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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Deerslayer, by James Fenimore Cooper
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Deerslayer
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Posting Date: January 26, 2009 [EBook #3285]
+Release Date: June, 2002
+[Last updated: November 2, 2011]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEERSLAYER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stephen Kerr and Martin Robb
+
+
+
+
+
+THE DEERSLAYER
+
+By James Fenimore Cooper
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+
+    "There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
+    There is a rapture on the lonely shore.
+    There is society where none intrudes,
+    By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
+    I love not man the less, but nature more,
+    From these our interviews, in which I steal
+    From all I may be, or have been before,
+    To mingle with the universe, and feel
+    What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal"
+
+    Childe Harold.
+
+On the human imagination events produce the effects of time. Thus, he
+who has travelled far and seen much is apt to fancy that he has lived
+long; and the history that most abounds in important incidents soonest
+assumes the aspect of antiquity. In no other way can we account for the
+venerable air that is already gathering around American annals. When the
+mind reverts to the earliest days of colonial history, the period seems
+remote and obscure, the thousand changes that thicken along the links
+of recollections, throwing back the origin of the nation to a day so
+distant as seemingly to reach the mists of time; and yet four lives of
+ordinary duration would suffice to transmit, from mouth to mouth, in the
+form of tradition, all that civilized man has achieved within the
+limits of the republic. Although New York alone possesses a population
+materially exceeding that of either of the four smallest kingdoms of
+Europe, or materially exceeding that of the entire Swiss Confederation,
+it is little more than two centuries since the Dutch commenced their
+settlement, rescuing the region from the savage state. Thus, what seems
+venerable by an accumulation of changes is reduced to familiarity when
+we come seriously to consider it solely in connection with time.
+
+This glance into the perspective of the past will prepare the reader to
+look at the pictures we are about to sketch, with less surprise than he
+might otherwise feel; and a few additional explanations may carry him
+back in imagination to the precise condition of society that we desire
+to delineate. It is matter of history that the settlements on the
+eastern shores of the Hudson, such as Claverack, Kinderhook, and even
+Poughkeepsie, were not regarded as safe from Indian incursions a century
+since; and there is still standing on the banks of the same river, and
+within musket-shot of the wharves of Albany, a residence of a younger
+branch of the Van Rensselaers, that has loopholes constructed for
+defence against the same crafty enemy, although it dates from a period
+scarcely so distant. Other similar memorials of the infancy of the
+country are to be found, scattered through what is now deemed the very
+centre of American civilization, affording the plainest proofs that all
+we possess of security from invasion and hostile violence is the growth
+of but little more than the time that is frequently fulfilled by a
+single human life.
+
+The incidents of this tale occurred between the years 1740 and 1745,
+when the settled portions of the colony of New York were confined to
+the four Atlantic counties, a narrow belt of country on each side of the
+Hudson, extending from its mouth to the falls near its head, and to
+a few advanced "neighborhoods" on the Mohawk and the Schoharie. Broad
+belts of the virgin wilderness not only reached the shores of the first
+river, but they even crossed it, stretching away into New England, and
+affording forest covers to the noiseless moccasin of the native warrior,
+as he trod the secret and bloody war-path. A bird's-eye view of the
+whole region east of the Mississippi must then have offered one
+vast expanse of woods, relieved by a comparatively narrow fringe of
+cultivation along the sea, dotted by the glittering surfaces of lakes,
+and intersected by the waving lines of river. In such a vast picture of
+solemn solitude, the district of country we design to paint sinks into
+insignificance, though we feel encouraged to proceed by the conviction
+that, with slight and immaterial distinctions, he who succeeds in giving
+an accurate idea of any portion of this wild region must necessarily
+convey a tolerably correct notion of the whole.
+
+Whatever may be the changes produced by man, the eternal round of the
+seasons is unbroken. Summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, return in
+their stated order with a sublime precision, affording to man one of the
+noblest of all the occasions he enjoys of proving the high powers of
+his far-reaching mind, in compassing the laws that control their exact
+uniformity, and in calculating their never-ending revolutions.
+
+Centuries of summer suns had warmed the tops of the same noble oaks and
+pines, sending their heats even to the tenacious roots, when voices were
+heard calling to each other, in the depths of a forest, of which the
+leafy surface lay bathed in the brilliant light of a cloudless day
+in June, while the trunks of the trees rose in gloomy grandeur in the
+shades beneath. The calls were in different tones, evidently proceeding
+from two men who had lost their way, and were searching in different
+directions for their path. At length a shout proclaimed success, and
+presently a man of gigantic mould broke out of the tangled labyrinth
+of a small swamp, emerging into an opening that appeared to have been
+formed partly by the ravages of the wind, and partly by those of fire.
+This little area, which afforded a good view of the sky, although it was
+pretty well filled with dead trees, lay on the side of one of the high
+hills, or low mountains, into which nearly the whole surface of the
+adjacent country was broken.
+
+"Here is room to breathe in!" exclaimed the liberated forester, as soon
+as he found himself under a clear sky, shaking his huge frame like a
+mastiff that has just escaped from a snowbank. "Hurrah! Deerslayer; here
+is daylight, at last, and yonder is the lake."
+
+These words were scarcely uttered when the second forester dashed
+aside the bushes of the swamp, and appeared in the area. After making
+a hurried adjustment of his arms and disordered dress, he joined his
+companion, who had already begun his disposition for a halt.
+
+"Do you know this spot!" demanded the one called Deerslayer, "or do you
+shout at the sight of the sun?"
+
+"Both, lad, both; I know the spot, and am not sorry to see so useful
+a fri'nd as the sun. Now we have got the p'ints of the compass in our
+minds once more, and 't will be our own faults if we let anything turn
+them topsy-turvy ag'in, as has just happened. My name is not Hurry
+Harry, if this be not the very spot where the land-hunters camped the
+last summer, and passed a week. See I yonder are the dead bushes of
+their bower, and here is the spring. Much as I like the sun, boy, I've
+no occasion for it to tell me it is noon; this stomach of mine is as
+good a time-piece as is to be found in the colony, and it already p'ints
+to half-past twelve. So open the wallet, and let us wind up for another
+six hours' run."
+
+At this suggestion, both set themselves about making the preparations
+necessary for their usual frugal but hearty meal. We will profit by this
+pause in the discourse to give the reader some idea of the appearance of
+the men, each of whom is destined to enact no insignificant part in our
+legend.
+
+It would not have been easy to find a more noble specimen of vigorous
+manhood than was offered in the person of him who called himself Hurry
+Harry. His real name was Henry March but the frontiersmen having caught
+the practice of giving sobriquets from the Indians, the appellation of
+Hurry was far oftener applied to him than his proper designation, and
+not unfrequently he was termed Hurry Skurry, a nickname he had obtained
+from a dashing, reckless offhand manner, and a physical restlessness
+that kept him so constantly on the move, as to cause him to be known
+along the whole line of scattered habitations that lay between the
+province and the Canadas. The stature of Hurry Harry exceeded six feet
+four, and being unusually well proportioned, his strength fully realized
+the idea created by his gigantic frame. The face did no discredit to the
+rest of the man, for it was both good-humored and handsome. His air was
+free, and though his manner necessarily partook of the rudeness of a
+border life, the grandeur that pervaded so noble a physique prevented it
+from becoming altogether vulgar.
+
+Deerslayer, as Hurry called his companion, was a very different person
+in appearance, as well as in character. In stature he stood about
+six feet in his moccasins, but his frame was comparatively light and
+slender, showing muscles, however, that promised unusual agility, if not
+unusual strength. His face would have had little to recommend it except
+youth, were it not for an expression that seldom failed to win upon
+those who had leisure to examine it, and to yield to the feeling of
+confidence it created. This expression was simply that of guileless
+truth, sustained by an earnestness of purpose, and a sincerity of
+feeling, that rendered it remarkable. At times this air of integrity
+seemed to be so simple as to awaken the suspicion of a want of the
+usual means to discriminate between artifice and truth; but few came in
+serious contact with the man, without losing this distrust in respect
+for his opinions and motives.
+
+Both these frontiersmen were still young, Hurry having reached the
+age of six or eight and twenty, while Deerslayer was several years his
+junior. Their attire needs no particular description, though it may
+be well to add that it was composed in no small degree of dressed
+deer-skins, and had the usual signs of belonging to those who pass their
+time between the skirts of civilized society and the boundless forests.
+There was, notwithstanding, some attention to smartness and the
+picturesque in the arrangements of Deerslayer's dress, more particularly
+in the part connected with his arms and accoutrements. His rifle was in
+perfect condition, the handle of his hunting-knife was neatly carved,
+his powder-horn was ornamented with suitable devices lightly cut into
+the material, and his shot-pouch was decorated with wampum.
+
+On the other hand, Hurry Harry, either from constitutional recklessness,
+or from a secret consciousness how little his appearance required
+artificial aids, wore everything in a careless, slovenly manner, as
+if he felt a noble scorn for the trifling accessories of dress and
+ornaments. Perhaps the peculiar effect of his fine form and great
+stature was increased rather than lessened, by this unstudied and
+disdainful air of indifference.
+
+"Come, Deerslayer, fall to, and prove that you have a Delaware stomach,
+as you say you have had a Delaware edication," cried Hurry, setting the
+example by opening his mouth to receive a slice of cold venison steak
+that would have made an entire meal for a European peasant; "fall to,
+lad, and prove your manhood on this poor devil of a doe with your teeth,
+as you've already done with your rifle."
+
+"Nay, nay, Hurry, there's little manhood in killing a doe, and that too
+out of season; though there might be some in bringing down a painter
+or a catamount," returned the other, disposing himself to comply. "The
+Delawares have given me my name, not so much on account of a bold heart,
+as on account of a quick eye, and an actyve foot. There may not be any
+cowardyce in overcoming a deer, but sartain it is, there's no great
+valor."
+
+"The Delawares themselves are no heroes," muttered Hurry through his
+teeth, the mouth being too full to permit it to be fairly opened, "or
+they would never have allowed them loping vagabonds, the Mingos, to make
+them women."
+
+"That matter is not rightly understood--has never been rightly
+explained," said Deerslayer earnestly, for he was as zealous a friend as
+his companion was dangerous as an enemy; "the Mengwe fill the woods with
+their lies, and misconstruct words and treaties. I have now lived ten
+years with the Delawares, and know them to be as manful as any other
+nation, when the proper time to strike comes."
+
+"Harkee, Master Deerslayer, since we are on the subject, we may as
+well open our minds to each other in a man-to-man way; answer me one
+question; you have had so much luck among the game as to have gotten
+a title, it would seem, but did you ever hit anything human or
+intelligible: did you ever pull trigger on an inimy that was capable of
+pulling one upon you?"
+
+This question produced a singular collision between mortification and
+correct feeling, in the bosom of the youth, that was easily to be traced
+in the workings of his ingenuous countenance. The struggle was short,
+however; uprightness of heart soon getting the better of false pride and
+frontier boastfulness.
+
+"To own the truth, I never did," answered Deerslayer; "seeing that a
+fitting occasion never offered. The Delawares have been peaceable since
+my sojourn with 'em, and I hold it to be onlawful to take the life of
+man, except in open and generous warfare."
+
+"What! did you never find a fellow thieving among your traps and
+skins, and do the law on him with your own hands, by way of saving the
+magistrates trouble in the settlements, and the rogue himself the cost
+of the suit!"
+
+"I am no trapper, Hurry," returned the young man proudly: "I live by the
+rifle, a we'pon at which I will not turn my back on any man of my years,
+atween the Hudson and the St. Lawrence. I never offer a skin that has
+not a hole in its head besides them which natur' made to see with or to
+breathe through."
+
+"Ay, ay, this is all very well, in the animal way, though it makes but a
+poor figure alongside of scalps and ambushes. Shooting an Indian from an
+ambush is acting up to his own principles, and now we have what you call
+a lawful war on our hands, the sooner you wipe that disgrace off your
+character, the sounder will be your sleep; if it only come from knowing
+there is one inimy the less prowling in the woods. I shall not frequent
+your society long, friend Natty, unless you look higher than four-footed
+beasts to practice your rifle on."
+
+"Our journey is nearly ended, you say, Master March, and we can part
+to-night, if you see occasion. I have a fri'nd waiting for me, who will
+think it no disgrace to consort with a fellow-creatur' that has never
+yet slain his kind."
+
+"I wish I knew what has brought that skulking Delaware into this part of
+the country so early in the season," muttered Hurry to himself, in a way
+to show equally distrust and a recklessness of its betrayal. "Where did
+you say the young chief was to give you the meeting?"
+
+"At a small round rock, near the foot of the lake, where they tell me,
+the tribes are given to resorting to make their treaties, and to bury
+their hatchets. This rock have I often heard the Delawares mention,
+though lake and rock are equally strangers to me. The country is claimed
+by both Mingos and Mohicans, and is a sort of common territory to
+fish and hunt through, in time of peace, though what it may become in
+war-time, the Lord only knows!"
+
+"Common territory" exclaimed Hurry, laughing aloud. "I should like to
+know what Floating Tom Hutter would say to that! He claims the lake as
+his own property, in vartue of fifteen years' possession, and will not
+be likely to give it up to either Mingo or Delaware without a battle for
+it!"
+
+"And what will the colony say to such a quarrel--all this country must
+have some owner, the gentry pushing their cravings into the wilderness,
+even where they never dare to ventur', in their own persons, to look at
+the land they own."
+
+"That may do in other quarters of the colony, Deerslayer, but it will
+not do here. Not a human being, the Lord excepted, owns a foot of sile
+in this part of the country. Pen was never put to paper consarning
+either hill or valley hereaway, as I've heard old Tom say time and
+ag'in, and so he claims the best right to it of any man breathing; and
+what Tom claims, he'll be very likely to maintain."
+
+"By what I've heard you say, Hurry, this Floating Tom must be an
+oncommon mortal; neither Mingo, Delaware, nor pale-face. His possession,
+too, has been long, by your tell, and altogether beyond frontier
+endurance. What's the man's history and natur'?"
+
+"Why, as to old Tom's human natur', it is not much like other men's
+human natur', but more like a muskrat's human natar', seeing that he
+takes more to the ways of that animal than to the ways of any other
+fellow-creatur'. Some think he was a free liver on the salt water, in
+his youth, and a companion of a sartain Kidd, who was hanged for piracy,
+long afore you and I were born or acquainted, and that he came up into
+these regions, thinking that the king's cruisers could never cross the
+mountains, and that he might enjoy the plunder peaceably in the woods."
+
+"Then he was wrong, Hurry; very wrong. A man can enjoy plunder peaceably
+nowhere."
+
+"That's much as his turn of mind may happen to be. I've known them
+that never could enjoy it at all, unless it was in the midst of a
+jollification, and them again that enjoyed it best in a corner. Some
+men have no peace if they don't find plunder, and some if they do. Human
+nature' is crooked in these matters. Old Tom seems to belong to neither
+set, as he enjoys his, if plunder he has really got, with his darters,
+in a very quiet and comfortable way, and wishes for no more."
+
+"Ay, he has darters, too; I've heard the Delawares, who've hunted this
+a way, tell their histories of these young women. Is there no mother,
+Hurry?"
+
+"There was once, as in reason; but she has now been dead and sunk these
+two good years."
+
+"Anan?" said Deerslayer, looking up at his companion in a little
+surprise.
+
+"Dead and sunk, I say, and I hope that's good English. The old fellow
+lowered his wife into the lake, by way of seeing the last of her, as I
+can testify, being an eye-witness of the ceremony; but whether Tom
+did it to save digging, which is no easy job among roots, or out of a
+consait that water washes away sin sooner than 'arth, is more than I can
+say."
