj, n) bold; (adj) astute, artful, wily, clever, tricky, untrusting, shrewd, rational, smart,
audacious, fearless, valiant, gallant, shifty, designing, scheming. mistrustful
intrepid, spirited, heroic, ANTONYMS: (adj) naive, open, creep: (v) grovel, sneak, steal, fawn,
undaunted, manly, confident. honest, guileless, artless, lurk, truckle, cringe; (n) creeping,
ANTONYMS: (adj) timid, wimpy, straightforward, trustworthy, crawling, toady, sycophant.
weak, spineless, pusillanimous, ingenuous, blatant, straight ANTONYMS: (v) race, dash, hasten,
fearful, fainthearted, afraid, cragged: (adj) rough, hilly, hurry, speed, fly
despicable mountainous, unsmooth; (n) creeping: (n) creep, crawl,
coursers: (n) Charadrii, suborder rugged, austere, boisterous, coarse, locomotion, spreading; (v) lentor;
Charadrii, avocets, genus Cursorius crabbed (adj) reptile, slow, reptant,
courteous: (adj, v) civil; (adj) affable, cranny: (n) crack, chink, crevice, reptatory, serpiginous, moving
attentive, gracious, decorous, fissure, gap, chap, opening, hole, crevice: (n) cleft, break, chink, cranny,
chivalrous, bland, thoughtful, recess, fracture, interstice chap, fissure, interstice, rift, gap,
urbane, mannerly, gentlemanly. crashing: (n) destruction, thunder; hole, fracture
ANTONYMS: (adj) rude, impolite, (adj) roaring, deafening, wicked, crimson: (adj, n) carmine, ruby,
boorish, insulting, unmannerly, booming scarlet, maroon; (v) blush, flush,
gruff, improper, vulgar, unhelpful, crave: (v) covet, ask, want, beseech, redden; (adj) bloody, ruddy, cherry;
neglectful, graceless implore, wish, long, entreat, desire, (n) deep red
courteously: (adv) graciously, civilly, fancy, claim. ANTONYMS: (v) cringing: (adj) obsequious, servile,
considerately, decorously, decently, dislike, spurn, loathe, hate, detest, slavish, abject, groveling, oily,
gallantly, obligingly, urbanely, grant grovelling, fawning, beggarly,
suavely, thoughtfully, kindly. craven: (n) coward, poltroon, chicken; contemptible, ignoble
ANTONYMS: (adv) coarsely, (adj, n) recreant, apostate, renegade; crooked: (adj) bent, corrupt,
uncooperatively, disrespectfully, (adj) base, gutless, yellow, spineless, dishonest, curved, unfair, deformed;
impolitely fearful. ANTONYMS: (adj) brave, (adj, n, v) awry; (adj, v) irregular,
courtier: (n) aristocrat, official, fearless, courageous, daring, heroic, askew, wry, indirect. ANTONYMS:
attendant, suckling strong (adj) straight, honest, principled,
covet: (v) envy, begrudge, long, craving: (n) appetite, addiction, even, aboveboard, lawful, level,
crave, aspire, grudge, hanker, want, appetence, eagerness, hankering, moral, flat, aligned, honorable
wish for, long for, wish. yen, hunger; (n, v) desire, cropped: (adj) close
ANTONYMS: (v) spurn, renounce, appetency; (adj, n) longing; (adj) crouched: (v) subjacent, squat; (adj)
reject, ignore, forswear eager. ANTONYMS: (n) disgust, crutched, hunkered down,
coveted: (adj) sought after, desirable, hatred, distaste, repulsion, aversion, hunkered, low, huddled
in demand. ANTONYM: (adj) apathy, disinclination; (adj) crouching: (adj) sneaking, huddled,
unpopular unconcerned, disinterested obsequious, squat, hunkered,
coward: (n) cur, pantywaist, sneak, crawl: (adv, v) grovel, lag; (n, v) cowering, hunkered down; (v)
dastard, milksop, weakling, clamber, climb; (v) sneak, fawn, submissive, resigned
milquetoast; (adj) gutless, cringe, teem, swarm, scramble, inch. crow: (n, v) brag, cry, snigger; (v)
chickenhearted, pusillanimous, ANTONYMS: (v) fly, rush, hurry, exult, triumph, cackle, chuckle, talk
chicken-hearted. ANTONYMS: (n) hasten, dart, dash, lead, soothe, big; (n) gasconade, crowing; (adj)
daredevil, stalwart; (adj) brave speed raven
cowardly: (adj, adv) dastardly, crawling: (adj, n) creeping; (n) creep, crowned: (adj) laureled, fulfilled,
scared, shrinking; (adj) timid, afraid, itch; (adj) slow, teeming, thick, browbound, incoronate, successful
craven, gutless, sneaky, swarming, reptant, populous, cruelly: (adv) harshly, ferociously,
fainthearted, faint; (adv) recreantly. packed, moving fiercely, viciously, inhumanly,
ANTONYMS: (adj, adv) brave, creator: (n) author, originator, mercilessly, pitilessly, heartlessly,
daring, bold, courageous; (adj) producer, maker, inventor, artist, roughly, unkindly; (adj, adv)
intrepid, fearless, strong, founder, builder, manufacturer, bitterly. ANTONYMS: (adv) kindly,
determined; (adv) dauntless, gutsy, initiator, God. ANTONYM: (n) mercifully, sympathetically, tamely,
unafraid destructor peacefully, humanely,
cowering: (adv) cowardly; (adj) credulity: (n) credulousness, compassionately, sensitively,
fawning, squat, subservient trustingness, trust, innocence, respectfully, innocently, genially
cracking: (n) crack, break, fracture; trustfulness, faith, lack of caution, crumbling: (adj, v) moldering,
(adj) splitting, swell, smashing, navet, unwariness, acceptance. ramshackle; (adj) rotten,
corking, bully, great, keen, neat. ANTONYM: (n) wariness dilapidated, worn out; (n) ruin,
ANTONYMS: (adj) smooth, slow credulous: (adj) gullible, decay, disintegration,
crackling: (adj, n) crisp; (adj) unsuspecting, simple, unsuspicious, fragmentation; (v) waterlogged,
snapping, crepitant, cheerful, brittle, unquestioning, green, trusting, tainted. ANTONYM: (adj) pristine
noisy; (n) crepitation, decrepitation, unwary, innocent, believing, crush: (n, v) squeeze, crunch, press;
crackleware, crackle China, illogical. ANTONYMS: (adj) (v) beat, break, compress, conquer,
bohemian crackle suspicious, wary, disbelieving, stamp, overpower, squash, bruise.
crafty: (adj) cunning, adroit, sly, suspecting, skeptical, cynical, ANTONYMS: (v) lose, congratulate,
stretch, praise, inspirit, encourage, curling edge (adv) openly
compliment, expand, resist, submit, curls: (n) hair, tresses, ringlets dart: (n, v) dash, run, flit; (v) bound,
smooth curse: (n, v) blight, plague; (n) flash, shoot, rush, race, gallop; (adj,
crushing: (adj) overpowering, anathema, blasphemy, malediction, n) arrow, rocket. ANTONYMS: (v)
overwhelming, destructive; (n) denunciation; (adj, v) beshrew; (v) plod, trudge, slog, linger, dawdle,
grinding, quelling, stifling, swear, ban, damn, vituperate. dally, delay, amble; (n) tonic
suppression, flattening, pressure; (v) ANTONYMS: (n) blessing, darting: (adj) arrowy, moving; (v)
shatter; (adv) crushingly. benediction, making; (v) Sally
ANTONYMS: (adj) mild, wonderful communicate dashed: (v) ashamed, cut up, sunk;
culinary: (adj) cooking, eatable cursed: (adj) damned, doomed, (adj) broken, done for, dejected,
culprit: (adj, n) convict; (n) execrable, cussed, wretched, discouraged, dotted
delinquent, accused, malefactor, unlucky, accursed, blamed, blasted, dashing: (adj) stylish, dapper,
perpetrator, transgressor, prisoner, confounded; (v) accurst. gallant, showy, smart, snappy,
sinner, offender; (adj) guilty, felon ANTONYMS: (adj) commendable, impetuous, rakish, raffish, brave;
cultivated: (adj) cultured, refined, honorable, nice, sweet, kine (adj, n) spruce. ANTONYMS: (adj)
tame, educated, sophisticated, curses: (n) abuse boring, unstylish, dull, bumbling,
elegant, urbane, polished, cursorily: (adv) rapidly, quickly, bland, awkward, drab, graceless
accomplished, civil, polite. hastily, shallowly, speedily, dastardly: (adj) dastard, craven, base,
ANTONYMS: (adj) wild, untamed, sketchily, casually, fleetingly, fearful, low, shameful, ignoble,
uncouth, coarse, graceless carelessly, passingly, perfunctorily. sneaky, timorous; (n) coward; (adv)
cunning: (adj) crafty, canny, adroit, ANTONYMS: (adv) slowly, recreantly. ANTONYM: (adj) honest
wily, sly, shrewd, tricky, artful; (n) thoroughly daub: (n, v) smear, splotch, smudge;
craftiness, craft, cleverness. curvature: (n) bend, arch, bow, crook, (v) spread, besmear, plaster, coat,
ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, honest, arc, shape, curvity, twist, curliness, bedaub, stain; (n) blot, spot
stupid, unimaginative, gullible, incurvation, winding daunted: (adj) downcast, dispirited,
ingenuous, straightforward, candid, damnable: (adj) cursed, damned, discouraged, frightened,
sincere; (n) frankness, abominable, hateful, accursed, intimidated, disheartened,
straightforwardness devilish, infernal, disgusting, sinful, dismayed, afraid, abashed, bashful,
cunningly: (adv) craftily, artfully, deplorable, offensive. ANTONYMS: discomposed
cleverly, ingeniously, trickily, (adj) commendable, laudable, dauntless: (adj) brave, bold,
shrewdly, astutely, insidiously, praiseworthy audacious, daring, fearless, intrepid,
smartly, foxily, slipperily. dampen: (v) deaden, muffle, wet, stout, heroic, valiant, confident,
ANTONYMS: (adv) ineptly, openly soften, depress, mute, dishearten, gallant. ANTONYMS: (adj)
cupidity: (n) covetousness, greed, moisten, dull, blunt, cool. irresolute, terrified, scared, poltroon,
avariciousness, greediness, lust, ANTONYMS: (v) increase, dry, fearful, daunted, frightened, afraid,
acquisitiveness, cacoethes, voracity, encourage, intensify, uplift, towel, cowardly
desire, eagerness; (adj) avidity. accentuate, enliven, heighten, drain, dazzled: (adj) confused, dazzle,
ANTONYMS: (n) aversion, dislike, dehydrate bewildered, blind, blinder,
distaste damps: (adj) humid fascinated, unsighted
curbing: (n) limitation, restriction, dangling: (adj) suspended, pendent, dazzling: (adj) brilliant, blinding,
bridle, check, Amex, curb bit, pendant, limp, floppy, pendulous; splendid, glaring, vivid, stunning,
frustration, American Stock (n) suspension, abeyance, break, dazzlingly, striking, sparkling,
Exchange. ANTONYM: (n) abatement; (adv) adangle. fulgent, resplendent. ANTONYMS:
extension ANTONYM: (adj) upright (adj) dim, ugly, uninspired,
curdled: (adj) thick, coagulate, sour, daring: (adj, n) bold, courageous, unremarkable, unexceptional,
rancid, grumous, grumose; (n) adventurous; (adj) audacious, gradual, abysmal, humdrum, dark
succulent, uliginous, emulsive venturesome, intrepid; (n) bravery, deafened: (adj) dead, deaf corn,
curdling: (n) clotting, solidification, audacity, boldness, courage, stunned, deadened
clot, activity, breaking, blood adventurousness. ANTONYMS: (n) dearest: (n) dear, darling, love,
clotting, blood coagulation cowardice, timidity; (adj) timid, honey, lover, sweetheart, loved one,
curl: (n, v) crimp, loop, kink, roll, cautious, dull, afraid, chicken, baby; (adj) precious, intimate, sweet
wave; (adj, v) bow; (adj, n) lock, fearful, unadventurous, wimpy dearly: (adv) affectionately,
tress; (v) crinkle, fold; (adj) crisp. darkened: (adj) darkens, obscured, preciously, darlingly, sweetly, petly,
ANTONYMS: (v) align, straighten, old, obfuscate, murky, cloudy, expensively, belovedly, intimately,
uncurl, unwind opaque, overcast highly, heartfeltly, lovely
curled: (adj) coiled, curling, having darkening: (adj) dark, blue, gloomy, deathlike: (adj) deadly, deathly,
curls, round, braided, twisted, causing dejection; (v) darken; (n) ghastly, dead, cadaverous,
bowed, wreathy, Crull, curled up, change of color, eclipse thanatoid, ghostly, pale; (v) awful,
tressed darkly: (adv) murkily, dimly, soft, solemn
curling: (adj) curled, curly, moving, obscurely, duskily, somberly, debility: (n) frailty, asthenia,
curled up; (adv) curlingly; (n) shadily, mistily, secretly, dismally, weakness, astheny, atony, fatigue,
croquet, pallone, polo, tipcat, golf, heavily, overcastly. ANTONYM: imbecility, cachexy, cachexia,
weakening; (adj, n) infirmity. earnest, genuine, hearty, warm, taint, tarnish, infect; (n, v) soil.
ANTONYMS: (n) growth, strength, sincere, innermost. ANTONYM: ANTONYMS: (v) purify, consecrate,
vigor, power (adj) outermost conserve, honor, respect, sanctify,
decayed: (adj) spoiled, corrupt, deerskin: (n) suede cleanse, praise
dilapidated, rank, rusty, rotting, defeating: (adj) anatreptic; (n) defiled: (adj) impure, polluted, dirty,
decaying, rotted, putrid; (adj, v) victory, conquest maculate, debauched, contaminated,
wasted; (v) stale. ANTONYMS: (adj) defection: (n) apostasy, desertion, corrupt, violated, tainted, abusive,
matured, restored, strengthened rejection, decampment, adulterate. ANTONYMS: (adj)
deceitful: (adj) false, fraudulent, renunciation, abscondment, hallowed, purified, sanctified,
insincere, crooked, dishonest, abandonment, repudiation, cleansed, untarnished
untrue, sly, artful, untrustworthy, forsaking, backsliding, defect. deform: (v) distort, deface, bend,
unreliable, treacherous. ANTONYMS: (n) faithfulness, disfigure, contort, twist, warp, turn,
ANTONYMS: (adj) straightforward, loyalty, staunchness, steadfastness convolute, mangle, misshape.
genuine, trustworthy, truthful, loyal, defense: (n) apology, fortification, ANTONYMS: (v) beautify, unbend,
open, principled, straight, upright, justification, security, protection, mend, form, fix, embellish, decorate,
faithful, dependable safeguard, excuse, defence, shield, adorn
deceive: (v) cheat, circumvent, defend, advocacy. ANTONYMS: (n) deformed: (adj) distorted, misshapen,
bamboozle, pretend, hoax, fool, attack, offense, criticism, violence, bent, malformed, ugly, crippled,
cozen, trick, beguile; (n, v) dupe; (n) prosecution, destruction, aggression, contorted, warped, shapeless,
fraud. ANTONYMS: (v) guide, condemnation, accusation, twisted, deform. ANTONYMS: (adj)
inform, undeceive, protect opposition beautiful, flawless, unflawed,
deceived: (adj) mistaken, misguided defenseless: (adj) unprotected, perfect, straight
deceptive: (adj) deceitful, dishonest, helpless, defenceless, naked, deformity: (n) malformation,
false, fallacious, lying, deceiving, unguarded, undefended, exposed, disfigurement, defect, blemish,
misleading, untrue, spurious, bare, weak; (adj, v) indefensible; (v) disfiguration, defacement, disability,
insidious, unfounded. ANTONYMS: unarmed. ANTONYMS: (adj) abnormality, distortion, clubfoot;
(adj) real, honest, straightforward, strong, fortified, defended, secure, (adj, n) irregularity
open, frank, upright, genuine, guarded, protected, impervious, defy: (n, v) dare; (v) brave, resist,
correct, actual, valid, innocent defensible, armed, invulnerable ignore, confront, revolt, oppose,
declivity: (n) decline, fall, downhill, defenses: (n) defence, defense, escape withstand, disobey, contradict; (n)
downgrade, incline, dip, slope; (n, v) mechanism, lines, position, ranks defiance. ANTONYMS: (v) obey,
gradient; (v) acclivity, ascent, bank deference: (n) homage, respect, acquiesce, surrender, yield, comply,
decorous: (adj) decent, appropriate, compliance, admiration, allegiance, accept
conventional, sedate, correct, reverence, obedience, submission, degradation: (n) fall, abasement,
modest, prim, proper; (adj, v) compliancy, duty, complaisance. degeneracy, corruption, abjection,
becoming, seemly, comely. ANTONYMS: (n) contempt, debasement, decadence,
ANTONYMS: (adj) impolite, opposition, rebellion, resistance, degeneration, humiliation,
improper, misbehaving, unsuitable, disobedience deposition, disgrace. ANTONYMS:
unrefined, relaxed, inappropriate, deferred: (adj) put off, delayed, (n) elevation, glorification, honor
rowdy, undignified, defiant, belated, late, later than usual. degrade: (v) cheapen, demean,
unseemly ANTONYMS: (adj) hurried, corrupt, decrease, dishonor,
decorum: (n) propriety, gentility, hastened, expedited, advanced, disparage; (n, v) disgrace, reduce;
decorousness, dignity, fitness, early (adj, n, v) abase; (adj, v) debauch,
manners, correctness, ceremony, defiance: (n) challenge, opposition, lessen. ANTONYMS: (v) honor,
properness, politeness, grace. rebellion, insubordination, admire, aggrade, elevate, uplift,
ANTONYMS: (n) impoliteness, rebelliousness, disobedience, worship, respect, promote, praise,
rudeness, informality, indecorum, resistance, contempt, dignify, purify
impropriety, indecency, corruption, intractableness, mutiny, degraded: (adj) debased, low,
abandon, vulgarity contradiction. ANTONYMS: (n) ignoble, debauched, depraved,
decreed: (adj) appointed, lawful, acceptance, surrender, deference, abject, sordid, dishonored,
prescribed, legal, inevitable, conformance, submission, corrupted, contemptible, base.
appointive acquiescence, cooperation, loyalty, ANTONYM: (adj) good
deeming: (v) deem meekness, support, agreement deign: (v) lower oneself, vouchsafe,
deepen: (v) intensify, amplify, deficient: (adj) wanting, inadequate, stoop, descend, lower, grant, move,
develop, rise, redouble, heighten, scanty, imperfect, short, scarce, less, stoop to, allow, fall, come from
strengthen, raise, magnify, increase, lacking, low, meager, insufficient. deity: (n) God, godhead, godhood,
darken. ANTONYMS: (v) lower, ANTONYMS: (adj) sufficient, godship, idol, immortal, goddess,
contract, shorten, reduce, lessen, perfect, ample, flawless, enough, Jupiter; (adj, n) divinity, the Deity,
decrease, lighten, diminish excessive, complete, present, sound, theology. ANTONYMS: (n) human,
deepened: (adj) concentrated, strong, confident mortal, person
gathered defile: (adj, v) debauch, pollute, stain, dejected: (adj) sad, depressed, low,
deepest: (adj) inmost, center, cordial, sully; (v) corrupt, contaminate, foul, downhearted, gloomy, down,
unhappy, spiritless, sorrowful, insane, mad, frenetic, doting, drunk. ANTONYMS: (n) applause, esteem,
miserable, melancholy. ANTONYMS: (adj) unexcited, admiration, praise, approval
ANTONYMS: (adj) elated, happy, rational, composed, relaxed, descant: (n) song, melody, hymn,
euphoric, joyous, encouraged, reasonable, balanced, lucid, strain, tune; (v) sing, warble,
positive, enthusiastic, hopeful collected, clearheaded, calm, amplify; (n, v) discourse; (adj)
dejection: (n) discouragement, dejected enlarge, dilate
depression, sadness, despair, deliverance: (n) salvation, rescue, descend: (v) settle, condescend,
sorrow, woe, grief, melancholy, release, freedom, escape, down, drop, deign, subside, go
blues, desolation, despondency. emancipation, delivery, relief, down, dismount, derive, get off,
ANTONYMS: (n) cheerfulness, liberation, liberty, salvage. come down. ANTONYMS: (v)
ecstasy, encouragement, ANTONYMS: (n) downfall, ascend, climb, float, scale, increase,
hopefulness, joy, cheer suppression level, mount
delaware: (n) Diamond State, first dell: (n) vale, valley, dingle, clearing, descendant: (adj, n) descendent; (n)
state, Delaware river gorge, holler, ravine, hollow, glen, offspring, progeny, scion, offshoot,
delaying: (adj) dilatory, lingering, cove, basin successor, relation, heir, derivative,
protractive, backward, behindhand, deluded: (adj) besotted, mistaken follower, sprig. ANTONYMS: (n)
continuing, flagging, hesitant, slow; demeanor: (n, v) bearing, conduct; (n) precursor, progenitor, parent,
(n) hesitation, dalliance carriage, air, deportment, attitude, forebear, ascendant, predecessor
deliberating: (adj) deliberative, manner, behaviour, guise, mien, descended: (v) extraught
pondering port descending: (v) descend; (adj)
deliberation: (n) cogitation, counsel, demon: (n) ghost, fiend, incubus, downhill, down, descendent,
debate, caution, thought, monster, daemon, ogre, daimon, decreasing, dropping, falling,
advisement, attention, goblin, deuce, genie, elf. sloping, degressive, occasive; (adv)
contemplation, consultation; (adj, n) ANTONYM: (n) saint downward. ANTONYM: (adj)
calculation, circumspection. denote: (adj, n, v) declare; (adj, v) upward
ANTONYMS: (n) thoughtlessness, express; (v) indicate, imply, mean, desertion: (n) abandonment,
carelessness, impetuosity, point, demonstrate, stand for, spell; defection, apostasy, dereliction,
distraction, rashness (n, v) betoken, signify. ANTONYM: withdrawal, secession, rejection,
deliberations: (n) deliberation, (v) connote decampment, exposure, leaving,
thought, consideration denoting: (adj) significant disappearance. ANTONYMS: (n)
deliberative: (v) contemplative, depart: (v) go, deviate, decease, appearance, attention, preservation
introspective, studious, diverge, start, stray, wander, leave, deserts: (n) desert, just deserts, due,
philosophical, sedate, wistful, die, vary, part. ANTONYMS: (v) compensation, comeupance
museful, speculative, pensive, stay, arrive, enter, come, abide, deservedly: (adv) justly, condignly,
reflective; (adj) platonic conform, continue, remain, appear, worthily, rightfully, rightly, right,
delicacies: (n) food, delices, cates, converge, return justifiably, by merit, correctly, fairly,
regalia departed: (adj) dead, bygone, late, becomingly
delicacy: (adj, n) weakness, fragility, former, bypast, defunct, past, left; deserving: (adj) meritorious,
tidbit; (n) finesse, daintiness, (adj, v) gone, extinct; (n) decedent. admirable, creditable,
delicate, elegance, sensitivity, ANTONYMS: (adj) remaining, alive commendable, laudable, fit, good,
luxury, treat, airiness. ANTONYMS: departing: (adj, v) parting; (adj, n) deserved, condign; (v) deserve,
(n) sturdiness, toughness, durability, leaving, going away; (adj) outgoing, worthy of. ANTONYMS: (adj)
frankness, inelegance, ruggedness, outbound, outward, passing, unworthy, undeserving,
vulgarity, tactlessness, insensitivity, decedent, valedictory, retiring; (v) unimpressive
inaccuracy, clumsiness depart. ANTONYM: (n) arrival desolate: (adj, v) desert, forlorn; (adj)
delightfully: (adv) pleasantly, depicted: (adj) pictured, represented, bare, barren, alone, bleak, deserted,
enchantingly, exquisitely, gladly, graphic, delineated; (v) depict cheerless, disconsolate; (v)
charmingly, finely, sweetly, deportment: (n, v) bearing, devastate, destroy. ANTONYMS:
deliciously, beautifully, merrily; demeanor, conduct, carriage; (n) (adj) cheerful, inhabited, happy,
(adv, v) happily. ANTONYMS: manner, attitude, demeanour, sheltered, mobbed, overcrowded,
(adv) unattractively, horribly, behaviour, comportment, dealing, ecstatic, hopeful; (v) create,
disagreeably air construct, build
delineated: (adj) portrayed, lineal, deprecate: (v) belittle, demur, decry, desolation: (n) devastation, misery,
graphic, represented deplore, censure, disparage, destruction, depression, grief,
delinquent: (n) culprit, criminal, depreciate, object, expostulate, wretchedness, bleakness, loneliness,
juvenile delinquent, trespasser, criticize, discountenance. waste, ruin; (adj, n) desertion.
defaulter, crook; (adj) neglectful, ANTONYMS: (v) compliment, ANTONYMS: (n) ecstasy, joy,
guilty, negligent; (adj, v) remiss; endorse, extol, laud, approve, productiveness, fertileness,
(adj, n) derelict. ANTONYMS: (adj) support fecundity, cheer, fruitfulness,
trustworthy, responsible, behaving derision: (n) contempt, mockery, preservation, hopefulness,
delirious: (adj) crazy, wild, frantic, scorn, banter, jeering, disdain, scoff, cheerfulness
wandering, demented, excited, insult, irony, sport, gibe. despairing: (adj) hopeless, desperate,
despondent, forlorn, desolate, despicable, execrable, horrible, incompetently, awkwardly
dejected, pessimistic, sad, infamous; (adj, v) cursed; (adj, adv) diadem: (n) crown, coronet, tiara,
brokenhearted, miserable, atrocious. ANTONYMS: (adj) circlet, sovereignty, headdress, crest,
inconsolable. ANTONYMS: (adj) admirable, adorable, sweet, power, capitulum, cap of
hopeful, optimistic, rosy, happy, loveable, lovable, likable, delightful, maintenance, crown jewels
confident, cheerful cherished, honorable, desirable, nice dialect: (n) language, speech,
despicable: (adj) vile, base, devilish: (adj, v) diabolic, satanic, vernacular, tongue, accent, lingo,
abominable, mean, abject, miserable, infernal, mephistophelian, conversation, say, talk, patois,
dishonorable, filthy, dirty, hateful, demoniacal; (adj) demonic, wicked, phraseology
ignoble. ANTONYMS: (adj) diabolical, terrific; (v) Stygian; (adv) dictate: (n, v) command, charge,
honorable, creditable, praiseworthy, devilishly. ANTONYMS: (adj) order, decree; (n) bidding, behest,
worthy, noble, loveable, likable, cherubic, godlike, good, saintly, edict; (v) bid, prescribe, rule, ordain.
laudable, endearing, commendable, virtuous ANTONYMS: (v) request, ask,
lovable devils: (n) unclean spirits record; (n, v) obey
despise: (v) disdain, loathe, deviltry: (n) devilment, devilry, dictated: (adj) set, hard-and-fast,
depreciate, abhor, dislike, detest, rascality, blaze, evil, immorality, compulsive; (n) contumely,
slight, hate; (n, v) contemn; (n) iniquity, misbehavior, blameworthy, abuse
contempt, deride. ANTONYMS: (v) misbehaviour, wickedness, misdeed dictation: (n) command, bidding, bid,
respect, love, adore, appreciate, devious: (adj) shifty, circuitous, dictate, control, behest, charge,
cherish, like, praise, accept indirect, roundabout, fraudulent, commission, order, direction,
despised: (adj) scorned, despicable, insincere, crafty, oblique, sly, commandment
hated, abject, disparaged, mean, untrustworthy, errant. diffidence: (n) reserve, modesty,
attaching disgrace, unpopular, ANTONYMS: (adj) open, straight, shyness, pudency, coyness,
unloved, reviled, opprobrious aboveboard, straightforward, timorousness, doubt, humility,
despotic: (adj) arbitrary, dictatorial, trustworthy, direct, candid, timidity, uncertainty, constraint.
tyrannical, authoritarian, absolute, principled, unbent, unbowed, ANTONYMS: (n) approachability,
imperious, oppressive, autocratical, truthful arrogance, security, brashness
domineering, overbearing, devising: (n) cartography, devisal, diffused: (adj) spread, dispersed,
tyrannous. ANTONYMS: (adj) mapmaking, making; (adj) dim, distributed, softened
democratic, liberal cartographical, original, diffusing: (adj) disseminating,
destined: (adj, v) bound, fated; (adj) cartographic diffusive, scattering, disseminative
predetermined, sure, inescapable, devoid: (adj) empty, vacant, absent, digestible: (adj) eatable, alimentary,
intended, predestined, inevitable, wanting, vacuous, destitute, clear, light. ANTONYM: (adj) indigestible
prepared, foreordained, appointed. deficient, bereft, inane; (v) quit. dignified: (adj) exalted, majestic,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unscheduled, ANTONYMS: (adj) filled, supplied, noble, grand, lofty, respectable,
unlikely replete, full solemn, distinguished, lordly, high;
destitute: (adj) impoverished, needy, devoir: (adj) abord, regards, (adj, v) great. ANTONYMS: (adj)
bankrupt, broke, poor, helpless, remembrances, welcome; (n) undignified, foolish, dishonorable,
impecunious, penniless, necessitous; politeness, obligation, job, need, boisterous, unceremonious,
(adj, v) forlorn, devoid. must, civility, chore unseemly, vulgar, poor, lowly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) wealthy, devolve: (v) fall, cede, assign, light, modest, base
privileged, prosperous, solvent pass on, pass, deliver, descend, give dilapidated: (adj, v) bedraggled,
destitution: (n, v) want, deficiency; up, surrender, come down. frayed; (adj) decayed, decrepit,
(n) deprivation, indigence, penury, ANTONYM: (v) centralize derelict, shabby, worn out, rickety,
poverty, need, pauperism, lack, devour: (v) eat, bolt, gulp, demolish, broken, ragged, damaged.
hardship, famine. ANTONYMS: (n) guzzle, swallow, gorge, ingurgitate, ANTONYMS: (adj) pristine, elegant,
affluence, luxury, prosperity gobble, use up, absorb. trim, tidy, thriving, sound, solid,
detachment: (n) division, ANTONYMS: (v) avoid, abstain, intact, sturdy, habitable
dissociation, indifference, corps, regurgitate, nibble, fast, sip dilated: (adj) wide, inflated,
rupture, contingent, disjunction, devoured: (adj) eaten up ampulliform
aloofness, seclusion, rift; (n, v) party. dexterity: (n) agility, cleverness, diligence: (n) assiduity, industry,
ANTONYMS: (n) involvement, ability, aptitude, skill, deftness, attention, application,
attachment, interest, bias, bond, expertise; (adj, n) art, cunning; (n, v) assiduousness, concentration,
friendliness, union, affection, adroitness, address. ANTONYMS: activity, perseverance, carefulness,
approachability, connection, (n) clumsiness, awkwardness, sedulity, industriousness.
warmth ineptitude, inability, uselessness, ANTONYMS: (n) carelessness,
detain: (v) arrest, confine, catch, inexperience, ineptness, inaccuracy indolence, feebleness, slackness,
capture, apprehend, stay, keep, jail, dexterously: (adv) adroitly, skillfully, negligence, sloth
imprison, incarcerate, retard. expertly, craftily, skilfully, diligent: (adj) busy, active, assiduous,
ANTONYMS: (v) free, liberate, rush dextrously, handily, cleverly, painstaking, careful, earnest,
detestable: (adj) hateful, abhorrent, proficiently, aptly; (adj, adv) readily. studious, attentive, laborious,
damnable, odious, offensive, ANTONYMS: (adv) ineptly, industrious, zealous. ANTONYMS:
(adj) careless, negligent, dilatory, baffle, disenchant, betray, displeasure, disappointment,
idle, inactive, languid, slack, circumvent, bilk, mock, foil; (n, v) discontentedness, unrest; (adj)
sluggish, lethargic, weary, indolent put out. ANTONYMS: (v) please, melancholy, dissatisfied,
diminish: (v) decline, abate, abridge, satisfy, encourage, fulfill, succeed, disgruntled, discontented.
deduct, dwindle, detract, fall, comfort, inspire ANTONYMS: (n) contentment,
depreciate; (adj, v) lessen; (adj, n, v) disapprobation: (n) condemnation, pleasure, accord, happiness; (v)
degrade; (n, v) reduce. animadversion, displeasure, content; (adj, n) happy; (adj)
ANTONYMS: (v) grow, discountenance, disapproval, blame, contented
compliment, supplement, rise, objection, dissatisfaction, disfavor, discontented: (adj, v) querulous,
recognize, prolong, praise, flatter, anger, dislike complaining; (adj) disaffected,
expand, enlarge, congratulate disarm: (v) disable, demilitarize, disgruntled, malcontent, unsatisfied,
dimly: (adv) obscurely, darkly, demilitarise, convince, divest; (adj, dissatisfied, displeased, miserable,
faintly, dully, duskily, vaguely, v) invalidate, disqualify; (adj, n) put out, ungratified. ANTONYMS:
shadowily, hazily, gloomily, propitiate; (adj) conciliate, tie the (adj) pleased, satisfied, happy,
somberly; (adj, adv) palely. hands, unfit. ANTONYMS: (v) content
ANTONYMS: (adv) clearly, fortify, dissuade, discourage, annoy discord: (n, v) conflict, clash; (n)
strongly, distinctly disarming: (adj) charming, disagreement, variance, division,
dingy: (adj) dark, black, drab, dull, ingratiating, conciliatory, difference, dissension, dissonance,
muddy, impure, dim, seedy, dowdy, deferential, engaging, winning, strife, split, contention.
unclean, grimy. ANTONYMS: (adj) endearing, captivating; (v) disarm; ANTONYMS: (n) agreement,
immaculate, spotless, sparkling, (n) demobilisation, demobilization. harmony, unity, accord,
bright, neat, brilliant, interesting, ANTONYMS: (n) arming; (adj) concordance, consent, silence,
smart annoying, repulsive, irritating, concord; (v) match
diplomacy: (n) tact, delicacy, obnoxious, offensive, unpleasant discordant: (adj) conflicting,
diplomatics, statecraft, wisdom, discernible: (adj) observable, dissonant, jarring, raucous,
tactfulness, talks, wiseness, foreign apparent, visible, appreciable, incompatible, discrepant,
affairs; (n, v) politics; (adj) conspicuous, detectable, evident, inconsistent, disharmonious, harsh,
diplomatic. ANTONYMS: (n) noticeable, obvious, audible, hoarse, incongruous. ANTONYMS:
violence, indiscretion, tactlessness, palpable. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj) musical, melodic, compatible,
insensitivity indiscernible, unrecognizable, pleasant, cooperating, accordant,
diplomatist: (n) consul, ambassador, indistinguishable, obscure, agreeable, agreeing, soft
official, functionary, embassy, obscured, unnoticeable, invisible, discouraged: (adj) despondent,
diplomatic minister, nuncio, undetectable downhearted, downcast,
minister, plenipotentiary, jay, page discharging: (n) unloading, demoralized, dejected, dispirited,
directing: (adj) guiding, directive, discharge, fulfillment, acquittal; (v) disheartened, frustrated, crestfallen,
administrative, determinative, unload pessimistic, depressed.
directional, sovereign, commanding, disciple: (n) adherent, follower, ANTONYMS: (adj) uplifted,
controlling; (n) administration, devotee, scholar, pupil, believer, heartened, cheered, inspired,
conducting, conservation proselyte, cohort, learner, partisan, cheerful, encouraged, hopeful,
directness: (n) candor, frankness, votary. ANTONYMS: (n) leader, happy, calm, positive, enthusiastic
plainness, honesty, immediacy, teacher, God, instructor discouraging: (adj) discouragingly,
straightforwardness, forthrightness, disconcert: (n, v) discompose, chill, disappointing, disheartening,
openness, freedom, ingenuousness, disappoint; (v) confuse, discomfit, bad, bleak, gloomy, sad,
outspokenness. ANTONYMS: (n) baffle, derange, abash, throw, upset, demoralizing, daunting, dispiriting.
vagueness, obliqueness, unsettle, distract. ANTONYMS: (v) ANTONYMS: (adj) encouraging,
circuitousness, reticence, delicacy, comfort, soothe, settle, please, uplifting, inspiring, heartening,
caution, dishonesty encourage comfortable, hopeful
disagreeable: (adj) nasty, offensive, disconcerted: (adj) confused, discreet: (adj) circumspect, prudent,
uncomfortable, distasteful, confounded, bewildered, blank, careful, cautious, chary, discerning,
cantankerous, cross, ungrateful, embarrassed, disturbed, troubled, tactful, diplomatic, sensible, politic;
abhorrent, horrible, bad, painful. worried, ashamed, (adj, v) wise. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasant, discombobulated, bemused. elaborate, tactless, careless,
friendly, amiable, inoffensive, ANTONYMS: (adj) composed, indiscreet, reckless, bold, incautious,
acceptable, desirable, easygoing, soothed, unabashed, relaxed thoughtless, insensitive, loud,
happy, pleasing, sweet, nice disconsolate: (adj) inconsolable, blue, obvious
disappearing: (adj) vanishing, fading, cheerless, melancholy, dejected, disdain: (n, v) despise, contemn,
declining, weakening, diminishing; depressed, sad, miserable, dark, slight, ridicule; (n) contempt,
(adv) vanishingly, off; (v) disappear; crestfallen, gloomy. ANTONYMS: derision, arrogance, haughtiness,
(n) going, going away, leaving. (adj) happy, joyous, euphoric, pride; (v) scoff, disparage.
ANTONYMS: (n) appearance, consolable, enthusiastic ANTONYMS: (n) humility,
arrival; (adj) increasing discontent: (n) disapproval, admiration, reverence, worship,
disappoint: (v) fail, defeat, balk, discontentment, disaffection, approval, regard; (v) approve,
admire, praise, accept, participate ANTONYMS: (adj) truthful, calumny, contempt, depreciation,
disdainful: (adj) supercilious, principled, sincere, sporting, defamation, degradation, disgrace,
haughty, scornful, arrogant, proud, aboveboard, straightforward, scorn. ANTONYMS: (n) adoration,
cavalier, derogatory, lordly, trustworthy, open, moral, fair, legal credit, commendation, acclaim,
condescending, derisive, sneering. dishonor: (n, v) shame, discredit, compliment, admiration,
ANTONYMS: (adj) respectful, degrade, affront, abuse, taint; (v) glorification, respect
admiring, humble, approving, defile, violate; (n) disrepute, infamy, disparity: (n) disproportion,
warm, reverential, praising, degradation. ANTONYMS: (n, v) disagreement, difference,
deferential respect; (n) laurels, reverence, discrepancy, contrast, odds,
disengaged: (adj) vacant, esteem, admiration, worthiness; (v) inequality, dissonance, dissimilarity,
unemployed, disentangled, free, revere, dignify, credit, reward, divergence, gap. ANTONYMS: (n)
freed, untrammelled, devoid, award equality, parity, similarity,
unreserved, detached, liberated, disinclination: (n) dislike, distaste, correspondence, equivalence,
loosened indisposition, reluctance, antipathy, likeness, sameness, consistency,
disfigure: (adj, v) mutilate, mangle, opposition, disaffection, disrelish, agreement
maim; (v) deform, blemish, mar, unwillingness, disfavor; (n, v) dispatch: (n, v) speed, rush; (n)
damage, contort, blot, ruin, injure. disgust. ANTONYMS: (n) consignment, expedition, celerity,
ANTONYMS: (v) beautify, inclination, disposition, desire, quickness; (v) send, accelerate,
embellish, adorn, heal, decorate, tendency, keenness, willingness deliver, quicken, slay. ANTONYMS:
enhance, straighten dislodge: (v) bump, shift, throw, (n) receiving, receipt, dawdling,
disfigured: (adj) crooked, ugly, spoil, extrude, banish, discharge, dislocate, delay, loitering, silence; (v) keep,
damage, deform, shabby, hurt, expel, eject, free, move. start, begin, hold, retain
shapeless, dishonest, stained, ANTONYMS: (v) wedge, root, seat, dispel: (v) dissipate, disperse, break
blemished replace, plant, embed, stick, restore up, scatter, chase away, dissolve,
disgrace: (adj, n, v) dishonor; (n, v) disloyalty: (n) treason, betrayal, diffuse, disband, chase, dismiss,
discredit, shame, stain, blemish, treachery, dishonesty, resolve. ANTONYMS: (v) garner,
blot, slur, reproach; (v) degrade, unfaithfulness, sedition, gather, appear, attract
debase; (n) degradation. faithlessness, perfidy, infidelity, disperse: (v) dispel, spread, circulate,
ANTONYMS: (n, v) respect, esteem, deceitfulness, duplicity. break up, disband, scatter, dissipate,
credit; (v) glorify, dignify, praise; (n) ANTONYMS: (n) loyalty, diffuse, dispense, disseminate,
merit, grace, pride, rise, worthiness faithfulness, honesty, allegiance, break. ANTONYMS: (v) gather,
disgraced: (adj) shamed, dishonored, commitment, dedication, reliability collect, converge, centralize, capture,
abashed, ashamed, damaged, dismount: (v) alight, light, get off, congregate, garner, concentrate,
dishonest, humiliated, mortified, disembark, get down, fall, come swarm, crowd, aggravate
disfigured down, unhorse, go down; (adj, v) dispersed: (adj) sparse, spread,
disgracefully: (adv) shamefully, dismantle; (adj) dismast. distributed, scattered, diffused,
infamously, ingloriously, ANTONYMS: (v) mount, ascend scatter, outspread, disseminated,
scandalously, shockingly, disobedience: (n) contumacy, split, dissipated, separate
discreditably, outrageously, intractableness, rebelliousness, displaying: (n) advertising
opprobriously, offensively, breach, recalcitrance, rebellion, displeased: (adj) disgruntled,
dishonorably, indecently. refusal, noncompliance, mutiny, dissatisfied, angry, annoyed,
ANTONYMS: (adv) reputably, contravention, defiance. unhappy, peeved, irritated,
politely, commendably ANTONYMS: (n) compliance, disgusted, indignant; (v) pained,
disguised: (adj) cloaked, concealed, meekness, conformity, devotion, afflicted. ANTONYMS: (adj)
masked, secret, hidden, veiled, in order, fulfillment, loyalty contented, satisfied, calm
disguise, incognito, blind; (adj, v) disordered: (adj) chaotic, upset, sick, displeasure: (n) resentment,
private; (n) groggy. ANTONYMS: disorganized, broken, incoherent, discomfort, dissatisfaction, dislike,
(adj) recognizable, unmasked, deranged, messy, disjointed, discontent, exasperation, disfavor,
uncovered, uncloaked, revealed, disconnected, ill. ANTONYMS: (adj) annoyance, offense, pique,
open, obvious neat, ordered, organized, arranged, disapproval. ANTONYMS: (n)
disgust: (n) antipathy, aversion, quiet, regulated, systematic, satisfaction, pleasure, enjoyment,
abhorrence, abomination, systematized, straightforward, tidy happiness, delight, contentment,
detestation, dislike, repugnance; (n, disorderly: (adj) wild, disordered, equanimity, approval
v) shock, distaste; (v) nauseate, chaotic, boisterous, jumbled, disposed: (adj) prone, apt, ready,
displease. ANTONYMS: (n, v) disorganized, unruly, rowdy, subject, prepared, liable, game,
delight; (n) love, attraction, liking, untidy, irregular; (adj, v) lawless. inclined, fain, likely, minded.
adoration; (v) attract, allure, charm, ANTONYMS: (adj) orderly, neat, ANTONYMS: (adj) ailing,
entice, please arranged, peaceful, organized, indisposed, unlikely, disinclined,
dishonest: (adj) crooked, corrupt, systematized, conforming, ordered, reluctant, impervious
crafty, underhand, fraudulent, restrained, behaved, coherent disposing: (adv) disposingly; (v)
deceptive, wrong, disloyal, disparagement: (n, v) detraction, dispose; (adj) decretive, dispositive;
untruthful, unscrupulous, shifty. dispraise; (n) aspersion, derogation, (n) distribution
dispossessed: (adj) bereft, depressed, distempered: (adj) sick, diseased, diverted: (adj) abstracted,
unfortunate, underprivileged, disordered entertained, pleased, inattentive,
rundown, roofless, poor, on the distinctness: (n) clearness, sharpness, sidetracked, unfocused, preoccupied
streets, living rough, destitute, definition, otherness, perspicuity, divested: (adj) bereft, destitute,
disadvantaged discreteness, articulate sound, naked
disputant: (n) debater, separation, uncloudedness, dizzy: (adj) giddy, silly, faint,
controversialist, arguer, contestant, dissimilarity; (adj) conspicuousness. frivolous, light, vertiginous,
litigant, wrangler, polemic, denier, ANTONYM: (n) indistinctness brainsick, featherbrained, flighty,
brawler, accuser, brangler distinguishable: (adj, adv) muzzy; (v) daze. ANTONYMS: (adj)
disputed: (adj) moot, disputable, appreciable, perceptible, definite, alert, balanced, intelligent, poised,
opposed, open to discussion, visible; (adj) distinct, apparent, rational, steady, sober, serious
uncertain, dubious, doubtful, marked, differentiable, recognizable; docility: (n) obedience, tractability,
debatable (adv) observable, noticeable. meekness, flexibility, docibleness,
disqualified: (adj) ineligible, ANTONYM: (adj) inseparable submission, deference, humility,
disentitled, incapable, incompetent, distinguishing: (adj) distinctive, gentleness, willingness,
unable, unfit, deficient, barred, identifying, typical, discriminating, tractableness
unentitled, banned, not entitled. specific, distinct, peculiar; (adv) dodge: (n, v) stratagem, maneuver;
ANTONYM: (adj) eligible distinguishingly; (adj, v) (v) avoid, evade, escape, elude,
disregard: (n, v) disdain, slight, discriminative; (v) distinguish; (n) duck, fudge; (n) contrivance, cheat,
scorn; (n) carelessness, contempt; (v) hearing. ANTONYMS: (adj) scheme. ANTONYMS: (v) confront,
discount, defy, despise, cut, flout; common, typical encounter, meet, accept
(adj, v) overlook. ANTONYMS: (v) distracted: (adj) demented, dodging: (n) dodge, evasion, escape,
notice, heed, value, obey, accept, inattentive, abstracted, crazy, circumvention, selective shading,
consider; (n) respect, frenzied, distraught, preoccupied, shirking, evading, elusion,
thoughtfulness, consideration, distressed, confused; (adj, v) mad, shunning, pastime; (adj) shifty
attention; (n, v) regard disconcerted. ANTONYMS: (adj) doleful: (adj) mournful, sorrowful,
disregarded: (adj) unnoticed, attentive, alert, assured, calm, sad, disconsolate, melancholy,
neglected, unseen, written off, mellow miserable, piteous, dolorous,
wretchless, unvalued, unheeded, distraction: (adj, n) desperation, somber, woeful; (adj, v) dolesome.
overlooked, lost, irrecoverable; (v) raving; (n) beguilement, pastime, ANTONYMS: (adj) gleeful, happy,
unregarded diversion, confusion, entertainment, glad, cheery, elated, euphoric
disregarding: (adv) irregardless, no disturbance, daze, recreation; (adj) domesticated: (adj) tame, vernacular,
matter, disregardless, irrespective madness. ANTONYMS: (n) subdued, gentle, tamed, naturalized,
dissatisfied: (adj) discontent, fascination, attentiveness, attention, submissive, depressed, crushed,
disgruntled, disappointed, put out, noninterference, calmness, cade, broken. ANTONYM: (adj)
displeased, malcontent, grumpy, concentration wild
annoyed, disaffected; (adj, v) distrust: (n, v) mistrust, discredit; (n) dominion: (n) authority, control,
querulous, complaining. suspicion, misgiving, disbelief, domain, command, reign, rule,
ANTONYMS: (adj) content, uncertainty, hesitation; (v) suspect, sway, power, kingdom, mastery,
contented, happy, fulfilled, gratified, disbelieve, question; (adj) supremacy. ANTONYM: (n)
pleased, idealistic distrustful. ANTONYMS: (n) subjugation
dissembled: (adj) secret, treacherous confidence, faith, trustingness, don't: (adv) not; (n) taboo,
dissenting: (adj) dissident, heretical, certainty, belief, optimism; (v) prohibition
discordant, profane, unorthodox, believe, entrust, depend, confide dormant: (adj) inactive, torpid, inert,
uncooperative, skeptical, distrusted: (adj) suspect smoldering, suspended, inoperative,
sacrilegious, recalcitrant; (v) distrusting: (adj) doubting, potential, sluggish, quiescent, latent,
disagreeing, disagree. ANTONYMS: suspicious, disbelieving, quiet. ANTONYMS: (adj) overt,
(adj) conformist, cooperative unbelieving extinct, dynamic, alive, awake
dissimilar: (adj) different, disparate, divers: (adj, v) sundry, various, dotted: (adj) speckled, dappled,
diverse, heterogeneous, unlike, separate; (adj) several, many, specked, spotted, dashed, stippled,
divergent, distinct, not like, not diverse, miscellaneous, not a few, scattered, spotty, dot, mottled,
similar, unequal, separate. varied; (v) diversified; (n) diver broken
ANTONYMS: (adj) similar, like, diversion: (n) amusement, doubling: (n) folding, duplication,
alike, equal, matched, same, entertainment, pastime, deviation, repetition, artifice, twisting, furring,
uniform, indistinct distraction, detour, fun, sport, gemination, plication, reduplication,
dissolve: (v) break up, disperse, recreation, digression, deflexion duplicity; (v) guile
dissipate, evaporate, fuse, melt, divert: (adj, v) distract; (v) entertain, doubly: (adv) twice, twofold, two
disband, fade, vanish, resolve, avert, delight, deflect, deviate, times, in two ways, dualistically
dispel. ANTONYMS: (v) solidify, beguile, depart, disport, digress, doubting: (adj) doubtful, distrustful,
appear, harden, thicken, coagulate, sidetrack. ANTONYMS: (v) bore, disbelieving, incredulous, doubt,
congeal, continue, integrate, irritate, maintain, set, upset, stay, skeptical, suspicious, sceptical,
materialize, open, start displease, sadden wary, doubts, distrusting.
ANTONYM: (adj) credulous dullness, gloominess, boringness, duet: (n) twosome, deuce, brace, pair,
doubtingly: (adv) distrustfully, dulness, depression, boredom, duo, duetto, dyad, two, Twain,
skeptically, suspiciously, sceptically, sadness, bleakness, gloom. Gemini, twins
uncertainly, questioningly, ANTONYMS: (n) brightness, dullness: (n) apathy, bluntness,
hesitantly, cynically, cheerfulness, splendor boredom, dreariness, flatness,
apprehensively, incredulously; (adj) dreary: (adj) depressing, drab, dull, tedium, obtuseness, torpor,
doubting. ANTONYM: (adv) cheerless, drear, miserable, gloomy, monotony, lethargy; (adj, n) phlegm.
optimistically dark, dismal, stuffy, disconsolate. ANTONYMS: (n) brightness,
dove: (n) turtledove, squab, emblem, ANTONYMS: (adj) interesting, intensity, brilliance, excitement,
pacificist, pacifist, poultry, dover, cheerful, sunny, brilliant, lively, intelligence, shine, asperity,
pigeon, Holy Spirit, culver, peacenik light, exciting, clear, cheery, animation, gloss, clarity, variation
downcast: (adj) depressed, dejected, pleasant, exotic dunce: (n) dolt, blockhead,
dispirited, blue, desolate, drifting: (adj, adv) aimless, loggerhead, ignoramus, numskull,
disconsolate, gloomy, low, sad, wandering; (adv) adrift; (adj) ass, bonehead, booby, dunderhead,
downhearted, discouraged. floating, nomadic, vagabond, dullard, dummy. ANTONYMS: (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) cheerful, rootless, roaming, wayfaring, thinker, scholar, intellectual, genius
vivacious, cheery, elated, joyous, up, migratory; (n) running with the duplicity: (n) deception, dishonesty,
positive regulator closed. ANTONYM: (adj) artifice, craft, deceitfulness, guile,
downfall: (n) ruin, decline, resident treachery, betrayal, chicanery, fraud,
destruction, debacle, defeat, descent, driftwood: (n) wood, refuse, debris trickery. ANTONYMS: (n) loyalty,
decadence, failure, undoing, droop: (adj, v) decline; (v) dangle, sincerity, straightforwardness,
devastation, bane. ANTONYMS: (n) wilt, hang, flag, sink, slump, loll, allegiance, truthfulness
making, ascension, lift, salvation, collapse; (n, v) sag, pine. durance: (n) captivity, dure,
victory, creation, beginning ANTONYMS: (v) rise, bloom incarceration, imprisonment,
downright: (adj, n) absolute; (adj, v) drooping: (adj) flabby, pendulous, immurement, duress
sheer, clear; (adj) dead, blunt, limp, flaccid, cernuous, flagging, duress: (n) compulsion, coercion,
candid, plain; (adv) absolutely, languid, floppy, lax, tired; (n) droop. constraint, pressure, force, durance,
thoroughly, wholly, decidedly. ANTONYMS: (adj) taut, firm menace, threat, enforcement,
ANTONYMS: (adj) semi, limited, drown: (v) drench, submerge, intimidation, coaction
incomplete, questionable, slight; overwhelm, choke, engulf, flood, dusky: (adj) dark, cloudy, gloomy,
(adv) hardly swamp, inundate, suffocate, black, swarthy, dull, murky,
downward: (adv) underneath, under, asphyxiate; (adj, n, v) sink. obscure, dingy, sooty, somber.
below, downwards, downwardly, ANTONYMS: (v) float, swim, ANTONYMS: (adj) light, bright,
beneath, down below; (adj) amplify, dry sunny, radiant, clear
downcast, sloping, depressed, drowsiness: (n) sleepiness, lethargy, dutiful: (adj) duteous, good, faithful,
downright. ANTONYMS: (adv) up; dullness, doziness, laziness, docile, devoted, deferential,
(adj) rising somnolency, inertia, drowse, compliant, loyal, pious, meek,
doxology: (n) hosanna, hymn, grace, lassitude, languor, sluggishness. constant. ANTONYMS: (adj)
praise, glorification, anthem ANTONYM: (n) alertness unfaithful, undutiful, disrespectful,
drapery: (n) drape, clothing, dress, drowsy: (adj, n) sleepy; (adj) lazy, irresponsible, negligent, assertive,
blind, raiment, costume, toilette, comatose, somnolent, slow, impious, irreverent, neglectful,
furnishings, trim, guise, toilet lethargic, sluggish, dull, indolent, thoughtful, uncaring
draught: (n, v) draft, sketch, design, soporific, listless. ANTONYMS: dwarf: (adj, n) midget, miniature; (n)
potation, plan; (n) dose, air current, (adj) energetic, awake, lively, gnome, fairy, brownie, manikin,
wind, gulp, outline; (v) blueprint vigorous, vivacious, refreshed pygmy; (v) overshadow; (adj) little,
dread: (n, v) apprehension, fear, drunkard: (n) alcoholic, drinker, runt, baby. ANTONYMS: (adj) large,
panic; (n) anxiety, awe, boozer, dipsomaniac, rummy, big, huge; (v) maximize
consternation, alarm, trepidation, inebriate, toper, sot, bibber, lush, dwell: (adj, v) inhabit; (v) reside,
dismay, foreboding, terror. imbiber bide, live, stay, lodge, delay, occupy,
ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasing, drying: (n) curing, desiccation, continue, be, settle. ANTONYM: (v)
welcomed, pleasant; (v) welcome, seasoning, dryness, ventilation, wander
want; (n) reassurance, fearlessness, drying up, aeration, airing; (adj) dwelling: (n) domicile, home,
confidence, security, ease, calm desiccative, siccative, parching residence, house, place,
dreaded: (adj) awful, terrible, dryly: (adv) coldly, sternly, sourly, accommodation, address, building,
cowardly, causing horror, dire, sarcastically, laconically, huskily. lodge, habitation; (adj, n) dwell
direful, desperate, dreadful, fearful, ANTONYMS: (adv) interestingly, dwelt: (v) dwell, inhabit
fearsome; (v) drad warmly dyed: (adj) colored, tinted, coloured,
dreaming: (n) reverie, ambition, ductile: (adj) pliable, flexible, bleached, stained, painted,
nightmare, conception, castle in the malleable, yielding, lithesome, artificially coloured, biased,
air; (adj) absent-minded, asleep, limber, tensile, supple, limp, artificial, unreal, colorful
visionary, vacant, wistful, rapt tensible, tractable. ANTONYMS: dyeing: (n, v) pigmenting; (n)
dreariness: (n) desolation, tedium, (adj) rigid, stiff, unyielding, hard staining, blacking
eagerness: (n, v) desire, aspiration; vogue, magnificence; (v) emission, interjection, discharge,
(n) enthusiasm, avidity, cupidity, commendation, praise, laud; (n, v) vociferation, expelling, exclaiming,
readiness, passion, keenness, acclaim eruption, shout, emanation
ambition, fervor, avidness. ecstasy: (n) delight, rapture, joy, bliss, elan: (n) ardor, ardour, zeal, vitality,
ANTONYMS: (n) indifference, delirium, happiness, trance, zest, eagerness, pep, verve, fire,
unwillingness, aloofness, disinterest, enthusiasm, exaltation, elation; (n, v) fervency, spirit. ANTONYM: (n)
lethargy, listlessness, patience, transport. ANTONYMS: (n) clumsiness
gloom, reluctance desolation, gloom, elapsed: (adj) gone, forgotten, lapsed,
eagles: (n) order Falconiformes, downheartedness, melancholy, back, beyond, onwards, over and
caracaras, Falconiformes depression, dejection, anguish, done
earnest: (adj, v) devout; (adj) eager, sadness, despair, agony, bore elastic: (adj) flexible, springy, soft,
solemn, heartfelt, diligent, studious, eddies: (n) turbulence pliable, resilient, limber, pliant,
sincere, intense, ardent, staid; (n) eddy: (n, v) purl, twirl, spin, gurge; yielding, ductile, buoyant; (n)
guarantee. ANTONYMS: (adj) (v) whirlpool, swirl, turn; (n) vortex, rubber band. ANTONYMS: (adj)
flippant, halfhearted, uncertain, maelstrom, twist, whir rigid, stiff, inflexible, inelastic,
insincere, unimportant, nonchalant, edging: (n) border, edge, brim, brink, unadaptable, intolerant, firm, hard,
lethargic, apathetic, unenthusiastic, lace, trimming, boundary, galloon, unyielding
indifferent, frivolous hem, list, frame elevated: (adj) exalted, towering,
earnestly: (adj, adv) seriously; (adv) edification: (n) enlightenment, noble, lofty, grand, great, majestic,
eagerly, intently, zealously, education, illumination, building, tall, elated, magnanimous; (adj, v)
solemnly, ardently, fervently, disenchantment, architecture, steep. ANTONYMS: (adj) base,
heartily, gravely, warmly, disillusionment, civilization, lowly, decreased, humble, inferior,
passionately. ANTONYMS: (adv) schooling, teaching, learning lessened, low, sunken, undignified,
indifferently, insincerely, edifice: (n) building, structure, house, lowered
unconcernedly, jokingly hall, fabric, aviary, bagnio, elevating: (adj) inspiring,
earnestness: (n) seriousness, bathhouse, abattoir, bawdyhouse, exhilarating
sincerity, gravity, fervor, devotion, clubhouse elevation: (n) height, highness,
graveness, staidness, honesty; (adj, effected: (adj) completed, complete, exaltation, ascent, climb, hill,
n) ardor, zeal, intentness. finished, fulfilled, done, realized, aggrandizement, raise, El, Alt,
ANTONYMS: (n) slackness, conventional, constituted, stature. ANTONYMS: (n)
lightness, carelessness, established degradation, descent, levelness,
frivolousness, cheerfulness, effecting: (n) accomplishment, depression, downgrading,
insincerity, flippancy implementation, completing, demotion, drop, depth
earshot: (n) earreach, audience, finishing, fulfillment, carrying out; elicited: (adj) evoked, elicit
auditory modality, stone's throw, (adj) effectual elongation: (n) extension, stretch,
audition, auditory sense, range; (n, effectual: (adj, n) efficient, expansion, longness, improver,
v) sound efficacious, able; (adj) forceful, length, production, renewal,
earthen: (adj) clay, ceramic, telling, authoritative, operative, continuation, protraction,
earthenware potent, adequate, impressive, lengthening
earthly: (adj, n) terrestrial; (adj) powerful. ANTONYMS: (adj) eloquence: (n) style, fluency, oratory,
carnal, worldly, conceivable, ineffectual, incapable, weak, rhetoric, articulateness, expression,
human, geotic, secular, terrene, impotent, ineffective, unproductive, volubility, persuasiveness,
temporal, telluric, sublunary. unsuccessful, useless articulacy, facundity, way with
ANTONYMS: (adj) spiritual, divine, effectually: (adv) efficaciously, words. ANTONYM: (n)
ethereal, immortal, impossible, effectively, validly, adequately, inarticulateness
improbable, inconceivable, celestial potently, tellingly, strongly, eloquent: (adj) glib, fluent,
eats: (n) grub, chuck, food, meat, decisively; (adj) nicely, fully, head persuasive, expressive, meaningful,
meal, diet, nurture, eat, dinner, and shoulders. ANTONYM: (adv) significant, graphic, vivid, speaking,
board, feed ineffectually forcible, moving. ANTONYMS: (adj)
eavesdropper: (v) auditor, hearer, efficacy: (n) effect, potency, incoherent, innocent,
informer, listener; (n) snooper, effectiveness, capability, force, straightforward, weak
tapper, snoop, quidnunc, Paul Pry, efficiency, efficaciousness, utility, elude: (adj, v) evade, circumvent; (v)
newsmonger, delator vigor, strength, usefulness. dodge, duck, avoid, skirt, escape,
ebbing: (n) wane, ebb, diminution, ANTONYMS: (n) inefficiency, baffle, defy, shirk, bilk.
disappearance; (adj) dying, refluent ineffectiveness, uselessness ANTONYMS: (v) face, encounter,
echoing: (adj) resonant, hollow, effrontery: (n) audacity, brass, meet, acquire
resounding, deep, booming, loud, presumption, face, boldness, eluding: (n) chemise, case, cutting,
ringing, spacious, vast; (n) imitation, insolence, nerve, impertinence, slip, berth; (adj) intangible
