For they are sorcerers, and if one of them did not steal after the messenger when he left Yndaia with the poor mother's yearly gift of moccasins, then it was discovered by witchcraft." "For Amochol never forgets.

And whom the Red Priest chooses for his altar sooner or later will surely die there, unless the Sorcerer dies first and his Cat-People are slain and skinned, and the vile altar is destroyed among the ashes of its accursed fire!" "Then, with the help of an outraged God, these righteous things shall come to pass!" I said between clenched teeth.
The Sagamore sat with his crested head bowed.

And if he were in ghostly communication with the Mighty Dead I do not know, for I heard him breathe the name of Tamanund, and then remain silent as though listening for an answer.
I had been asleep but a few moments, it seemed to me, when the Grey-Feather awoke me for my turn at guard duty; and the Mohican and I rose from our blankets, reprimed our rifles, crept out from under the laurel and across the shadowy rock-strewn knoll to our posts.
The rocky slope below us was almost clear to the river, save for a bush or two.
Nothing stirred, no animals, not a leaf.

And after a while the profound stillness began to affect me, partly because the day had been one to try my nerves, partly because the silence was uncanny, even to me.

And I knew how dread of the supernatural had already tampered with the steadiness of my red comrades--men who were otherwise utterly fearless; and I dreaded the effect on the Mohican, whose mind now was surcharged with hideous and goblin superstitions.
In the night silence of a forest, always there are faint sounds to be heard which, if emphasizing the stillness, somehow soften it too.
Leaves fall, unseen, whispering downward from high trees, and settling among their dead fellows with a faintly comfortable rustle.