+
+"Was the poor woman oncommon wicked, that her husband should take so
+much pains with her body?"
+
+"Not onreasonable; though she had her faults. I consider Judith Hutter
+to have been as graceful, and about as likely to make a good ind as
+any woman who had lived so long beyond the sound of church bells; and I
+conclude old Tom sunk her as much by way of saving pains, as by way of
+taking it. There was a little steel in her temper, it's true, and,
+as old Hutter is pretty much flint, they struck out sparks
+once-and-a-while; but, on the whole, they might be said to live amicable
+like. When they did kindle, the listeners got some such insights into
+their past lives, as one gets into the darker parts of the woods, when
+a stray gleam of sunshine finds its way down to the roots of the trees.
+But Judith I shall always esteem, as it's recommend enough to one woman
+to be the mother of such a creatur' as her darter, Judith Hutter!"
+
+"Ay, Judith was the name the Delawares mentioned, though it was
+pronounced after a fashion of their own. From their discourse, I do not
+think the girl would much please my fancy."
+
+"Thy fancy!" exclaimed March, taking fire equally at the indifference
+and at the presumption of his companion, "what the devil have you to do
+with a fancy, and that, too, consarning one like Judith? You are but a
+boy--a sapling, that has scarce got root. Judith has had men among her
+suitors, ever since she was fifteen; which is now near five years; and
+will not be apt even to cast a look upon a half-grown creatur' like
+you!"
+
+"It is June, and there is not a cloud atween us and the sun, Hurry,
+so all this heat is not wanted," answered the other, altogether
+undisturbed; "any one may have a fancy, and a squirrel has a right to
+make up his mind touching a catamount."
+
+"Ay, but it might not be wise, always, to let the catamount know it,"
+growled March. "But you're young and thoughtless, and I'll overlook your
+ignorance. Come, Deerslayer," he added, with a good-natured laugh, after
+pausing a moment to reflect, "come, Deerslayer, we are sworn friends,
+and will not quarrel about a light-minded, jilting jade, just because
+she happens to be handsome; more especially as you have never seen
+her. Judith is only for a man whose teeth show the full marks, and it's
+foolish to be afeard of a boy. What did the Delawares say of the hussy?
+for an Indian, after all, has his notions of woman-kind, as well as a
+white man."
+
+"They said she was fair to look on, and pleasant of speech; but
+over-given to admirers, and light-minded."
+
+"They are devils incarnate! After all, what schoolmaster is a match for
+an Indian, in looking into natur'! Some people think they are only good
+on a trail or the war-path, but I say that they are philosophers, and
+understand a man as well as they understand a beaver, and a woman as
+well as they understand either. Now that's Judith's character to a
+ribbon! To own the truth to you, Deerslayer, I should have married the
+gal two years since, if it had not been for two particular things, one
+of which was this very lightmindedness."
+
+"And what may have been the other?" demanded the hunter, who continued
+to eat like one that took very little interest in the subject.
+
+"T'other was an insartainty about her having me. The hussy is handsome,
+and she knows it. Boy, not a tree that is growing in these hills is
+straighter, or waves in the wind with an easier bend, nor did you ever
+see the doe that bounded with a more nat'ral motion. If that was all,
+every tongue would sound her praises; but she has such failings that I
+find it hard to overlook them, and sometimes I swear I'll never visit
+the lake again."
+
+"Which is the reason that you always come back? Nothing is ever made
+more sure by swearing about it."
+
+"Ah, Deerslayer, you are a novelty in these particulars; keeping as true
+to education as if you had never left the settlements. With me the case
+is different, and I never want to clinch an idee, that I do not feel a
+wish to swear about it. If you know'd all that I know consarning Judith,
+you'd find a justification for a little cussing. Now, the officers
+sometimes stray over to the lake, from the forts on the Mohawk, to fish
+and hunt, and then the creatur' seems beside herself! You can see in the
+manner which she wears her finery, and the airs she gives herself with
+the gallants."
+
+"That is unseemly in a poor man's darter," returned Deerslayer gravely,
+"the officers are all gentry, and can only look on such as Judith with
+evil intentions."
+
+"There's the unsartainty, and the damper! I have my misgivings about a
+particular captain, and Jude has no one to blame but her own folly, if
+I'm right. On the whole, I wish to look upon her as modest and becoming,
+and yet the clouds that drive among these hills are not more unsartain.
+Not a dozen white men have ever laid eyes upon her since she was a
+child, and yet her airs, with two or three of these officers, are
+extinguishers!"
+
+"I would think no more of such a woman, but turn my mind altogether to
+the forest; that will not deceive you, being ordered and ruled by a hand
+that never wavers."
+
+"If you know'd Judith, you would see how much easier it is to say this
+than it would be to do it. Could I bring my mind to be easy about the
+officers, I would carry the gal off to the Mohawk by force, make her
+marry me in spite of her whiffling, and leave old Tom to the care
+of Hetty, his other child, who, if she be not as handsome or as
+quick-witted as her sister, is much the most dutiful."
+
+"Is there another bird in the same nest!" asked Deerslayer, raising his
+eyes with a species of half-awakened curiosity, "the Delawares spoke to
+me only of one."
+
+"That's nat'ral enough, when Judith Hutter and Hetty Hutter are in
+question. Hetty is only comely, while her sister, I tell thee, boy, is
+such another as is not to be found atween this and the sea: Judith is as
+full of wit, and talk, and cunning, as an old Indian orator, while poor
+Hetty is at the best but 'compass' meant us."
+
+"Anan?" inquired, again, the Deerslayer.
+
+"Why, what the officers call 'compass meant us,' which I understand
+to signify that she means always to go in the right direction, but
+sometimes does not know how. 'Compass'for the p'int, and 'meant us' for
+the intention. No, poor Hetty is what I call on the verge of ignorance,
+and sometimes she stumbles on one side of the line, and sometimes on
+t'other."
+
+"Them are beings that the Lord has in his special care," said
+Deerslayer, solemnly; "for he looks carefully to all who fall short of
+their proper share of reason. The red-skins honor and respect them who
+are so gifted, knowing that the Evil Spirit delights more to dwell in an
+artful body, than in one that has no cunning to work upon."
+
+"I'll answer for it, then, that he will not remain long with poor Hetty;
+for the child is just 'compass meant us,' as I have told you. Old Tom
+has a feeling for the gal, and so has Judith, quick-witted and glorious
+as she is herself; else would I not answer for her being altogether safe
+among the sort of men that sometimes meet on the lake shore."
+
+"I thought this water an unknown and little-frequented sheet," observed
+the Deerslayer, evidently uneasy at the idea of being too near the
+world.
+
+"It's all that, lad, the eyes of twenty white men never having been laid
+on it; still, twenty true-bred frontiersmen--hunters and trappers, and
+scouts, and the like,--can do a deal of mischief if they try. 'T would
+be an awful thing to me, Deerslayer, did I find Judith married, after an
+absence of six months!"
+
+"Have you the gal's faith, to encourage you to hope otherwise?"
+
+"Not at all. I know not how it is: I'm good-looking, boy,--that much I
+can see in any spring on which the sun shines,--and yet I could not get
+the hussy to a promise, or even a cordial willing smile, though she will
+laugh by the hour. If she has dared to marry in my absence, she'd be
+like to know the pleasures of widowhood afore she is twenty!"
+
+"You would not harm the man she has chosen, Hurry, simply because she
+found him more to her liking than yourself!"
+
+"Why not! If an enemy crosses my path, will I not beat him out of it!
+Look at me! am I a man like to let any sneaking, crawling, skin-trader
+get the better of me in a matter that touches me as near as the kindness
+of Judith Hutter! Besides, when we live beyond law, we must be our own
+judges and executioners. And if a man should be found dead in the woods,
+who is there to say who slew him, even admitting that the colony took
+the matter in hand and made a stir about it?"
+
+"If that man should be Judith Hutter's husband, after what has passed, I
+might tell enough, at least, to put the colony on the trail."
+
+"You!--half-grown, venison-hunting bantling! You dare to think of
+informing against Hurry Harry in so much as a matter touching a mink or
+a woodchuck!"
+
+"I would dare to speak truth, Hurry, consarning you or any man that ever
+lived."
+
+March looked at his companion, for a moment, in silent amazement; then
+seizing him by the throat with both hands, he shook his comparatively
+slight frame with a violence that menaced the dislocation of some of the
+bones. Nor was this done jocularly, for anger flashed from the giant's
+eyes, and there were certain signs that seemed to threaten much more
+earnestness than the occasion would appear to call for. Whatever might
+be the real intention of March, and it is probable there was none
+settled in his mind, it is certain that he was unusually aroused; and
+most men who found themselves throttled by one of a mould so gigantic,
+in such a mood, and in a solitude so deep and helpless, would have felt
+intimidated, and tempted to yield even the right. Not so, however, with
+Deerslayer. His countenance remained unmoved; his hand did not shake,
+and his answer was given in a voice that did not resort to the artifice
+of louder tones, even by way of proving its owner's resolution.
+
+"You may shake, Hurry, until you bring down the mountain," he said
+quietly, "but nothing beside truth will you shake from me. It is
+probable that Judith Hutter has no husband to slay, and you may never
+have a chance to waylay one, else would I tell her of your threat, in
+the first conversation I held with the gal."
+
+March released his grip, and sat regarding the other in silent
+astonishment.
+
+"I thought we had been friends," he at length added; "but you've got the
+last secret of mine that will ever enter your ears."
+
+"I want none, if they are to be like this. I know we live in the woods,
+Hurry, and are thought to be beyond human laws,--and perhaps we are
+so, in fact, whatever it may be in right,--but there is a law and a
+law-maker, that rule across the whole continent. He that flies in the
+face of either need not call me a friend."
+
+"Damme, Deerslayer, if I do not believe you are at heart a Moravian, and
+no fair-minded, plain-dealing hunter, as you've pretended to be!"
+
+"Fair-minded or not, Hurry, you will find me as plaindealing in deeds
+as I am in words. But this giving way to sudden anger is foolish, and
+proves how little you have sojourned with the red man. Judith Hutter no
+doubt is still single, and you spoke but as the tongue ran, and not as
+the heart felt. There's my hand, and we will say and think no more about
+it."
+
+Hurry seemed more surprised than ever; then he burst forth in a loud,
+good-natured laugh, which brought tears to his eyes. After this he
+accepted the offered hand, and the parties became friends.
+
+"'T would have been foolish to quarrel about an idee," March cried,
+as he resumed his meal, "and more like lawyers in the towns than like
+sensible men in the woods. They tell me, Deerslayer, much ill-blood
+grows out of idees among the people in the lower counties, and that they
+sometimes get to extremities upon them."
+
+"That do they,--that do they; and about other matters that might better
+be left to take care of themselves. I have heard the Moravians say that
+there are lands in which men quarrel even consarning their religion; and
+if they can get their tempers up on such a subject, Hurry, the Lord have
+Marcy on 'em. Howsoever, there is no occasion for our following their
+example, and more especially about a husband that this Judith Hutter
+may never see, or never wish to see. For my part, I feel more cur'osity
+about the feeble-witted sister than about your beauty. There's
+something that comes close to a man's feelin's, when he meets with a
+fellow-creatur' that has all the outward show of an accountable mortal,
+and who fails of being what he seems, only through a lack of reason.
+This is bad enough in a man, but when it comes to a woman, and she a
+young, and maybe a winning creatur' it touches all the pitiful thoughts
+his natur' has. God knows, Hurry, that such poor things be defenceless
+enough with all their wits about 'em; but it's a cruel fortun' when that
+great protector and guide fails 'em."
+
+"Hark, Deerslayer,--you know what the hunters, and trappers, and
+peltry-men in general be; and their best friends will not deny that
+they are headstrong and given to having their own way, without much
+bethinking 'em of other people's rights or feelin's,--and yet I don't
+think the man is to be found, in all this region, who would harm Hetty
+Hutter, if he could; no, not even a red-skin."
+
+"Therein, fri'nd Hurry, you do the Delawares, at least, and all their
+allied tribes, only justice, for a red-skin looks upon a being thus
+struck by God's power as especially under his care. I rejoice to hear
+what you say, however, I rejoice to hear it; but as the sun is beginning
+to turn towards the afternoon's sky, had we not better strike the trail
+again, and make forward, that we may get an opportunity of seeing these
+wonderful sisters?"
+
+Harry March giving a cheerful assent, the remnants of the meal were
+soon collected; then the travelers shouldered their packs, resumed their
+arms, and, quitting the little area of light, they again plunged into
+the deep shadows of the forest.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+    "Thou'rt passing from the lake's green side,
+    And the hunter's hearth away;
+    For the time of flowers, for the summer's pride,
+    Daughter! thou canst not stay."
+
+    Mrs.  Hemans, "Edith.  A Tale of the Woods" II.  191-94
+
+
+
+Our two adventurers had not far to go. Hurry knew the direction, as soon
+as he had found the open spot and the spring, and he now led on with the
+confident step of a man assured of his object. The forest was dark, as a
+matter of course, but it was no longer obstructed by underbrush, and the
+footing was firm and dry. After proceeding near a mile, March stopped,
+and began to cast about him with an inquiring look, examining the
+different objects with care, and occasionally turning his eyes on the
+trunks of the fallen trees, with which the ground was well sprinkled,
+as is usually the case in an American wood, especially in those parts of
+the country where timber has not yet become valuable.
+
+"This must be the place, Deerslayer," March at length observed; "here is
+a beech by the side of a hemlock, with three pines at hand, and yonder
+is a white birch with a broken top; and yet I see no rock, nor any of
+the branches bent down, as I told you would be the case."
+
+"Broken branches are onskilful landmarks, as the least exper'enced know
+that branches don't often break of themselves," returned the other; "and
+they also lead to suspicion and discoveries. The Delawares never trust
+to broken branches, unless it is in friendly times, and on an open
+trail. As for the beeches, and pines, and hemlocks, why, they are to be
+seen on all sides of us, not only by twos and threes, but by forties,
+and fifties, and hundreds."
+
+"Very true, Deerslayer, but you never calculate on position. Here is a
+beech and a hemlock--"
+
+"Yes, and there is another beech and a hemlock, as loving as two
+brothers, or, for that matter, more loving than some brothers; and
+yonder are others, for neither tree is a rarity in these woods. I fear
+me, Hurry, you are better at trapping beaver and shooting bears, than
+at leading on a blindish sort of a trail. Ha! there's what you wish to
+find, a'ter all!"
+
+"Now, Deerslayer, this is one of your Delaware pretensions, for hang me
+if I see anything but these trees, which do seem to start up around us
+in a most onaccountable and perplexing manner."
+
+"Look this-a-way, Hurry--here, in a line with the black oak--don't
+you see the crooked sapling that is hooked up in the branches of the
+bass-wood, near it? Now, that sapling was once snow-ridden, and got
+the bend by its weight; but it never straightened itself, and fastened
+itself in among the bass-wood branches in the way you see. The hand of
+man did that act of kindness for it."
+
+"That hand was mine!" exclaimed Hurry; "I found the slender young
+thing bent to the airth, like an unfortunate creatur' borne down by
+misfortune, and stuck it up where you see it. After all, Deerslayer, I
+must allow, you're getting to have an oncommon good eye for the woods!"