roll. ANTONYMS: (adj) thin, weak, impudence, rudeness, assurance. emaciation: (n) gauntness,
cramped ANTONYMS: (n) timidity, maceration, thinness, leanness,
eclat: (n) acclamation, celebrity, deference, courtesy consumption; (v) tabes, collapse,
brilliance, elegance, grandness, ejaculation: (n) cry, ejection, tabefaction, marasmus; (adj)
macilency, marcor expressly endeavoring: (n) effort; (adj) aspiring
embankment: (n) dam, bank, empiric: (n) quack, impostor, endeavors: (n) activities, deeds,
bulwark, weir, wall, jetty, rampart, mountebank, empiricist, Gypsy, events, Comings and Goings,
mound, pier, pond, fortification medicaster, quacksalver, undertakings, accomplishments,
embedded: (adj) fixed, embedding, saltimbanco, saltimbanque; (adj) happenings
inbuilt, inserted, integrated, empirical, experiential endowed: (adj) gifted, clever, cute,
enclosed, understood, entrenched, empiricism: (n) experimentalism, felicitous, competent, blessed,
firm, unspoken, inherent. quackery, rule of thumb, experience, artistic, brilliant, ingenious, talented,
ANTONYM: (adj) explicit charlatanism, charlatanry, empiricist qualitied
embellished: (adj) ornamented, philosophy, positive, positivist, endowments: (n) beneficence,
rhetorical, decorated, fancy, florid, discovery, sensationalism accomplishments, advantage
tall, rich, embroidered, elaborate, emptied: (adj) empty, void, depleted, endure: (adj, n, v) continue, support;
baroque; (prep) beautied emptier, annulled, open, vacuous (n, v) bear, suffer, stand, be; (v)
embellishing: (adj) decorative, emulate: (v) contend, compete, accept, undergo, allow, stay,
beautifying imitate, rival, contest, echo, tolerate. ANTONYMS: (v) perish,
embellishment: (n) decoration, reproduce, follow, ape, mimic; (adj) die, break, fall, discontinue,
adornment, ornament, flourish, vie crumble, end, enjoy, resign, quit,
ornamentation, enhancement, emulating: (adj) rival collapse
enrichment, beautification, enact: (v) constitute, pass, command, enfeebled: (adj) infirm, enervated,
embroidery, garnish, hyperbole. act, ordain, order, prescribe, feeble, decrepit, crippled, old,
ANTONYM: (n) understatement legislate, play, perform; (adj, v) adynamic; (adj, v) sickly, vacillating;
embers: (v) cinder, ash, scoriae; (n) establish. ANTONYMS: (v) cancel, (v) weak, accessible
fire, ashes abolish, annul, fail, reject, repeal, engrossed: (adj) rapt, engaged, intent,
emblem: (n) flag, type, device, veto, revoke, stop occupied, preoccupied, busy,
allegory, character, crest, sign, enacting: (adj) legislative; (n) acting fascinated, obsessed, thoughtful,
badge, figure, ensign, symbol encampment: (n) camp, campsite, hooked; (adj, v) immersed.
emblematic: (adj, v) symbolic, bivouac, campground, camping site, ANTONYMS: (adj) disinterested,
typical, characteristic; (adj) camping ground, camping, bored, distracted, indifferent,
allegorical, figurative, symbolical, cantonment, barracks, camping area, unconcerned, uninterested,
typic, emblematical; (v) bivouacking inattentive, carefree
symptomatic, diacritical, encased: (adj) incased, sheathed engrossing: (adj) fascinating,
demonstrative. ANTONYM: (adj) encircle: (adv, n, v) compass; (adv, v) riveting, gripping, captivating,
uncharacteristic beset, surround, enclose, entrancing, enthralling, beguiling,
embodied: (adj) incarnate, corporate, encompass, environ; (v) besiege, charming, enchanting; (adj, v)
corporeal, corporal, bodied, circumvent, bound; (n, v) circle, interesting; (v) engross.
personified, incorporated, embrace. ANTONYM: (v) expose ANTONYMS: (adj) uninteresting,
combined, tangible, associated, in encircled: (adj) enclosed, bounded, dull, monotonous, tiresome,
person circinate, circular, decorated, unexciting
emboldened: (adj) bold delimited, ringed, wreathed, enlightening: (adj) edifying,
embossed: (adj) raised, brocaded, bordered, annulated, annular instructive, illuminating, didactic,
stamped, decorated, prominent, encircling: (adj, prep) surrounding; educational, calming,
bossy; (n) relief (prep) around; (adj) comprehensive, communicative, clarifying, useful,
embraced: (adj) popular encompassing, roundabout, taming, revealing. ANTONYMS:
eminence: (n) distinction, elevation, circuitous, rotary, circumferential, (adj) mystifying, unedifying,
altitude, celebrity, superiority, rank, inclusive; (v) encircle unenlightening, unilluminating
excellence, fame, glory, prominence, encomium: (n) eulogy, panegyric, enlist: (v) engage, recruit, employ,
status. ANTONYMS: (n) paean, glorification, compliment, enroll, gain, get, join up, hire,
insignificance, cavity, depression, tribute, approval, kudos; (n, v) acquire, join, enter. ANTONYMS:
unimportance, dip, commonness, praise, applause; (v) acclaim (v) discharge, resign, quit, dodge,
inferiority encumbered: (adj) burdened, avoid, leave, fire
emphatic: (adj) decided, categorical, burdensome, weighed down, heavy, enlistment: (n) conscription,
expressive, forceful, pronounced, deep, clayey, cloggy. ANTONYM: recruitment, duty tour, enrollment,
assertive, loud, important, (adj) unencumbered period, check, arrest, amount of
emphatical, insistent; (adj, v) endearing: (adj) adorable, lovable, time, hitch, engagement,
absolute. ANTONYMS: (adj) lovely, charming, sweet, attractive, mobilization
insignificant, unassertive, engaging, pretty, winning, pleasant, enliven: (v) animate, inspire, refresh,
understated, unemphatic, cute. ANTONYMS: (adj) despicable, encourage, exhilarate, elate, liven
halfhearted repellent, detestable, unpleasant up, stimulate, invigorate, energize;
emphatically: (adv) decidedly, endeavor: (n, v) struggle, try, strain; (adj, v) brighten. ANTONYMS: (v)
definitely, positively, categorically, (n) effort, trial, essay, shot, bore, subdue, tire, spoil, dull,
flatly, distinctly, absolutely, enterprise, work; (v) strive, aim. deflate, dampen, deaden, exhaust,
explicitly, forcefully, firmly, ANTONYMS: (n, v) neglect depress
enmity: (n, v) animosity; (n) enviable: (adj) invidious, v) respect, value, consideration,
antagonism, animus, hostility, advantageous, envious, happy, account; (v) appreciate, deem, adore,
aggression, rancor, ill will, pleasing, attractive. ANTONYMS: admire, count. ANTONYMS: (v)
antipathy, hatred, war, dislike. (adj) unwelcomed, undesirable, scorn, hate, disdain, insult, despise,
ANTONYMS: (n) friendship, undesired, unpleasant abominate, abhor, dislike, reject; (n)
friendliness, affinity, love, kindness, environs: (adj, n) purlieus; (n) disesteem, disapproval
affection, adoration, amity, vicinity, confines, outskirts, esteemed: (adj) dear, reputable,
cooperation, goodwill environment, entourage, precincts, respected, honorable, noble,
enriched: (adj) educated scene, surround, surroundings; (adj) honored, prestigious, important,
enslaved: (adj) captive, locked up, vicinage distinguished, August, respect.
charmed, incarcerated, in bondage, equestrian: (n) rider, trooper, trainer, ANTONYM: (adj) disreputable
in prison, bound, subject, beguiled, buster, roughrider, horsewoman, estimation: (n) deference,
cringing; (v) subjected horseback rider, breaker, postilion; assessment, calculation,
entailed: (adj) eldest, eigne (adj) mounted approximation, appraisal, attention;
enterprising: (adj) bold, energetic, equipments: (n) paraphernalia, (n, v) esteem, consideration, regard,
active, aggressive, courageous, facility, attire, appendages, reputation, credit. ANTONYMS: (n)
vigorous, ambitious, go-ahead, equipage, accouterments calculation, disbelief, doubt
brave, pushing; (adj, n) daring. equivocation: (n) evasion, quibble, eternity: (n) aeon, afterlife, forever,
ANTONYMS: (adj) lethargic, ambiguity, casuistry, perpetuity, timelessness,
unenterprising, passive, inactive, misrepresentation, hedging, endlessness, everlasting, endless
indolent, lazy, cautious, cowardly equivocalness, tergiversation, time, everlastingness, everness,
entertained: (adj) diverted, pleased circumlocution, deception; (n, v) existence. ANTONYMS: (n)
enthralled: (adj) charmed, shuffling finiteness, impermanence
spellbound, fascinated, absorbed, erased: (adj) dead, forgotten etiquette: (n) decorum, rite, civility,
rapt, enslaved, engrossed, delighted, erecting: (n) construction, building, protocol, label, form, convention,
beguiled, bond, enchanted erection decency, formality, tag, custom
entitle: (v) dub, style, designate, ermine: (n) purple, pelt, fur, weasel, eulogy: (n, v) encomium, praise; (n)
christen, empower, term, baptize, pall, shorttail weasel, mantle, toga, compliment, eulogium, paean,
authorize; (n, v) title, name, millinery, robes of state panegyric, speech, tribute; (v)
denominate. ANTONYMS: (v) errand: (n) chore, mission, job, task, applause, acclaim, eulogize.
disqualify, debar assignment, embassy, duty, charge, ANTONYMS: (n) damning,
entreat: (v) beg, beseech, ask, messenger, communication, work vilification, condemnation
implore, pray, adjure, appeal, erroneously: (adv) mistakenly, evasive: (adj) shifty, oblique,
request, conjure, crave, bid. falsely, incorrectly, faultily, ambiguous, devious, elusory,
ANTONYMS: (v) demand, reject inaccurately, fallaciously, wrong, shuffling, roundabout, deceitful,
entreating: (adj) beseeching, inexactly, untruely, misguidedly, equivocal, indefinite, furtive.
imploring, suppliant, begging, amiss. ANTONYMS: (adv) ANTONYMS: (adj) forthright,
supplicant, imploratory, asking accurately, rightly direct, unambiguous,
submissively, pleading, piteous eruption: (adj, n) burst, blast, straightforward, honest, candid,
entreaty: (n) plea, prayer, request, explosion; (adj) detonation, straight, clear, careless
petition, adjuration, supplication, discharge; (n) rash, spurt, outburst, evasively: (adv) shiftily, deceptively,
suit, demand, desire, invocation; (v) eructation, effusion, bang. elusively, indirectly, deceitfully,
solicitation ANTONYMS: (n) retention, slump shufflingly, falsely, misleadingly,
entrenched: (adj) ingrained, escaping: (n) evasion, getaway, ambiguously, cautiously, carefully.
established, inveterate, set, steadfast, break, breakout, running away, ANTONYM: (adv) carelessly
unwavering, constant, rooted, running off, run-around; (adj) everlasting: (adj) eternal, ceaseless,
immovable, fixed, firm. fugitive endless, constant, continual,
ANTONYM: (adj) mild eschewing: (n) renunciation perpetual, immortal, deathless,
enumerated: (adj) detailed escutcheon: (n) buckler, shield, ageless, aeonian; (adj, n) lasting.
enumeration: (n) count, counting, esquire, protection, plate, arms, a ANTONYMS: (adj) finite,
computation, list, calculation, shield, cover plate, escocheon, finger ephemeral, fleeting, mortal, ending,
catalogue, recital, account, tally, plate terminating, inconstant, fragile,
reckoning, listing especial: (adj) extraordinary, special, perishable
enunciation: (n) delivery, elocution, specific, chief, individual, distinct, evils: (n) mala
articulation, pronunciation, speech, distinctive, characteristic, evolutions: (n) evolution
declaration, annunciation, accent, appropriate, peculiar, express. exaction: (n) extortion, demand,
assertion, inflection, expression ANTONYMS: (adj) general, normal, blackmail, reclamation,
enveloped: (adj) convoluted, common, unexceptional, usual revendication, tax, requirement,
enclosed, cover, bounded, espoused: (adj) affianced, enforcement, force, imposition,
Byzantine, clothed, involved, misty, matrimonial, betrothed; (n) better assessment
swallowed, vestured, emotionally half exactness: (n) correctness, accuracy,
involved esteem: (n) deference, admiration; (n, exactitude, truth, rigor, trueness,
accurateness, fidelity, punctuality, exclamatory: (adj) emphatic, expedient: (adj) fit, advisable,
veracity, strictness. ANTONYMS: exclamative, forceful, emphasised, becoming, desirable, adequate, apt,
(n) inexactness, fuzziness, emphasized convenient, suitable; (n) contrivance,
inaccuracy, negligence, inexactitude, execute: (v) do, achieve, complete, resource, artifice. ANTONYMS:
incorrectness perform, accomplish, act, effect, (adj) inappropriate, inexpedient,
exaggerate: (v) boast, aggravate, carry out, enforce, make, fulfill. impractical, futile, detrimental,
amplify, dramatize, overdo, ANTONYMS: (v) abandon, ignore, inconvenient, foolish
overdraw, brag, overstate, magnify, disregard, Miss, forget, shirk, revive expedite: (n, v) accelerate; (v)
aggrandize, enhance. ANTONYMS: executing: (n) performing, execution, dispatch, advance, hasten, speed,
(v) minimize, alleviate, weaken decapitation, capital punishment, quicken, assist, hurry, hurry up,
exasperated: (adj) incensed, annoyed, electrocution, death penalty, rush, precipitate. ANTONYMS: (v)
enraged, angered, indignant, mad, crucifixion, implementation, stop, delay, halt, hinder, impede
irate, irritated, cheesed off, testy; corporal punishment; (v) perform, expeditiously: (adv) swiftly, rapidly,
(adj, prep) provoked. ANTONYM: execute fleetly, quickly, efficiently, hastily,
(adj) pleased exemplary: (adj) model, typical, agilely, speedily, fast, expeditely,
exasperating: (adj) annoying, representative, classic, admonitory, fastly
bothersome, maddening, ideal, warning, commendable, expend: (v) disburse, exhaust, spend,
infuriating, trying, irritating, worthy, excellent, virtuous. dissipate, squander, use, deplete,
tedious, vexatious, vexing, galling, ANTONYMS: (adj) awful, lousy, employ, to spend, absorb, swallow
exacerbating. ANTONYMS: (adj) poor, unconventional, up. ANTONYMS: (v) save, hold,
pleasing, pleasant, satisfying reprehensible, wrong, substandard, keep
exceeding: (prep) beyond, more than, blameworthy expended: (adj) spent, finished, dead,
greater than; (adj) excessive, exert: (v) wield, employ, act, use, departed, unpursed, bypast, bygone,
transcendent, extraordinary, apply, strain, operate, have recourse deceased, gone, completely
exceptional, prodigious, surpassing, to, profit by; (n) excite, energize exhausted; (v) expending
Olympian; (v) exceed exerting: (n) push explode: (v) erupt, detonate,
exceedingly: (adj, adv) very, highly; exertion: (n) application, exercise, discharge, blow up, crack,
(adv) too, exceptionally, overly, endeavor, attempt, struggle, trouble, fulminate, break, burst forth,
surpassingly, extraordinarily, diligence, strain, labor, pull, essay. disprove, blast; (n, v) burst.
greatly, awfully, terrifically, ANTONYMS: (n) idleness, ANTONYMS: (v) implode, fizzle,
eminently. ANTONYMS: (adv) inactivity, inertia, relaxation, confirm, defuse, collapse
slightly, hardly, insufficiently, laziness, ease exposing: (n) exposure,
somewhat exhale: (v) breathe, blow, emit, announcement; (adj) revealing,
excel: (v) top, surpass, cap, outdo, expire, evaporate, breathe out, opposed
pass, eclipse, beat, transcend, lead, respire, smoke, steam, transpire, expounding: (n) interpretation,
outshine; (adj, v) better. give off exhibition, definition, construal,
ANTONYMS: (v) flunk, trail exhausting: (adj) difficult, grueling, expo; (adj) illuminating, instructive,
excellency: (n) highness, merit, tiring, tiresome, exhaustingly, illustrative, descriptive, clarifying
majesty, mightiness, virtue, strenuous, draining, wearing, expressive: (adj) significant,
splendor, superiority, worship, wearisome, wearying, hard. meaningful, descriptive, mobile,
grace, chastity, glory ANTONYMS: (adj) undemanding, revelatory, indicative, articulate,
excepted: (v) except; (adj) let off, refreshing, easy, light graphic, emphatic, suggestive, vivid.
excused exhibited: (adj) ostensible, avowed, ANTONYMS: (adj) unemotional,
excepting: (conj, prep) but, bar; (n, apparent, declared undemonstrative, nondescript, cold,
prep) except for, exclusive of; (prep) exhibiting: (n) advertising; (adj) expressionless, empty, emotionless,
aside from, besides, apart from, exhibitory, ostensive inarticulate, innocent, impassive,
barring, excluding, with the exorcism: (n) bewitchery, incantation, reserved
exception of; (v) saving. supernaturalism, mysticism, second exquisite: (adj) beautiful, delicate,
ANTONYM: (prep) including sight, mesmerism, charm, excellent, dainty, gorgeous,
excite: (v) arouse, enliven, disturb, abracadabra, dispossession, magic, admirable, acute, heavenly, choice,
agitate, awaken, incite, inspire, enchantment wonderful; (adj, v) delightful.
rouse, electrify; (n, v) energize; (adj, expanse: (n) breadth, expansion, ANTONYMS: (adj) dull, inferior,
v) quicken. ANTONYMS: (v) calm, space, region, compass, extent, orbit, ugly, subdued, rough, poor, coarse,
pacify, bore, soothe, stifle, latitude, acreage, dilation, length. mild, imperfect, horrible, flawed
tranquilize, placate, quiet, dampen ANTONYM: (n) closeness exquisitely: (adv) excellently, finely,
exclaiming: (n) deuce, Dickens, expediency: (n) utility, convenience, magnificently, perfectly, beautifully,
ejaculation, exclaim, devil, advantage, fitness, advisability, gorgeously, superbly, keenly,
interjection, ecphonesis pertinence, expedient, benefit, subtlely; (adj, adv) intensely,
exclamation: (n) clamor, ejaculation, effectiveness, value, pertinency. exceedingly
exclaiming, utterance, whoop, ANTONYMS: (n) impracticality, extempore: (adj) extemporary,
interjection, shout, expletive, deuce, inconvenience, inexpedience, offhanded, offhand, at short notice,
Dickens, ecphonesis unsuitability, uselessness improvised, unprepared; (adj, adv)
impromptu, ad-lib; (adv) rejoicing, prideful, elated, sophistry; (adj, n) subterfuge.
extemporaneously, extemporarily, disdainful, triumphal; (v) exult; (n) ANTONYMS: (n) fact, truth,
without preparation joy validity, verity, understanding,
exterior: (adj, n) outside, surface, exultingly: (adv) triumphantly, correctness
outward; (n) appearance, skin, front; jubilantly, rejoicingly, pridefully, fallow: (adj) dormant, yellow,
(adj) external, superficial, outlying, triumphally unbroken, uncultivated, citrine,
outer, outdoor. ANTONYMS: (adj, eyesight: (n) sight, seeing, aureate, idle, unplanted, unseeded;
n) interior, inside; (adj) inner, discernment, vision power, ability to (n) tillage, tilth. ANTONYMS: (adj)
internal, intrinsic, middle, deep make discerning judgments, view, planted, fertile, cultivated, active,
exterminated: (adj) broken, extinct, sightedness, optics, beholding prolific, creative
destroyed completely, lost, wiped fabled: (adj) imaginary, mythical, falsehood: (n) fable, fabrication,
out, annihilated mythological, fancied, dummy, deception, untruth, lie, fib, fiction,
externally: (adv) superficially, fabulous, unreal, fictitious, magic, invention, dishonesty; (adj, n)
exteriorly, outsidely, outerly, magical, enchanted. ANTONYMS: deceit, falsity. ANTONYMS: (n) fact,
without, foreignly, extrinsically, (adj) factual, unknown, prosaic, real honesty, reality
surfacely, extraneously, fabricate: (v) construct, concoct, familiarity: (adj, n) acquaintance; (n)
peripherally, outlyingly. create, devise, contrive, make, build, intimacy, closeness, experience,
ANTONYM: (adv) internally erect; (adv, v) invent; (n, v) coin, casualness, conversancy,
extinguish: (v) destroy, exterminate, forge. ANTONYMS: (v) demolish, knowledge, conversance,
eradicate, douse, annihilate, ruin, break naturalness, nearness, friendship.
consume, wipe out, end, suppress, fabricated: (adj) fictitious, false, fake, ANTONYMS: (n) unfamiliarity,
quash; (adj, v) allay. ANTONYMS: ben trovato, unfounded, pretended, formality, abnormality, distance,
(v) ignite, build, create, encourage, feigned, forged, sham, improbable, animosity
inflame, sustain, protect made-up. ANTONYMS: (adj) familiarized: (adj) adjusted, familiar,
extinguished: (adj) extinct, out, dead, factual, truthful, honest, true used to, oriented, orientated,
quenched, allayed, destroyed; (n) fabrication: (n) construction, fiction, accustomed
defunctness, complete annihilation, fable, assembly, creation, formation, familiarly: (adv) intimately, usually,
experimental extinction, falsehood, production, lie; (n, v) ordinarily, nearly, frequently,
extermination, extinction invention, forgery. ANTONYMS: (n) commonly, regularly, informally,
extolled: (adj) decorated, dignified, honesty, fact, correction, closely, acquaintedly,
exalted, elevated, adorned, dismantling, dismantlement conventionally. ANTONYM: (adv)
emblazoned, inscribed faculties: (n) mother wit distantly
extracted: (v) descended, extraught fade: (adj, v) vanish, drop; (v) famish: (v) fast, hunger, clem, perish
extraneous: (adj) exterior, foreign, dissolve, decline, evaporate, with hunger, enfamish; (adj)
exotic, external, adventitious, outer, discolor, droop, die, languish, begrudge, dole out, skin a flint, live
outside, irrelevant, unrelated, expire; (n, v) wither. ANTONYMS: upon nothing, withhold, screw
extrinsic, immaterial. ANTONYMS: (v) increase, grow, flourish, enhance, fancied: (adj) unreal, chimerical,
(adj) relevant, intrinsic, necessary, surge, sharpen, brighten, color, wax, fictional, fanciful, fictitious,
essential, integral, native, needed, stay, rally fabricated, preferred, assumed,
basic, pertinent fading: (n) attenuation, bleaching, illusory, imagined, ideal
extremity: (n) end, member, discoloration, disappearance, fancies: (n) stock
boundary, bound, close, appendage, evaporation, colour fading, decay; fanciful: (adj) mythical, fantastic,
limit, limb, ending, fringe, (adj) disappearing, paling, capricious, unreal, arbitrary,
conclusion. ANTONYMS: (n) trunk, weakening, decaying. ANTONYMS: romantic, ideal, chimerical, notional,
average, minimum, head, leniency (adj) thriving, increasing, growing visionary; (adj, v) fancy.
extricated: (adj) free, disengaged, fain: (adj) willing, prepared, ready, ANTONYMS: (adj) prosaic, real,
freer, emancipated, freed favorable, heart and soul, prone; realistic, plausible, normal
exuberant: (adj) abundant, ample, (adv) gladly, lief, readily, willingly; fangs: (v) tentacle, tenaculum, nail,
opulent, ebullient, excessive, (v) optative hook, unguis, teeth; (n) clutches
extravagant, profuse, bountiful, fainting: (n) swoon, syncope, fanning: (n) ventilation
prolific, generous, hearty. deliquium, lipothymy, prostration, farther: (adj, adv, prep) beyond; (adj)
ANTONYMS: (adj) depressed, blue, stupor; (adj) lipothymic additional, more, distant; (adv)
unenthusiastic, scarce, needing, faithfully: (adv) exactly, accurately, furthermore, besides, abroad, in
lacking, dispirited, insufficient, sincerely, staunchly, precisely, truly, addition, too; (adj, prep) outside;
down, unexcited, lethargic authentically, dutifully, literally, (pron) another. ANTONYMS: (prep)
exultation: (n) jubilation, joy, delight, steadfastly, truely. ANTONYMS: within; (adv) nearer, closer
ecstasy, elation, rejoicing, revelling, (adv) unfaithfully, approximately, fashioned: (adj) formed, featured,
transport, joyousness, bliss, glee. falsely, insincerely, carelessly, fictitious, intentional, bent, wrought
ANTONYMS: (n) depression, inaccurately fashioning: (n) devising,
desolation, misery, sorrow fallacy: (n) delusion, deception, cartography, making, cartographic,
exulting: (adj) jubilant, flushed, paralogism, illusion, misconception, cartographical, mapmaking
triumphant, experiencing triumph, falsehood, inaccuracy, idol, falsity, fasten: (adj, v) attach, fix, affix; (v)
connect, bind, tie, tack, pin, stick, demean; (n) derogation, unflinchingly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
clasp, anchor. ANTONYMS: (v) disapproval, unkindness nervously, cautiously, timidly
detach, undo, unlock, loosen, favorable: (adj) lucky, fortunate, feat: (n) deed, accomplishment,
release, open, disconnect, untie, propitious, prosperous, convenient, achievement, act, effort,
separate, unscrew advantageous, encouraging, happy, performance, action, triumph,
fastened: (adj) tied, fast, buttoned, helpful; (adj, v) friendly; (adj, n) attainment, trick; (adj) fetis .
closed, tight, secure, pinned, kindly. ANTONYMS: (adj) adverse, ANTONYM: (n) inaction
binding, empight, steady, firm. negative, ominous, disapproving, feather: (n) pen, feathering, pinion,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unfastened, inauspicious, detrimental, nib, plumage, quill, kind, spline; (n,
unbuttoned unfriendly, disagreeable, hindering, v) plume; (adj, n, v) fringe; (v) fledge
fastidious: (adj, n) exacting, critical, harmful, untimely feeble: (adj) delicate, decrepit, ailing,
accurate; (adj) delicate, particular, favorably: (adv, v) advantageously, helpless, powerless, poor, mild, lax,
careful, exigent, dainty, fully, considerably; (adv) thin; (adj, v) faint, debilitated.
discriminating, nice, fussy. sympathetically, auspiciously, ANTONYMS: (adj) strong, vigorous,
ANTONYMS: (adj) sloppy, favourably, agreeably, aright, hearty, tough, effective, powerful,
unfastidious, careless, uncouth, fortunately, luckily, usefully. unrelenting, robust, potent,
uncritical, easy, indifferent, ANTONYMS: (adv) unhelpfully, persuasive, able
undemanding, slapdash, relaxed, disapprovingly, unfavorably, feebleness: (n) weakness, frailty,
easygoing inauspiciously, disdainfully, ill, decrepitude, faintness, imbecility,
fatally: (adv) lethally, fatefully, ominously, threateningly, fragility, tenuity, languor, frailness;
perniciously, disastrously, unfriendly, unfortunately, (adj, n) infirmity; (adj) feeble.
destructively, terminally, deadly, unsuccessfully ANTONYMS: (n) perseverance,
pestilently, killingly, calamitously; favored: (adj) advantaged, preferred, success, effectiveness, competence
(adj, adv) dangerously lucky, advantageous, pet, favorite, feign: (v) dissemble, simulate, affect,
fates: (adj) book of fate, Parcae, sky; blessed, privileged, favorable; (adj, pretend, assume, dissimulate,
(n) fortune, the fates n) happy, prosperous. ANTONYMS: counterfeit, act, sham, fabricate; (adj,
fathom: (n, v) plumb; (v) penetrate, (adj) disliked, unpopular, Standard v) deceive
discern, bottom, understand, favoring: (adj) affirmative, felling: (n) harvesting
comprehend, know, make out, encouraging, auspicious, being ferocious: (adj) cruel, brutal,
measure; (n) probe, gauge. prospered, beneficial, affirmatory; barbarous, feral, truculent,
ANTONYMS: (v) confuse, (n) convenient, contributing, atrocious, fell, bloodthirsty, brutish;
misunderstand, Miss beautiful, conducive, promotion (adj, v) fierce, savage. ANTONYMS:
fatigue: (v) exhaust, tire, weary, favorite: (adj, n) darling, favourite, (adj) gentle, mild, tender, tame,
harass, enervate, fag, jade, wear; (n) dear, number one; (adj) favored, nonviolent, kind, calm
exhaustion, weariness, tiredness. beloved, popular; (n) pet, choice, ferocity: (n) violence, cruelty,
ANTONYMS: (n) energy, liveliness, pick, preference. ANTONYMS: (n) ferociousness, fury, rage, truculence,
vitality, vigor, strength; (v) energize, indifference, superior, underdog; atrocity, fierceness, wildness,
renew, rejuvenate, restore, (adj) unwanted, despised, disliked, vehemence, anger. ANTONYMS: (n)
invigorate hated, unusual meekness, friendliness, serenity
fatigued: (adj) tired, weary, beat, fawn: (v) crawl, creep, grovel, cringe, fervent: (adj) ardent, eager, earnest,
worn, tired out, jaded, spent, worn cower, crouch, bootlick, kowtow, enthusiastic, intense, cordial,
out, done in, fagged, run-down. blandish, flatter; (n) deer. passionate, hot, emotional, torrid,
ANTONYMS: (adj) refreshed, alert, ANTONYMS: (v) insult, despise, strong. ANTONYMS: (adj)
lively, energized, energetic ignore, domineer apathetic, unenthusiastic, cool,
fatiguing: (adj) arduous, tiresome, fearfully: (adv) timidly, timorously, weak, unexcited, dispirited,
tedious, hard, laborious, wearisome, awfully, apprehensively, dispassionate, flippant, impassive,
wearing, strenuous, exhausting, horrendously, hideously, anxiously, lukewarm, mild
trying, onerous appallingly, terribly; (adj, adv) fester: (adj, v) rot, rankle, ferment; (v)
fattened: (adj) finished shockingly, dreadfully. boil, decay, decompose, molder; (n)
faultless: (adj) blameless, correct, ANTONYMS: (adv) bravely, calmly, suppuration; (adj) abscess, putrefy,
immaculate, clean, spotless, confidently, wonderfully, rationally, ulcer. ANTONYMS: (v) diminish,
innocent, flawless, unblemished, unconcernedly dissipate, lessen, soothe, change
absolute, infallible, consummate. fearless: (adj, n) daring; (adj) brave, festering: (adj) rotten, infected,
ANTONYMS: (adj) blemished, dauntless, courageous, undaunted, rotting, pussy, septic; (n) pus,
imperfect, faulty, shameful, soiled, intrepid, heroic, audacious, gallant, festerment, suppuration, bodily
blameworthy confident, valiant. ANTONYMS: fluid, activity, sanies. ANTONYM:
favor: (n, v) countenance, aid, grace, (adj) afraid, frightened, scared, (adj) healthy
support, benefit, boon; (adj, n) apprehensive, terrified, timid fettered: (adj) bound, in fetters, in
kindness; (n) advantage; (v) fearlessly: (adj, adv) daringly, boldly, bonds, responsible
befriend, encourage, patronize. heroically, courageously, valiantly; feverish: (adj) febrile, feverous, fiery,
ANTONYMS: (v) hinder, contradict, (adv) dauntlessly, bravely, gallantly, frenzied, fevered, excited, sick,
dislike, hurt, differ, thwart, reject, undauntedly, audaciously, fanatical; (adj, v) hot, flushed; (adj,
n) hysterical. ANTONYMS: (adj) birds away, run, leave. ANTONYMS: (v)
calm, afebrile, collected, composed, fishnet: (n) fishing net, dragnet, appear, advance
mellow trawl, Seine, net, drift net fleecy: (adj) fluffy, hairy, brushed,
fidelity: (n) constancy, devotion, fissure: (n) crevice, chasm, cranny, soft, woolly, silky, napped
faithfulness, adherence, allegiance, break, cleft, breach, rift, chap, chink, fleeing: (v) flee; (adj) runaway,
loyalty, faith, dedication, exactness; cleavage, aperture. ANTONYMS: fugitive, evanescent
(adj, n) honesty, truth. (n) repair, mend fleeting: (adj) brief, momentary,
ANTONYMS: (n) infidelity, fitful: (adj) erratic, fickle, changeable, ephemeral, passing, transient, short,
unfaithfulness, disloyalty, spasmodic, uncertain, intermittent, fugitive, evanescent, transitory,
inaccuracy, faithlessness, irregular, variable, sporadic, temporal, short-lived. ANTONYMS:
dishonesty, unreliability desultory, flickering. ANTONYMS: (adj) permanent, lasting, enduring,
fiend: (n) monster, devil, fanatic, (adj) regular, unbroken unforgettable, thorough, lengthy,
brute, deuce, incubus, goblin, ogre, fixedness: (adj, n) firmness, long, slow
enthusiast, daemon, addict. constancy, stronghold; (n) fixity, flint: (adj) stone, pebble, fossil,
ANTONYM: (n) angel immovability, immobility, granite, marble; (n) quartz, silica,
fierceness: (n) ferocity, violence, unchangeableness, unchangingness, flint river, gunflint, crystal, crag
cruelty, force, brutality, rage, unchangeability, stillness; (adj) flitting: (adj) fleeting, fugitive,
intensity, strength, vehemence, stability momentary, transient, ephemeral;
wildness, ferociousness. flags: (n) streamer, streamers, (v) migration
ANTONYMS: (n) friendliness, sidewalk, trottoir, pavement, walk, flourishes: (n) added extras,
calmness, meekness footpath, bunting; (adj) wood trappings, superfluities, trimmings,
fiery: (adj, n) burning, passionate, pavement, flagstone accompaniments, additions,
glowing; (adj) fervent, ablaze, hot, flakes: (n) dust embellishments
fervid, impassioned, peppery; (adj, flank: (n) side, aspect, wing, flourishing: (adj) thriving, palmy,
v) fierce, violent. ANTONYMS: (adj) abdomen, facet, subfigure, healthy, successful, luxuriant,
calm, passionless, dispassionate, formation; (v) border, skirt; (adj) booming, verdant, lush, auspicious,
indifferent, placid, gentle, cool; cover, ward favorable, rich. ANTONYMS: (adj)
(adv) easygoing flap: (v) flop, wave, beat, brandish, arid, declining, fading, poor,
figurative: (adj) metaphorical, shake; (n, v) fuss, flutter, pother; (n) unhealthy
figural, emblematic, representative, slap, disturbance, valve flushed: (adj, n) red, sanguine; (adj)
florid, flowery, symbolic, allusive, flaring: (adj) flared, flaming, burning, feverish, glowing, aroused, aflame,
graphic, not literal; (n) tropical. blazing, tawdry, ablaze, garish, burning, exultant, exulting; (n)
ANTONYMS: (adj) factual, fiery; (v) glaring; (n) flare; (adv) flush, elated. ANTONYM: (adj) cool
nonfigurative flaringly flushing: (n) rinsing, blush, flashing,
figured: (adj) figurative, glyptic, flattened: (adj) planate, packed Flushing process, Flushing system,
conjectural, implied down, trodden, unconscious, histamine flush, hushing, water
filial: (adj) dutiful depressed, compressed Flushing
finery: (n) regalia, clothing, attire, flatter: (v) fawn, adulate, wheedle, fluttering: (adj) flying, palpitating,
decoration, dress, pinchbeck, cajole, soap, kowtow, blandish, flittering, flaring, aflare, waving; (n)
spangle, trimmings, gimcrack; (adj, grovel, butter up; (n, v) court; (n) flutter, flapping, flicker, flitting;
n) tinsel, gewgaw. ANTONYM: (n) caress. ANTONYMS: (v) insult, (adv) flutteringly
rags disparage, criticize, discourage foal: (n) filly, pony, calf, horse, Arab,
firebrand: (n) instigator, brand, flattered: (adj) pleased charger, thoroughbred, racer,
troublemaker, inciter, incendiary, flattering: (adj) ingratiating, palfrey, nag, jument
firewood, pyromaniac, scalawag, complimentary, courtly, obsequious, foam: (n, v) froth, bubble, spume;
blade, radical, instigant adulatory, fulsome, bland, candied, (adj, v) boil, seethe; (v) effervesce,
firmament: (n) sphere, welkin, smooth, encouraging; (n) flattery. suds, fizz, ferment; (n) lather,
heaven, heavens, celestial sphere, ANTONYMS: (adj) assertive, bubbles
expanse, arena, field, vault of critical, unflattering, unattractive, foaming: (adj) foamy, effervescent,
heaven, domain, area wounding, uncomplimentary, effervescing, bubbly, bubbling,
firmness: (adj, n) constancy; (n) negative; (adv) partially sparkling, spumy; (adj, n) frothing;
determination, resolution, flattery: (n, v) cajolery; (n) blarney, (n) surging, effervescence, scum
assurance, consistency, obstinacy, compliment, adulation, taffy, foil: (n, v) thwart, defeat, balk; (v)
steadfastness, resolve, confidence, palaver, praise, gloze, sweet talk, baffle, bilk, cross, elude, avert,
courage, backbone. ANTONYMS: sycophancy, soft soap. prevent; (n) contrast, blade.
(n) softness, instability, vacillation, ANTONYMS: (n) insult, offense ANTONYMS: (v) advance, further,
unsteadiness, yielding, flavor: (n) relish, tang, smell, aroma, permit, promote
irresoluteness, droopiness, salt; (n, v) taste, flavour, smack; (v) foiled: (adj) frustrated, disappointed,
indefiniteness, indecisiveness, spice, season, sauce. ANTONYMS: discomfited, defeated,
indecision, leniency (n) staleness, blandness, emptiness disappointingly unsuccessful, done
fishes: (n) amphibians, Craniata, flee: (v) bolt, break out, fly, desert, for, embarrassed, balked, baffled,
Subphylum Vertebrata, Vertebrata, break, abscond, elope, elude, run unsuccessful, discouraged
folding: (n) foldaway, plication, ugly, hard, repulsive, redoubtable; casual, unmindful, neglectful,
foldable, bend, crease, bending, (n) banning. ANTONYMS: (adj) heedless, unaware; (adj, v) remiss.
flexure, pleating, collapsable, alluring, inviting, pleasant, ANTONYMS: (adj) mindful,
collapsible, doubling hospitable, friendly, favorable, watchful, alert, remembering,
folds: (n) laps comforting retentive
follower: (n) backer, devotee, fan, forcible: (adj) forceful, active, forgetfulness: (n) neglect, amnesia,
admirer, adherent, cohort, apostle, energetic, powerful, strong, violent, obliviousness, inattention, memory
partisan, believer, attendant; (adj) coercive, vigorous, effective, loss, omission, unknowingness,
lover. ANTONYMS: (n) detractor, convincing; (prep) conclusive. unawareness, Lethe, carelessness,
rebel, superior, disbeliever, cynic, ANTONYMS: (adj) weak, gentle, loss of memory. ANTONYMS: (n)
leader peaceful awareness, concentration,
fondly: (adv) lovingly, tenderly, forcibly: (adv) forcefully, remembering, attention
warmly, kindly, caringly, adoringly, emphatically, powerfully, by force, forked: (adj) bifurcate, divided,
devotedly, amorously, dearly, mightily, under protest, cogently, branching, bifurcated, furcated,
dotingly, foolishly. ANTONYMS: hard, strongly, convincingly, clearly. biramous, double, forked road,
(adv) coldly, ill ANTONYMS: (adv) voluntarily, furcate, tined, forky
fondness: (n) affection, attachment, weakly, gently forlorn: (adj) hopeless, desolate,
love, taste, regard, appetite, forefathers: (n) patriarchs, forefather, despairing, unhappy, miserable,
tenderness, partiality, endearment, ancestor, colony, lineage, family deserted, disconsolate, downcast,
liking, relish. ANTONYMS: (n) forefinger: (n) index finger, index, cheerless, wretched, abject.
aversion, indifference, neglect, forefingers, paw, thumb, hand, ANTONYMS: (adj) happy, hopeful,
antipathy, detachment, hatred exponent, antenna, feeler fine
foolishly: (adv) idiotically, foregoing: (adj) previous, anterior, formalities: (n) ceremony, etiquette,
ridiculously, stupidly, indiscreetly, antecedent, prior, past, above, observance, process, procedure,
silly, insanely, injudiciously, preceding, aforegoing, earlier. protocol, manners, official
preposterously, absurdly, ANTONYM: (adj) following procedure, rules and regulations,
senselessly; (adj, adv) madly. foreordained: (adj) destined, code of conduct, ceremonial
ANTONYMS: (adv) sensibly, predestinate, fatal, sure, fortification: (n) castle, fort, bastion,
solemnly, shrewdly, prudently, predetermined, fated, doomed, consolidation, defense, bulwark,
responsibly, judiciously, carefully, certain, inevitable stronghold, barrier, entrenchment,
rationally foresaw: (v) foresee fortress, safeguard
footed: (adj) pedate foresee: (v) expect, forecast, fortified: (adj) secure, watched over,
footsore: (adj) tired, fatigued; (v) anticipate, envisage, previse, shielded, securer, secured, carrying
toilworn foreknow, prophesy, provide, weapons, safeguarded, protected,
footstep: (n) pace, footfall, track, foresaw, predict, see fast, equipped, defended.
footmark, vestige, tread, trail, stride, foreseen: (v) foresee, long expected; ANTONYM: (adj) unarmed
degree; (n, v) step, action (adj) envisioned, foretold, fortitude: (n) bravery, endurance,
footstool: (n) footrest, hassock, contingent, concourse, coming, grit, pluck, backbone,
footboard, Ottoman casual, adventitious, accidental, determination, tenacity, firmness,
forbade: (v) prohibit, to prohibit predictable strength; (adj, n) guts, spunk.
forbear: (v) refrain, desist, help, foresight: (n) prevision, forecast, ANTONYMS: (n) cowardice, frailty,
tolerate, abide, eschew, endure, caution, prospicience, calculation, impatience
relinquish; (n) predecessor, prescience, prediction, precaution, fortress: (n) fort, bulwark,
progenitor, forebear vision, foresightedness; (n, v) fortification, castle, stronghold,
forbearance: (n) patience, clemency, expectation. ANTONYM: (n) citadel, alcazar, tower, presidio,
pardon, abstention, abstinence, hindsight redoubt; (n, v) keep
mercy, longanimity, avoidance, forester: (n) ranger, arboriculturist, fowls: (n) poultry
postponement, indulgence, restraint. granger, sodbuster, husbandman, foxes: (n) dogs, Canidae, family
ANTONYMS: (n) impatience, foster, foot, timberman, tree farmer, Canidae, Vulpes, genus Vulpes
intolerance lumberjack, Forster fragrance: (n, v) aroma, perfume,
forbearing: (adj) patient, clement, foretell: (v) forecast, anticipate, scent, smell; (n) bouquet, odor,
tolerant, lenient, easy, indulgent, augur, bode, predict, presage, essence, odour, redolence,
permissive, charitable, merciful, announce, calculate, portend, sweetness; (adj) fragrant.
compassionate, meek. ANTONYMS: prophesy, forebode ANTONYMS: (n) stink, stench
(adj) impatient, unforgiving forfeit: (n) penalty, deprivation, cost; fragrant: (adj) spicy, odorous, balmy,
forbid: (v) prohibit, ban, disallow, (v) abandon, forgo, relinquish, sweet, odorant, scented, redolent,
bar, obstruct, exclude, deny, avert, waive; (n, v) sacrifice, pawn; (adj) savory, fragrance, odoriferous,
frustrate, to prohibit, enjoin. confiscate, lost. ANTONYMS: (n) scent. ANTONYMS: (adj) smelly,
ANTONYMS: (v) allow, let, retention; (v) claim, redeem, receive, putrid, malodorous, odorless
approve, authorize, stand maintain frantic: (adj) desperate, crazy,
forbidding: (adj) grim, ominous, forgetful: (adj) oblivious, inattentive, excited, distraught, frenetic,
dismal, dour, austere, abominable, negligent, lax, absent-minded, distracted; (adj, v) frenzied, furious,
wild, raging; (n) maniac. frugal: (adj) thrifty, abstemious, farthermost, remotest, ultimate,
ANTONYMS: (adj) mellow, sparing, austere, prudent, careful, utmost, uttermost, most remote,
composed provident, moderate, parsimonious; final, outermost; (adv) most.
frantically: (adv) frenziedly, (adj, v) chary; (v) scant. ANTONYMS: (adj) nearest, near
desperately, wildly, distractedly, ANTONYMS: (adj) extravagant, furtive: (adj) covert, stealthy,
furiously, excitedly, deliriously, luxurious, wasteful, hedonistic, surreptitious, secretive, concealed,
ravingly, distraughtly, fiercely, abundant, lavish latent, cryptic, sneaky, backstairs,
crazily. ANTONYMS: (adv) fruitful: (adj) fertile, copious, secret, underhanded. ANTONYMS:
sensibly, cautiously, peacefully, profitable, abundant, plentiful, rich, (adj) blatant, aboveboard, obvious,
sluggishly fecund, good, fat, productive, overt, honest
fraught: (v) replete; (adj) pregnant, lucrative. ANTONYMS: (adj) futurity: (n) hereafter, futurition,
laden, frantic, anxious, worried, unproductive, barren, infertile, timing, millennium, offing, future
distressed, filled, plenary, charged, unfruitful, unprofitable, sterile, tense, afterlife, time to come; (v) Int
distracted. ANTONYMS: (adj) fruitless, destructive he womb of time. ANTONYMS: (n)
relaxed, carefree, devoid, calm fruitless: (adj, v) abortive; (adj) past, pastness
fray: (n) conflict, action, fight, barren, useless, empty, futile, gainer: (n) diving, weight gainer,
combat, disturbance, fracas, scrap; ineffective, idle, pointless, sterile, dive
(n, v) affray, broil; (v) rub, fret bootless, unproductive. gait: (n, v) pace, step, tread, footstep,
freshen: (v) invigorate, refresh, ANTONYMS: (adj) fertile, useful, rate, stride, action; (n) walk,
ventilate, fresh, renew, cool, aerate, effective, satisfying, fruitful, carriage, movement, velocity
air out, purify, brush up, recreate. worthwhile, profitable, successful, gale: (n) blast, blow, tempest, storm,
ANTONYMS: (v) tire, stagnate, productive, hopeful, meaningful squall, hurricane, gust, wind,
warm fugitive: (adj) ephemeral, fleeting, thunderstorm, blizzard, fresh gale.
fresher: (n) fresh, lowerclassman, momentary, elusive, caducous; (n) ANTONYM: (n) breeze
underclassman, neophyte, escapee, absconder, deserter, gallant: (adj) fearless, brave, daring,
fledgeling, entrant, fledgling emigrant, criminal; (v) fugacious courageous, chivalrous, bold,
fretful: (adj, v) querulous; (adj) fulfilling: (adj) satisfying, manly, heroic, dashing, courteous,
restless, anxious, testy, sullen, satisfactory, pleasing, uplifting, fine. ANTONYMS: (adj) boorish,
irritable, impatient, uneasy, pleasurable, effectual; (n) execution, rude, selfish
petulant, fidgety, crabbed. enforcement. ANTONYM: (adj) gallantry: (adj, n) prowess, daring,
ANTONYM: (adj) carefree frustrating spirit, fearlessness; (n) heroism,
frighten: (v) cow, alarm, daunt, fullness: (n) completeness, breadth, bravery, valor, courage, chivalry,
terrify, appall, scare, affright, entirety, abundance, courtesy, courageousness.
intimidate, terrorize, appal; (n, v) comprehensiveness, ampleness, ANTONYMS: (n) cowardice,
fright. ANTONYMS: (v) comfort, largeness, repletion, wholeness, cowardliness, rudeness
reassure, soothe, calm totality, richness. ANTONYMS: (n) gallop: (v) speed, dart, dash, race,
frightful: (adj, v) fearful; (adj) narrowness, incompleteness, spring, tear, hasten, sprint; (adj, v)
formidable, awful, fearsome, thinness, weakness fly; (n, v) trot; (n) gait
appalling, gruesome, horrible, fumes: (n) gas, exhaust, exhaust gambols: (n) behave, play, frolic,
terrible, dread, frightening, grim. fumes, smokes, smog, vapor, employment, disport, act, action,
ANTONYMS: (adj) wonderful, exhalation, steam, smoke, toxic amusement
calming, soothing, pleasant, lovely, waste, contamination gamut: (n) scale, reach, compass,
fair furnish: (v) afford, provide, ambit, ut, orbit, series, variety,
fringed: (adj) fibrillated, bounded, contribute, render, offer, sweep, spectrum, stretch
feathered, bushy, decorated, accommodate, supply, outfit, yield, garb: (n, v) dress, apparel, array,
fimbriate, fimbricate, laciniate, decorate; (n, v) give. ANTONYM: garment; (n) attire, clothing,
befringed, rough, laciniated (v) divest costume, frock, outfit, clothes; (v)
frock: (n) dress, gown, clothing, furnishing: (n) provision, fixture, clothe
attire, robe, kirtle, habit, clothes, fitting, installation, equipment, garrison: (n) fortification, fortress,
coat, chemise, caftan trimming, device, interior stronghold, troops, presidio,
frontiers: (n) boundary decoration, contents; (v) provide, defense, base, citadel, soldiery; (n, v)
frontiersman: (n) Boone, colonist, furnish defend; (v) send
mountain man, pioneer furrow: (n, v) fold, crinkle, crease, garrulous: (adj) talkative, chatty,
frown: (adj, v) lower; (adj, n) scowl; groove, line, chamfer, rut; (n) gabby, verbose, wordy,
(n, v) pout, grimace, glower, glare; channel, cut, ditch, trough. conversational, glib, talky, windy,
(adj) black looks, gloam, glout; (v) ANTONYMS: (n) ridge; (v) smooth voluble, effusive. ANTONYMS:
sulk, gnash. ANTONYM: (v) furrowed: (adj) wrinkled, lined, (adj) taciturn, concise, reticent
approve wrinkly, crumpled, corrugated, gasping: (adj) panting, winded,
frowning: (adj) dismal, dark, gloomy, corrugate, furrowy, porcate, rugged, blown, out of breath, thirsty, pursy;
lowering, scowling, frowny, uneven. ANTONYM: (adj) (v) spavined, touched in the wind
clouded; (adv) frowningly; (n) unfurrowed gateway: (n) entrance, gate, entry,
austere, boisterous, coarse furthest: (adj) furthermost, extreme, doorway, portal, passage,
passageway, inlet, admission, toy, gimcrack gather, extract, accumulate,
entryway, gangway ghastly: (adj) awful, fearful, winnow, assemble, pick up, to
gaudy: (adj) flashy, loud, showy, cadaverous, dreadful, grisly, gather
garish, flamboyant, tasteless, gruesome, macabre, hideous, gleaning: (n) farming, excerption,
colorful, tacky, brassy, tawdry, appalling, atrocious; (adv) selection, crop
florid. ANTONYMS: (adj) tasteful, gruesomely. ANTONYMS: (adj) glide: (adj, n, v) slide; (n, v) coast,
restrained, muted, drab, modest, wonderful, lovely, attractive, slip; (v) float, run, fly, flow, drift,
dull, quality delightful lapse, slink, skid. ANTONYMS: (v)
gaunt: (adj) lean, thin, cadaverous, giddy: (adj, v) flighty; (adj) dizzy, lurch, hurtle, flounder, sink
desolate, bleak, dreary, meager, faint, silly, changeable, vertiginous, gliding: (adj) sliding, flying, slipping,
bony, angular, lanky, sullen. featherbrained, light, fickle, labent, elusory; (n) sailing, soaring,
ANTONYMS: (adj) fresh, rounded, capricious; (adv) careless. flight, glissando; (v) slither; (adv)
obese ANTONYMS: (adj) serious, dull glidingly
gauntlet: (n) mitt, sleeve, wristband, gifted: (adj) capable, accomplished, glimmer: (adj, n, v) flicker, twinkle;
gantlet, mitten, gloves; (v) corner talented, able, apt, proficient, (n, v) gleam, shimmer, flash,
stone, armored vest, buffer, mask, brilliant, ingenious, expert, sparkle, beam, glow, shine; (v) blink;
call to arms intelligent, adept. ANTONYMS: (n) gleaming
gauze: (n) film, curtain, blind, (adj) inept, dim, incompetent, glimmering: (n) inkling, ghost,
bandage, mask, mantle, muslin, mediocre, slow, clumsy luminosity, light, hint, apparition,
screen, gauze bandage, shutter, daze gigantic: (adj) colossal, enormous, radiance; (adj) glittering, glimmery,
geese: (n) ducks, goose, game birds, large, huge, giant, stupendous, crepusculous, sciolism
order Anseriformes, wildfowl, birds, monstrous, vast, big, immense, glisten: (n, v) gleam, sparkle, flash,
Anatidae, Anseriformes, family massive. ANTONYMS: (adj) small, glance, shimmer, glitter, glister; (v)
Anatidae tiny, little, insignificant, short, glimmer, beam, coruscate, glint
generously: (adv) profusely, miniature glistening: (adj) shining, glossy,
copiously, bountifully, abundantly, girdle: (v) encircle, circle, compass, shiny, glisten, brilliant, beaming,
largely, magnanimously, gird, enclose, encompass; (n, v) sleek, lustrous, sparkling, reflecting
munificently, kindly, handsomely, zone, ring; (n) cincture, light, gleaming. ANTONYM: (adj)
freely, benevolently. ANTONYMS: cummerbund, sash dull
(adv) acquisitively, selfishly, glacis: (n) talus, casemate glittering: (adj, v) brilliant; (adj)
prudently, grudgingly, gladly: (adv, v) happily; (adv) sparkling, flashing, dazzling,
malevolently, parsimoniously, gleefully, contentedly, cheerfully, glistering, glistening, glinting,
harshly, scantily, stingily, thinly, fain, joyfully, jovially, cheerily, shining, scintillating, splendid; (adj,
ungenerously delightedly, gladsomely, readily. adv) aglitter
genial: (adj) cheerful, bright, affable, ANTONYMS: (adv) reluctantly, gloomily: (adv) murkily, obscurely,
cordial, amiable, nice, friendly, unwillingly, sadly, resentfully, drearily, darkly, somberly,
convivial, warm, agreeable, suave. miserably morosely, sadly, sorrowfully,
ANTONYMS: (adj) disagreeable, glare: (n) glance, brilliance, radiance, despondently, unhappily, glumly.
hostile, mean, discourteous, frosty, brightness; (n, v) glower, flash, ANTONYMS: (adv) brightly,
gloomy, reserved, unapproachable, shine, scowl, beam, frown; (v) flame. favorably, happily, optimistically,
abominable ANTONYMS: (n) dullness, dimness contentedly; (adj) auspiciously
gens: (n) name, epithet, figure, family glaring: (adj) conspicuous, bright, gloominess: (n) desolation, sadness,
line, folk blatant, egregious, obvious, plain, depression, dejection, darkness,
gentilhomme: (adj) gentleman flaming, garish, crying, gross, glary. melancholy, pessimism, bleakness,
gentility: (n) elegance, cultivation, ANTONYMS: (adj) soft, dreariness, sombreness, dimness.
politeness, decorum, genteelness, inconspicuous, dull, minor ANTONYMS: (n) cheerfulness, light,
breeding, courtesy, nobility, glassy: (adj, v) glossy; (adj) clear, cheer, happiness
aristocracy, propriety; (adj) glazed, smooth, flat, crystalline, glove: (n) boxing glove, gloves, mitt,
urbanity. ANTONYMS: (n) dead, dull, hyaline, transparent; (v) mitten, baseball mitt, baseball glove,
vulgarity, rudeness glabrous. ANTONYMS: (adj) alert, handwear, wristband, sleeve,
gentleness: (adj, n) kindness, bumpy, dull, expressive, murky, mittens, batting glove
courtesy, benignity, compassion; (n) rough glowing: (adj, n) enthusiastic, cordial,
kindliness, lenity, mildness, gleam: (n, v) glance, beam, blaze, passionate; (adj) burning, fervent,
sweetness, softness, benevolence, shine, glimmer, glow, flash, flicker, blazing, flaming, fiery, dazzling;
mercy. ANTONYMS: (n) severity, sparkle, glitter; (v) twinkle (adj, v) warm; (adj, adv) aglow.
harshness, fierceness, cruelty, gleaming: (adj) brilliant, shiny, ANTONYMS: (adj) pale, wan,
ferocity, brusqueness, abruptness, radiant, glossy, lustrous, glowing, unhappy, unenthusiastic,
rage, callousness, sharpness, beaming, resplendent; (n) gleam, derogatory, dispassionate, unwell
roughness glimmer; (adj, adv) agleam. gluttonous: (adj) insatiable, greedy,
gewgaw: (adj, n) frippery, finery; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) dull, dirty, ravenous, avid, hoggish, edacious,
gaud, trinket, trifle, fallal, rough swinish, grasping, covetous,
knickknack; (adj) plaything, tinsel, glean: (v) cull, garner, reap, harvest, avaricious, glutton. ANTONYM:
(adj) abstemious simplicity desirous, grasping, acquisitive,
gluttony: (n) greediness, edacity, grasping: (adj) avaricious, covetous, glutton, piggish, voracious, selfish;
voracity, rapacity, gula, esurience, acquisitive, greedy, avid, voracious, (adj, v) avaricious, covetous.
excess, hoggishness, avidity, rapacious, grabby, mercenary, ANTONYMS: (adj) temperate,
insatiability, debauchery stingy; (n) seizing. ANTONYMS: ascetic, unconcerned, abstemious,
gnarled: (adj) knotty, knotted, gnarly, (adj) generous, altruistic moderate
asperous, crisp, deformed, crabbed, grassy: (adj) verdant, gramineous, greeting: (n) welcome, salutation,
roughhewn, wrinkled, unsmooth, weedy, herby, woody, fertile, address, greet, compliments,
unpolished. ANTONYMS: (adj) blossoming, abundant, leafy, lush, acknowledgment, accost, hello,
smooth, unknotted, straight flourishing. ANTONYMS: (adj) hullo, nod; (v) salute. ANTONYM:
goaded: (adj) provoked, forced, grassless, urban, withering (n) goodbye
motivated, unvoluntary, grated: (v) areolar, streaked; (adj) greetings: (n) greeting, respects,
aggravated, compulsive, barred compliments, consolation, regards,
determined, involuntary gratification: (adj, n) delight; (n, v) commend, good wishes,
good-humored: (adj) affable, content; (n) enjoyment, pleasure, commendation, induction, draft
cheerful, good-natured, pleasant, satisfaction, fruition, complacency, grenadier: (n) grenade thrower,
sweet, funny, amicable, congenial, joy, luxury, treat, fulfillment. infantryman, marcher, rattail fish,
mild, obliging ANTONYMS: (n) dissatisfaction, rattail, giraffe, gadoid, fusileer,
goodly: (adv) benignly, kindly, disenchantment, dismay, discontent, footslogger, foot soldier, camelopard
strongly, rightly, graciously, anxiety grenadiers: (n) Macrouridae
virtuously, soundly, uprightly; (adj) gratified: (adj) glad, satisfied, grieved: (adj) sore, sad, sorry,
sizable, handsome, respectable pleased, delighted, happy, thankful, sorrowful, upset, woeful, pained,
good-natured: (adj) kindly, friendly, grateful, content, complacent, affected, brokenhearted
kind, obliging, gracious, kind- comfortable, cheerful grievous: (adj) bitter, dolorous,
hearted, genial, good, bland, sweet, gratify: (v) delight, please, appease, dreadful, deplorable, sad, tough,
good-tempered accommodate, satisfy, amuse, suit, pitiful, atrocious, regrettable,
gorged: (adj) sated, full, stuffed, indulge, cater; (n, v) humor; (adj) sorrowful, sorry. ANTONYM: (adj)
congested, replete, satisfied, contented. ANTONYMS: (v) successful
bursting, surfeited; (v) ready to dissatisfy, displease, disappoint grinning: (n) grin, smile, facial
burst gratifying: (adj) agreeable, pleasant, expression, facial gesture, smiling;
gourd: (n) bottle gourd, pumpkin, enjoyable, delightful, pleasurable, (adj) beaming
melon, Lagenaria, gord, vine, rewarding, welcome, satisfying, grizzly: (adj) grey, gray, grizzled,
noddle, exploding cucumber, fruit, nice; (adj, v) grateful; (v) gratify. greyish, ashen, grayish, dull, hoary,
flask, calabash tree ANTONYMS: (adj) disappointing, leaden; (n) grizzly bear, silvertip
govern: (n, v) direct, control, reign, unwelcome, unrewarding, groan: (n, v) grumble, murmur, cry,
rule; (v) administer, dictate, frustrating, disagreeable, sigh, mutter, squeak, rumble, scrape;
dominate, manage, check, bridle, heartbreaking, annoying, unpleasant (v) howl, complain; (n) complaint
regulate. ANTONYM: (v) deregulate grating: (adj) hoarse, strident, harsh, groaning: (adj) moaning, groaningly,
graceful: (adj) beautiful, delicate, discordant, gravelly, raspy, gruff, inarticulate
amiable, easy, fine, charming, fair, raucous; (n, v) lattice; (n) grate, grid. grooved: (adj) fluted, ribbed,
airy, becoming, lovely, lithe. ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasing, channeled, established, flutelike,
ANTONYMS: (adj) inelegant, soothing, smooth, harmonious accustomed, methodical, ridged,
stocky, awkward, vigorous, jerky, gravely: (adv) seriously, soberly, fine
ugly, stilted, heavy, coarse, severely, solemnly, badly, staidly, grotesque: (adj) fantastic, bizarre,
strenuous momentously, heavily, earnestly, funny, antic, absurd, droll, strange,
gracious: (adj) genial, benign, good, weightily, grievously. ANTONYMS: baroque, weird, ugly, hideous.
courteous, compassionate, kind, (adv) lightheartedly, mildly, ANTONYMS: (adj) lovely, normal,
accommodating, civil; (adj, n) slightly; (adj) soft commonplace, attractive
benevolent, congenial, gentle. graver: (v) style, denominate, entitle, growl: (adj, n, v) snarl; (n, v) roar,
ANTONYMS: (adj) ungracious, fashion; (n) engraver, graving tool bark, howl, yap, moan, thunder; (v)
boorish, discourteous, reserved, gray-haired: (adj) old, long in the gnarl, mutter, complain, croak
rude, abrupt, critical, unkind, tooth grudge: (v) begrudge, covet; (n, v)
hardhearted, harsh, poor grazed: (adj) hurt spite; (n) malice, anger, umbrage,
graduated: (adj) gradational, greatness: (n) excellence, dimension, resentment, rancor, gall, pique, feud
gradatory, equal, measured, dignity, bulk, size, enormousness, guarded: (adj) wary, careful, chary,
proportional, regressive, calibrated; bigness, enormity, grandness, circumspect, cagey, vigilant,
