Etext of The  Deerslayer:  Or, the  First War-path.  A Tale. 
By James Fenimore Cooper

THE  DEERSLAYER:  OR, THE  FIRST WAR-PATH.  A TALE. 
By James Fenimore Cooper
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II. 
PHILADELPHIA:
LEA & BLANCHARD. 
1841.
Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1841, by
J. FENIMORE COOPER,
in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States in
and
for the northern district of New York.
J. FAGAN, STEREOTYPER.
I. ASHMEAD, PRINTER.

BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS," "THE PATHFINDER," "THE
PIONEERS," AND "THE PRAIRIE." 

--"What Terrors round him wait! 
Amazement in his van, with Flight combined, 
And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind." 

THE DEERSLAYER.

CHAPTER I.

"I hear thee babbling to the vale 
Of sunshine and of flowers, 
But unto me thou bring'st a tale 
Of visionary hours." 
          
Wordsworth. 

The discovery mentioned at the close of the preceding chapter,
was of great moment in the eyes of Deerslayer and his friend. In
the first place, there was the danger, almost the certainty, that
Hutter and Hurry would make a fresh attempt on this camp, should
they awake and ascertain its position. Then there was the increased
risk of landing to bring off Hist; and there were the general
uncertainty and additional hazards that must follow from the
circumstance that their enemies had begun to change their
positions. As the Delaware was aware that the hour was near when
he ought to repair to the rendezvous, he no longer thought of
trophies torn from his foes; and one of the first things ar-ranged
between him and his associate, was to permit the two others to
sleep on, lest they should disturb the execution of their plans, by
substituting some of their own. The ark moved slowly, and it
would have taken fully a quarter of an hour to reach the point, at
the rate at which they were going; thus affording time for a little
forethought. The Indians, in the wish to conceal their fire from
those who were thought to be still in the castle, had placed it so
near the southern side of the point, as to render it extremely
difficult to shut it in by the bushes, though Deerslayer varied the
direction of the scow, both to the right and to the left, in the hope
of be-ing able to effect that object.

"There's one advantage, Judith, in finding that fire so near the
water," he said, while executing these little manoe u-vres; "since it
shows the Mingos believe we are in the hut, and our coming on
'em, from this quarter, will be an on-looked for event. But 'tis lucky
Harry March and your fa-ther are asleep, else we should have 'em
prowling after scalps ag'in. Ha! there --the bushes are beginning to
shut in the fire --and now it can't be seen at all!"

Deerslayer waited a little to make certain that he had at last gained
the desired position, when he gave the signal agreed on, and
Chingachgook let go the grapnel, and low-ered the sail.

The situation in which the ark now lay had its advantages, and its
disadvantages. The fire had been hid by sheering towards the
shore, and the latter was nearer perhaps than was desirable. Still,
the water was known to be very deep further off in the lake, and
anchoring in deep water, under the circumstances in which the
party was placed, was to be avoided, if possible. It was also
believed no raft could be within miles; and, though the trees in the
darkness appeared almost to overhang the scow, it would not be
easy to get off to her, without using a boat. The intense darkness
that pre-vailed so close in with the forest, too, served as an
effectual screen; and so long as care was had not to make a noise,
there was little or no danger of being detected. All these things
Deerslayer pointed out to Judith, instructing her as to the course
she was to follow in the event of an alarm; for it was thought to the
last degree inexpedient to arouse the sleepers, unless it might be in
the greatest emergency.

"And now, Judith, as we understand one another, it is time the
Sarpent and I had taken to the canoe," the hunter concluded. "The
star has not risen yet, it's true; but it soon must, though none of us
are likely to be any the wiser for it, to-night, on account of the
clouds. Howsever, Hist has a ready mind, and she's one of them
that doesn't always need to have a thing afore her, to see it. I'll
warrant you she'll not be either two minutes, or two feet, out of the
way, unless them jealous vagabonds, the Mingos, have taken the
alarm, and put her as a stool-pigeon to catch us; or have hid her
away, in order to prepare her mind for a Huron in-stead of a
Mohican husband."

"Deerslayer," interrupted the girl, earnestly; "this is a most
dangerous service; why do you go on it, at all?"

"Anan! --Why you know, gal, we go to bring off Hist, the Sarpent's
betrothed --the maid he means to marry, as soon as we get back to
the tribe."

"That is all right for the Indian --but you do not mean to marry
Hist, --you are not betrothed, and why should two  risk their lives
and liberties, to do that which one can just as well perform?"

"Ah! --now I understand you, Judith --yes, now I begin to take the
idee. You think as Hist is the Sarpent's be-trothed, as they call it,
and not mine, it's altogether his af-fair; and as one man can paddle
a canoe, he ought to be left to go after his gal alone! But you forget
this is our ar'n'd here, on the lake, and it would not tell well to
forget an ar'n'd just as the pinch came. Then, if love does count for
so much with some people, particularly with young wo-men,
fri'ndship counts for something, too, with other some. I dares to
say, the Delaware can paddle a canoe by him-self, and can bring
off Hist by himself, and perhaps he would like that quite as well,
as to have me with him; but he couldn't sarcumvent
sarcumventions, or stir up an ambush-ment, or fight with the
savages, and get his sweetheart at the same time, as well by
himself as if he had a fri'nd with him, to depend on, even if that
fri'nd is no better than my-self. No --no --Judith, you wouldn't
desart one that counted on you, at such a moment, and you can't, in
reason, expect me to do it."

"I fear --I believe you are right, Deerslayer; and yet I wish you
were not to go! Promise me one thing, at least, and that is, not to
trust yourself among the savages, or to do anything more than to
save the girl. That will be enough for once, and with that you
ought to be satisfied."

"Lord bless you! gal; one would think it was Hetty that's talking,
and not the quick-witted, and wonderful Ju-dith Hutter! But fright
makes the wise, silly, and the strong, weak. Yes, I've seen proofs
of that, time and ag'in! Well, it's kind, and soft-hearted in you,
Judith, to feel this consarn for a fellow creatur', and I shall always
say that you are kind and of true feelings, let them that envy your
good looks, tell as many idle stories of you as they may."

"Deerslayer!" hastily said the girl, interrupting him, though nearly
choked by her own emotions; "do you be-lieve all you hear about a
poor, motherless girl? Is the foul tongue of Hurry Harry to blast my
life!"

"Not it, Judith --not it. I've told Hurry it wasn't man-ful to backbite
them he couldn't win by fair means; and that even an Indian is
always tender, touching a young wo-man's good name."

"If I had a brother, he wouldn't dare to do it!" exclaimed Judith,
with eyes flashing fire. "But, finding me without any protector but
an old man, whose ears are getting to be as dull as his feelings, he
has his way as he pleases!"

"Not exactly that, Judith; no, not exactly that, neither! No man,
brother or stranger, would stand by and see as fair a gal as yourself
hunted down, without saying a word in her behalf. Hurry's in
'arnest in wanting to make you his wife, and the little he does let
out ag'in you, comes more from jealousy, like, than from any thing
else. Smile on him when he awakes, and squeeze his hand only
half as hard as you squeezed mine a bit ago, and my life on it, the
poor fel-low will forget every thing but your comeliness. Hot
words don't always come from the heart, but oftener from
thestomach, than anywhere else. Try him, Judith, when he wakes,
and see the vartue of a smile."

Deerslayer laughed, in his own manner, as he concluded, and then
he intimated to the patient-looking, but really im-patient
Chingachgook, his readiness to proceed. As the young man entered
the canoe, the girl stood immoveable as stone, lost in the musings
that the language and manner of the other were likely to produce.
The simplicity of the hunter had completely put her at fault; for, in
her narrow sphere, Judith was an expert manager of the other sex;
though in the present instance she was far more actuated by
impulses, in all she had said and done, than by calculation. We
shall not deny that some of Judith's reflections were bitter, though
the sequel of the tale must be referred to, in order to explain how
merited, or how keen were her suffer-ings.

Chingachgook, and his pale-face friend, set forth on their
hazardous and delicate enterprise, with a coolness and me-thod
that would have done credit to men who were on their twentieth,
instead of being on their first, war-path. As suited his relation to
the pretty fugitive, in whose service they were engaged, the Indian
took his place in the head of the canoe; while Deerslayer guided its
movements in the stern. By this arrangement, the former would be
the first to land, and of course the first to meet his mistress. The
latter had taken his post, without comment, but in secret
influenced by the reflection that one who had so much at stake as
the Indian, might not possibly guide the canoe with the same
steadiness and intelligence, as another who had more command of
his feelings. From the instant they left the side of the ark, the
movements of the two adventurers were like the manoeuvres of
highly-drilled soldiers, who for the first time were called on to
meet the enemy in the field. As yet, Chingachgook had never fired
a shot in anger, and the deb–t of his com-panion in warfare, is
known to the reader. It is true, the Indian had been hanging about
his enemy's camp for a few hours, on his first arrival, and he had
even once entered it, as related in the last chapter, but no
consequences had fol-lowed either experiment. Now, it was
certain that an im-portant result was to be effected, or a mortifying
failure was to ensue. The rescue, or the continued captivity of Hist,
depended on the enterprise. In a word, it was virtually the maiden
expedition of these two ambitious young forest sol-diers; and
while one of them set forth, impelled by senti-ments that usually
carry men so far, both had all their feel-ings of pride and manhood
enlisted in their success.

Instead of steering in a direct line to the point, then dis-tant from
the ark less than a quarter of a mile, Deerslayer laid the head of his
canoe diagonally towards the centre of the lake, with a view to
obtain a position, from which he might approach the shore, having
his enemies in his front only. The spot where Hetty had landed,
and where Hist had promised to meet them, moreover, was on the
upper side of the projection, rather than on the lower; and to reach
it, would have required the adventurers to double nearly the whole
point, close in with the shore, had not this prelimi-nary step been
taken. So well was the necessity for this measure understood, that
Chingachgook quietly paddled on, although it was adopted without
consulting him, and appa-rently was taking him in a direction
nearly opposite to that one might think he most wished to go. A
few minutes suf-ficed, however, to carry the canoe the necessary
distance, when both the young men ceased paddling as it were by
instinctive consent, and the boat became stationary.

The darkness increased rather than diminished, but it was still
possible, from the place where the adventurers lay, to distinguish
the outlines of the mountains. In vain did the Delaware turn his
head eastward, to catch a glimpse of the promised star; for,
notwithstanding the clouds broke a little near the horizon, in that
quarter of the heavens, the curtain continued so far drawn as
effectually to conceal all behind it. In front, as was known by the
formation of land above and behind it, lay the point, at a distance
of about a thousand feet. No signs of the castle could be seen, nor
could any movement in that quarter of the lake reach the ear. The
latter circumstance might have been equally owing to the distance,
which was several miles, or to the fact that nothing was in motion.
As for the ark, though scarcely farther from the canoe than the
point, it lay so completely buried in the shadows of the shore, that
it would not have been visible even had there been many degrees
more of light than actually existed.

The adventurers now held a conference in low voices, consulting
together as to the probable time. Deerslayer thought it wanted yet
some minutes to the rising of the star, while the impatience of the
chief caused him to fancy the night further advanced, and to
believe that his betrothed was already waiting his appearance on
the shore. As might have been expected, the opinion of the latter
prevailed, and his friend disposed himself to steer for the place of
rendez-vous. The utmost skill and precaution now became neces-
sary in the management of the canoe. The paddles were lifted, and
returned to the water in a noiseless manner; and when within a
hundred yards of the beach, Chingachgook took in his, altogether,
laying his hand on his rifle in its stead. As they got still more
within the belt of darkness that girded the woods, it was seen that
they were steering too far north, and the course was altered
accordingly. The canoe now seemed to move by instinct, so
cautious and de-liberate were all its motions. Still it continued to
advance, until its bows grated on the gravel of the beach, at the
pre-cise spot where Hetty had landed, and whence her voice had
issued, the previous night, as the ark was passing. There was, as
usual, a narrow strand, but bushes fringed the woods, and in most
places overhung the water.

Chingachgook stepped upon the beach, and cautiously examined
it, for some distance, on each side of the canoe. In order to do this,
he was often obliged to wade to his knees in the lake, but no Hist
rewarded his search. When he returned, he found his friend also on
the shore. They next conferred in whispers, the Indian
apprehending that they must have mistaken the place of
rendezvous. But Deerslayer thought it was probable they had
mistaken the hour. While he was yet speaking, he grasped the arm
of the Delaware, caused him to turn his head in the direction of the
lake, and pointed towards the summits of the eastern mountains.
The clouds had broken a little, apparently be-hind rather than
above the hills, and the selected star was glittering among the
branches of a pine. This was every way a flattering omen, and the
young men leaned on their rifles, listening intently for the sound of
approaching foot-steps. Voices they often heard, and mingled with
them were the suppressed cries of children, and the low but sweet
laugh of Indian women. As the native Americans are ha-bitually
cautious, and seldom break out in loud conversa-tion, the
adventurers knew by these facts, that they must be very near the
encampment. It was easy to perceive that there was a fire within
the woods, by the manner in which some of the upper branches of
the trees were illuminated, but it was not possible, where they
stood, to ascertain ex-actly how near it was to themselves. Once or
twice, it seemed as if stragglers from around the fire, were
approach-ing the place of rendezvous; but these sounds were either
altogether illusion, or those who had drawn near, returned again
without coming to the shore. A quarter of an hour was passed in
this state of intense expectation and anxiety, when Deerslayer
proposed that they should circle the point in the canoe; and by
getting a position close in, where the camp could be seen,
reconnoitre the Indians, and thus ena-ble themselves to form some
plausible conjectures for the non-appearance of Hist. The
Delaware, however, reso-lutely refused to quit the spot, reasonably
enough offering as a reason, the disappointment of the girl, should
she arrive in his absence. Deerslayer felt for his friend's concern,
and offered to make the circuit of the point by himself, leav-ing
the latter concealed in the bushes to await the occurrence of any
fortunate event that might favour his views. With this
understanding, then, the parties separated.