+
+"'Tis improving, Hurry--'tis improving I will acknowledge; but 'tis only
+a child's eye, compared to some I know. There's Tamenund, now, though
+a man so old that few remember when he was in his prime, Tamenund lets
+nothing escape his look, which is more like the scent of a hound than
+the sight of an eye. Then Uncas, the father of Chingachgook, and the
+lawful chief of the Mohicans, is another that it is almost hopeless to
+pass unseen. I'm improving, I will allow--I'm improving, but far from
+being perfect, as yet."
+
+"And who is this Chingachgook, of whom you talk so much, Deerslayer!"
+asked Hurry, as he moved off in the direction of the righted sapling; "a
+loping red-skin, at the best, I make no question."
+
+"Not so, Hurry, but the best of loping red-skins, as you call 'em. If he
+had his rights, he would be a great chief; but, as it is, he is only
+a brave and just-minded Delaware; respected, and even obeyed in some
+things,'tis true, but of a fallen race, and belonging to a fallen
+people. Ah! Harry March, 'twould warm the heart within you to sit in
+their lodges of a winter's night, and listen to the traditions of the
+ancient greatness and power of the Mohicans!"
+
+"Harkee, fri'nd Nathaniel," said Hurry, stopping short to face his
+companion, in order that his words might carry greater weight with them,
+"if a man believed all that other people choose to say in their own
+favor, he might get an oversized opinion of them, and an undersized
+opinion of himself. These red-skins are notable boasters, and I set down
+more than half of their traditions as pure talk."
+
+"There is truth in what you say, Hurry, I'll not deny it, for I've seen
+it, and believe it. They do boast, but then that is a gift from natur';
+and it's sinful to withstand nat'ral gifts. See; this is the spot you
+come to find!" This remark cut short the discourse, and both the men
+now gave all their attention to the object immediately before them.
+Deerslayer pointed out to his companion the trunk of a huge linden, or
+bass-wood, as it is termed in the language of the country, which had
+filled its time, and fallen by its own weight. This tree, like so many
+millions of its brethren, lay where it had fallen, and was mouldering
+under the slow but certain influence of the seasons. The decay, however,
+had attacked its centre, even while it stood erect in the pride of
+vegetation, bellowing out its heart, as disease sometimes destroys the
+vitals of animal life, even while a fair exterior is presented to the
+observer. As the trunk lay stretched for near a hundred feet along the
+earth, the quick eye of the hunter detected this peculiarity, and from
+this and other circumstances, he knew it to be the tree of which March
+was in search.
+
+"Ay, here we have what we want," cried Hurry, looking in at the larger
+end of the linden; "everything is as snug as if it had been left in an
+old woman's cupboard. Come, lend me a hand, Deerslayer, and we'll be
+afloat in half an hour."
+
+At this call the hunter joined his companion, and the two went to work
+deliberately and regularly, like men accustomed to the sort of thing in
+which they were employed. In the first place, Hurry removed some pieces
+of bark that lay before the large opening in the tree, and which the
+other declared to be disposed in a way that would have been more likely
+to attract attention than to conceal the cover, had any straggler passed
+that way. The two then drew out a bark canoe, containing its seats,
+paddles, and other appliances, even to fishing-lines and rods. This
+vessel was by no means small; but such was its comparative lightness,
+and so gigantic was the strength of Hurry, that the latter shouldered it
+with seeming ease, declining all assistance, even in the act of raising
+it to the awkward position in which he was obliged to hold it.
+
+"Lead ahead, Deerslayer," said March, "and open the bushes; the rest I
+can do for myself."
+
+The other obeyed, and the men left the spot, Deerslayer clearing the
+way for his companion, and inclining to the right or to the left, as the
+latter directed. In about ten minutes they both broke suddenly into the
+brilliant light of the sun, on a low gravelly point, that was washed by
+water on quite half its outline.
+
+An exclamation of surprise broke from the lips of Deerslayer, an
+exclamation that was low and guardedly made, however, for his habits
+were much more thoughtful and regulated than those of the reckless
+Hurry, when on reaching the margin of the lake, he beheld the view that
+unexpectedly met his gaze. It was, in truth, sufficiently striking to
+merit a brief description. On a level with the point lay a broad sheet
+of water, so placid and limpid that it resembled a bed of the pure
+mountain atmosphere, compressed into a setting of hills and woods.
+Its length was about three leagues, while its breadth was irregular,
+expanding to half a league, or even more, opposite to the point, and
+contracting to less than half that distance, more to the southward. Of
+course, its margin was irregular, being indented by bays, and broken
+by many projecting, low points. At its northern, or nearest end, it was
+bounded by an isolated mountain, lower land falling off east and west,
+gracefully relieving the sweep of the outline. Still the character
+of the country was mountainous; high hills, or low mountains, rising
+abruptly from the water, on quite nine tenths of its circuit. The
+exceptions, indeed, only served a little to vary the scene; and
+even beyond the parts of the shore that were comparatively low, the
+background was high, though more distant.
+
+But the most striking peculiarities of this scene were its solemn
+solitude and sweet repose. On all sides, wherever the eye turned,
+nothing met it but the mirror-like surface of the lake, the placid view
+of heaven, and the dense setting of woods. So rich and fleecy were the
+outlines of the forest, that scarce an opening could be seen, the
+whole visible earth, from the rounded mountain-top to the water's edge,
+presenting one unvaried hue of unbroken verdure. As if vegetation were
+not satisfied with a triumph so complete, the trees overhung the lake
+itself, shooting out towards the light; and there were miles along its
+eastern shore, where a boat might have pulled beneath the branches of
+dark Rembrandt-looking hemlocks, "quivering aspens," and melancholy
+pines. In a word, the hand of man had never yet defaced or deformed any
+part of this native scene, which lay bathed in the sunlight, a glorious
+picture of affluent forest grandeur, softened by the balminess of June,
+and relieved by the beautiful variety afforded by the presence of so
+broad an expanse of water.
+
+"This is grand!--'tis solemn!--'tis an edication of itself, to look
+upon!" exclaimed Deerslayer, as he stood leaning on his rifle, and
+gazing to the right and left, north and south, above and beneath, in
+whichever direction his eye could wander; "not a tree disturbed even by
+red-skin hand, as I can discover, but everything left in the ordering of
+the Lord, to live and die according to his own designs and laws! Hurry,
+your Judith ought to be a moral and well disposed young woman, if
+she has passed half the time you mention in the centre of a spot so
+favored."
+
+"That's naked truth; and yet the gal has the vagaries. All her time
+has not been passed here, howsoever, old Tom having the custom, afore
+I know'd him, of going to spend the winters in the neighborhood of the
+settlers, or under the guns of the forts. No, no, Jude has caught
+more than is for her good from the settlers, and especially from the
+gallantifying officers."
+
+"If she has--if she has, Hurry, this is a school to set her mind right
+ag'in. But what is this I see off here, abreast of us, that seems too
+small for an island, and too large for a boat, though it stands in the
+midst of the water!
+
+"Why, that is what these galantine gentry from the forts call Muskrat
+Castle; and old Tom himself will grin at the name, though it bears so
+hard on his own natur' and character. 'Tis the stationary house, there
+being two; this, which never moves, and the other, that floats, being
+sometimes in one part of the lake and sometimes in another. The last
+goes by the name of the ark, though what may be the meaning of the word
+is more than I can tell you."
+
+"It must come from the missionaries, Hurry, whom I have heard speak
+and read of such a thing. They say that the 'arth was once covered with
+water, and that Noah, with his children, was saved from drowning by
+building a vessel called an ark, in which he embarked in season. Some of
+the Delawares believe this tradition, and some deny it; but it behooves
+you and me, as white men born, to put our faith in its truth. Do you see
+anything of this ark?"
+
+"'Tis down south, no doubt, or anchored in some of the bays. But the
+canoe is ready, and fifteen minutes will carry two such paddles as
+your'n and mine to the castle."
+
+At this suggestion, Deerslayer helped his companion to place the
+different articles in the canoe, which was already afloat. This was no
+sooner done than the two frontiermen embarked, and by a vigorous push
+sent the light bark some eight or ten rods from the shore. Hurry now
+took the seat in the stern, while Deerslayer placed himself forward, and
+by leisurely but steady strokes of the paddles, the canoe glided across
+the placid sheet, towards the extraordinary-looking structure that the
+former had styled Muskrat Castle. Several times the men ceased paddling,
+and looked about them at the scene, as new glimpses opened from behind
+points, enabling them to see farther down the lake, or to get broader
+views of the wooded mountains. The only changes, however, were in the
+new forms of the hills, the varying curvature of the bays, and the wider
+reaches of the valley south; the whole earth apparently being clothed in
+a gala-dress of leaves.
+
+"This is a sight to warm the heart!" exclaimed Deerslayer, when they had
+thus stopped for the fourth or fifth time; "the lake seems made to let
+us get an insight into the noble forests; and land and water alike stand
+in the beauty of God's providence! Do you say, Hurry, that there is no
+man who calls himself lawful owner of all these glories?"
+
+"None but the King, lad. He may pretend to some right of that natur',
+but he is so far away that his claim will never trouble old Tom Hutter,
+who has got possession, and is like to keep it as long as his life
+lasts. Tom is no squatter, not being on land; I call him a floater."
+
+"I invy that man! I know it's wrong, and I strive ag'in the feelin', but
+I invy that man! Don't think, Hurry, that I'm consorting any plan to put
+myself in his moccasins, for such a thought doesn't harbor in my mind;
+but I can't help a little invy! 'Tis a nat'ral feelin', and the best of
+us are but nat'ral, a'ter all, and give way to such feelin's at times."
+
+"You've only to marry Hetty to inherit half the estate," cried Hurry,
+laughing; "the gal is comely; nay, if it wasn't for her sister's beauty
+she would be even handsome; and then her wits are so small that you may
+easily convart her into one of your own way of thinking, in all things.
+Do you take Hetty off the old fellow's hands, and I'll engage he'll give
+you an interest in every deer you can knock over within five miles of
+his lake."
+
+"Does game abound!" suddenly demanded the other, who paid but little
+attention to March's raillery.
+
+"It has the country to itself. Scarce a trigger is pulled on it; and as
+for the trappers, this is not a region they greatly frequent. I ought
+not to be so much here myself, but Jude pulls one way, while the beaver
+pulls another. More than a hundred Spanish dollars has that creatur'
+cost me the last two seasons, and yet I could not forego the wish to
+look upon her face once more."
+
+"Do the redmen often visit this lake, Hurry?" continued Deerslayer,
+pursuing his own train of thought.
+
+"Why, they come and go; sometimes in parties, and sometimes singly. The
+country seems to belong to no native tribe in particular; and so it has
+fallen into the hands of the Hutter tribe. The old man tells me that
+some sharp ones have been wheedling the Mohawks for an Indian deed,
+in order to get a title out of the colony; but nothing has come of it,
+seeing that no one heavy enough for such a trade has yet meddled
+with the matter. The hunters have a good life-lease still of this
+wilderness."
+
+"So much the better, so much the better, Hurry. If I was King of
+England, the man that felled one of these trees without good occasion
+for the timber, should be banished to a desarted and forlorn region, in
+which no fourfooted animal ever trod. Right glad am I that Chingachgook
+app'inted our meeting on this lake, for hitherto eye of mine never
+looked on such a glorious spectacle."
+
+"That's because you've kept so much among the Delawares, in whose
+country there are no lakes. Now, farther north and farther west these
+bits of water abound; and you're young, and may yet live to see 'em.
+But though there be other lakes, Deerslayer, there's no other Judith
+Hutter!"
+
+At this remark his companion smiled, and then he dropped his paddle into
+the water, as if in consideration of a lover's haste. Both now pulled
+vigorously until they got within a hundred yards of the "castle," as
+Hurry familiarly called the house of Hutter, when they again ceased
+paddling; the admirer of Judith restraining his impatience the more
+readily, as he perceived that the building was untenanted, at the
+moment. This new pause was to enable Deerslayer to survey the singular
+edifice, which was of a construction so novel as to merit a particular
+description.
+
+Muskrat Castle, as the house had been facetiously named by some waggish
+officer, stood in the open lake, at a distance of fully a quarter of a
+mile from the nearest shore. On every other side the water extended much
+farther, the precise position being distant about two miles from the
+northern end of the sheet, and near, if not quite, a mile from its
+eastern shore. As there was not the smallest appearance of any island,
+but the house stood on piles, with the water flowing beneath it, and
+Deerslayer had already discovered that the lake was of a great depth,
+he was fain to ask an explanation of this singular circumstance. Hurry
+solved the difficulty by telling him that on this spot alone, a long,
+narrow shoal, which extended for a few hundred yards in a north and
+south direction, rose within six or eight feet of the surface of
+the lake, and that Hutter had driven piles into it, and placed his
+habitation on them, for the purpose of security.
+
+"The old fellow was burnt out three times, atween the Indians and the
+hunters; and in one affray with the red-skins he lost his only son,
+since which time he has taken to the water for safety. No one can attack
+him here, without coming in a boat, and the plunder and scalps would
+scarce be worth the trouble of digging out canoes. Then it's by no
+means sartain which would whip in such a scrimmage, for old Tom is well
+supplied with arms and ammunition, and the castle, as you may see, is a
+tight breastwork ag'in light shot."
+
+Deerslayer had some theoretical knowledge of frontier warfare, though
+he had never yet been called on to raise his hand in anger against a
+fellow-creature. He saw that Hurry did not overrate the strength of
+this position in a military point of view, since it would not be easy to
+attack it without exposing the assailants to the fire of the besieged.
+A good deal of art had also been manifested in the disposition of
+the timber of which the building was constructed and which afforded a
+protection much greater than was usual to the ordinary log-cabins of the
+frontier. The sides and ends were composed of the trunks of large pines,
+cut about nine feet long, and placed upright, instead of being laid
+horizontally, as was the practice of the country. These logs were
+squared on three sides, and had large tenons on each end. Massive sills
+were secured on the heads of the piles, with suitable grooves dug out
+of their upper surfaces, which had been squared for the purpose, and the
+lower tenons of the upright pieces were placed in these grooves, giving
+them secure fastening below. Plates had been laid on the upper ends
+of the upright logs, and were kept in their places by a similar
+contrivance; the several corners of the structure being well fastened
+by scarfing and pinning the sills and plates. The doors were made of
+smaller logs, similarly squared, and the roof was composed of light
+poles, firmly united, and well covered with bark.
+
+The effect of this ingenious arrangement was to give its owner a house
+that could be approached only by water, the sides of which were composed
+of logs closely wedged together, which were two feet thick in their
+thinnest parts, and which could be separated only by a deliberate and
+laborious use of human hands, or by the slow operation of time. The
+outer surface of the building was rude and uneven, the logs being of
+unequal sizes; but the squared surfaces within gave both the sides and
+door as uniform an appearance as was desired, either for use or show.
+The chimney was not the least singular portion of the castle, as Hurry
+made his companion observe, while he explained the process by which it
+had been made. The material was a stiff clay, properly worked, which had
+been put together in a mould of sticks, and suffered to harden, a foot
+or two at a time, commencing at the bottom. When the entire chimney had
+thus been raised, and had been properly bound in with outward props, a
+brisk fire was kindled, and kept going until it was burned to something
+like a brick-red. This had not been an easy operation, nor had it
+succeeded entirely; but by dint of filling the cracks with fresh clay,
+a safe fireplace and chimney had been obtained in the end. This part of
+the work stood on the log-door, secured beneath by an extra pile. There
+were a few other peculiarities about this dwelling, which will better
+appear in the course of the narrative.
+
+"Old Tom is full of contrivances," added Hurry, "and he set his heart on
+the success of his chimney, which threatened more than once to give out
+altogether; but perseverance will even overcome smoke; and now he has
+a comfortable cabin of it, though it did promise, at one time, to be a
+chinky sort of a flue to carry flames and fire."