(n) graduate magnitude, fame. ANTONYMS: (n) watchful, conditional, discreet,
grandeur: (n) dignity, splendor, obscurity, austerity, commonness, gingerly, conservative.
magnitude, brilliance, glory, pomp, mildness, moderation, simplicity ANTONYMS: (adj) frank, careless,
elegance, majesty, magnificence, grecian: (adj) Hellenic, Achaian, trusting, reckless, open, unwary,
grandness; (adj, n) solemnity. classical; (n) cheat natural
ANTONYMS: (n) modesty, greedy: (adj) avid, gluttonous, guardianship: (n) custody, care,
charge, keeping, safekeeping, of Hanover rush; (n, v) further, forward,
tutelage, conservation, protection, hapless: (adj) unlucky, poor, dispatch. ANTONYMS: (v) linger,
wardship; (adj, n) ward; (adj) guard wretched, luckless, miserable, sad, retard, amble
guarding: (n) surveillance, unhappy, ill-fated, inauspicious, hastened: (adj) careless
conservation, precaution, shielding, jinxed, untoward. ANTONYM: (adj) hasty: (adj) fast, abrupt, cursory, fleet,
marking, civil defense, patrol, fortunate sudden, rash, impetuous, careless,
accompaniment, guardianship; (adj) haply: (adv) accidentally, by speedy, hurried, quick.
preserving, defensive accident, maybe, by luck, casually, ANTONYMS: (adj) deliberate,
guiding: (adj) scouting, directive, fortuitously, mayhap, perchance, considered, leisurely, sensible,
leading, controlling, guidance, incidentally, perhaps, peradventure gradual, thorough, cautious, careful,
directional, guide, direction, harangue: (v) declaim; (n) rant, roundabout, prudent, patient
management, steering, sovereign screed, address, tirade, oration, hatchet: (n) tomahawk, chopper,
guile: (n) fraud, cunning, craft, diatribe, sermon; (n, v) lecture, adze, winter virgin, weapon; (v) cut,
duplicity, deception, trickery, discourse, stump hack, hew; (adj) pickax, mattock,
deceitfulness, wiliness, craftiness, harbinger: (n) forerunner, precursor, pick
artifice, slyness. ANTONYMS: (n) sign, portent, messenger, augury; (v) haughtily: (adv) proudly, loftily,
honesty, straightforwardness, announce, annunciate, foreshadow; superciliously, imperiously,
candor, frankness (n, v) augur, presage overbearingly, scornfully,
gushing: (adj) pouring, enthusiastic, harbor: (n) dock, asylum, wharf; (n, condescendingly, snobbishly,
burbly, alive to, burbling, emotional, v) cover, port, harbour, shelter; (v) disdainfully, superiorly, pompously.
effusive, garrulous, torrential; (n) shield, contain, cherish, conceal. ANTONYMS: (adv) humbly,
sincere, passionate. ANTONYM: ANTONYM: (v) relieve modestly, feebly, meekly
(adj) taciturn hardened: (adj) hard, callous, haughtiness: (n) pride, disdain,
gust: (n) eruption, flurry, blow, blast, confirmed, tough, indurated, condescension, conceit,
puff, flare, explosion, gale, storm, tempered, unfeeling, inured, snobbishness, lordliness,
breeze; (adj, n) whiff habitual, enured, veteran. imperiousness, hauteur, contempt,
guttural: (adj) hoarse, throaty, gruff, ANTONYMS: (adj) inexperienced, superiority, arrogant. ANTONYMS:
croaking, husky, harsh, velar, smooth, unaccustomed, (n) humility, humbleness
raucous, grum; (n) dental; (v) nasal. untempered, feeling, mild haughty: (adj) supercilious, arrogant,
ANTONYMS: (adj) soft, smooth, hardihood: (v) audacity; (n) courage, assuming, contemptuous, proud,
high daring, boldness, temerity, lordly, cavalier, vain, contumelious,
habitual: (adj, n) common, frequent, fearlessness, fortitude, brass; (adj, n) grand; (n) boastful. ANTONYMS:
usual; (adj) chronic, conventional, face, guts; (n, v) assurance. (adj) modest, meek, subservient,
confirmed, accustomed, natural, ANTONYMS: (n) frailty, timidity unassuming, considerate,
commonplace, everyday, ordinary. hardships: (n) difficulty deferential
ANTONYMS: (adj) occasional, hard-working: (adj) studious, haunted: (adj) ghostly, ghostlike,
infrequent, mild, irregular, industrious, painstaking, active, phantom, taken up, preoccupied,
exceptional, erratic, abnormal, dedicated, tireless possessed, unearthly, magical, mad,
innovative harmed: (adj) aggrieved, injured, infatuated, concerned
haggard: (adj) emaciated, gaunt, impaired, incapacitated, abused, hauteur: (n) arrogance, pride,
cadaverous, careworn, tired, worn, debilitated, physically abused, disdain, conceit, assumption,
lean, thin, wasted, pinched, squalid. battered, crippled; (v) harm, damage conceitedness, insolence, loftiness,
ANTONYMS: (adj) relaxed, carefree, harp: (n) lyre, harmonica, harper, lordliness, airs, elegance.
healthy lute, mouth harp; (v) dwell, ANTONYM: (n) modesty
hail: (v) address, cry, acclaim, ingeminate, iterate, restate, reiterate, haven: (n) harbor, port, asylum,
applaud, summon, accost, fall, retell harbour, refuge, retreat, destination,
cheer, salute; (n, v) call; (n) greeting. harshness: (n) austerity, asperity, anchorage, cover, housing; (n, v)
ANTONYMS: (v) ignore, criticize severity, acrimony, brutality, shelter
halo: (n) halation, aura, glory, ring, hardness, roughness, rigor, hawk: (v) peddle, cough, expectorate,
circle, corona, nimbus, hoop, inclemency, hoarseness; (adj, n) sell, vend, hunt, huckster; (n) eagle,
aureola, band, anchor ring strictness. ANTONYMS: (n) goshawk, harrier, buzzard
halting: (adj) halt, hesitant, broken, softness, leniency, quietness, hawkeye: (n) eagle eye, weather eye
crude, grotesque, barbarous; (adj, v) flexibility, kindness, mercy, headland: (n) promontory, head,
lame, crippled; (adv) haltingly; (v) sweetness, melodiousness, foreland, point, ness, bluff, mull,
drooping, flagging. ANTONYMS: brightness, smoothness, lenience prominence, spit, hill, abuttal
(adj) easy, firm haste: (n, v) hurry, dash, dispatch, headlong: (adj, adv) headfirst; (adv)
handbarrow: (n) framing rush; (n) celerity, expedition, directly, hastily, precipitately; (adj)
hankering: (n) craving, desire, wish, rapidity, speed, bustle, hastiness, rash, hurried, desperate,
eagerness, yen, thirst, avidity, quickness. ANTONYMS: (n) delay, precipitous, impetuous, sudden,
appetite, yearning, urge, hunger. patience, forethought, caution precipitate. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYMS: (n) aversion, dislike hasten: (adj, n, v) speed, quicken; (v) cautiously, considered; (adv)
hanover: (n) Hanoverian line, house expedite, advance, hurry, hie, dash, carefully
headstrong: (adj) intractable, dogged, inattentive, neglectful, negligent, hesitating: (adj) indecisive, irresolute,
obstinate, disobedient, unruly, thoughtless, rash, regardless, undecided, doubtful, hesitate,
willful, wayward, froward, rash, unwary, indifferent; (adj, v) wanton. reluctant, faltering, unwilling,
headlong; (adj, v) ungovernable. ANTONYMS: (adj) heedful, hesitancy, backward, hesitatingly
ANTONYMS: (adj) tractable, attentive, mindful, conscientious, hesitatingly: (adv) indecisively,
compliant, amenable, docile, prudent, careful, cautious irresolutely, hesitating, waveringly,
malleable, agreeable, cautious heedlessness: (n) neglect, rashness, doubtfully, undecidedly,
healthful: (adj) healthy, hale, carelessness, inattention, vacillatingly, falteringly.
salubrious, beneficial, hygienic, inadvertence, recklessness, ANTONYM: (adv) unhesitatingly
sanitary, wholesome, salutary, indifference, inattentiveness, heyward: (n) Dubois Heyward
remedial, good, nourishing. foolhardiness, disregard, temerity. hickory: (n) mockernut hickory,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unhealthful, ANTONYMS: (n) mindfulness, hickory tree, pignut, shellbark,
unsanitary, unhealthy caution shagbark, mockernut, club, brown
heaped: (adj) dense, cumulative, heighten: (v) amplify, enlarge, hickory, black hickory, big
concentrated, collective, coacervate, aggravate, raise, deepen, elevate, shellbark, bitter pignut
thick boost, grow, expand, compound, hideous: (adj) dreadful, frightful,
hears: (v) hear advance. ANTONYMS: (v) alleviate, fearful, ghastly, horrid, ugly,
heartfelt: (adj) cordial, sincere, damage, decrease, improve, lessen repulsive, lurid, horrible, grisly,
devout, dear, genuine, heightened: (adj) excited, intense, grim. ANTONYMS: (adj) lovely,
wholehearted, frank, deep, honest, irritate, keen, resonant, sensitive pleasant, beautiful, wonderful
fervent, real. ANTONYMS: (adj) hellish: (adj, v) diabolic, satanic; (adj) hieroglyphical: (v) runic, cuneiform,
dishonest, unenthusiastic, impassive infernal, diabolical, fiendish, uncial
heartless: (adj) hardhearted, ruthless, demonic, beastly, wicked, unholy, highness: (n) excellency, altitude,
cruel, pitiless, obdurate, merciless, detestable; (v) mephistophelian loftiness, nobility, greatness,
unfeeling, unkind, stony, hellishly: (adv) satanically, eminence, size, stateliness, majesty,
insensitive, grim. ANTONYMS: devilishly, wickedly, fiendishly, high, grandeur
(adj) kind, caring, hearted, diabolically, beastly, demonically, high-spirited: (adj) valiant, valorous,
warmhearted, compassionate, satanicly, unholy, extremely spirited, manful, vivacious,
softhearted, merciful, sympathetic, helplessness: (n) powerlessness, effervescent, exuberant, jaunty, airy,
concerned, flattering, generous defenselessness, dependence, ebullient, martial
hearty: (adj) heartfelt, healthy, genial, impotency, impotence, inability, hillock: (n) hill, mound, rise, barrow,
sturdy, cheering, fervent, impuissance, incapability, kopje, hammock, elevation, heap;
wholehearted, lusty, enthusiastic, incapacity, defencelessness, failing. (adj, n) knoll, hummock; (adj) mole
convivial; (adj, n) well. ANTONYMS: (n) resistance, hilltop: (n) brow, peak, summit, top,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unhealthy, frail, capacity, strength pinnacle, hill, acme, height, zenith,
old, weak, sluggish, unwholesome, hemlock: (n) hemlock spruce, poison apex; (adj) outdoor
meager hemlock, California fern, Nebraska hind: (adj, n) rear; (adj) after,
heathen: (adj, n) gentile, ethnic; (n) fern, conium maculatum, eastern posterior, hindermost; (n) doe,
infidel, idolater, paynim, heretic; hemlock, wood, nightshade, clown, peasant, roe, countryman,
(adj) heathenish, irreligious, giaour, henbane, Tsuga, poison parsley servant; (v) hinder
godless, barbaric herbage: (n) herb, grass, pasture, hinder: (v) impede, resist, check,
heathenish: (adj) pagan, gothic, pasturage, foliage, herbaceous plant, hamper, obstruct, curb, handicap,
paganish, savage, doggerel, forage, flora, eatage, vegetable delay; (n, v) bar; (adj) posterior,
tramontane, barbarous, gentile, kingdom hind. ANTONYMS: (v) help,
brutal, ethnic, ferocious hereabouts: (adv) hereabout, facilitate, assist, prompt, encourage,
heavenly: (adj) celestial, blissful, thereabouts promote, allow, support, accelerate
ethereal, delightful, angelic, blessed, hereby: (adv) thereby, whereby hinted: (adj) veiled, roundabout, not
elysian, holy, unearthly, godlike, hereditary: (adj) familial, ancestral, explicit, implicit, coded, oblique
sacred. ANTONYMS: (adj) worldly, inherent, heritable, inherited, hissing: (adj) sibilant, sibilous,
miserable, infernal, hellish, inborn, congenital, innate, sibilatory; (n) whistling, heckling,
unappealing, dreadful, turbulent patrimonial, native, heredity scoffing, sibilance, taunts, sibilation,
heaving: (v) tremor, twitter; (adj) heroic: (adj) courageous, brave, white noise; (v) fizzle. ANTONYM:
swelling, full, full up, jammed; (n) fearless, chivalrous, dauntless, (n) applause
murmur, forcing out, groan, valiant, grand, intrepid, gallant, hist: (v) shush
grumble, mutter. ANTONYM: (adj) impressive, heroical. ANTONYMS: hither: (adv) here, whither,
deserted (adj) fearful, normal, despicable, hitherward, thither
heed: (n, v) consideration, concern, lowly hive: (adj) swarm, herd; (v) store, SE
regard, mind, attention, notice; (n) hesitate: (adj, n, v) pause, delay; (adj, nicher; (n) concourse, hiding place,
caution, advertence, advertency; (v) v) linger; (v) fluctuate, halt, waver, cave, cell, den, aerie, eyry
attend, hear. ANTONYMS: (n, v) vacillate, demur, boggle, hoarsely: (adv) roughly, huskily,
disregard; (n) inattentiveness procrastinate; (n, v) doubt. raucously, gruffly, throatily,
heedless: (adj) careless, reckless, ANTONYMS: (v) rush, decide gratingly, stridently, gutturally,
thickly, croakily, raggedly. convivial, genial, pleasant, warm, to ANTONYMS: (adj) fresh, cool, arid,
ANTONYM: (adv) smoothly enjoy having guests. ANTONYMS: temperate
homage: (n) allegiance, obeisance, (adj) unwelcoming, inhospitable, humility: (n) diffidence, modesty,
fealty, accolade, honor, loyalty, sinister, hostile submission, shyness, meekness,
worship, veneration, deference, hostilities: (n) combat, hostility, war, lowliness, timidity, trait,
devotion, compliment battle, fighting, action, series of humiliation, resignation; (adj)
homer: (n) homing pigeon, poet, attacks, campaign, conflict, veneration. ANTONYMS: (n)
Winslow homer, bingle, referee, cor, confrontation, contest. ANTONYM: haughtiness, affectation, conceit,
kor, basking shark, base hit, triumph (n) peace arrogance
honeysuckle: (n) Aquilegia hotly: (adv) heatedly, passionately, humming: (adj) droning, zippy,
Canadensis, Ausralian honeysuckle, fervidly, fervently, pepperily, reeking, bustling, grunting, stinking;
coast banksia, banksia integrifolia, sultrily, intensely, sharply, torridly; (n) buzzing, vocalizing, sound,
sweet wine, shrub, liqueur, bush, (adj, adv) violently, vehemently. murmur, growling
bush honeysuckle, coral ANTONYMS: (adv) impassively, humor: (n, v) caprice, freak, humour;
honeysuckle, fly honeysuckle mildly (n) temper, mood, disposition, wit;
honor: (n, v) respect, reputation, hound: (v) bloodhound, chase, hunt, (v) indulge, gratify; (adj, n) spirit,
glory, fame, reward; (n) award, follow, badger, course, bait, pursue; frame of mind. ANTONYMS: (n)
accolade, reverence; (v) celebrate; (n) greyhound, blackguard, cad. seriousness, gravity, solemnity; (v)
(adj, n, v) worship, grace. ANTONYM: (v) soothe displease
ANTONYMS: (n, v) dishonor, hourly: (adv) always, by the hour, hunted: (adj) coursed, afraid, wanted,
disgrace; (n) shame, humiliation, daily, often, constantly, continually, required, sought, sought after; (n)
wickedness, contempt, insult; (v) frequently; (adj) horary, continual, victim
break, ignore, disrespect, discredit ephemeral; (n) an hour hurl: (v) chuck, dash, pitch, throw,
honorable: (adj) good, estimable, houseless: (adj) unhoused dart, pelt, toss, heave, send; (n, v)
exalted, respectable, fair, decent, housings: (n) horsecloth, caparison, fling; (n) casting. ANTONYM: (v)
reputable, ethical, honor; (adj, v) saddlery, tack, furnishings, bard, hold
great, noble. ANTONYMS: (adj) trapping, trappings hurling: (adj) moving; (n) field game
shameful, disgraceful, corrupt, hover: (v) fly, hang, float, poise, hurrah: (int, n) hooray; (n) huzza, cry,
degenerate, immoral, humiliating, vacillate, flutter, brood, drift, glide, controversy, fervor, passion, praise;
dishonest, unethical, decadent, bad, waver; (adj) boggle (int) congratulations, bravo; (v)
deceitful hovering: (adj) suspended, poised, come; (adv) cheerfully
honored: (adj) esteemed, reputable, impending, flying, high husbandman: (n, v) cultivator; (n)
respected, honoured, privileged, howl: (n, v) cry, roar, scream, bark, agriculturist, granger, countryman,
glorious, distinguished, honorable, shout, yell, bay, yelp; (v) bawl, planter, sodbuster, apiarist,
worshipful, exalted, revered. growl, yawl. ANTONYM: (v) laugh apiculturist, arboriculturist,
ANTONYMS: (adj) disadvantaged, howling: (n) howl, cry; (adj) fierce, dairyman; (v) tiller
disreputable fantastic, gross, glaring, marvelous, hush: (adj, n, v) calm, silence, quiet,
honors: (n) formality wonderful, wondrous; (adj, n) still, lull; (n) peace; (v) shut up, gag,
hoof: (n) toe, sole, hooves, bottom, weeping, sniveling quieten, muffle; (adj, v) soothe.
keel, root, leg, ungula, unguis, hudson: (n) Hudson River, Henry ANTONYMS: (n) noise, turmoil; (v)
animal foot; (v) step Hudson Louden
hoot: (n, v) hiss, boo, cry, jeer, mock, humane: (adj, n) gentle, hushed: (adj) calm, silent, still,
beep; (n) gibe, honk, catcall; (v) call, compassionate, beneficent, gracious; subdued, placid, muffled, noiseless,
howl (adj) clement, kind, charitable, soft, soundless, tranquil, gentle.
horizontally: (adv) evenly, flatly, merciful, good, tender, benignant. ANTONYM: (adj) noisy
planely, straightly, frigidly, dully, ANTONYMS: (adj) inhumane, foul, husky: (adj) hoarse, gruff, burly, big,
barwise, smoothly, recumbently, harsh, selfish dry, raucous, beefy, strapping,
prostrately; (adj) crosswise humbled: (adj) humble, humiliated, brawny, sturdy; (n) Eskimo dog.
horrid: (adj) grisly, ghastly, ugly, crushed, depressed, dispirited, ANTONYMS: (adj) high, puny,
gruesome, grim, fearful, dreadful, abased, broken in, abject, ashamed; small, smooth, soft
direful, dire, horrible, fearsome. (n) humbler; (v) apart hymn: (n) song, canticle, chant,
ANTONYMS: (adj) lovely, nice, humbly: (adv) lowly, meanly, anthem, carol, chorale, doxology; (v)
appealing, attractive, kind modestly, submissively, low, shyly, glorify, laud, sing, extol
horrors: (adj) pessimism, vapors, lowlily, naturally, regretfully, idleness: (n) lethargy, laziness,
spleen, megrims; (n) delirium remorsefully, repentantly. torpor, inactivity, idling,
tremens ANTONYMS: (adv) conceitedly, unemployment, sloth, inaction,
horseman: (n) cavalier, rider, jockey, haughtily, pompously, inertia, faineance, idlesse.
horse fancier, horseback rider, ostentatiously, unrepentantly, ANTONYMS: (n) energy, activity,
trooper, trainer, knight, cavalryman, affluently, brashly, pretentiously bustle, liveliness, responsibility
animal fancier, postilion humid: (adj) wet, moist, dank, damp, idolatrous: (adj) loving, profane,
hospitable: (adj) affable, receptive, sultry, steamy, watery, wettish, heathen, heretical, idolatrical,
gracious, cordial, generous, amiable, clammy, sticky, soggy. idolish, idolous, pagan
illimitable: (adj) endless, infinite, immovable: (adj, v) firm, fixed; (adj) prospective, pending, at hand,
boundless, limitless, unlimited, adamant, steadfast, motionless, upcoming, threatening.
immense, eternal, measureless, unyielding, unmovable, set, ANTONYMS: (adj) distant, unlikely,
interminable, unmeasurable, imperturbable, inflexible; (v) fast. past
unmeasured ANTONYMS: (adj) loose, moving, impenetrable: (adj) impassable, thick,
ill-judged: (adj) imprudent, impolitic, mobile, flexible, movable, incomprehensible, hard, mysterious,
injudicious, incautious acquiescent, temporary, irresolute unfathomable, unintelligible,
ill-treat: (v) abuse, mistreat, misuse, immovably: (adj) firmly, impervious, opaque, heavy, obscure.
crucify, wrong, harm, ill-use, extravagantly; (adv) unyieldingly, ANTONYMS: (adj) penetrable,
persecute, corrupt, outrage, molest stubbornly, unwaveringly, readable, straightforward, apparent,
illustrious: (adj, n) glorious, unmovably, unbendingly, simple, sparse, vulnerable,
celebrated, excellent, grand; (adj) unalterably, obstinately, obdurately, accessible, transparent,
famous, bright, eminent, famed, inflexibly understandable, open
distinguished, brilliant, well-known. impaired: (adj) sick, damaged, imperfect: (adj) faulty, deficient,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unknown, crippled, defective, faulty, defective, unfinished, incomplete,
obscure, ordinary, undistinguished, corrupted, poor, unfit, hurt, poor, flawed, partial, inadequate,
lowly deficient, depressed broken, fallible. ANTONYMS: (adj)
imbecility: (n) folly, foolishness, impart: (v) give, convey, disclose, perfect, whole, unblemished,
idiocy, fatuity, weakness, stupidity, communicate, announce, grant, adequate, complete, sound,
feeblemindedness, lunacy; (adj, n) reveal, hand, bestow, divulge, boundless, capable, flawless
debility, feebleness; (adj) infirmity confer. ANTONYMS: (v) withhold, imperfection: (adj, n) frailty; (n) fault,
imbedded: (v) embosomed, rooted, withdraw blemish, defect, deficiency, flaw,
mewed up, in the bosom of, posited, impartial: (adj) just, equitable, weakness, disadvantage, vice, foible,
situate; (adj) encysted disinterested, unprejudiced, shortcoming. ANTONYMS: (n)
imbibe: (v) absorb, suck, swallow, unbiased, dispassionate, even- perfection, strength
gulp, engulf, carouse, assimilate, handed, candid, even, evenhanded, imperfectly: (adv) faultily,
consume, draw, quaff, bring in detached. ANTONYMS: (adj) defectively, badly, deficiently,
imbibing: (n) drinking, absorption, partial, partisan, prejudiced, incompletely, partially, poorly,
intake, swillings, drink, potation, subjective, unfair, unjust inadequately, sketchily, incorrectly,
drunkenness, gulping, boozing, imparting: (n) giving, conveyance, halfway. ANTONYMS: (adv)
crapulence; (adj) absorbent conveyance of title, conveyancing, perfectly, flawlessly, correctly, well
imbued: (adj) addicted, alive, conveying imperiously: (adv) overbearingly,
instinct, full impassable: (adj) impervious, arrogantly, commandingly,
imitate: (n, v) duplicate; (v) forge, impenetrable, impracticable, magisterially, dictatorially,
ape, emulate, follow, feign, invincible, insuperable, inaccessible, masterfully, haughtily, imperatively,
counterfeit, mimic, mock, assume, unpassable, innavigable, authoritatively, domineeringly,
act inextricable, closed, impossible. insolently. ANTONYMS: (adv)
imitated: (adj) mimical ANTONYMS: (adj) passable, open meekly, feebly
imitating: (adj) imitative; (n) impassioned: (adj) fervent, fanatical, impervious: (adj) impenetrable,
emulation, mimicry, forgery, acting fiery, burning, passionate, hot, inaccessible, callous, impassable,
imitator: (n) mimic, follower, torrid, vehement, keen, zealous; imperviable, invulnerable,
impersonator, copycat, ape, (adj, v) enthusiastic. ANTONYMS: waterproof, tight, resistant,
emulator, mimicker, copier, aper, (adj) impassive, indifferent, calm insensitive, pachydermatous.
copyist, somebody impatience: (n) annoyance, ANTONYMS: (adj) vulnerable,
immeasurably: (adv) boundlessly, eagerness, anger, intolerance, pervious, susceptible, affected,
endlessly, immensely, greatly, restlessness, fidget, nervousness, penetrable, receptive, scared,
much; (adj) exceedingly, extremely, fidgetiness, enthusiasm, edginess; sensitive
exquisitely, acutely, ultra, intensely. (adj) nonendurance. ANTONYMS: impetuosity: (n) eagerness, haste,
ANTONYM: (adv) slightly (n) calmness, endurance, apathy heat, violence, vehemence,
immemorial: (adj) ancient, impeded: (adj) blocked, disabled, impulsiveness, impetuousness,
prescriptive, pristine, primaeval, hampered, crippled, slow excitability, temerity, precipitation,
primeval, traditional, old, eternal, impediment: (n, v) hindrance, check, fervency. ANTONYMS: (n)
customary difficulty, delay; (n) bar, hitch, deliberation, patience,
imminently: (adv) nearly, barrier, obstruction, drawback, consideration, carefulness
menacingly, threateningly, nighly, encumbrance, block. ANTONYMS: impetuous: (adj) boisterous, hasty,
approachingly, closely, comingly, (n) benefit, boost, incentive, strength fiery, headlong, heady, hot, brash,
forthcomingly, pendingly, impelled: (adj) prompted, provoked, foolhardy, dashing, fierce; (adj, v)
prospectively, nextly determined, compulsive, impulsive. ANTONYMS: (adj)
immolate: (v) sacrifice, offer, encouraged, goaded, motivated, considered, careful, slow, sensible,
assassinate, butcher, kill, murder, bound patient
slaughter, attempt, endeavor, atone, impending: (adj) forthcoming, close, impious: (adj) godless, ungodly,
bid future, coming, approaching, near, disrespectful, profane, unholy,
sinful, unhallowed, wicked, improbable: (adj) implausible, harmoniously, correctly, properly,
iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent. impossible, incredible, unbelievable, fittingly
ANTONYMS: (adj) reverent, fishy, questionable, inconceivable, inaptly: (adv) inappropriately,
devout, restrained, good impractical, unthinkable, absurd; inadequately, incompetently,
implacable: (adj) cruel, remorseless, (adj, n) marvelous. ANTONYMS: unaptly, ineptly, inexpertly,
irreconcilable, pitiless, merciless, (adj) probable, certain, plausible, improperly, unfitly, awkwardly,
grim, unappeasable, deadly, mortal, truthful, ordinary, on, practical clumsily, unbecomingly
relentless, unforgiving. imprudent: (adj) foolish, foolhardy, inartificial: (adj) natural, simple,
ANTONYMS: (adj) placable, indiscreet, hasty, improvident, native, confiding, ingenu,
unrelenting impolitic, heedless, unadvised, untutored, inartistic, real, rude,
implements: (n) equipment, injudicious, unwary, unwise. naive, unaffected
apparatus, gear, tackle, rigging, ANTONYMS: (adj) sensible, inasmuch: (adv) gradually, pro tanto,
outfit, hardware, trappings prudent, cautious, wise, deliberate, so, since, as, that, because, inasmuch
implicitly: (adv) unquestioningly, discreet, guarded, judicious, as, seeing that, for
absolutely, tacitly, virtually, advisable inaudible: (adj) indistinct,
indirectly, silently, unspokenly, impunity: (n) impune, come off, imperceptible, inarticulate,
inherently, obliquely, completely, freedom, immunity, permission, noiseless, quiet, faint, out of hearing,
unexpressedly. ANTONYMS: (adv) forgiveness. ANTONYM: (n) muffled, silent, unheard, low.
openly, explicitly liability ANTONYMS: (adj) audible, obvious
imploring: (adj) appealing, begging, impurities: (n) dross, bastard, scum, inaudibly: (adv) inarticulately,
suppliant, pleading, entreating, cinder unnoticeably, imperceptibly, gently,
piteous, importunate, entreating impurity: (n) impureness, pollution, incoherently, invisibly,
urgently; (v) supplicate, plead; (n) filth, dirtiness, admixture, indiscernibly, indistinctly, silently,
prayer defilement, dirt, dross, adulteration, unintelligibly, untraceably.
importunity: (n, v) entreaty, foulness, corruption. ANTONYM: ANTONYMS: (adv) audibly,
supplication; (n) urgency, appeal, (n) cleanliness distinctly, coherently, perceptibly,
earnestness; (v) solicitation, imputation: (n) blame, charge, loudly, obviously
obsecration, interpellation, instance, accusation, impeachment, incantation: (n) spell, magic, sorcery,
obtestation, invocation attribution, ascription; (adj, n) slur; enchantment, witchcraft,
impossibility: (n) impossibleness, (adj) blot, reproach, stain, spot conjuration, magic spell, chant,
option, nonexistence, absurdity, inaction: (n) idleness, inactivity, wizardry, open sesame, adjuration
inability, impracticability, abeyance, apathy, standstill, incautious: (adj) imprudent, rash,
alternative, choice, contradiction, dormancy, stagnancy, quiescency, heedless, hasty, unwary,
contradiction in terms, quiescence, stagnation; (adj) latency. unguarded, inconsiderate,
doubtfulness. ANTONYMS: (n) ANTONYM: (n) activity thoughtless, injudicious, unadvised,
possibility, probability inactive: (adj) dead, dull, inert, foolhardy. ANTONYMS: (adj)
impostor: (n) fraud, cheat, hypocrite, dormant, sluggish, slow, passive, careful, suspicious, prudent,
fake, imposter, sham, charlatan, still, stagnant, slack, torpid. discreet, alert
deceiver, faker, cheater, pretender ANTONYMS: (adj) active, lively, incautiously: (adv) imprudently,
impotency: (n) weakness, moving, dormant, extinct, working, recklessly, thoughtlessly,
powerlessness, impuissance, energetic, live, diligent, proactive, indiscreetly, injudiciously,
disability, quality, sterility, creative heedlessly, unthinkingly,
infertility, helplessness, incapability, inadvertently: (adv) accidentally, unguardedly, unwarily, rashly,
inability, imbecility heedlessly, unwittingly, forgetfully. ANTONYMS: (adv)
impotent: (adj) helpless, feeble, frail, unintentionally, negligently, discreetly, carefully
fragile, inadequate, weak, barren, casually, thoughtlessly, unawares, incessant: (adj) endless, continual,
slack, ineffective, incapable, unable. involuntarily, by accident; (adj, adv) everlasting, eternal, constant,
ANTONYMS: (adj) able, powerful inattentively. ANTONYMS: (adv) continuous, perpetual, unremitting,
impregnable: (adj, v) fast; (adj) mindfully, wittingly, deliberately, interminable, persistent; (adj, v)
secure, inexpugnable, unassailable, purposely frequent. ANTONYMS: (adj)
unconquerable, invulnerable, inanimate: (adj) defunct, dull, intermittent, occasional, sporadic,
insurmountable, unshakable, breathless, inorganic, inactive, broken, finite
irresistible, strong, safe. lifeless, exanimate, deceased, incessantly: (adv) constantly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) vulnerable, extinct, unconscious, spiritless. endlessly, continually, perpetually,
tenuous ANTONYMS: (adj) living, animate, continuously, unceasingly, eternally,
impressively: (adv) strikingly, spirited persistently, unremittingly,
splendidly, grandly, magnificently, inappropriately: (adv) improperly, unendingly, steadily. ANTONYMS:
majestically, movingly, massively, inadequately, unbecomingly, (adv) sporadically, briefly
heroically, commandingly, inopportunely, wrongly, ineptly, incipient: (adj) initial, budding,
remarkably, arrestingly. indecently, incorrectly, nascent, imperfectly formed,
ANTONYMS: (adv) weakly, incongruously, unfittingly, inaptly. commencing, first, undeveloped;
execrably, slightly, simply ANTONYMS: (adv) suitably, (adj, v) introductory; (v) inceptive;
(n) beginning nonchalant, aloof, lackadaisical, necessary; (v) needful.
inclination: (n, v) desire, bent; (n) apathetic, vacant ANTONYMS: (adj) dispensable,
fancy, affection, tendency, leaning, indebted: (adj) grateful, appreciative, nonessential, optional, marginal,
drift, appetite, dip, proclivity, bias. thankful, obliged, liable, insolvent, unnecessary, worthless, minor
ANTONYMS: (n) disinclination, broke; (prep) beholden, debted; (n) indistinct: (adj) indefinite,
reluctance, aversion, indifference, debtor; (v) owe. ANTONYM: (adj) inarticulate, faint, dull, fuzzy,
unwillingness, antipathy, dislike, ungrateful indeterminate, hazy, neutral; (adj, n)
horror indefatigable: (adj) tireless, confused, cloudy, dark.
incline: (v) cant, dispose, bend; (n, v) assiduous, unflagging, untiring, ANTONYMS: (adj) clear, slight,
slope, bias, dip, tilt; (n) ascent, inexhaustible, energetic, separate, certain, precise, audible,
gradient, grade, inclination. unremitting, indomitable, laborious, strong, definite
ANTONYMS: (v) indispose, level; unwearying, unwearied. indistinctly: (adv) vaguely, dimly,
(n) hollow, descent ANTONYMS: (adj) idle, feeble, hazily, mistily, inarticulately,
inclining: (adj) oblique, shelving; (n) unrelenting, weary shadowily, obscurely, unclearly,
leaning, tendency, disposition, indentation: (n) pit, depression, fuzzily, confusedly, ambiguously.
movement, proclivity, sentiment, hollow, impression, indent, dip, ANTONYMS: (adv) precisely,
propensity, predilection, partiality notch, impress, concavity; (n, v) audibly, coherently, distinctly
inclose: (adv, v) environ, beset; (adv, nick; (adj) concave. ANTONYMS: inducement: (n) enticement,
n, v) encompass; (n, v) encircle, (n) lump, bump attraction, cause, incitement,
close, embrace; (adv, n) compass; (v) indented: (adj) concave, hollow, impulse, temptation, bait, impetus,
circumscribe, embower, bound, gird serrated, jagged, crenelated, occasion, motive, goad.
inclosed: (adj) confined, entrails, crenelate, crenellated, crenellate, ANTONYMS: (n) disincentive,
included, internal, intestine embattled, notched; (n) fancier deterrent
inclosing: (adj) inclusive, indescribable: (adj) indefinable, indulge: (n, v) gratify, humor; (v)
surrounding ineffable, unutterable, vague, coddle, cosset, baby, pamper, spoil,
incoherent: (adj) disjointed, beyond expression, nameless, satisfy, please, mollycoddle, cocker.
disconnected, delirious, rambling, inexpressible, nondescript, terrible, ANTONYMS: (v) frustrate, deprive,
confused, disordered, incompatible, intangible, termless. ANTONYMS: stifle, neglect, deny, displease, fast
wandering, muddled, inconsistent, (adj) explainable, conceivable, indulged: (adj) pet, privileged,
contradictory. ANTONYMS: (adj) concrete cherished, admired
clear, articulate, eloquent, indicative: (adj, n) declarative; (adj) indulgence: (adj, n) gratification,
intelligible, lucid, sound, concise, significant, suggestive, meaningful, delight; (n) allowance, extravagance,
consistent demonstrative, significative, debauchery, hobby, tolerance,
inconvenience: (n, v) trouble, indicatory, reminiscent; (n) luxury, enjoyment, leniency,
incommode; (v) discommode, indicative mood, common mood; (v) pardon. ANTONYMS: (n) denial,
disoblige, annoy, disturb, disquiet; indicating. ANTONYMS: (adj) virtue, intolerance, uprightness,
(n) disadvantage, difficulty, hidden, secretive necessity, indifference, dismay,
nuisance, unsuitableness. indignant: (adj) angry, incensed, severity
ANTONYMS: (n) expediency, furious, enraged, wrathful, hurt, indulgent: (adj) forgiving, gentle,
advantage; (v) help, please rage, provoked, hot, anger, irate. clement, lenient, soft, kind, gracious,
incredulous: (adj) dubious, doubtful, ANTONYMS: (adj) cool, content, tolerant, merciful, compassionate;
suspicious, unbelieving, faithless, unaffected (adj, v) permissive. ANTONYMS:
skeptical, doubting, lacking faith, indignantly: (adv) irately, angrily, (adj) intolerant, unsympathetic,
questioning, cynical, mistrustful. wrathfully, enragedly, sorely, severe, restrained, harsh,
ANTONYM: (adj) convinced acrimoniously, cynically, sulkily, hardhearted, abstemious,
incredulously: (adv) skeptically, hotly, exasperatedly, furiously disapproving
disbelievingly, distrustfully, indignation: (n) anger, resentment, indulging: (n) pampering, excess,
suspiciously, dubiously, doubtfully, displeasure, grudge, umbrage, rage, indulgence, orgy, folly, foolery,
questioningly, uncertainly, outrage, exasperation, choler, gratification
mistrustfully, doubtingly, cynically dudgeon; (adj, n) wrath. indurated: (adj) hardened, hard,
incumbent: (adj, v) superimposed; ANTONYMS: (n) contentment, callous, firm, impassive, inveterate,
(n) functionary, official, pleasure scirrhous, sclerous, sclerotic
householder, occupant, parson, indignity: (n) dishonor, contumely, industrious: (adj) diligent, assiduous,
locum tenens, sojourner; (adj) humiliation, contempt, outrage, indefatigable, busy, energetic,
compulsory; (v) supernatant, disdain, offence, disgrace, hardworking, laborious, tireless,
overlying degradation; (n, v) insult, abuse. earnest, keen, enterprising.
incur: (n, v) contract; (v) catch, get, ANTONYMS: (n) honor, glory, ANTONYMS: (adj) indolent, idle,
incite, begin, cause, encounter, pride destructive, weary, careless
experience, obtain, suffer, receive indispensable: (adj, v) necessary, ineffable: (adj) indescribable,
incurious: (adj) uninquisitive, imperative, requisite; (adj) unspeakable, unutterable,
uninterested, negligent, obligatory, fundamental, required, indefinable, inexpressible, beyond
unconcerned, casual, detached, mandatory, vital, urgent, absolutely expression, unimaginable, beyond
words, unpronounceable, dreadful, cursed, blasted, unholy, wicked; be, exist; (n) habit. ANTONYMS: (v)
untellable (adj, v) diabolic, satanic desert, vacate
ineffectual: (adj) ineffective, futile, infirm: (adj, n, v) feeble; (adj, v) faint, inhabitant: (n) denizen, resident,
useless, feeble, abortive, powerless, weak, sickly, debilitated; (adj) occupant, citizen, tenant, occupier,
idle, weak, unable, void, vain. impotent, fragile, decrepit, ill, population, native, liver, indweller;
ANTONYMS: (adj) strong, effectual, delicate, shaky. ANTONYMS: (adj) (v) habitant. ANTONYM: (n)
effective, useful, viable, competent, whole, well, hearty stranger
invulnerable, helpful, decisive infirmity: (adj, n) frailty, foible, inhabited: (v) populous, full of
inelegantly: (adv) ungracefully, imbecility; (n) feebleness, people, arrayed, clothed, dressed,
gracelessly, coarsely, awkwardly, impotence, disability, decrepitude, accustomed, habited; (adj, v)
roughly, rudely, maladroitly, illness, sickness, disease, weakness. peopled; (adj) occupied, settled,
plainly, gawkily, gauchely, ineptly. ANTONYMS: (n) health, wellness, housing. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYMS: (adv) elegantly, strength unoccupied, uninhabited, business
delicately, coherently, tastefully inflame: (v) burn, fire, enkindle, inhale: (v) absorb, imbibe, draw,
inexorable: (adj) adamant, incite, kindle, ignite, incense, arouse, suck, drag, breathe in, drink, attract,
unrelenting, stern, cruel, relentless, heat, agitate; (adj, v) irritate. inspire, respire; (n, v) sniff.
austere, adamantine, inflexible, ANTONYMS: (v) dampen, blanch, ANTONYMS: (v) blow, expire
remorseless, stiff; (adj, v) inevitable. inhibit, improve inhaled: (adj) breathed in
ANTONYM: (adj) gentle inflamed: (adj) impassioned, excited, inhuman: (adj) heartless, cruel,
inexperienced: (adj) naive, young, angry, hot, flaming, ablaze, irritated, atrocious, brutal, cold, harsh,
callow, ignorant, unsophisticated, passionate, painful, burning; (n) red ferocious, remorseless, barbarous,
new, unexperienced, clumsy; (adj, v) inflexibility: (n) firmness, austerity, relentless, barbaric. ANTONYMS:
raw; (v) green; (n) inexperience. obstinacy, inflexibleness, rigor, (adj) sympathetic, kind, humane
ANTONYMS: (adj) trained, severity, tenacity, stiffness, injudicious: (adj) foolish, unwise,
sophisticated, skilled, stubbornness, hardness, harshness. indiscreet, unadvised, careless,
knowledgeable, expert, accustomed, ANTONYMS: (n) impressionability, improper, thoughtless, rash, hasty,
sharp, seasoned compliance, malleability, agility, ill-judged, incautious. ANTONYMS:
inexplicable: (adj) incomprehensible, softness, weakness, limpness, (adj) wise, sensible, careful, prudent,
mysterious, unaccountable, cooperation judicious, discreet, advisable
inscrutable, unfathomable, infuriated: (adj, v) enraged; (adj) injure: (n, v) damage, harm, impair;
enigmatic, baffling, indecipherable, furious, incensed, angered, mad, (v) contuse, disfigure, maim, bruise,
unexplained, incognizable, exasperated, provoked, boiling, blemish, wound, insult; (adj, v)
preternatural. ANTONYMS: (adj) livid, wrathful, annoyed. abuse. ANTONYMS: (v) heal,
understandable, explicable, ANTONYM: (adj) pleased enable, repair, protect, help
mundane, apparent, explainable, ingenious: (adj) adroit, artful, clever, inmate: (n) captive, convict, gaolbird,
straightforward, natural, legible cunning, deft, expert, creative, denizen, prisoner, con, patient,
inextinguishable: (adj) indomitable, imaginative, cute, acute, able. jailbird, lodger, occupant, resident.
impregnable, dominating, ANTONYMS: (adj) impulsive, ANTONYM: (n) outpatient
quenchless, indestructible, naive, unoriginal, inept inmost: (adj) innermost, inward,
unquenchable; (v) incommutable, ingeniously: (adv) artfully, cleverly, deep, intimate, private, inner,
indefeasible, volcanic, irreducible, adroitly, skillfully, inventively, interior, internal, personal, secret,
simmering resourcefully, shrewdly, intrinsic. ANTONYM: (adj)
infallible: (adj) sure, inevitable, imaginatively, cunningly, craftily, outermost
positive, inerrable, unfailing, artistically. ANTONYM: (adv) innate: (adj) inherent, congenital,
absolute, confident, definite, ineptly inbred, indigenous, instinctive,
dependable; (adj, v) unerring; (n) ingenuity: (adj, n) ability; (n) natural, intrinsic, constitutional,
sterling. ANTONYMS: (adj) fallible, adroitness, ingeniousness, cunning, essential, ingrained; (adj, v) born.
faulty imagination, acumen, resource, ANTONYMS: (adj) learned,
infallibly: (adv) unerringly, originality, skill, wit, inventiveness. conditioned, acquired, trained,
unfailingly, inerrably, assuredly, ANTONYM: (n) ineptness spiritual
certainly, firmly ingenuous: (adj, n) frank; (adj) naive, inquire: (v) demand, ask, explore,
infantile: (adj) immature, infant, guileless, honest, forthright, enquire, inspect, research, consult,
babyish, infantine, young, juvenile, innocent, straight, artless, pry, request, wonder; (n, v)
childlike, baby, adolescent, puerile, downright, green, hearty. question. ANTONYM: (v) answer
little. ANTONYM: (adj) old ANTONYMS: (adj) disingenuous, inquiring: (adj) inquisitive, quizzical,
infatuation: (adj) devotion, dishonest, cunning, sophisticated, interested, analytical, probing,
fascination, enchantment, gross scheming, worldly, jaded, hesitant, intrusive; (adj, n) questioning; (v)
credulity; (adj, n) passion, fervor, experienced inquire; (n) enquiry, question,
fanaticism; (n) crush, idolatry, love, ingrafted: (v) hackneyed, inveterate, examination. ANTONYM: (adj)
hobby. ANTONYM: (n) indifference permanent, rooted; (adj) implanted uninquiring
infernal: (adj) devilish, fiendish, inhabit: (v) reside, abide, occupy, inquiringly: (adv) enquiringly,
diabolical, demonic, damned, lodge, settle, people, live, indwell, inquisitively, nosily, curiously,
pryingly, interestedly, searchingly, inspecting: (n) inspection; (v) inspect; insure: (v) assure, secure, guarantee,
inquiring, quizzically, intrusively (adj) curious, inspective cover, underwrite, ensure,
inquisitive: (adj) inquiring, instantaneous: (adj) immediate, indemnify, ascertain, control, cinch,
speculative, nosy, prying, prompt, sudden, precipitate, verify
questioning, nosey, meddling, momentary, abrupt, precipitous, intellect: (n) mind, intelligence,
investigative, meddlesome, precipitant, swift, momentaneous, understanding, reason, brains, head,
quizzical, overcurious. quick. ANTONYMS: (adj) gradual, intellectual, apprehension, psyche,
ANTONYMS: (adj) apathetic, delayed, considered genius, brainpower. ANTONYM:
uninterested instantaneously: (adv) directly, (n) stupidity
inroad: (n) foray, attack, incursion, instantly, at once, forthwith, intelligible: (adj) clear,
invasion, aggression, penetration, suddenly, promptly, abruptly, understandable, articulate,
offence, influx, intrusion; (n, v) raid; momentarily, outright, right away, luminous, apprehensible, graspable,
(v) invade in a flash. ANTONYM: (adv) simple, lucid, definite, distinct,
inroads: (n) wear eventually perspicuous. ANTONYMS: (adj)
insatiable: (adj) ravenous, voracious, instigation: (n) fomentation, difficult, illegible
insatiate, gluttonous, avaricious, encouragement, incitement, intelligibly: (adv) comprehensibly,
quenchless, avid, unquenchable, abetment, incitation, agitation, understandably, clear, simply,
unsatiable, grasping, sateless. provocation, inducement, initiation, comprehensible, distinctly,
ANTONYM: (adj) moderate excitation, stimulus intelligible, cogently, aloud,
insensible: (adj) imperceptible, instinctive: (adj) inherent, inborn, understandingly, comprehensively.
numb, unconscious, callous, dull, automatic, natural, mechanical, ANTONYMS: (adv) unintelligibly,
unaware, apathetic, impassive, spontaneous, intuitive, unconscious, incomprehensibly, incoherently
indiscernible, comatose, impassible. gut, reflex; (adj, v) involuntary. intenseness: (n) intension, extreme
ANTONYMS: (adj) sensible, ANTONYMS: (adj) learned, stilted, degree, fervency
conscious, sensitive, awake, alive, deliberate, factual, systematic, intently: (adv) fixedly, attentively,
compassionate, concerned, aware trained, spiritual seriously, raptly, intensely, closely,
insensibly: (adv) imperceptibly, instruct: (v) charge, educate, teach, steadily, eagerly, absorbedly, hard,
apathetically, numbly, motionlessly, advise, enlighten, direct, drill, steadfastly. ANTONYM: (adv)
inertly inform, command, indoctrinate, absently
inseparable: (adj) indissoluble, tutor interment: (n) burial, sepulture,
inextricable, inherent, indiscerptible, instructive: (adj) enlightening, entombment, funeral, sepulcher,
built-in, indispensable, infrangible, illuminating, informatory, didactic, committal, obsequies, arenation,
innate, unseparable; (v) severable, educational, edifying, advisory, burying, grave, humation
unseparated. ANTONYMS: (adj) instructional, clarifying, illustrative, interminable: (adj) endless, eternal,
separable, dividable, isolatable admonitory. ANTONYMS: (adj) incessant, infinite, illimitable,
insidious: (adj) cunning, crafty, unenlightening, uninstructive immeasurable, unending, ceaseless,
deceitful, deceptive, guileful, subtle, instructor: (n) trainer, coach, timeless, continual, unlimited.
treacherous, devious; (adj, v) sly, preceptor, don, educator, tutor, ANTONYMS: (adj) temporary,
wily, elusive. ANTONYMS: (adj) demonstrator, lecturer, master, finite, intermittent, sporadic, concise
straightforward, harmless mentor, guru. ANTONYMS: (n) intermingled: (adj) amalgamated,
insignificance: (n) unimportance, student, pupil integrated, coalesced, blended,
insignificancy, indifference, insultingly: (adv) offensively, incorporated, assorted,
immateriality, inconsiderableness, scurrilously, opprobriously, consolidated, incorporate,
slightness, smallness, meanness, contemptuously, foully, scornfully, amalgamate, fused
littleness, futility, injuriously, rudely, impertinently, intermission: (n) rest, pause, lull,
inconsequentiality. ANTONYMS: provokingly, sarcastically cessation, suspension, interruption,
(n) seriousness, importance, gravity, insults: (adj) insulting; (n) abuse, abeyance, disruption, gap,
appropriateness, value, fame swearing discontinuance, respite.
insinuating: (adj) crafty, insinuative, insuperable: (adj) unconquerable, ANTONYM: (n) continuation
oily, ingratiating, having serpents, indomitable, impassable, invincible, interpose: (v) interject, insert,
insinuant, sly, snaky, giving hints, unsurmountable, unbeatable, interpolate, intercede, intervene,
snide, subtle impregnable, overwhelming, meddle, intrude, tamper, step in,
insinuation: (n) hint, innuendo, formidable, inexsuperable, butt in; (adj, v) intermeddle
suggestion, implication, reference, unassailable. ANTONYM: (adj) interposed: (adj) interjacent,
intimation, accusation, indication, vulnerable intercedent, intervenient,
sarcasm, attribution, imputation insupportable: (adj, v) insufferable, parenthetical, intermediate colors,
insolence: (n) impertinence, intolerable; (adj) indefensible, mediate
arrogance, audacity, impudence, unbearable, excruciating, interpreter: (n) commentator,
effrontery, cheek, assumption, gall, unjustifiable, unendurable, interpretive program, exponent,
disrespect, haughtiness, crust. impossible, unsupportable, heavy, explainer, translator, mouthpiece,
ANTONYMS: (n) respect, obnoxious. ANTONYM: (adj) ambassador, prophet, bagman,
politeness, meekness, shyness bearable expounder, program
interred: (adj) buried, inhumed, bearable, tolerable, acceptable, irredeemable; (adj, v) fixed; (v)
hidden. ANTONYM: (adj) unburied reasonable, nice, understandable, rooted, ingrafted, hackneyed; (n)
interrogate: (n, v) question, pump; (v) lovable, excusable, inoffensive, ineffaceable
ask, demand, examine, enquire, manageable invigorating: (adj) exhilarating, fresh,
catechize, query, quiz, probe, intrepid: (adj) daring, fearless, bold, tonic, brisk, healthy, wholesome,
investigate. ANTONYMS: (v) reply, brave, dauntless, gallant, audacious, cordial, benign, curative, crisp,
answer hardy, adventurous, heroic, fascinating. ANTONYMS: (adj)
interrogation: (n) inquiry, question, confident. ANTONYMS: (adj) soporific, soothing, relaxing, tiring,
query, doubt, enquiry, hearing, fearful, timid, cautious, feeble dull, debilitating, deadly
quiz, problem, demand, interview, intricacy: (n) complexity, difficulty, inviolable: (adj) sacrosanct,
interrogative entanglement, elaboration, infrangible, hallowed, invulnerable,
interrogator: (n) inquirer, questioner, elaborateness, complicacy, maze, inviolate, inalienable, impenetrable,
enquirer, asker confusion, perplexity, involution, absolute, impregnable; (v)
interrupt: (v) disturb, break, hinder, subtlety. ANTONYM: (n) order imprescriptible, unimpeachable.
intermit, stop, cut, break in, arrest, intricate: (adj, n) complicated; (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) acceptable,
check; (n, v) suspend; (adj, v) pause. difficult, knotty, hard, tricky, breakable
ANTONYMS: (v) cheer, respect, convoluted, tortuous, inextricable, invocation: (v) entreaty, obsecration,
restore elaborate, obscure; (adj, v) involved. solicitation; (n) prayer,
interrupting: (adj) cross, ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, easy, implementation, intercession,
interchanged, interpelling, plain petition, rogation, benediction,
meddlesome, adverse, defensive, intrude: (v) interfere, trespass, apostrophe; (n, v) supplication
contrary, interpellant, interruptive encroach, infringe, impose, obtrude, involuntarily: (adv) unconsciously,
interruption: (n) disruption, disturb, interrupt, impinge, barge in, unintentionally, inadvertently,
intermission, halt, pause, butt in. ANTONYM: (v) disregard automatically, forcedly,
suspension, discontinuance, hiatus; intruder: (n) trespasser, interloper, mechanically, unthinkingly,
(n, v) break, hindrance, impediment; encroacher, raider, invader, reluctantly, accidentally,
(v) interrupt. ANTONYMS: (n) aggressor, go between, gatecrasher, automaticly, unwillingly.
permanence, help, respect stalker, boarder; (adj, n) stranger ANTONYMS: (adv) voluntarily,
intersected: (adj) decussated intrusion: (n) infringement, consciously, willingly, purposely
intervening: (adj) middle, interstitial, encroachment, disturbance, involuntary: (adj) instinctive,
intervene, interposed, intermediate interruption, inroad, trespass, unconscious, unintentional, forced,
colors, mediate, mesne; (adj, v) invasion, violation, incursion, mechanical, unthinking, reluctant,
intercurrent, interjacent; (v) disruption, entry unwilling, compulsory, inadvertent,
intervenient; (n) middler. intuitive: (adj) instinctive, inborn, accidental. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYM: (adj) permanent innate, impulsive, natural, voluntary, intentional, intended,
intimated: (adj) tacit, furtive, dejected perceptive, automatic, intuitional, willing
intimately: (adv) nearly, familiarly, untaught, involuntary, presentative. inwardly: (adv) inside, interiorly,
personally, secretly, internally, ANTONYMS: (adj) intellectual, innerly, within, secretly,
privately, narrowly, thoroughly, systematic, deliberate, obtuse, stilted intrinsically, intimately, privately,
near, well, thickly. ANTONYM: intuitively: (adv) impulsively, spiritually, incomingly; (adj)
(adv) superficially viscerally, unconsciously, inwards. ANTONYM: (adv) openly
intimation: (n) hint, inkling, automatically, mechanically, irksome: (adj, v) wearisome,
implication, insinuation, suggestion, inbornly, inherently, innately, tiresome; (adj) boring, dull,
clue, allusion, indication, cue, notice, involuntarily, nonrationally, annoying, tedious, trying,
innuendo perceptively burdensome, bothersome, irritating,
intimidate: (adj, v) browbeat; (v) invade: (v) infringe, intrude, occupy, prosaic. ANTONYMS: (adj)
frighten, bully, discourage, bullyrag, overrun, impinge, encroach upon, delightful, pleasant, refreshing,
scare, deter, terrify; (n, v) affright, raid, infest; (n, v) assail, attack, soothing
alarm, dismay. ANTONYMS: (v) assault. ANTONYMS: (v) withdraw, ironical: (adj) sarcastic, satirical, dry,
protect, help, reassure surrender burlesque, wry, sardonic, satiric,
intimidating: (adj) scary, threatening, invariable: (adj) fixed, consistent, derisive, caustic, quizzical; (n)
menacing, bullying, scare, terrifying, even, immutable, steady, humorous
terrible, nasty, uncomforting, unchanging, stable, uniform, set, iroquois: (n) Tuscaroras, Cayugas,
truculent, tough. ANTONYMS: (adj) undeviating, unchanged. Cherokees, Iroquoian, Iroquoian
friendly, soothing, reassuring, ANTONYMS: (adj) changing, language, Mohawk, oneidas,
comforting, approachable, dynamic, erratic, irregular, varied senecas, Onondagas
insignificant invent: (v) devise, form, create, irrecoverable: (adj) incurable,
intolerable: (adj) unbearable, excogitate, concoct, imagine, irreparable, remediless,
insupportable, painful, obnoxious, contrive; (n, v) forge, fabricate, irreclaimable, irremediable,
detestable, inexcusable, deplorable, design, coin unrecoverable, forgotten, desperate,
undesirable, hard, excruciating, inveterate: (adj) incorrigible, lost, irrevocable, irreversible
difficult. ANTONYMS: (adj) confirmed, chronic, ingrained, old, irrepressible: (adj) uncontrollable,
uncontainable, unmanageable, pharisaical, cunning, sophistical, unenthusiastically, apathetically,
wanton, inextinguishable, rampant, Jesuit, deceptive faintly, reluctantly, patiently,
effervescent; (v) ungovernable, jewel: (n) gemstone, darling, passively, halfheartedly, vaguely
volcanic, stanchless, simmering. diamond, jewelry, trinket, treasure, keenness: (n) ardor, eagerness,
ANTONYM: (adj) orderly ornament, idol; (adj, n) bijou, enthusiasm, acumen, sharpness,
irresistibly: (adv) charmingly, precious stone; (adj) brilliant zeal, acuity, quickness, diligence,
necessarily, overwhelmingly, jocular: (adj) jocose, amusing, fervor; (n, v) edge. ANTONYMS: (n)
charismatically, fiercely, temptingly, comical, facetious, funny, cheerful, unwillingness, dullness,
overpoweringly, appealingly, jesting, hilarious, droll, frolicsome, indifference, faintness, dislike,
beguilingly bright. ANTONYMS: (adj) solemn, patience, reluctance
irretrievably: (adv) permanently, for gloomy killdeer: (n) kildeer, plover, killdee,
all time, irremediably, forever, journeying: (adj) itinerant, killdeer plover
irrecoverably, once and for all, wayfaring, vagabond; (n) excursion, kindle: (adj, v) inflame; (v) fire,
irrevocably, irreversibly digression, expedition, travelling, excite, arouse, burn, flame, awaken,
irritate: (adj, v) incense; (v) gall, fret, movement, outing, passage, incite, enkindle, stir; (n, v) light.
chafe, harass, grate, displease, vex, pilgrimage ANTONYMS: (v) enkindle, dampen,
goad, aggravate, anger. joyful: (adj) gay, glad, elated, calm, extinguish, quench, stifle
ANTONYMS: (v) soothe, pacify, cheerful, gleeful, cheery, delighted, kindled: (adj) enkindled, lighted, lit,
please, help, calm, encourage, joyous, jolly, blissful, blithe. burning
placate ANTONYMS: (adj) miserable, kindling: (n) combustion, firing,
irritating: (adj) infuriating, sorrowful, unhappy, despairing, ignition, lighting, tinder, fire,
bothersome, annoying, unpleasant, staid, sorry, firewood, dismissal; (v) ignite,
exasperating, irksome, irritative, disappointed, depressed, heavy agitate, kindle
vexatious, aggravating, joyous: (adj) happy, gleeful, elated, kindred: (adj) cognate, akin, similar,
troublesome, irritant; (v) stinging. jolly, glad, gay, jovial, merry, festive, allied, related; (n) kin,
ANTONYMS: (adj) soothing, cheerful, jocund. ANTONYMS: (adj) consanguinity, relation, folk, folks,
calming, delightful, pleasant despairing, joyless, miserable kin group
islet: (n) island, ait, reef, holm, atoll, jubilee: (n) celebration, carnival, knave: (n) cheat, jack, blackguard,
eyot, breaker, coral reef, coral jubilation, triumph, fete, holiday, crook, rascal, villain, cad, scalawag,
Island, wight festival, paean, festivity, gala, scallywag, scoundrel, varlet
jabbering: (adj) babbling, blithering, ovation knavery: (n) quackery, jugglery, foul
blathering, loquacious, voluble, judicious: (adj, v) discreet; (adj) play, trickery, swindle, betrayal,
gabby; (n) jabber, gabble, babble, careful, discerning, sensible, falsification, falsehood,
gibberish prudent, rational, sagacious, sound, charlatanism, knavishness, roguery
jaded: (adj) tired, fatigued, worn, cautious, reasonable, advisable. knavish: (adj) tricky, dishonest,
weary, wearied, fed up, satiate, ANTONYMS: (adj) stupid, tactless, crafty, sly, roguish, guileful, foxy,
worn-out, bored, satiated, sick. indiscriminate, reckless, illogical, dodgy, cunning, false, corrupt
ANTONYMS: (adj) fresh, innocent, extreme, untimely kneeling: (n) homage, kowtow,
brilliant juggler: (n) performer, magician, kneelingly, prostration, genuflexion,
jargon: (n, v) gibberish; (n) idiom, cheat, conjurer, prestidigitator, genuflection, curtsy, courtesy,
dialect, vernacular, slang, lingo, deceiver, trickster, jockey, obeisance
language, argot, cant, prestigiator, conveyer knighthood: (n) chivalry, knight,
gobbledygook; (adj, n) palaver justly: (adv) accurately, fairly, nobility, aristocracy
jarring: (adj, n) harsh, dissonant, correctly, honestly, lawfully, knoll: (n) hill, hillock, mound,
inconsistent; (adj) rough, properly, exactly, uprightly, hummock, mount, bank, kopje,
inharmonious, strident, grating, legitimately, impartially, purely. barrow, hammock; (v) knap; (adj)
jolting, raucous, cacophonous, ANTONYMS: (adv) wrongly, mole. ANTONYM: (n) hollow
bumpy. ANTONYMS: (adj) soft, unfairly, unjustifiably, unjustly, knowingly: (adj, adv, v) wittingly;
usual unlawfully, sinfully, falsely, (adv) intentionally, consciously,
jeopardy: (n) hazard, peril, chance, immorally designedly, shrewdly, on purpose,
precariousness, insecurity, exposure, juvenile: (adj) youthful, childish, purposely, wisely, wilfully,