As soon as Deerslayer was at his post again, in the stern of the
canoe, he left the shore with the same precautions, and in the same
noiseless manner, as he had approached it. On this occasion he did
not go far from the land, the bushes affording a sufficient cover, by
keeping as close in as possi-ble. Indeed, it would not have been
easy to devise any means more favourable to reconnoitring round
an Indian camp, than those afforded by the actual state of things.
The formation of the point permitted the place to be circled on
three of its sides, and the progress of the boat was so noiseless as
to remove any apprehensions from an alarm through sound. The
most practised and guarded foot might stir a bunch of leaves, or
snap a dried stick, in the dark, but a bark canoe could be made to
float over the surface of smooth water, almost with the instinctive
readiness, and cer-tainly with the noiseless movements, of an
aquatic bird.

Deerslayer had got nearly in a line between the camp and the ark,
before he caught a glimpse of the fire. This came upon him
suddenly, and a little unexpectedly, at first causing an alarm, lest
he had incautiously ventured within the circle of light it cast. But,
perceiving at a second glance, that he was certainly safe from
detection, so long as the Indians kept near the centre of the
illumination, he brought the canoe to a state of rest, in the most
favourable position he could find, and commenced his
observations.

We have written much, but in vain, concerning this ex-traordinary
being, if the reader requires now to be told, that, untutored as he
was in the learning of the world, and simple as he ever showed
himself to be in all matters touch-ing the subtleties of conventional
taste, he was a man of strong, native, poetical feeling. He loved the
woods for their freshness, their sublime solitudes, their vastness,
and the impress that they everywhere bore of the divine hand  
Collation: Vol. II. --2  of their creator. He seldom moved through
them, without pausing to dwell on some peculiar beauty that gave
him pleasure, though seldom attempting to investigate the causes;
and never did a day pass without his communing in spirit, and this,
too, without the aid of forms or language, with the infinite source
of all he saw, felt, and beheld. Thus consti-tuted, in a moral sense,
and of a steadiness that no dan-ger could appal, or any crisis
disturb, it is not surprising that the hunter felt a pleasure at looking
on the scene he now beheld, that momentarily caused him to forget
the ob-ject of his visit. This will more fully appear when we de-
scribe the scene.

The canoe lay in front of a natural vista, not only through the
bushes that lined the shore, but of the trees also, that afforded a
clear view of the camp. It was by means of this same opening that
the light had been first seen from the ark. In consequence of their
recent change of ground, the In-dians had not yet retired to their
huts, but had been delayed by their preparations, which included
lodging as well as food. A large fire had been made, as much to
answer the purpose of torches, as for the use of their simple
cookery; and at this precise moment it was blazing high and bright,
having recently received a large supply of dried brush. The effect
was to illuminate the arches of the forest, and to render the whole
area occupied by the camp as light as if hundreds of tapers were
burning. Most of the toil had ceased, and even the hungriest child
had satisfied its appe-tite. In a word, the time was that moment of
relaxation and general indolence which is apt to succeed a hearty
meal, and when the labours of the day have ended. The hunters
and the fishermen had been equally successful; andfood, that one
great requisite of savage life, being abundant, every other care
appeared to have subsided in the sense of enjoyment dependent on
this all-important fact.

Deerslayer saw at a glance that many of the warriors were absent.
His acquaintance, Rivenoak, however, was present, being seated in
the foreground of a picture that Sal-vator Rosa would have
delighted to draw, his swarthy fea-tures illuminated as much by
pleasure, as by the torch-like flame, while he showed another of
the tribe one of the ele-phants that had caused so much sensation
among his people. A boy was looking over his shoulder, in dull
curiosity, com-pleting the group. More in the back-ground, eight or
ten warriors lay half recumbent on the ground, or sat with their
backs inclining against trees, so many types of indolent re-pose.
Their arms were near them all, sometimes leaning against the
same trees as themselves, or were lying across their bodies, in
careless preparation. But the group that most attracted the
attention of Deerslayer was that composed of the women and
children. All the females appeared to be collected together, and,
almost as a matter of course, their young were near them. The
former laughed and chatted, in their rebuked and quiet manner,
though one who knew the habits of the people might have detected
that every thing was not going on in its usual train. Most of the
young wo-men seemed to be light-hearted enough; but one old hag
was seated apart, with a watchful, soured aspect, which, the hunter
at once knew, betokened that some duty of an unpleasant character
had been assigned her by the chiefs. What that duty was, he had no
means of knowing; but he felt satisfied it must be, in some
measure, connected with her own sex, the aged among the women
generally being chosen for such offices, and no other.

As a matter of course, Deerslayer looked eagerly and anxiously for
the form of Hist. She was nowhere visible, though the light
penetrated to considerable distances, in all directions around the
fire. Once, or twice, he started, as he thought he recognized her
laugh; but his ears were deceived by the soft melody that is so
common to the Indian female voice. At length the old woman
spoke loud and angrily, and then he caught a glimpse of one or two
dark figures, in the back-ground of trees, which turned as if
obedient to the rebuke, and walked more within the circle of the
light. A young warrior's form first came fairly into view; then
followed two youthful females, one of whom proved to be the
Delaware girl. Deerslayer now comprehended it all. Hist was
watched, possibly by her young companion, certainly by the old
woman. The youth was probably some suitor of either her, or her
companion; but even his discretion was distrusted under the
influence of his admiration. The known vicinity of those who
might be supposed to be her friends, and the arrival of a strange
red-man on the lake, had induced more than the usual care, and the
girl had not been able to slip away from those who watched her, in
order to keep her appointment. Deerslayer traced her uneasiness,
by her at-tempting, once or twice, to look up through the branches
of the trees, as if endeavouring to get glimpses of the star she had
herself named, as the sign for meeting. All was vain, however, and
after strolling about the camp a little longer, in affected
indifference, the two girls quitted their male escort, and took seats
among their own sex. As soon as this was done, the old sentinel
changed her place to one more agree-able to herself, a certain
proof that she had hitherto been exclusively on watch.

Deerslayer now felt greatly at a loss how to proceed. He well knew
that Chingachgook could never be persuaded to re-turn to the ark,
without making some desperate effort for the recovery of his
mistress, and his own generous feelings well disposed him to aid
in such an undertaking. He thought he saw the signs of an intention
among the females to retire for the night; and should he remain,
and the fire continue to give out its light, he might discover the
particular hut, or arbour, under which Hist reposed; a circumstance
that would be of infinite use, in their future proceedings. Should he
remain, however, much longer where he was, there was great
danger that the impatience of his friend, would drive him into
some act of imprudence. At each instant, indeed, he expected to
see the swarthy form of the Delaware, appear-ing in the
back-ground, like the tiger prowling around the fold. Taking all
things into consideration, therefore, he came to the conclusion it
would be better to rejoin his friend, and endeavour to temper his
impetuosity by some of his own coolness and discretion. It
required but a minute or two to put this plan in execution, the
canoe returning to the strand some ten or fifteen minutes after it
had left it.

Contrary to his expectations, perhaps, Deerslayer found the Indian
at his post, from which he had not stirred, fearful that his betrothed
might arrive during his absence. A conference followed, in which
Chingachgook was made acquainted with the state of things in the
camp. When Hist named the point as the place of meeting, it was
with the expectation of making her escape from the old position,
and of repairing to a spot that she expected to find without any
occupants; but the sudden change of localities had disconcerted all
her plans. A much greater degree of vigilance than had been
previously required, was now necessary; and the circum-stance
that an aged woman was on watch, also denoted some special
grounds of alarm. All these considerations, and many more that
will readily suggest themselves to the reader, were briefly
discussed, before the young men came to any decision. The
occasion, however, being one that required acts instead of words,
the course to be pursued was soon chosen.

Disposing of the canoe in such a manner that Hist must see it,
should she come to the place of meeting previously to their return,
the young men looked to their arms, and pre-pared to enter the
wood. The whole projection into the lakecontained about two
acres of land; and the part that formed the point, and on which the
camp was placed, did not com-pose a surface of more than half
that size. It was princi-pally covered with oaks, which, as is usual
in the American forests, grew to a great height without throwing
out a branch, and then arched in a dense and rich foliage. Be-
neath, except the fringe of thick bushes along the shore, there was
very little underbrush; though, in consequence of their shape, the
trees were closer together than is common in re-gions where the
axe has been freely used, resembling tall, straight, rustic columns,
upholding the usual canopy of leaves. The surface of the land was
tolerably even, but it had a small rise near its centre, which divided
it into a northern and southern half. On the latter the Hurons had
built their fire, profiting by the formation to conceal it from their
enemies, who, it will be remembered, were supposed to be in the
castle, which bore northerly. A brook also came brawling down the
sides of the adjacent hills, and found its way into the lake, on the
southern side of the point. It had cut for itself a deep passage
through some of the higher por-tions of the ground, and, in later
days, when this spot has become subjected to the uses of
civilization, by its windings and shaded banks, it has become no
mean accessory in con-tributing to the beauty of the place. This
brook lay west of the encampment, and its waters found their way
into the great reservoir of that region on the same side, and quite
near to the spot chosen for the fire. All these peculiarities,  
Collation: 2*  so far as circumstances allowed, had been noted by
Deer-slayer, and explained to his friend.

The reader will understand that the little rise in the ground, that lay
behind the Indian encampment, greatly fa-voured the secret
advance of the two adventurers. It pre-vented the light of the fire
diffusing itself on the ground directly in the rear, although the land
fell away towards the water, so as to leave what might be termed
the left, or eastern flank of the position, unprotected by this
covering. We have said "unprotected," though that is not properly
the word, since the knoll behind the huts and the fire, offered a
cover for those who were now stealthily approaching, rather than
any protection to the Indians. Deerslayer did not break through the
fringe of bushes immediately abreast of the canoe, which might
have brought him too suddenly within the influence of the light,
since the hillock did not extend to the water; but he followed the
beach northerly until he had got nearly on the opposite side of the
tongue of land, which brought him under the shelter of the low
acclivity, and con-sequently more in shadow.

As soon as the friends emerged from the bushes, they stopped to
reconnoitre. The fire was still blazing, behind the little ridge,
casting its light upward, into the tops of thetrees, producing an
effect that was more pleasing than ad-vantageous. Still the glare
had its uses; for, while the back-ground was in obscurity, the
fore-ground was in strong light; exposing the savages and
concealing their foes. Profit-ing by the latter circumstance, the
young men advanced cautiously towards the ridge, Deerslayer in
front, for he in-sisted on this arrangement, lest the Delaware
should be led by his feelings into some indiscretion. It required but
a mo-ment to reach the foot of the little ascent, and then com-
menced the most critical part of the enterprise. Moving with
exceeding caution, and trailing his rifle, both to keep its barrel out
of view, and in readiness for service, the hunter put foot before
foot, until he had got sufficiently high to over-look the summit, his
own head being alone brought into the light. Chingachgook was at
his side, and both paused to take another close examination of the
camp. In order, how-ever, to protect themselves against any
straggler in the rear, they placed their bodies against the trunk of
an oak, stand-ing on the side next the fire.

The view that Deerslayer now obtained of the camp, was exactly
the reverse of that he had perceived from the water. The dim
figures which he had formerly discovered must have been on the
summit of the ridge, a few feet in advance of the spot where he
was now posted. The fire was still blaz-ing brightly, and around it
were seated on logs, thirteen warriors, which accounted for all
whom he had seen from the canoe. They were conversing, with
much earnestness among themselves, the image of the elephant
passing from hand to hand. The first burst of savage wonder had
abated, and the question now under discussion, was the probable
existence, the history and the habits of so extraordinary an animal.
We have not leisure to record the opinions of these rude men on a
subject so consonant to their lives and experience; but little is
hazarded in saying that they were quite as plausible, and far more
ingenious, than half the conjectures that precede the
demonstrations of science. However much they may have been at
fault, as to their conclusions and inferences, it is certain that they
discussed the questions with a zealous and most undivided
attention. For the time being, all else was forgotten, and our adven-
turers could not have approached at a more fortunate in-stant.

The females were collected near each other, much as Deerslayer
had last seen them, nearly in a line between the place where he
now stood and the fire. The distance from the oak against which
the young men leaned, and the war-riors, was about thirty yards;
the women may have been half that number of yards nigher. The
latter, indeed, were so near as to make the utmost circumspection,
as to motion and noise, indispensable. Although they conversed in
their low, soft voices, it was possible, in the profound stillness of
the woods, even to catch passages of the discourse; and the
light-hearted laugh that escaped the girls, might occasion-ally have
reached the canoe. Deerslayer felt the tremour that passed through
the frame of his friend, when the latter first caught the sweet
sounds that issued from the plump, pretty lips of Hist. He even laid
a hand on the shoulder of theIndian, as a sort of admonition to
command himself. As the conversation grew more earnest, each
leaned forward to listen.