+
+"You seem to know the whole history of the castle, Hurry, chimney and
+sides," said Deerslayer, smiling; "is love so overcoming that it causes
+a man to study the story of his sweetheart's habitation?"
+
+"Partly that, lad, and partly eyesight," returned the good-natured
+giant, laughing; "there was a large gang of us in the lake, the summer
+the old fellow built, and we helped him along with the job. I raised no
+small part of the weight of them uprights with my own shoulders, and
+the axes flew, I can inform you, Master Natty, while we were bee-ing it
+among the trees ashore. The old devil is no way stingy about food, and
+as we had often eat at his hearth, we thought we would just house him
+comfortably, afore we went to Albany with our skins. Yes, many is the
+meal I've swallowed in Tom Hutter's cabins; and Hetty, though so weak in
+the way of wits, has a wonderful particular way about a frying-pan or a
+gridiron!
+
+"While the parties were thus discoursing, the canoe had been gradually
+drawing nearer to the "castle," and was now so close as to require but
+a single stroke of a paddle to reach the landing. This was at a floored
+platform in front of the entrance, that might have been some twenty feet
+square.
+
+"Old Tom calls this sort of a wharf his door-yard," observed Hurry, as
+he fastened the canoe, after he and his Companion had left it: "and the
+gallants from the forts have named it the castle court though what a
+'court' can have to do here is more than I can tell you, seeing that
+there is no law. 'Tis as I supposed; not a soul within, but the whole
+family is off on a v'y'ge of discovery!"
+
+While Hurry was bustling about the "door-yard," examining the
+fishing-spears, rods, nets, and other similar appliances of a frontier
+cabin, Deerslayer, whose manner was altogether more rebuked and quiet,
+entered the building with a curiosity that was not usually exhibited by
+one so long trained in Indian habits. The interior of the "castle" was
+as faultlessly neat as its exterior was novel. The entire space, some
+twenty feet by forty, was subdivided into several small sleeping-rooms;
+the apartment into which he first entered, serving equally for the
+ordinary uses of its inmates, and for a kitchen. The furniture was of
+the strange mixture that it is not uncommon to find in the remotely
+situated log-tenements of the interior. Most of it was rude, and to the
+last degree rustic; but there was a clock, with a handsome case of dark
+wood, in a corner, and two or three chairs, with a table and bureau,
+that had evidently come from some dwelling of more than usual
+pretension. The clock was industriously ticking, but its leaden-looking
+hands did no discredit to their dull aspect, for they pointed to the
+hour of eleven, though the sun plainly showed it was some time past
+the turn of the day. There was also a dark, massive chest. The kitchen
+utensils were of the simplest kind, and far from numerous, but every
+article was in its place, and showed the nicest care in its condition.
+
+After Deerslayer had cast a look about him in the outer room, he raised
+a wooden latch, and entered a narrow passage that divided the inner
+end of the house into two equal parts. Frontier usages being no way
+scrupulous, and his curiosity being strongly excited, the young man now
+opened a door, and found himself in a bedroom. A single glance sufficed
+to show that the apartment belonged to females. The bed was of the
+feathers of wild geese, and filled nearly to overflowing; but it lay in
+a rude bunk, raised only a foot from the door. On one side of it were
+arranged, on pegs, various dresses, of a quality much superior to what
+one would expect to meet in such a place, with ribbons and other similar
+articles to correspond. Pretty shoes, with handsome silver buckles, such
+as were then worn by females in easy circumstances, were not wanting;
+and no less than six fans, of gay colors, were placed half open, in a
+way to catch the eye by their conceits and hues. Even the pillow, on
+this side of the bed, was covered with finer linen than its companion,
+and it was ornamented with a small ruffle. A cap, coquettishly decorated
+with ribbons, hung above it, and a pair of long gloves, such as were
+rarely used in those days by persons of the laboring classes, were
+pinned ostentatiously to it, as if with an intention to exhibit them
+there, if they could not be shown on the owner's arms.
+
+All this Deerslayer saw, and noted with a degree of minuteness that
+would have done credit to the habitual observation of his friends, the
+Delawares. Nor did he fail to perceive the distinction that existed
+between the appearances on the different sides of the bed, the head
+of which stood against the wall. On that opposite to the one just
+described, everything was homely and uninviting, except through its
+perfect neatness. The few garments that were hanging from the pegs were
+of the coarsest materials and of the commonest forms, while nothing
+seemed made for show. Of ribbons there was not one; nor was there either
+cap or kerchief beyond those which Hutter's daughters might be fairly
+entitled to wear.
+
+It was now several years since Deerslayer had been in a spot especially
+devoted to the uses of females of his own color and race. The sight
+brought back to his mind a rush of childish recollections; and he
+lingered in the room with a tenderness of feeling to which he had long
+been a stranger. He bethought him of his mother, whose homely vestments
+he remembered to have seen hanging on pegs like those which he felt
+must belong to Hetty Hutter; and he bethought himself of a sister, whose
+incipient and native taste for finery had exhibited itself somewhat in
+the manner of that of Judith, though necessarily in a less degree. These
+little resemblances opened a long hidden vein of sensations; and as he
+quitted the room, it was with a saddened mien. He looked no further, but
+returned slowly and thoughtfully towards the "door-yard."
+
+"If Old Tom has taken to a new calling, and has been trying his hand at
+the traps," cried Hurry, who had been coolly examining the borderer's
+implements; "if that is his humor, and you're disposed to remain in
+these parts, we can make an oncommon comfortable season of it; for,
+while the old man and I out-knowledge the beaver, you can fish, and
+knock down the deer, to keep body and soul together. I've always give
+the poorest hunters half a share, but one as actyve and sartain as
+yourself might expect a full one."
+
+"Thank'ee, Hurry; thank'ee, with all my heart--but I do a little
+beavering for myself as occasions offer. 'Tis true, the Delawares call
+me Deerslayer, but it's not so much because I'm pretty fatal with the
+venison as because that while I kill so many bucks and does, I've never
+yet taken the life of a fellow-creatur'. They say their traditions do
+not tell of another who had shed so much blood of animals that had not
+shed the blood of man."
+
+"I hope they don't account you chicken-hearted, lad! A faint-hearted man
+is like a no-tailed beaver."
+
+"I don't believe, Hurry, that they account me as out-of-the-way
+timorsome, even though they may not account me as out-of-the-way brave.
+But I'm not quarrelsome; and that goes a great way towards keeping blood
+off the hands, among the hunters and red-skins; and then, Harry March,
+it keeps blood off the conscience, too."
+
+"Well, for my part I account game, a red-skin, and a Frenchman as pretty
+much the same thing; though I'm as onquarrelsome a man, too, as there is
+in all the colonies. I despise a quarreller as I do a cur-dog; but one
+has no need to be over-scrupulsome when it's the right time to show the
+flint."
+
+"I look upon him as the most of a man who acts nearest the right, Hurry.
+But this is a glorious spot, and my eyes never a-weary looking at it!"
+
+"'Tis your first acquaintance with a lake; and these ideas come over us
+all at such times. Lakes have a gentle character, as I say, being pretty
+much water and land, and points and bays."
+
+As this definition by no means met the feelings that were uppermost in
+the mind of the young hunter, he made no immediate answer, but stood
+gazing at the dark hills and the glassy water in silent enjoyment.
+
+"Have the Governor's or the King's people given this lake a name?" he
+suddenly asked, as if struck with a new idea. "If they've not begun to
+blaze their trees, and set up their compasses, and line off their maps,
+it's likely they've not bethought them to disturb natur' with a name."
+
+"They've not got to that, yet; and the last time I went in with skins,
+one of the King's surveyors was questioning me consarning all the region
+hereabouts. He had heard that there was a lake in this quarter, and
+had got some general notions about it, such as that there was water and
+hills; but how much of either, he know'd no more than you know of the
+Mohawk tongue. I didn't open the trap any wider than was necessary,
+giving him but poor encouragement in the way of farms and clearings. In
+short, I left on his mind some such opinion of this country, as a man
+gets of a spring of dirty water, with a path to it that is so muddy that
+one mires afore he sets out. He told me they hadn't got the spot down
+yet on their maps, though I conclude that is a mistake, for he showed me
+his parchment, and there is a lake down on it, where there is no lake
+in fact, and which is about fifty miles from the place where it ought to
+be, if they meant it for this. I don't think my account will encourage
+him to mark down another, by way of improvement."
+
+Here Hurry laughed heartily, such tricks being particularly grateful to
+a set of men who dreaded the approaches of civilization as a curtailment
+of their own lawless empire. The egregious errors that existed in the
+maps of the day, all of which were made in Europe, were, moreover, a
+standing topic of ridicule among them; for, if they had not science
+enough to make any better themselves, they had sufficient local
+information to detect the gross blunders contained in those that
+existed. Any one who will take the trouble to compare these unanswerable
+evidences of the topographical skill of our fathers a century since,
+with the more accurate sketches of our own time, will at once perceive
+that the men of the woods had a sufficient justification for all their
+criticism on this branch of the skill of the colonial governments, which
+did not at all hesitate to place a river or a lake a degree or two out
+of the way, even though they lay within a day's march of the inhabited
+parts of the country.
+
+"I'm glad it has no name," resumed Deerslayer, "or at least, no
+pale-face name; for their christenings always foretell waste and
+destruction. No doubt, howsoever, the red-skins have their modes of
+knowing it, and the hunters and trappers, too; they are likely to call
+the place by something reasonable and resembling."
+
+"As for the tribes, each has its tongue, and its own way of calling
+things; and they treat this part of the world just as they treat
+all others. Among ourselves, we've got to calling the place the
+'Glimmerglass,' seeing that its whole basin is so often hinged with
+pines, cast upward to its face as if it would throw back the hills that
+hang over it."
+
+"There is an outlet, I know, for all lakes have outlets, and the rock
+at which I am to meet Chingachgook stands near an outlet. Has that no
+colony-name yet?"
+
+"In that particular they've got the advantage of us, having one end, and
+that the biggest, in their own keeping: they've given it a name which
+has found its way up to its source; names nat'rally working up stream.
+No doubt, Deerslayer, you've seen the Susquehannah, down in the Delaware
+country?"
+
+"That have I, and hunted along its banks a hundred times."
+
+"That and this are the same in fact, and, I suppose, the same in sound.
+I am glad they've been compelled to keep the redmen's name, for it would
+be too hard to rob them of both land and name!"
+
+Deerslayer made no answer; but he stood leaning on his rifle, gazing
+at the view which so much delighted him. The reader is not to suppose,
+however, that it was the picturesque alone which so strongly attracted
+his attention. The spot was very lovely, of a truth, and it was then
+seen in one of its most favorable moments, the surface of the lake
+being as smooth as glass and as limpid as pure air, throwing back
+the mountains, clothed in dark pines, along the whole of its eastern
+boundary, the points thrusting forward their trees even to nearly
+horizontal lines, while the bays were seen glittering through an
+occasional arch beneath, left by a vault fretted with branches and
+leaves. It was the air of deep repose--the solitudes, that spoke of
+scenes and forests untouched by the hands of man--the reign of nature,
+in a word, that gave so much pure delight to one of his habits and turn
+of mind. Still, he felt, though it was unconsciously, like a poet
+also. If he found a pleasure in studying this large, and to him unusual
+opening into the mysteries and forms of the woods, as one is gratified
+in getting broader views of any subject that has long occupied his
+thoughts, he was not insensible to the innate loveliness of such a
+landscape neither, but felt a portion of that soothing of the spirit
+which is a common attendant of a scene so thoroughly pervaded by the
+holy cairn of nature.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+    "Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
+    And yet it irks me, the poor dappled foals,--
+    Being native burghers of this desert city,--
+    Should, in their own confines, with forked heads
+    Have their round haunches gored."
+
+    As You Like It, II.i.21-25
+
+Hurry Harry thought more of the beauties of Judith Hutter than of those
+of the Glimmerglass and its accompanying scenery. As soon as he had
+taken a sufficiently intimate survey of floating Tom's implements,
+therefore, he summoned his companion to the canoe, that they might go
+down the lake in quest of the family. Previously to embarking, however,
+Hurry carefully examined the whole of the northern end of the water with
+an indifferent ship's glass, that formed a part of Hutter's effects. In
+this scrutiny, no part of the shore was overlooked; the bays and points
+in particular being subjected to a closer inquiry than the rest of the
+wooded boundary.
+
+"'Tis as I thought," said Hurry, laying aside the glass, "the old fellow
+is drifting about the south end this fine weather, and has left the
+castle to defend itself. Well, now we know that he is not up this-a-way,
+'twill be but a small matter to paddle down and hunt him up in his
+hiding-place."
+
+"Does Master Hutter think it necessary to burrow on this lake?" inquired
+Deerslayer, as he followed his companion into the canoe; "to my eye it
+is such a solitude as one might open his whole soul in, and fear no one
+to disarrange his thoughts or his worship."
+
+"You forget your friends the Mingos, and all the French savages. Is
+there a spot on 'arth, Deerslayer, to which them disquiet rogues don't
+go? Where is the lake, or even the deer lick, that the blackguards don't
+find out, and having found out, don't, sooner or later, discolour its
+water with blood."
+
+"I hear no good character of 'em, sartainly, friend Hurry, though I've
+never been called on, yet, to meet them, or any other mortal, on the
+warpath. I dare to say that such a lovely spot as this, would not be
+likely to be overlooked by such plunderers, for, though I've not been
+in the way of quarreling with them tribes myself, the Delawares give
+me such an account of 'em that I've pretty much set 'em down in my own
+mind, as thorough miscreants."
+
+"You may do that with a safe conscience, or for that matter, any other
+savage you may happen to meet."
+
+Here Deerslayer protested, and as they went paddling down the lake, a
+hot discussion was maintained concerning the respective merits of
+the pale-faces and the red-skins. Hurry had all the prejudices and
+antipathies of a white hunter, who generally regards the Indian as a
+sort of natural competitor, and not unfrequently as a natural enemy.
+As a matter of course, he was loud, clamorous, dogmatical and not
+very argumentative. Deerslayer, on the other hand, manifested a very
+different temper, proving by the moderation of his language, the
+fairness of his views, and the simplicity of his distinctions, that he
+possessed every disposition to hear reason, a strong, innate desire to
+do justice, and an ingenuousness that was singularly indisposed to have
+recourse to sophism to maintain an argument; or to defend a prejudice.
+Still he was not altogether free from the influence of the latter
+feeling. This tyrant of the human mind, which ruses on it prey through
+a thousand avenues, almost as soon as men begin to think and feel, and
+which seldom relinquishes its iron sway until they cease to do
+either, had made some impression on even the just propensities of this
+individual, who probably offered in these particulars, a fair specimen
+of what absence from bad example, the want of temptation to go wrong,
+and native good feeling can render youth.
+
+"You will allow, Deerslayer, that a Mingo is more than half devil,"
+cried Hurry, following up the discussion with an animation that touched
+closely on ferocity, "though you want to over-persuade me that the
+Delaware tribe is pretty much made up of angels. Now, I gainsay that
+proposal, consarning white men, even. All white men are not faultless,
+and therefore all Indians can't be faultless. And so your argument is
+out at the elbow in the start. But this is what I call reason. Here's
+three colors on 'arth: white, black, and red. White is the highest
+color, and therefore the best man; black comes next, and is put to live
+in the neighborhood of the white man, as tolerable, and fit to be made
+use of; and red comes last, which shows that those that made 'em never
+expected an Indian to be accounted as more than half human."