threat, venture, adventure; (n, v) immature, puerile, young, babyish, ingeniously; (adv, v) by design.
risk, menace. ANTONYM: (n) callow; (n) youngster, child, youth, ANTONYMS: (adv) accidentally,
security teenager. ANTONYMS: (adj, n) unintentionally, unwittingly, openly
jest: (n) gag, gibe, quip, game; (n, v) adult; (adj) mature, old, sensible labor: (n, v) toil, endeavor, drudgery,
jape; (v) banter, jeer, deride, gird, keener: (v) Indian giver, floater, travail, struggle, confinement,
sneer, clown repeater childbirth, delivery, grind; (n) effort,
jesuit: (n) Pharisee, Society of Jesus, keenly: (adv) eagerly, zealously, exertion. ANTONYMS: (n, v) rest;
Pecksniff, Mawworm, revivalist, piercingly, acutely, cuttingly, (v) relax, ignore; (n) management,
field preacher, intriguer, Janus, ardently, strongly, lively, leisure, death, relaxation
sophist, propagandist, missionary penetratingly, fervently, avidly. laboring: (adj) working, labouring,
jesuitical: (adj) hypocritical, ANTONYMS: (adv) toiling, drudging, labors, work,
elaborate, employed, busy abundant, bountiful, excessive, legends: (n) tradition, mythology,
laborious: (adj) hard, arduous, improvident; (adj, v) profuse. myths
backbreaking, heavy, industrious, ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, scant, leggings: (n) gramashes, pedal
diligent, grueling, assiduous, economical, impoverished, frugal, pushers
exhausting, formidable, tough. unadorned, plain; (v) stint, skimp, lengthened: (adj) elongated,
ANTONYMS: (adj) simple, begrudge, economize prolonged, long, protracted,
effortless, undemanding, light, brisk lavishly: (adv) profusely, expanded, elongate, longer,
laced: (adj) even, fastened, spiked, profligately, prodigally, copiously, lingering, extensive, stretched out,
drunk, decorated, alcoholic generously, richly, wastefully, lengthy
laconic: (adj) curt, brief, terse, abundantly, luxuriously, plentifully, lengthwise: (adv) along, longwise,
compendious, succinct, pithy, amply. ANTONYMS: (adv) endlong, longways, longitudinally,
compact, taciturn, laconical, meagerly, frugally, cheaply, scantily endways, endwise, in company,
summary, short. ANTONYM: (adj) lawful: (adj) legal, just, rightful, across time; (adj) linear,
voluble constitutional, true, right, justifiable, longitudinal. ANTONYM: (adj)
laggard: (adj) slow, slack, lagging, licit, regular; (n, v) allowable; (adj, crosswise
tardy, lazy, remiss, poky, pokey; (n) v) permissible. ANTONYMS: (adj) lessened: (adj) diminished, hurt,
drone, lagger, idler. ANTONYM: unlawful, prohibited, lower, mitigated, pointed, tapering,
(adj) prompt unconstitutional vitiated, atrophied, short, attenuate,
lain: (adj) artless, unsophisticated, lawless: (adj) disorderly, illicit, attenuated
unaffected, naive, untutored, anarchical, illegitimate, anarchic, leveled: (adj) level
simple, pure, natural, native, unlawful, unruly, illegal, mutinous, liar: (n) deceiver, fibber, fabricator,
inartificial wrongful, seditious. ANTONYM: falsifier, trickster, prevaricator, con
lair: (n) burrow, hole, hideaway, (adj) orderly artist, phony, lie, impostor, swindler
hiding place, hideout, cell, retreat, lazily: (adv) indolently, idly, liberality: (n, v) charity, almsgiving;
earth, sanctum sanctorum; (adj) sty, slothfully, languidly, slowly, (adj, n) bounty; (n) largess,
sink of corruption torpidly, supinely, lethargically, munificence, benevolence,
laird: (n) count, heritor, armiger, sleepily, drowsily, apathetically. beneficence, generousness,
vavasour, mesne Lord, landed ANTONYMS: (adv) dynamically, tolerance; (adj) largesse, gift.
gentry, squire, landholder, lord, vigorously ANTONYM: (n) illiberality
landowner laziness: (n) indolence, acedia, liberated: (adj) freed, emancipated,
lament: (v) bemoan, complain, inactivity, inertia, sloth, slowness, loose, released, exempt, liberal,
deplore, grieve, keen, bewail, lethargy, inactiveness, faineance, independent, clear, disengaged,
mourn; (n) dirge, complaint; (n, v) lassitude, dreaminess. ANTONYMS: open, unattached. ANTONYMS:
wail, moan. ANTONYMS: (n) (n) diligence, willingness, vigor, (adj) constrained, conventional
celebration, joy; (v) revel, rejoice, liveliness, interest lick: (n, v) lap; (v) clobber, thrash,
celebrate, applaud, praise, leaden: (adj) heavy, gray, sluggish, drub, beat, bat, defeat; (n) biff, jab,
compliment grey, inert, torpid, grave, languid, speed, dash
lamentation: (n) dirge, grief, drab, burdensome, livid. lids: (n) lid
mourning, plaint, regret, complaint, ANTONYM: (adj) bright lifeless: (adj) inanimate, dull, insipid,
cry, crying, wail, moan, condolence. leafy: (adj) green, verdant, lush, defunct, inactive, flat, exanimate,
ANTONYM: (n) celebration foliose, foliate, leafed, luxuriant, dreary, tedious, inert, lackluster.
lance: (n) pike, javelin, shaft, lancet, foliaceous, leaved, bowery, ANTONYMS: (adj) lively, stiff,
assegai, fishgig, fizgig; (v) dart, flourishing. ANTONYMS: (adj) alive, interesting, awake, moving,
impale, open, gore leafless, urban, withering upright, bright, brilliant, firm,
larder: (n) storeroom, pantry, food, leaping: (n) jump, bounce, bound, inspiring
victuals, viands, provisions, leap, spring, saltation, bouncing; (v) lighted: (adj) illuminated, lit, light,
provender, stowage, stillroom, jumping; (adj, v) bounding; (adj) ablaze, bright, ignited, burn,
commissariat, spence springing; (adv) leapingly burning, ignite, kindled, lighten
latterly: (adv) lately, lastly, late, lear: (n) Lir, Lyr, annealing tunnel, likeness: (n) resemblance, copy,
subsequently, finally, of late, newly, Edward Lear, King Lear, leer effigy, image, affinity, similarity,
ultimately, secondly, freshly, leaven: (n) barm, yeast, leavening, correspondence, facsimile; (adj, n)
afterward. ANTONYM: (adv) element; (v) lift, raise, temper, figure, form, semblance.
initially elevate; (adj) denaturalize, denature, ANTONYMS: (n) difference,
laughingly: (adv) merrily, gaily, distain diversity, dissimilarity, unlikeness,
lightheartedly, playfully, dizzily, ledge: (n) projection, bulge, jetty, contrast
giddily, perkily, flippantly, board, shelf, rack, bench, hummock, liking: (n, v) inclination; (n) fancy,
smilingly, riantly protrusion, rim; (adj) escarpment. appetite, taste, fondness,
laughs: (n) diversion, comedy, ANTONYM: (n) depression predilection, affection, partiality,
amusement, sport, recreation, leech: (n) parasite, bloodsucker, admiration, approval, appreciation.
merriment, entertainment, levity physician, doctor, sponger, ANTONYMS: (n) dislike, aversion,
lavish: (v) dissipate; (adj) exuberant, hirudinean, freeloader, sycophant, hatred, indifference, detachment,
generous, copious, prodigal, ample, vampire; (v) bleed, phlebotomize dissatisfaction, antipathy
lilies: (n) lily nostalgia, wish, hankering, urge, potential, skulking, sneaky
limb: (n) arm, branch, member, appetite; (adj, n) yearning. luster: (n) gloss, light, glitter,
bough, extremity, offshoot, part, leg, ANTONYMS: (n) apathy, brightness, brilliance, sheen,
wing, appendage, edge disinclination; (adj) satisfied, radiance, splendor, lustre,
limpid: (adj) transparent, bright, unconcerned chandelier; (n, v) burnish.
diaphanous, crystal clear, looker-on: (n) bystander, spectator, ANTONYM: (n) dullness
crystalline, perspicuous, pellucid, eyewitness, witness luxurious: (adj) voluptuous, costly,
lucid, liquid, hyaline, glassy. lookout: (n, v) guard, prospect, deluxe, lavish, sumptuous,
ANTONYM: (adj) opaque expectation; (n) scout, watch, sentry, epicurean, grand, luscious, opulent,
lineaments: (v) exposition, tract, sentinel, outlook, post, picture; (v) magnificent; (adj, n) lush.
length, expanse, area, extent; (n) face landscape ANTONYMS: (adj) meager, frugal,
linger: (v) loiter, delay, dally, hover, loon: (n) idler, lout, bum, gaffer, poor, Spartan, austere, humble,
stay, hesitate, hang around, birdbrain, diver, dunce, oaf, rube, unpleasant, ascetic, impoverished
procrastinate, dawdle, tarry, runnion, underling maddened: (adj) angry, furious,
saunter. ANTONYMS: (v) hurry, loosened: (adj) disentangled, loose, deranged, angered, enraged,
end, rush, depart, lead freed, disengaged, extricated, moonstruck, fierce, upset,
lingering: (adj) long, chronic, unsnarled aggravated, ferocious; (v) frantic
extended, dilatory, protracted, loosening: (n) relaxation, madly: (adv) insanely, furiously,
prolonged, residual, lengthy, unfastening, ease, undoing, sorely, frantically, wildly, devilishly,
inactive, dull; (n) delay. liberalization, adjustment, deadly, dementedly, foolishly,
ANTONYM: (adj) quick alteration, liberalisation, easiness; distractedly; (adj, adv) rabidly.
liquor: (n) fluid, broth, alcohol, (adj) solutive, laxative ANTONYMS: (adv) sensibly,
booze, brew, brandy, arrack, spirits, loosing: (adj) disengaging, detaching calmly, sanely, carefully; (adj)
schnapps; (n, v) drink; (adj, n) liquid loudness: (n) gaudiness, brashness, slightly
listener: (n, v) auditor; (n) tastelessness, noisiness, volume, madman: (n) bedlamite, maniac,
eavesdropper, audience, observer, intensity, crescendo, tawdriness, crazy, loony, nut, madcap, looney,
perceiver, hearkener, attender, forte, flashiness, glitz. ANTONYMS: loco, sufferer, raver, nutcase
attendee, attendant, beholder (n) softness, restraint magnified: (adj) enlarged, inflated,
livelong: (n) Sedum telephium, loveliness: (n) comeliness, fairness, enlarge, hyperbolic, hypertrophied,
sedum, orpin, orpine; (adj) durable, grace, attractiveness, charm, increased, overblown, overstated,
lasting glamour, pulchritude, puffed up, made larger
livery: (adj) liverish, bilious; (n) beauteousness, good looks, magnify: (v) exaggerate, enhance,
clothing, accouterment, uniform, cuteness, fineness. ANTONYMS: (n) aggrandize, enlarge, intensify, laud,
complexion, legal transfer, color, unattractiveness, unpleasantness, glorify, expand, increase, extend,
hue, dye, bailment awkwardness aggravate. ANTONYMS: (v) reduce,
loath: (adj) unwilling, disinclined, lowering: (adj) heavy, dismal, understate, minimize, shrink,
reluctant, loth, indisposed, gloomy, threatening, dark, glum, decrease, alleviate
backward, hesitant, antipathetic, murky; (n) fall, drop, cut, decline magnifying: (adj) cumulative
antipathetical, loathe, shy of. lowing: (adj) mugient maiden: (n) maid, girl, demoiselle,
ANTONYMS: (adj) eager, willing, ludicrous: (adj) absurd, ridiculous, damosel, wench, fille, lass, miss;
disposed, keen farcical, foolish, laughable, comical, (adj) first, initiatory, unmarried
loathsome: (adj) foul, hideous, grotesque, derisory, droll, maimed: (adj) disabled, mutilated,
distasteful, disgusting, hateful, preposterous, jocular. ANTONYMS: deformed, truncated, faulty, cut
abominable, revolting, execrable, (adj) sane, impressive short, game, cut off; (n) wounded
loathly, nauseous, horrible. lumbering: (adj) heavy, clumsy, maiming: (n) mayhem, marring,
ANTONYMS: (adj) delightful, nice, ungainly, ponderous, maladroit, disfigurement, dismemberment,
noble, inoffensive, pleasant, gruelling, hulking, accented, all accidental injury, damage,
admirable, good, attractive thumbs, unwieldy; (n) logging. defacement
lodged: (adj) wedged, stuck fast, ANTONYMS: (adj) nimble, adroit, majestic: (adj) grand, awesome,
stuck, jammed agile, graceful, elegant, dainty stately, imperial, royal, exalted,
lofty: (adj, v) high, elevated; (adj) luminary: (n) celebrity, star, leading glorious, kingly, August; (adj, v)
exalted, eminent, arrogant, grand, light, personality, guiding light, VIP, imposing; (adj, adv) regal.
tall, haughty, great, distinguished, authority, worthy, shining light, ANTONYMS: (adj) pathetic, pitiful,
majestic. ANTONYMS: (adj) short, Magnus Apollo, shiner modest, lowly, undignified
lowly, base, modest, deferential, lurid: (adj) ghastly, grisly, gruesome, majesty: (adj, n) grandeur, splendor,
humble loud, frightful, sharp, shocking, nobility; (n) dignity, loftiness,
loins: (n) waist, body part, haunch, gaudy, sensational, hideous, magnificence, stateliness, greatness,
lends, pubic region, area, pubes horrific. ANTONYMS: (adj) subtle, king, royalty, highness.
long-faced: (adj) grave, serious, muted, bland, dull, modest ANTONYMS: (n) austerity,
woebegone, unhappy lurking: (n) ambush; (adj) snaky, simplicity
longing: (n, v) desire, aspiration; (adj) backstair, backstairs, clandestine, majors: (n) major league, conference,
eager, wistful, nostalgic; (n) concealed, dormant, latent, league, big time
malice: (n) spite, animosity, enmity, manly: (adj) manlike, masculine, down in the mouth, cut down,
venom, ill will, hatred, malevolence, manful, virile, brave, gallant; (adv) beaten
cruelty, envy, hate, spleen. manfully, boldly, hardily, virilely; mastery: (n) dominance, dominion,
ANTONYMS: (n) goodwill, (adj, adv) stately. ANTONYMS: command, domination, ascendancy,
benevolence, affection, goodness (adj) weak, unmanly, cowardly; ascendency, control, authority,
malicious: (adj) evil, vicious, (adv) unmanfully mastership, supremacy, ascendance
venomous, spiteful, unkind, cruel, mantle: (n) cloak, cape, pall, blanket, mastodon: (n) proboscidean,
poisonous, mean, mischievous, curtain, blind, coat; (n, v) cover, veil; mastodont
pernicious, nasty. ANTONYMS: (adj, n, v) blush, flush matchless: (adj) inimitable, peerless,
(adj) kind, harmless, kindhearted, marches: (n) precinct, Marche, stint consummate, unique, unmatched,
loving, unmalicious, compassionate, marching: (n) walking, mar, drill; unrivaled, unequaled, unparalleled,
good, merciful, pleasant, provoked (adj) ongoing, moving superlative, unbeatable,
malign: (v) defame, disparage, mare: (n) Maria, Money makes the unsurpassed. ANTONYMS: (adj)
asperse, libel, badmouth, vilify; (adj) mare go, broodmare, doe, hen, bitch, common, vulnerable, abysmal,
malevolent, harmful, malefic, horse, region, part, jennet, roe mediocre, worst
injurious, evil. ANTONYMS: (v) marksman: (n) bowman, shot, matted: (adj) entangled, tangled,
praise, compliment; (adj) benign, shooter, sharpshooter, crack shot, knotted, flat, matt, matte, knotty,
beneficial, harmless markman, sniper, buckshot fixed, kinky, twisted; (v) crossed.
malignancy: (n) malignance, evil, marquee: (n) pavilion, canopy, tent, ANTONYMS: (adj) tidy, straight,
malice, malignity, malevolence, marquise, umbrella, parasol, free
disease, maliciousness, grudge, marchioness, sunshade, collapsible matured: (adj) ripe, experienced,
enmity; (adj) carcinoma, leukemia. shelter, cover, covering developed, old, adult, mellow,
ANTONYM: (n) benignity marquess: (n) noble, peer, nobleman, maturer, ripened, ready, payable,
malignant: (adj) malevolent, don marquis, Donald Robert perry owing. ANTONYMS: (adj) unripe,
malicious, evil, malefic, fatal, marquis, lord young
spiteful, virulent, sinister, marquis: (n) lord, marquisate, noble, maturer: (adj) overripe, ripe, ripened
mischievous, pernicious, venomous margrave, nobleman, Donald Robert maze: (n) tangle, snarl, web, jungle,
mammoth: (adj) gigantic, jumbo, perry marquis, don marquis, Markis muddle, confusion, complication;
huge, colossal, immense, enormous, marten: (n) sable, fisher, musteline, (v) eel; (adj) delicacy, knot,
monstrous, gargantuan, vast, great; mustelid, pekan, marten cat, black awkwardness
(adj, n) monster. ANTONYMS: (adj) cat, beech marten, fisher cat mazy: (adj) labyrinthian, knotty,
tiny, small martial: (adj) military, warlike, complex, involved, tortuous,
mane: (n) encolure, head of hair, soldierly, bellicose, belligerent, sinuous, intricate, anfractuous; (v)
crest, wool, tresses; (adj) brush, combative, brave, soldierlike, rivulose, reclivate, scolecoid
beard, ringlet, whisker, tress, armigerous, militant, heroic. meager: (adj, v) lean, gaunt, bare,
moustache ANTONYMS: (adj) civilian, spare, frugal; (adj) emaciated, feeble,
manes: (n) shade peaceful, unarmed inadequate, insufficient, scant; (adj,
maneuver: (n, v) manoeuvre, scheme, marvel: (n, v) wonder; (n) prodigy, adv) stingy. ANTONYMS: (adj)
measure, act; (n) ruse, artifice, curiosity, phenomenon, amazement, abundant, lavish, generous, fat,
device, stratagem, trick; (v) guide, miracle, portent, marl, surprise, strong, luxurious, filling, large,
handle admiration; (v) admire. plentiful, ample, privileged
mangled: (adj, prep) lacerated, rent; ANTONYMS: (v) disregard; (n) meanest: (adj) last, least
(adj) deformed, mutilated, lacerate, nightmare meddle: (v) intervene, interfere,
disabled, broken, maimed, distorted, marvelous: (adj) wonderful, fantastic, intrude, monkey, interpose, fiddle,
damaged, blasted incredible, fabulous, extraordinary, pry, dabble, interlope; (n)
manhood: (n) majority, maturity, tremendous, grand, astonishing, interference; (adj) moil. ANTONYM:
valor, resolution, personality, terrific, great; (adj, v) prodigious. (v) disregard
humanity, integrity, bravery; (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) ordinary, meditate: (n, v) muse; (v)
manliness, ripe age, maturity full mundane, abysmal, bad, dreadful, contemplate, consider, cogitate,
age unworthy, dire, humdrum, reflect, speculate, wonder, ruminate,
manifestly: (adv) evidently, plainly, unimpressive, unremarkable, boring ponder, think, bethink
clearly, patently, obviously, openly, masquerade: (n, v) disguise, pose, meditation: (n, v) contemplation,
overtly, markedly, conspicuously, revel; (n) camouflage, masque, fancy study; (n) consideration, reflection,
distinctly, transparently. dress, pretense, fake, cover; (v) deliberation, thought, introspection,
ANTONYMS: (adv) furtively, impersonate, pretend musing, rumination, conception,
unnecessarily, vaguely, covertly massacre: (n, v) murder, carnage, reflexion. ANTONYM: (n)
manitou: (n) manitu, manito butchery; (v) exterminate, kill, distraction
manliness: (n) manfulness, manhood, annihilate, butcher, slay; (n) mass meditations: (n) contemplation,
masculinity, energy, maleness, murder, bloodshed, killing consideration, cogitation
courage, gallantry, valor, sex, mastered: (adj) down pat, low, meditative: (adj, v) thoughtful,
comeliness, developed manhood. downhearted, perfecter, dispirited, pensive; (adj) wistful, reflective,
ANTONYM: (n) femininity depressed, declining, downcast, broody, museful, ruminative,
musing, brooding; (v) philosophical, dissolving convivial, jovial. ANTONYMS: (adj)
sedate memorials: (n) memoir gloomy, miserable, serious, uptight
meek: (adj) lowly, docile, gentle, menace: (n) threat, danger; (n, v) messenger: (n, v) herald; (n)
tame, low, submissive, compliant, hazard, risk, peril; (v) endanger, harbinger, runner, emissary, bearer,
mild, modest, quiet, kind. imperil, intimidate, jeopardize, ambassador, precursor, courier,
ANTONYMS: (adj) assertive, bossy, threaten, bully. ANTONYMS: (v) carrier, apostle, errand
haughty, arrogant, overbearing, help, protect, guard; (n) pleasure metaphors: (n) images, descriptions
rebellious, disobedient, wild, harsh, menaced: (adj) doomed, exposed meteor: (n) shooting star, aerolite,
brash menacing: (adj) threatening, sinister, fireball, falling star, bolide,
meekly: (adv) humbly, submissively, ominous, imminent, impending, meteorite, meteoroid, effluvium,
tamely, compliantly, obediently, minatory, ugly, frightening, emanation, evaporation, exhalation
docilely, peacefully, lowly, minacious, dangerous, formidable. meter: (adj, n) measure,
modestly, placidly, kindly. ANTONYMS: (adj) auspicious, measurement; (n) metre, beat,
ANTONYMS: (adv) haughtily, approachable, promising, counter, time, rhythm, Nilometer,
harshly, wildly, arrogantly, reassuring, soothing, favorable hectometer, assonance, gaussmeter
assertively, brashly mend: (adj, v) improve; (v) correct, methinks: (adv) meseems
meekness: (n) humbleness, modesty, cure, heal, doctor, better, amend, methodical: (adj) methodic, formal,
submission, obedience, compliance, restore, convalesce; (n, v) fix, patch. systematic, regular, organized,
gentleness, tameness, ANTONYMS: (v) worsen, tear, businesslike, neat, precise, exact,
submissiveness, docility, lowliness, smash, decline, deteriorate; (n) correct, meticulous. ANTONYMS:
tractability. ANTONYMS: (n) fracture (adj) careless, illogical, chaotic,
arrogance, ferocity, wildness menial: (adj, n) inferior; (adj) lowly, aimless, thoughtless, haphazard,
melancholy: (adj, v) dreary; (adj, n) abject, ignoble, humble, low, mean; unprofessional, disorderly,
gloom, melancholic; (adj) depressed, (n) henchman, domestic, lackey, unscientific, inconsistent
dejected, dismal, gloomy, doleful; servant. ANTONYMS: (adj) midsummer: (n) summer, solstice,
(n, v) low spirits; (n) gloominess, elevated, noble June solstice, June
depression. ANTONYMS: (n) merciful: (adj) humane, gracious, mien: (n, v) deportment, carriage,
happiness, cheerfulness, lenient, compassionate, kind, bearing, demeanor; (n) look,
hopefulness, optimism; (adj) happy, clement, benign, kindly, gentle, countenance, appearance, guise,
bright, cheery, satisfied beneficent, forgiving. ANTONYMS: manner, aspect, air
melee: (adj, n) fight, brawl, uproar, (adj) pitiless, merciless, unforgiving, mimic: (adj, v) mock; (v) imitate,
fracas, row; (n) battle royal, fray, spiteful, harsh, impatient, severe, mime, copy, impersonate, parody,
scrimmage; (adj) disturbance; (v) hardhearted emulate; (n, v) counterfeit; (n)
brabble, brigue mercifully: (adv) mildly, imitator, mimicker, ape
mellow: (adj, v) ripe, mollify, smooth, sympathetically, indulgently, minded: (prep) inclined; (adj, prep)
soften; (adj) gentle, luscious, mild, humanely, benignly, clemently, disposed; (adj) willing, apt, ready,
soft, juicy; (v) melt, ripen. benevolently, softly, leniently, prone, orientated, favorable,
ANTONYMS: (adj) harsh, frantic, kindly, benignantly. ANTONYMS: oriented, prepared, partial
fresh, bright, strict, young, frenetic (adv) spitefully, severely, mindful: (adj) aware, attentive,
mellowed: (adj) mature, easygoing, unfortunately careful, observant, conscious,
high, maturer, ripe merciless: (adj) brutal, pitiless, heedful, considerate, cautious,
melodious: (adj) harmonious, unmerciful, remorseless, heartless, cognizant, regardful, thoughtful.
musical, sweet, tuneful, mellow, implacable, inhuman, hard, grim, ANTONYMS: (adj) unmindful,
dulcet, soft, gentle, full, canorous, barbarous, unfeeling. ANTONYMS: heedless, inattentive, oblivious,
mellifluous. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj) charitable, kind, humane, soft, forgetful
harsh, unmelodious, inharmonious, caring, tolerant mingle: (v) compound, combine,
tuneless, grating, loud meridian: (n) culmination, line of merge, amalgamate, intermix, mix,
melody: (n) air, tune, music, measure, longitude, zenith, peak, top, apex, commingle, associate, confuse, join,
harmony, aria, song, strain, line, acme, pinnacle, climax, clime; (v) intermingle. ANTONYM: (v) part
melodic phrase; (n, v) chant glassy mingled: (adj) miscellaneous,
melt: (v) dissolve, deliquesce, vanish, merited: (adj) deserved, just, suitable, complex, indiscriminate,
coalesce, relent, meld, fade, defrost; rightful, right, due; (v) due to, richly heterogeneous, medley, confused,
(adj, v) run, liquefy; (n, v) thaw. deserved eclectic, motley, different; (v)
ANTONYMS: (v) freeze, solidify, merriment: (n) fun, amusement, blended, blent
cool, set cheerfulness, hilarity, glee, jollity, mingling: (adj) blending, merging,
melted: (adj) molten, fluid, liquified, frolic, gaiety, happiness, festivity; confluent, blended; (n) mixture,
dissolved, liquefied, baked, fluent, (adj, n) mirth. ANTONYMS: (n) mixing, commixtion, interchange,
touched, limpid, sorry, flowing misery, gloom, seriousness, exchange, commixture; (adv)
melting: (n) thawing, fusion, melt, despondency, boredom minglingly
dissolution, warming, thaw, merry: (adj) joyful, lively, cheerful, minstrel: (n) singer, musician,
liquefaction, fusion range; (adj) glad, jolly, facetious, frolicsome, troubadour, artiste, folk singer,
liquescent, pathetic; (adj, n) lighthearted, festive; (adj, n) middleman, interlocutor, vocalist,
poet, corner man; (v) sing mistake, imbroglio, boastfully, brazenly, excessively
minutely: (adv) precisely, in detail, misinterpretation, misconstruction, modesty: (n) reserve, bashfulness,
closely, tinily, smally, misapprehension, misconstrual, humility, diffidence, humbleness,
insignificantly, infinitesimally, interpretation, misreading; (adj) demureness, coyness, gentleness,
diminutively, nicely, exactly, mistaken, misleading continence; (adj, n) decency,
microscopically misty: (adj) hazy, foggy, cloudy, honesty. ANTONYMS: (n)
mirth: (adj, n) merriment, jollity; (n) brumous, dim, indistinct, nebulous, arrogance, immodesty, spectacle,
amusement, happiness, delight, joy, fuzzy, dark, dull, blurred. flamboyance, abandon,
hilarity, cheerfulness, festivity, ANTONYMS: (adj) clear, distinct bigheadedness, pretension,
gladness, exhilaration. mitigate: (n, v) alleviate, palliate, decadence, boldness
ANTONYMS: (n) gloom, sadness, appease; (adj, n, v) assuage, allay; mohawk: (n) hairstyle, Mohican
misery (v) lessen, relieve, abate, lighten; mohican: (n) Mohican haircut,
mischief: (adj, n) evil, hurt, harm; (n) (adj, v) moderate, soften. Mohawk
damage, ill, detriment, ANTONYMS: (v) increase, intensify, moisten: (n, v) dampen; (v) water,
disadvantage, devilry, caper, aggravate wash, humidify, dip, sprinkle,
devilment, maleficence. moan: (n, v) grumble, gripe, whine, soften, soak, wet, drench, drizzle
ANTONYMS: (n) obedience, lament, cry, howl; (v) bewail, molded: (adj) shaped, characterized,
beneficence, help complain, mourn; (n) complaint, affected, meld, melds, cast,
mischievous: (adj) bad, injurious, lamentation. ANTONYMS: (v) inseparable, plastic, wrought,
detrimental, naughty, deleterious, compliment; (n) praise figulated, tough
impish, harmful, playful, maleficent, moaning: (n, v) lamentation; (adj) moldering: (adj, v) crumbling; (adj)
arch; (adj, v) hurtful. ANTONYMS: groaning, whining, funereal, decomposing, rotting, becoming
(adj) harmless, serious inarticulate, dirgeful; (n) rotten, mouldering, putrefying,
miscreant: (n) rascal, villain, complaining, mourning blighted, moldy; (v) effete, tainted,
scoundrel, reprobate, wretch, rogue, moccasin: (n) shoe, veldtschoen, wasted
infidel, scapegrace; (adj) degenerate, stogy, moccasins, legging, gums, molestation: (adj, n) annoyance; (n)
nefarious, vicious greave, gamashes, Gamache, disturbance, badgering, baiting,
misfortune: (n) accident, hardship, galligaskin, buskin molest, hindrance, affliction,
misadventure, disaster, calamity, moccasins: (n) mocassin inconvenience, sexual harassment;
mischance, catastrophe, mishap, bad mockery: (n) gibe, jeer, irony, farce, (adj) infestation, outrage
luck, misery, affliction. charade, derision, parody, mock, momentary: (adj) brief, fugitive,
ANTONYMS: (n) joy, bonus, scorn, imitation, burlesque. transient, short, instantaneous,
opportunity, privilege, success, ANTONYM: (n) approval ephemeral, passing, momentaneous,
happiness mocking: (adj) derisive, ironic, temporary, impermanent, temporal.
misfortunes: (n) misfortune jeering, mock, quizzical, sarcastic, ANTONYMS: (adj) lasting, lengthy,
misgivings: (n) anxiety, doubt, taunting, derisory, teasing, sardonic, long
misgiving, apprehension, fear, sneering. ANTONYMS: (adj) momentous: (adj, v) grave,
suspicion, doubts, concern, respectful, approving, memorable; (adj) significant,
consternation, disbelief, foreboding. complimentary, sympathetic; (n) weighty, material, big,
ANTONYM: (n) equanimity praise consequential, serious, critical,
mislead: (v) betray, deceive, cheat, mockingly: (adv) jeeringly, crucial, great. ANTONYMS: (adj)
beguile, misinform, fool, con, lie, sneeringly, ironically, derisorily, trivial, unimportant,
lead astray, hoodwink, trick scornfully, sarcastically, satirically, inconsequential, frivolous, minor
misshapen: (adj) deformed, mockly, scoffingly, sardonically, monarchs: (n) royals, royalty
malformed, shapeless, crooked, gibingly mongrel: (n, v) hybrid; (adj, n)
ugly, contorted, monstrous, moderation: (n) abstinence, bastard; (n) cross, dog, mutt, half
unshapely, grotesque, deformity, abstemiousness, moderateness, blood, hound; (adj) heterogeneous,
perverted. ANTONYMS: (adj) abatement, measure, alleviation, crossbred, debased, heteroclite
straight, attractive sobriety, patience, restraint, monody: (n) monophony, threnode,
missionary: (n) missioner, evangelist, soberness, easing. ANTONYMS: (n) music, coronach, requiem, threnody,
revivalist, propagandist, teacher, intemperance, overindulgence, elegy, idyl, bucolic, rondeau, rondo
preacher, envoy, munshi, religionist, excess, increase, immoderation, monosyllable: (n) word, polysyllable,
minister, messenger strength, extremism, indulgence, dissyllable
mississippi: (n) Mississippi river, impatience, harshness, abandon moonlight: (adj, n) moonshine; (n)
Master of Science, manuscript, modestly: (adv) unassumingly, moonbeam, moonglade, occupation,
Magnolia State, disseminated demurely, humbly, reservedly, lunation, lunar month, labor; (n, v)
sclerosis, disseminated multiple retiringly, unpretentiously, work; (v) pilfer, do work; (adj)
sclerosis, Ms diffidently, soberly, timidly, meekly, moonshiny
misspend: (v) spend, squander, pass, moderately. ANTONYMS: (adv) moose: (n) European elk, coyote,
fritter, lose, waste, expend, ostentatiously, arrogantly, caribou, Alces Alces, sambar, musk
misappropriate, drop immodestly, elaborately, boldly, ox, deer, cervid
mistaking: (n) misunderstanding, radically, proudly, brashly, morn: (n) dawn, daybreak, forenoon,
period, prime, aurora, a, amount of dark, pensive, gloomy, lugubrious, rifle
time, break of dawn, break of day, lamentable; (adj, n) plaintive. mute: (adj) dumb, silent, inarticulate,
break of the day ANTONYMS: (adj) joyful, happy, dummy, tongueless; (v) muffle,
morrow: (n) morning, future, mean emotionless dampen, deaden, hush; (adj, v)
solar day, day mournfully: (adv) sadly, sorrowfully, quiet, dull. ANTONYMS: (adj)
mortal: (adj) deadly, fatal, lethal, glumly, woefully, unhappily, talkative, speaking, spoken; (v)
deathly, earthly; (n) man, plaintively, grievously, funereally, amplify
individual, creature, person, human dejectedly, dolorously, poignantly. mutilated: (adj) maimed, disabled,
being, body. ANTONYMS: (adj, n) ANTONYMS: (adv) cheerfully, truncated, crippled, lacerated,
immortal; (adj) eternal, heavenly, joyfully shapeless, mutilous, mutilate,
mild, perfect, spiritual mourning: (n) lament, lamentation, lopped, lacerate, imperfect
mortification: (n) chagrin, bereavement, gloom, woe, muttering: (n) grumbling, mutter,
embarrassment, shame, gangrene, memorial, sorrowfulness, sadness, murmuring, grumble, murmuration,
disappointment, disgrace, sorrow; (adj) grieving; (v) lamenting murmur vowel, complaint, heart
corruption, necrosis, degradation; mouthful: (n) gulp, morsel, swallow, murmur, cardiac murmur; (adj)
(adj, n) vexation; (adj) grievance gobbet, nip, bit, sip, piece, drink; mumbling, faint
mortifying: (adj) embarrassing, (adj, n) handful; (adj) thimbleful muzzle: (n) mouth, gunpoint, nose,
demeaning, humbling, undignified, muff: (n, v) blunder, mollycoddle, lip, gullet, nozzle, bit; (v) muffle,
off, awkward, unpleasant; (v) slip; (v) bungle, botch, miss, flub, silence, hush, curb
annoying, aggravating, irritating, muck up, bobble, fail, spoil mysteriously: (adv) enigmatically,
stinging. ANTONYM: (adj) mullein: (n) great mullein, herb, strangely, obscurely, secretly,
dignified flannel mullein, herbaceous plant, uncannily, mystically, darkly,
moslem: (n) Mussulman, moth mullein, torch, common puzzlingly, weirdly, abstrusely,
Mohammedan, Muhammadan, mullein, velvet plant, mullen occultly. ANTONYM: (adv)
fakeer, Sunnite, Shiite, Saracen, multitude: (n) flock, horde, crowd, normally
begum, Berber, caliph; (adj) Islamic host, throng, concourse, mob, nakedness: (n) nudity, altogether,
mosquito: (n) fly, crocodile, alacran, masses, mass, herd, swarm. baldness, nude, nudeness, undress,
alligator, mosquitoes, midge, ANTONYM: (n) trickle birthday suit, openness, status,
octopus, mugger, dipterous insect, mummery: (adj) tomfoolery, vagary; emptiness, frankness
dipteron, dipteran (n) flummery, pleasantry, nonsense, namesake: (n) somebody, someone,
moss: (n) lichen, marsh, bog, morass, nonsensicality, masque, false colors, soul, human, mortal, individual,
marish, fen, bryophyte, quagmire, sport, joke, escapade cognominal
swamp, Bryace; (adj) byssus munro: (n) saki, Hector Hugh Munro nankeen: (n) cloth, fabric
mossy: (adj) floral, mosslike, moldy, murderous: (adj) cutthroat, narration: (n) description, recital,
hoary, musty, covered, musciform, homicidal, gory, bloodthirsty, cruel, narrative, explanation, history, tale,
stodgy, hoar, chromatic, canescent brutal, fierce, mortal, deadly, lethal, report, relation, story, recitation,
motherly: (adj) tender, fatherly, killing. ANTONYM: (adj) easy rehearsal
warm, sisterly, loving, affectionate; murky: (adj) dark, gloomy, cloudy, narrows: (n) inlet, bay
(adv) maternally; (v) ardent, fond, dusky, dingy, misty, dim, muddy, natives: (n) nation, populace,
devoted, erotic. ANTONYM: (adj) opaque, dirty, black. ANTONYMS: community, citizens, public
paternal (adj) bright, light, obvious, sunny natty: (adj) smart, spruce, jaunty,
motionless: (adj) inactive, inert, murmur: (n, v) grumble, mumble, chic, stylish, dashing, trim, snappy,
immobile, stationary, fixed, hum, whisper, mutter, whine, rakish, neat, elegant. ANTONYMS:
unmoving, quiescent, dead, torpid; babble, drone; (v) complain, bubble, (adj) messy, unattractive, scruffy,
(adj, adv) calm, at rest. breathe respectful
ANTONYMS: (adj) mobile, active, murmuring: (n) murmuration, naturalist: (n) natural scientist,
alive, flowing murmur, complaint, grumble, naturalistic, Steller, life scientist,
mound: (v) embankment; (adj, n) muttering, mutter, murmur vowel; ecologist, environmentalist, faunist
knoll, hillock, hummock; (n) hill, (adj) whispering, humming, naught: (n) cipher, nothing, null,
mass, grave; (n, v) stack, bank, pile; droning, murmurous aught, nix, nought, zip, cypher,
(adj) barrow. ANTONYM: (n) muse: (v) meditate, ponder, nada; (adj, n, pron) nil; (n, pron)
hollow deliberate, consider, cogitate, reflect, zilch
mourn: (v) bewail, grieve, deplore, brood, ruminate, speculate, think, navigable: (adj) seaworthy, dirigible,
cry, bemoan, regret, distress, sad, mull. ANTONYM: (v) wander voyageable, sailable, open,
wail, mourning, weep. musing: (adj) contemplative, manoeuvrable, maneuverable
ANTONYMS: (v) rejoice, celebrate, meditative, thoughtful, pensive; (n) nearness: (n) closeness, contiguity,
applaud meditation, consideration, reflection, vicinity, familiarity, adjacency,
mourner: (n) sorrower, bearer, rumination, reverie, thought, proximity, propinquity, presence,
griever, unfortunate, pallbearer, cogitation immediacy, neighborhood, nearby.
wailer, weeper musings: (n) contemplation, ANTONYMS: (n) distance, farness,
mournful: (adj) sad, miserable, cogitation, consideration remoteness
melancholy, funereal, dolorous, musket: (n) fusil, blunderbuss, gun, neatness: (n) trimness, dexterity,
orderliness, tidiness, spruceness, exactitude, justness, precision, ANTONYMS: (n) expert, veteran,
cleanliness, precision, compactness, correctness, daintiness, elegance teacher, trainer
purity, cleanness, elegance. niggard: (n) churl, skinflint, numberless: (adj) countless,
ANTONYMS: (n) untidiness, tightwad, scrooge, hunks, screw, innumerable, multitudinous,
largeness, clumsiness, disorder, scrimp, curmudgeon; (adj, n) miser; infinite, incalculable, endless,
inelegance, clutter, chaos, messiness (adj) niggardly, stingy uncounted, unnumbered,
necessities: (n) supplies, necessity, nigh: (adj, adv, prep) near; (adj, adv) innumerous, legion, untold.
essential, wants, support, close, nearly, almost, nearby, most, ANTONYM: (adj) few
subsistence, requirement, bread all but, about, adjacent; (prep) by; nuptial: (adj, n) bridal, marriage;
needless: (adj, v) unnecessary, (adj) approximate (adj) marital, matrimonial, spousal,
superfluous; (adj) futile, nigher: (adv) closer connubial, hymeneal, conjugal,
dispensable, bootless, excessive, nimble: (adj) lively, adroit, agile, wedding, married; (n) matrimony
preventable, meaningless, pointless, brisk, spry, alert, expeditious, oaks: (n) beech family, Castanopsis,
wanton, unavailing. ANTONYMS: energetic, clever, lithe; (adj, v) light. Nothofagus, Lithocarpus, genus
(adj) essential, worthwhile, ANTONYMS: (adj) clumsy, heavy, Quercus, Genera Castanea, family
inevitable, justifiable stiff, slow, awkward, sluggish, unfit Fagaceae, Fagus, Fagaceae,
neglecting: (n) neglect, disregard nipping: (adj) bitter, keen, barbed, chestnuts
neighbor: (v) abut, adjoin, populate, frosty, crisp, cutting, inclement, obduracy: (adj, n) hardness of heart;
touch; (n) acquaintance, fresh, pinching, snappy, raw (n) stubbornness, inflexibility,
neighborhood, national; (adj) nobles: (n) landed gentry, upper class obstinacy, unyieldingness,
neighborly, neighbouring, nodding: (adj) cernuous, drooping, adamance, firmness, resoluteness,
neighboring, adjacent. ANTONYM: dozy, dozing, somnolent, drugged, resolution; (adj) heart of stone,
(n) foreigner pendulous, drowsing, droopy, obduration. ANTONYM: (n)
neighborhood: (n) vicinity, district, annuent, flagging. ANTONYM: (adj) flexibility
area, community, locality, place, awake obdurate: (adj) inflexible, stony,
quarter, environs, section; (adj) noiseless: (adj) quiet, silent, obstinate, callous, firm, stubborn,
neighboring, local soundless, hushed, voiceless, mute, headstrong, flinty, mulish,
neighboring: (adj, adv) adjacent, stealthy, dumb, soft, calm, tranquil. impenitent, rigid. ANTONYMS:
near; (adj) adjoining, nearby, ANTONYM: (adj) heavy (adj) compliant, amenable,
contiguous, neighbor, abutting, nomenclature: (n) language, accommodating, easygoing, caring,
next, neighborly, nigh, next to. classification, appellation, irresolute, soft, acquiescent
ANTONYMS: (adj) distant, remote, denomination, linguistic obedient: (adj) submissive,
far, national communication, linguistic process, compliant, good, conformable, tame,
neighbors: (n) neighbourhood locution, lyric, markup language; (v) acquiescent, dutiful, meek, biddable,
nerveless: (adj) coolheaded, feeble, name amenable, subservient.
weak, cool, powerless, spineless, noonday: (n) noontide, noon, high ANTONYMS: (adj) defiant,
impuissant, flaccid, marrowless, noon, hour, twelve noon, afternoon; assertive, rebellious, crooked,
composed, imperturbable (v) tide; (adj) meridional intractable, naughty, wild, resistant
nestled: (adj) closer, close noontide: (n) noon, midday, high obeying: (adv) under
nether: (adj) lower, inferior, down, noon, summit, top, apex, zenith, obligate: (v) oblige, bind, coerce,
low, chthonic, chthonian, infernal, acme, pinnacle, climax, culmination compel, enforce, condemn, apply;
subjacent, less, lesser; (adj, adv) nostrils: (n) naris, nose (adj) bound, forced, compelled,
under notoriety: (n) publicity, reputation, constrained. ANTONYMS: (adj)
nettled: (adj) annoyed, harried, fame, infamy, disrepute, note, facultative; (v) request
stung, steamed, roiled, riled, pissed, notability, prominence, flagrancy, oblige: (v) coerce, force, drive,
peeved, miffed, loaded, huffy. distinction; (adj, n) renown. constrain, make, bind,
ANTONYM: (adj) unconcerned ANTONYM: (n) obscurity accommodate, obligate, necessitate,
never-ceasing: (adj) immortal nourishment: (n) food, alimentation, enforce, impel. ANTONYMS: (v)
never-failing: (adj) steady, sure, meal, meat, diet, feeding, nutrition, displease, request, hinder
fixed, unfaltering, unqualified, firm, repast, sustenance, edible, fuel oblique: (adj) circuitous, devious,
steadfast, unwavering, nous: (n) head, brain, mind, intellect, lateral, side, roundabout, slanting,
wholehearted gumption, common sense, ego, evasive, collateral, sloping, inclined,
newcomer: (n) freshman, beginner, mother wit, noddle, reason, parts tortuous. ANTONYMS: (adj) direct,
fledgeling, neophyte, recruit, novelties: (n) odds and ends level, perpendicular, parallel, overt,
immigrant, novice, arrival, entrant; novelty: (adj) news; (n) freshness, explicit, straight, clear, upright; (n)
(adj, n) foreigner, stranger mutation, newness, trinket, nominative
newest: (adj) last, up-to-the-minute, curiosity, originality, oddity, bauble; obliquely: (adj, adv) athwart,
up-to-date, novel, fresh, hot, lowest, (n, v) change, difference transversely, askew; (adv) aslant,
concluding, fashionable, stylish, novice: (n) learner, beginner, indirectly, slopingly, slantingly,
final apprentice, greenhorn, newcomer, sideways, sidelong, skewly, askance.
nicety: (n) detail, exactness, neophyte, amateur, freshman, ANTONYM: (adv) straight
fastidiousness, nuance, refinement, novitiate, tyro, initiate. obliterated: (adj) obliterate,
destroyed, lost, forgotten, invisible; offending: (adj) opprobrious, speaker, lecturer, Cicero, speechifier,
(v) erased, effaced criminal, aberrant, guilty, demagog, demagogue, eulogist; (v)
obnoxious: (adj) disagreeable, delinquent, antisocial, scurrilous, oratrix, oratress
offensive, detestable, distasteful, errant oratory: (n) elocution, rhetoric,
hateful, horrid, repellent, disgusting, offense: (n, v) crime, fault; (n) insult, declamation, speech, oration,
invidious; (adj, n) unpleasant; (adj, misdemeanor, offence, aggression, church, chapel, tabernacle,
v) liable. ANTONYMS: (adj) attack, infringement, transgression, valediction, cathedral, public
charming, nice, pleasing, delightful, delinquency, misdemeanour. speaking
inoffensive, cordial ANTONYMS: (n) defense, virtue, ordained: (adj) destined, prescribed,
obscured: (adj) hidden, blind, praise appointed, predestined, fated,
covered, clouded, darkened, covert, offerings: (n) aid, assistance, charity, preordained, meant, legal, lawful,
dim, intangible, unnoticed, ulterior, contributions, gifts, help dedicated, inevitable
privy officious: (adj, v) meddlesome; (adj) orderly: (adj) neat, tidy, exact,
obscurity: (n) gloom, darkness, busy, interfering, meddling, regular, ordered, systematic, logical,
shade, dimness, obscureness, night, obtrusive, impertinent, pragmatical, coherent, businesslike; (adv)
oblivion, haze, ambiguity, shadow, busybodied, overbearing, nosy; (v) systematically; (n) attendant.
cloudiness. ANTONYMS: (n) clarity, pushing. ANTONYM: (adj) meek ANTONYMS: (adj) unmanageable,
fame, light, simplicity, prominence, ointment: (n) cream, salve, balm, rowdy, wild, disorganized, untidy,
celebrity, brightness unguent, unction, oil, lotion, grease, disorderly, confused, lawless,
obsequies: (n) funeral, exequies, plaster, embrocation, liniment messy, defiant, haphazard
interment, obit, exequy, parentation, omen: (n, v) harbinger, bode, herald, ordinance: (n) command, edict,
last rites, wake, decease, death, augury; (n) indication, portent, order, law, act, observance,
funeral procession forerunner, foreboding, sign, mark, regulation, institution, institute,
observant: (adj) mindful, watchful, auspice enactment, ceremony
alert, cautious, circumspect, careful, ominous: (adj) baleful, inauspicious, ordinarily: (adv) generally, usually,
aware, heedful, vigilant, awake, ill, menacing, threatening, black, regularly, normally, frequently,
keen. ANTONYMS: (adj) sinister, minatory, unlucky, customarily, habitually, routinely,
unobservant, dreaming, insensitive, forbidding, minacious. middlingly, plainly, familiarly.
unprepared, oblivious ANTONYMS: (adj) promising, ANTONYMS: (adv) unusually,
obstinacy: (n) stubbornness, auspicious, reassuring, bright, lucky, rarely, strangely, exceptionally
firmness, bullheadedness, wonderful orifice: (n) mouth, gap, hole,
determination, contumacy, omnipotence: (n) state, providence, aperture, vent, port, puncture, inlet,
mulishness, impenitence, resolve, omniscience, omnipresence, power, muzzle, chops, nozzle
resoluteness, impenitency, mastery ornament: (n) decoration, adornment,
pertinacity. ANTONYMS: (n) one-sided: (adj) unfair, unilateral, embellishment, decor; (v) beautify,
cooperation, compliance unjust, unequal, uneven, prejudiced, decorate, deck, embellish, adorn; (n,
obstinate: (adj) obdurate, inflexible, colored, doctrinaire, dogmatic, v) garnish, dress. ANTONYM: (v)
intractable, determined, inveterate, intolerant, jaundiced strip
disobedient, willful, stubborn, onward: (adv) ahead, forwards, ornamented: (adj) embellished,
contrary, wayward, dogged. before, forth, onwards, along, in beautified, fancy, flowery, ornate,
ANTONYMS: (adj) flexible, advance, frontward, forrader; (adv, adorned, bedecked, decked,
amenable, irresolute, cooperative, prep) on; (adj) progressive. festooned, feathered, florid
easygoing, docile, biddable, ANTONYM: (adv) backward ornaments: (n) stuff, trim,
agreeable, accommodating, opportune: (adj, v) appropriate; (adj) ornamentation, equipments, dress,
malleable, gentle favorable, apropos, auspicious, disposition, custom, curios,
occupying: (n) commencement, expedient, happy, handy, timely, condition, clothing, gaudery
employment, moving in, occupation felicitous, favourable; (v) becoming. orthodoxy: (n) conventionality,
oceans: (n) ocean, load, lot, bushel, ANTONYMS: (adj) untimely, conventionalism, conformism,
mass, stack, mountain, heap disadvantageous, inappropriate, convention, unoriginality,
octave: (n) tetrachord, stanza, church inconvenient, unfortunate, unlucky orthodoxness, traditional values,
festival, interval, musical interval oppressed: (adj) laden, persecuted, Catholicism, catholicity,
o'er: (adv) on, upon, across broken, burdened, drawn, gloomy, traditionalism, religion
offended: (adj) angry, affronted, aggrieved, downcast, heavy, ostensible: (adj) seeming, alleged,
aggrieved, pained, wronged, ladened, loaded specious, superficial, nominal,
annoyed, insulted, shocked, vexed, oppressive: (adj, v) onerous, close, manifest, outward, pretended,
resentful, injured. ANTONYMS: burdensome; (adj) sultry, stuffy, unreal, supposed, colorable.
(adj) indifferent, proud, tyrannical, muggy, despotic, ANTONYMS: (adj) real, actual,
unconcerned dictatorial, gloomy, domineering. genuine
offender: (n) delinquent, malefactor, ANTONYMS: (adj) liberal, ostrich: (n) Struthio Camelus, ratite,
criminal, convict, felon, crook, democratic, humane, free, tolerant, flightless bird; (adj) camel bird, doe,
wrongdoer, malfeasant, perpetrator, airy, freezing, libertarian greyhound, hare, gazelle, antelope,
outlaw, villain orator: (n) elocutionist, speechmaker, eagle, courser
outcry: (n, v) clamor, exclaim, call, owing: (adj) due, unpaid, unsettled, pantomime: (n, v) gesture; (n) dumb
shout, vociferation; (n) noise, outstanding, overdue, owed, show, mummery, acting, playacting,
exclamation, din, uproar, payable, undischarged, indebted, performing, playing, pantomimist;
commotion, racket. ANTONYM: (n) fulfilling obligation, lawful. (v) mimic, roleplay, playact
acceptance ANTONYM: (adj) settled paralysis: (n) anaesthesia, numbness,
outdo: (v) exceed, beat, best, break, owls: (n) order Strigiformes, apoplexy, akinesia, alalia,
outgo, surpass, outstrip, better, Strigiformes paralyzation, disability; (adj)
overrun, circumvent; (adj, v) outwit. pacing: (n) accelerando, andante, consumption, decline, syncope,
ANTONYM: (v) trail allegro, allegretto, pace, walk, sideration
outdone: (adj) beaten, vanquished, tempo, musical time, maneuvering parapet: (n) bulwark, breastwork,
worsted, defeated; (v) outdo alongside another vessel, cardiac fortification, railing, bastion,
outflank: (adj) outwit, outvote, pacing battlement, wall, banister, handrail,
outgeneral; (v) go around, bypass, paddle: (n) blade, vane, oar, rowing; earthwork; (v) sunk fence
best, circumvent, trounce, vanquish, (v) dabble, dodder, row, pull, spank, parched: (adj, n) thirsty; (adj) arid,
circulate; (adv) flank toddle, totter adust, torrid, barren, desiccated,
outlines: (n) elements, conspectus, pained: (adj) offended, aggrieved, dehydrated, scorched, baked,
prospectus, syllabus, alphabet, distressed, displeased, sore, grieved, withered, shriveled. ANTONYMS:
grammar, contents, rudiments, miserable, injured, wounded, (adj) quenched, humid
synopsis, textbook, ABC worried, upset. ANTONYM: (adj) parching: (adj) torrid, hot, parched
outlying: (adj) faraway, remote, far, unaffected pardoning: (adj) forgiving, lenient,
outer, isolated, outdoor, outward, paints: (n) colors easy; (adv) forgivingly; (v) forgive.
exterior, peripheral, outstanding, paleness: (adj, n) pallor; (n) ANTONYM: (adj) unforgiving
secluded. ANTONYMS: (adj) pallidness, wanness, whiteness, parentage: (n) family, extraction,
central, metropolitan, nearby, achromasia, blondness, lividity, origin, descent, ancestry, lineage,
neighboring luridness, lividness, fairness, pale. stock, birth, pedigree, kinship,
outstretched: (adj) extended, lengthy, ANTONYM: (n) strength bloodline
flat, open, unfolded, stretched, pall: (v) cloy, tire, jade, fatigue; (n) parle: (n, v) parley
broad, wiredrawn, wide, long curtain, coffin, shroud, cloak, parley: (v) negotiate, converse,
outstrip: (v) outdo, exceed, beat, cerement, mantle; (adj, v) disgust confer, consult; (n, v) talk, treat; (n)
surpass, distance, outshine, palliate: (v) mitigate, assuage, conversation, interview, colloquy,
outdistance, outrun, better, best, alleviate, mollify, appease, allay, meeting, consultation
outclass facilitate, relieve; (n, v) extenuate; partake: (v) deal, touch, share,
outward: (adj) external, apparent, (adj, v) gloze, smooth consume, attend, eat, taste, receive,
extrinsic, outer, superficial, surface, pallid: (adj) ghastly, wan, bloodless, communicate, join, have.
outside, ostensible, foreign, outdoor; lurid, cadaverous, sickly, ashen, ANTONYM: (v) refrain
(adv) out. ANTONYMS: (adj, adv) white, pasty, livid, watery. parting: (n) adieu, division, leave,
inward; (adj) inner, internal, deep ANTONYMS: (adj) healthy, rosy, departure, disunion, goodbye,
outwit: (v) circumvent, outsmart, vivid leaving, segregation, dying, rupture;
outfox, deceive, overreach, trick, palpable: (adj) tangible, obvious, (adj) valedictory. ANTONYMS: (n)
frustrate, outmanoeuvre, baffle, evident, apparent, clear, joining, meeting, connection,
bamboozle, cheat transparent, indubitable, noticeable, Reunion
overacted: (adj) affectedly dramatic, lucid, patent, perceptible. partition: (n) wall, bulkhead, divider,
overdone, overwrought, sentimental ANTONYMS: (adj) imaginary, distribution, separation, screen; (n,
overhanging: (adj, v) projecting; (v) intangible, impalpable, doubtful, v) part, split; (v) divide, apportion,
beetling; (adj) covering, imminent, furtive, imperceptible, insignificant, deal. ANTONYMS: (v) join, reveal;
impending, pendent, obumbrant, obscure, unclear (n) union
hanging over, overspreading, palsied: (adj) paralyzed, disabled, pathos: (v) emotion, inspiration,
depending, hanging motionless, unsteady, weak, impression, affection; (n) poignancy,
overlook: (v) disregard, excuse, omit, comatose, unconscious; (v) paralyse, pity, ruth, commiseration, grief,
ignore, forget, fail, command, paralyze, withered poignance, sympathy
dominate, oversee, control, miss. pang: (n) pain, torture, ache, agony, pathway: (n) lane, road, path,
ANTONYMS: (v) remember, notice, twinge, affliction, sting, stab, footpath, course, trail, alley,
spot, acknowledge, see, accept, distress, ailment, cramp highway, way, tract, track
punish panoply: (n) stand of arms, show, patiently: (adv) perseveringly,
overtures: (n) overture parade, clothing, fanfare; (v) protect, invalidly, quietly, uncomplainingly,
overweening: (adj) overbearing, clothe, defend, guard persistently, forbearingly,
overconfident, imperious, panther: (n) cougar, jaguar, leopard, resignedly, steadily, doggedly,
disdainful, vain, bumptious, puma, mountain lion, painter, Felis calmly, meekly. ANTONYM: (adv)
immodest, domineering, uppity, onca, Felis concolor, cat; (adj) lion, eagerly
consequential, uppish. tiger patois: (n) idiom, dialect, lingo, slang,
ANTONYMS: (adj) modest, panthers: (n) order Carnivora, lions, cant, vernacular, accent, brogue,
unassuming dogs, Carnivora, bears, jackals language, argot, tongue
patriarch: (n) forefather, dreamy, melancholy, abstracted, (adj, adv) directly
paterfamilias, father, head, chief, old broody, reflective, moody; (adj, v) perpetrator: (n) offender, doer,
man, antediluvian, head of sad. ANTONYMS: (adj) shallow, criminal, performer, actor, agent,
household, elder, founder, senior. satisfied, carefree delinquent, malefactor, crook,
ANTONYM: (n) matriarch pent: (adj) narrow, shut up, confined, wrongdoer, hoodlum
patter: (v) clatter, rumble, roll, rattle, cramped perpetuate: (v) eternize, immortalize,
drum, scuttle, skip, tiptoe; (n) line of peopled: (adj) multinominal, maintain, preserve, continue, carry
gab, vernacular, jargon multiple, manifold, multiplied, on, follow up, uphold, consolidate,
peaceable: (adj) gentle, calm, pacific, multitudinous, populous, inhabited, commemorate, bear on
amicable, quiet, friendly, thick, studded, teeming, crowded. persevere: (v) persist, continue,
inoffensive, moderate, meek, serene; ANTONYM: (adj) uninhabited endure, abide, go on, hang on, hold
(adj, v) peaceful. ANTONYMS: (adj) pepperidge: (n) Nyssa sylvatica, on, follow, keep, remain, pursue.
argumentative, belligerent, black mallee, black Sally, sour gum, ANTONYMS: (v) surrender, stop,
intemperate, quarrelsome, crooked, tupelo quit
disruptive, harsh, disordered peradventure: (adv) perchance, persevering: (adj) diligent, firm,
peacefully: (adv) tranquilly, placidly, perhaps, possibly, mayhap, by determined, constant, resolute,
stilly, serenely, Pacifically, quietly, chance, haply, fortunately, dogged, persistent, tenacious,
meekly, restfully, undisturbedly, gracefully, felicitously; (n) chance; steadfast, industrious, insistent.
evenly, coolly. ANTONYMS: (adv) (conj) if ANTONYM: (adj) irresolute
wildly, hysterically, agitatedly, perceiving: (n) feeling, sensing, personage: (n) person, notable,
restlessly, noisily, manically hearing, looking at, recognition, celebrity, personality, individual,
pebbles: (n) shingle, grit, gravel, thought, vision, lipreading; (adj) bigwig, figure, somebody, human,
stones conscious, percipient, reasonable character, being
pebbly: (adj) shingly, rocky, rough, perceptible: (adj) conspicuous, persuasively: (adv) compellingly,
grating, flinty, beachy, stony, gravel appreciable, evident, discernible, potently, strongly, forcefully,
peculiarly: (adj, adv) particularly, obvious, visible, palpable, apparent, powerfully, eloquently, effectively,
curiously, unusually, uncommonly, detectable, manifest, observable. soundly, cogently, movingly, slickly.
singularly; (adv) especially, oddly, ANTONYMS: (adj) intangible, ANTONYMS: (adv) ineffectively,
strangely, specifically, weirdly, unclear, inaudible, inconspicuous, hesitantly, weakly
specially. ANTONYMS: (adv) obscure, undetectable, invisible pertinent: (adj) apropos, appropriate,
typically, ordinarily, slightly perch: (adj, n, v) roost; (v) light, relevant, applicable, fitting, suitable,
pecuniary: (adj) financial, fiscal, settle, sit, alight, squat, land; (adj, v) related, adequate, opportune, pat;
commercial, economic, nummulary, lodge, abide, dwell; (n) pole (adj, n) apposite. ANTONYMS: (adj)
sumptuary, numismatical, pecunial, peril: (n, v) hazard, risk, endanger, inappropriate, unrelated, immaterial
crumenal menace, adventure; (n) danger, perversity: (n) perverseness,
peering: (adj) nosy, prying, snoopy jeopardy, chance; (v) imperil, cussedness, evil, perversion,
penance: (n) atonement, sacrament, expose, compromise. ANTONYM: willfulness, unruliness, corruption,
confession, compunction, penalty, (n) security wilfulness, depravity; (adj)
expiation, remorse, repentance, perilous: (adj, v) dangerous, contumacy, spinosity
punishment, reparation, hair shirt hazardous; (adj) insecure, unsafe, petitioning: (adj) petitory, suppliant,
pendent: (adj) pendulous, parlous, precarious, risky, prayerful, pleading, begging,
suspended, pendant, dangling, treacherous, dicey, critical, dodgy. beseeching, entreating; (n)
pending, unsettled, undecided, ANTONYM: (adj) secure deprecation
pensile, drooping, projecting; (n) periodical: (n) journal, magazine, physician: (n) doctor, medico, doc,
stipend newspaper, review, organ, medic, quack, surgeon, leech,
penetrate: (v) bore, imbue, fathom, publication, book; (adj) intermittent, houseman, MD, allergist, intern
infiltrate, pierce, permeate, cut, cyclic, recurrent, annual picket: (n) watch, pale, palisade,
filter, interpenetrate, get through, perish: (v) expire, pass away, fence, post, stake, sentinel, sentry,
enter decease, go, fade, decay, depart, fall, guard, piquet; (adj, v) moor
penetrated: (adj) perforated, entered pass, ruin, annihilate. ANTONYMS: pickets: (n) stakes
penetrating: (adj) astute, sharp, (v) survive, live, appear pierce: (n, v) cut, prick, stick; (v)
cutting, discerning, incisive, permitting: (adj) lenient, permitted perforate, bore, enter, thrust,