"The Hurons have more curious beasts than that," said one of the
girls, contemptuously, for, like the men, they con-versed of the
elephant and his qualities. "The Delawares will think this creature
wonderful, but to-morrow, no Huron tongue will talk of it. Our
young men will find him, if the animal dares to come near our
wigwams!"

This was in fact addressed to Wah-ta!-Wah, though she who spoke
uttered her words with an assumed diffidence and humility, that
prevented her looking at the other.

"The Delawares are so far from letting such creatures come into
their country," returned Hist, "that no one has even seen their
images there! Their young men would frighten away the images as
well as the beasts."

"The Delaware young men! --the nation is women, -- even the deer
walk when they hear their hunters coming! Who has ever heard the
name of a young Delaware war-rior?"

This was said in good-humour, and with a laugh; but it was also
said, bitingly. That Hist so felt it, was apparent by the spirit
betrayed in her answer.

"Who has ever heard the name of a young Delaware!" she repeated
earnestly. "Tamenund, himself, though now as old as the pines on
the hill, or as the eagles in the air, was once young; his name was
heard from the great salt lake, to the sweet waters of the west.
What is the family of Uncas? Where is another as great, though the
pale-faces have ploughed up its graves, and trodden on its bones?
Do the eagles fly as high, is the deer as swift, or the panther as
brave? Is there no young warrior of that race? Let the Huron
maidens open their eyes wider, and they may see one called
Chingachgook, who is as stately as a young ash, and as tough as
the hickory."

As the girl used her figurative language, and told her companions
to "open their eyes, and they would see" the Delaware, Deerslayer
thrust his fingers into the sides of his friend, and indulged in a fit
of his hearty, benevolent laugh-ter. The other smiled; but the
language of the speaker was too flattering, and the tones of her
voice too sweet for him to be led away, by any accidental
coincidence, how-ever ludicrous. The speech of Hist produced a
retort, andthe dispute, though conducted in good-humour, and
without any of the coarse violence of tone and gesture that often
impairs the charms of the sex in what is called civilized life, grew
warm and slightly clamorous. In the midst of this scene, the
Delaware caused his friend to stoop, so as completely to conceal
himself, and then he made a noise so closely resembling the little
chirrup of the smallest species of the American squirrel, that
Deerslayer himself, though he had heard the imitation a hundred
times, actually thought it came from one of the little animals,
skipping about, over his head. The sound is so familiar in the
woods, that none of the Hurons paid it the least attention. Hist,
however, instantly ceased talking, and sate motionless. Still, she
had sufficient self-command to abstain from turning her head. She
had heard the signal, by which her lover so often called her from
the wigwam, to the stolen interview, and it came over her senses
and her heart, as the serenade affects the maiden in the land of
song.

From that moment, Chingachgook felt certain that his presence
was known. This was effecting much, and he could now hope for a
bolder line of conduct on the part of his mistress, than she might
dare to adopt under an uncer-tainty of his situation. It left no doubt
of her endeavouring to aid him in his effort to release her.
Deerslayer arose, as soon as the signal was given, and though he
had never held that sweet communion which is known only to
lovers, he was not slow to detect the great change that had come
over the manner of the girl. She still affected to dispute, though it
was no longer with spirit and ingenuity, but what she said was
uttered more as a lure to draw her antagonists on to an easy
conquest, than with any hopes of succeeding herself. Once or
twice, it is true, her native readiness suggested a retort, or an
argument that raised a laugh, and gave her a momentary
advantage; but these little sallies, the offspring of mother-wit,
served the better to conceal her real feelings, and to give to the
triumph of the other party, a more natural air than it might have
possessed without them. At length the disputants became wearied,
and they rose in a body, as if about to separate. It was now that
Hist, for the first time, ventured to turn her face in the direction
whence the signal had come. In doing this, her movements were
natural but guarded, and she stretched her arm and yawned, as if
overcome with a desire to sleep. The chirrup was again heard, and
the girl felt satisfied as to the position of her lover, though the
strong light in which she herself was placed, and the comparative
darkness in which the ad-venturers stood, prevented her from
seeing their heads, the only portions of their forms that appeared
above the ridge at all. The tree against which they were posted,
had a dark shadow cast upon it by the intervention of an enor-mous
pine that grew between it and the fire, a circumstance which alone
would have rendered objects within its cloud in-visible at any
distance. This Deerslayer well knew, and it was one of the reasons
why he had selected this particular tree.

The moment was near when it became necessary for Hist to act.
She was to sleep in a small hut, or bower, that had been built near
the spot where she stood, and hercompanion was the aged hag,
already mentioned. Once within the hut, with this sleepless old
woman stretched across the entrance, as was her nightly practice,
the hope of escape was nearly destroyed, and she might, at any
moment, be summoned to her bed. Luckily, at this instant, one of
the warriors called to the old woman by name, and bade her bring
him water to drink. There was a delicious spring on the northern
side of the point, and the hag took a gourd from a branch, and
summoning Hist to her side, she moved towards the summit of the
ridge, intending to descend and cross the point to the natural
fountain. All this was seen and understood by the adventurers, and
they fell back into the obscurity, concealing their persons by trees,
until the two females had passed them. In walking, Hist was held
tightly by the hand. As she moved by the tree, that hid Chin-
gachgook and his friend, the former felt for his tomahawk, with
the intention to bury it in the brain of the woman. But the other
saw the hazard of such a measure, since a single scream might
bring all the warriors upon them, and he was averse to the act on
considerations of humanity. His hand, therefore, prevented the
blow. Still as the two moved past, the chirrup was repeated, and
the Huron woman stopped and faced the tree whence the sounds
seemed to proceed, standing, at the moment, within six feet of her
ene-mies. She expressed her surprise that a squirrel should be in
motion at so late an hour, and said it boded evil. Hist answered
that she had heard the same squirrel three times within the last
twenty minutes, and that she supposed it was waiting to obtain
some of the crums left from the late supper. This explanation
appeared satisfactory, and they moved towards the spring, the men
following stealthily and closely. The gourd was filled, and the old
woman was hurrying back, her hand still grasping the wrist of the
girl, when she was suddenly seized so violently by the throat, as to
cause her to release her captive, and to prevent her making any
other sound than a sort of gurgling, suffocating noise. The Serpent
passed his arm round the waist of his mistress, and dashed through
the bushes with her, on the north side of the point. Here he
immediately turned along the beach, and ran towards the canoe. A
more direct course could have been taken, but it might have led to
a discovery of the place of embarking.

Deerslayer kept playing on the throat of the old woman, like the
keys of an organ, occasionally allowing her to breathe, and then
compressing his fingers again, nearly to strangling. The brief
intervals for breath, however, were well improved, and the hag
succeeded in letting out a screech or two that served to alarm the
camp. The tramp of the warriors, as they sprang from the fire, was
plainly audible; and, at the next moment, three or four of them
appeared on the top of the ridge, drawn against the back-ground of
light, resembling the dim shadows of the phan-tasmagoria. It was
now quite time for the hunter to retreat. Tripping up the heels of
his captive, and giving her throat a parting squeeze, quite as much
in resentment at her in-domitable efforts to sound the alarm, as
from any policy, he left her on her back, and moved towards the
bushes; his rifle at a poise, and his head over his shoulders, like a
lion atbay.

CHAPTER II.     

"There, ye wise saints, behold your light, your star,  
Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye are.  
Is it enough? or, must I, while a thrill  
Lives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still?"   

Moore.   

The fire, the canoe, and the spring, near which Deer-slayer
commenced his retreat, would have stood in the an-gles of a
triangle of tolerably equal sides. The distance from the fire to the
boat was a little less than the distance from the fire to the spring,
while the distance from the spring to the boat, was about equal to
that between the two points first named. This, however, was in
straight lines -- a means of escape to which the fugitives could not
resort. They were obliged to have recourse to a d‚tour in order to
get the cover of the bushes, and to follow the curvature of the
beach. Under these disadvantages, then, the hunter commenced his
retreat --disadvantages that he felt to be so much the greater, from
his knowledge of the habits of all Indians, who rarely fail in cases
of sudden alarm, more es-pecially when in the midst of cover,
immediately to throw out flankers, with a view to meet their foes
at all points, and if possible to turn their rear. That some such
course was now adopted, he believed from the tramp of feet,
which not only camp up the ascent, as related, but were also heard,
under the faint impulse, diverging not only towards the hill in the
rear, but towards the extermity of the point, in a di-rection
opposite to that he was about to take himself. Promptitude
consequently became a matter of the last im-portance, as the
parties might meet on the strand, before the fugitive could reach
the canoe.

Notwithstanding the pressing nature of the emergency, Deerslayer
hesitated a single instant, ere he plunged into the bushes that lined
the shore. His feelings had been awakened by the whole scene, and
a sternness of purpose had come over him, to which he was
ordinarily a stranger.  Four dark figures loomed on the ridge,
drawn against the brightness of the fire, and an enemy might have
been sacri-ficed at a glance. The Indians had paused to gaze into
the gloom, in search of the screeching hag; and with many a man
less given to reflection than that of the hunter, the death of one of
them would have been certain. Luckily, he was more prudent.
Although the rifle dropped a little towards the foremost of his
pursuers, he did not aim or fire, but disappeared in the cover. To
gain the beach, and to follow it round to the place where
Chingachgook was alrea-dy in the canoe, with Hist, anxiously
waiting his appear-ance, occupied but a moment. Laying his rifle
in the bot-tom of the canoe, Deerslayer stooped to give the latter a
vigorous shove from the shore, when a powerful Indian leaped
through the bushes, alighting like a panther on his back. Every
thing was now suspended by a hair; a false step ruining all. With a
generosity that would have ren-dered a Roman illustrious
throughout all time --but which, in the career of one so simple and
humble, would have been for ever lost to the world, but for this
unpretending legend, Deerslayer threw all his force into a
desperate effort, shoved the canoe off with a power that sent it a
hundred feet from the shore as it might be in an instant, and fell
forward into the lake, himself, face downward; his assailant
necessarily following him.

Although the water was deep within a few yards of the beach, it
was not more than breast-high as close in as the spot where the two
combatants fell. Still this was quite suffi-cient to destroy one who
had sunk under the great disadvan-tages in which Deerslayer was
placed. His hands were free, however, and the savage was
compelled to relinquish his hug to keep his own face above the
surface. For half a minute there was a desperate struggle, like the
floundering of an alligator that has just seized some powerful prey,
and then both stood erect, grasping each other's arms, in order to
pre-vent the use of the deadly knife in the darkness. What might
have been the issue of this severe personal struggle cannot be
known, for half-a-dozen savages came leaping into the water to the
aid of their friend, and Deerslayer yielded himself a prisoner with
a dignity that was as remarkable as his self-devotion.+  

       Collation: Vol. II. --3  

To quit the lake and lead their new captive to the fire, occupied the
Indians but another minute. So much engaged were they all with
the struggle and its consequences that the canoe was unseen,
though it still lay so near the shore as to render every syllable that
was uttered perfectly intelligibleto the Delaware and his betrothed;
and the whole party left the spot, some continuing the pursuit after
Hist, along the beach, though most proceeded to the light. Here
Deerslay-er's antagonist so far recovered his breath and his
recollec-tion, for he had been throttled nearly to strangulation, as
to relate the manner in which the girl had got off. It was now too
late to assail the other fugitives, for no sooner was his friend led
into the bushes than the Delaware placed his pad-dle into the
water, and the light canoe glided noiselessly away, holding its
course towards the centre of the lake, un-til safe from shot, after
which it sought the ark.

When Deerslayer reached the fire, he found himself sur-rounded
by no less than eight grim savages, among whom was his old
acquaintance Rivenoak. As soon as the latter caught a glimpse of
the captive's countenance, he spoke apart to his companions, and a
low but general exclamation of pleasure and surprise escaped
them. They knew that the conqueror of their late friend, he who
had fallen on the opposite side of the lake, was in their hands, and
subject to their mercy or vengeance. There was no little admiration
mingled in the ferocious looks that were thrown on the pris-oner,
an admiration that was as much excited by his present composure
as by his past deeds. This scene may be said to have been the
commencement of the great and terrible reputation that
Deerslayer, or Hawkeye, as he was after-wards called, enjoyed
among all the tribes of New York and Canada; a reputation that
was certainly more limited in its territorial and numerical extent,
than those which are pos-sessed in civilized life, but which was
compensated for what it wanted in these particulars, perhaps, by its
greater justice, and the total absence of mystification and
management.

The arms of Deerslayer were not pinioned, and he was left the free
use of his hands, his knife having been first removed. The only
precaution that was taken to secure his person was untiring
watchfulness, and a strong rope of bark that passed from ancle to
ancle, not so much to prevent  his walking as to place an obstacle
in the way of his attempt-ing to escape by any sudden leap. Even
this extra provi-sion against flight was not made until the captive
had been brought to the light and his character ascertained. It was,
in fact, a compliment to his prowess, and he felt proud of the
distinction. That he might be bound when the warriors slept he
thought probable, but to be bound in the moment of capture,
showed that he was already, and thus early, attain-ing a name.
While the young Indians were fastening the rope, he wondered if
Chingachgook would have been treated in the same manner, had
he too fallen into the hands of the enemy. Nor did the reputation of
the young pale-face rest altogether on his success in the previous
combat, or in his discriminating and cool manner of managing the
late nego-tiation; for it had received a great accession by the occur-
rences of the night. Ignorant of the movements of the ark, and of
the accident that had brought their fire into view, the Iroquois
attributed the discovery of their new camp to the vigilance of so
shrewd a foe. The manner in which he ven-tured upon the point,
the abstraction or escape of Hist, and most of all the self-devotion
of the prisoner, united to thereadiness with which he had sent the
canoe adrift, were so many important links in the chain of facts on
which his growing fame was founded. Many of these
circumstances had been seen, some had been explained, and all
were un-derstood.