+
+"God made all three alike, Hurry."
+
+"Alike! Do you call a nigger like a white man, or me like an Indian?"
+
+"You go off at half-cock, and don't hear me out. God made us all, white,
+black, and red; and, no doubt, had his own wise intentions in coloring
+us differently. Still, he made us, in the main, much the same in
+feelin's; though I'll not deny that he gave each race its gifts. A
+white man's gifts are Christianized, while a red-skin's are more for the
+wilderness. Thus, it would be a great offence for a white man to scalp
+the dead; whereas it's a signal vartue in an Indian. Then ag'in, a white
+man cannot amboosh women and children in war, while a red-skin may. 'Tis
+cruel work, I'll allow; but for them it's lawful work; while for us, it
+would be grievous work."
+
+"That depends on your inimy. As for scalping, or even skinning a savage,
+I look upon them pretty much the same as cutting off the ears of wolves
+for the bounty, or stripping a bear of its hide. And then you're out
+significantly, as to taking the poll of a red-skin in hand, seeing that
+the very colony has offered a bounty for the job; all the same as it
+pays for wolves' ears and crows' heads."
+
+"Ay, and a bad business it is, Hurry. Even the Indians themselves cry
+shame on it, seeing it's ag'in a white man's gifts. I do not pretend
+that all that white men do, is properly Christianized, and according
+to the lights given them, for then they would be what they ought to be;
+which we know they are not; but I will maintain that tradition, and use,
+and color, and laws, make such a difference in races as to amount to
+gifts. I do not deny that there are tribes among the Indians that are
+nat'rally pervarse and wicked, as there are nations among the whites.
+Now, I account the Mingos as belonging to the first, and the Frenchers,
+in the Canadas, to the last. In a state of lawful warfare, such as
+we have lately got into, it is a duty to keep down all compassionate
+feelin's, so far as life goes, ag'in either; but when it comes to
+scalps, it's a very different matter."
+
+"Just hearken to reason, if you please, Deerslayer, and tell me if the
+colony can make an onlawful law? Isn't an onlawful law more ag'in natur'
+than scalpin' a savage? A law can no more be onlawful, than truth can be
+a lie."
+
+"That sounds reasonable; but it has a most onreasonable bearing, Hurry.
+Laws don't all come from the same quarter. God has given us his'n, and
+some come from the colony, and others come from the King and Parliament.
+When the colony's laws, or even the King's laws, run ag'in the laws of
+God, they get to be onlawful, and ought not to be obeyed. I hold to
+a white man's respecting white laws, so long as they do not cross the
+track of a law comin' from a higher authority; and for a red man to obey
+his own red-skin usages, under the same privilege. But, 't is useless
+talking, as each man will think fir himself, and have his say agreeable
+to his thoughts. Let us keep a good lookout for your friend Floating
+Tom, lest we pass him, as he lies hidden under this bushy shore."
+
+Deerslayer had not named the borders of the lake amiss. Along their
+whole length, the smaller trees overhung the water, with their branches
+often dipping in the transparent element. The banks were steep, even from
+the narrow strand; and, as vegetation invariably struggles towards
+the light, the effect was precisely that at which the lover of the
+picturesque would have aimed, had the ordering of this glorious setting
+of forest been submitted to his control. The points and bays, too, were
+sufficiently numerous to render the outline broken and diversified. As
+the canoe kept close along the western side of the lake, with a view,
+as Hurry had explained to his companion, of reconnoitering for enemies,
+before he trusted himself too openly in sight, the expectations of the
+two adventurers were kept constantly on the stretch, as neither could
+foretell what the next turning of a point might reveal. Their progress
+was swift, the gigantic strength of Hurry enabling him to play with the
+light bark as if it had been a feather, while the skill of his companion
+almost equalized their usefulness, notwithstanding the disparity in
+natural means.
+
+Each time the canoe passed a point, Hurry turned a look behind him,
+expecting to see the "ark" anchored, or beached in the bay. He was
+fated to be disappointed, however; and they had got within a mile of the
+southern end of the lake, or a distance of quite two leagues from the
+"castle," which was now hidden from view by half a dozen intervening
+projections of the land, when he suddenly ceased paddling, as if
+uncertain in what direction next to steer.
+
+"It is possible that the old chap has dropped into the river," said
+Hurry, after looking carefully along the whole of the eastern shore,
+which was about a mile distant, and open to his scrutiny for more than
+half its length; "for he has taken to trapping considerable, of late,
+and, barring flood-wood, he might drop down it a mile or so; though he
+would have a most scratching time in getting back again!"
+
+"Where is this outlet?" asked Deerslayer; "I see no opening in the
+banks or the trees, that looks as if it would let a river like the
+Susquehannah run through it."
+
+"Ay, Deerslayer, rivers are like human mortals; having small beginnings,
+and ending with broad shoulders and wide mouths. You don't see the
+outlet, because it passes atween high, steep banks; and the pines, and
+hemlocks and bass-woods hang over it, as a roof hangs over a house. If
+old Tom is not in the 'Rat's Cove,' he must have burrowed in the river;
+we'll look for him first in the cove, and then we'll cross to the
+outlet."
+
+As they proceeded, Hurry explained that there was a shallow bay, formed
+by a long, low point, that had got the name of the "Rat's Cove," from
+the circumstance of its being a favorite haunt of the muskrat; and which
+offered so complete a cover for the "ark," that its owner was fond of
+lying in it, whenever he found it convenient.
+
+"As a man never knows who may be his visitors, in this part of the
+country," continued Hurry, "it's a great advantage to get a good look
+at 'em afore they come too near. Now it's war, such caution is more than
+commonly useful, since a Canada man or a Mingo might get into his hut
+afore he invited 'em. But Hutter is a first-rate look-outer, and can
+pretty much scent danger, as a hound scents the deer."
+
+"I should think the castle so open, that it would be sartain to draw
+inimies, if any happened to find the lake; a thing onlikely enough, I
+will allow, as it's off the trail of the forts and settlements."
+
+"Why, Deerslayer, I've got to believe that a man meets with inimies
+easier than he meets with fri'nds. It's skearful to think for how many
+causes one gets to be your inimy, and for how few your fri'nd. Some take
+up the hatchet because you don't think just as they think; other some
+because you run ahead of 'em in the same idees; and I once know'd a
+vagabond that quarrelled with a fri'nd because he didn't think him
+handsome. Now, you're no monument in the way of beauty, yourself,
+Deerslayer, and yet you wouldn't be so onreasonable as to become my
+inimy for just saying so."
+
+"I'm as the Lord made me; and I wish to be accounted no better, nor any
+worse. Good looks I may not have; that is to say, to a degree that the
+light-minded and vain crave; but I hope I'm not altogether without some
+ricommend in the way of good conduct. There's few nobler looking men to
+be seen than yourself, Hurry; and I know that I am not to expect any to
+turn their eyes on me, when such a one as you can be gazed on; but I
+do not know that a hunter is less expart with the rifle, or less to be
+relied on for food, because he doesn't wish to stop at every shining
+spring he may meet, to study his own countenance in the water."
+
+Here Hurry burst into a fit of loud laughter; for while he was too
+reckless to care much about his own manifest physical superiority, he
+was well aware of it, and, like most men who derive an advantage from
+the accidents of birth or nature, he was apt to think complacently on
+the subject, whenever it happened to cross his mind.
+
+"No, no, Deerslayer, you're no beauty, as you will own yourself, if
+you'll look over the side of the canoe," he cried; "Jude will say that
+to your face, if you start her, for a tarter tongue isn't to be found in
+any gal's head, in or out of the settlements, if you provoke her to use
+it. My advice to you is, never to aggravate Judith; though you may tell
+anything to Hetty, and she'll take it as meek as a lamb. No, Jude will
+be just as like as not to tell you her opinion consarning your looks."
+
+"And if she does, Hurry, she will tell me no more than you have said
+already."
+
+"You're not thick'ning up about a small remark, I hope, Deerslayer,
+when no harm is meant. You are not a beauty, as you must know, and
+why shouldn't fri'nds tell each other these little trifles? If you was
+handsome, or ever like to be, I'd be one of the first to tell you of it;
+and that ought to content you. Now, if Jude was to tell me that I'm as
+ugly as a sinner, I'd take it as a sort of obligation, and try not to
+believe her."
+
+"It's easy for them that natur' has favored, to jest about such matters,
+Hurry, though it is sometimes hard for others. I'll not deny but I've
+had my cravings towards good looks; yes, I have; but then I've always
+been able to get them down by considering how many I've known with fair
+outsides, who have had nothing to boast of inwardly. I'll not deny,
+Hurry, that I often wish I'd been created more comely to the eye, and
+more like such a one as yourself in them particulars; but then I get the
+feelin' under by remembering how much better off I am, in a great many
+respects, than some fellow-mortals. I might have been born lame, and
+onfit even for a squirrel-hunt, or blind, which would have made me a
+burden on myself as well as on my fri'nds; or without hearing, which
+would have totally onqualified me for ever campaigning or scouting;
+which I look forward to as part of a man's duty in troublesome times.
+Yes, yes; it's not pleasant, I will allow, to see them that's more
+comely, and more sought a'ter, and honored than yourself; but it may
+all be borne, if a man looks the evil in the face, and don't mistake his
+gifts and his obligations."
+
+Hurry, in the main, was a good-hearted as well as good-natured fellow;
+and the self-abasement of his companion completely got the better of
+the passing feeling of personal vanity. He regretted the allusion he
+had made to the other's appearance, and endeavored to express as much,
+though it was done in the uncouth manner that belonged to the habits and
+opinions of the frontier.
+
+"I meant no harm, Deerslayer," he answered, in a deprecating manner,
+"and hope you'll forget what I've said. If you're not downright
+handsome, you've a sartain look that says, plainer than any words, that
+all's right within. Then you set no value by looks, and will the sooner
+forgive any little slight to your appearance. I will not say that Jude
+will greatly admire you, for that might raise hopes that would only
+breed disapp'intment; but there's Hetty, now, would be just as likely
+to find satisfaction in looking at you, as in looking at any other man.
+Then you're altogether too grave and considerate-like, to care much
+about Judith; for, though the gal is oncommon, she is so general in her
+admiration, that a man need not be exalted because she happens to smile.
+I sometimes think the hussy loves herself better than she does anything
+else breathin'."
+
+"If she did, Hurry, she'd do no more, I'm afeard, than most queens on
+their thrones, and ladies in the towns," answered Deerslayer, smiling,
+and turning back towards his companion with every trace of feeling
+banished from his honest-looking and frank countenance. "I never yet
+know'd even a Delaware of whom you might not say that much. But here is
+the end of the long p'int you mentioned, and the 'Rat's Cove' can't be
+far off."
+
+This point, instead of thrusting itself forward, like all the others,
+ran in a line with the main shore of the lake, which here swept within
+it, in a deep and retired bay, circling round south again, at the
+distance of a quarter of a mile, and crossed the valley, forming the
+southern termination of the water. In this bay Hurry felt almost certain
+of finding the ark, since, anchored behind the trees that covered the
+narrow strip of the point, it might have lain concealed from prying eyes
+an entire summer. So complete, indeed, was the cover, in this spot, that
+a boat hauled close to the beach, within the point, and near the bottom
+of the bay, could by any possibility be seen from only one direction;
+and that was from a densely wooded shore within the sweep of the water,
+where strangers would be little apt to go.
+
+"We shall soon see the ark," said Hurry, as the canoe glided round
+the extremity of the point, where the water was so deep as actually to
+appear black; "he loves to burrow up among the rushes, and we shall be
+in his nest in five minutes, although the old fellow may be off among
+the traps himself."
+
+March proved a false prophet. The canoe completely doubled the point, so
+as to enable the two travellers to command a view of the whole cove or
+bay, for it was more properly the last, and no object, but those that
+nature had placed there, became visible. The placid water swept round
+in a graceful curve, the rushes bent gently towards its surface, and
+the trees overhung it as usual; but all lay in the soothing and sublime
+solitude of a wilderness. The scene was such as a poet or an artist
+would have delighted in, but it had no charm for Hurry Harry, who was
+burning with impatience to get a sight of his light-minded beauty.
+
+The motion of the canoe had been attended with little or no noise, the
+frontiermen habitually getting accustomed to caution in most of their
+movements, and it now lay on the glassy water appearing to float in air,
+partaking of the breathing stillness that seemed to pervade the entire
+scene. At this instant a dry stick was heard cracking on the narrow
+strip of land that concealed the bay from the open lake. Both the
+adventurers started, and each extended a hand towards his rifle, the
+weapon never being out of reach of the arm.
+
+"'Twas too heavy for any light creatur'," whispered Hurry, "and it
+sounded like the tread of a man!"
+
+"Not so--not so," returned Deerslayer; "'t was, as you say, too heavy
+for one, but it was too light for the other. Put your paddle in the
+water, and send the canoe in, to that log; I'll land and cut off the
+creatur's retreat up the p'int, be it a Mingo, or be it a muskrat."
+
+As Hurry complied, Deerslayer was soon on the shore, advancing into the
+thicket with a moccasined foot, and a caution that prevented the least
+noise. In a minute he was in the centre of the narrow strip of land,
+and moving slowly down towards its end, the bushes rendering extreme
+watchfulness necessary. Just as he reached the centre of the thicket
+the dried twigs cracked again, and the noise was repeated at short
+intervals, as if some creature having life walked slowly towards the
+point. Hurry heard these sounds also, and pushing the canoe off into
+the bay, he seized his rifle to watch the result. A breathless minute
+succeeded, after which a noble buck walked out of the thicket, proceeded
+with a stately step to the sandy extremity of the point, and began to
+slake his thirst from the water of the lake. Hurry hesitated an instant;
+then raising his rifle hastily to his shoulder, he took sight and fired.
+The effect of this sudden interruption of the solemn stillness of such
+a scene was not its least striking peculiarity. The report of the weapon
+had the usual sharp, short sound of the rifle: but when a few moments
+of silence had succeeded the sudden crack, during which the noise was
+floating in air across the water, it reached the rocks of the opposite
+mountain, where the vibrations accumulated, and were rolled from cavity
+to cavity for miles along the hills, seeming to awaken the sleeping
+thunders of the woods. The buck merely shook his head at the report of
+the rifle and the whistling of the bullet, for never before had he come
+in contact with man; but the echoes of the hills awakened his distrust,
+and leaping forward, with his four legs drawn under his body, he fell
+at once into deep water, and began to swim towards the foot of the lake.
+Hurry shouted and dashed forward in chase, and for one or two minutes
+the water foamed around the pursuer and the pursued. The former was
+dashing past the point, when Deerslayer appeared on the sand and signed
+to him to return.
+
+"'Twas inconsiderate to pull a trigger, afore we had reconn'itred the
+shore, and made sartain that no inimies harbored near it," said the
+latter, as his companion slowly and reluctantly complied. "This much I
+have l'arned from the Delawares, in the way of schooling and traditions,
+even though I've never yet been on a war-path. And, moreover, venison
+can hardly be called in season now, and we do not want for food. They
+call me Deerslayer, I'll own, and perhaps I desarve the name, in the way
+of understanding the creatur's habits, as well as for some sartainty in
+the aim, but they can't accuse me of killing an animal when there is no
+occasion for the meat, or the skin. I may be a slayer, it's true, but
+I'm no slaughterer."
+
+"'Twas an awful mistake to miss that buck!" exclaimed Hurry, doffing his
+cap and running his fingers through his handsome but matted curls, as
+if he would loosen his tangled ideas by the process. "I've not done so
+onhandy a thing since I was fifteen."