piercing, perceptive, discriminating, perpendicular: (adj) upright, vertical, puncture, penetrate; (adj, v) stab,
trenchant; (adj, v) biting, acute. steep, plumb, straight, right, sheer, wound. ANTONYM: (v) seal
ANTONYMS: (adj) mild, soft, orthogonal, normal, precipitous, pierced: (adj) punctured, perforate,
mellow, low, gentle, dull, dense true. ANTONYMS: (adj) horizontal, penetrated, cut, cleft
penitence: (n) penance, compunction, parallel, inclined, oblique, prone, piercing: (adj, n) sharp, cutting; (adj,
regret, contrition, remorse, rue, gentle v) keen, penetrating, biting, bitter,
sorrow, atonement, grief, expiation, perpendicularly: (adv) uprightly, harsh, shrill; (adj) high, raw, loud.
contriteness erectly, straightly, upright, ANTONYMS: (adj) quiet, dull, soft,
pensive: (adj) contemplative, orthogonally, sheerly, precipitously, hot
meditative, musing, wistful, normally, plumb; (adv, v) sheer; piety: (n) godliness, devoutness,
faith, righteousness, holiness, dreary elastic, plastic, ductile, malleable,
reverence, religion, religiousness, placid: (adj) calm, composed, adaptable, compliant, flexile, supple,
piousness, sanctity, goodness. easygoing, equable, gentle, quiet, lithe. ANTONYMS: (adj) inflexible,
ANTONYMS: (n) sin, profanity, pacific, tranquil, cool, peaceable; rigid, rebellious
wickedness (adj, v) peaceful. ANTONYMS: (adj) plighted: (adj) intended, engaged
pigeon: (n) dove, gull, gudgeon, rough, energetic, stormy, frenetic, plotting: (n) machinations, intrigues,
cully, ringdove, victim, cushat, excitable, agitated, unstable, evaluation; (adj) scheming,
gobemouche, cull; (v) bilk, mulct bothered, harsh, boisterous perfidious, sly, treacherous, deep,
piled: (adj) heaped, dense, aggregate, plainness: (n) perspicuity, clearness, insidious, false, faithless
collective, concentrated, cumulous homeliness, austerity, simplicity, plowed: (v) plucked; (adj) drunk
pillar: (n) brace, mainstay, post, lucidity, perspicuousness, plucked: (v) ploughed; (adj) pulled,
obelisk, foundation, pier, directness, bareness, drabness, unfeathered, featherless, moulting,
monument, stanchion, backbone, chasteness. ANTONYMS: (n) pilled
buttress; (adj, n) tower warmth, splendor plumage: (n) feather, plume,
pining: (adj, n) longing; (adj) plaint: (n) complaint, mourning, feathering, quill, aftershaft, alula,
languishing, languid, marcid, lamentation, wail, moan, jeremiad; marabou, finery, animal material;
amorously pensive, dull, eager; (n) (v) hue and cry, hullabaloo, outcry, (adj) plumosity, alular
pinning, hankering, craving, desire clamor, chorus plume: (n) feather, plumage, quill,
pinnacle: (n) apex, top, height, crest, plaintive: (adj) pathetic, piteous, panache, aigrette, crest, feathering;
zenith, crown, summit, acme, lugubrious, doleful, sad, wistful, (v) pride, pluck, dress, preen
heyday, climax, culmination. sorrowful, woeful, elegiac, dolorous, plunder: (n, v) pillage, spoil; (v)
ANTONYMS: (n) nadir, base, lamentable despoil, harry, devastate, maraud,
bottom, trough plated: (v) pinchbeck, overlaid, destroy, strip, ransack; (n) booty,
pinned: (adj) fastened, engaged, superimposed, tinsel; (adj) silver depredation
helpless, stapled, intended; (adv) platoon: (n) army, group, outfit, plundered: (adj) pillaged, despoiled,
under regiment, corps, column, team, raped, robbed, emptier, empty,
pinning: (n) pining, pin drafting, squad, section, sotnia, patrol fleeced, ransacked
stemming playful: (adj) frisky, humorous, plundering: (n) rape, pillage,
pious: (adj, n, v) devout; (adj, n) kittenish, mischievous, skittish, depredation, despoliation, rapine,
godly; (adj) religious, holy, saintly, impish, naughty, merry, spoliation, despoilment, plunder,
devotional, pure, hypocritical, lighthearted, frivolous, frolicsome. looting; (adj) predatory, marauding
devoted, sanctimonious; (adj, v) ANTONYMS: (adj) serious, plunge: (n, v) drop, dive, fall, jump;
earnest. ANTONYMS: (adj) lethargic, solemn, staid, subdued, (v) douse, duck, submerge, crash,
impious, sinful, profane, heavy dunk, plummet; (adj, v) immerse.
blasphemous, irreligious, plaything: (n) bauble, trifle, gewgaw, ANTONYMS: (n, v) rise; (v) hesitate;
uncommitted, secular, irreverent cockhorse, doll, dollhouse, dolly, (n) improvement
pique: (v) nettle, insult, outrage, playhouse, hobby, hobbyhorse, plunging: (adv) diving, headlong,
irritate, fret; (n) grudge, annoyance, kaleidoscope pitching, headfirst; (adj) precipitous,
umbrage, irritation; (n, v) anger, plead: (v) entreat, implore, beg, low, plummeting; (n) descent
spite adjure, petition, ask, appeal, defend, poisoned: (adj, v) tainted; (v) peccant,
piqued: (adj) irritated, irate, hurt, invoke, sue; (n, v) allege. morbid, tabid; (adj) venenate, made
irked, intoxicated, indignant, up in ANTONYMS: (v) answer, demand virulent, rabid, resentful, sour,
arms, in a huff, offended, huffy, pleasing: (adj, n) acceptable; (adj) mangy, leprous
excited. ANTONYM: (adj) amiable, lovable, amusing, poisonous: (adj) toxic, mortal,
unconcerned attractive, gratifying, lovely, venomous, noxious, malicious, fatal,
pistol: (n) firearm, gun, gat, revolver, pleasant, charming, delightful, baneful, poison, lethal, viperous,
rod, Captain Bobadil, derringer, inviting. ANTONYMS: (adj) mephitic. ANTONYMS: (adj)
spray gun, shooter, drawcansir, unpleasant, unwelcome, infuriating, harmless, benevolent, edible,
Thraso disappointing, straight, hurtful, kindhearted
piteous: (adj) miserable, pitiful, maddening, displeasing, discordant, politeness: (n) civility, courteousness,
pathetic, doleful, lamentable, abject, harsh, frustrating courtliness, manners, decorum,
compassionate, unfortunate, poor, pledge: (n, v) bond, gage, wager, gentility, good manners, niceness,
paltry, pitiable engage, promise, plight, guarantee, refinement, gallantry, decency.
pithy: (adj, v) brief, compact; (adj) bet, contract; (n) assurance; (v) ANTONYMS: (n) vulgarity,
laconic, curt, succinct, short, covenant. ANTONYM: (v) redeem rudeness, incivility, neglect
forceful, sententious, meaty; (v) plentiful: (adj) opulent, bountiful, politic: (adj, v) tactful; (adj) discreet,
dense, close. ANTONYMS: (adj) ample, luxuriant, liberal, copious, judicious, circumspect, shrewd,
bland, lengthy, mild, verbose, fruitful, full, abundant, rich, plenty. prudent, suave, calculating, tricky,
convoluted ANTONYMS: (adj) scanty, meager, cute, chary. ANTONYMS: (adj)
pitying: (adj) sympathetic, merciful, sparse, lacking, insufficient, few, injudicious, unwise, impolitic,
pity, pityingly, gloomy, meritless, infertile foolish
pitiful, sorry, sorry for, humane, pliant: (adj, v) pliable, limber; (adj) polluted: (adj) dirty, contaminated,
foul, defiled, filthy, unclean, advocate, sermonize, urge, hold ordained, meant, doomed, designed
profane, stained, soiled, tainted, forth, admonish, evangelize, predilection: (n) penchant,
nasty. ANTONYMS: (adj) clean, prophesy, moralise preference, partiality, inclination,
hygienic precaution: (n) foresight, care, bent, weakness, predisposition,
ponder: (v) meditate, consider, prevention, discretion, anticipation, liking, fondness, bias, taste.
cogitate, deliberate, think, reflect, caution, circumspection, prudence, ANTONYMS: (n) indifference,
conceive, mull, mull over; (n, v) safeguard, protection; (adj) horror
muse, study. ANTONYMS: (v) precautionary preface: (n, v) prelude, preamble,
decide, wander, ignore precede: (v) lead, head, forego, proem; (n) beginning, introduction,
portage: (n, v) carry; (n) antecede, antedate, anticipate, preliminary, exordium, overture; (v)
transportation, shipping, cartage, introduce, forerun, pass, preface, go. introduce, precede, premise.
delivery, transference, haulage, ANTONYMS: (v) succeed, postdate ANTONYMS: (n) addendum,
porterage, carting, cart track; (adj) precincts: (n) entourage, arena, conclusion, postscript
moving outskirts, neighbourhood, walk, prejudiced: (adj) biased, partisan,
possessing: (adj) fruitive neighborhood, proximity, bigoted, jaundiced, interested,
posterity: (n) race, descendants, surroundings, vicinity, limitations, opinionated, narrow, intolerant,
issue, offspring, descendant, future, suburbs colored, inequitable, subjective.
generation, progeny, breed, precipice: (n) abyss, chasm, ANTONYMS: (adj) unbiased,
descendent, spat escarpment, gulf, steep, crag, verge, broadminded, balanced, impartial,
posting: (n) post, placard, poster, brink, abysm, ravine, drop unprejudiced, objective, just,
entry, notice, position, transmittal, precipitancy: (n) haste, temerity, tolerant
transmission, transmitting, job, hastiness, rashness, hurriedness, prejudicial: (adj) pernicious, hurtful,
place abruptness, indiscretion, damaging, injurious, harmful,
postpone: (v) defer, delay, adjourn, inconsideration, precipitation, noxious, disadvantageous, adverse,
procrastinate, put off, suspend, hold brusqueness; (adj, n) precipitousness mischievous, prejudicious, noisome.
over, remit, shelve; (adj, v) retard, precipitate: (adj, n) hasty; (adj, n, v) ANTONYMS: (adj) beneficial,
waive. ANTONYMS: (v) advance, deposit; (adj) impetuous, headlong, helpful
continue sudden, immediate, instant, preliminaries: (n) introduction,
posture: (n) attitude, condition, precipitant; (n, v) accelerate, preparation, opening, initiation,
stance, deportment, aspect, expedite; (v) hurry. ANTONYMS: training, preface, preamble
circumstance, manner, figure, mien; (adj) overdue, cautious, protracted; premeditated: (adj) intentional,
(n, v) pose, place (v) retard planned, designed, conscious,
potency: (n) force, might, efficacy, precipitately: (adv) rashly, calculated, studied, intended,
effectiveness, strength, ability, immediately, instantly, passionately, prearranged; (v) prepense; (adj, v)
power, energy, intensity, potence, rapidly, precipitously, impetuously, aforethought, premeditate.
vigor. ANTONYMS: (n) impulsively, foolhardily, ANTONYMS: (adj) accidental,
powerlessness, weakness prematurely; (adj, adv) headlong. ingenuous, spontaneous,
potomac: (n) foggy bottom ANTONYM: (adv) deliberately unintentional, unpremeditated,
pouch: (n, v) bag; (n) pocket, poke, precipitating: (adj) down automatic, casual
mailbag, sac, pod, purse, sack, precipitation: (n) rain, downfall, preponderance: (n) predominance,
bladder; (v) bulk, bulge haste, hastiness, rush, rashness, bulk, prevalence, dominance,
powerfully: (adv) strongly, potently, rainfall, temerity, acceleration, fall; advantage, majority, influence,
vigorously, puissantly, effectively, (adj, n) precipitancy ascendency, ascendancy,
forcefully, robustly, intensely, precipitous: (adj) abrupt, sharp, overweight, privilege
violently, hardily, firmly. precipitate, perpendicular, sheer, preposition: (n) proposition, function
ANTONYMS: (adv) gently, faintly, headlong, hasty, sudden, word
powerlessly, slightly, mildly, feebly, precipitant; (adj, v) steep, high. presage: (v) foretell, foreshadow,
ineffectively, loosely, calmly ANTONYM: (adj) flat indicate, portend, augur,
practicability: (n) practicableness, precocious: (adj) advanced, early, prognosticate, predict; (n, v)
practicality, possibility, probability, pert, premature, impudent, forebode; (n) foreboding, portent,
usefulness, utility, viability, obtrusive, precipitate, bright, saucy, sign
convenience, feasibleness, bumptious, developed. preserving: (n) conservation,
handiness, likelihood ANTONYMS: (adj) backward, preservation, protection,
practiced: (adj) adept, expert, skillful, retarded conservancy, embalmment, fixation;
versed, proficient, accomplished, precursor: (n) harbinger, herald, (adj) saving, frugal, economical,
skilful, skilled, trained, practised, messenger, predecessor, antecedent, protective, thrifty
able. ANTONYMS: (adj) indication, ancestor, sign, forebear, presume: (v) dare, consider, believe,
inexperienced, untrained, omen, leader. ANTONYM: (n) think, infer, guess, expect, esteem,
incompetent, clumsy, unqualified successor conclude, suppose, conjecture.
prattling: (n) gab; (adj) voluble, predestined: (adj) fated, ANTONYMS: (v) appreciate,
gabby foreordained, certain, predestinate, despair, speculate
preach: (v) lecture, exhort, moralize, intended, fatal, predetermined, presumed: (adj) supposed, reputed,
putative, understood, alleged, wasteful, excessive, exuberant, copiousness, exuberance; (adj)
probable, theoretical liberal, profuse, dissipated; (adj, n) amplitude. ANTONYMS: (n)
presuming: (adj) forward, arrogant, profligate. ANTONYMS: (adj) insufficiency, scarcity
insolent, familiar, overconfident, economical, cautious progenitors: (n) lineage
conceited, assuming, rash, brash, prodigious: (adj) gigantic, enormous, prohibited: (adj) illicit, illegal, taboo,
pretentious, confident huge, phenomenal, portentous, banned, unlawful, contraband,
presumption: (n) effrontery, stupendous, exceptional, colossal, barred, proscribed, not allowed, out;
confidence, assurance, premise, immense, gargantuan; (adj, v) (adj, adv) off-limits. ANTONYMS:
arrogance, guess, conjecture, monstrous. ANTONYMS: (adj) (adj) legitimate, permitted, allowed,
surmise, insolence, impertinence, unexceptional, normal, average, authorized, legal, permissible,
belief. ANTONYM: (n) respect tiny, weak acceptable, eligible, lawful, open
pretended: (adj, v) sham, mock, prodigy: (n) marvel, miracle, wonder, prolong: (v) extend, delay, protract,
counterfeit, pseudo, spurious; (adj) genius, portent, phenomenon, keep up, expand, elongate, drag out,
assumed, fake, feigned, fictitious, wonder child, astonishment, wizard, maintain, lengthen, draw out,
bogus, affected surprise; (adj, n) monster procrastinate. ANTONYMS: (v)
pretender: (n) fraud, fake, imposter, profane: (v) desecrate, abuse, violate, stop, cancel, curtail, quit
sham, hypocrite, claimant, cheat, defile, outrage, debauch; (adj) prompter: (n) autocue, supporter,
quack, shammer, humbug; (v) irreverent, impious, sacrilegious, tempter, call boy, helper, theater
fanfaron unholy; (adj, v) foul. ANTONYMS: prompter, help, device, assistant
pretense: (n) affectation, pretension, (adj) devout, sacred, moral, prompting: (n) stimulation,
deception, show, cover, religious, reverent instigation, prompt, influence,
masquerade, hypocrisy, mask, profaned: (adj) defiled, impure, inducement, provocation, hint,
facade, sham; (adj, n) feint. unclean invitation, leading question,
ANTONYMS: (n) reality, honesty, profanely: (adv) sacrilegiously, suggestion; (v) to prompt
humility, sincerity, genuine secularly, irreverently, unholy, pronouncing: (v) pronounce; (n)
pretensions: (n) airs, affected impiously, ungodly, pronunciation, utterance
manner, mannerism unconsecratedly, sinfully, pronunciation: (n) accent,
pretext: (n) pretense, pretension, temporally, impurely, heretically articulation, enunciation, elocution,
color, pretence, mask, plea, guise, profanity: (n) blasphemy, oath, delivery, pronouncing, speech,
sham, appearance; (n, v) excuse, irreverence, obscenity, swearing, inflection, homophony,
cloak profanation, sacrilege, swear word, mispronunciation, pronounce
prevail: (n, v) triumph, control, expletive, disrespect, utterance. prophet: (n) augur, oracle,
govern; (v) dominate, overcome, ANTONYM: (n) purity vaticinator, seer, predictor, diviner,
outweigh, obtain, persist, carry, professing: (n) avowal, profession, forecaster, visionary, foreteller,
vanquish; (adj) preponderate. community priest, clairvoyant
ANTONYM: (v) lose proffer: (n, v) bid; (v) give, present, prophetic: (adj) oracular, mantic,
prevalent: (adj, v) prevailing; (adj) advance, extend, propose, provide, prophetical, prognostic, visionary,
predominant, general, common, submit; (n) overture, proposition, biblical, vaticinal, sibylline,
popular, preponderant, rife, suggestion. ANTONYM: (v) refuse foreshadowing, fatidical, pythonic.
extensive, dominant, epidemic; (adj, proficient: (adj, n) expert, ANTONYMS: (adj) unprophetic,
n) current. ANTONYMS: (adj) rare, professional; (adj) able, unimaginative
uncommon, sparse, limited accomplished, practiced, good, proportionate: (adj, v) proportional;
priming: (n) primer, undercoat, adroit, capable, skillful, competent, (adj) proportionable, equal,
readying, couch, preparation, flat deft. ANTONYMS: (adj) inept, harmonious, comparable, balanced,
coat, footing, fuse, fusee, fuzee, amateur, untrained, inexperienced, sufficient, relative, appropriate,
electrical fuse bad adequate, equitable. ANTONYM:
prized: (adj) beloved, precious, dear, profitably: (adv) advantageously, (adj) disproportionate
cherished, appreciated, treasured, helpfully, fruitfully, productively, proportionately: (adv) relatively, pro
esteemed, valuable, highly favorably, lucratively, usefully, rata, in proportion, correspondingly,
regarded, favorite, priceless. gainfully, economically, prolifically, symmetrically, commensurately,
ANTONYM: (adj) hated expediently. ANTONYMS: (adv) adequately, balancedly, equally,
proceeding: (n) matter, transaction, fruitlessly, unproductively, harmoniously, appropriately
affair, procedure, lawsuit, unhelpfully proportioned: (adj) attemperate,
proceedings; (v) deed, act; (n, v) profusely: (adv) lavishly, copiously, shapely, regular, properly adapted,
measure; (adv, n) happening; (adj, extravagantly, bountifully, even, balanced. ANTONYM: (adj)
adv, v) going on generously, plentifully, galore, asymmetrical
proclaim: (v) declare, assert, prodigally, richly, excessively, propping: (n) staking; (adj) retaining
advertise, broadcast, promulgate, amply. ANTONYMS: (adv) propriety: (adj, n) decency, modesty,
enunciate, herald, decree, divulge, meagerly, stingily, thinly correctness, aptitude; (n) decorum,
notify, annunciate profusion: (n) opulence, abundance, fitness, etiquette, civility, grace,
prodigal: (adj) extravagant, prodigality, plenty, excess, politeness, manners. ANTONYMS:
improvident, generous, lavish, cornucopia, plenitude, profuseness, (n) impropriety, rudeness,
unsuitableness, indecorum, reckless, spendthrift, stupid, quicken: (v) accelerate, hasten, hurry,
decadence, tactlessness, corruption, careless, unwise, unsafe, tactless dispatch, animate, expedite,
vulgarity, indecency psalmist: (n) composer advance, enliven, precipitate; (n, v)
prosecute: (v) pursue, persecute, psalmody: (n) psalm, singing, forward, speed. ANTONYMS: (v)
follow, chase, engage, indict, litigate, vocalizing, psalmistry decelerate, delay
drive, execute, accuse; (n, v) sue. punish: (v) amerce, discipline, quickened: (adj) hasty, rapid,
ANTONYM: (v) pardon castigate, chasten, chastise, penalize, passionate, intoxicated
prosper: (v) advance, flower, thrive, strike, avenge, pay, beat, execute. quickens: (n) couch grass
grow, bloom, succeed, boom, get ANTONYMS: (v) excuse, exonerate, quickest: (adv) most quickly
ahead, get on; (adj) luxuriate; (n, v) pardon, reward, commend quickness: (n) celerity, expedition,
fare. ANTONYMS: (v) deteriorate, punishing: (adj) gruelling, arduous, promptness, alacrity, agility, speed,
collapse, decrease, dwindle, decline labourious, laborious, hard, heavy, dispatch, dexterity, fleetness, hurry,
prostrate: (adj, v) prone, exhaust, punitive, backbreaking, clayey, readiness. ANTONYMS: (n)
level, fatigue; (v) fell, overwhelm, accented, severe. ANTONYM: (adj) awkwardness, delay, ineptness
overcome, floor, overthrow; (adj) undemanding quick-witted: (adj) sharp, intelligent,
deject, knock down. ANTONYM: purification: (n) defecation, purge, resourceful, witty, clever, acute,
(adj) upright refinement, catharsis, purgation, bright, ingenious, nimble, keen,
protector: (n) guard, guardian, purging, refining, cleaning, quick
patron, champion, custodian, cleansing, cleanup, rectification. quieted: (adj) composed
conservator, escort, hero, paladin, ANTONYMS: (n) debasement, quince: (n) Cydonia oblonga, false
supporter, benefactor dirtying, contamination fruit, genus Cydonia, melocotoon,
protracted: (adj, v) extended, purport: (n, v) aim, amount; (n) pome, quince bush, Cydonia
lingering, continued; (adj) intent, drift, intention, meaning, quitting: (n) departure, resignation
prolonged, lengthy, extensive, end, effect, design; (v) mean, quiver: (adj, n, v) shudder, shiver,
prolix, chronic, lengthened, slow, propose tremble, shake; (v) flicker, flutter,
spun out. ANTONYMS: (adj) brief, purposed: (adj, v) intended; (adj) vibrate; (n, v) palpitate, quaver; (n)
abrupt, short, concise, easy deliberate, designed, forcible, vibration, tremor
proverbial: (adj) axiomatic, betrothed, made tense, extended, quivering: (adj, n) trembling, tremor,
hackneyed saying, common saying, undesigned; (v) free, not accidental, quaking, trepidation; (n) palpitation,
notorious, famed, legendary, voluntary quiver, vibration; (adj) flutter,
famous, common, true saying, trite pursuer: (n) follower, plaintiff, quavering, shivering, tremulous.
saying, recognizable petitioner, persecutor, hunter, ANTONYM: (adj) steady
providence: (n) forethought, fortune, disciple, accuser, prosecutor, radiant: (adj, v) bright, glittering,
fate, discretion, God, destiny, care, attendant, beau, driver lustrous, beamy, glorious; (adj)
economy, caution, precaution, pursuits: (n) diversion, duties beaming, luminous, effulgent, lucid,
chance. ANTONYM: (n) pyramidal: (adj) cubical, pointed, glowing, beautiful. ANTONYMS:
improvidence pyramidical (adj) gloomy, dark, pale, unhappy
provoke: (n, v) excite; (v) defy, quadruped: (n) beast, tetrapod, ragged: (adj, n) shabby; (adj) seedy,
offend, enrage, anger, irritate, mollusk, insect, mammal, creature, worn, hoarse, jagged, scruffy, torn,
arouse, kindle, inflame, invite, get. biped; (adj) quadrupedal. untidy, unkempt; (adj, v)
ANTONYMS: (v) please, soothe, ANTONYM: (adj) bipedal threadbare; (n) harsh. ANTONYMS:
mollify, deter, inhibit, dampen, quaint: (adj) odd, funny, picturesque, (adj) smart, elegant, smooth, new,
arbitrate, allay, defuse, discourage, comical, fanciful, curious, even
douse whimsical, strange, queer, peculiar, raging: (adj) hot, angry, fierce, irate,
prowess: (n) bravery, valor, art, droll. ANTONYMS: (adj) modern, wild, infuriated, enraged, vehement,
heroism, proficiency, mastery, ordinary, dull heated; (adj, n) mad, rabid.
expertise, gallantry, intrepidity, qualm: (n) misgiving, doubt, nausea, ANTONYMS: (adj) calm, mild,
chivalry, skill. ANTONYMS: (n) distrust, compunction, uncertainty, contained
inability, ineptitude regret, hesitation, apprehension, rags: (adj) refuse, rubble, scourings,
prudence: (n) foresight, economy, fear; (adj, n) suspicion sweepings, trash, waste; (n)
frugality, caution, care, forethought, quarrel: (adj, n, v) dispute; (n, v) clothing, tatter, orts, odds and ends,
providence, circumspection, fight, feud, brawl, row, altercation, dress
judgment, deliberation; (adj, n) argue, conflict, squabble; (n) raiment: (n, v) dress, garb, apparel,
wisdom. ANTONYMS: (n) dissension, difference. garment, clothes; (n) costume, attire,
imprudence, profligacy, generosity, ANTONYMS: (n) agreement, clothing, array, habit; (v) clothe
hindsight, recklessness, reconciliation, acceptance, concord, rains: (n) wet
extravagance consensus; (v) agree rake: (n, v) tilt; (adj, v) comb; (v) hoe,
prudent: (adj, v) discreet; (adj) quell: (adj, v) appease, pacify, calm; harrow, graze, draw, plow; (n)
cautious, circumspect, reasonable, (v) overpower, crush, allay, put debauchee, roue, slant, blood.
chary, economical, careful, frugal, down, suppress, conquer, defeat, ANTONYM: (v) glance
deliberate, advisable, canny. quash. ANTONYMS: (v) prompt, rallying: (n) effort, mobilization,
ANTONYMS: (adj) imprudent, submit, resist, aggravate, incite mobilisation, mass meeting, feat,
deed, exchange; (adj) moving, rattled: (adj) hot and bothered, receptacle: (n) box, holder, case,
encouraging, convalescent perturbed, upset, unsettled, torus, can, outlet, pocket, pyx,
rampart: (n) wall, fortification, puzzled, disconcerted, beehive, cuspidor, pix
earthwork, guard, embankment, discomposed, bewildered, beside recess: (n) niche, pause, intermission,
barricade, defense, barrier; (v) oneself, abashed, addled. holiday, nook, vacation, hollow,
battlement, circumvallation; (n, v) ANTONYM: (adj) calm alcove, interval, interruption; (n, v)
vallum rattler: (n) rattlesnake, massasauga, break. ANTONYM: (n) continuation
ramparts: (n) rampart, fortification chatterbox, diamondback recesses: (n) penetralia, bowels,
ransom: (v) redeem, repair, extricate; rattlesnake, freight liner, railroad inside
(n, v) rescue, blackmail, repurchase; train, sidewinder, ground rattler, recital: (n) account, description,
(n) deliverance, ransom money, prairie rattlesnake, diamondback, narrative, explanation, history,
assessment, benevolence, excise pit viper performance, reading, statement,
rapidity: (n) expedition, quickness, rattling: (adj) lively, brisk, racy, recitation, concert, relation
promptness, dispatch, celerity, marvelous, fantastic, zippy, snappy, reckoning: (n) calculation,
haste, velocity, pace, fleetness, spanking, merry; (adv) very, real computation, bill, score, computing,
promptitude, speed. ANTONYM: ravages: (n) devastation, destruction, liquidation, clearance; (n, v) count,
(n) tardiness negative effects enumeration, account, estimation
rapids: (v) torrent, body of water, raven: (v) guttle, feed, devour, gulp, reclaim: (v) recover, reform, cultivate,
swash; (n) white water, cascade, harry, eat; (n) crow, plunder; (adj) claim, repossess, claim back, regain,
cataclysm black, jet; (n, v) gorge recycle, salvage, correct, redeem.
rapt: (adj) engrossed, intent, ecstatic, ravenous: (adj) hungry, greedy, avid, ANTONYMS: (v) lose, discard
preoccupied, spellbound, captive, famished, gluttonous, voracious, reclining: (adj, v) leaning; (adj)
enthralled, attentive, fixed, rapacious, insatiable, edacious, recumbent, decumbent, accumbent,
enwrapped; (v) engrossed in. covetous, predatory. ANTONYM: lying, lying down, obligatory, idle,
ANTONYMS: (adj) detached, (adj) moderate prone, prostrate; (n) relaxation
inattentive, uninterested, bored ravine: (n, v) gap, cleft; (n) chasm, recluse: (n) hermit, anchoret, solitary,
rapture: (n) joy, bliss, delight, canyon, dell, defile, gully, glen, pass, ascetic, eremite, loner, troglodyte;
happiness, exaltation, elation, abyss, valley (adj) reclusive, secluded, cloistered,
exultation, enchantment; (adj, n) raving: (adj, v) wild; (adj) frantic, withdrawn. ANTONYM: (n) native
enthusiasm; (n, v) transport; (adj, n, delirious, furious, mad, insane; (adj, recoiling: (adv) recoilingly; (adj)
v) passion. ANTONYMS: (n) n) madness, distraction, rage; (n) resilient, bashful, leaping back,
indifference, boredom, misery, rabid, delirium rebounding; (n) return
gloom, agony, hell, despair razed: (adj) dismantled, destroyed recollecting: (n) recollection
rascal: (n) villain, rapscallion, rearing: (n) breeding, nurture, recollection: (n, v) mind; (n)
monkey, miscreant, knave, education, bringing up, raising, reminiscence, recall, anamnesis,
scoundrel, scamp, rogue, varlet, fostering, upbringing, background, remembrance, recognition,
vagabond, brat fosterage, nursing; (adj) rampant memento, memorial,
rash: (adj, n) foolhardy, hasty, reasoned: (adj) coherent, rational, commemoration, memoir, retrospect
precipitate, eruption; (adj) sound, logical, valid, reasonable, recollections: (n) memories,
imprudent, reckless, impetuous, carefully considered, intelligent, reminiscences, recollection,
heedless, audacious, sudden; (adj, heavy, healthy, good. ANTONYM: biography
adv) thoughtless. ANTONYMS: (adj) confused recompense: (n, v) pay, redress; (n)
(adj) cautious, careful, sensible, rebellious: (adj) insubordinate, compensation, amends, atonement,
wise, considered, deliberate, mutinous, disaffected, defiant, payment, consideration,
prudent, modest, slow, responsible, disobedient, contrary, indemnification, indemnity; (v)
patient contumacious, insurgent, stubborn, compensate, reimburse.
rashly: (adj, adv) hastily, headlong; unruly, malcontent. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (v) penalize, receive;
(adv) thoughtlessly, recklessly, (adj) docile, conventional, obedient, (n) penalty
impetuously, imprudently, conformist, content, conforming, reconnoiter: (v) explore, investigate,
carelessly, indiscreetly, headily, cooperative, loyal, meek, observe, reconnoitre, survey, pry,
heedlessly, wildly. ANTONYMS: submissive, obliging examine, inspect; (n) scan, sound,
(adv) thoughtfully, prudently, late, rebound: (n, v) recoil, bound, kick, rummage
pensively, sensibly, responsibly, return, jump; (v) glance, ricochet, reconnoitering: (n) reconnaissance,
cautiously, deliberately, patiently rally, boomerang; (n) backlash, reconnoitring, scouting, exploratory
rashness: (n) temerity, precipitation, repercussion survey
recklessness, hastiness, imprudence, rebounding: (adj) leaping back, recounted: (adj) narrative
heedlessness, folly, precipitancy, driven back, repercussive recourse: (n, v) appeal, haunt; (n)
indiscretion, carelessness, rebuilt: (adj) fixed refuge, expedient, resource,
adventurism. ANTONYMS: (n) receding: (n) disappearance, fadeout, assistance, alternative, dependence,
caution, consideration, deliberation, recession, niche; (adj) moving back, haven, asylum, request
patience, discretion, carefulness, low, hairless, balding, going out, recreant: (adj, n) coward, renegade,
forethought recessive, retiring poltroon; (adj, adv) cowardly; (n)
apostate, deserter; (adj) disloyal, regulars: (n) clientele, Sabaoth, (adj) relinquent, resigned
faithless, scary, fearful, dastard patrons, military forces, the army, relish: (n, v) enjoy, fancy, love; (n)
recumbent: (adj) prostrate, clients, soldiery, troops, customers, gusto, liking, palate, enthusiasm,
accumbent, lying, reclining, flat, armed force enjoyment; (adj, n) flavor; (v) bask,
procumbent, lying down, rehearsal: (n) narration, dry run, like. ANTONYM: (n) apathy
horizontal, prone, incumbent, idle practice, preparation, repetition, relishing: (n) savoring, tasting,
reddened: (adj) red, ablaze, aflame, dress rehearsal, repeat, description, feeding, eating, degustation,
flushed, crimson, inflamed, blazing, drill, exercise, narrative savouring; (adj) tastable, savory,
aroused, blemished, red as scarlet, reigning: (adj) regnant, predominant, palatable
spotty overruling, reign, sovereign, remembrance: (n, v) recollection,
redoubled: (adj) ingeminate controlling, royal, dominant, mind; (n) commemoration,
redoubtable: (adj) dreadful, ascendant, prevalent, chief memorial, recall, relic, monument,
illustrious, glorious, horrid, reinforcement: (n) fortification, keepsake, reminiscence, recognition;
fearsome, fearful, terrible, alarming, backing, consolidation, support, (adj, n) memento
dire, resolute, strong amplification, reenforcement, remissness: (n) laxity, negligence,
redress: (n, v) cure, correct, strengthening, buttress, bracing, laxness, carelessness, heedlessness,
recompense, help; (v) compensate, intensification, assistance. inadvertence, inattention, disregard,
indemnify, expiate, rectify, atone; ANTONYMS: (n) cancellation, thoughtlessness, disesteem; (adj)
(n) indemnification, amends. disappearance idleness
ANTONYM: (v) wrong reins: (n) bridle, Reins of a vault, remnant: (n) end, relic, remains,
re-echo: (n) repercussion; (v) roll reins of government, wheel, residue, fragment, leftover, survival,
reeking: (adj) dripping, overly gearshift, joystick, pedals, potency, trace, oddment, balance, stub
diluted, odorous, noisome, high, power, powerfulness remnants: (n) leavings, remains,
fetid, stale; (v) sloppy, soft, soaking, reiterated: (adj) repeated, remainder, rest, leftovers, remnant,
sodden monotonous, frequent offal, leftover, vestige, relics, refuse
re-enter: (v) return, come back rejoice: (v) cheer, gladden, triumph, remonstrance: (n) protest,
refinement: (n) culture, cultivation, revel, jubilate, gratify, gloat, please; expostulation, objection, dissuasion,
purification, gentility, polish, finish, (n, v) delight, glory, joy. censure, remonstration,
civilization, nicety, courtesy, grace; ANTONYMS: (v) lament, mourn, reprehension, admonition,
(adj, n) elegance. ANTONYMS: (n) complain monstrance, mediation, dehortation
vulgarity, adulteration, tackiness, rejoin: (v) reply, retort, respond, join, remorseless: (adj) merciless,
uncouthness, tastelessness, return, come back, riposte, meet, relentless, cruel, unmerciful, brutal,
inelegance, coarseness, clumsiness, rebut, answer back, react callous, unrelenting, ruthless,
awkwardness, crudeness relapsing: (n) backsliding, lapse, inexorable, inhuman, heartless.
refreshed: (adj) invigorated, lapsing, recidivism, regress, ANTONYMS: (adj) merciful,
rejuvenated, reinvigorated, new, atavism, failure, oversight, compassionate, gentle, kind,
novel, revived, impudent, reversion, regression, reverting tolerant, unrelenting
energizing, overbold, energising, releasing: (adj) cathartic, purgative, remotely: (adv) slightly, afar, far, far
clean. ANTONYM: (adj) tired psychotherapeutic, evacuant, away, secludedly, removedly,
refreshing: (adj) bracing, emotionally purging, emotional; (n) smally, slimly, widely, coolly,
invigorating, refreshful, pleasant, acquittal coldly. ANTONYMS: (adv) closely,
fresh, cool, refresh, refreshingly, relentless: (adj) implacable, cruel, warmly, nearby
crisp, tonic, pleasing. ANTONYMS: inflexible, stern, pitiless, harsh, remoteness: (n) aloofness,
(adj) unwelcome, soporific, tiring, merciless, grim, obdurate, detachment, farawayness, remotion,
relaxing, musty persistent, unrelenting. loneliness, longinquity, reserve,
refreshment: (n) bite, drink, ANTONYMS: (adj) gentle, lenient, abstraction, separation,
recreation, collation, repose, relief, merciful, finite, soft, sporadic, feeble standoffishness; (adj, n) farness.
rest, entertainment, treat; (v) relic: (n, v) memento, souvenir, ANTONYMS: (n) warmth,
invigoration; (n, v) regalement keepsake; (n) token, trace, accessibility, inclusion, friendliness,
regaining: (n) regain, clawback, remainder, remains, antique, relict, closeness, approachability
proceeds, payoff, paying back, vestige, remnant rendering: (n) interpretation,
reappearance, indemnity, issue, relics: (n) relic, rood, rosary, thurible, translation, rendition, reading,
recapture, recurrence, redress. reliquary, remainder, remain, representation, version, interpreting,
ANTONYM: (n) loss leavings, remains, remnants, patera depiction, execution, construction,
regardful: (adj) observant, mindful, relieving: (adj) pertinent, comforting, explanation
deferential, respectful, careful, applicable; (n) encouragement renew: (v) renovate, rejuvenate,
dutiful, heedful, obedient, deferent, relinquished: (adj) forsaken, restore, refresh, refurbish,
considerate, thoughtful deserted, derelict, unoccupied, modernize, revive, overhaul,
regrets: (n) regret, declination, RSVP given, surrendered reinstate, reiterate, mend.
regrets only, acknowledgement, relinquishing: (n) handover, ANTONYMS: (v) reduce, kill
acknowledgment, celestial latitude, conclusion, ending, giving up, renewing: (adj) renewal, restorative,
excuse, Dec waiver, relinquishment, ceding; reviving, recuperative, promoting
recuperation, grateful, revitalising, ANTONYMS: (n, v) praise; (v) sequacious, stringy, tough as
revitalizing commend, approve; (n) compliment, whitleather, resistant, recalcitrant,
renovated: (adj) sempervirent, vernal, commendation, approval opposing, making resistance, loath;
recently discovered, not habituated, reptile: (n) reptilian, creeper, basilisk, (v) resist
not familiar, newly come, new sneak, wretch, mammal, bird, resistless: (adj) overpowering,
scenes, recent, fresh, altered, shellfish; (adj) abject, vile, sordid overwhelming, unquenchable,
modern reptiles: (n) Vertebrata, subphylum unconquerable, supine, invincible,
renovation: (n) restoration, renewal, Craniata, Permian, mammals, fishes, inextinguishable, indomitable,
recovery, reconstruction, Craniata, birds, amphibians, inactive, impregnable; (v) avoidless.
refurbishment, improvement, Subphylum Vertebrata ANTONYM: (adj) resistible
alteration, innovation, conversion, repulse: (n, v) rebuff, defeat; (v) resolute: (adj, n) constant, firm, fixed,
repair, reform repel, nauseate, disgust, drive back, steady; (adj, v) determined; (adj)
renown: (n, v) fame; (n) glory, revolt, reject, refuse, beat back; (n) inflexible, brave, adamant, dogged,
distinction, eminence, notoriety, refusal. ANTONYMS: (v) attract, unbending, courageous.
kudos, name, popularity, prestige, accept, delight, yield, please; (n, v) ANTONYMS: (adj) weak, uncertain,
prominence, honor. ANTONYMS: welcome uncommitted, timid, fickle, feeble,
(n) infamy, commonness; (adj) repulsive: (adj) offensive, detestable, indecisive, flexible, flippant,
anonymity ugly, disagreeable, nauseous, hesitant, undecided
repaired: (adj) reconditioned, hideous, loathsome, abhorrent; (adj, resolutely: (adv) determinedly,
maintained, mended, fastened, v) abominable, hateful, obnoxious. decidedly, steadfastly, decisively,
serviced, intent, frozen, flat, ANTONYMS: (adj) pleasant, unfalteringly, boldly, steadily,
serviceable delightful, desirable, reputable, stubbornly, definitely, resolvedly,
repairing: (n) repair, adjustment; lovely, lovable, humane, appealing, unwaveringly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
(adj) remedial laudable irresolutely, indecisively,
repast: (n) feast, food, banquet, requisite: (n) need, necessity, uncertainly, feebly, hesitantly,
dinner, lunch, refection, collation, requirement, must; (adj, n) aimlessly
luncheon, spread, potluck, eating necessary, prerequisite; (adj) respectful: (adj) deferential,
repel: (v) nauseate, revolt, disgust, required, mandatory, needful, mannerly, dutiful, courteous,
repulse, sicken, rebuff, decline, compulsory, obligatory. attentive, obedient, reverential,
displease, drive back, reject, refuse. ANTONYMS: (adj) voluntary, regardful, reverent, polite, humble.
ANTONYMS: (v) draw, charm, optional, dispensable; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) cheeky,
welcome, incline, yield, please, inessential, luxury impudent, insolent, rude,
delight requisites: (n) provisos, rudiments, contemptuous, disobedient,
repent: (v) deplore, bewail, rue, conditions, fundamentals, scornful, nasty, sneering, irreverent,
mourn, lament, atone, sorry, necessities, nuts and bolts, terms, impolite
bemoan, feel remorse, grieve, be stipulations, prerequisites, basics respecting: (prep) about, regarding,
sorry resemble: (v) seem, imitate, compare, apropos, as regards, pertaining to;
repentance: (n) contrition, penance, correspond, to resemble, agree, look, (adj) relative, not absolute,
remorse, regret, compunction, simulate; (adj) look like; (n) pertaining, referring, loving
sorrow, guilt, contriteness, grief, resemblance; (adv) alike respite: (n, v) pause, rest, lull; (n)
attrition, atonement. ANTONYMS: resembling: (adj, prep) like; (adj) repose, intermission, recess, break,
(n) shamelessness, brazenness analogous, parallel, similar, remission, relief, cessation,
replying: (adj) respondent, conformable, approximate, interruption
responsive semblative, other, probable; (prep) restlessness: (n) anxiety, disquiet,
repose: (n, v) recline, peace, lie, calm; similar to, reminiscent of. impatience, fidget, uneasiness,
(n) composure, ease, quiet, leisure, ANTONYM: (prep) unlike disquietude, unrest, fidgetiness,
recreation, relaxation; (v) lay. resent: (v) resentful, envy, grudge, agitation, insomnia; (adj, n)
ANTONYMS: (n, v) work; (n) begrudge, embittered, angry, abhor, nervousness. ANTONYMS: (n)
activity, panic, agitation take offense, take umbrage, take calm, contentment, restfulness,
repress: (v) inhibit, crush, quash, exception, loathe. ANTONYMS: (v) peace
control, suppress, put down, bridle, welcome, wish, accept restoring: (n) reinstatement,
keep down, subdue, restrain, resentful: (adj) angry, indignant, restoration; (adj) grateful, refective,
reduce. ANTONYMS: (v) declare, malicious, resent, embittered, comforting, refreshing
liberate, incite rancorous, envious, jealous, restrained: (adj) reserved, quiet,
repressed: (adj) inhibited, offended, hurt, mad. ANTONYMS: modest, temperate, discreet, limited,
suppressed, pent-up, forgotten, (adj) resigned, unresentful, willing, reasonable, subdued, unemotional,
subconscious, inner, composed, sweet, pleased reticent, guarded. ANTONYMS:
reserved, unconscious reserving: (adj) reserve, deducting, (adj) unrestrained, open, flashy,
reproach: (n, v) blame, rebuke, save, reservative, prevent, not immoral, ostentatious, wild, loud,
charge, abuse, disgrace, reprimand, including, leaving out, keeping, theatrical, outgoing, extravagant,
invective; (v) accuse, chide, excepting, except emotional
condemn; (n) condemnation. resisting: (adj) tough, tenacious, retard: (adj, v) hinder, check,
obstruct, deaden; (v) slow, detain, quicken, renew, renovate, restore, corrugation, moving ridge, wavelet,
impede, arrest, decelerate; (n, v) lag, resuscitate, animate, awake, repair, ripple formation; (adj) flowing,
defer. ANTONYMS: (v) expedite, recreate. ANTONYMS: (v) billowy
hasten, prompt demoralize, kill, slay, stagnate, rites: (n) money, finances, wake,
retarding: (n) delay, let, hindrance, abandon, die, drain religion
impediment, obstacle; (adj) reviving: (adj) bracing, restorative, rivaling: (adj) comparative,
ritardando renewing, refreshing, revival, brisk, emulative, emulous
retiring: (adj) humble, diffident, enlivening, recuperative, riveted: (adj) immovable, immobile,
bashful, reserved, unassuming, reanimating, promoting irremovable, rooted, wrapped up,
unobtrusive, timid, coy, shy, recuperation, giving life. intent; (v) wrapped in, engrossed in,
sheepish, meek. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYM: (adj) soothing rapt, absorbed, transfixed.
assertive, bold, outgoing, forward, revolting: (adj) offensive, loathsome, ANTONYM: (adj) detached
incoming, arrogant, brash, sociable nasty, foul, detestable, nauseating, riveting: (adj) fascinating, gripping,
retort: (n, v) answer, return, riposte; nauseous, horrible, hideous, enthralling, captivating, enchanting,
(n) response, rejoinder, repartee, repellent; (adj, v) sickening. alluring; (adj, v) absorbing,
comeback; (v) respond, repay, ANTONYMS: (adj) attractive, interesting, mesmerizing; (v) fasten,
rejoin, alembic pleasant, tasty, delicious, edible, exciting
retrace: (v) recollect, recall, trace, lovable, delightful, appealing, lovely rivulet: (n) stream, creek, streamlet,
etymologize, recognize, construct, riches: (n, v) money; (n) affluence, brook, arroyo, brooklet, rillet,
call up, bethink oneself, speculate; abundance, fortune, opulence, runnel, watercourse, gill, river
(n, v) reconsider; (n) flyback plenty, prosperity, exuberance, roaring: (n) bellowing, roar, bellow,
retreated: (adj) withdrawn, people treasure, resources; (v) gold thunder; (adj) booming, prosperous,
retreating: (n) flight; (adj) moving richness: (adj, n) opulence, thriving, flourishing, deafening,
back abundance, affluence, riches; (n) noisy, boisterous
revelry: (adj, n) revels; (n) fruitfulness, profusion, fecundity, roast: (v) burn, grill, bake, joke, heat,
debauchery, festivity, orgy, fullness, luxury, exuberance, quiz, fry, cook, scorch; (n, v)
merriment, revel, carnival, mirth, cornucopia. ANTONYMS: (n) ridicule; (n) joint. ANTONYMS: (v)
gaiety, carousal, jollification infertility, poverty, narrowness, cool, praise
revengeful: (adj) vengeful, vindictive, shabbiness, weakness, bareness robbed: (adj) plundered, rubato,
punitive, unforgiving, vindicative, riddle: (n) mystery, conundrum, fleeced, borrowed, bereft
resentful, despiteful, spiteful, puzzle, problem, poser; (n, v) screen, robe: (n, v) dress, array, vest, garb,
implacable, rancorous, vengeable. sieve; (v) puncture, strain, filter, sift. apparel; (v) clothe, attire, rig; (n)
ANTONYM: (adj) charitable ANTONYM: (n) explanation gown, cloak, garment
revered: (adj) August, sacred, rifles: (n) chasseur, light infantry robes: (n) garb, fine clothes, costume,
esteemed, venerated, respected, rifling: (n) grooving, internal thread best clothes
beloved, holy, venerable, blessed, broaching, shaping, formation roofed: (adj) testudinated, arched.
celebrated, honored. ANTONYMS: rift: (n, v) breach, fissure, split; (n) ANTONYMS: (adj) roofless,
(adj) secular, disreputable gap, break, chasm, crack, crevice, exposed, open
reverence: (n, v) respect, regard, fear, cleft, misunderstanding, rupture. roost: (adj, v) lodge, reside, stay,
worship, honor, esteem, adore; (n) ANTONYM: (n) unity abide, dwell, inhabit, live; (v) rest,
deference, adoration, admiration, rigidly: (adv) severely, sternly, settle; (n) henroost, resort
awe. ANTONYMS: (n) despise, strictly, firmly, stringently, rooted: (adj, v) fixed; (adj) ingrained,
disrespect, irreverence, disdain, unbendingly, rigorously, immovable, inveterate, firm, set,
disparagement, contempt; (v) uncompromisingly, stubbornly, frozen, riveted, irremovable; (v)
dishonor unyieldingly, strongly. imbedded, posited
reverently: (adv) reverentially, ANTONYMS: (adv) loosely, roused: (adj) excited, awake,
piously, religiously, devoutly, amenably susceptible, emotional, elated,
deferentially, worshipfully, rill: (n) channel, streamlet, creek, interested
solemnly, godly, courteously, rivulet, run, runnel, stream, bourn, rousing: (adj) stirring, provocative,
politely, obsequiously. ANTONYM: beck, arroyo, watercourse bracing, thrilling, inspiring,
(adv) irreverently ripened: (adj) mature, matured, exhilarating, moving; (n)
reverie: (n) dream, fantasy, air castle, elderly, aged, maturer, old, mellow, awakening, wakening, stimulation;
brown study, revery, trance, grown, full-grown, cured, adult. (v) rouse. ANTONYMS: (adj)
abstraction, castle in Spain, castle in ANTONYM: (adj) young conciliatory, dull, relaxing
the air; (adj) preoccupation, ripple: (v) bubble, murmur, gurgle, routed: (adj) conquered,
distraction. ANTONYM: (n) reality billow, surge, burble, cockle; (n, v) overwhelmed, overcome,
reverted: (adj) inverse wave, swell, riffle, purl overpowered, overthrown,
reverting: (n) reversion, relapse, rippled: (adj) crinkly, having a ripple, vanquished, in retreat, flooded,
relapsing, recidivism, lapse, uneven, wavelike, in waves, wavy, destined, running scared, crushed
backsliding, lapsing, regress, frilly, frilled, billowy, agitated, roving: (adj, v) itinerant, Peripatetic,
reversal; (adj) returning, reversive ruffled ambulatory; (v) roam; (adj, n)
revive: (v) refresh, invigorate, rippling: (n) ripple, wave, riffle, wandering; (adj) rambling, mobile,
migratory, peregrine, unsettled, (v) moldy, raw, mildewed tree, young tree, cub, young man,
vagabond sacrifices: (n) holocaust plantlet
ruby: (adj, n) red, crimson; (adj) safekeeping: (n) keeping, care, sassafras: (n) seasoner, yarrow,
jewel, ruddy, scarlet, diamond, guardianship, charge, protection, seasoning, flavorer, flavourer,
pearl, precious stone, bijou; (n) conservation, preservation, trust, flavouring, laurel, sassafras tree,
carbuncle, deep red hands, responsibility; (adj) tutelage sassafras wood, flavoring
rudely: (adv) crudely, coarsely, sagacious: (adj, v) judicious, prudent, satan: (n) Lucifer, devil, deuce, the
uncivilly, indelicately, impolitely, discreet; (adj) rational, astute, acute, Devil, Old Nick, Belial, fiend, Prince
roughly, harshly, vulgarly, brutally, discerning, keen, perspicacious, of Darkness, Dickens, archfiend,
meanly, wildly. ANTONYMS: (adv) intelligent, shrewd. ANTONYMS: daemon
respectfully, graciously, decently, (adj) foolish, stupid, dense satiate: (n, v) gorge; (v) sate, cloy, fill,
civilly, properly, attentively, sagacity: (n, v) discernment, pall, cram, satisfy, quench, slake,
agreeably, tactfully, thoughtfully, judgment, penetration; (n) replete, stuff. ANTONYMS: (v)
acceptably, gently judiciousness, sense, prudence, dissatisfy, starve, nibble; (adj)
ruffled: (adj) rippled, frilly, frilled, gumption, acumen, perspicacity; insatiate
upset, disordered, excited, (adj, n) discretion, wisdom. satisfactorily: (adv, v) well, fully,
disconcerted, decorated, tousled, ANTONYM: (n) foolishness rightly; (adv) sufficiently,
tangled, turbulent sagamore: (n) chief, boss, cockarouse, satisfyingly, fairly, amply, enough,
rugged: (adj, n) rough, jagged, werowance, chieftain, sheik, head, gratifyingly, competently,
ragged; (adj) difficult, rocky, tough, captain, commander, general, leader pleasingly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
broken, robust, hilly, strong, craggy. sage: (adj) sagacious, discerning, unsatisfactorily, inadequately,
ANTONYMS: (adj) delicate, easy, intelligent, prudent, judicious, intolerably, badly, negatively
smooth, flimsy, fragile, soft, weak, learned, profound, knowing; (adj, v) saucy: (adj, n) pert; (adj) bold,
feeble grave; (n) philosopher, scholar impudent, audacious, insolent,
rumble: (n, v) murmur, roll, roar, salient: (adj) conspicuous, fresh, forward, impertinent,
grumble, mutter, bang, brawl, outstanding, remarkable, signal, flippant, rude, brazen. ANTONYM:
sound; (v) growl; (n) peal, noise striking, obvious, noticeable, (adj) respectful
rumbling: (adj, n) grumbling; (n) spectacular; (n) notable, protrusion, saul: (n) apostle of the gentiles,
grumble, noise, boom, thunder, roll, ledge. ANTONYMS: (adj) apostle Paul, capital of Minnesota,
roar; (adj) hollow, low; (v) unimportant, minor Paul, Alice Paul, Saul of Tarsus,
bombination, berloque salutary: (adj) beneficial, salubrious, Saint Paul
rumor: (n) hearsay, talk, news; (n, v) good, healthful, healthy, scalding: (adj) boiling, hot, torrid,
gossip, fame, buzz, bruit, noise, wholesome, helpful, curative, burning, scorching, broiling,
rumour; (v) repute, reputation. benign, useful, advantageous blistering, fiery, searing, baking,
ANTONYM: (n) truth salutation: (n, v) salute; (n) reception, steaming. ANTONYM: (adj) cold
rung: (n) rundle, grade, degree, stage, hail, hello, welcome, address, scalp: (v) pare, flay, peel, excoriate,
stair, spoke, stave, crosspiece, tread, compliment, hullo, recognition, decorticate; (n) tegument, head,
step; (adj) ringed interpellation, pax cutis, scaup; (adj) lifted
rupture: (n, v) fracture, crack, tear, salutations: (n) respects scalping: (n) defeat
split, burst; (n) rift, rent, hernia, salute: (v) greet, hail, kiss, accost, scampering: (n) running
interruption, breach, breakage. acknowledge, buss; (n) salutation, scanning: (n) search, scan,
ANTONYMS: (n) repair, unity; (n, bow, salaam; (n, v) address, photography
v) mend compliment scantily: (adv) sparingly, scarcely,
rustic: (n) countryman, peasant; (adj) sanction: (n, v) warrant, countenance, poorly, sparsely, insufficiently,
rural, pastoral, boorish, country, assent, consent, license; (v) approve, skimpily, meagerly, scantly,
bucolic, provincial, hick, agrestic, okay, authorize; (n) endorsement, slenderly, sparely; (adj, adv) thinly.
countrified. ANTONYMS: (adj) permission, authority. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (adv) plentifully,
town, urbane, cultured, city, (v) forbid, prohibit, disapprove, profusely, fully
sophisticated reject, outlaw, debar; (n, v) ban, scanty: (adj) insufficient, few,
rusting: (n) rust, rust fungus, veto; (n) reward, prohibition, refusal inadequate, bare, deficient, poor,
oxidation, oxidization, erosion, sands: (n) littoral, litoral, beach, coast, narrow, scant, light; (adj, v) spare,
corrosion, corroding, oxidisation; quicksands, shore lean. ANTONYMS: (adj) generous,
(adj) acid sanguine: (adj) hopeful, optimistic, abundant, ample, strong
rustle: (n, v) whisper; (v) lift, buzz, bloody, rubicund, confident, scar: (n, v) mark, blemish, seam,
steal, pilfer, whiz, pinch, abstract, crimson, cheerful, buoyant, stain, brand; (n) cicatrix, cicatrice,
thieve, purloin; (n) rustling sanguineous; (adj, n) red, florid. defect, scratch, injury; (v) disfigure.
rustling: (n) rustle, whispering, ANTONYMS: (adj) pessimistic, ANTONYM: (v) enhance
whisper, larceny; (adj) murmurous, gloomy, doubtful scarce: (adj) rare, insufficient,
susurrous, active, soughing sans: (adj) without, devoid, minus, deficient, infrequent, uncommon,
rusty: (adj) ancient, out of practice, short, in need scant, scanty, few, sparse; (adv) just,
intractable, old, corroded, deaf to sapling: (n) seedling, stripling, barely. ANTONYMS: (adj) plentiful,
reason, exceptious, cantankerous; adolescent, sprout, plant, youth, common, adequate, strong, usual,
extensive disparagingly, haughtily, betimes. ANTONYM: (adv)
scars: (n) seams derogatorily, condescendingly, unseasonably
scatter: (n, v) spread, spray; (v) contumeliously, sneeringly, seasoned: (adj) veteran, flavoured,
disperse, dispel, disseminate, arrogantly, sarcastically, derisively, flavored, mature, ripe, versed,
distribute, break up, dissipate, mockingly. ANTONYM: (adv) hardened, confirmed, practised,
sprinkle, circulate, diffuse. humbly accustomed, sophisticated.
ANTONYMS: (v) collect, reform, scotchman: (n) Scotsman, American, ANTONYMS: (adj) green,
attract, concentrate aboriginal, Caledonian, Cambrian, unseasoned, inexperienced, mild
scattering: (n) diffusion, dissipation, Canadian, bluecap, Canuck, seating: (n) room, circle, parterre,
dispersion, distribution, scatter, highlander, Lowlander parquet, orchestra, service, way,
dissemination, sprinkle, sprinkling, scotsman: (n) Scotchman, sawney, base, footing, housing, stand
strewing; (adj, n) spreading; (adj) Lowlander, highlander secluded: (adj) remote, secret,
distributive scoundrel: (n, v) rascal; (n) knave, reclusive, privy, cloistered, isolated,
scented: (adj) fragrant, perfumed, blackguard, cad, villain, ruffian, lonely, retired, sequestered, solitary;
aromatic, balmy, sweet, redolent, miscreant, crook, rapscallion, varlet, (adj, v) hidden. ANTONYMS: (adj)
odoriferous, spicy, savory, smelling, scalawag nearby, near, exposed, busy,
angelical. ANTONYMS: (adj) scout: (n, v) spy; (n) lookout, accessible
scentless, smelly pathfinder, talent scout, picket, seclusion: (n) retreat, segregation,
schooling: (n, v) training; (n) patrol, detective; (v) explore, retirement, isolation, secrecy,
learning, instruction, school, reconnoiter, reconnoitre, investigate concealment, insulation, separation,
drilling, teaching, pedagogy, scowling: (adj) frowning, angry, dire, hermitage; (adj, n) solitude,
edification, coaching, preparation, frowny, grim, threatening, ugly, loneliness. ANTONYMS: (n)
doctrine unfriendly, dark company, closeness, inclusion
scoffing: (n) scoff, mockery, jeer, scraps: (n) garbage, odds and ends, secreted: (adj) hidden, unseen, out of
derision, sibilation, gibe; (adj) scrap, bits, food waste, leftover, sight
mocking, derisive, cynical, scoptical, trash, waste, oddments, leftovers, secreting: (n) burial, burying,
jesting residue concealment, money laundering,
scoffs: (n) derision, jeering, mocking screech: (n, v) cry, shout, shriek, yell, activity, screening, hiding, masking;
scold: (v) reprimand, chide, berate, screak, yelp, yowl, roar; (n) (adj) secretory, secernent
rebuke, abuse, lecture, reproach, screaming; (v) squawk, pipe securely: (adv) surely, safely, closely,
rail, grouch; (n, v) nag; (adj, n) screeching: (n) screaming, screech, solidly, steadily, assuredly, strongly,
shrew. ANTONYMS: (v) praise, shrieking, belly laugh, howler, tightly, fixly, setly, stably.
compliment, approve shriek, riot; (adj) shrill, harsh, ANTONYM: (adv) insecurely
scorched: (adj) baked, adust, burnt, strident seducing: (adj) charming, fascinating
dry, seared, burned, charred, torrid, screened: (adj) covered, shielded, sedulously: (adv) industriously,
dried out, destroyed, drier. sheltered, concealed, isolated, select, assiduously, studiously, earnestly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) wet, humid invisible, shady, hazy, secluded, not attentively, intently, painstakingly,
scorching: (adj) hot, sweltering, exposed perseveringly, laboriously, fixedly,
scalding, baking, broiling, boiling, scrimmage: (n, v) fracas, clash; (n) eagerly
sultry, stifling, torrid; (v) fiery, fight, battle, skirmish; (v) scramble, seeming: (adj) ostensible, superficial,
flaming. ANTONYMS: (adj) cold, imbroglio, embroilment, illusory, outward, probable,
fresh, cool embranglement, brigue, brabble deceptive, specious; (adj, n)
scorn: (v) despise, contemn, reject; (n, scripture: (adj, n) gospel; (n) bible, appearance, semblance; (n) aspect,
v) ridicule, neglect, disregard, book, Holy Writ, canon, writ, show. ANTONYMS: (adj) actual,
deride, slight; (n) contempt, inscription, writing, Vulgate, fact, deep, inner
derision, mockery. ANTONYMS: (n, Holy Scripture seizing: (v) seize; (n) seizure,
v) respect, praise; (v) appreciate, scud: (v) race, scoot, rush, rack, dash, clutches, prehension, taking,
revere, value, approve, admire, run, navigate, flash, flit; (n) apprehension, capture, infection;
accept; (n) admiration, scudding, shower (adj) catching, galling, controlling
commendation, humility sear: (v) burn, char, cauterize, parch, self-command: (n) self-control, self-