While this admiration, and these honours were so unre-servedly
bestowed on Deerslayer, he did not escape some of the penalties of
his situation. He was permitted to seat himself on the end of a log,
near the fire, in order to dry his clothes, his late adversary standing
opposite, now hold-ing articles of his own scanty vestments to the
heat, and now feeling his throat, on which the marks of his enemy's
fingers were still quite visible. The rest of the warriors consulted
together, near at hand, all those who had been out having returned
to report that no signs of any other prowl-ers near the camp were
to be found. In this state of things, the old woman, whose name
was Shebear, in plain English, approached Deerslayer, with her
fists clenched and her eyes flashing fire. Hitherto she had been
occupied with scream-ing, an employment at which she had played
her part with  no small degree of success, but having succeeded in
effectu-ally alarming all within reach of a pair of lungs that had
been strengthened by long practice, she next turned her at-tention
to the injuries her own person had sustained in the struggle. These
were in no manner material, though they were of a nature to arouse
all the fury of a woman who had long ceased to attract by means of
the gentler qualities, and who was much disposed to revenge the
hardships she had so long endured, as the neglected wife and
mother of sa-vages, on all who came within her power. If
Deerslayer had not permanently injured her, he had temporarily
caused her to suffer, and she was not a person to overlook a wrong
of this nature on account of its motive.

"Skunk of the pale-faces," commenced this exasperated and
semi-poetic fury, shaking her fist under the nose of the impassable
hunter, "you are not even a woman. Your friends, the Delawares,
are only women, and you are their sheep. Your own people will
not own you, and no tribe of red men would have you in their
wigwams; you skulk among petticoated warriors. You slay our
brave friend who has left us? --no --his great soul scorned to fight
you, and left his body rather than have the shame of slaying you! 
But the blood that you spilt when the spirit was not looking on, has
not sunk into the ground. It must be buried in your groans --what
music do I hear? Those are not the wailings of a red man! --no red
warrior groans so much like a hog. They come from a pale-face
throat --a Yengeese bosom, and sound as pleasant as girls singing.
--Dog -- skunk --wood-chuck --mink --hedge-hog --pig --toad --spi-
der --Yengee --"

Here the old woman having expended her breath, and exhausted
her epithets, was fain to pause a moment, though both her fists
were shook in the prisoner's face, and the whole of her wrinkled
countenance was filled with fierce resentment. Deerslayer looked
upon these impotent at-tempts to arouse him, as indifferently as a
gentleman in ourown state of society regards the vituperative terms
of a blackguard: the one party feeling that the tongue of an old
woman could never injure a warrior, and the other knowing that
mendacity and vulgarity can only permanent-ly affect those who
resort to their use; but he was spared  any further attack at present,
by the interposition of Riven-oak, who shoved aside the hag,
bidding her quit the spot, and prepared to take his seat at the side
of his prisoner. The old woman withdrew, but the hunter well
understood that he was to be the subject of all her means of
annoyance, if not of positive injury, so long as he remained in the
power of his enemies; for nothing rankles so deeply as the
consciousness that an attempt to irritate has been met by contempt,
a feeling that is usually the most passive of any that is harboured in
the human breast. Rivenoak qui-etly took the seat we have
mentioned, and, after a short pause, he commenced a dialogue,
which we translate as usual, for the benefit of those readers who
have not studied the North American languages.

"My pale-face friend is very welcome," said the Indian, with a
familiar nod, and a smile so covert that it required all Deerslayer's
vigilance to detect, and not a little of his philosophy to detect
unmoved; "he is welcome. The Hu-rons keep a hot fire to dry the
white man's clothes by."

"I thank you, Huron, or Mingo, as I most like to call you," returned
the other; "I thank you for the welcome, and I thank you for the
fire. Each is good in its way, and the last is very good, when one
has been in a spring as cold as the Glimmerglass. Even Huron
warmth may be plea-sant, at such a time, to a man with a Delaware
heart."

"The pale-face --but my brother has a name? So great a warrior
would not have lived without a name?"

"Mingo," said the hunter, a little of the weakness of hu-man nature
exhibiting itself in the glance of his eye, and the colour on his
cheek, --"Mingo, your brave called me Hawkeye, I suppose on
account of a quick and sartain aim, when he was lying with his
head in my lap, afore his spirit started for the happy
hunting-grounds."

"'T is a good name! The hawk is sure of his blow. Hawkeye is not a
woman; why does he live with the Dela-wares?"

"I understand you, Mingo, but we look on all that as a
sarcumvention of some of your subtle devils, and deny the charge.
Providence placed me among the Delawares young; and, 'bating
what Christian usages demand of my colour and gifts, I hope to
live and die in their tribe. Still, I do    Collation: 3*  not mean to
throw away altogether my natyve rights, and shall strive to do a
pale-face's duty in red-skin society."

"Good; a Huron is a red-skin, as well as a Delaware. Hawkeye is
more of a Huron than of a woman."

"I suppose you know, Mingo, your own meaning; if you don't, I
make no question 't is well known to Satan. But if you wish to get
any thing out of me, speak plainer, for bargains cannot be made
blindfolded, or tongue-tied."

"Good; Hawkeye has not a forked tongue, and he likes to say what
he thinks. He is an acquaintance of the Musk-rat," --this was a
name by which all the Indians designated Hutter, --"and he has
lived in his wigwam; but he is not a friend. He wants no scalps,
like a miserable Indian, but fights like a stout-hearted pale-face.
The Muskrat is neither white, nor red; neither a beast, nor a fish.
He is a water-snake; sometimes in the spring and sometimes on the
land. He looks for scalps, like an outcast. Hawkeye can go back
and tell him how he has outwitted the Hurons, how he has
escaped; and when his eyes are in a fog, when he can't see as far as
from his cabin to the woods, then Hawkeye can open the door for
the Hurons. And how will the plunder be divided? Why, Hawkeye
will carry away the most, and the Hurons will take what he may
choose to leave behind him. The scalps can go to Canada, for a
pale-face has no satisfaction in them."

"Well, well, Rivenoak, --for so I hear 'em tarm you, -- this is plain
English enough, though spoken in Iroquois. I understand all you
mean, now, and must say it out-devils even Mingo deviltry! No
doubt, 't would be easy enough to go back and tell the Muskrat that
I had got away from you, and gain some credit, too, by the
expl'ite."

"Good; that is what I want the pale-face to do."

"Yes --yes --that's plain enough. I know what you want me to do,
without more words. When inside the house, and eating the
Muskrat's bread, and laughing and talking with his pretty darters, I
might put his eyes into so thick a fog, that he couldn't even see the
door, much less the land."

"Good! Hawkeye should have been born a Huron! His blood is not
more than half white!"

"There you're out, Huron; yes, there you're as much out, as if you
mistook a wolf for a catamount. I'm white  in blood, heart, natur',
and gifts, though a little red-skin infeelin's and habits. But when
old Hutter's eyes are well be-fogged, and his pretty darters,
perhaps, in a deep sleep, and Hurry Harry, the Great Pine, as you
Indians tarm him, is dreaming of any thing but mischief, and all
suppose Hawkeye is acting as a faithful sentinel, all I have to do is,
to set a torch somewhere in sight for a signal, open the door, and
let in the Hurons, to knock 'em all on the head."

"Surely my brother is mistaken; he cannot be white! He is worthy
to be a great chief among the Hurons!"

"That is true enough, I dares to say, if he could do all this. Now,
harkee, Huron, and for once hear a few honest words from the
mouth of a plain man. I am a Christian born, and them that come
of such a stock, and that listen to the words that were spoken to
their fathers, and will be spoken to their children, until 'arth, and
all it holds perishes, can never lend themselves to such
wickedness. Sarcum-ventions in war may be, and are, lawful; but
sarcumventions, and deceit, and treachery, among fri'nds, are fit
only for the pale-face devils. I know that there are white men
enough to give you this wrong idee of our natur', but such are on-
true to their blood and gifts, and ought to be, if they are not,
outcasts and vagabonds. No upright pale-face could do what you
wish, and to be as plain with you as I wish to be, in my judgment,
no upright Delaware, either; with a Mingo it may be different."

The Huron listened to this rebuke with obvious disgust; but he had
his ends in view, and was too wily to lose all chance of effecting
them, by a precipitate avowal of resent-ment. Affecting to smile,
he seemed to listen eagerly, and he then pondered on what he had
heard.

"Does Hawkeye love the Muskrat?" he abruptly de-manded; "or
does he love his daughters?"

"Neither, Mingo. Old Tom is not a man to gain my love; and, as
for the darters, they are comely enough to gain the liking of any
young man; but there's reason ag'in any very great love for either.
Hetty is a good soul, but natur' has laid a heavy hand on her mind,
poor thing!"

"And the Wild Rose!" exclaimed the Huron --for the fame of
Judith's beauty had spread among those who could travel the
wilderness, as well as the highway, by means of  old eagle's nests,
rocks, and riven trees, known to them by report and tradition, as
well as among the white borderers -- "And the Wild Rose; is she
not sweet enough to be put in the bosom of my brother?"

Deerslayer had far too much of the innate gentleman to insinuate
aught against the fair fame of one who, by nature and position, was
so helpless; and as he did not choose to utter untruth, he preferred
being silent. The Huron mis-took the motive, and supposed that
disappointed affection lay at the bottom of his reserve. Still bent
on corrupting or bribing his captive, in order to obtain possession
of thetreasures with which his imagination filled the castle, he
persevered in his attack.

"Hawkeye is talking with a friend," he continued. "He knows that
Rivenoak is a man of his word, for they have traded together, and
trade opens the soul. My friend has come here, on account of a
little string held by a girl, that can pull the whole body of the
stoutest warrior?"

"You are nearer the truth, now, Huron, than you 've been afore,
since we began to talk. This is true. But one end of that string was
not fast to my heart, nor did the Wild Rose hold the other."

"This is wonderful! Does my brother love in his head, and not in
his heart? And can the Feeble-Mind pull so hard against so stout a
warrior?"

"There it is ag'in; sometimes right, and sometimes wrong! The
string you mean, is fast to the heart of a great Delaware; one of
Mohican stock in fact, living among the Delawares since the
disparsion of his own people, and of the family of Uncas --
Chingachgook by name, or Great Sarpent. He has come here, led
by the string, and I 've followed, or rather come afore, for I got
here first, pulled by nothing stronger than fri'ndship; which is
strong enough for such as are not niggardly of their feelin's, and
are will-ing to live a little for their fellow-creatur's, as well as for
themselves."

"But a string has two ends --one is fast to the mind of a Mohican,
and the other --?"

"Why the other was here close to the fire, half an hour since.
Wah-ta!-Wah held it in her hand, if she didn't hold it to her
heart."+  

     

"I understand what you mean, my brother," returned the Indian,
gravely, for the first time catching a direct clue to the adventures
of the evening. "The Great Serpent, being strongest, pulled the
hardest, and Hist was forced to leave us."

"I don't think there was much pulling about it," answer-ed the
other, laughing, always in his silent manner, with as much
heartiness as if he were not a captive, and in dan-ger of torture or
death. "I don't think there was much pulling about it; no, I don't.
Lord help you, Huron! he likes the gal, and the gal likes him, and it
surpassed Huron sarcumventions to keep two young people apart,
when there was so strong a feelin' to bring 'em together."

"And Hawkeye and Chingachgook came into our camp on this
errand, only?"

"That's a question that'll answer itself, Mingo! Yes, if a question
could talk, it would answer itself, to your par-fect satisfaction. For
what else should we come? And yet, it is'nt exactly so, neither; for
we didn't come into your camp at all, but only as far as that pine,
there, that you see on the other side of the ridge, where we stood
watching your movements and conduct, as long as we liked. When
we were ready, the Sarpent gave his signal, and then all went just
as it should, down to the moment when yonder vagabond leaped
upon my back. Sartain; we came for that, and for no other purpose,
and we got what we came for; there's no use in pretending
otherwise. Hist is off with a man who's the next thing to her
husband, and come what will to me, that's one good thing
detarmined."

"What sign or signal told the young maiden that her lover was
nigh?" asked the old Huron, with more curiosity than it was usual
for him to betray.

Deerslayer laughed again, and seemed to enjoy the suc-cess of the
exploit with as much glee, as if he had not been its victim.

"Your squirrels are great gadabouts, Mingo!" he cried, still
laughing --"yes, they 're sartainly great gadabouts! When other
folks' squirrels are at home and asleep, yourn keep in motion
among the trees, and chirrup and sing, in a way that even a
Delaware gal can understand their music! Well, there's four-legged
squirrels, and there's two-legged  squirrels, and give me the last,
when there's a good tight string atween two hearts. If one brings
'em together, t'other tells when to pull hardest!"

The Huron looked vexed, though he succeeded in sup-pressing any
violent exhibition of resentment. He soon quitted his prisoner, and
joining the rest of his warriors, he communicated the substance of
what he had learned. As in his own case admiration was mingled
with anger, at the boldness and success of their enemies. Three or
four of them ascended the little acclivity and gazed at the tree
where it was understood the adventurers had posted themselves,
and one even descended to it, and examined for foot-prints around
its roots, in order to make sure that the statement was true. The
result confirmed the story of the captive, and they all returned to
the fire with increased wonder and respect. The messenger, who
had arrived with some com-munication from the party above,
while the two adventurers were watching the camp, was now
dispatched with some answer, and doubtless bore with him the
intelligence of all that had happened.