+
+"Never lament it, as the creatur's death could have done neither of us
+any good, and might have done us harm. Them echoes are more awful in my
+ears, than your mistake, Hurry, for they sound like the voice of natur'
+calling out ag'in a wasteful and onthinking action."
+
+"You'll hear plenty of such calls, if you tarry long in this quarter of
+the world, lad," returned the other laughing. "The echoes repeat pretty
+much all that is said or done on the Glimmerglass, in this calm summer
+weather. If a paddle falls you hear of it sometimes, ag'in and ag'in,
+as if the hills were mocking your clumsiness, and a laugh, or a whistle,
+comes out of them pines, when they're in the humour to speak, in a way
+to make you believe they can r'ally convarse."
+
+"So much the more reason for being prudent and silent. I do not think
+the inimy can have found their way into these hills yet, for I don't
+know what they are to gain by it, but all the Delawares tell me that, as
+courage is a warrior's first vartue, so is prudence his second. One such
+call from the mountains, is enough to let a whole tribe into the secret
+of our arrival."
+
+"If it does no other good, it will warn old Tom to put the pot over, and
+let him know visiters are at hand. Come, lad; get into the canoe, and we
+will hunt the ark up, while there is yet day."
+
+Deerslayer complied, and the canoe left the spot. Its head was turned
+diagonally across the lake, pointing towards the south-eastern curvature
+of the sheet. In that direction, the distance to the shore, or to the
+termination of the lake, on the course the two were now steering, was
+not quite a mile, and, their progress being always swift, it was fast
+lessening under the skilful, but easy sweeps of the paddles. When about
+half way across, a slight noise drew the eyes of the men towards the
+nearest land, and they saw that the buck was just emerging from the lake
+and wading towards the beach. In a minute, the noble animal shook the
+water from his flanks, gazed up ward at the covering of trees, and,
+bounding against the bank, plunged into the forest.
+
+"That creatur' goes off with gratitude in his heart," said Deerslayer,
+"for natur' tells him he has escaped a great danger. You ought to have
+some of the same feelin's, Hurry, to think your eye wasn't true, or
+that your hand was onsteady, when no good could come of a shot that was
+intended onmeaningly rather than in reason."
+
+"I deny the eye and the hand," cried March with some heat. "You've got
+a little character, down among the Delawares, there, for quickness and
+sartainty, at a deer, but I should like to see you behind one of them
+pines, and a full painted Mingo behind another, each with a cock'd rifle
+and a striving for the chance! Them's the situations, Nathaniel, to try
+the sight and the hand, for they begin with trying the narves. I never
+look upon killing a creatur' as an explite; but killing a savage is. The
+time will come to try your hand, now we've got to blows ag'in, and we
+shall soon know what a ven'son reputation can do in the field. I deny
+that either hand or eye was onsteady; it was all a miscalculation of the
+buck, which stood still when he ought to have kept in motion, and so I
+shot ahead of him."
+
+"Have it your own way, Hurry; all I contend for is, that it's lucky.
+I dare say I shall not pull upon a human mortal as steadily or with as
+light a heart, as I pull upon a deer."
+
+"Who's talking of mortals, or of human beings at all, Deerslayer? I put
+the matter to you on the supposition of an Injin. I dare say any man
+would have his feelin's when it got to be life or death, ag'in another
+human mortal; but there would be no such scruples in regard to an Injin;
+nothing but the chance of his hitting you, or the chance of your hitting
+him."
+
+"I look upon the redmen to be quite as human as we are ourselves, Hurry.
+They have their gifts, and their religion, it's true; but that makes no
+difference in the end, when each will be judged according to his deeds,
+and not according to his skin."
+
+"That's downright missionary, and will find little favor up in this part
+of the country, where the Moravians don't congregate. Now, skin makes
+the man. This is reason; else how are people to judge of each other.
+The skin is put on, over all, in order when a creatur', or a mortal, is
+fairly seen, you may know at once what to make of him. You know a bear
+from a hog, by his skin, and a gray squirrel from a black."
+
+"True, Hurry," said the other looking back and smiling, "nevertheless,
+they are both squirrels."
+
+"Who denies it? But you'll not say that a red man and a white man are
+both Injins?"
+
+"But I do say they are both men. Men of different races and colors, and
+having different gifts and traditions, but, in the main, with the same
+natur'. Both have souls; and both will be held accountable for their
+deeds in this life."
+
+Hurry was one of those theorists who believed in the inferiority of all
+the human race who were not white. His notions on the subject were
+not very clear, nor were his definitions at all well settled; but his
+opinions were none the less dogmatical or fierce. His conscience accused
+him of sundry lawless acts against the Indians, and he had found it an
+exceedingly easy mode of quieting it, by putting the whole family of
+redmen, incontinently, without the category of human rights. Nothing
+angered him sooner than to deny his proposition, more especially if the
+denial were accompanied by a show of plausible argument; and he did not
+listen to his companion's remarks with much composure of either manner
+or feeling.
+
+"You're a boy, Deerslayer, misled and misconsaited by Delaware arts, and
+missionary ignorance," he exclaimed, with his usual indifference to the
+forms of speech, when excited. "You may account yourself as a red-skin's
+brother, but I hold'em all to be animals; with nothing human about 'em
+but cunning. That they have, I'll allow; but so has a fox, or even a
+bear. I'm older than you, and have lived longer in the woods--or, for
+that matter, have lived always there, and am not to be told what an
+Injin is or what he is not. If you wish to be considered a savage,
+you've only to say so, and I'll name you as such to Judith and the old
+man, and then we'll see how you'll like your welcome."
+
+Here Hurry's imagination did his temper some service, since, by
+conjuring up the reception his semi-aquatic acquaintance would be
+likely to bestow on one thus introduced, he burst into a hearty fit
+of laughter. Deerslayer too well knew the uselessness of attempting
+to convince such a being of anything against his prejudices, to feel a
+desire to undertake the task; and he was not sorry that the approach of
+the canoe to the southeastern curve of the lake gave a new direction to
+his ideas. They were now, indeed, quite near the place that March had
+pointed out for the position of the outlet, and both began to look for
+it with a curiosity that was increased by the expectation of the ark.
+
+It may strike the reader as a little singular, that the place where a
+stream of any size passed through banks that had an elevation of some
+twenty feet, should be a matter of doubt with men who could not now have
+been more than two hundred yards distant from the precise spot. It will
+be recollected, however, that the trees and bushes here, as elsewhere,
+fairly overhung the water, making such a fringe to the lake, as to
+conceal any little variations from its general outline.
+
+"I've not been down at this end of the lake these two summers," said
+Hurry, standing up in the canoe, the better to look about him. "Ay,
+there's the rock, showing its chin above the water, and I know that the
+river begins in its neighborhood."
+
+The men now plied the paddles again, and they were presently within a
+few yards of the rock, floating towards it, though their efforts were
+suspended. This rock was not large, being merely some five or six feet
+high, only half of which elevation rose above the lake. The incessant
+washing of the water for centuries had so rounded its summit, that it
+resembled a large beehive in shape, its form being more than usually
+regular and even. Hurry remarked, as they floated slowly past, that this
+rock was well known to all the Indians in that part of the country, and
+that they were in the practice of using it as a mark to designate the
+place of meeting, when separated by their hunts and marches.
+
+"And here is the river, Deerslayer," he continued, "though so shut in
+by trees and bushes as to look more like an and-bush, than the outlet of
+such a sheet as the Glimmerglass."
+
+Hurry had not badly described the place, which did truly seem to be a
+stream lying in ambush. The high banks might have been a hundred feet
+asunder; but, on the western side, a small bit of low land extended so
+far forward as to diminish the breadth of the stream to half that width.
+
+As the bushes hung in the water beneath, and pines that had the stature
+of church-steeples rose in tall columns above, all inclining towards the
+light, until their branches intermingled, the eye, at a little distance,
+could not easily detect any opening in the shore, to mark the egress of
+the water. In the forest above, no traces of this outlet were to be seen
+from the lake, the whole presenting the same connected and seemingly
+interminable carpet of leaves. As the canoe slowly advanced, sucked in
+by the current, it entered beneath an arch of trees, through which the
+light from the heavens struggled by casual openings, faintly relieving
+the gloom beneath.
+
+"This is a nat'ral and-bush," half whispered Hurry, as if he felt that
+the place was devoted to secrecy and watchfulness; "depend on it, old
+Tom has burrowed with the ark somewhere in this quarter. We will drop
+down with the current a short distance, and ferret him out."
+
+"This seems no place for a vessel of any size," returned the other; "it
+appears to me that we shall have hardly room enough for the canoe."
+
+Hurry laughed at the suggestion, and, as it soon appeared, with reason;
+for the fringe of bushes immediately on the shore of the lake was no
+sooner passed, than the adventurers found themselves in a narrow stream,
+of a sufficient depth of limpid water, with a strong current, and a
+canopy of leaves upheld by arches composed of the limbs of hoary trees.
+Bushes lined the shores, as usual, but they left sufficient space
+between them to admit the passage of anything that did not exceed twenty
+feet in width, and to allow of a perspective ahead of eight or ten times
+that distance.
+
+Neither of our two adventurers used his paddle, except to keep the light
+bark in the centre of the current, but both watched each turning of the
+stream, of which there were two or three within the first hundred yards,
+with jealous vigilance. Turn after turn, however, was passed, and the
+canoe had dropped down with the current some little distance, when Hurry
+caught a bush, and arrested its movement so suddenly and silently as to
+denote some unusual motive for the act. Deerslayer laid his hand on the
+stock of his rifle as soon as he noted this proceeding, but it was quite
+as much with a hunter's habit as from any feeling of alarm.
+
+"There the old fellow is!" whispered Hurry, pointing with a finger, and
+laughing heartily, though he carefully avoided making a noise, "ratting
+it away, just as I supposed; up to his knees in the mud and water,
+looking to the traps and the bait. But for the life of me I can see
+nothing of the ark; though I'll bet every skin I take this season, Jude
+isn't trusting her pretty little feet in the neighborhood of that black
+mud. The gal's more likely to be braiding her hair by the side of some
+spring, where she can see her own good looks, and collect scornful
+feelings ag'in us men."
+
+"You over-judge young women--yes, you do, Hurry--who as often bethink
+them of their failings as they do of their perfections. I dare to say
+this Judith, now, is no such admirer of herself, and no such scorner
+of our sex as you seem to think; and that she is quite as likely to be
+sarving her father in the house, wherever that may be, as he is to be
+sarving her among the traps."
+
+"It's a pleasure to hear truth from a man's tongue, if it be only once
+in a girl's life," cried a pleasant, rich, and yet soft female voice, so
+near the canoe as to make both the listeners start. "As for you, Master
+Hurry, fair words are so apt to choke you, that I no longer expect to
+hear them from your mouth; the last you uttered sticking in your throat,
+and coming near to death. But I'm glad to see you keep better society
+than formerly, and that they who know how to esteem and treat women are
+not ashamed to journey in your company."
+
+As this was said, a singularly handsome and youthful female face was
+thrust through an opening in the leaves, within reach of Deerslayer's
+paddle. Its owner smiled graciously on the young man; and the frown
+that she cast on Hurry, though simulated and pettish, had the effect to
+render her beauty more striking, by exhibiting the play of an expressive
+but capricious countenance; one that seemed to change from the soft
+to the severe, the mirthful to the reproving, with facility and
+indifference.
+
+A second look explained the nature of the surprise. Unwittingly, the men
+had dropped alongside of the ark, which had been purposely concealed in
+bushes cut and arranged for the purpose; and Judith Hutter had merely
+pushed aside the leaves that lay before a window, in order to show her
+face, and speak to them.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+
+    "And that timid fawn starts not with fear,
+    When I steal to her secret bower;
+    And that young May violet to me is dear,
+    And I visit the silent streamlet near,
+    To look on the lovely flower."
+
+    Bryant, "An Indian Story," ii.11-15
+
+The ark, as the floating habitation of the Hutters was generally called,
+was a very simple contrivance. A large flat, or scow, composed the
+buoyant part of the vessel; and in its centre, occupying the whole of
+its breadth, and about two thirds of its length, stood a low fabric,
+resembling the castle in construction, though made of materials so light
+as barely to be bullet-proof. As the sides of the scow were a little
+higher than usual, and the interior of the cabin had no more elevation
+than was necessary for comfort, this unusual addition had neither a very
+clumsy nor a very obtrusive appearance. It was, in short, little more
+than a modern canal-boat, though more rudely constructed, of greater
+breadth than common, and bearing about it the signs of the wilderness,
+in its bark-covered posts and roof. The scow, however, had been put
+together with some skill, being comparatively light, for its strength,
+and sufficiently manageable. The cabin was divided into two apartments,
+one of which served for a parlor, and the sleeping-room of the father,
+and the other was appropriated to the uses of the daughters. A very
+simple arrangement sufficed for the kitchen, which was in one end of
+the scow, and removed from the cabin, standing in the open air; the ark
+being altogether a summer habitation.
+
+The "and-bush," as Hurry in his ignorance of English termed it, is quite
+as easily explained. In many parts of the lake and river, where the
+banks were steep and high, the smaller trees and larger bushes, as has
+been already mentioned, fairly overhung the stream, their branches not
+unfrequently dipping into the water. In some instances they grew out
+in nearly horizontal lines, for thirty or forty feet. The water being
+uniformly deepest near the shores, where the banks were highest and the
+nearest to a perpendicular, Hutter had found no difficulty in letting
+the ark drop under one of these covers, where it had been anchored
+with a view to conceal its position; security requiring some such
+precautions, in his view of the case. Once beneath the trees and bushes,
+a few stones fastened to the ends of the branches had caused them to
+bend sufficiently to dip into the river; and a few severed bushes,
+properly disposed, did the rest. The reader has seen that this cover was
+so complete as to deceive two men accustomed to the woods, and who were
+actually in search of those it concealed; a circumstance that will be
+easily understood by those who are familiar with the matted and wild
+luxuriance of a virgin American forest, more especially in a rich soil.
+The discovery of the ark produced very different effects on our two
+adventurers.
+
+As soon as the canoe could be got round to the proper opening, Hurry
+leaped on board, and in a minute was closely engaged in a gay, and a
+sort of recriminating discourse with Judith, apparently forgetful of
+the existence of all the rest of the world. Not so with Deerslayer. He
+entered the ark with a slow, cautious step, examining every arrangement
+of the cover with curious and scrutinizing eyes. It is true, he cast
+one admiring glance at Judith, which was extorted by her brilliant and
+singular beauty; but even this could detain him but a single instant
+from the indulgence of his interest in Hutter's contrivances. Step
+by step did he look into the construction of the singular abode,
+investigate its fastenings and strength, ascertain its means of defence,
+and make every inquiry that would be likely to occur to one whose
+thoughts dwelt principally on such expedients. Nor was the cover
+neglected. Of this he examined the whole minutely, his commendation
+escaping him more than once in audible comments. Frontier usages
+admitting of this familiarity, he passed through the rooms, as he had
+previously done at the 'Castle', and opening a door issued into the end
+of the scow opposite to that where he had left Hurry and Judith. Here
+he found the other sister, employed at some coarse needle-work, seated
+beneath the leafy canopy of the cover.