scorned: (adj) detested, hated, abject, scald, brand, fry, singe, broil; (adj, v) government, self-restraint,
neglected, contemptuous, dry; (adj) sere discipline, presence
despicable, insolent, undesirable, seared: (adj) arid, dry as a bone, self-control: (n) self-discipline,
unloved, unpopular, mean recusant, parched. ANTONYM: patience, forbearance, abstinence,
scornful: (adj) disdainful, haughty, (adj) wet temperance, temper, composure,
arrogant, sarcastic, disparaging, seashore: (n) beach, coast, shore, discipline, self-command, self-
derisive, mocking, abusive, scathing, seaboard, seacoast, coastline, possession, balance
opprobrious, insulting. shoreline, seaside, landfall, litoral; self-denial: (n) renunciation,
ANTONYMS: (adj) approving, (adj) marine abstinence, austerity, restraint,
complimentary, humble, seasonably: (adv) early, patly, early temperance
sympathetic, admiring fruit, fitly, forth with, fortunately, self-denying: (adj) abstemious
scornfully: (adv) disdainfully, happily, incidentally, pat, timely, selfishness: (n) greed, egotism,
greediness, meanness, individuality, separating: (v) parting, partible; (n) tidy
opportunism, expedience, division, separation, severance, shamed: (adj) dishonored, ashamed,
individualism, self, selfness, selfish. unscrambling, unraveling, removal; hangdog, guilty, discredited,
ANTONYMS: (n) altruism, (adj) separated, disjoining, abashed, sheepish, embarrassed,
selflessness, sensitivity, graduating shamefaced, bullied, cowed
thoughtfulness, conformity, sepulcher: (n) crypt, vault, shameful: (adj) scandalous,
generosity mausoleum, tomb, burial chamber, dishonorable, opprobrious,
self-love: (n) egoism, vanity, pride, repository, sepulchre, catacomb, shocking, ignominious,
arrogance burial, interment, pit disreputable, despicable; (adj, v)
self-possession: (n) composure, sepulchral: (adj, v) hollow, hoarse; foul, base, gross, black.
poise, imperturbability, serenity, (v) mortuary, harsh, rough, ANTONYMS: (adj) honorable,
aplomb, coolness, balance, restraint, horrisonous, grum; (adj) ghastly, noble, dignified, admirable,
self-control, morale, presence raucous, husky; (n) funeral faultless, reputable, glorious,
self-respect: (n) pride, self-esteem, sepulture: (n, v) interment, compassionate, praiseworthy,
dignity, face, honesty inhumation; (n) sepulchre, commendable, excellent
self-restrained: (adj) staid, continent, entombment, grave, mausoleum, shamefully: (adv) ignominiously,
temperate funeral, sepulcher, burial chamber, ingloriously, scandalously,
self-satisfaction: (n) boast, pride repository, monument infamously, shockingly,
self-sufficiency: (n) pride, sequestered: (adj) retired, private, discreditably, basely, outrageously;
independence lonely, reclusive, cloistered, recluse, (adv, v) dishonorably, foully,
semicircle: (n) arch, semi-circles, half quiet, withdrawn, monastic, seeking nastily. ANTONYMS: (adv)
circle, half-circle, plane figure, arc, solitude, privy commendably, compassionately,
curve serene: (adj) peaceful, calm, quiet, nobly
sensations: (n) feelings, vibrations, placid, composed, impassive, clear, shapeless: (adj) amorphous,
ambiance pacific, gentle, cool; (adj, v) tranquil. misshapen, unformed, unstructured,
senseless: (adj) foolish, mindless, ANTONYMS: (adj) agitated, nebulous, inchoate, unshapely,
preposterous, pointless, irrational, anxious, noisy, nervous, impatient, indistinct, uncrystallized,
absurd, stupid, insensible, idiotic, excitable, scatterbrained, harsh, embryonic, vague. ANTONYMS:
fatuous, purposeless. ANTONYMS: boisterous, excited, disturbed (adj) distinct, defined, tailored
(adj) meaningful, wise, conscious, serenity: (n) quiet, peace, calm, shaping: (adj, n) forming; (adj)
provoked, prudent, useful, quietness, equanimity, calmness, formative, molding; (n) forging,
worthwhile quietude, repose; (adj, n) grooving, rifling, defining, form,
sensibility: (adj, n, v) feeling, notion; composure, tranquility, placidity. organization, making, conformation
(n, v) sensation, appreciation, sense; ANTONYMS: (n) anxiety, uproar, sharpen: (v) focus, edge, hone,
(n) emotion, sensitivity, chaos, anger, panic, bustle, intensify, sharp, increase, heighten,
consciousness, perceptivity, disturbance, impatience, turbulence, whet, pare, improve; (n, v) point.
awareness; (adj, n) sentiment. turmoil ANTONYMS: (v) blunt, dull, flatten,
ANTONYM: (n) insensitivity serpent: (n) snake, ophidian, viper, soften, spoil, blur, quench
sensibly: (adv) sanely, intelligently, snake in the grass, reptile, sharpened: (adj) acute, pointed,
rationally, pragmatically, rattlesnake, colubrid, contrafagotto, acuate, sharper, better, sensual
realistically, cleverly, politically, cor anglais, hautboy; (v) goose sharper: (n, v) cheat; (n) rogue,
perceptibly, soundly, noticeably, serviceable: (adj) practical, helpful, impostor, swindler, chiseler,
wisely. ANTONYMS: (adv) handy, profitable, beneficial, deceiver, cheater, welsher, sharpie;
foolishly, ludicrously, ridiculously, effective, useful, convenient, (v) shark, fraud
unreasonably, illogically, madly, efficient, operative, practicable. sharpshooter: (n) marksman,
irrationally, hastily, stupidly, ANTONYMS: (adj) impractical, carabineer, crack shot, jager,
irresponsibly, immaturely unusable, unserviceable, useless, musketeer, skirmisher, sniper,
sensitiveness: (n) sensitivity, flimsy, worthless yager, shot, shooter, schooner
susceptibility, antenna, sensibleness, severed: (adj) cut off, cut, broken, shaved: (adj) shave, lacking hair,
feeler, responsiveness, keenness, separate, Severn, disconnected, rent hairless, beardless, shiny on top,
sensation, acumen; (adj) softness, off, disrupt, disengaged, torn, bald, smooth on top, whiskerless.
delicacy disrupted ANTONYM: (adj) unshaven
sententious: (adj) pithy, concise, shadowed: (adj) shady, shaded, shawl: (n) wrap, mantle, cape,
laconic, brief, aphoristic, short, terse, shadowy, queer, dim, louche, funny, muffler, scarf, pall, mantlet Mantua,
pointed, compact, compressed, incensed, indignant, faint, fishy wrapper, kerchief, headscarf, stole
pregnant shadowing: (n) screening, shielding, sheath: (n, v) cover; (n) envelope,
sentiments: (n) breast shading, pursuit, cast shadowing; vagina, scabbard, blanket, casing,
sentinel: (n) sentry, lookout, watch, (adj) following surreptitiously skin, holster, tegument; (v) sheathe,
watchman, scout, picket, patrol, shaggy: (adj) bushy, hirsute, hairy, envelop
lookout man, guardian, outlook, bearded, shagged, pilous, brushy, sheathed: (adj) invaginated, enclosed.
protector unkempt, hispid; (adj, n) ragged; (n) ANTONYM: (adj) unsheathed
separates: (n) coordinates rugged. ANTONYMS: (adj) sleek, shedding: (n) molting, abscission,
fluffing, effusion, moulting, shaking; (adv) shudderingly; (n) dishonesty, hypocrisy, flippancy,
biological process, desquamation, cold sweat, tremor; (adj) rough, frivolity, affectedness, caution,
sloughing, emission; (adj, n) peeling; shaky, jumpy, quaking, shivery, reticence, deceit, doubt
(adj) flaking bumpy. ANTONYM: (adj) smooth sinewy: (adj) muscular, brawny,
shod: (adj) shoed, calced, booted; (v) shuts: (adj) closed wiry, beefy, tough, powerful,
clad, costume. ANTONYM: (adj) shutting: (n) closing, conclusion, end, tendinous, strong, robust, stringy,
discalced closure, ending, finish, mop up, fibrous. ANTONYM: (adj) stout
shodden: (adj) booted, calced, culmination, closedown; (adj) sinful: (adj) wicked, impious, bad,
roughshod, sandaled, shoed confining, claudent. ANTONYM: (n) iniquitous, ungodly, depraved,
shores: (n) coast, seaboard, seashore, opening immoral, profane, criminal, wrong,
shoreline. ANTONYM: (n) interior shylock: (n) loan shark, shark, usurer, unholy. ANTONYMS: (adj) pious,
shorn: (adj) sheared, hairless, bald, profiteer, criminal, moneylender virtuous, moral, right, pure
stubbed, Shearn, Sheard, shear, sicken: (v) repel, nauseate, revolt, single-minded: (adj) honest,
clipped, not, Nott, shaven disgust, pall, shock, offend, appall, unyielding, unwavering,
shouts: (n) cries scandalize, get sick, languish. uncompromising, unbending,
shove: (n, v) thrust, jostle, poke, ANTONYMS: (v) attract, delight stubborn, steady, steadfast, rigid,
elbow, prod, boost, hustle; (v) press, sickened: (adj) aghast, horrified, relentless, purposeful
impel, shift, stuff. ANTONYMS: (v) appalled, shocked singleness: (n) sincerity,
pull, leave sickening: (adj) revolting, nauseous, bachelorhood, bachelorship,
shoving: (n) thrusting offensive, repulsive, foul, unmarried, single, loyalty, oneness,
shrank: (v) minify nauseating, noisome, obnoxious, spinsterhood, concentration, unity,
shrewd: (adj) sharp, astute, keen, loathsome, repugnant, abominable. straightforwardness
piercing, clever, cunning, bright; ANTONYMS: (adj) attractive, singly: (adv) one by one, separately,
(adj, v) sagacious, knowing, crafty, pleasant, delightful, wholesome, independently, severally, solely,
prudent. ANTONYMS: (adj) foolish, light, appealing, wonderful respectively; (adj, adv) alone, only,
gullible, naive, soft, candid, dim, signified: (n) common sense, merely; (adj) single, particularly.
innocent, guileless, obtuse, acceptation, good sense, horse sense, ANTONYM: (adv) multiply
indiscriminate mother wit, sensation, sense, singular: (adj, n) extraordinary; (adj)
shriek: (n, v) screech, cry, shout, call, sensory faculty, sentience, sentiency; odd, individual, particular, peculiar,
howl, yell, yowl, screak; (v) bellow, (adj) implied phenomenal, rare, queer, single,
caterwaul, shrill. ANTONYM: (v) signify: (n, v) intend, mark; (adj, n, v) quaint, exceptional. ANTONYMS:
sigh import; (v) imply, indicate, denote, (adj) ordinary, normal, together,
shrill: (adj) piercing, penetrating, point, stand for, express, intimate, usual, customary
strident, keen, shrewd; (v) shriek, matter singularly: (adv) peculiarly,
screech, scream, yell; (adj, v) high, silenced: (adj) mute, muffled, uniquely, unusually, curiously,
sharp. ANTONYMS: (adj) low, disabled rarely, uncommonly, oddly, solely,
quiet, resonant silken: (adj) glossy, silk, sleek, soft, exceptionally, individually; (adj,
shrilly: (adv) sharply, acutely, satiny, satin, shiny, smooth, slick, adv) remarkably
penetratingly, stridently, noisily, downy, mild. ANTONYMS: (adj) sinuous: (adj) anfractuous, sinuate,
harshly, raucously, keenly, loudly, coarse, dull, rough curved, meandering, snaky, lithe,
discordantly, shrewdly. silvery: (adj) silvern, argent, bright, flexible, elastic, limber; (adj, v)
ANTONYM: (adv) softly white, gray, rich, silverish, tortuous; (v) mazy. ANTONYMS:
shrink: (adj, v) recoil; (n, v) flinch, melodious, fair, Argentine, clear (adj) straight, inflexible, stilted,
wince; (v) contract, shorten, lessen, simpering: (adj) mincing, affected, jerky, stocky
diminish, cower, reduce, quail, smirk, prudish, nice sire: (v) generate, engender, beget,
decrease. ANTONYMS: (v) increase, simpleton: (n) fool, blockhead, dolt, procreate, mother, get, make; (n)
enlarge, grow, stretch, swell, bloom, dunce, numskull, ninny, forefather, ancestor, patriarch, pater
rise, inflate nincompoop, booby, sap, dummy, sisterly: (adj) sororal, fatherly,
shrinking: (n) contraction, recoil, dullard motherly, sisterlike. ANTONYM:
reduction, decrease, condensation; sincere: (adj, v) earnest, devout; (adj) (adj) brotherly
(n, v) lessening; (adj) timid, fearful, genuine, faithful, heartfelt, honest, situate: (v) place, locate, put, lay,
shy, bashful; (adj, adv) cowardly. serious, open, artless, candid; (adj, position, posit, deposit, lodge,
ANTONYM: (adj) confident n) cordial. ANTONYMS: (adj) localize, post; (adj, v) set
shrub: (n) bush, scrub, heath, insincere, dishonest, guarded, skeptical: (adj) disbelieving, skeptic,
greasewood, gorse, gooseberry, flippant, affected, disingenuous, sceptical, distrustful, doubting,
goldenbush, frangipanni, hawthorn, hypocritical, cunning, unfaithful, doubtful, dubious, suspicious,
fuchsia, furze unenthusiastic, unbelievable unbelieving, freethinking, cynical.
shrubbery: (n) brush, plantation, sincerity: (adj, n) candor, honesty, ANTONYMS: (adj) credulous,
flora, parterre, shrub, scrub, integrity, probity, faithfulness; (n) believing, sure, convinced
brushwood, hedge, thicket, bushes, earnestness, heartiness, skillful: (adj) expert, proficient,
area genuineness, candour, frankness, capable, good, accomplished, adept,
shuddering: (adj, n) quivering, cordiality. ANTONYMS: (n) able, ready; (adj, v) dexterous,
crafty; (adj, n, v) knowing. asleep, kip, take a nap; (n) siesta drunkenness, flippancy
ANTONYMS: (adj) clumsy, slumbering: (adj) dormant, asleep, soften: (adj, v) moderate, mitigate,
incompetent, unprofessional, bad, latent. ANTONYM: (adj) awake mollify, assuage, relieve; (v) melt,
untrained, ordinary, amateur, smallness: (n) diminutiveness, dull, relent, mute, alleviate; (adj, n,
mediocre; (adv) incompetently minuteness, slightness, puniness, v) palliate. ANTONYMS: (v) harden,
skinny: (adj) meager, emaciated, thin, insignificance, scantiness, delicacy, solidify, set, congeal, exacerbate,
scrawny, underweight, scraggy, scantness, narrowness; (adj) freeze, sharpen, stand, increase
weedy, gaunt, niggardly, skimpy, meagerness, slenderness. softened: (adj) diffused, muffled,
lank. ANTONYMS: (adj) plump, ANTONYM: (n) tallness muted, quiet, slow, touched,
brawny, chubby, healthy, obese smite: (v) strike, hit, buffet, bang, sluggish, soften, pultaceous,
skipping: (n) jumping, leaping, clout, knock, smash, thrash, thump, subdued, low-key
absenteeism; (adv) skippingly, batter, affect softening: (adj) emollient, salving,
leapingly smoldering: (adj) latent, unexerted, relaxing; (v) soften; (adj, n) soothing;
skirmish: (n, v) fight, combat, battle, smouldering, on fire, ablaze, aflame, (n) maceration, mitigation,
conflict, scuffle; (n) encounter, angry, blazing, burning, flaming; (v) easement, mollification,
brush, engagement, struggle, smolder inteneration, encouragement
confrontation, dispute smoothing: (n) fine cutting, softness: (n) mildness, kindness,
skirting: (n) skirt, edging, fringe, list, smoothness, sleeking; (adj) sleek, flabbiness, flaccidity, suavity,
frill, frame, flounce; (adj) border, even, not harsh, smooth porcelain, downiness, gentleness, tenderness,
flanking, parietal, marginal bland, not rough, moving equably, faintness; (adj, n) delicacy; (adj)
skulking: (adj) surreptitious, mild smoothness. ANTONYMS: (n)
stealthy, lurking, hiding, smother: (v) stifle, suffocate, choke, rigidity, hoarseness, brightness,
clandestine, backstairs, concealed, muffle, extinguish, put out, hardness, volume, harshness, tone,
cowardly; (n) malingering, dodging, suppress, asphyxiate, hush up, gag, noise, heaviness, firmness, loudness
evasion repress. ANTONYMS: (v) express, soiled: (adj) grubby, dirty, nasty,
slain: (v) slay; (adj) overthrown, mat, light, encourage grimy, unclean, filthy, muddy,
fallen, dejected, cast down smothered: (adj) strangled, stifled, black, mucky, polluted, foul.
slay: (n, v) murder, assassinate; (v) smothers, pent-up, covered ANTONYMS: (adj) pure,
dispatch, execute, slaughter, snail: (v) sluggard, loiterer, lingerer, immaculate
destroy, massacre, put to death, pull together; (n) conch, sojourn: (adj, v) reside, inhabit; (n)
remove, finish, butcher hodmandod, gastropod, garden residence, abode; (adj, n, v) stay; (v)
sleeper: (n) railroad tie, crosstie, tie, snail, edible snail, dodman; (adj) remain, lodge, abide, live; (n, v)
noctambulist, baggage car, whelked delay, domicile
slumberer, dreamer, Pullman car, snakes: (n) Ophidia, suborder sola: (n) shola
freight car, parlor car, express car Serpentes, subclass Lepidosauria, soldiery: (n) troops, military
slew: (n) wad, turning, sight, heap, suborder Ophidia, Lepidosauria personnel, serviceman, horse,
stack, lot, flock; (v) rotate, slue, snapping: (adj) noisy garrison, cavalry, army, troop, the
swerve, veer snare: (n, v) mesh, gin, ambush, army, military man, force
slightness: (n) littleness, slimness, hook; (v) catch, ensnare, entrap, solemn: (adj, n, v) serious; (adj, v)
insignificance, slenderness, delicacy, entangle, capture, enmesh; (n) lure sober, important, sedate, devout,
fineness, smallness, trifle, meanness, snatch: (n, v) pinch, snap, catch, grip; formal, demure; (adj) heavy,
triviality, goody. ANTONYM: (n) (v) abduct, clutch, kidnap, seize, dignified, sacred; (adj, n) earnest.
width jerk, capture, pluck. ANTONYM: (v) ANTONYMS: (adj) frivolous,
slimy: (adj) greasy, slippery, muddy, release cheerful, unceremonious, funny,
sludgy, squalid, oily, oozy, ropy, sneer: (n, v) deride, jeer, scorn, flout, playful, flippant, relaxed
viscous, slimed, sordid. ridicule, scoff, mock, leer, grimace, solemnity: (n) seriousness, sobriety,
ANTONYM: (adj) reputable gird; (n) smirk earnestness, formality, ceremony,
sling: (v) pitch, fling, hurl, dangle, snug: (adj, v) cosy, trim; (adj) cozy, impressiveness, austerity,
chuck, toss, throw, heave; (adj) easy, comfy, tight, close, warm, sedateness, display, pomp,
hang; (adj, v) suspend; (n, v) cast secure, homely; (v) neat. grandeur. ANTONYMS: (n) humor,
sluggard: (n) loafer, idler, slugabed, ANTONYMS: (adj) baggy, levity, cheerfulness, understatement
slacker, layabout, lazybones; (n, v) uncomfortable, unwelcoming, bleak, solemnly: (adv) earnestly, gravely,
drone; (v) loiterer, lingerer, lag; (adj) formal, loose majestically, stately, sternly, staidly,
sluggish soaring: (adj) high, towering, flying, thoughtfully, soberly, formally,
sluggish: (adj) inert, indolent, eminent, beetling; (n) glide, gliding, ceremoniously, importantly.
inactive, idle, slow, torpid, slack, sailing, rise, flight, sailplaning. ANTONYMS: (adv) cheerfully,
languid; (adj, n) lazy, drowsy, ANTONYM: (adj) low flippantly
heavy. ANTONYMS: (adj) energetic, sobriety: (n) temperance, seriousness, solicited: (adj) requested
fast, brisk, lively, alert, speedy, soberness, graveness, abstinence, solicitude: (n) care, consideration,
industrious earnestness, composure, sedateness, anxiety, thought, apprehension,
slumber: (n, v) rest, doze, snooze, staidness; (adj, n) gravity; (adj) regard, attention, fear, disquietude,
nap, drowse, repose, catnap; (v) be rationality. ANTONYMS: (n) excess, heed, fret. ANTONYMS: (n)
negligence, serenity, voiceful, hollow rancor, maliciousness, ill will,
thoughtlessness southeast: (adj) southeastern, animosity; (n, v) pique.
soliloquy: (n) language, oral southeasterly, North Carolina, ANTONYMS: (v) please; (n)
communication, apostrophe Florida, Georgia; (n) SE, compass benevolence, goodwill, love,
solitary: (adj) forlorn, only, alone, point, geographic area, geographic affection, harmony
single, lonely, lone, sole, region, geographical area, selenium spleen: (n) spite, anger, resentment,
unaccompanied, isolated; (adj, n) sparing: (adj, n) economical, saving; rage, lien, malice, bitterness,
recluse; (n) hermit. ANTONYMS: (adj, v) scanty, poor, chary, meager, rancour, huff, grudge, rancor.
(adj) sociable, combined, common, parsimonious, spare, moderate; (adj) ANTONYM: (n) affection
outgoing thrifty, careful. ANTONYMS: (adj) splinter: (adj, v) break, shiver, crack;
solitude: (n) desolation, loneliness, spendthrift, generous, wasteful, (adj, n, v) split; (n, v) chip, fragment,
seclusion, privacy, aloneness, extravagant fracture; (adj, n) shred; (n) shaving,
isolation, retirement, lonesomeness, sparkling: (adj, v) effervescent; (adj) part; (v) smash
retreat, desert, solitariness. bright, brilliant, radiant, glittery, spotless: (adj) faultless, clean,
ANTONYMS: (n) companionship, bubbly, glittering, scintillating, innocent, pure, guiltless, flawless,
closeness shining, scintillant; (n) sparkle. chaste, perfect, impeccable,
somber: (adj) gloomy, melancholy, ANTONYMS: (adj) dull, dirty, unblemished, stainless.
solemn, dull, grave, drab, sober, lifeless, lethargic ANTONYMS: (adj) dirty, messy,
dark, sullen, dim, dismal. sparks: (n) fire blemished, filthy, soiled, shameful,
ANTONYMS: (adj) bright, funny, spat: (n, v) squabble, altercation, tiff, tainted, guilty, blameworthy,
cheery, frivolous, fussy bicker, dispute, wrangle, row; (n) impure, imperfect
songster: (n) songbird, warbler, gaiter, argument, bickering, fuss. springing: (v) jumping, climbing,
vocalist, poet, ballad maker, bard, ANTONYM: (n) agreement bounding, furious, conspicuous,
chanter, songstress, composer, spectator: (n) eyewitness, observer, prominent, ascending, projecting
songwriter, song bird onlooker, witness, audience, outwardly; (n) growth, suspension,
sonorous: (adj) rotund, resonant, beholder, viewer, watcher, emanation
clear, rich, resounding, harmonious, spectators, looker, ogler. sprinkled: (adj) scattered, speckled,
round, full, ringing, vibrant, sonant. ANTONYM: (n) player wet, dotted
ANTONYMS: (adj) shrill, thin specter: (n) ghost, spirit, shade, sprites: (n) red sprites, atmospheric
soothing: (adj) calming, soft, smooth, spectre, phantasm, wraith, shadow, electricity
pacifying, quiet, restful, bland, calm, revenant; (n, v) apparition, spruce: (adj) dapper, neat, natty,
assuasive; (adj, n) softening; (n) phantom, vision jaunty, trim, rakish, stylish, dashing,
alleviation. ANTONYMS: (adj) speechless: (adj) silent, mute, dumb, snappy; (adj, v) tidy; (adj, n) bright.
upsetting, disturbing, hostile, scary, dumbfounded, voiceless, quiet, ANTONYMS: (adj) untidy, messy,
worrying, stimulating, exasperating, tongueless, tacit, noiseless, mum, unkempt
annoying, invigorating, painful, wordless. ANTONYMS: (adj) spun: (adj) spined; (v) rotate, revolve
intimidating loquacious, eloquent, talkative spur: (n) inducement, incentive,
sorrow: (n, v) regret, lament, grieve; speedily: (adj, adv) quickly, quick, impulse, stimulus; (n, v) prod, prick,
(v) mourn; (n) mourning, heartache, immediately; (adv) rapidly, incite, prompt; (v) provoke, impel,
repentance, remorse; (adj, n) promptly, hastily, swiftly, fast, animate. ANTONYMS: (n)
sadness, misery; (adj, n, v) distress. apace, hurriedly, fleetly. discouragement, disincentive,
ANTONYMS: (n) joy, delight, ANTONYMS: (adv) later, eventually deterrent; (v) calm, delay, inhibit
happiness, peace, hopefulness, speedy: (adj, v) rapid, prompt, fleet, spurned: (adj) jilted, unloved
cheerfulness, shamelessness, calm, swift; (adj) fast, agile, ready, spurning: (n) disbelief, renunciation
content; (v) rejoice immediate, cursory, hurried, brisk. spurred: (adj) barbed, calcarated
sorrowful: (adj) melancholy, doleful, ANTONYMS: (adj) leisurely, squalid: (adj) sordid, nasty, foul,
sad, rueful, lugubrious, gloomy, plodding seedy, filthy, grimy, abject, dingy,
dreary, grievous, piteous, unhappy, spill: (n, v) overflow, fall, drop, flow, grubby, seamy, sleazy.
mournful. ANTONYMS: (adj) stream; (v) shed, empty, upset, pour, ANTONYMS: (adj) clean, reputable,
cheerful, content, joyful, successful slop, cast smart, respectable, fresh,
sorrowing: (adj) sorrowful, grieving, spirited: (adj) animated, frisky, comfortable, wholesome, habitable
mournful, distressed, bereft, energetic, racy, bold, gritty, quick, squalling: (adj) unquiet
bereaved, unhappy, lamenting, enthusiastic, dashing, peppy, brave. squaw: (n) wife, woman; (adj) wintry
regretful, sad; (n) cry. ANTONYM: ANTONYMS: (adj) spiritless, squeezing: (n) constriction,
(adj) joyful lifeless, feeble, cowardly, apathetic, compression, pressure, squeeze,
sortie: (n) raid, charge, foray, attack, lethargic, spineless, dull, solemn, crushing, compressing, expulsion,
coupe de main, dash, mission, sluggish, lackluster extrusion, distress, power play; (v)
outing, expedition, outbreak; (v) spit: (v) drizzle, expectorate, sprinkle, expression
frolic spew, drool, spike, spatter; (n) squint: (n) look, strabismus, cast; (v)
sounding: (n) investigation, depth, broach, saliva, cape; (n, v) skewer leer, skew, blink, squinch; (adj)
exploration, test; (adj) resounding, spite: (n) malice, grudge, hatred, sidelong, askant, cross-eyed, asquint
resonant, looking, audible, sonant, malevolence, rancour, venom, squirrel: (n) hackee, spermophile,
baranduki, burunduki, gopher, schemer, Julian uproar, motion, turbulence, turmoil,
baronduki, barunduki, collector; (v) stationary: (adj) motionless, fixed, vigor, disturbance, chaos, agitation
bank, conserve; (adj) courser set, quiescent, permanent, immobile, stipulated: (adj) fixed, formal,
stag: (v) spy, peach, denounce; (n) steady, static, constant, unmoving, certain, conventional, customary,
buck, dog, boar, cock, deer, roe, doe, still. ANTONYMS: (adj) mobile, firm, predetermined, abstracted
reynard shifting, flowing stirrup: (n) support, brace, clip, shoe,
stagger: (adj, adv, v) startle; (v) stature: (n) height, altitude, standing, sole, splint, sprit, stirrup iron, rod,
astonish, reel, shock, hobble, shake, tallness, prestige, figure, growth, suspension strap, stilts
flounder, totter; (n, v) lurch, pitch; status, quality, rank, greatness stoical: (adj, n) stoic; (adj) indifferent,
(adj, v) flabbergast steadiness: (adj, n) stability, firmness, patient, imperturbable, calm,
staggered: (adj) dumbfounded, steadfastness; (n) regularity, spirited, princely, phlegmatic,
astonished, flabbergasted, equilibrium, consistency, resolution, exalted, elevated, lofty
astounded, stunned, bewildered, permanence, persistence, sureness; stoicism: (n) indifference,
surprised, thunderstruck, angular, (adj) stableness. ANTONYMS: (n) unemotionality, apathy,
dizzy, taken aback unsteadiness, instability, emotionlessness, impassivity, self-
staggers: (v) fuss, rout, racket, bustle, unreliability control, phlegm, sluggishness; (adj,
hubbub, subsultus; (n) epilepsy steering: (n) management, steerage, n) philosophy, equanimity; (adj)
stagnant: (adj) quiet, motionless, direction, navigation, driving, suttee
inert, dead, slow, still, standing, pilotage, control, aim, attitude stoop: (v) crouch, bend, deign,
immobile, inactive, stagnate, control, piloting, managing condescend, descend, squat, couch,
stationary. ANTONYMS: (adj) stentorian: (adj) booming, vocal, cringe, lean, lower oneself; (n)
active, moving piercing, strident, resonant, porch. ANTONYM: (v) straighten
stagnation: (n) recession, depression, powerful, flourishing, full, fuller, stooped: (adj) hunched, stoop,
stagnancy, deadlock, stasis, delay, palmy, stentorophonic stooping, crooked, bended, not
inaction, inactivity, backwater, sterile: (adj) infertile, barren, effete, straight, inclined, not erect, arched,
slump, congestion antiseptic, futile, vain, poor, arid, asymmetrical, droopy
stain: (n, v) spot, blemish, tarnish, aseptic; (adj, v) fruitless; (v) stooping: (adj) hunched, crooked,
blot, dye, smear, disgrace, mark, abortive. ANTONYMS: (adj) fertile, asymmetrical, not erect, not straight,
soil, dirt, defile. ANTONYMS: (v) unhygienic, dirty, productive, corrupt; (n) patronage
enhance, dignify, clean fruitful, exciting, creative storming: (n) assault, storm, night
stalking: (n) deerstalking, hunting, stern: (adj) rigid, rigorous, austere, raid, beginning, sortie, onset,
chaff, harassment, still hunt, shuck, hard, strict, grim, solemn, rough; bravado; (adj) tempestuous, angry,
pestering, pursuit, husk, nuisance, (adj, v) harsh; (n) back; (adj, n) rear. stormy, turbulent
angry walk ANTONYMS: (adj) friendly, stout: (adj, n) sturdy, stocky, hearty;
stammering: (n) hesitation, hesitancy, approving, lenient, funny, genial, (adj) hardy, strong, robust, obese,
psellism, indistinct pronunciation, gentle, kindly, lax, liberal, cheerful, husky, bold, corpulent, fleshy.
doubt; (adj) halting, hesitating, flexible ANTONYMS: (adj) thin, slim,
inarticulate, incoherent, broken, sternly: (adv) severely, strictly, flimsy, cowardly, slight, skinny,
ashamed austerely, harshly, rigidly, grimly, fragile, weak
starlight: (n) rushlight, moonlight, rigorously, stringently, seriously, straddle: (n, v) stride; (v) range,
firelight, candlelight relentlessly, solemnly. ramble, play fast and loose, coquet,
starry: (adj) sidereal, starlike, radiant, ANTONYMS: (adv) leniently, shuffle, be on the fence, bestride; (n)
showy, gleaming, bright, lustrous, lightheartedly, kindly, warmly, stalk, strut, stump
shiny, lucid, stellar, fulgent. cheerfully straggler: (n) rover, laggard, rambler,
ANTONYMS: (adj) starless, dull sternness: (n) harshness, rigor, peregrinator, stroller, bum,
startle: (n, v) start, jump; (v) frighten, strictness, austerity, rigour, asperity, latecomer, lagger, vagabond, tramp,
scare, astonish, shock, astound, inclemency, hardness, grimness, runabout
amaze, shake, threaten, electrify. unpermissiveness, acrimony. straggling: (adj) rambling, straggly,
ANTONYM: (v) soothe ANTONYMS: (n) leniency, warmth, spread, few, trailing, untidy,
startling: (adj) wonderful, shocking, pleasantness, cheerfulness vagabond, sprawly, sprawled.
surprising, striking, alarming, stiffening: (n) stiffness, rigidification, ANTONYM: (adj) compact
appalling, marvellous, dramatic, reinforcement, process, rigidifying, straining: (n) effort, push, exertion,
frightful, sensational, lurid. procedure distortion, overrefinement, tension,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unremarkable, stifled: (adj) strangled, suppressed, endeavor, torture, twisting; (adj)
soothing, comforting muffled, deafened, completely arduous; (v) tighten
starve: (v) fast, crave, lust, hunger, covered, dead, deadened, weak, strait: (adj) narrow; (n) pinch, pass,
thirst, perish, be hungry, deprive, deaf corn, regardless, decayed inlet, need, channel, crisis, poverty,
benumb; (adj, v) pinch; (adj) gripe. stillness: (n) hush, calmness, difficulty; (adj, n) quandary; (n, v)
ANTONYMS: (v) feed, eat immobility, serenity, silence, dilemma
statesman: (n) politician, diplomat, quietness, peacefulness; (adj, n) straits: (n) pass, head, distress, sound,
politico, Cicero, bacon, solon, calm, quiet, peace, still. isthmus, dire straits, destitution,
national leader, strategist, minister, ANTONYMS: (n) bustle, movement, point, crack, chief, caput
strangeness: (n) oddity, oddness, determined, persistent, refractory, enthusiastic, lively, uninhibited,
quaintness, peculiarity, curiousness, tenacious, obdurate, inveterate. unsubdued, rebellious, noisy, bright,
abnormality, weirdness, foreignness, ANTONYMS: (adj) compliant, elaborate, frivolous, upbeat
queerness, singularity, quirk. irresolute, flexible, amenable, docile, submarine: (n) pigboat, sub, bomber,
ANTONYMS: (n) familiarity, easygoing, malleable, agreeable, nautilus; (adj) undersea,
nativeness accommodating, cooperative, feeble underwater, subterrene,
stray: (v) wander, ramble, range, stubbornly: (adv) obdurately, subterranean, sunken, submerged,
digress, straggle, meander, depart, mulishly, persistently, doggedly, marine
deviate, rove, drift, err. ANTONYM: tenaciously, unyieldingly, firmly, submissive: (adj) obedient, passive,
(v) settle waywardly, contrarily, meek, dutiful, obsequious, docile,
strayed: (v) stray pertinaciously, insistently. compliant, resigned, subject, lowly,
streak: (n, v) ray, dash, mark, flash; ANTONYMS: (adv) feebly, servile. ANTONYMS: (adj)
(adj, n) stripe; (n) band, beam, run, helpfully, openly, hesitantly assertive, resistant, disobedient,
bar, groove, gleam studded: (adj) muricated, bristling, defiant, obstinate, rebellious, wild,
streaked: (adj) veined, striped, peopled, crowded, manifold, intractable, proactive; (adv) bossily
streaky, brindled, lined, mottled, multinominal, multiple, multiplied, subsistence: (n) existence, life, entity,
virgated, patterned; (v) areolar, multitudinous, populous; (v) maintenance, food, support,
cancellated, grated freckled sustenance, living, livelihood, esse,
streaks: (n) stripes, cords studiously: (adv) industriously, ens
strengthening: (n) fortification, assiduously, busily, earnestly, subterraneous: (adj) subterranean,
concentration, reinforcement, carefully, eagerly, bookishly; (adj, underground, subterrene,
consolidation, transformation, adv) designedly; (adj) knowingly, subaqueous, submarine
transmutation, reenforcement, purposely, wittingly subtlety: (n) refinement, elegance,
reinforcing, intensification; (v) stump: (n) stub, end, pulpit; (v) nuance, delicacy, craft, finesse,
strengthen; (adj) bracing. confuse, stamp, baffle, perplex, nicety, niceness, penetration, polish,
ANTONYM: (n) weakening nonplus, puzzle, bewilder, mystify. cunning. ANTONYMS: (n)
stretches: (adj) stretched ANTONYM: (v) explain tactlessness, coarseness, heaviness,
strewed: (v) besprent, sprinkled over stunted: (adj) scrubby, little, scrawny, vulgarity
stricken: (adj) smitten, struck, beaten, diminutive, puny, short, spare, succeeding: (adj) following,
laid low, affected, hurt, low, weak, underdeveloped, dwarfish; subsequent, after, consecutive,
impaired, dotty; (v) heavy laden, (v) strangulated. ANTONYM: (adj) posterior, ensuing, consequent,
victimized tall successive, consequential; (adj, adv)
strife: (n) discord, disagreement, stupidly: (adv) dully, thickly, later; (v) succeed. ANTONYMS:
dissension, conflict, competition, obtusely, senselessly, fatuously, (adj) outgoing, preceding
feud, fight; (adj, n, v) dispute, slowly, insanely, unwisely, succor: (n, v) relief, support, comfort,
debate; (n, v) controversy; (adj, n) doltishly, crassly, densely. aid, assistance, succour, ease; (v)
quarrel. ANTONYMS: (n) accord, ANTONYMS: (adv) shrewdly, assist, relieve; (n) ministration,
cooperation, calm, peace brightly, sensibly, wisely, consolation. ANTONYM: (n)
stripes: (n) stripe, chevron, grade sensitively, prudently, carefully distress
insignia, streak, banding, badge, stupor: (n) lethargy, stupefaction, sucking: (n) suck, intake, uptake,
band, uniform coma, shock, insensibility, aspiration, ingestion, consumption
stripling: (n) lad, boy, adolescent, unconsciousness, trance, suddenness: (n) steepness, hastiness,
teenager, youth, rocker, youngster, sluggishness, torpor, haze, precipitance, precipitancy,
young man, child, pachuco; (adj) grogginess. ANTONYMS: (n) precipitateness, sudden,
younker alertness, awareness, wakefulness craggedness, surprise,
stripping: (n) baring, denudation, sturdy: (adj) strong, stout, solid, precipitousness, brusqueness,
striping, removal, disforestation, rugged, firm, mighty, robust, curtness
scrubbing, strippingly, uncovering, healthy, muscular; (adj, n) burly, suffice: (v) satisfy, do, answer,
find, back washing, cornhusking brawny. ANTONYMS: (adj) flimsy, content, fulfill, be sufficient, qualify,
striving: (n) nisus, pains, endeavor, puny, fragile, rickety, slight, function, be enough, suit, fulfil
strife, try, strain, attempt, strive, ramshackle, infirm, frail, feeble, suing: (adj) suppliant, begging,
ambition, struggle, exertion. delicate, soft beseeching, entreating, imploring;
ANTONYM: (adj) unmotivated subdue: (adj, n, v) conquer; (v) (n) prayer, entreaty
strokes: (n) approval, reward, overpower, crush, defeat, quell, sullen: (adj, n) morose, sulky, sour;
recognition, prize, acclaim, credit, quash, suppress, restrain; (n, v) (adj) gloomy, gruff, glum, moody,
brownie points reduce; (adj, v) repress; (adv, v) dark, cross, surly; (adj, v) grim.
strove: (v) strive control. ANTONYMS: (v) incite, ANTONYMS: (adj) bright, cheery;
stub: (n) butt, end, counterfoil, ticket, enliven, resist, submit (n) cheeriness
tail, remnant, base, roach, check subdued: (adj) quiet, muffled, dull, sullenly: (adv) sulkily, sourly,
stub; (v) abrade, scrape restrained, muted, tame, faint, grumpily, morosely, moodily,
stubborn: (adj) contrary, hard, repressed, low, meek; (adj, v) dourly, somberly, peevishly, surly,
intractable, perverse, rigid, resigned. ANTONYMS: (adj) crossly, petulantly. ANTONYMS:
(adv) graciously, contentedly, fallacious skeptically, hesitantly,
gladly, cheerily superstructure: (n) structure, work unbelievingly; (adv) mistrustfully,
sullied: (adj) foul, soiled, tainted, done, building, road pavement, warily, uncertainly, shadily,
stained, besmirched, unclean, filthy, trailer body, superstruction, side dubiously, watchfully,
spotted, sordid, flyblown, dim. frame, pavement, ne plus ultra, fait questioningly. ANTONYMS: (adv)
ANTONYMS: (adj) untarnished, accompli, edifice carelessly, gullibly, thoughtlessly,
clean supple: (adj, v) flexible, pliable, certainly, confidently
sully: (n, v) foul, defile, dirty; (adj, n, limber, pliant; (adj) lithe, soft, sustenance: (n) living, food,
v) soil; (adj, v) tarnish; (v) besmirch, plastic, graceful, lithesome, lissom, maintenance, subsistence, fare,
contaminate, smear, pollute, lissome. ANTONYMS: (adj) rigid, sustentation, provisions,
corrupt, taint. ANTONYMS: (v) inflexible, stocky, clumsy, hard, nourishment, nutriment, aliment,
respect, purify, clean, cleanse, rough, slow, tight, unyielding livelihood. ANTONYM: (n) extras
dignify suppliant: (n) petitioner, applicant, swallowing: (adj) absorptive,
sultriness: (n) closeness, heat, besieger, postulant, prayer, lover, unsuspecting, absorbent, absorbing;
sogginess, sensuality, muggy suer; (adj) beseeching, supplicatory, (n) consumption
weather, sensualism, humidity, hot imploring, humbly entreating swallows: (n) sparrows, rooks,
weather, hot spell, heat wave suppress: (v) subdue, silence, quell, robins, Passeriformes, Hirundinidae,
sumach: (n) shumac, smooth sumac, check, stifle, restrain, subjugate, etc, order Passeriformes
bush, staghorn sumac, sugar sumac, curb, crush, strangle, oppress. swarthy: (adj) dusky, black, swart,
squawbush, skunkbush, shrub, ANTONYMS: (v) encourage, sable, somber, dun, tawny, coloured,
shining sumac, scarlet sumac, stimulate, incite, expose, declare, colored, atramentous; (n) brunette.
mountain sumac resist, confess, divulge, surrender, ANTONYMS: (adj) fair, light
summon: (v) assemble, convene, advertise, acknowledge sweeps: (n) sweep period
demand, ask, invoke, evoke, invite, suppressing: (n) reticence sweetened: (adj) sugared, syrupy,
muster, page, rally, convoke. supremacy: (n) superiority, perfumed, scented, seraphic, sickly,
ANTONYM: (v) disband domination, sovereignty, authority, sugary, sweet as sugar, tasty,
summoning: (n) induction, command, mastery, predominance, angelic, palatable
conjuration, conjuring, conjury, dominion, excellence, influence, sweetness: (n) sugariness, sweet,
demand, elicitation, adjuration, leadership. ANTONYMS: (n) redolence, pleasantness, fragrance,
exhortation inferiority, weakness, subservience, aroma, charm, perfume, amenity,
sundry: (adj) several, different, powerlessness, subjugation niceness, kindness. ANTONYMS:
diverse, assorted, miscellaneous, surmounted: (adj) beaten (n) sourness, sharpness,
many, varied, mixed, divers, surpass: (v) beat, outdo, exceed, unpleasantness, harshness,
various; (n) sundries. ANTONYMS: surmount, better, excel, outstrip, tastelessness, unkindness
(adj) uniform, homogeneous overcome, overrun, best, go beyond. sweet-scented: (adj) fragrant
sunken: (adj) concave, depressed, ANTONYMS: (v) fail, lose, follow, swell: (n, v) rise, heave, increase,
submerged, empty, underwater, trail wave, billow; (v) enlarge, expand,
cavernous, recessed, gaunt, low, surpassingly: (adv) surpassing, puff, grow, bloat; (adj, n) dandy.
depression, submarine. ANTONYM: extremely, surpass, excellently, ANTONYMS: (v) deflate, desiccate,
(adj) convex superiorly, transcendently, greatly, shrink, compress, concentrate, wane;
supererogatory: (adj, v) spare; (adj) extraordinarily, eminently, finely, (n, v) decline; (adj) bad, horrible,
excess, extra, superfluous, preeminently shabby, awful
supernumerary, unnecessary, surround: (v) gird, round, skirt, swelled: (adj) big, inflated, bloated,
additional, surplus, unasked, border, besiege, beset, envelop; (n, swollen, adult, boastful, bighearted,
supererogative; (v) duplicate v) circle, inclose, ring, compass. bad, fully grown, crowing, elder
superhuman: (adj) supernatural, ANTONYMS: (v) release, free swelling: (n) protuberance, lump,
heavenly, preterhuman, superman, surveying: (n) mensuration, swell, intumescence, growth,
epic, daring, godlike, gallant, brave, measurement, investigation, projection, prominence, bulge,
celestial, incredible. ANTONYM: triangulation; (v) inspect, examine; dropsy; (adj, v) inflated; (adj)
(adj) normal (adj) observant growing. ANTONYM: (n) decline
supernatural: (adj) mystical, suspend: (adj, v) defer, put off; (v) swiftness: (n) speed, haste, rapidity,
preternatural, weird, superhuman, interrupt, stop, adjourn, postpone, celerity, acceleration, quickness,
eerie, uncanny, unnatural, hang, dangle, stay, shelve, debar. promptness, pace, velocity, agility,
mysterious, ghostly, divine; (n) ANTONYMS: (v) continue, sustain, dispatch. ANTONYM: (n)
occult. ANTONYM: (adj) normal rise, finish, advance, inaugurate clumsiness
superstition: (n) superstitious, taboo, suspense: (n) doubt, expectancy, syllable: (n) antepenultimate,
religion, old wives' tale, anticipation, indecision, insecurity, antepenult, penultima, penultimate,
superstitious notion, lore, folklore, unrest, expectation, irresolution, articulate, utter, linguistic unit, solfa
fanaticism, fallacy, belief, magic. suspension, tension; (adj, n) syllable, speech sound, syllabe,
ANTONYMS: (n) science, truth hesitation. ANTONYM: (n) language unit
superstitious: (adj) superstition, false, knowledge sympathizing: (adj) gentle, mild,
groundless, eerie, irrational, suspiciously: (adj, adv) doubtfully, merciful, humane, compassionate,
benevolent, pitiful, kind (adj) pitchy. ANTONYMS: (v) restrained, calm, reasonable,
symptom: (n) indication, note, mark, complete, finish abstemious, gentle, balmy,
evidence, manifestation, token, tartar: (n) dragon, potassium abstinent, frugal, equable.
signal, characteristic, omen, hydrogen tartrate, calculus, cream of ANTONYMS: (adj) violent,
Trousseau's sign, ague tartar, stone, tartarum, infinitesimal unrestrained, stormy, cool, extreme,
tact: (n) diplomacy, delicacy, finesse, calculus, incrustation, flying lizard, hot, immoderate, wintry, rough
address, discretion, skill, flying dragon; (adj) dandruff tempered: (adj) attempered,
consideration, refinement, grace, tattered: (adj) shabby, ragged, temperate, moderated, toughened,
thoughtfulness, tactfulness. scruffy, dilapidated, threadbare, subdued, set, enured, proportioned,
ANTONYMS: (n) frankness, frayed, seedy, worn out, torn, properly adapted, emotionally
carelessness, thoughtlessness, shattered; (adj, v) bedraggled. hardened, treated. ANTONYM:
insensitivity, clumsiness ANTONYMS: (adj) elegant, smart, (adj) untempered
tails: (n) dress suit, tail coat, full new tempest: (adj, n) storm, gust; (n) gale,
dress, tail, waste, evening dress, tattler: (n) talebearer, telltale, hurricane, squall, disturbance,
dress coat, coat, morning coat, tattletale, taleteller, chatterbox, big cyclone, typhoon, agitation, tornado,
cutaway, formalwear mouth, informer, blabbermouth, jay, blizzard. ANTONYM: (n) serenity
taint: (n, v) blemish, disgrace, chatterer, blabber tenable: (adj) reasonable, justifiable,
corrupt, spot, blot; (adj, v) defile, taunt: (n, v) ridicule, gibe, flout, maintainable, plausible,
sully, pollute, contaminate; (n) insult, mock, deride, sneer, twit, invulnerable, excusable, believable,
pollution, contamination. quip; (n) scoff; (v) bait. credible, defendable, sensible.
ANTONYMS: (v) enhance, right, ANTONYMS: (n, v) respect, ANTONYMS: (adj) unbelievable,
respect, disinfect, clean; (n) compliment; (v) applaud, comfort untenable
perfection, cleanliness; (adv) taunting: (n) twit, taunt, ridicule, tenacious: (adj) obstinate, dogged,
cheerfully scorn, witty; (adj) mocking, gibelike, adhesive, persistent, resolute, tough,
tainted: (adj, v) rotten, rancid, bad, sarcastic, jeering, unkind; (adj, n) sticky; (adj, v) strong, steadfast; (v)
musty, reasty, vitiated; (adj) rank, satirical retentive; (adj, n) firm.
contaminated, faulty, putrid, dirty. tauntingly: (adv) jeeringly, ANTONYMS: (adj) fickle, loose,
ANTONYMS: (adj) unadulterated, mockingly, sarcastically, satirically slack, surrendering, unattached,
unchanged, untarnished, clean taunts: (n) mocking, jeers weak, compliant, yielding, malleable
talons: (v) claws, tenaculum, unguis, tawny: (n) tan, buff; (adj, n) brown, tenanted: (adj) occupied, engaged,
tentacle, teeth; (n) clutches auburn; (adj) luteous, golden, having tenants, resided in
tame: (v) break, subdue, soften, sallow, russet, chestnut, creamy, tenderness: (n) fondness, soreness,
domesticate; (adj) meek, docile, moderately black love, affection, sympathy; (adj, n)
bland, domestic, gentle, slow; (adj, tearing: (adj) fierce, violent, clemency, mildness, compassion,
v) moderate. ANTONYMS: (adj) vehement, furious, ripping, gentleness, softness, delicacy.
exciting, bright, unmanageable, ferocious; (n) lachrymation, ANTONYMS: (n) pleasure, dryness,
interesting, untamed, inspiring, lacrimation, riving ahead, tear, hatred, strength, detachment
brilliant, colorful, rebellious, lively lancination tenement: (n) dwelling, apartment,
tangled: (adj) involved, complex, tedious: (adj) tiresome, boring, flat, apartment building, habitation,
knotted, intricate, complicated, dreary, slow, heavy, humdrum, abode, stateroom, tablinum,
entangled, knotty, convoluted, irksome, lifeless; (adj, v) residence, toft, domicile
disheveled, tousled, matted. monotonous, arid, dry. tenfold: (adj) decuple, decimal, tenth,
ANTONYMS: (adj) tidy, ANTONYMS: (adj) exciting, varied, containing ten
straightforward, untangled, neat, easy, readable, lively, entertaining, tenor: (n) purport, meaning,
simple enthralling, brisk, concise, exotic, substance, tendency, spirit, tone,
tapping: (n) draining of the furnace, pleasant mood, effect, set, temper; (adj)
paracentesis, to tap, tick, telltale: (n) taleteller, tattletale, tattler, soprano
tapotement, sound, patter, drainage, gossip, newsmonger, blabbermouth, tents: (n) encampment
clapping, casting, restriking check, babbler; (adj) telling, termagant: (adj, n) virago; (adj) vixen,
tardy: (adj, adv, v) late; (adj, v) slow, revealing, signifying. ANTONYM: pugnacious, rambunctious,
remiss; (adj, adv) backward, (adj) secretive turbulent, tumultuous; (n) fury, hag,
dilatory, behindhand; (adj) belated, temerity: (n) nerve, effrontery, dragon, shrewmouse, harridan
slack, overdue, delayed, sluggish. hardihood, boldness, rashness, terminated: (adj) complete, all over,
ANTONYMS: (adj) early, punctual, imprudence, audaciousness, over, extinct, accomplished, closed,
premature, speedy carelessness, assurance, indiscretion, highly skilled; (adj, adv) ended,
tarnished: (adj) stained, tainted, dim, venturesomeness. ANTONYMS: (n) finished, done; (adv) completed
besmirched, spotted, imperfect, caution, care, reticence terminating: (adj) final, ending,
damaged, flyblown, dull, messy, temperament: (n) character, nature, conclusive, dying, determining,
maggoty. ANTONYMS: (adj) clean, disposition, constitution, terminative, last, expiring, decisive,
unblemished, famous personality, quality, spirit, humor, expiring groans; (n) termination
tarry: (v) linger, loiter, stay, remain, equanimity, composure, mettle termination: (n) close, end,
delay, lag, dally, dawdle, bide, rest; temperate: (adj) sober, moderate, conclusion, result, dissolution,
cessation, expiration, finale, finish, point, in that respect, at that place, jabbing, stab, driving force, scoke,
completion, issue. ANTONYMS: (n) in that location; (adj) further, sack, punch, Phytolacca Americana
beginning, preservation, initiation, ulterior, remoter, succeeding, more thundering: (adj) thumping,
inauguration, creation distant whopping, lumpish, gaunt, hulky,
testify: (v) declare, certify, affirm, thong: (n) strap, lash, whip, knout, lubberly, spanking, big, loud,
evidence, protest, prove, bathing suit, braid, bullwhip, casual, striking terror; (n) thunder
demonstrate, manifest, express, casual shoe, cowhide, slipper tidings: (n) intelligence, information,
show, vouch thorn: (n) barb, prickle, bramble, message, report, word, advice,
thankful: (adj) appreciative, spike, point, brier, pricker, needle, communication, dispute, wind,
indebted, beholden, obliged, sticker, fang; (adj, n) sting statement, tiding
contented, pleased, gratified, thoughtless: (adj, v) careless, timely: (adj, adv, v) seasonable; (adj,
relieved, under obligation, heedless, rash, improvident; (adj) v) convenient, appropriate; (adj)
appreciatory, welcome. reckless, inattentive, hasty, punctual, apt, prompt, propitious,
ANTONYMS: (adj) worried, unthinking, negligent, neglectful, pat, fit; (adv) apropos; (adj, adv)
unappreciative, unthankful, sorry imprudent. ANTONYMS: (adj) early. ANTONYMS: (adj)
thanksgiving: (n) benediction, grace, considerate, considered, heedful, inopportune, premature, unlucky,
acknowledgment, thanks, prudent, kind, cautious, mindful, inappropriate, late
recognition, gratitude, prayer, responsible, attentive, observant, timid: (adj) shy, afraid, diffident, coy,
saving grace, approval, gracility, sensible bashful, nervous, frightened,
grace of God thrill: (n, v) delight, shudder, quiver, apprehensive, modest; (adj, adv)
thence: (adv) therefore, thus, shiver; (v) excite, exhilarate, exalt, cowardly; (adj, n) cautious.
therefrom, thereof, consequently, stir; (n) shake, excitement, chill. ANTONYMS: (adj, n) brave; (adj)
then, so, thereafter, thenceforth, ANTONYMS: (v) dishearten, confident, bold, fearless, resolute,
since, on account of discourage, disappoint, displease; forward, daring, brazen, extrovert,
therein: (adv) in this, in there (n) depression, calm, boredom, brash, talkative
thickening: (n) thickener, agony, sorrow; (n, v) bore timidity: (n) shyness, fear,
inspissation, growth, lymph node, thrilling: (adj, n) electric; (adj) bashfulness, nervousness, reserve,
pommel, indiscerptibility, node, exciting, sensational, exhilarating, cowardice, fearfulness, timidness,
bodying up, lymph gland, knob, electrifying, emotional, rousing, modesty, humility, coyness.
indivisibility gripping, stimulating; (adj, v) ANTONYMS: (n) confidence,
thicket: (n) brake, coppice, brush, impressive; (n, v) swelling. boastfulness, swagger, brashness,
grove, spinney, bush, brushwood, ANTONYMS: (adj) boring, security
cluster, underbrush, undergrowth, depressing, discouraging, upsetting, timorous: (adj, v) fearful, shy; (adj,
underwood uninspiring adv, v) cowardly; (adj) afraid,
thievish: (adj) pilfering, dishonest, thrillingly: (adv) electrically, nervous, diffident, bashful,
dishonorable, furacious, thiefly, impressively, stirringly, apprehensive, anxious, craven, coy.
theft prone stimulatingly, sensationally, ANTONYMS: (adj) brave, fearless
thinly: (adv) flimsily, slightly, slimly, grippingly, electrifyingly, tinge: (n, v) color, hue, tint, dye,
slenderly, weakly, diaphanously, breathtakingly, excitingly, stain, touch, tincture; (n) shade, cast,
rarely, leanly, finely, tenuously; (adj) emotionally, movingly undertone; (adj, n, v) dash.
thin. ANTONYMS: (adv) densely, thriving: (adj) successful, prosperous, ANTONYMS: (v) whiten, pale; (n)
thickly, loudly, liberally prospering, booming, rich, affluent, white, information, pallor
thinner: (n) dilutant, solvent, reducer, growing, lush, lucky, healthy, tinkling: (adj) clinking, tinkly,
rarefied, phenylic acid, phenol, luxuriant. ANTONYMS: (adj) tintinnabulary, reverberant; (n) ting
propanone, perchloromethane, declining, languishing, arid, tint: (n, v) color, tinge, hue, stain,
resolvent, oxybenzene, moribund, dying, disappearing, dye, tinct; (n) shade, tincture, tone,
methylbenzene poor, unwell cast; (v) paint. ANTONYMS: (n)
thirst: (n, v) hunger, lust, wish; (n) throbbing: (adj, n) beating; (n) white, pallor; (v) whiten, pale
longing, yen, craving, hankering, pounding, pulsation, pulse, ache, tiptoe: (v) tip, tippytoe, creep, patter,
dryness, appetite; (v) starve, crave. palpitation, sting; (adj) painful, skirt, skip, tilt, sidle, lean; (adj) alert;
ANTONYM: (n) dislike pulsatile, palpitating, palpitant. (n) quieter. ANTONYM: (v) clump
thirsty: (adj) eager, arid, parched, ANTONYM: (n) pleasure tire: (n, v) bore, jade; (adj, n, v)
avid, keen, athirst, greedy, throng: (n, v) swarm, herd, mob, fatigue; (v) exhaust, harass, fag,
absorbent, ambitious; (v) craving, flock, press; (n) multitude, host, weary, wear, pall, prostrate; (n) tyre.
hungry. ANTONYMS: (adj) horde, mass, assembly, concourse. ANTONYMS: (v) interest,
quenched, satisfied, disinterested, ANTONYMS: (n) trickle, few; (v) invigorate, energize
wet disperse toil: (n, v) labor, work, drudge,
thistle: (adj) porcupine, beard, thronged: (adj) throng, busy, sweat, drudgery, grind, labour,
hedgehog, feather, mote, chevaux de populous, brisk, teeming, swarming, travail; (v) plod; (n) effort, exertion.
frise, dust, down, brier; (n) nodding sprightly, sensitive, replete, ANTONYMS: (n) pastime,
thistle, carline thistle overflowing; (n) persistent entertainment, fun, relaxation; (v)
thither: (adv) hither, whither, on that thrusting: (n) thrust, push, jab, poke, laze, neglect
toiling: (adj) labouring, drudging, quality, character, idiosyncrasy, deceitful, false, perfidious,
busy property; (adj, n) peculiarity, trick; dangerous, disloyal, unreliable,
toils: (n) net, cobweb, meshes, mesh (n, v) lineament; (v) stroke, touch unsafe, Punic, fraudulent, faithless.
toilsome: (adj) arduous, hard, traitor: (n) betrayer, conspirator, ANTONYMS: (adj) faithful, loyal,
difficult, strenuous, backbreaking, Judas, renegade, rat, quisling, honest, safe, true, genuine,
severe, heavy, painful, tough, deserter, cheat, collaborationist; (adj) forthright, stable, harmless,
grueling; (adj, v) wearisome insurgent, mutineer. ANTONYMS: dependable, open
tolerated: (adj) permissive, permitted, (n) loyalist, patriot treachery: (n) betrayal, disloyalty,
permitting, suffered, admissible traits: (v) lineaments, area, expanse, infidelity, duplicity, treason,
tomahawk: (n) gisarme, halberd, exposition, extent, length, tract, perfidy, falseness, faithlessness,
partisan, weapon, Bowie knife trace; (n) character, nature, perfidiousness, guile, dishonesty.
toothache: (v) tic douloureux, personality ANTONYMS: (n) loyalty,
torticollis, tormina; (n) tramping: (adj) moving faithfulness, fidelity, reliability,
aerodontalgia trampling: (n) trample; (adj) moving allegiance, goodness
topmost: (adj) highest, upmost, trance: (adj, n) ecstasy; (n, v) coma, tread: (n, v) pace, walk, rate, march,
upper, maximum, uppermost, head, charm; (n) fascination, daze, dream, tramp; (n) gait, stride, footstep,
supreme, utmost, crowning, apical, captivation, spell, stupor, footfall, track; (v) trample
uttermost. ANTONYM: (adj) bottom obstupefaction; (v) capture. treason: (n) treachery, perfidy, high
toppling: (adj) falling ANTONYMS: (n) loyalist, reality, treason, sabotage, lese majesty,
torment: (n, v) tease, distress, harass, alertness traitorousness, subversiveness,
afflict, pain, annoy; (n) agony, transiently: (adv) momentarily, duplicity; (adj, n) disloyalty,
anguish, suffering; (v) persecute, fleetingly, briefly, ephemerally, sedition, prodition. ANTONYMS:
oppress. ANTONYMS: (v) please, passingly, short-livedly, fugitively, (n) loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity
delight, placate, comfort, soothe; (n) fugaciously, evanescently, treble: (adj) threefold, ternary,
contentment, happiness, pleasure, temporarily, interimly triplex, thribble, double, dual, high,
calm, content translate: (v) construe, transform, voce di testa, shrill; (adj, v) triple; (v)
tormentor: (n) pest, tormenter, decipher, explain, render, read, sing
torturer, pesterer, annoyer, teaser, convert, define, turn, understand, trebly: (adv) thrice, treble, threefold
tease, tantalizer, persecutor, gadfly, alter. ANTONYM: (v) stagnate tremble: (adj, n, v) shiver; (n, v)
flat transportation: (n, v) conveyance, quiver, shudder, thrill, palpitate;
torrent: (n) flood, cloudburst, carriage; (n) deportation, (adj, v) totter, quake; (n) throb; (v)
overflow, stream, downpour, rain, banishment, exile, freight, shipping, flutter, quail, falter. ANTONYMS:
shower, soaker, inundation; (adj, n) transfer, transit, traffic, freightage (v) steady, calm
volley, eruption. ANTONYMS: (n) transported: (adj) ecstatic, rapt, trembles: (n) animal disease,
drought, trickle, shower elated, inspirited, spellbound, nervousness
torrents: (n) white water, rapids exultant, puffed up, proud, tremor: (n, v) shiver, quake, shudder,
tortoise: (v) sluggard, loiterer, delighted, elate; (adv) on cloud nine. shake; (n) agitation, vibration,
lingerer; (n) gopher, desert tortoise, ANTONYM: (adj) dejected earthquake, convulsion; (adj, v)
gopher tortoise, giant tortoise, trappings: (n) equipment, rigging, flutter; (adj, n) trepidation; (v)
gopher turtle, testudo caparison, embroidery, trapping, tremble
tortoises: (n) Testudinata tackle, suit, skirt, accouterment, tremulous: (adj) shaky, trembling,
tossing: (n) cast; (adj) moving lappet, flap shaking, fearful, apprehensive,
totem: (n) clan, God, kin, kin group, traveled: (adj) travel, passable, quavering, fidgety, shivering; (n)
kindred, kinship group, column, cultured, cosmopolitan nervous, diffident, coy.