Down to this moment, the young Indian who had been seen
walking in company with Hist and another female, had made no
advances to any communication with Deerslayer. He had held
himself aloof from his friends even, passing near the bevy of
younger women who were clustering together, apart as usual, and
conversed in low tones on the subject of the escape of their late
companion. Perhaps it would be true to say, that these last were
pleased as well asvexed at what had just occurred. Their female
sympathies were with the lovers, while their pride was bound up in
the success of their own tribe. It is possible, too, that the superior
personal advantages of Hist rendered her dangerous to some of the
younger part of the group, and they were not sorry to find she was
no longer in the way of their own as-cendency. On the whole,
however, the better feeling was most prevalent; for neither the
wild condition in which they lived, the clannish prejudices of
tribes, nor their hard fortunes as Indian women, could entirely
conquer the inextinguish-able leaning of their sex to the affections.
One of the girls even laughed at the disconsolate look of the swain
who might fancy himself deserted, a circumstance that seemed 
suddenly to arouse his energies, and induced him to move towards
the log, on which the prisoner was still seated, drying his clothes.

"This is Catamount!" said the Indian, striking his hand boastfully
on his naked breast as he uttered the words, in a manner to show
how much weight he expected them to carry.

"This is Hawkeye," quietly returned Deerslayer, adopt-ing the
name by which he knew he would be known in fu-ture, among all
the tribes of the Iroquois. "My sight is keen: is my brother's leap
long?"

"From here to the Delaware villages. Hawkeye has stolen my wife:
he must bring her back, or his scalp will hang on a pole, and dry in
my wigwam."

"Hawkeye has stolen nothing, Huron. He doesn't come of a
thieving breed, nor has he thieving gifts. Your wife, as you call
Wah-ta!-Wah, will never be the wife of any red-skin of the
Canadas; her mind is in the cabin of a Del-aware, and her body has
gone to find it. The catamount is actyve, I know; but its legs can't
keep pace with a wo-man's wishes."

"The Serpent of the Delawares is a dog: he is a poor bull-pout, that
keeps in the water; he is afraid to stand on the hard earth, like a
brave Indian!"

"Well, well, Huron, that's pretty impudent, considering it's not an
hour since the Sarpent stood within a hundred feet of you, and
would have tried the toughness of your skin with a rifle-bullet,
when I pointed you out to him, hadn't I laid the weight of a little
judgment on his hand. You may take in timersome gals in the
settlements, with your cata-mount whine; but the ears of a man can
tell truth from ontruth."

"Hist laughs at him! She sees he is lame, and a poor hunter, and he
has never been on a war-path. She will take a man for a husband,
and not a fool."

"How do you know that, Catamount? how do you know that?"
returned Deerslayer, laughing. "She has gone intothe lake, you see,
and maybe she prefers a trout to a mon-grel cat. As for war-paths,
neither the Sarpent nor I have much exper'ence, we are ready to
own; but if you don't call this one, you must tarm it, what the gals
in the settle- ments tarm it, the high road to matrimony. Take my
ad-vice, Catamount, and s'arch for a wife among the Huron young
women; you'll never get one, with a willing mind, from among the
Delawares."

Catamount's hand felt for his tomahawk, and when the fingers
reached the handle, they worked convulsively, as if their owner
hesitated between policy and resentment. At this critical moment
Rivenoak approached, and, by a gesture of authority, induced the
young man to retire, assuming his former position, himself, on the
log, at the side of Deer-slayer. Here he continued silent for a little
time, maintain-ing the grave reserve of an Indian chief.

"Hawkeye is right," the Iroquois at length began; "his sight is so
strong that he can see truth in a dark night, and our eyes have been
blinded. He is owl, darkness hiding nothing from him. He ought
not to strike his friends. He is right."

"I 'm glad you think so, Mingo," returned the other, "for a traitor, in
my judgment, is worse than a coward. I care as little for the
Muskrat, as one pale-face ought to care for another; but I care too
much for him, to ambush him in the way you wished. In short,
according to my idees, any sar-cumventions, except open-war
sarcumventions, are ag'in both law, and what we whites call
`gospel,' too."

"My pale-face brother is right; he is no Indian, to forget his
Manitou and his colour. The Hurons know that they have a great
warrior for their prisoner, and they will treat him as one. If he is to
be tortured, his torments shall be such as no common man can
bear; and if he is to be treated as a friend, it will be the friendship
of chiefs."

As the Huron uttered this extraordinary assurance of consideration,
his eye furtively glanced at the countenance of his listener, in order
to discover how he stood the com-pliment; though his gravity and
apparent sincerity would have prevented any man but one
practised in artifices, from detecting his motives. Deerslayer
belonged to the class of the unsuspicious; and acquainted with the
Indian notions of what constituted respect, in matters connected
with the treatment of captives, he felt his blood chill at the
announce-ment, even while he maintained an aspect so steeled that
his  quick-sighted enemy could discover in it no signs of
weak-ness.

"God has put me in your hands, Huron," the captive at length
answered, "and I suppose you will act your will on me. I shall not
boast of what I can do, under torment, for I've never been tried,
and no man can say till he has been; but I'll do my endivours not to
disgrace the people among whom I got my training. Howsever, I
wish you now to bear witness, that I'm altogether of white blood,
and, in a nat'ral way, of white gifts, too; so, should I be overcome
and forget myself, I hope you'll lay the fault where it pro-perly
belongs; and in no manner put it on the Delawares, or their allies
and friends the Mohicans. We're all created with more or less
weakness, and I'm afeard it's a pale-face's to give in under great
bodily torment, when a red-skin will sing his songs, and boast of
his deeds in the very teeth of his foes!"

"We shall see. Hawkeye has a good countenance, and he is tough --
But why should he be tormented, when the Hurons love him? He is
not born their enemy; and the death of one warrior will not cast a
cloud between them for ever."

"So much the better, Huron; so much the better. Still I don't wish
to owe any thing to a mistake about each other's meaning. It is so
much the better that you bear no malice for the loss of a warrior
who fell in war; and yet it is ontrue that there is no inmity --lawful
inmity I mean, atween us. So far as I have red-skin feelin's at all,
I've Delaware feel-in's; and I leave you to judge for yourself, how
far they are likely to be fri'ndly to the Mingos --"

Deerslayer ceased, for a sort of spectre stood before him, that put a
sudden stop to his words, and, indeed, caused him for a moment,
to doubt the fidelity of his boasted vision. Hetty Hutter was
standing at the side of the fire, as quietly as if she belonged to the
tribe.

As the hunter and the Indian sat watching the emotions that were
betrayed in each other's countenance, the girl had approached
unnoticed, doubtless ascending from the beach on the southern
side of the point, or that next to the spot where the ark had
anchored, and had advanced to the fire with the fearlessness that
belonged to her simplicity, and    Collation: Vol. II. --4  which was
certainly justified by the treatment formerly re-ceived from the
Indians. As soon as Rivenoak perceived the girl, she was
recognised, and calling to two or three of the younger warriors, the
chief sent them out to reconnoitre, lest her appearance should be
the forerunner of another at-tack. He then motioned to Hetty to
draw near.

"I hope your visit is a sign that the Sarpent and Hist are in safety,
Hetty," said Deerslayer, as soon as the girl had complied with the
Huron's request. "I don't think you'd come ashore ag'in, on the
ar'n'd that brought you here afore."

"Judith told me to come this time, Deerslayer," Hetty replied; "she
paddled me ashore herself, in a canoe, as soon as the Serpent had
shown her Hist, and told his story. How handsome Hist is to-night,
Deerslayer, and how much happier she looks than when she was
with the Hurons!"

"That's natur', gal; yes, that may be set down as human natur'. She's
with her betrothed, and no longer fears a Mingo husband. In my
judgment, Judith, herself, would lose most of her beauty if she
thought she was to bestow it all on a Mingo! Content is a great
fortifier of good looks; and I'll warrant you, Hist is contented
enough, now she is out of the hands of these miscreants, and with
her chosen warrior! Did you say that your sister told you to come
ashore --why should Judith do that?"

"She bid me come to see you, and to try and persuade the savages
to take more elephants to let you off; but I've brought the Bible
with me --that will do more than all the elephants in father's
chest!"

"And your father, good little Hetty --and Hurry; did they know of
your ar'n'd?"

"Nothing. Both are asleep; and Judith and the Serpent thought it
best they should not be woke, lest they might want to come again
after scalps, when Hist had told them how few warriors, and how
many women and children ther‚ were in the camp. Judith would
give me no peace, till I had come ashore, to see what had
happened to you."

"Well, that's remarkable, as consarns Judith! Why should she feel
so much unsartainty about me? Ay, I see how it is, now; yes, I see
into the whole matter, now. You  must understand, Hetty, that your
sister is oneasy lest Harry March should wake, and come
blundering here into the hands of the inimy ag'in, under some idee
that, being a travelling comrade, he ought help me in this matter!
Hurry is a blunderer, I will allow; but I don't think he'd risk as
much for my sake, as he would for his own."

"Judith don't care for Hurry, though Hurry cares for her," replied
Hetty, innocently, but quite positively.

"I've heard you say as much as that afore; yes, I've heard that from
you, afore, gal; and yet it isn't true. One don't live in a tribe, not to
see something of the way in which liking works in a woman's
heart. Though no way given to marrying myself, I've been a
looker-on among the Dela-wares, and this is a matter in which
pale-face and red-skin gifts are all as one the same. When the
feelin' begins,the young woman is thoughtful, and has no eyes or
ears on-less for the warrior that has taken her fancy; then follows
melancholy and sighing, and such sort of actions; after which,
especially if matters don't come to plain discourse, she often flies
round to backbiting and fault-finding, blaming the youth for the
very things she likes best in him. Some young creatur's are forward
in this way of showing their love, and I'm of opinion, Judith is one
of 'em. Now, I've heard her as much as deny that Hurry was
good-looking; and the young woman who could do that, must be
far gone indeed."

"The young woman who liked Hurry would own that he is
handsome. I think Hurry very handsome, Deerslayer, and I'm sure
everybody must think so, that has eyes. Ju-dith don't like Harry
March, and that's the reason she finds fault with him."

`Well --well --my good little Hetty, have it your own way. If we
should talk from now till winter, each would think as at present;
and there's no use in words. I must believe that Judith is much
wrapped up in Hurry, and that, sooner or later, she'll have him; and
this, too, all the more from the manner in which she abuses him;
and I dare to say, you think just the contrary. But mind what I now
tell you, gal, and pretend not to know it," continued this being,
who was so obtuse on a point on which men are usually quick
enough to make discoveries, and so acute in matters  that would
baffle the observation of much the greater portion of mankind; "I
see how it is, with these vagabonds. Ri-venoak has left us, you see,
and is talking yonder with his young men; and though too far to be
heard, I can see what he is telling them. Their orders is to watch
your move-ments, and to find where the canoe is to meet you, to
take you back to the ark, and then to seize all and what they can.
I'm sorry Judith sent you, for I suppose she wants you to go back
ag'in."

"All that's settled, Deerslayer," returned the girl, in a low,
confidential, and meaning manner; "and you may trust me to
out-wit the best Indian of them all. I know I am feeble-minded, but
I've got some sense, and you 'll see how I'll use it, in getting back,
when my errand is done!"

"Ahs! me, poor girl; I'm afeard all that's easier said than done.
They 're a venomous set of riptyles, and their p'ison's none the
milder for the loss of Hist. Well, I'm glad the Sarpent was the one
to get off with the gal; for now there'll be two happy, at least;
whereas, had he fallen into the hands of the Mingos, there'd been
two miserable, and another far from feelin' as a man likes to feel."

"Now you put me in mind of a part of my errand, that I had almost
forgotten, Deerslayer. Judith told me to ask you what you thought
the Hurons would do with you if you couldn't be bought off, and
what she had best do to serve you. Yes, this was the most
important part of the errand --what she had best do in order to
serve you."

"That's as you think, Hetty; but it's no matter. Young women are
apt to lay most stress on what most touches their feelin's; but no
matter; have it your own way, so you be but careful not to let the
vagabonds get the mastery of a canoe. When you get back to the
ark, tell'em to keep close, and to keep moving too, most especially
at night. Many hours can't go by without the troops on the river
hearing of this party, and then your fri'nds may look for relief. 'Tis
but a day's march from the nearest garrison, and true soldiers will
never lie idle with the foe in their neigh-bourhood. This is my
advice, and you may say to your father and Hurry that
scalp-hunting will be a poor business now, as the Mingos are up
and awake, and nothing can  save 'em 'till the troops come, except
keeping a good belt of water atween 'em and the savages."

"What shall I tell Judith about you, Deerslayer? I know she will
send me back again, if I don't bring her the truth about you."

"Then tell her the truth. I see no reason Judith Hutter shouldn't
hear the truth about me as well as a lie. I'm a captyve in Indian
hands, and Providence only knows what will come of it! Hark'ee,
Hetty --"dropping his voice and speaking still more confidentially,
"you are a little weak-minded, it must be allowed, but you know
something of In-dians. Here I am in their hands, after having slain
one of their stoutest warriors, and they've been endivouring to
work upon me, through fear of consequences, to betray your fa-
ther and all in the ark. I understand the blackguards as well as if
they'd told it all out plainly with their tongues. They hold up
avarice afore me on one side, and fear on t'other, and think honesty
will give way atween 'em both. But let your father and Hurry know
'tis all useless; as for the Sarpent, he knows it already."