+
+As Deerslayer's examination was by this time ended, he dropped the butt
+of his rifle, and, leaning on the barrel with both hands, he turned
+towards the girl with an interest the singular beauty of her sister
+had not awakened. He had gathered from Hurry's remarks that Hetty was
+considered to have less intellect than ordinarily falls to the share of
+human beings, and his education among Indians had taught him to treat
+those who were thus afflicted by Providence with more than common
+tenderness. Nor was there any thing in Hetty Hutter's appearance, as so
+often happens, to weaken the interest her situation excited. An idiot
+she could not properly be termed, her mind being just enough enfeebled
+to lose most of those traits that are connected with the more artful
+qualities, and to retain its ingenuousness and love of truth. It had
+often been remarked of this girl, by the few who had seen her, and who
+possessed sufficient knowledge to discriminate, that her perception
+of the right seemed almost intuitive, while her aversion to the wrong
+formed so distinctive a feature of her mind, as to surround her with an
+atmosphere of pure morality; peculiarities that are not infrequent with
+persons who are termed feeble-minded; as if God had forbidden the evil
+spirits to invade a precinct so defenceless, with the benign purpose
+of extending a direct protection to those who had been left without the
+usual aids of humanity. Her person, too, was agreeable, having a strong
+resemblance to that of her sister's, of which it was a subdued and
+humble copy. If it had none of the brilliancy of Judith's, the calm,
+quiet, almost holy expression of her meek countenance seldom failed to
+win on the observer, and few noted it long that did not begin to feel a
+deep and lasting interest in the girl. She had no colour, in common,
+nor was her simple mind apt to present images that caused her cheek to
+brighten, though she retained a modesty so innate that it almost raised
+her to the unsuspecting purity of a being superior to human infirmities.
+Guileless, innocent, and without distrust, equally by nature and from
+her mode of life, providence had, nevertheless shielded her from harm,
+by a halo of moral light, as it is said 'to temper the wind to the shorn
+lamb.'
+
+"You are Hetty Hutter," said Deerslayer, in the way one puts a question
+unconsciously to himself, assuming a kindness of tone and manner that
+were singularly adapted to win the confidence of her he addressed.
+"Hurry Harry has told me of you, and I know you must be the child?"
+
+"Yes, I'm Hetty Hutter" returned the girl in a low, sweet voice, which
+nature, aided by some education, had preserved from vulgarity of tone
+and utterance--"I'm Hetty; Judith Hutter's sister; and Thomas Hutter's
+youngest daughter."
+
+"I know your history, then, for Hurry Harry talks considerable, and he
+is free of speech when he can find other people's consarns to dwell on.
+You pass most of your life on the lake, Hetty."
+
+"Certainly. Mother is dead; father is gone a-trapping, and Judith and I
+stay at home. What's your name?"
+
+"That's a question more easily asked than it is answered, young woman,
+seeing that I'm so young, and yet have borne more names than some of the
+greatest chiefs in all America."
+
+"But you've got a name--you don't throw away one name, before you come
+honestly by another?"
+
+"I hope not, gal--I hope not. My names have come nat'rally, and I
+suppose the one I bear now will be of no great lasting, since the
+Delawares seldom settle on a man's ra'al title, until such time as he
+has an opportunity of showing his true natur', in the council, or on the
+warpath; which has never behappened me; seeing firstly, because I'm not
+born a red-skin and have no right to sit in their councillings, and am
+much too humble to be called on for opinions from the great of my own
+colour; and, secondly, because this is the first war that has befallen
+in my time, and no inimy has yet inroaded far enough into the colony, to
+be reached by an arm even longer than mine."
+
+"Tell me your names," added Hetty, looking up at him artlessly, "and,
+maybe, I'll tell you your character."
+
+"There is some truth in that, I'll not deny, though it often fails. Men
+are deceived in other men's characters, and frequently give 'em names
+they by no means desarve. You can see the truth of this in the Mingo
+names, which, in their own tongue, signify the same things as the
+Delaware names,--at least, so they tell me, for I know little of that
+tribe, unless it be by report,--and no one can say they are as honest or
+as upright a nation. I put no great dependence, therefore, on names."
+
+"Tell me all your names," repeated the girl, earnestly, for her mind
+was too simple to separate things from professions, and she did attach
+importance to a name; "I want to know what to think of you."
+
+"Well, sartain; I've no objection, and you shall hear them all. In the
+first place, then, I'm Christian, and white-born, like yourself, and my
+parents had a name that came down from father to son, as is a part of
+their gifts. My father was called Bumppo; and I was named after him, of
+course, the given name being Nathaniel, or Natty, as most people saw fit
+to tarm it."
+
+"Yes, yes--Natty--and Hetty" interrupted the girl quickly, and
+looking up from her work again, with a smile: "you are Natty, and I'm
+Hetty--though you are Bumppo, and I'm Hutter. Bumppo isn't as pretty as
+Hutter, is it?"
+
+"Why, that's as people fancy. Bumppo has no lofty sound, I admit; and
+yet men have bumped through the world with it. I did not go by this
+name, howsoever, very long; for the Delawares soon found out, or thought
+they found out, that I was not given to lying, and they called me,
+firstly, 'Straight-tongue.'"
+
+"That's a good name," interrupted Hetty, earnestly, and in a positive
+manner; "don't tell me there's no virtue in names!"
+
+"I do not say that, for perhaps I desarved to be so called, lies being
+no favorites with me, as they are with some. After a while they found
+out I was quick of foot, and then they called me 'The Pigeon'; which,
+you know, has a swift wing, and flies in a straight line."
+
+"That was a pretty name!" exclaimed Hetty; "pigeons are pretty birds!"
+
+"Most things that God created are pretty in their way, my good gal,
+though they get to be deformed by mankind, so as to change their
+natur's, as well as their appearance. From carrying messages, and
+striking blind trails, I got at last to following the hunters, when it
+was thought I was quicker and surer at finding the game than most lads,
+and then they called me the 'Lap-ear'; as, they said, I partook of the
+sagacity of the hound."
+
+"That's not so pretty," answered Hetty; "I hope you didn't keep that
+name long."
+
+"Not after I was rich enough to buy a rifle," returned the other,
+betraying a little pride through his usually quiet and subdued manner;
+"then it was seen I could keep a wigwam in ven'son; and in time I got
+the name of 'Deerslayer,' which is that I now bear; homely as some will
+think it, who set more value on the scalp of a fellow-mortal than on the
+horns of a buck."
+
+"Well, Deerslayer, I'm not one of them," answered Hetty, simply; "Judith
+likes soldiers, and flary coats, and fine feathers; but they're all
+naught to me. She says the officers are great, and gay, and of soft
+speech; but they make me shudder, for their business is to kill their
+fellow-creatures. I like your calling better; and your last name is a
+very good one--better than Natty Bumppo."
+
+"This is nat'ral in one of your turn of mind, Hetty, and much as I
+should have expected. They tell me your sister is handsome--oncommon,
+for a mortal; and beauty is apt to seek admiration."
+
+"Did you never see Judith?" demanded the girl, with quick earnestness;
+"if you never have, go at once and look at her. Even Hurry Harry isn't
+more pleasant to look at though she is a woman, and he is a man."
+
+Deerslayer regarded the girl for a moment with concern. Her pale-face
+had flushed a little, and her eye, usually so mild and serene,
+brightened as she spoke, in the way to betray the inward impulses.
+
+"Ay, Hurry Harry," he muttered to himself, as he walked through the
+cabin towards the other end of the boat; "this comes of good looks, if
+a light tongue has had no consarn in it. It's easy to see which way that
+poor creatur's feelin's are leanin', whatever may be the case with your
+Jude's."
+
+But an interruption was put to the gallantry of Hurry, the coquetry
+of his intros, the thoughts of Deerslayer, and the gentle feelings of
+Hetty, by the sudden appearance of the canoe of the ark's owner, in the
+narrow opening among the bushes that served as a sort of moat to
+his position. It would seem that Hutter, or Floating Tom, as he was
+familiarly called by all the hunters who knew his habits, recognized the
+canoe of Hurry, for he expressed no surprise at finding him in the
+scow. On the contrary, his reception was such as to denote not only
+gratification, but a pleasure, mingled with a little disappointment at
+his not having made his appearance some days sooner.
+
+"I looked for you last week," he said, in a half-grumbling,
+half-welcoming manner; "and was disappointed uncommonly that you didn't
+arrive. There came a runner through, to warn all the trappers and
+hunters that the colony and the Canadas were again in trouble; and I
+felt lonesome, up in these mountains, with three scalps to see to, and
+only one pair of hands to protect them."
+
+"That's reasonable," returned March; "and 't was feeling like a parent.
+No doubt, if I had two such darters as Judith and Hetty, my exper'ence
+would tell the same story, though in gin'ral I am just as well satisfied
+with having the nearest neighbor fifty miles off, as when he is within
+call."
+
+"Notwithstanding, you didn't choose to come into the wilderness alone,
+now you knew that the Canada savages are likely to be stirring,"
+returned Hutter, giving a sort of distrustful, and at the same time
+inquiring glance at Deerslayer.
+
+"Why should I? They say a bad companion, on a journey, helps to shorten
+the path; and this young man I account to be a reasonably good one.
+This is Deerslayer, old Tom, a noted hunter among the Delawares, and
+Christian-born, and Christian-edicated, too, like you and me. The lad is
+not parfect, perhaps, but there's worse men in the country that he came
+from, and it's likely he'll find some that's no better, in this part
+of the world. Should we have occasion to defend our traps, and the
+territory, he'll be useful in feeding us all; for he's a reg'lar dealer
+in ven'son."
+
+"Young man, you are welcome," growled Tom, thrusting a hard, bony hand
+towards the youth, as a pledge of his sincerity; "in such times, a white
+face is a friend's, and I count on you as a support. Children sometimes
+make a stout heart feeble, and these two daughters of mine give me more
+concern than all my traps, and skins, and rights in the country."
+
+"That's nat'ral!" cried Hurry. "Yes, Deerslayer, you and I don't know it
+yet by experience; but, on the whole, I consider that as nat'ral. If we
+had darters, it's more than probable we should have some such feelin's;
+and I honor the man that owns 'em. As for Judith, old man, I enlist, at
+once, as her soldier, and here is Deerslayer to help you to take care of
+Hetty."
+
+"Many thanks to you, Master March," returned the beauty, in a full, rich
+voice, and with an accuracy of intonation and utterance that she shared
+in common with her sister, and which showed that she had been better
+taught than her father's life and appearance would give reason to
+expect. "Many thanks to you; but Judith Hutter has the spirit and
+the experience that will make her depend more on herself than on
+good-looking rovers like you. Should there be need to face the savages,
+do you land with my father, instead of burrowing in the huts, under the
+show of defending us females and--"
+
+"Girl--girl," interrupted the father, "quiet that glib tongue of thine,
+and hear the truth. There are savages on the lake shore already, and no
+man can say how near to us they may be at this very moment, or when we
+may hear more from them!"
+
+"If this be true, Master Hutter," said Hurry, whose change of
+countenance denoted how serious he deemed the information, though it did
+not denote any unmanly alarm, "if this be true, your ark is in a most
+misfortunate position, for, though the cover did deceive Deerslayer and
+myself, it would hardly be overlooked by a full-blooded Injin, who was
+out seriously in s'arch of scalps!"
+
+"I think as you do, Hurry, and wish, with all my heart, we lay anywhere
+else, at this moment, than in this narrow, crooked stream, which has
+many advantages to hide in, but which is almost fatal to them that are
+discovered. The savages are near us, moreover, and the difficulty is,
+to get out of the river without being shot down like deer standing at a
+lick!"
+
+"Are you sartain, Master Hutter, that the red-skins you dread are ra'al
+Canadas?" asked Deerslayer, in a modest but earnest manner. "Have you
+seen any, and can you describe their paint?"
+
+"I have fallen in with the signs of their being in the neighborhood,
+but have seen none of 'em. I was down stream a mile or so, looking to my
+traps, when I struck a fresh trail, crossing the corner of a swamp, and
+moving northward. The man had not passed an hour; and I know'd it for an
+Indian footstep, by the size of the foot, and the intoe, even before I
+found a worn moccasin, which its owner had dropped as useless. For that
+matter, I found the spot where he halted to make a new one, which was
+only a few yards from the place where he had dropped the old one."
+
+"That doesn't look much like a red-skin on the war path!" returned the
+other, shaking his head. "An exper'enced warrior, at least, would have
+burned, or buried, or sunk in the river such signs of his passage; and
+your trail is, quite likely, a peaceable trail. But the moccasin may
+greatly relieve my mind, if you bethought you of bringing it off. I've
+come here to meet a young chief myself; and his course would be much in
+the direction you've mentioned. The trail may have been his'n."
+
+"Hurry Harry, you're well acquainted with this young man, I hope, who
+has meetings with savages in a part of the country where he has
+never been before?" demanded Hutter, in a tone and in a manner that
+sufficiently indicated the motive of the question; these rude beings
+seldom hesitating, on the score of delicacy, to betray their feelings.
+"Treachery is an Indian virtue; and the whites, that live much in their
+tribes, soon catch their ways and practices."
+
+"True--true as the Gospel, old Tom; but not personable to Deerslayer,
+who's a young man of truth, if he has no other ricommend. I'll answer
+for his honesty, whatever I may do for his valor in battle."
+
+"I should like to know his errand in this strange quarter of the
+country."
+
+"That is soon told, Master Hutter," said the young man, with the
+composure of one who kept a clean conscience. "I think, moreover, you've
+a right to ask it. The father of two such darters, who occupies a lake,
+after your fashion, has just the same right to inquire into a stranger's
+business in his neighborhood, as the colony would have to demand the
+reason why the Frenchers put more rijiments than common along the lines.
+No, no, I'll not deny your right to know why a stranger comes into your
+habitation or country, in times as serious as these."
+
+"If such is your way of thinking, friend, let me hear your story without
+more words."
+
+"'T is soon told, as I said afore; and shall be honestly told. I'm a
+young man, and, as yet, have never been on a war-path; but no sooner did
+the news come among the Delawares, that wampum and a hatchet were about
+to be sent in to the tribe, than they wished me to go out among the
+people of my own color, and get the exact state of things for 'em. This
+I did, and, after delivering my talk to the chiefs, on my return, I met
+an officer of the crown on the Schoharie, who had messages to send to
+some of the fri'ndly tribes that live farther west. This was thought a
+good occasion for Chingachgook, a young chief who has never struck a
+foe, and myself; to go on our first war path in company, and an
+app'intment was made for us, by an old Delaware, to meet at the rock
+near the foot of this lake. I'll not deny that Chingachgook has another
+object in view, but it has no consarn with any here, and is his secret
+and not mine; therefore I'll say no more about it."
+
+"'Tis something about a young woman," interrupted Judith hastily, then
+laughing at her own impetuosity, and even having the grace to colour a
+little, at the manner in which she had betrayed her readiness to impute
+such a motive. "If 'tis neither war, nor a hunt, it must be love."
+
+"Ay, it comes easy for the young and handsome, who hear so much of them
+feelin's, to suppose that they lie at the bottom of most proceedin's;
+but, on that head, I say nothin'. Chingachgook is to meet me at the
+rock, an hour afore sunset to-morrow evening, after which we shall go our
+way together, molesting none but the king's inimies, who are lawfully
+our own. Knowing Hurry of old, who once trapped in our hunting grounds,
+and falling in with him on the Schoharie, just as he was on the p'int of
+starting for his summer ha'nts, we agreed to journey in company; not so
+much from fear of the Mingos, as from good fellowship, and, as he says,
+to shorten a long road."
+
+"And you think the trail I saw may have been that of your friend, ahead
+of his time?" said Hutter.
+
+"That's my idee, which may be wrong, but which may be right. If I saw
+the moccasin, howsever, I could tell, in a minute, whether it is made in
+the Delaware fashion, or not."