emblem traveler: (n) tourist, wayfarer, ANTONYMS: (adj) stable, confident,
totter: (v) stumble, shake, falter, migrant, wanderer, itinerant, steady
lurch, rock, teeter, waver, waddle, voyager, traveller, visitor, flier, flyer, trencher: (n) dish, platter, chopping
toddle, stagger, shamble footer. ANTONYM: (n) resident board, porringer, potager, ditch
tottering: (adj) unsteady, ramshackle, traveling: (n) travel, journey, digger, saucer, calabash, crucible
easily shaken, tottery, sick, rocky, travelling, commuting, tresses: (n) locks, mop, head of hair
broken, trembling, cracked; (v) commutation, peregrination, triangular: (adj) tripartite, trilateral,
drooping; (n) convulsion circumnavigation; (adj) riding, trigonal, deltoid, triangled, angular,
toughened: (adj) unbreakable, tough, touring, nomadic, road multilateral, angulate
tempered, resistant, burnt, callous, traverse: (v) travel, walk, crisscross, tributary: (n) feeder, branch, affluent,
calloused, emotionally hardened, track, thwart, contradict, deny; (n, v) arm, stream, brook, watercourse;
enured, hard, hardy. ANTONYMS: journey, range; (n) crossing, (adj) secondary, subsidiary,
(adj) tender, untempered traversal contributory, subordinate.
tract: (n) region, area, expanse, essay, travesty: (n, v) parody, burlesque, ANTONYMS: (adj) original,
pamphlet, section, extent, district, caricature, lampoon, ridicule; (n) primary, source
dissertation, plot, lot mockery, farce, spoof, takeoff, sham, trifle: (n, v) play; (adj, n, v) trinket;
traditionary: (adj) traditional charade (v) dally, fiddle, flirt, fool, frivol; (n)
trait: (n) characteristic, attribute, treacherous: (adj) unfaithful, nothing, triviality, detail; (adj, n)
bagatelle smart, jaded eventide, fall, decline, evenfall; (adj)
trifling: (adj) paltry, slight, petty, trusty: (adj) trustworthy, honest, aurora. ANTONYMS: (n) daybreak,
negligible, immaterial, worthless, faithful, dependable, responsible, sunrise
trivial, minor, small; (adj, v) constant, loyal, true, authentic, solid, twill: (adj, v) curl, wrinkle; (adj)
inconsequential; (adj, n) frivolity. sure. ANTONYMS: (adj) corded, crisp; (v) braid, plexus, felt,
ANTONYMS: (adj) significant, untrustworthy, inconstant, corrupt, plat, plait, mesh; (n) cloth
worthwhile, major, considerable, disloyal twinkling: (n) moment, jiffy, minute,
crucial, enormous, great, mature, tuft: (n) wisp, crest, cluster, truss, second, flash, trice, twinkle, wink,
profound, substantial; (n) knot, fagot, tassel, strand, thicket, split second, breath; (adj) sparkling.
importance curl; (adj, n) feather ANTONYM: (adj) dull
trinket: (n) trifle, novelty, charm, tumble: (n, v) drop, jumble, stumble, twisting: (adj) tortuous, winding,
gaud, jewel, fallal; (adj, n) bauble, plunge, slip, spill, downfall; (v) sinuous, crooked, zigzag,
gewgaw, gimcrack; (adj) toy, paper crumble, collapse, topple, confuse meandering; (n) distortion, turn,
pellet tumbled: (adj) disordered spin, torsion, overrefinement
trinkets: (n) finery, jewels tumbling: (adj) falling, billowing, twopenny: (adj) sixpenny, tuppeny,
triumphant: (adj) victorious, dropping, rolled; (adj, adv) cheap, priced
successful, triumphal, exulting, plunging; (n) gymnastics, acrobatics, tyrant: (n) dictator, oppressor,
winning, joyful, rejoicing, elated, stunting, stunt flying, rumbling; autocrat, disciplinarian, bully,
conquering, prideful; (adj, v) (adv) headfirst authoritarian, sovereign, czar,
exultant. ANTONYMS: (adj) tumult: (adj, n, v) hubbub, monarch, suzerain, stickler
disappointed, failing, losing, disturbance; (n) stir, commotion, unaccompanied: (adj) lone, solitary,
defeated, miserable, sorrowful bustle, din, fuss, excitement; (n, v) unescorted, unaided, unattended;
trodden: (adj) trampled, damaged, clamor, disorder, brawl. (adj, adv) only, on your own,
beaten, compressed, packed down. ANTONYMS: (n) peace, push, without help; (adv) solo, singly, by
ANTONYM: (adj) loose serenity, order, calm yourself. ANTONYM: (adj) together
trot: (n, v) run; (n) crib, canter, pony, turbid: (adj, v) thick; (adj) murky, unaccountable: (adj)
gait, ride, lope; (v) gallop, general, opaque, cloudy, dirty, misty, foggy, incomprehensible, inexplicable,
frequent, household mirky, feculent, vaporous, nebulous. strange, unintelligible,
troth: (n) faith, engagement, ANTONYM: (adj) clear unexplainable, mysterious,
betrothal, plight, vow, loyalty, turbulence: (n) disorder, confusion, impenetrable, undiscoverable,
espousal, fidelity, truth, verity, agitation, commotion, fury, turmoil, undecipherable, unknowable,
veracity upheaval, uproar, turbulency, unnatural. ANTONYMS: (adj)
truant: (n) deserter, hooky player, hubbub, violence. ANTONYMS: (n) accountable, explainable,
nonattender, fugitive, wrongdoer, peace, calmness, order responsible, explicable
idler, absentee, absenter, offender; turbulent: (adj, n) tempestuous, unalloyed: (adj) pure, unadulterated,
(v) shirk; (adj) AWOL rough, stormy, boisterous, rude; genuine, unsophisticated, solid,
truce: (n, v) respite; (n) peace, (adj) furious, disorderly, violent, unfortified, untinged, sheer, true; (v)
breather, reprieve, ceasefire wild, noisy, riotous. ANTONYMS: painless, without alloy
agreement, agreement, pact, accord; (adj) peaceful, untroubled, unaltered: (adj) unalterable,
(v) rest, pause, lull. ANTONYMS: manageable, moderate, obedient, unmoved, same, unaffected.
(n) disagreement, fight, war settled, still, relaxed, orderly, mild ANTONYM: (adj) affected
trumpet: (n) horn, cornet, bugle, turf: (n) sward, greensward, ground, unanimous: (adj) consentaneous,
clarion, trump, brass, trombone; (v) grass, field, peat, lawn, green, divot, harmonious, consentient, strong,
proclaim, promulgate, show off, Corso, race course firm, of one mind, concordant,
blare turtle: (n) terrapin, redbelly, cooter, accordant, compact, collective,
trumpets: (n) Sarracenia flava, yellow snapping turtle, box tortoise, cubic. ANTONYMS: (adj) narrow,
pitcher plant, pitcher plant, yellow painted terrapin, marine turtle, individual
trumpet slider, sea turtle; (adj) game, venison unannounced: (adj) unheralded,
trunks: (n) short pants, pants, tusk: (n) ivory, fang, torsk, dentine, unexpected
luggage, Jockey shorts, Jamaica dentin, bone, tush; (adj) nib; (v) unanswered: (v) unrefuted,
shorts, Bermuda shorts, bathing detusk, horn, take away unconfuted; (adj) unsolved,
trunks, bathing suit, costume, tutelar: (adj) custodial, guardian, unresolved, unrequited,
drawers, swimming trunks protective unreciprocated, unsettled
trussed: (adj) bound, fastened, laced, twang: (n, v) flavor; (n) accent, tang, unarmed: (adj) naked, unprotected,
even strong taste; (v) jar, strum, play, open, simple, destitute, bare; (v)
trusting: (adj) credulous, smack, taste, smatch, savor weaponless, harmless, unfortified,
unsuspecting, naive, confident, twig: (n) sprig, bough, limb, shoot, vincible, untenable
confiding, simple, innocent, gullible, offshoot, spray, branchlet, scion, unattended: (adj) ignored, neglected,
reliant, give, easy to fool. stalk; (n, v) stick; (v) grasp alone, solitary, abandoned,
ANTONYMS: (adj) distrustful, twigs: (n) sprays disregarded, not safeguarded,
suspicious, doubtful, hesitant, twilight: (n) nightfall, night, sunset, lonely
protective, shrewd, disingenuous, gloaming, evening, sundown, unavailing: (adj) fruitless, bootless,
useless, ineffectual, inefficacious, frank, exposed, evident, artless, uncultivated: (adj) savage, ignorant,
otiose, inutile, ineffective, idle, vain, apparent uneducated, wild, fresh, uncivilized,
pointless unconcealed: (adj) open, overt, rude, untutored, uncultured, artless,
unavenged: (adj) unwroken, not obvious, frank, exposed, naked, lowbrow. ANTONYMS: (adj)
revenged; (v) unresented. patent, plain, barefaced, evident, cultivated, familiar, refined
ANTONYM: (adj) avenged conspicuous. ANTONYMS: (adj) undaunted: (adj, n) bold; (adj)
unbelief: (n) atheism, incredulity, hidden, contained, furtive fearless, brave, intrepid, resolute,
skepticism, distrust, scepticism, unconcern: (n) apathy, nonchalance, dauntless, daring, heroic,
misbelief, agnosticism, doubt, insouciance, coldness, detachment, unabashed, valiant, confident.
heresy, suspicion, misgiving. impassiveness, insensibility, ANTONYMS: (adj) cowardly, timid,
ANTONYM: (n) faith disregard, phlegm, carelessness, afraid, anxious, scared
unbidden: (adj) unbid, uninvited, lethargy. ANTONYMS: (n) undeceive: (v) unbeguile, unbefool,
spontaneous, voluntary, willing, responsiveness, worry, anxiety, disabuse, inform
unwanted interest undecided: (adj) uncertain, doubtful,
unblemished: (adj) clean, perfect, unconcerned: (adj) apathetic, dubious, unresolved, pending,
faultless, pure, immaculate, detached, insouciant, casual, indecisive, irresolute, hesitant,
blameless, clear, irreproachable, careless, nonchalant, thoughtless, debatable, indefinite; (adj, v)
unspotted, untarnished, flawless. easygoing, listless, carefree; (adj, n) undetermined. ANTONYMS: (adj)
ANTONYMS: (adj) blemished, cold. ANTONYMS: (adj) caring, certain, determined, sure, settled,
flawed, marked, imperfect, used, eager, troubled, sensitive, uptight, definite, decisive
marred, guilty, infirm craving, involved, energetic, undeniable: (adj) incontrovertible,
unbridled: (adj) wild, unchecked, interested, annoyed, strict irrefutable, certain, indisputable,
licentious, reinless, ungoverned, unconquerable: (adj) positive, incontestable, obvious,
violent, unmuzzled, ungovernable, insurmountable, impregnable, indubitable, unquestionable,
rampant, rakish, disorderly insuperable, irresistible, unbeatable, conclusive, evident. ANTONYMS:
unbroken: (adj) continuous, entire, proof against, resistless, (adj) disputable, dubious, doubted,
complete, continual, constant, intact, indomitable, unquenchable, contestable, questionable, debatable,
incessant, endless, whole, impassable, inextinguishable. uncertain, equivocal, unconvincing
undivided, solid. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (adj) conquerable, undeniably: (adv) certainly, clearly,
(adj) intermittent, temporary, feeble positively, unarguably, easily,
plowed, discontinuous, disturbed, unconsciously: (adv) instinctively, incontrovertibly, without doubt,
sporadic, partial unintentionally, unthinkingly, without a doubt, unquestionably,
unburden: (v) discharge, relieve, unwittingly, ignorantly, innocently, unmistakably, unavoidably.
unload, free, clear, lighten, take comatosely, automatically, ANTONYMS: (adv) arguably,
away, throw away, unburthen, obliviously, unsuspectingly, possibly, unclearly
shoot, soothe. ANTONYMS: (adj) inadvertently. ANTONYMS: (adv) underbrush: (n) brushwood, brush,
hide, conceal; (v) harbor, load consciously, deliberately, underwood, groundcover, thicket,
unceasingly: (adv) incessantly, knowingly, purposely scrub, bushes, coppice, ground
endlessly, ceaselessly, continually, uncontrollable: (adj) unruly, cover, shrub, weed
unremittingly, unendingly, incontrollable, ungovernable, undertone: (n) undercurrent,
constantly, always, perpetually, unmanageable, intractable, murmur, tinge, nuance, whisper,
uninterruptedly, eternally. undisciplined, disobedient, indocile, suggestion, implication,
ANTONYM: (adv) acutely overwhelming, boisterous; (adj, v) connotation, overtone, association,
unceremoniously: (adv) casually, uncontrolled. ANTONYMS: (adj) hint
familiarly, easily, offhandedly, controllable, imperceptible, orderly, undervaluing: (n) contempt, neglect,
abruptly, ungraciously, uncivilly, biddable, weak mistake, misapprehension,
curtly, closely, intimately, cozily. uncorrupted: (adj) immaculate, good, misconception; (adj) expressing
ANTONYMS: (adv) attentively, uncorrupt, unadulterated, chaste, depreciation, depreciative,
carefully, distantly, formally clean, fair, incorrupt, innocent, depreciatory
uncharitable: (adj) stingy, unkind, untainted, real. ANTONYMS: (adj) undiscovered: (v) solved,
ungenerous, unforgiving, tainted, impure, corrupt undeveloped, unexplained,
unamiable, relentless, grim, cruel, uncouth: (adj) rough, rude, untraced; (adj) unnoticed, remote,
inexorable, stern, hardhearted. barbarous, vulgar, crude, awkward, unexplored, unheard-of, silly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) charitable, clumsy, gross, unrefined, ungainly, unacquainted with, foolish
generous, considerate common. ANTONYMS: (adj) undisguised: (adj) downright, plain,
unchecked: (adj) unbridled, refined, couth, polite, sophisticated, overt, naked, bare, frank, literal,
uncontrolled, rampant, uncaught, pleasant, proper, genteel obvious, ingenuous, simple, honest
unbuttoned, uninhibited, uncovered: (adj) naked, open, bare, undisturbed: (adj) peaceful, quiet,
unconstrained, unprevented, nude, unclothed, bald, unreserved, tranquil, serene, placid, still, easy,
untrammeled, wild, unrestricted unprotected, evident, frank, smooth, uninterrupted, untroubled,
unclosed: (v) ajar, unstopped; (adj) manifest. ANTONYMS: (adj) indoor, composed. ANTONYMS: (adj)
sincere, public, plain, obvious, concealed tense, anxious, agitated, bothered,
disordered, disturbed, noisy, scared definite; (adj) decided, explicit, iniquitous, wicked, profane, godless,
undivided: (adj) complete, whole, unambiguous, categorical, plain, blasphemous; (adj, adv) unholy;
unbroken, total, single, integral, definitive, unmistakable; (adj, n) (adv) wickedly, impiously, sinfully.
continuous, united, full, exclusive, certain. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYMS: (adj) pious,
solid. ANTONYMS: (adj) partial, equivocal, indefinite, obscured, reasonable, sensible, moral, devout,
separate, broken, imperfect, vague, ambiguous, implicit, reverent
individual uncertain ungovernable: (adj) unruly,
undoing: (n) ruin, destruction, loss, unequivocally: (adv) decidedly, uncontrollable, irrepressible,
curse, cancellation, reverse, bane, definitely, absolutely, positively, intractable, licentious, violent, wild,
doom, collapse, annulment, disaster. exactly, clearly, plainly, indocile, uncontrolled, turbulent;
ANTONYMS: (n) building, creation categorically, expressly, explicitly, (adj, v) headstrong
undone: (adj) ruined, unfinished, distinctly. ANTONYMS: (adv) ungrateful: (adj) unmindful,
sunk, done for, finished, unclearly, vaguely, partially, unthankful, unappreciative,
behindhand, decayed; (adj, v) guardedly, implicitly unnatural, ingrate, unpleasant,
doomed; (v) accursed, to be pitied, unerring: (adj) sure, certain, inerrant, distasteful, displeasing, unkind,
devoted inerrable, accurate, exact, faithful, disagreeable, not kind.
undue: (adj) excessive, immoderate, perfect, unblemished, constant, ANTONYMS: (adj) grateful,
unreasonable, unwarranted, right. ANTONYMS: (adj) erring, thankful, appreciative
inordinate, extravagant, exorbitant, imperfect, mistaken, inaccurate, unguardedly: (adv) unprotectedly,
extreme, unfair, improper, faulty unwarily, carelessly, rashly,
unjustified. ANTONYMS: (adj) unexampled: (adj) new, unique, insecurely, heedlessly, indiscreetly,
reasonable, due, appropriate, unparalleled, rare, novel, exposedly, defenselessly,
sensible, justified, just, fair undescribed, peerless, inimitable, imprudently, directly
undulating: (adj) sinuous, waved, singular, fantastic, fresh unhallowed: (adj) ungodly, impious,
undulant, undulatory, curly, unexcited: (adj) unaffected, calm, profane, demonic, unsanctified,
apprenticed, zigzag, crimped, curvy, unimpressed, untouched, unstruck, diabolic, sinful, wicked, infernal,
indented, intended. ANTONYMS: unshocked, unmoved, impure, unchaste. ANTONYM: (adj)
(adj) steep, straight unenthusiastic; (adj, v) unstirred; (v) holy
unearthly: (adj) weird, ghostly, unimpassioned, unperturbed. unharmed: (adj) intact, safe,
uncanny, ethereal, unworldly, ANTONYMS: (adj) enthusiastic, unscathed, uninjured, whole,
preternatural, spectral, eerie, frivolous unhurt, untouched, safe and sound,
spiritual, strange, heavenly. unfavorable: (adj) bad, adverse, sound, secure; (adj, adv) in one
ANTONYMS: (adj) natural, disadvantageous, detrimental, piece. ANTONYMS: (adj) hurt,
physical, acceptable, normal, human inopportune, inimical, hostile, injured, broken, marred
uneasiness: (n) disquiet, discomfort, unfriendly, harmful, unfavourable, unheard: (adj) aspirated, atonic, deaf,
inquietude, anxiety, unease, malaise, contrary. ANTONYMS: (adj) indistinct, involving surds,
disquietude, apprehension, unrest, favorable, becoming, nice, good, nonvocal, radical, sharp, silent, surd,
impatience; (n, v) agitation. pleasant, desirable, advantageous, irrational
ANTONYMS: (n) peace, calm, beneficial unheeded: (adj) unnoticed, neglected,
confidence unfit: (adj) inappropriate, improper, disregarded, ignored; (v) unthought
unembellished: (adj) plain, inapt, unbecoming, incompetent, of, unseen, unperceived,
unadorned, simple, austere, bare, unable, incapable, unsuitable, bad; unobserved, unnoted, unmarked,
apparent, unvarnished, severe, (adj, v) incapacitate; (v) indispose. unmissed
honest, manifest, undecorated. ANTONYMS: (adj) appropriate, unhesitatingly: (adv) readily, openly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) fancy, figurative, suitable, ready, healthy, able, firm, freely, plainly, speedily, willingly,
fussy competent; (v) qualify decidedly, resolutely, determinedly,
unequal: (adj) different, unlike, unfitness: (n) disqualification, sincerely, undisguisedly.
uneven, rough, lopsided, unfair, disability, incompetence, ANTONYM: (adv) eventually
inadequate, disparate, incompetency, incapability, unhuman: (adj) inhuman,
disproportionate, unbalanced, inaptitude, inadequacy, dehumanised, nonhuman
unsymmetrical. ANTONYMS: (adj) insufficiency, ineptitude, incapacity, uniformly: (adv) equally, evenly,
equal, even, fair, identical, similar, feebleness. ANTONYMS: (n) fitness, consistently, regularly,
same, level, constant, balanced, like, ability homogeneously, identically,
corresponding unfrequently: (adv) not much, not steadily, unvaryingly; (adj, adv)
unequally: (adv) irregularly, often, unoften, rarely ever, always, invariably
disproportionately, unfairly, ungainly: (adj) clumsy, gawky, uninhabited: (adj) empty, desert,
unlikely, roughly, lopsidedly, unwieldy, inelegant, inept, desolate, vacant, unoccupied,
disparately, partially, maladroit, uncouth, graceless, stiff, unpopulated, uninhabitable, lonely,
unsymmetrically, unbalancedly, wooden, unmanageable. untenanted, unsettled, waste.
disproportionally. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (adj) graceful, ANTONYMS: (adj) inhabited,
(adv) evenly, fairly manageable, adroit, fitting, elegant overcrowded, populous
unequivocal: (adj, v) clear, positive, ungodly: (adj) sinful, irreligious, unintelligible: (adj) opaque,
inarticulate, unfathomable, ANTONYM: (adj) impure incommunicative, indefinable,
impenetrable, unaccountable, unmolested: (adj) undisturbed, indescribable, ineffable, unnameable
ambiguous, not clear, obscure, untroubled, unthreatened, unprotected: (adj) exposed,
indistinct, inconceivable, secret. peaceable, tranquil, still, smooth, unguarded, open, naked, helpless,
ANTONYMS: (adj) understandable, safe, quiet; (v) unafflicted, defenseless, unshielded, uncovered,
clear, comprehensible, intelligible, unplagued unarmed, undefended, insecure.
obvious unmoved: (adj) apathetic, unaffected, ANTONYMS: (adj) armed,
uninterrupted: (adj) ceaseless, indifferent, unconcerned, protected, secure, invulnerable
continuous, continual, unbroken, unimpressed, uninspired, unquestioned: (adj) undisputed,
incessant, perpetual, constant, dispassionate, imperturbable, calm, unquestionable, unanimous, clear-
unceasing, endless; (adj, adv) undisturbed, fixed. ANTONYMS: cut, accepted, axiomatic, proverbial;
straight, nonstop. ANTONYMS: (adj) affected, compliant, uptight, (adj, v) unchallenged; (v)
(adj) intermittent, temporary, concerned, enthusiastic, tolerant, uncontested, uncontradicted
broken, alternate, noisy, sporadic; sensitive unremitted: (adj) undeviating,
(adv) indirectly unnatural: (adj) affected, artificial, uniform, stretched, invariable,
unison: (n) agreement, union, accord, grotesque, supernatural, forced, stable, regular, assiduous, fixed,
coincidence, accordance, concord, abnormal, eccentric, uncanny, intense, intensive, intent
unity, unisonance, concurrence, stilted, mannered, anomalous. unremitting: (adj) ceaseless,
consonance, concordance. ANTONYMS: (adj) natural, normal, perpetual, incessant, unceasing,
ANTONYMS: (n) discord, real, unaffected, commonplace, continual, unending, continuous,
disharmony, disarray genuine, sincere uninterrupted, persistent, eternal;
uniting: (adj) concurrent, united, unnoted: (adj) unmarked, (adj, v) unrelenting. ANTONYMS:
coincident; (n) unification, reunion, overlooked, obscure, nameless, (adj) sporadic, temporary,
fusion, merger, coalescence, unknown; (v) unheeded, unthought inconsistent, finite, broken, acute,
amalgamation, conglutination, join of, unregarded, unobserved, undemanding, gentle
unjust: (adj) partial, injurious, wrong, unperceived, unseen unresisting: (adj) nonresisting, meek,
inequitable, unrighteous, wicked, unnoticed: (v) unheeded, unthought inactive, submissive, resistless,
foul, wrongful, improper, of, unregarded; (adj) disregarded, supine, resigned, overpowering,
unmerited, unjustified. unmarked, hidden, neglected, servile, subdued, suffering.
ANTONYMS: (adj) just, equitable, ignored, obscure; (adj, v) ANTONYM: (adj) rebellious
rightful, reasonable, good unremarked, unobserved. unrestrained: (adj, n, v) loose; (adj)
unloaded: (adj) untrammeled, not ANTONYMS: (adj) evident, seen, unconstrained, wild, uncontrolled,
fraught, unfraught, not burdened noticeable, noted, obvious immoderate, extravagant,
unlooked-for: (adj) unforeseen unobserved: (adj, v) unseen; (v) unconfined, mad, uninhibited; (adj,
unlucky: (adj) luckless, hapless, unheeded, unregarded, unthought v) dissolute, wanton. ANTONYMS:
unhappy, sinister, inauspicious, of, unperceived; (adj) ignored, not (adj) restrained, restricted,
unsuccessful, ominous, adverse, noticed, hidden, unmarked, contained, limited, partial, biddable,
disastrous, unfavorable; (adj, v) unnoted; (adv) secretly. frugal, hidden, inhibited,
untoward. ANTONYMS: (adj) ANTONYM: (adj) evident manageable, reserved
fortunate, happy, auspicious, unoccupied: (adj) empty, vacant, unruly: (adj) boisterous,
successful unemployed, free, desolate, void, insubordinate, disobedient,
unmanly: (adj) pusillanimous, uninhabited, idle, inactive, deserted, intractable, headstrong,
fearful, unmanlike, unchivalric, abandoned. ANTONYMS: (adj) full, uncontrollable, wayward,
unknightly, unmanful, craven, inhabited, overcrowded, solid, rambunctious, ungovernable,
weak; (adv) unmanfully, cowardly, working, busy lawless, rebellious. ANTONYMS:
effeminately. ANTONYM: (adv) unostentatiously: (adv) (adj) manageable, obedient,
manfully unpretentiously, unobtrusively, yielding, biddable, compliant, loyal,
unmasking: (n) expose, exposure, plainly, modestly, restrainedly gentle, peaceful, placid, restrained
detection unpracticed: (adj) inexperienced, unsatisfied: (adj) dissatisfied,
unmeaning: (adj) insignificant, raw, fresh, unpractised, green, disgruntled, unsatiated, unsated,
meaningless, senseless, nonsensical, young, unskilled, not distilled, not ungratified, restless, discontent,
irrational, expressionless, gibberish, covered, not breathed, newly fidgety, fretful, unsatiable; (v)
foolish, peanut, weetless, admitted unslaked. ANTONYMS: (adj)
undistinguished unpractised: (adj) inexperienced, pleased, happy
unmingled: (adj) unmixed, plain, raw, green, fresh, unskilled unseemliness: (n) indecency,
uncompounded, sheer, simple, unprincipled: (adj) abandoned, indecorum, indiscretion, ineptitude,
uncombined, concentrated, homely, unscrupulous, depraved, dishonest, ineptness, rudeness, tactlessness,
artless, bluff, patent unethical, profligate, dissolute, unsuitability, indecorousness, bad
unmixed: (adj, v) simple, sheer, mere, shameless, unconscionable, vicious, taste, inappropriateness.
downright; (adj) absolute, immoral. ANTONYMS: (adj) ethical, ANTONYMS: (n) politeness,
unmingled, undiluted, straight, moral, honest, professional propriety, decency
uncompounded, single, plain. unpronounceable: (adj) unseemly: (adj) indecent,
unbecoming, indelicate, (adj) irresolute, failing, weary extraordinary, scarce,
inappropriate, gross, impolite, unto: (prep, v) to, till, up to; (prep) unaccountable, remarkable
unbefitting; (adj, v) indecorous; (adj, towards, before unworthy: (adj) undeserving, base,
adv) uncomely; (adv) indecently, untouched: (adj) intact, unharmed, disgraceful, ignoble, low,
unbecomingly. ANTONYMS: (adj) unmoved, unscathed, virgin, whole, contemptible, despicable, ugly,
proper, appropriate, dignified, due, unhurt, new, impervious, unmerited, unseemly, shameful.
fitting, polite, suitable, correct, imperturbable, impassive. ANTONYMS: (adj) deserving,
decent, sensitive ANTONYMS: (adj) affected, valuable, honorable, estimable,
unseen: (adj, v) unknown; (adj) touched, refined, vulnerable, used, reputable
invisible, concealed, hidden, spoiled, partial, injured, marred, unyielding: (adj) obdurate, stubborn,
unobserved, secret, veiled, latent; (v) tainted, impure unbending, uncompromising,
unheeded, unperceived; (n) spiritual untried: (adj) raw, new, untested, relentless, firm, obstinate, resolute,
world. ANTONYMS: (adj) seen, unseasoned, fresh, untrodden, hard, inexorable, inflexible.
visible, open, famous, noticeable unsalted, young, unverified, ANTONYMS: (adj) flexible,
unsheathed: (adj) denudate, stripped, untouched; (v) undetermined. compliant, soft, surrendering,
bald, barren, bleak, completely ANTONYMS: (adj) proven, yielding, bouncy, loose, limp,
unclothed, denuded, desolate, seasoned, familiar, experienced unrelenting, gentle, fragile
marginal, naked, nude unturned: (v) undeviating; (adj) not upheld: (adj) supported, bolstered,
unsophisticated: (adj) artless, naive, turned, unswerving, undistorted swelled out
unaffected, natural, ingenuous, untutored: (adj) unschooled, uphold: (n, v) support; (v) preserve,
innocent, pure, rustic, uneducated, illiterate, uncultivated, defend, maintain, continue, endorse,
uncomplicated, green, callow. artless, simple, naive, unaffected, confirm, countenance, bolster,
ANTONYMS: (adj) refined, rude, rough, pure. ANTONYMS: encourage, back. ANTONYMS: (v)
complex, cultured, worldly, suave, (adj) trained, educated infringe, discontinue, weaken,
mature, experienced, advanced, unused: (adj, v) unaccustomed; (adj) contradict, endanger, abandon,
jaded idle, fresh, extra, uncommon, oppose, quit, undermine, end
unsuccessfully: (adv) ineffectually, unfamiliar, not used, surplus, uplifted: (adj) high, raised, noble, not
uselessly, badly, poorly, leftover, clean, inactive. inverted, not prone, proud,
unfortunately, futilely, fruitlessly, ANTONYMS: (adj) used, undismayed, stately, lofty, sublime,
ineffectively, abortively, unluckily, knowledgeable, accustomed, busy, animated
inadequately. ANTONYMS: (adv) active, working, main uproar: (adj, n, v) hubbub,
fruitfully, well, happily, effectively, unwearied: (adj) indefatigable, disturbance, tumult; (n) din, noise,
usefully, competently, persuasively untiring, tireless, untired, turmoil, commotion, disorder,
unsullied: (adj) unstained, indomitable, unflagging, confusion; (adj, n) row; (n, v) brawl.
unblemished, unspotted, industrious, tolerant, persistent, ANTONYMS: (n) calm, peace,
immaculate, pure, innocent, persevering, laborious. ANTONYM: serenity, order
spotless, chaste, stainless, guiltless, (adj) impatient upstart: (n) mushroom, nouveau
unsoiled. ANTONYMS: (adj) unwelcome: (adj) undesirable, riche, skipjack, climber, arriviste,
blemished, tainted, corrupt, old objectionable, unpopular, unasked, social climber, unknown, smart
unsuspecting: (adj) gullible, naive, unwished, unintroduced, unvisited, aleck, sleep; (adj) parvenue,
innocent, unsuspicious, credulous, uninvited, unpleasant; (adj, n) cockhorse
unaware, trustful, unconscious, disagreeable, unsatisfactory. upturned: (adj) retrousse,
unwary, not suspicious, unwitting. ANTONYMS: (adj) welcome, overturned, upside-down, broken,
ANTONYMS: (adj) suspicious, desirable, gratifying, wanted, disordered, disquieted, distressed,
shrewd, prepared, expecting, fortunate disturbed, confused, topsy-turvy,
conscious, realizing unwieldy: (adj) clumsy, cumbersome, shapely
untamed: (adj) unbroken, barbarous, unmanageable, heavy, bulky, upward: (adv) upwards, upwardly,
fierce, feral, barbarian, wild, ponderous, gawky, massive, aloft; (adj) overhead, rising, upper,
unpolished, uncivilised, uncivilized, ungainly, lumbering; (v) cumbrous. increasing, open, vertical, mounting,
uncombed, ferocious. ANTONYMS: ANTONYMS: (adj) convenient, upright. ANTONYMS: (adj)
(adj) cultivated, tame manageable, wieldy, compact, descending, downward; (adv) down
untenanted: (adj) vacant, handy, dainty, light urchin: (n) brat, imp, elf, ragamuffin,
uninhabited. ANTONYM: (adj) unwittingly: (adv) unintentionally, pixy, rogue, bairn, scamp, fairy; (adj,
occupied unknowingly, unconsciously, n) chit, dwarf
unthoughtful: (adj) unthinking, accidentally, ignorantly, innocently, usefulness: (n) utility, service,
thoughtless, uncaring, mentally unawares, unawarely, benefit, convenience, practicality,
sluggish, lumpish, lumpen unsuspectingly, uninformedly, avail, helpfulness, effectiveness,
untiring: (adj) indefatigable, obliviously. ANTONYMS: (adv) efficacy, value; (adj, n) worth.
unflagging, persistent, assiduous, mindfully, deliberately, knowingly ANTONYMS: (n) inefficiency,
industrious, persevering, unwonted: (adj) unaccustomed, rare, inutility, clumsiness, insignificance
indomitable, diligent, hardworking, unusual, unused, infrequent, usurped: (adj) tortious
patient, unfaltering. ANTONYMS: uncustomary, singular, utmost: (adj, n) maximum, extreme,
uttermost, furthermost, best, devils, fog, depression, wrath, vendetta, spite, revengeance;
highest; (adj, adv) farthest; (adj, v) hypochondriasis, pessimism, spleen, (n, v) avenge, resentment.
supreme; (adj) last, furthest; (adj, n, brume, horrors ANTONYMS: (n) forgiveness,
v) greatest. ANTONYMS: (adj) vapory: (adj) ethereal, foggy acceptance
moderate, worst varlet: (n) rascal, knave, page, venial: (adj) excusable, pardonable,
uttered: (adj) expressed, express, attendant, scoundrel, mean wretch, forgivable, minor, veniable, small,
verbalised, verbalized, vocal, cullion, scalawag, scallywag, underage, modest, nonaged
explicit, oral; (v) spoke, quoth, said rapscallion, scamp venison: (adj) turtle; (n) beef, chicken,
uttermost: (adj, n) extreme; (adj, adv) varmint: (n) vermin, beast, animal, ham, lamb, mutton, pork, red meat,
farthest; (n) maximum, level best; creature, rascal, pest, animate being, animal protein, white meat
(adj) furthest, utter, last, bad person, brute, fauna, trash vent: (n) exit, opening, flue, chimney,
farthermost, furthermost, ultimate, vault: (n, v) leap, bound, spring, escape, blowhole; (n, v) discharge,
most. ANTONYM: (adj) moderate jump, arch, hop, hurdle; (n) grave, air, release; (v) emit, ventilate.
vacancy: (n) emptiness, blank, tomb, cellar, crypt ANTONYMS: (n) door, closure; (v)
opening, void, incogitancy, post, vaunting: (n) ostentation, parade, block, suppress
blankness, inanity, absence; (adj, n) show, pompousness, pageantry, venting: (n) discharge, run, release,
vacuity; (adj) depletion. bravado, egoism; (adj, n) boasting; firing, sack, sacking, firing off,
ANTONYMS: (n) fill, tenancy, (adj) vaporing, vainglorious, talking electric arc, spark, expelling; (adj)
overflow idly vocal
vain: (adj) proud, arrogant, conceited, vehement: (adj) fierce, intense, veracity: (n) truth, accuracy,
fruitless, idle, empty, abortive, violent, strong, furious, passionate, exactness, truthfulness, fact, reality,
ineffectual, unproductive, ferocious, eager, hot, fervent, fervid. precision; (adj) probity; (adj, n)
narcissistic; (adj, v) useless. ANTONYMS: (adj) impassionate, faithfulness, sincerity, candor.
ANTONYMS: (adj) shy, successful, indifferent, mild, calm ANTONYMS: (n) mendacity,
possible, persuasive, selfless, veil: (n, v) cover, hide, disguise, falsehood, falsity, dishonesty
fruitful, humble, useful, responsible, mask, cloud, shroud, camouflage; verdant: (adj) lush, leafy, flourishing,
worthwhile, effective (v) cloak, conceal; (n) curtain, blind. fresh, raw, verdurous, blooming,
vainly: (adv) uselessly, futilely, ANTONYMS: (v) disclose, unveil, immature, inexperienced, emerald,
fruitlessly, conceitedly, in vain, expose young. ANTONYMS: (adj) dying,
worthlessly, abortively, bootlessly, veiled: (adj) hidden, unseen, covert, urban, withering
arrogantly, unproductively; (adj, secret, masked, disguised, obscure, verdure: (adj, n) greenness; (n)
adv) foolishly. ANTONYMS: (adv) cryptic, covered, indistinct, oblique. greenery, foliage, verdancy, viridity,
fruitfully, successfully, effectively ANTONYMS: (adj) overt, open, green, leafage, flora, freshness,
valetudinarian: (adj) sickly, infirm, unveiled, blatant strength, vegetable kingdom
valetudinarianism; (n) sick person, veiling: (n) gauze, cheesecloth, verified: (adj) substantiated,
sufferer, diseased person gossamer, netting, mesh, gauze confirmed, hard, proven,
valiant: (adj) brave, courageous, bandage, net demonstrated, authoritative, actual,
intrepid, fearless, heroic, audacious, venerable: (adj) ancient, reverend, established. ANTONYM: (adj)
gallant, daring, dauntless, stout, estimable, August, respectable, unproven
stalwart. ANTONYMS: (adj) afraid, aged, distinguished, sacred, worthy, verily: (adj, adv) really; (adv) indeed,
despicable of long standing, revered. in reality, genuinely, quitely,
valuables: (n) swag, plunder ANTONYMS: (adj) unworthy, actually, selfly, truely, identically,
vanish: (n, v) disappear; (adj, v) fade; unimpressive, undignified, exactly; (adv, int) in truth
(v) disperse, pass, go, die, dissipate, disreputable veritable: (adj, v) real, true, actual,
evaporate, depart, flee, melt away. venerate: (v) honor, idolize, adore, very; (adj) genuine, authentic, bona
ANTONYMS: (v) come, arrive, wax, respect, worship, reverence, esteem, fide, unquestionable, factual,
stay fear, admire, glorify, prize. truthful, right. ANTONYMS: (adj)
vanity: (n) egotism, pride, emptiness, ANTONYMS: (v) scorn, dishonor, false, unreal
arrogance, futility, inanity, despise vest: (n) waistcoat, undershirt,
vainglory, conceitedness, venerated: (adj) reverenced, singlet, oilskins, jubbah; (v) invest,
pretension, pomposity; (adj, n) reverend, sublime, venerable, clothe, enthrone, endow, put,
amour propre. ANTONYMS: (n) honored, respected, admired, ordain. ANTONYM: (v) divest
selflessness, humility, importance, inspiring awe, acclaimed, August, vestige: (n, v) trace, remains, track,
value, effectiveness beloved token, footprint; (n) relic, shadow,
vanquished: (adj) beaten, veneration: (n) respect, awe, honor, remnant, indication, evidence,
overwhelmed, routed, overcome, devotion, esteem, adoration, remainder
overpowered, overthrown, defeated, deference, estimation, worship, vestiges: (n) leftovers, relics, ruins,
crushed, tried, tired out, practiced admiration, thaumatolatry. remnants, remainder
vapor: (n) fog, cloud, steam, haze, ANTONYMS: (n) contempt, vestment: (n, v) dress, vesture,
evaporation, vapour, fume; (adj, n) disapproval clothing, apparel; (n) chasuble,
gas, air; (adj, v) bluster; (v) boast vengeance: (n) retribution, reprisal, garment, alb, cassock, surplice, garb,
vapors: (n) megrims, mist, blues, blue retaliation, requital, avengement, attire
vestments: (n) canonicals, dress, protection. ANTONYM: (n) choice, option, selection,
clothes, bedclothes, garb accusation determination, conation, preference,
vexation: (adj, n) annoyance, vindictive: (adj) vengeful, malicious, velleity, free will; (v) purpose
nuisance; (n) irritation, worry, revengeful, unforgiving, punitive, volley: (n, v) hail, firing, blast,
aggravation, displeasure, chagrin, malevolent, remorseless, implacable, explosion; (adj, n, v) burst,
chafe, anger, frustration, botheration despiteful, vindicative, virulent. discharge; (n) fusillade, shower,
vexed: (adj) troubled, irritated, angry, ANTONYMS: (adj) nice, charitable, storm, barrage, fire
pestered, peeved, harassed, sore, forgiving, helpful, merciful, tolerant voracity: (n) rapacity, greed,
harried, uneasy, cross, offended. vine: (n) grapevine, grape, creeper, gluttony, ravenousness,
ANTONYMS: (adj) calm, vignette, vignoble, potato, gourd, rapaciousness, esurience,
uncomplicated groundnut, haoma, horsebrier, hoya greediness, eagerness, hunger,
vibrate: (v) shake, shiver, oscillate, violated: (adj) profaned, seduced, voraciousness, covetousness.
tremble, quiver, shudder, swing, dishonored; (v) strained, disunited, ANTONYM: (n) moderation
wobble, palpitate, thrill, throb ruined financially, subjugated, vortex: (n) swirl, convolution, whirl,
viciously: (adv) wickedly, wildly, rough, not continuous, humbled, maelstrom; (n, v) whirlpool; (v)
savagely, maliciously, evilly, fractured undercurrent, storm, heavy sea,
wrongly, nastily, cruelly, fiercely, virtuous: (adj) upright, pure, ground swell, reflux, indraught
spitefully, badly. ANTONYMS: righteous, good, moral, just, votary: (n) disciple, devotee, follower,
(adv) gently, harmoniously, honorable, honest, respectable, lover, amateur, bacchant, bacchante,
peacefully, genially, tamely decent, pious. ANTONYMS: (adj) supporter, partisan, votarist,
victorious: (adj) triumphant, bad, sinful, corrupt, impure, solicitant
successful, winning, jubilant, victor, unethical, decadent, degenerate, vulgar: (adj) rude, coarse, plebeian,
fortunate, lifted up; (adj, v) irreverent nasty, common, foul, indecent,
triumphal, exultant, triumphing, on visage: (n) face, look, mug, gross, unrefined; (adj, n) low, vile.
top. ANTONYMS: (adj) beaten, physiognomy, expression, kisser, ANTONYMS: (adj) refined,
unsuccessful, failing, losing, appearance, aspect, brow, smiler, sophisticated, tasteful, polite,
sorrowful forehead aesthetic, muted, fashionable,
vigilance: (n) caution, alertness, vise: (v) visa, hold; (n) bench vise, decent, artistic, pleasant, clean
prudence, attention, watchfulness, holding device, metalworking vise, vultures: (n) ospreys, hawks,
surveillance, jealousy, vigil, watch, grip, shoulder vise Falconiformes, eagles, caracaras
circumspection; (adj) vigilant. visitation: (v) visit, examination; (n) wade: (v) ride the storm, buffet the
ANTONYMS: (n) carelessness, tribulation, calamity, annoyance, waves, skim, swim, splash, wallow;
indiscretion, negligence, misfortune, irritation, infliction, (n) Virginia wade
inattentiveness, recklessness inspection, test, ordeal wager: (n, v) stake, hazard, risk,
vigilant: (adj) alert, watchful, vista: (n) outlook, panorama, horizon, venture, gamble, chance; (v) lay,
attentive, observant, cautious, aspect, scene, landscape, scenery, pledge, pawn, play; (n) stakes
guarded, circumspect, wakeful, picture, alley; (adj, n) view, wailing: (n, v) lamentation, lament,
careful, jealous; (adj, v) awake. perspective moaning; (adj) lamenting, weeping,
ANTONYMS: (adj) careless, vive: (adj) hail, Ave, glory be to, crying, wailful, howling, sobbing;
negligent, reckless, oblivious, honor be to, long life to, all hail (adj, n) bawling; (n) cry
unprepared, asleep vocation: (n, v) calling, profession, waive: (v) forgo, relinquish, dispense
vigils: (n) dulia, hyperdulia employment; (n) occupation, job, with, resign, surrender, forfeit, give
vigor: (n, v) energy; (adj, n) intensity; trade, business, career, line, mission, up, abandon, spare, abdicate,
(n) spirit, vitality, force, life, line of work release. ANTONYM: (v) enforce
strength, power, might, vim, vociferous: (adj) loud, clamorous, wakeful: (adj) vigilant, sleepless,
stamina. ANTONYMS: (n) blatant, boisterous, clamant, awake, observant, restless, light,
weakness, apathy, frailty, laziness, strident, obstreperous, vocal, wary, psychologically light,
enervation, inactivity, indifference, tumultuous, turbulent, blustering. lightheaded, tripping; (v) wistful.
illness, lifelessness, sluggishness, ANTONYMS: (adj) silent, tranquil, ANTONYMS: (adj) unaware, asleep,
tardiness shy, gentle, soft inattentive, relaxed
villain: (n) rascal, scoundrel, rogue, void: (adj, n) hollow, null, blank; (n) wakefulness: (n) insomnia, arousal,
knave, miscreant, criminal, bandit, emptiness, vacancy; (adj, v) vacant; vigilance, guard, temporary state,
crook, reprobate, varlet, rapscallion. (v) nullify, quash, rescind; (adj) alertness, consciousness,
ANTONYMS: (n) heroine, hero invalid, vacuous. ANTONYMS: (v) circumspection, caution; (v) vigil; (n,
vindicate: (adj, v) absolve, clear, validate, sanction, permit, keep, v) watch. ANTONYMS: (n)
exonerate, exculpate; (v) excuse, allow; (adj) full, occupied, filled, inattentiveness, unconsciousness
acquit, defend, maintain, uphold, meaningful, solid; (n) fullness waking: (adj) wakeful; (n)
assert, rationalize. ANTONYMS: (v) volcano: (n) mountain, vent, lascar, awakening, wakefulness,
punish, blame, accuse, condemn maelstrom, etna, Fuji, vulcano, consciousness
vindication: (n) defense, apology, venthole, scissure, thunderstorm; walnut: (n) wood, walnut tree; (v)
excuse, defence, plea, alibi, acquittal, (adj) earthquake succotash, waffle, vanilla, trepang,
assertion, reason, exoneration, volition: (n, v) will, testament; (n) porterhouse steak, supawn, salmis,
sea slug, sauerkraut watchful: (adj) alert, observant, enervating, debilitative, flagging; (n)
wampum: (n) peag, dough, shekels, careful, cautious, wary, attentive, exhaustion, decline, enfeeblement,
cash, wampumpeag, money, kale, wakeful, mindful, circumspect, enervation, debilitation, attenuation,
stops, simoleons, medium of sleepless, awake. ANTONYMS: (adj) attrition. ANTONYMS: (n)
exchange, scratch inattentive, negligent, oblivious, strengthening, restoration,
wanton: (adj) loose, dissolute, light, forgetful, careless, asleep, trusting, improvement; (adj) growing,
licentious, unchaste, lewd, unprepared, reckless increasing
debauched, unprovoked; (v) dally; watchfulness: (n) care, caution, weakest: (adj) ridiculous, suggestion,
(n, v) sport; (adj, v) flirt. alertness, heed, wariness, jealousy, supposes, notions, plainly,
ANTONYMS: (adj) moral, wise, attentiveness, attention, solicitude, irrational, incongruous, project,
nice, kind, gentle, decent, clean, concern, anxiety. ANTONYMS: (n) foolish, fatuity, inconsistent
careful, observant, justifiable, recklessness, inattentiveness wearied: (adj) jaded, tired, spent,
involuntary watered: (adj) irriguous, dewy, fatigued, weary, prostrate, limp,
wantonness: (n) lust, unrestraint, watermarked, moist haggard, shattered, worn, fatigate
licentiousness, sexual immorality, waterfall: (n) cataract, falls, chute, weather-beaten: (adj) gnarled,
immorality, lasciviousness, force, angel, twin, fall, Niagara, rugged
unconstraint, voluptuousness, overfall, pertinency, reenforce weave: (v) twine, braid, knit,
wickedness, lasciviency, sybaritism. watering: (n) tearing, sprinkle, entwine, interweave, wind, waver,
ANTONYM: (n) restraint lachrymation, lacrimation, wetting, plait, fabricate, inweave; (n) texture.
ware: (n) commodity, goods, wares, irrigation, bodily process, body ANTONYMS: (v) separate,
tableware; (v) beware, dissipate, process, replenishment of water unweave, unpick
squander, luxuriate, consume; (adj) supplies, shedding tears, activity wedged: (adj) impacted, cuneiform,
cautious, commodities watery: (adj) moist, diluted, wet, jammed, fast, compacter, stuck,
warhorse: (n) old hand, veteran, dilute, washy, thin, damp, fluid, compact. ANTONYM: (adj) free
charger, steed, old stager, stage aqueous, weak, insipid. wedlock: (n, v) marriage, matrimony;
manager, veteran soldier, vet, ANTONYMS: (adj) strong, solid, (n) union, wedding, polygyny,
antique, cavalry horse, mount dry, soft, dehydrated, lively, dark, bigamy, intermarriage, exogamy,
warily: (adv) carefully, guardedly, clear, thick, hard endogamy, polyandry, misalliance
cautiously, circumspectly, charily, waver: (v) vacillate, fluctuate, weed: (n) grass, marijuana, pot, plant,
vigilantly, watchfully, thoughtfully, hesitate, totter, hover, wave; (n, v) fireweed, smoke, ganja; (v)
gingerly, attentively, suspiciously. quiver, flicker, shake, flutter, eliminate, hoe, plow; (adj) pick
ANTONYMS: (adv) boldly, tremble. ANTONYMS: (v) resolve, weep: (v) wail, bawl, lament, sob,
unwarily, trustingly, thoughtlessly, continue blubber, moan, howl, drip, greet,
rashly, recklessly wavering: (adj, v) vacillating; (n) whimper; (n) tear
warlike: (adj) military, belligerent, fluctuation, hesitation, vacillation; weeper: (n) griever, weep hole,
bellicose, pugnacious, combative, (adj) irresolute, indecisive, unfortunate person, town crier,
aggressive, armigerous, hostile, undecided, hesitant, uncertain, mourner, lamenter, bawler; (adj)
unfriendly, unpacific, militant. variable, changeable. ANTONYMS: depressed
ANTONYMS: (adj) harmonizing, (adj) decided, constant, resolute, weeping: (adj) tearful, lachrymose,
friendly stable, decisive; (n) resolution, dolourous, dolorous; (n, v) lament,
warmed: (adj) warmer, warm, baked stability lamentation; (v) wailing; (n)
warmer: (n) stove, oilstove, deicer, wayfaring: (adj) Peripatetic, itinerant, sobbing, tears, cry; (adj, n) howling.
defroster, brasier, radiator, brazier, vagabond, unsettled, nomadic; (v) ANTONYM: (n) celebration
warming, warmed, demister, gas wayworn; (n) journey, travel. weighty: (adj) heavy, ponderous,
heater ANTONYM: (adj) unmoving grievous, powerful, profound; (adj,
warpath: (n) belligerence, wayside: (n) edge, curb, verge, v) grave, serious, momentous,
belligerency, hostility, path margin, shoulder, border significant, solemn, influential.
warranty: (n) warrant, security, wayward: (adj) contrary, disobedient, ANTONYMS: (adj) superficial, light,
guaranty, assurance, authority, obstinate, stubborn, intractable, unimportant, trivial, weightless,
deposit, sanction, surety, pledge, unruly, capricious; (adj, n) freakish, unsubstantial, thin, solvable, small,
bond, bail crotchety, wanton, fanciful. facile, easy
warrior: (n) fighter, combatant, ANTONYMS: (adj) controllable, well-judged: (adj) judicious
champion, brave, gerrard, guerilla, good, manageable, biddable well-timed: (adj) timely, seasonable,
centurion, irregular, insurgent, weaken: (n, v) dilute; (v) lessen, opportune, happy, auspicious,
guerrilla, militant diminish, debilitate, break, favorable, felicitous, appropriate,
wasteful: (adj) improvident, profuse, attenuate, relax, undermine, prosperous, propitious, ripe
prodigal, lavish, profligate, ruinous, enervate, thin; (adj, v) enfeeble. westward: (adv) west, westwards;
uneconomical, spendthrift, thriftless, ANTONYMS: (v) bolster, grow, (adj, adv) westerly; (adj) westbound,
destructive, uneconomic. escalate, increase, refresh, improve, western; (v) to the west
ANTONYMS: (adj) economical, enhance, continue, condense, wheeled: (adj) on wheels.
cautious, parsimonious, efficient, concentrate, boost ANTONYM: (adj) wheelless
frugal, productive, sensible weakening: (adj) enfeebling, whence: (adv) wherefrom, hence,
because, for, why, wherefore, how, extravagance, ferociousness, modest, lowly; (n) departure,
then, then thence so, how comes it, intensity, vehemence; (v) privacy, seclusion, cancellation
how happens it wilderness; (n, v) waste. withe: (n) twig, withy, osier, sprig,
whimpering: (adj) whining, puling, ANTONYMS: (n) tameness, order, wickerwork, branchlet, band, wicker
childish, querulous; (n) sniveling, meekness, gentleness, caution, wither: (v) shrink, wilt, contract,
cry, tear orderliness shrivel, languish, droop, dry, waste,
whine: (n, v) groan, cry, whimper, wilds: (n) wasteland, waste, desert wane, atrophy, decay. ANTONYMS:
grumble, sigh, wail, squeal, screech; willingly: (adv) readily, voluntarily, (v) swell, strengthen, grow, blossom,
(v) complain, howl; (n) complaint. cheerfully, spontaneously, helpfully, flourish
ANTONYMS: (n) happiness; (v) disposedly, actively, openly, withered: (adj) wizened, sear,
praise, compliment obligingly, eagerly; (adj, adv) freely. shriveled, thin, shrunken, dry, dried
whipped: (v) whipt ANTONYMS: (adv) grudgingly, up, wilted, faded, wizen; (v) lame.
whirl: (n, v) spin, turn, eddy, roll, reluctantly, uncooperatively, ANTONYM: (adj) plump
wheel, twist, swirl; (v) reel, gyrate; unenthusiastically withheld: (adj) hidden,
(n) go, fling wilt: (v) flag, shrivel, sag, weaken, uncommitted. ANTONYM: (adj)
whirling: (adj) rotary, revolving, fade, languish, dry, wither, collapse, ongoing
dizzy, giddy, lightheaded, rotating, tire; (n) wilting. ANTONYMS: (v) withhold: (v) reserve, keep, suppress,
vortical; (n) rotation, gyration, flourish, rise, rally deny, retain, hold, detain, restrain,
revolution; (adj, n) swirling wily: (adj) cunning, crafty, foxy, abstain, check; (adj, v) stint.
whirlwind: (n) tornado, hurricane, artful, tricky, deceitful, designing, ANTONYMS: (v) transmit, release,
twister, gale, tempest, cyclone, astute, guileful; (adj, v) shrewd, show, lavish, add
typhoon, waterspout, windstorm, subtle. ANTONYMS: (adj) wits: (n) intellect, mind, wit, brains,
flurry, dust devil straightforward, open, guileless, common sense, presence,
whispering: (n) whisper, murmur, honest, ingenuous, straight percipience, observation, mother
susurration, rustle, report, stage winged: (adj) swift, rapid, speedy, wit, right mind, judgment
whisper; (adj, n) rustling; (adj) quick, flying, alate, sublime, lofty, witticism: (n) humor, jest, wit, gag,
susurrant, tranquil, hoarse, alated, aligerous, composed repartee, humour, pun, quip, crack,
susurrous wisely: (adv) judiciously, prudently, pleasantry, epigram
whistling: (n) whistle, sound, tin sagaciously, cleverly, discreetly, womanish: (adj) tender, feminine,
whistle, music, pennywhistle, sign, shrewdly, smartly, learnedly, female, womanlike, womanly, weak,
signal, signaling astutely, sharply, perspicaciously. unmanly
whither: (adv) hither, thither, ANTONYMS: (adv) stupidly, womanly: (adj, v) effeminate; (adj)
whereunto, whereto, for recklessly, imprudently, ladylike, womanish, female,
wholesome: (adj) healthy, beneficial, immaturely, illogically womanlike, wifely, weak, maidenly,
salubrious, healthful, salutary, wistful: (adj, v) reflective, meditative, matronly; (v) soft, feminate.
sound, good, nutritious, nourishing, thoughtful; (adj) contemplative, sad, ANTONYM: (adj) unwomanly
pure, hale. ANTONYMS: (adj) melancholy, longing, plaintive, wonderment: (n) wonder,
unwholesome, unhealthy, impure, wishful, yearning; (v) anxious. admiration, amazement,
indecent, sordid, warped, tainted, ANTONYMS: (adj) alert, satisfied, astonishment, surprise, awe,
decadent, deadly, unsavory shallow bewilderment, marvel, curiosity,
whoop: (n, v) shout, call; (v) howl, wistfully: (adv) pensively, annus Mirabilis, esteem
yell, shriek, roar, bellow, halloo, meditatively, desirously, longingly, wont: (adj, n) use, custom, usage; (n)
cough, hack; (n) vociferation yearningly, broodingly, reflectively, practice, tradition, cleanliness,
wickedly: (adv) evilly, immorally, wishfully, melancholy, thoughtfully, assuetude, assuefaction, convention,
badly, iniquitously, sinfully, nostalgically. ANTONYM: (adv) rut; (v) practise
mischievously, naughtily, wrongly, contentedly wonted: (adj, n) habitual, ordinary,
perversely, depravedly, criminally. witchcraft: (n) incantation, sorcery, usual, familiar; (adj) everyday,
ANTONYMS: (adv) kindly, witchery, enchantment, spell, black general, conventional, routine; (n)
virtuously, legally, rightly, magic, necromancy, fascination, accustomed, common, regular
obediently charm, black art, glamour wooded: (adj) arboreous, sylvan,
wield: (v) ply, wave, exercise, witchery: (adj, n) fascination, woody, timbered, densely forested,
brandish, hold, manipulate, flourish, enchantment; (n) sorcery, glamour, leafy
exert, manage, use, swing spell, magic, black magic, woodpecker: (n) redhead, ivorybill,
wigwam: (n) hovel, cabin, shanty, necromancy, enticement, pecker, piculet, nib, woodpeck, tool,
shed, tepee, lodge, dugout, booth, allurement, temptation Speight, Specht, shaft, redheaded
bothy, chalet, cot withal: (adv) nevertheless, woodpecker
wildcat: (adj) unauthorized; (n) notwithstanding, however, even so, woodsman: (n) woodman,
catamount, lynx, catamountain, all the same, nonetheless, with; (adj) cabinetmaker, carpenter, carver,
savage, margay, serval, beast, puma, likewise; (n) sufficiency, adequacy, journeyman, rustic, artisan,
cougar, eyra enough Bushman, joiner, artificer, craftsman
wildness: (n) fierceness, ferocity, withdrawing: (adj) receding, woof: (n, v) bark, cry, howl, growl,
savageness, abandon, rage, outgoing, retiring, moving back, yowl, snarl, wail, yelp; (n) texture,
filling, pick writhing: (adj, n) twisting; (adj) strenuous, vehement, glowing, fiery;
worm: (v) squirm, wriggle, twist, wriggly, squirming, wiggling, (adj, n) passionate. ANTONYMS:
spiral, helix, writhe; (n) helminth, wiggly, twisty, tortuous, snaky, (adj) indifferent, apathetic,
maggot; (adj) emmet, midge, fly winding, sinuous; (n) twist unenthusiastic, cool, halfhearted,
worshipped: (adj) adored, idolized, wronged: (adj) upset, hurt, indignant, moderate
venerable offended zenith: (n) apex, peak, top, height,
worthless: (adj, v) futile, vain; (adj) wrongs: (n) mala acme, pinnacle, summit, climax,
vile, idle, empty, trifling, void, wrought: (adj) shaped, done, worked, vertex, culmination, prime.
trivial, cheap, miserable, null. worked up, formed ANTONYMS: (n) base, bottom,
ANTONYMS: (adj) precious, useful, yawning: (adj, v) gaping, oscitant; (n) trough
worthwhile, priceless, meaningful, yawn, hiation, pandiculation, zion: (n) Eden, utopia, Erewhon,
helpful, invaluable, deserving, valid, oscitancy; (adj) cavernous, open, heaven, Israel, new Latin utopia,
worthy, substantial drowsy, profound, sleepy. State of Israel, Sion
worthlessness: (n) emptiness, ANTONYMS: (adj) cramped,
uselessness, paltriness, trashiness, narrow
insignificance, nothingness, yearning: (n) hankering, aspiration,
negativity, purposelessness, pride, thirst, craving, desire, hunger,
pointlessness; (adj) inanity. nostalgia, eagerness; (adj) wistful,
ANTONYMS: (n) importance, pining, desirous. ANTONYMS: (adj)
worth, helpfulness, appropriateness disinterested; (n) dislike,
wounding: (n) wound, injury; (adj) disinclination, apathy
hurtful, spiteful, traumatic, yell: (n, v) cry, roar, scream, howl,
grievous, offensive, stabbing, call, bellow, whoop, shriek, outcry;
inflicting wounds, impertinent, (v) bawl, holler
harmful. ANTONYMS: (adj) yelling: (adj) crying, howling,
harmless, complimentary, kind, fantastic, noisy, marvelous,
polite, sympathetic marvellous, instant, insistent, rank;
wrangling: (n) quarrel, bickering, (n) screaming, noise
controversy, polemics, discussion, yielded: (v) yold, yolden
haggle, haggling, dispute, strife, yielding: (adj, v) flexible, pliable,
altercation, jangle supple, tractable, pliant; (adj)
wrap: (v) envelop, cover, roll, wind, compliant, submissive, soft,
shroud, enfold, enclose, drape; (n, v) obedient, docile; (n) submission.
cloak, swathe; (n) wrapping. ANTONYMS: (adj) hard, firm,
ANTONYMS: (v) uncover, undo, inflexible, solid, rigid, obstinate,
unwind, expose, reveal stiff, stubborn, unyielding,
wrapping: (n) covering, wrapper, rebellious
envelope, bandage, wrap, swathe, yonder: (adv) beyond, further,
case, packaging, plaster, film, lint farther, abroad, thither, further
wreath: (n) crown, coronal, garland, away, at that place; (adj) distant,
chaplet, lei, circle, posy, fascia, yond, furious, fierce
cincture, girdle, laurels youngster: (n) lad, juvenile, kid,
wreathed: (adj) ringed, serpentine, child, urchin, toddler, youth,
coiled, circular, circinate, bent, adolescent, bairn, baby, tot.
annulate, tortile, torqued, ANTONYMS: (n) adult, elder
surrounded, curled younker: (n) juvenile, stripling,
wrested: (adj) perverted, distorted, puppy, blade, hobbledehoy, young
twisted, wry person, pup, youngster, young, lad,
wretch: (n) victim, villain, scoundrel, early days
reprobate, reptile, miscreant, martyr, youthful: (adj) immature, fresh,
object of compassion, poor devil, green, juvenile, vernal, adolescent,
prey, wreak childish, new, tender, sappy,
wringing: (adj) saturated, soaked, beardless. ANTONYMS: (adj) adult,
soaked to the skin, soaking wet, mature, experienced, sophisticated,
sodden, sopping, sopping wet, wet, late
wet through, wringing wet, soaking. zeal: (adj, n) eagerness; (n) fervor,
ANTONYM: (adj) dry enthusiasm, devotion, passion,
wrinkled: (adj, n) rough, rugged; vehemence, fire, fervency, heat,
(adj) puckered, creased, wrinkly, fervour, ardour. ANTONYMS: (n)
wizened, crumpled, lined, gnarled, apathy, lethargy, patience
unironed, crinkled. ANTONYMS: zealous: (adj) keen, enthusiastic,
(adj) unwrinkled, ironed, straight fervent, ardent, avid, devoted,