"But what shall I tell Judith? --She will certainly send me back if I
don't satisfy her mind."

"Well, tell Judith the same. No doubt the savages will try the
torments to make me give in and to revenge the loss of their
warrior, but I must hold out ag'in nat'ral weakness in the best
manner I can. You may tell Judith to feel no consarn on my
account --it will come hard I know, seeing that a white man's gifts
don't run to boasting and singing under torment, for he generally
feels smallest when he suf-fers most --but you may tell her not to
have any consarn. I think I shall make out to stand it; and she may
rely on this, let me give in as much as I may, and prove completely
that I am white, by wailings, and howlings, and even tears, yet I'll
never fall so far as to betray my fri'nds. When it gets to burning
holes in the flesh with heated ramrods, and to hacking the body,
and tearing the hair out by the roots, natur' may get the upperhand,
so far as groans and com-plaints are consarned, but there the
triumph of the vaga-bonds will end; nothing short of God's
abandoning him to the devils, can make an honest man ontrue to
his colour and duty."+  

       Collation: 4* 

Hetty listened with great attention, and her mild but speak-ing
countenance manifested a strong sympathy in the anti-cipated
agony of the supposititious sufferer. At first she seemed at a loss
how to act; then, taking a hand of Deerslayer's, she affectionately
recommended to him to bor-row her Bible, and to read in it while
the savages were in-flicting their torments. When the other
honestly admitted that it exceeded his power to read, she even
volunteered to remain with him, and to perform this holy office in
person. The offer was gently declined, and Rivenoak being about
to join them, Deerslayer requested the girl to leave him, first
enjoining her again to tell those in the ark to have full con-fidence
in his fidelity. Hetty now walked away, and ap-proached the group
of females with as much confidence and self-possession as if she
were a native of the tribe. On the other hand, the Huron resumed
his seat by the side of his prisoner, the one continuing to ask
questions with all the wily ingenuity of a practised Indian
counsellor, and the other baffling him by the very means that are
known to be the most efficacious in defeating the finesse of the
more pre-tending diplomacy of civilization, or by confining his an-
swers to the truth, and the truth only. 

CHAPTER III.    

"Thus died she; never more on her  
Shall sorrow light, or shame. She was not made  
Through years or moons the inner weight to bear,  
Which colder hearts endure till they are laid  
By age in earth; her days and pleasures were  
Brief but delightful --such as had not stayed  
Long with her destiny; but she sleeps well  
By the sea-shore whereon she loved to dwell."   

Byron.   

The young men who had been sent out to reconnoitre, on the
sudden appearance of Hetty, soon returned to report their want of
success in making any discovery. One of them had even been
along the beach as far as the spot op-posite to the ark, but the
darkness had completely concealed that vessel from his notice.
Others had examined in differ-ent directions, and everywhere the
stillness of night was added to the silence and solitude of the
woods. It was con-sequently believed that the girl had come alone,
as on her former visit, and on some similar errand. The Iroquois
were ignorant that the ark had left the castle, and there were move-
ments projected, if not in the course of actual execution by this
time, which also greatly added to the sense of security. A watch
was set, therefore, and all but the sentinels disposed themselves to
sleep.

Sufficient care was had to the safe keeping of the captive, without
inflicting on him any unnecessary suffering; and, as for Hetty, she
was permitted to find a place among the Indian girls, in the best
manner she could. She did not find the friendly offices of Hist,
though her character not only bestowed impunity from pain and
captivity, but it pro-cured for her a consideration and an attention
that placed her, on the score of comfort, quite on a level with the
wild but gentle beings around her. She was supplied with a skin,
and made her own bed on a pile of boughs a little apart from the
huts. Here she was soon in a profound sleep, like all around her.

There were now thirteen men in the party, and three kept watch at
a time. One remained in shadow, not far from the fire, however.
His duty was to guard the captive, to take care that the fire neither
blazed up so as to illuminate the spot, nor yet become wholly
extinguished; and to keep an eye generally on the state of the
camp. Another passed from one beach to the other, crossing the
base of the point, while the third kept moving slowly around the
strand on its outer extremity, to prevent a repetition of the surprise
that had already taken place that night. This arrangement was far
from being usual among savages, who ordinarily rely more on the
secresy of their movements, than on vigilance of this nature; but it
had been called for by the peculiarity of the circumstances in
which the Hurons were now placed. Their position was known to
their foes, and it could not easily be changed at an hour which
demanded rest. Per-haps, too, they placed most of their confidence
on the know-ledge of what they believed to be passing higher up
the lake,  and which, it was thought, would fully occupy the whole
of the pale-faces, who were at liberty, with their solitary Indian
ally. It was also probable Rivenoak was aware, that, in holding his
captive, he had in his own hands the most dangerous of all his
enemies.

The precision with which those accustomed to watchful-ness, or
lives of disturbed rest, sleep, is not the least of the phenomena of
our mysterious being. The head is no sooner on the pillow, than
consciousness is lost; and yet, at a ne-cessary hour, the mind
appears to arouse the body, as promptly as if it had stood sentinel
the while over it. There can be no doubt that they who are thus
roused, awake by the influence of thought over matter, though the
mode in which this influence is exercised must remain hidden
from our curiosity, until it shall be explained, should that hour ever
arrive, by the entire enlightenment of the soul, on the subject of all
human mysteries. Thus it was with Hetty Hutter. Feeble as the
immaterial portion of her existence was thought to be, it was
sufficiently active to cause her to open her eyes at midnight. At
that hour she awoke, and leaving her bed of skin and boughs, she
walked innocently and openly to the embers of the fire, stirring the
latter, as the coolness of the night and the woods, in connection
with an exceedingly unsophisticated bed, had a little chilled her.
As the flame shot up, it lighted the swarthy countenance of the
Huron on watch, whose dark eyes glistened under its light, like the
balls of the panther that is pursued to his den with burning brands.
But Hetty felt no fear, and she ap-proached the spot where the
Indian stood. Her movements were so natural, and so perfectly
devoid of any of the steal-thiness of cunning, or deception, that he
imagined she had merely arisen on account of the coolness of the
night, a common occurrence in a bivouac, and the one of all
others, perhaps, the least likely to excite suspicion. Hetty spoke to
him, but he understood no English. She then gazed near a minute
at the sleeping captive, and moved slowly away, in a sad and
melancholy manner.

The girl took no pains to conceal her movements. Any ingenious
expedient of this nature, quite likely, exceeded her powers; still
her step was habitually light, and scarcely audible. As she took the
direction of the extremity of the  point, or the place where she had
landed in the first adven-ture, and where Hist had embarked, the
sentinel saw her light form gradually disappear in the gloom
without uneasi-ness, or changing his own position. He knew that
others were on the look-out, and he did not believe that one who
had twice come into the camp voluntarily, and had already left it
openly, would take refuge in flight. In short, the conduct of the girl
excited no more attention than that of any person of feeble
intellect would excite in civilized soci-ety, while her person met
with more consideration and respect.

Hetty certainly had no very distinct notions of the local-ities, but
she found her way to the beach, which she reached on the same
side of the point as that on which the camp had been made. By
following the margin of the water, taking a northern direction, she
soon encountered the Indian, who paced the strand as sentinel.
This was a young warrior, and when he heard her light tread
coming along the gravel, he approached swiftly, though with any
thing but menace in his manner. The darkness was so intense that
it was not easy to discover forms, within the shadows of the
woods, at the distance of twenty feet, and quite impossible to dis-
tinguish persons until near enough to touch them. The young
Huron manifested disappointment when he found whom he had
met; for, truth to say, he was expecting hisfavourite, who had
promised to relieve the ennui of a mid-night watch with her
presence. This man was also igno-rant of English, but he was at no
loss to understand why the girl should be up at that hour. Such
things were usual in an Indian village and camp, where sleep is as
irregular as the meals. Then poor Hetty's known imbecility, as in
most things connected with the savages, stood her friend on this
occasion. Vexed at his disappointment, and impatient of the
presence of one he thought an intruder, the young warrior signed
for the girl to move forward, holding the di-rection of the beach.
Hetty complied; but, as she walked away, she spoke aloud in
English, in her usual soft tones, which the stillness of the night
made audible at some little distance.

"If you took me for a Huron girl, warrior," she said, "I don't wonder
you are so little pleased. I am Hetty Hutter,  Thomas Hutter's
daughter, and have never met any man at night, for mother always
said it was wrong, and modest young women should never do it;
modest young women of the pale-faces, I mean; for customs are
different in different parts of the world, I know. No, no; I'm Hetty
Hutter, and wouldn't meet even Hurry Harry, though he should fall
down on his knees and ask me! mother said it was wrong."

By the time Hetty had said this, she reached the place where the
canoes had come ashore, and, owing to the cur-vature of the land
and the bushes, would have been com-pletely hid from the sight of
the sentinel, had it been broad day. But another footstep had
caught the lover's ear, and he was already nearly beyond the sound
of the girl's silvery voice. Still Hetty, bent only on her own
thoughts and pur-poses, continued to speak, though the gentleness
of her tones prevented the sounds from penetrating far into the
woods. On the water they were more widely diffused.

"Here I am, Judith," she added, "and there is no one near me. The
Huron on watch has gone to meet his sweet-heart, who is an Indian
girl, you know, and never had a Christian mother to tell her how
wrong it is to meet a man at night --"

Hetty's voice was hushed by a "hist!" that came from the water,
and then she caught a dim view of the canoe, which approached
noiselessly, and soon grated on the shin-gle with its bow. The
moment the weight of Hetty was felt in the light craft, the canoe
withdrew, stern foremost, as if possessed of life and volition, until
it was a hundred yards from the shore. Then it turned, and, making
a wide sweep, as much to prolong the passage as to get beyond the
sound of voices, it held its way towards the ark. For sev-eral
minutes nothing was uttered; but, believing herself to be in a
favourable position to confer with her sister, Judith, who alone sat
in the stern, managing the canoe with a skill little short of that of a
man, began a discourse, which she had been burning to commence
ever since they had quitted the point.

"Here we are safe, Hetty," she said, "and may talk with-out the fear
of being overheard. You must speak low, however, for sounds are
heard far on the water, in a still night. I was so close to the point,
some of the time, while  you were on it, that I have heard the
voices of the warriors, and I heard your shoes on the gravel of the
beach, even be-fore you spoke."

"I don't believe, Judith, the Hurons know I have left them."

"Quite likely they do not, for a lover makes a poor sen-try, unless it
be to watch for his sweetheart! But tell me, Hetty, did you see and
speak with Deerslayer?"

"Oh, yes --there he was seated near the fire, with his legs tied,
though they left his arms free, to move them as he pleased."

"Well, what did he tell you, child? Speak quick; I am dying to
know what message he sent me."

"What did he tell me? why, what do you think, Judith; he told me
that he couldn't read! Only think of that! a white man, and not
know how to read his bible, even! He never could have had a
mother, sister!"

"Never mind that, Hetty. All men can't read; though mother knew
so much, and taught us so much, father knows very little about
books, and he can barely read the bible, you know."

"Oh! I never thought fathers could read much, but  mo-thers ought
all to read, else how can they teach their chil-dren? Depend on it,
Judith, Deerslayer could never have had a mother, else he would
know how to read."

"Did you tell him I sent you ashore, Hetty, and how much concern
I feel for his misfortune?" asked the other, impatiently.

"I believe I did, Judith; but you know I am feeble-minded, and I
may have forgotten. I did tell him you brought me ashore. And he
told me a great deal that I was to say to you, which I remember
well, for it made my blood run cold to hear him. He told me to say
that his friends --I suppose you are one of them, sister --?"

"How can you torment me thus, Hetty! Certainly, I am one of the
truest friends he has on earth."

"Torment you! yes, now I remember all about it. I am glad you
used that word, Judith, for it brings it all back to my mind. Well,
he said he might be tormented by the sa-vages, but he would try to
bear it as becomes a Christian white man, and that no one need be
afeard --why does Deer-slayer call it afeard, when mother always
taught us to say afraid?"

"Never mind, dear Hetty, never mind that, now," cried the other,
almost gasping for breath. "Did Deerslayer really tell you that he
thought the savages would put him to the torture? Recollect now,
well, Hetty, for this is a most awful and serious thing."

"Yes he did; and I remember it by your speaking about my
tormenting you. Oh! I felt very sorry for him, and Deerslayer took
all so quietly and without noise! Deer-slayer is not as handsome as
Hurry Harry, Judith, but he is more quiet."

"He's worth a million Hurrys! yes, he's worth all the young men
who ever came upon the lake put together," said Judith, with an
energy and positiveness that caused her sis-ter to wonder. "He is
true. --There is no lie about Deer-slayer. You, Hetty, may not know
what a merit it is in a man to have truth, but when you get --no --I
hope you will never know it. Why should one like you be ever
made to learn the hard lesson to distrust and hate!"

Judith bowed her face, dark as it was, and unseen as she must have
been, by any eye but that of Omniscience, be-tween her hands, and
groaned. This sudden paroxysm of feeling, however, lasted but for
a moment, and she continued more calmly, still speaking frankly
to her sister, whose intelligence, and whose discretion in any thing
that related to herself, she did not in the least distrust. Her voice,
however, was low and husky, instead of having its former
clearness and animation.

"It is a hard thing to fear truth, Hetty," she said; "and yet do I more
dread Deerslayer's truth, than any enemy! One cannot tamper with
such truth --so much honesty -- such obstinate uprightness! But we
are not altogether un-equal, sister --Deerslayer and I? He is not
altogether my superior?"

It was not usual for Judith so far to demean herself as to appeal to
Hetty's judgment. Nor did she often address her by the title of
sister, a distinction that is commonly given by the junior to the
senior, even where there is perfect equality in all other respects. As
trifling departures from habitual deportment oftener strike the
imagination than more  important changes, Hetty perceived the
circumstances, and wondered at them in her own simple way.

Her ambition was a little quickened, and the answer was as much
out of the usual course of things, as the question;the poor girl
attempting to refine beyond her strength.

"Superior, Judith!" she repeated with pride. "In what can
Deerslayer be your superior? Are you not mother's child --and does
he know how to read --and wasn't mother before any woman in all
this part of the world? I should think, so far from supposing
himself your superior, he would hardly believe himself mine. You
are handsome, and he is ugly --"

"No, not ugly, Hetty," interrupted Judith. "Only plain. But his
honest face has a look in it, that is far better than beauty. In my
eyes Deerslayer is handsomer than Hurry Harry."

"Judith Hutter! you frighten me. Hurry is the hand-somest mortal
in the world --even handsomer than you are yourself; because a
man's good looks, you know, are al-ways better than a woman's
good looks."

This little innocent touch of natural taste did not please the elder
sister at the moment, and she did not scruple to be-tray it.

"Hetty, you now speak foolishly, and had better say no more, on
this subject," she answered. "Hurry is not the handsomest mortal in
the world, by many; and there are officers in the garrisons --"
Judith stammered at the words -- "there are officers in the
garrisons, near us, far comelier than he. But, why do you think me
the equal of Deer-slayer --speak of that, for I do not like to hear
you show so much admiration of a man like Hurry Harry, who has
neither feelings, manners, nor conscience. You are too good for
him, and he ought to be told it, at once."

"I! Judith, how you forget! Why I am not beautiful, and am
feeble-minded."

"You are good, Hetty, and that is more than can be said of Henry
March. He may have a face, and a body, but he has no heart. But
enough of this, for the present. Tell me what raises me to an
equality with Deerslayer."

"To think of you asking me this, Judith! He can't read, and you can.
He don't know how to talk, but speaks worse    Collation: Vol. II. --
5  than Hurry even; --for, sister, Harry doesn't always pro-nounce
his words right! Did you ever notice that?"

"Certainly, he is as coarse in speech, as in every thing else. But, I
fear you flatter me, Hetty, when you think I can be justly called the
equal of a man like Deerslayer. Itis true, I have been better taught;
in one sense am more comely; and perhaps might look higher; but
then his truth --his truth --makes a fearful difference between us!
Well, I will talk no more of this; and we will bethink us of the
means of getting him out of the hands of the Hurons. We have
father's chest in the ark, Hetty, and might try the temptation of
more elephants; though I fear such baubles will not buy the liberty
of a man like Deerslayer. I am afraid father and Hurry will not be
as willing to ransom Deerslayer, as Deerslayer was to ransom
them!"

"Why not, Judith? Hurry and Deerslayer are friends, and friends
should always help one another."

"Alas! poor Hetty, you little know mankind! Seeming friends are
often more to be dreaded than open enemies; par-ticularly by
females. But you'll have to land in the morn-ing, and try again
what can be done for Deerslayer. Tor-tured he shall not be, while
Judith Hutter lives, and can find means to prevent it."

The conversation now grew desultory, and was drawn out, until the
elder sister had extracted from the younger every fact that the
feeble faculties of the latter permitted her to retain, and to
communicate. When Judith was satisfied -- though, she could
never be said to be satisfied, whose feel-ings seemed to be so
interwoven with all that related to the subject, as to have excited a
nearly inappeasable curiosity -- but, when Judith could think of no
more questions to ask, without resorting to repetition, the canoe
was paddled to-wards the scow. The intense darkness of the night,
and the deep shadows which the hills and forest cast upon the
water, rendered it difficult to find the vessel, anchored, as it had
been, as close to the shore as a regard to safety rendered prudent.
Judith was expert in the management of a bark canoe, the lightness
of which demanded skill rather than strength; and she forced her
own little vessel swiftly over the water, the moment she had ended
her conference with Hetty, and had come to the determination to
return. Still  no ark was seen. Several times the sisters fancied they
saw it, looming up in the obscurity, like a low black rock, but on
each occasion it was found to be either an optical illusion, or some
swell of the foliage on the shore. After a search that lasted half an
hour, the girls were forced to the unwelcome conviction that the
ark had departed.

Most young women would have felt the awkwardness of their
situation, in a physical sense, under the circumstances in which the
sisters were left, more than any apprehensions of a different
nature. Not so with Judith, however; and even Hetty felt more
concern about the motives that might have influenced her father
and Hurry, than any fears for her own safety.

"It cannot be, Hetty," said Judith, when a thorough search had
satisfied them both that no ark was to be found, "it cannot be that
the Indians have rafted, or swum off, and surprised our friends as
they slept?"

"I don't believe that Hist and Chingachgook would sleep until they
had told each other all they had to say after so long a separation --
do you, sister?"

"Perhaps not, child. There was much to keep them awake, but one
Indian may have been surprised even when not asleep, especially
as his thoughts may have been on other things. Still we should
have heard a noise; for in a night like this, an oath of Harry Hurry's
would have echoed in the eastern hills like a clap of thunder."

"Hurry is sinful and thoughtless about his words, Judith," Hetty
meekly and sorrowfully answered.

"No --no; 'tis impossible the ark could be taken and I not hear the
noise. It is not an hour since I left it, and the whole time I have
been attentive to the smallest sound. And yet, it is not easy to
believe a father would willingly aban-don his children!"

"Perhaps father has thought us in our cabin asleep, Ju-dith, and has
moved away to go home. You know we often move the ark in the
night."

"This is true, Hetty, and it must be as you suppose. There is a little
more southern air than there was, and they have gone up the lake --
"

Judith stopped, for, as the last word was on her tongue, the scene
was suddenly lighted, though only for a single in- stant, by a flash.
The crack of a rifle succeeded, and then followed the roll of the
echo along the eastern mountains. Almost at the same moment a
piercing female cry rose in the air in a prolonged shriek. The awful
stillness that suc-ceeded was, if possible, more appalling than the
fierce and sudden interruption of the deep silence of midnight.
Reso-lute as she was both by nature and habit, Judith scarce
breathed, while poor Hetty hid her face and trembled.

"That was a woman's cry, Hetty," said the former so-lemnly, "and
it was a cry of anguish! If the ark has mov-ed from this spot, it can
only have gone north with this air, and the gun and shriek came
from the point. Can any thing have befallen Hist?"

"Let us go and see, Judith; she may want our assistance --for,
besides herself, there are none but men in the ark."

It was not a moment for hesitation, and ere Judith had ceased
speaking her paddle was in the water. The distance to the point, in
a direct line, was not great, and the impulses under which the girls
worked were too exciting to allow them to waste the precious
moments in useless precautions. They paddled incautiously for
them, but the same excite-ment kept others from noting their
movements. Presently a glare of light caught the eye of Judith
through an open-ing in the bushes, and steering by it she so
directed the ca-noe as to keep it visible, while she got as near the
land aswas either prudent or necessary.

The scene that was now presented to the observation of the girls
was within the woods, on the side of the declivity so often
mentioned, and in plain view from the boat. Here all in the camp
were collected, some six or eight carrying torches of fat-pine,
which cast a strong but funereal light on all beneath the arches of
the forest. With her back sup-ported against a tree, and sustained
on one side by the young sentinel whose remissness had suffered
Hetty to escape, sat the female whose expected visit had produced
his delinquin-cy. By the glare of the torch that was held near her
face, it was evident that she was in the agonies of death, while the
blood that trickled from her bared bosom betrayed the nature of
the injury she had received. The pungent, pecu-liar smell of
gunpowder, too, was still quite perceptible in the heavy, damp
night air. There could be no question  that she had been shot.
Judith understood it all at a glance. The streak of light had
appeared on the water a short dis-tance from the point, and either
the rifle had been discharged from a canoe hovering near the land,
or it had been fired from the ark in passing. An incautious
exclamation, or laugh, may have produced the assault, for it was
barely pos-sible that the aim had been assisted by any other agent
than sound. As to the effect, that was soon still more apparent, the
head of the victim dropping, and the body sinking in death. Then
all the torches but one were extinguished, --a measure of prudence;
and the melancholy train that bore the body to the camp was just to
be distinguished by the glimmering light that remained.

Judith sighed heavily and shuddered, as her paddle again dipped,
and the canoe moved cautiously around the point. A sight had
afflicted her senses, and now haunted her ima-gination, that was
still harder to be borne, than even the untimely fate, and passing
agony of the deceased girl. She had seen, under the strong glare of
all the torches, the erect form of Deerslayer, standing, with
commiseration, and as she thought with shame, depicted on his
countenance, near the dying female. He betrayed neither fear nor
backward-ness, himself; but it was apparent by the glances cast at
him by the warriors, that fierce passions were struggling in their
bosoms. All this seemed to be unheeded by the cap-tive, but it
remained impressed on the memory of Judith throughout the night.

No canoe was met hovering near the point. A stillness and
darkness, as complete as if the silence of the forest had never been
disturbed, or the sun had never shone on that retired region, now
reigned on the point, and on the gloomy water, the slumbering
woods, and even the murky sky. No more could be done, therefore,
than to seek a place of safety; and this was only to be found in the
centre of the lake. Paddling, in silence, to that spot, the canoe was
suf-fered to drift northerly, while the girls sought such repose as
their situation and feelings would permit.    Collation: 5*   

CHAPTER IV.     

"Stand to your arms, and guard the door --all's lost  
Unless that fearful bell be silenced soon.  
The officer hath miss'd his path, or purpose,  
Or met some unforeseen and hideous obstacle.  
Anselmo, with thy company proceed  
Straight to the tower; the rest remain with me."    
Marino Faliero.  

The conjecture of Judith Hutter, concerning the manner in which
the Indian girl had met her death, was accurate in the main. After
sleeping several hours, her father and March awoke. This occurred
a few minutes after she had left the ark to go in quest of her sister,
and when of course Chingachgook and his betrothed were on
board. From the Delaware the old man learned the position of the
camp, and the recent events, as well as the absence of his
daughters. The latter gave him no concern; for he relied greatly on
the sagacity of the eldest, and the known impunity with which the
younger passed among the savages. Long fami-liarity with danger,
too, had blunted his sensibilities. Nor did he seem much to regret
the captivity of Deerslayer; for while he knew how material his aid
might be in a defence, the difference in their views on the morality
of the woods, had not left much sympathy between them. He
would have rejoiced to know the position of the camp before it had
been alarmed by the escape of Hist, but it would be too hazard-ous
now to venture to land; and he reluctantly relinquished for the
night, the ruthless designs that captivity and revenge had excited
him to entertain. In this mood Hutter took a seat in the head of the
scow, where he was quickly joined by Hurry; leaving the Serpent
and Hist in quiet possession of the other extremity of the vessel.

"Deerslayer has shown himself a boy, in going among the savages
at this hour, and letting himself fall into their hands like a deer that
tumbles into a pit," growled the old man, perceiving as usual the
mote in his neighbour's eyes, while he overlooked the beam in his
own. "If he is left to pay for his stupidity with his own flesh, he can
blame no one but himself."

"That's the way of the world, Old Tom," returned Hur-ry. "Every
man must meet his own debts, and answer for his own sins. I 'm
amazed, however, that a lad as skil-ful and watchful as Deerslayer,
should have been caught in such a trap! Didn't he know any better
than to go prowl-ing about a Huron camp, at midnight, with no
place to re-treat to, but a lake? or did he think himself a buck, that
by taking to the water could throw off the scent and swim him-self
out of difficulty? I had a better opinion of the boy's judgment, I 'll
own; but we must overlook a little ignorance in a raw hand. I say,
Master Hutter, do you happen to know what has become of the
gals --I see no signs of Ju-dith, or Hetty, though I 've been through
the ark, and look-ed into all its living creatur's?"

Hutter briefly explained the manner in which his daugh-ters had
taken to the canoe, as it had been related by the Delaware, as well
as the return of Judith after landing her sister, and her second
departure.

"This comes of a smooth tongue, Floating Tom," ex-claimed
Hurry, grating his teeth in pure resentment --"this comes of a
smooth tongue, and a silly gal's inclinations -- and you had best
look into the matter! You and I were both prisoners" --Hurry could
recall that circumstance now,  --"you and I were both prisoners,
and yet Judith never stirred an inch to do us any sarvice! She is
bewitched with this lank-looking Deerslayer; and he, and she, and
you, and all of us, had best look to it. I am not a man to put up with
such a wrong quietly, and do say, all the parties had best look to it!
Let's up kedge, old fellow, and move nearer to this point, and see
how matters are getting on."