The Last of The Mohicans - James Fenimore Coope

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THE LAST OF THE

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

Published by ICON Group International, Inc.

This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005

Copyright ©2005 by ICON Group International, Inc.

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR

Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-

chastened, and perhaps improved, by the limited range of his practical

"Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared:

a state of perfect repose, and apparently disregarding, with characteristic

"Sola, sola, wo ha, ho, sola!"%

"How good it is, O see,

"Before these fields were shorn and till'd,

Leaving the unsuspecting Heyward and his confiding companions to

marks the drowsy sultriness of an American landscape in July, pervaded the

"Well go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove

"In such a night

"Poor Miriam!" murmured the stranger; "thy foal was foreordained to

"First born of Egypt, smite did he,

"Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide;

Heyward and his female companions witnessed this mysterious movement

"This certainly is a rare and brilliant instance of those natural qualities in

"They do not sleep,

without raising his voice to a dangerous elevation; while David, in imitation of

"They linger yet,

"Be gay securely;

"I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn

movements of the party, he said, in tones as friendly and confiding as he could

"Would 'La Longue Carbine' cut one so slight on an enemy?"

Shylock: "Cursed be my tribe

distant %tribe. Frequent indications of applause escaped the listeners, who, as

"Clown.--I am gone, sire,

"I'll seek a readier path."

"God forbid!" exclaimed Heyward. "Surely we have had enough of

"Guard: Qui est la?

murmuring as they were, relieved the guides at once from no trifling

"Vive le vin, vive l'amour," etc., etc.%

bays, embellished by fantastic headlands, and dotted with countless islands. At

"Then go we in, to know his embassy;

instantly, recollecting his errand, and the presence in which he stood, he

"We consider the qualities as inseparable," returned Duncan, smiling; "but

"Edgar: Before you fight the battle ope this letter."%

disagreeable to her father, on more accounts than my poverty. I did, therefore,

gentleman invited me to a conference, and when I send him a capable substitute,

"Shall all be done in a way most honorable to yourselves."

"Weave we the woof.%

"'Why rage the heathen furiously'?"

"Enough," said Heyward, interrupting the burst of his musical invocation;

of stragglers by the sounds of contention. A truant provincial was paying the

heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness, it is probable that Louis de

customary exclamation of commendation. In short, Uncas and his father became

"Land of Albania! let me bend mine eyes

His companions complied, though to two of them the reasons of this

"Give me my children," said Munro, hoarsely; "trifle no longer with a father's

"If you find a man there, he shall die a flea's death."

fatal to himself, he remained stationary, an attentive observer of the other's

"Bottom: Abibl we all met?

"Though my soul would rejoice to visit the habitations of Christendom once

possession of such leading circumstances as were likely to prove useful in

"My thoughts were bent on no such vanities, but rather mingled in