Hutter had no objections to this movement, and the ark was got
under way, in the usual manner, care being taken to make no
noise. The wind was passing northward, and the sail soon swept
the scow so far up the lake, as to render the dark outlines of the
trees that clothed the point, dimly visible. Floating Tom steered,
and he sailed along as near the land, as the depth of the water, and
the overhanging branches would allow. It was impossible to
distinguish any thing that stood within the shadows of the shore;
but the  forms of the sail and of the hut, were discerned by the
young sentinel on the beach, who has already been mentioned. In
the moment of sudden surprise, a deep Indian exclamation escaped
him. In that spirit of recklessness and ferocity that formed the
essence of Hurry's character, this man dropped his rifle and fired.
The ball was sped by accident, or by that overruling Providence
which decides the fates of all, and the girl fell. Then followed the
scene with the torches, which has just been described.

At the precise moment when Hurry committed this act of
unthinking cruelty, the canoe of Judith was within a hundred feet
of the spot from which the ark had so lately moved. Her own
course has been described, and it has now become our office to
follow that of her father and his companions. The shriek
announced the effects of the random shot of March, and it also
proclaimed that the victim was a woman. Hurry himself was
startled at these unlooked-for conse-quences; and for a moment he
was sorely disturbed by con-flicting sensations. At first he laughed,
in reckless and rude-minded exultation; and then conscience, that
monitor planted in our breasts by God, and which receives its more
general growth from the training bestowed in the tillage of
childhood, shot a pang to his heart. For a minute, the mind of this
creature equally of civilization and barbarism, was a sort of chaos
as to feeling, not knowing what to think of its own act; and then
the obstinacy and pride of one of his habits, interposed to assert
their usual ascendency. He struck the butt of his rifle on the
bottom of the scow, with a species of defiance, and began to
whistle a low air, with an affectation of indifference. All this time,
the ark was in motion, and it was already opening the bay above
the point, and was consequently quitting the land.

Hurry's companions did not view his conduct with the same
indulgence, as that with which he appeared disposed to regard it
himself. Hutter growled out his dissatisfaction, for the act led to no
advantage, while it threatened to render the warfare more
vindictive than ever; and none censure motiveless departures from
the right, more severely than the mercenary and unprincipled. Still
he commanded himself, the captivity of Deerslayer rendering the
arm of the offender of double consequence to him at that moment.
Chingach- gook arose, and for a single instant the ancient
animosity of tribes was forgotten, in a feeling of colour; but he
recol-lected himself in season to prevent any of the fierce conse-
quences that for a passing moment, he certainly meditated. Not so
with Hist. Rushing through the hut, or cabin, the girl stood at the
side of Hurry, almost as soon as his rifle touched the bottom of the
scow; and with a fearlessness that did credit to her heart, she
poured out her reproaches with the generous warmth of a woman.

"What for you shoot?" she said. "What Huron gal do, dat you kill
him? What you t'ink Manitou say? What you t'ink Manitou feel?
What Iroquois do? No get honour --no get camp --no get prisoner --
no get battle --no get scalp --no get not'ing at all. Blood come after
blood! How you feel, your wife killed? Who pity you, when tear
come for moder, or sister? You big as great pine -- Huron gal little
slender birch --why you fall on her and crush her! You t'ink Huron
forget it? No; red-skin never forget! Never forget friend; never
forget enemy. Red man Manitou in dat. Why you so wicked, great
pale-face?"

Hurry had never been so daunted, as by this close and warm attack
of the Indian girl. It is true that she had a powerful ally in his
conscience; and while she spoke ear-nestly, it was in tones so
feminine as to deprive him of any pretext for unmanly anger. The
softness of her voice added to the weight of her remonstrance, by
lending to the latter an air of purity and truth. Like most
vulgar-minded men, he had only regarded the Indians through the
medium of their coarser and fiercer characteristics. It had never
struck him that the affections are human; that even high principles
-- modified by habits and prejudices, but not the less elevated
within their circle --can exist in the savage state; and that the
warrior who is most ruthless in the field, can submit to the softest
and gentlest influences, in the moments of domestic quiet. In a
word, it was the habit of his mind to regard all Indians as beings
only a slight degree removed from the wild beasts that roamed the
woods, and to feel disposed to treat them accordingly, whenever
interest or caprice sup-plied a motive, or an impulse. Still, though
daunted by these reproaches, the handsome barbarian could hardly
be  said to be penitent. He was too much rebuked by con-science,
to suffer an outbreak of temper to escape him; and perhaps he felt
that he had already committed an act that might justly bring his
manhood in question. Instead of re-senting, or answering, the
simple, but natural appeal of Hist, he walked away, like one who
disdained entering into a controversy with a woman.

In the mean while, the ark swept onward, and by the time the scene
with the torches was enacting beneath the trees, it had reached the
open lake; Floating Tom causing it to sheer further from the land,
with a sort of instinctive dread of retaliation. An hour now passed
in gloomy silence, no one appearing disposed to break it. Hist had
retired to her pallet, and Chingachgook lay sleeping in the forward
part of the scow. Hutter and Hurry alone remained awake, the
former at the steering oar, while the latter brooded over his own
conduct with the stubbornness of one little given to a confession of
his errors, and the secret goadings of the worm that never dies.
This was at the moment when Ju-dith and Hetty reached the centre
of the lake, and had lain down to endeavour to sleep, in their
drifting canoe.

The night was calm, though so much obscured by clouds. The
season was not one of storms, and those which did occur in the
month of June, on that embedded water, though frequently violent,
were always of short continuance. Ne-vertheless, there was the
usual current of heavy, damp night air, which, passing over the
summits of the trees, scarcely appeared to descend so low as the
surface of the glassy lake, but kept moving a short distance above
it, saturated with the humidity that constantly arose from the
woods, and appa-rently never proceeding far in any one direction.
The cur-rents were influenced by the formation of the hills, as a
matter of course, --a circumstance that rendered even fresh breezes
baffling, and which reduced the feebler efforts of the night air to
be a sort of capricious and fickle sighings of the woods. Several
times the head of the ark pointed east, and once it was actually
turned towards the south, again; but, on the whole, it worked its
way north; Hutter making always a fair wind, if wind it could be
called, his principal motive appearing to be a wish to keep in
motion, in orderto defeat any treacherous design of his enemies.
He now  felt some little concern about his daughters, and perhaps
as much about the canoe; but, on the whole, this uncertainty did
not much disturb him, as he had the reliance already mentioned on
the intelligence of Judith.

It was the season of the shortest nights, and it was not long before
the deep obscurity which precedes the day began to yield to the
returning light. If any earthly scene could be presented to the
senses of man that might soothe his pas-sions and temper his
ferocity, it was that which grew upon the eyes of Hutter and Hurry,
as the hours advanced, chang-ing night to morning. There were the
usual soft tints of the sky, in which neither the gloom of darkness
nor the brilliancy of the sun prevails, and under which objects ap-
pear more unearthly, and we might add holy, than at any other
portion of the twenty-four hours. The beautiful and soothing calm
of eventide has been extolled by a thousand poets, and yet it does
not bring with it the far-reaching and sublime thoughts of the
half-hour that precedes the rising of a summer's sun. In the one
case the panorama is gra-dually hid from the sight, while in the
other, its objects start out from the unfolding picture, first dim and
misty; then marked in, in solemn back-ground; next seen in the
witchery of an increasing, a thing as different as possible from the
decreasing twilight; and finally mellow, distinct and luminous, as
the rays of the great centre of light diffuse themselves in the
atmosphere. The hymns of birds, too, have no novel counterpart in
the retreat to the roost, or the flight to the nest; and these
invariably accompany the advent of the day, until the appearance
of the sun itself    "Bathes in deep joy, the land and sea."  

All this, however, Hutter and Hurry witnessed without
experiencing any of that calm delight, which the spectacle is wont
to bring, when the thoughts are just, and the aspira-tions pure.
They not only witnessed it, but they witnessed it under
circumstances that had a tendency to increase its power, and to
heighten its charms. Only one solitary object became visible in the
returning light, that had received its form or uses from human
taste, or human desires, which as often deform as beautify a
landscape. This was the castle; all the rest being native, and fresh
from the hand of God. That singular residence, too, was in keeping
with the natural objects of the view; starting out from the gloom,
quaint, picturesque, and ornamental. Nevertheless the wholewas
lost on the observers, who knew no feeling of poetry, had lost their
sense of natural devotion in lives of obdurate and narrow
selfishness, and had little other sympathy with nature, than that
which originated with her lowest wants.

As soon as the light was sufficiently strong to allow of a distinct
view of the lake, and more particularly of its shores, Hutter turned
the head of the ark directly towards the cas-tle, with the avowed
intention of taking possession for the day at least, as the place
most favourable for meeting his daughters, and for carrying on his
operations against the Indians. By this time, Chingachgook was up,
and Hist was heard stirring among the furniture of the kitchen. The
place for which they steered was distant only a mile, and the air
was sufficiently favourable to permit it to be neared by means of
the sail. At this moment, too, to render the appearances generally
auspicious, the canoe of Judith was seen floating northward in the
broadest part of the lake; having actually passed the scow in the
darkness, in obedience to no other power than that of the elements.
Hutter got his glass, and took a long and anxious survey, to
ascertain if his daughters were in the light craft, or not; and a slight
ex-clamation like that of joy escaped him, as he caught a glimpse
of what he rightly conceived to be a part of Judith's dress above the
top of the canoe. At the next instant, the girl arose, and was seen
gazing about her, like one assuring herself of her situation. A
minute later, Hetty was seen on her knees, in the other end of the
canoe, repeating the prayers that had been taught her, in childhood,
by a mis-guided but repentant mother. As Hutter laid down the
glass, still drawn to its focus, the Serpent raised it to his eye, and
turned it towards the canoe. It was the first time he had ever used
such an instrument, and Hist understood by his "hugh!" the
expression of his face, and his entire mien, that something
wonderful had excited his admiration. It is well known that the
American Indians, more particu-larly those of superior character
and stations, singularly maintain their self-possession and stoicism,
in the midst of the flood of marvels that present themselves in their
occa-sional visits to the abodes of civilization; and Chingachgook
had imbibed enough of this impassibility to suppress any very
undignified manifestation of surprise. With Hist, however, no such
law was binding, and when her lover managed to bring the glass in
a line with a canoe, and her eye was applied to the smaller end, the
girl started back in alarm; then she clapped her hands with delight,
and a laugh, the usual attendant of untutored admiration, followed.
A few minutes sufficed to enable this quick-witted girl to manage
the instrument for herself, and she directed it at every prominent
object that struck her fancy. Finding a rest in one of the windows,
she and the Delaware first sur-veyed the lake; then the shores, the
hills, and, finally, the castle attracted their attention. After a long
steady gaze at the latter, Hist took away her eye, and spoke to her
lover in a low earnest manner. Chingachgook immediately placed
his eye to the glass, and his look even exceeded that of his
betrothed in length and intensity. Again they spoke together,
confidentially, appearing to compare opinions, after which the
glass was laid aside, and the young warrior quit-ted the cabin to
join Hutter and Hurry.

The ark was slowly but steadily advancing, and the cas-tle was
materially within half a mile, when Chingachgook joined the two
white men in the stern of the scow. His manner was calm, but it
was evident to the others, who were familiar with the habits of the
Indians, that he had something to communicate. Hurry was
generally prompt to speak, and, according to custom, he took the
lead on this occasion.

"Out with it, red-skin," he cried, in his usual rough man-ner. "Have
you discovered a chip-munk in a tree, or is there a salmon-trout
swimming under the bottom of the scow? You find what a
pale-face can do in the way of eyes, now, Sarpent, and mustn't
wonder that they can see the lands of the Indians from afar off."

"No good to go to castle," put in Chingachgook, with emphasis, the
moment the other gave him an opportunity of speaking. "Huron
there."

"The devil he is! If this should turn out to be true, Floating Tom, a
pretty trap were we about to pull down on our heads! Huron there!
--well, this may be so; but no   Collation: Vol. II. --6  signs can I
see of any thing, near or about the old hut, but logs, water, and
bark --'bating two or three windows, and one door."

Hutter called for the glass, and took a careful survey of the spot,
before he ventured an opinion at all; then he some-what cavalierly
expressed his dissent from that given by the Indian.

"You 've got this glass wrong end foremost, Delaware," continued
Hurry; "neither the old man, nor I, can see any trail in the lake."

"No trail --water make no trail," said Hist, eagerly. "Stop boat --no
go too near --Huron there!"

"Ay, that 's it! Stick to the same tale, and more people will believe
you. I hope, Sarpent, you and your gal will agree in telling the
same story after marriage, as well as you do now. Huron, there! --
whereabouts is he to be seen --in the padlock, or the chains, or the
logs? There isn't a gaol in the Colony that has a more lock-up look
about it, than old Tom's chientŠ; and, I know something about
gaols from exper'ence."

"No see moccasin," said Hist, impatiently; "why nolook --and see
him."

"Give me the glass, Harry," interrupted Hutter, "and lower the sail.
It is seldom that an Indian woman meddles, and when she does,
there is generally a cause for it. There is, truly, a moccasin floating
against one of the piles; and it may, or may not be, a sign that the
castle hasn't escaped visiters, in our absence. Moccasins are no
rarities, how-ever, for I wear 'em myself, and Deerslayer wears
'em, and you wear 'em, March; and, for that matter, so does Hetty,
quite as often as she wears shoes; though I never yet saw Judith
trust her pretty foot in a moccasin."

Hurry had lowered the sail, and by this time the ark was within two
hundred yards of the castle, setting in, nearer and nearer, each
moment, but at a rate too slow to excite any uneasiness. Each now
took the glass in turn, and the cas-tle, and every thing near it, was
subjected to a scrutiny still more rigid than ever. There the
moccasin lay, beyond a question, flo