+
+"Here it is, then," said the quick-witted Judith, who had already gone
+to the canoe in quest of it. "Tell us what it says; friend or enemy. You
+look honest, and I believe all you say, whatever father may think."
+
+"That's the way with you, Jude; forever finding out friends, where I
+distrust foes," grumbled Tom: "but, speak out, young man, and tell us
+what you think of the moccasin."
+
+"That's not Delaware made," returned Deerslayer, examining the worn and
+rejected covering for the foot with a cautious eye. "I'm too young on a
+war-path to be positive, but I should say that moccasin has a northern
+look, and comes from beyond the Great Lakes."
+
+"If such is the case, we ought not to lie here a minute longer than is
+necessary," said Hutter, glancing through the leaves of his cover, as if
+he already distrusted the presence of an enemy on the opposite shore of
+the narrow and sinuous stream. "It wants but an hour or so of night,
+and to move in the dark will be impossible, without making a noise that
+would betray us. Did you hear the echo of a piece in the mountains,
+half-an-hour since?"
+
+"Yes, old man, and heard the piece itself," answered Hurry, who now felt
+the indiscretion of which he had been guilty, "for the last was fired
+from my own shoulder."
+
+"I feared it came from the French Indians; still it may put them on the
+look-out, and be a means of discovering us. You did wrong to fire in
+war-time, unless there was good occasion.
+
+"So I begin to think myself, Uncle Tom; and yet, if a man can't trust
+himself to let off his rifle in a wilderness that is a thousand miles
+square, lest some inimy should hear it, where's the use in carrying
+one?"
+
+Hutter now held a long consultation with his two guests, in which the
+parties came to a true understanding of their situation. He explained
+the difficulty that would exist in attempting to get the ark out of
+so swift and narrow a stream, in the dark, without making a noise that
+could not fail to attract Indian ears. Any strollers in their vicinity
+would keep near the river or the lake; but the former had swampy shores
+in many places, and was both so crooked and so fringed with bushes, that
+it was quite possible to move by daylight without incurring much danger
+of being seen. More was to be apprehended, perhaps, from the ear than
+from the eye, especially as long as they were in the short, straitened,
+and canopied reaches of the stream.
+
+"I never drop down into this cover, which is handy to my traps, and
+safer than the lake from curious eyes, without providing the means of
+getting out ag'in," continued this singular being; "and that is easier
+done by a pull than a push. My anchor is now lying above the suction, in
+the open lake; and here is a line, you see, to haul us up to it. Without
+some such help, a single pair of hands would make heavy work in forcing
+a scow like this up stream. I have a sort of a crab, too, that lightens
+the pull, on occasion. Jude can use the oar astern as well as myself;
+and when we fear no enemy, to get out of the river gives us but little
+trouble."
+
+"What should we gain, Master Hutter, by changing the position?" asked
+Deerslayer, with a good deal of earnestness; "this is a safe cover, and
+a stout defence might be made from the inside of this cabin. I've never
+fou't unless in the way of tradition; but it seems to me we might beat
+off twenty Mingos, with palisades like them afore us."
+
+"Ay, ay; you 've never fought except in traditions, that's plain enough,
+young man! Did you ever see as broad a sheet of water as this above us,
+before you came in upon it with Hurry?"
+
+"I can't say that I ever did," Deerslayer answered, modestly. "Youth
+is the time to l'arn; and I'm far from wishing to raise my voice in
+counsel, afore it is justified by exper'ence."
+
+"Well, then, I'll teach you the disadvantage of fighting in this
+position, and the advantage of taking to the open lake. Here, you may
+see, the savages will know where to aim every shot; and it would be too
+much to hope that some would not find their way through the crevices of
+the logs. Now, on the other hand, we should have nothing but a forest
+to aim at. Then we are not safe from fire, here, the bark of this roof
+being little better than so much kindling-wood. The castle, too, might
+be entered and ransacked in my absence, and all my possessions overrun
+and destroyed. Once in the lake, we can be attacked only in boats or
+on rafts--shall have a fair chance with the enemy--and can protect the
+castle with the ark. Do you understand this reasoning, youngster?"
+
+"It sounds well--yes, it has a rational sound; and I'll not gainsay it."
+
+"Well, old Tom," cried Hurry, "If we are to move, the sooner we make a
+beginning, the sooner we shall know whether we are to have our scalps
+for night-caps, or not."
+
+As this proposition was self-evident, no one denied its justice. The
+three men, after a short preliminary explanation, now set about their
+preparations to move the ark in earnest. The slight fastenings were
+quickly loosened; and, by hauling on the line, the heavy craft slowly
+emerged from the cover. It was no sooner free from the incumbrance of
+the branches, than it swung into the stream, sheering quite close to the
+western shore, by the force of the current. Not a soul on board heard
+the rustling of the branches, as the cabin came against the bushes and
+trees of the western bank, without a feeling of uneasiness; for no one
+knew at what moment, or in what place, a secret and murderous enemy
+might unmask himself. Perhaps the gloomy light that still struggled
+through the impending canopy of leaves, or found its way through the
+narrow, ribbon-like opening, which seemed to mark, in the air above,
+the course of the river that flowed beneath, aided in augmenting the
+appearance of the danger; for it was little more than sufficient to
+render objects visible, without giving up all their outlines at a
+glance. Although the sun had not absolutely set, it had withdrawn its
+direct rays from the valley; and the hues of evening were beginning to
+gather around objects that stood uncovered, rendering those within the
+shadows of the woods still more sombre and gloomy.
+
+No interruption followed the movement, however, and, as the men
+continued to haul on the line, the ark passed steadily ahead, the great
+breadth of the scow preventing its sinking into the water, and from
+offering much resistance to the progress of the swift element beneath
+its bottom. Hutter, too, had adopted a precaution suggested by
+experience, which might have done credit to a seaman, and which
+completely prevented any of the annoyances and obstacles which otherwise
+would have attended the short turns of the river. As the ark descended,
+heavy stones, attached to the line, were dropped in the centre of the
+stream, forming local anchors, each of which was kept from dragging
+by the assistance of those above it, until the uppermost of all was
+reached, which got its "backing" from the anchor, or grapnel, that lay
+well out in the lake. In consequence of this expedient, the ark floated
+clear of the incumbrances of the shore, against which it would otherwise
+have been unavoidably hauled at every turn, producing embarrassments
+that Hutter, single-handed, would have found it very difficult to
+overcome. Favored by this foresight, and stimulated by the apprehension
+of discovery, Floating Tom and his two athletic companions hauled the
+ark ahead with quite as much rapidity as comported with the strength
+of the line. At every turn in the stream, a stone was raised from the
+bottom, when the direction of the scow changed to one that pointed
+towards the stone that lay above. In this manner, with the channel
+buoyed out for him, as a sailor might term it, did Hutter move forward,
+occasionally urging his friends, in a low and guarded voice, to increase
+their exertions, and then, as occasions offered, warning them against
+efforts that might, at particular moments, endanger all by too much
+zeal. In spite of their long familiarity with the woods, the gloomy
+character of the shaded river added to the uneasiness that each felt;
+and when the ark reached the first bend in the Susquehannah, and the eye
+caught a glimpse of the broader expanse of the lake, all felt a relief,
+that perhaps none would have been willing to confess. Here the last
+stone was raised from the bottom, and the line led directly towards the
+grapnel, which, as Hutter had explained, was dropped above the suction
+of the current.
+
+"Thank God!" ejaculated Hurry, "there is daylight, and we shall soon
+have a chance of seeing our inimies, if we are to feel 'em."
+
+"That is more than you or any man can say," growled Hutter. "There is no
+spot so likely to harbor a party as the shore around the outlet, and the
+moment we clear these trees and get into open water, will be the most
+trying time, since it will leave the enemy a cover, while it puts us
+out of one. Judith, girl, do you and Hetty leave the oar to take care of
+itself; and go within the cabin; and be mindful not to show your faces
+at a window; for they who will look at them won't stop to praise their
+beauty. And now, Hurry, we'll step into this outer room ourselves, and
+haul through the door, where we shall all be safe, from a surprise, at
+least. Friend Deerslayer, as the current is lighter, and the line has
+all the strain on it that is prudent, do you keep moving from window to
+window, taking care not to let your head be seen, if you set any value
+on life. No one knows when or where we shall hear from our neighbors."
+
+Deerslayer complied, with a sensation that had nothing in common with
+fear, but which had all the interest of a perfectly novel and a most
+exciting situation. For the first time in his life he was in the
+vicinity of enemies, or had good reason to think so; and that, too,
+under all the thrilling circumstances of Indian surprises and Indian
+artifices. As he took his stand at the window, the ark was just passing
+through the narrowest part of the stream, a point where the water first
+entered what was properly termed the river, and where the trees fairly
+interlocked overhead, causing the current to rush into an arch of
+verdure; a feature as appropriate and peculiar to the country, perhaps,
+as that of Switzerland, where the rivers come rushing literally from
+chambers of ice.
+
+The ark was in the act of passing the last curve of this leafy entrance,
+as Deerslayer, having examined all that could be seen of the eastern
+bank of the river, crossed the room to look from the opposite window, at
+the western. His arrival at this aperture was most opportune, for he
+had no sooner placed his eye at a crack, than a sight met his gaze that
+might well have alarmed a sentinel so young and inexperienced. A sapling
+overhung the water, in nearly half a circle, having first grown towards
+the light, and then been pressed down into this form by the weight of
+the snows; a circumstance of common occurrence in the American woods.
+On this no less than six Indians had already appeared, others standing
+ready to follow them, as they left room; each evidently bent on running
+out on the trunk, and dropping on the roof of the ark as it passed
+beneath. This would have been an exploit of no great difficulty, the
+inclination of the tree admitting of an easy passage, the adjoining
+branches offering ample support for the hands, and the fall being too
+trifling to be apprehended. When Deerslayer first saw this party, it was
+just unmasking itself, by ascending the part of the tree nearest to the
+earth, or that which was much the most difficult to overcome; and his
+knowledge of Indian habits told him at once that they were all in their
+war-paint, and belonged to a hostile tribe.
+
+"Pull, Hurry," he cried; "pull for your life, and as you love Judith
+Hutter! Pull, man, pull!"
+
+This call was made to one that the young man knew had the strength of a
+giant. It was so earnest and solemn, that both Hutter and March felt
+it was not idly given, and they applied all their force to the line
+simultaneously, and at a most critical moment. The scow redoubled its
+motion, and seemed to glide from under the tree as if conscious of
+the danger that was impending overhead. Perceiving that they were
+discovered, the Indians uttered the fearful war-whoop, and running
+forward on the tree, leaped desperately towards their fancied prize.
+There were six on the tree, and each made the effort. All but their
+leader fell into the river more or less distant from the ark, as they
+came, sooner or later, to the leaping place. The chief, who had taken
+the dangerous post in advance, having an earlier opportunity than the
+others, struck the scow just within the stern. The fall proving so much
+greater than he had anticipated, he was slightly stunned, and for a
+moment he remained half bent and unconscious of his situation. At this
+instant Judith rushed from the cabin, her beauty heightened by the
+excitement that produced the bold act, which flushed her cheek to
+crimson, and, throwing all her strength into the effort, she pushed
+the intruder over the edge of the scow, headlong into the river. This
+decided feat was no sooner accomplished than the woman resumed her sway;
+Judith looked over the stern to ascertain what had become of the man,
+and the expression of her eyes softened to concern, next, her cheek
+crimsoned between shame and surprise at her own temerity, and then she
+laughed in her own merry and sweet manner. All this occupied less than a
+minute, when the arm of Deerslayer was thrown around her waist, and she
+was dragged swiftly within the protection of the cabin. This retreat was
+not effected too soon. Scarcely were the two in safety, when the forest
+was filled with yells, and bullets began to patter against the logs.
+
+The ark being in swift motion all this while, it was beyond the danger
+of pursuit by the time these little events had occurred; and the
+savages, as soon as the first burst of their anger had subsided, ceased
+firing, with the consciousness that they were expending their ammunition
+in vain. When the scow came up over her grapnel, Hutter tripped the
+latter in a way not to impede the motion; and being now beyond the
+influence of the current, the vessel continued to drift ahead, until
+fairly in the open lake, though still near enough to the land to render
+exposure to a rifle-bullet dangerous. Hutter and March got out two small
+sweeps and, covered by the cabin, they soon urged the ark far enough
+from the shore to leave no inducement to their enemies to make any
+further attempt to injure them.
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+
+    "Why, let the strucken deer go weep,
+    The hart ungalled play,
+    For some must watch, while some must sleep,
+    Thus runs the world away."
+
+    Hamlet, III.ii.271-74
+
+Another consultation took place in the forward part of the scow,
+at which both Judith and Hetty were present. As no danger could now
+approach unseen, immediate uneasiness had given place to the concern
+which attended the conviction that enemies were in considerable force on
+the shores of the lake, and that they might be sure no practicable means
+of accomplishing their own destruction would be neglected. As a matter
+of course Hutter felt these truths the deepest, his daughters having an
+habitual reliance on his resources, and knowing too little to appreciate
+fully all the risks they ran; while his male companions were at liberty
+to quit him at any moment they saw fit. His first remark showed that
+he had an eye to the latter circumstance, and might have betrayed, to a
+keen observer, the apprehension that was just then uppermost.
+
+"We've a great advantage over the Iroquois, or the enemy, whoever they
+are, in being afloat," he said.
+
+"There's not a canoe on the lake that I don't know where it's hid; and
+now yours is here. Hurry, there are but three more on the land, and
+they're so snug in hollow logs that I don't believe the Indians could
+find them, let them try ever so long."
+
+"There's no telling that--no one can say that," put in Deerslayer; "a
+hound is not more sartain on the scent than a red-skin, when he expects
+to get anything by it. Let this party see scalps afore 'em, or plunder,
+or honor accordin' to their idees of what honor is, and 't will be a
+tight log that hides a canoe from their eyes."
+
+"You're right, Deerslayer," cried Harry March; "you're downright Gospel
+in this matter, and I rej'ice that my bunch of bark is safe enough here,
+within reach of my arm. I calcilate they'll be at all the rest of the
+canoes afore to-morrow night, if they are in ra'al 'arnest to smoke you
+out, old Tom, and we may as well overhaul our paddles for a pull."
+
+Hutter made no immediate reply. He looked about him in silence for quite
+a minute, examining the sky, the lake, and the belt of forest which
+inclosed it, as it might be hermetically, like one consulting their
+signs. Nor did he find any alarming symptoms. The boundless woods were
+sleeping in the deep repose of nature, the heavens were placid, but
+still luminous with the light of the retreating sun, while the lake
+looked more lovely and calm than it had before done that day. It was a
+scene altogether soothing, and of a character to lull the passions into
+a species of holy calm. How far this effect was produced, however, on
+the party in the ark, must appear in the progress of our narrative.
+
+"Judith," called out the father, when he had taken this close but short
+survey of the omens, "night is at hand; find our friends food; a long
+march gives a sharp appetite."
+
+"We're not starving, Master Hutter," March observed, "for we filled up
+just as we reached the lake, and for one, I prefer the company of Jude
+even to her supper. This quiet evening is very agreeable to sit by her
+side."
+
+"Natur' is natur'," objected Hutter, "and must be fed. Judith, see to
+the meal, and take your sister to help you. I've a little discourse to
+hold with you, friends," he continued, as soon as his daughters were out
+of hearing, "and wish the girls away. You see my situation, and I should
+like to hear your opinions concerning what is best to be done. Three
+times have I been burnt out already, but that was on the shore; and I've
+considered myself as pretty safe ever since I got the castle built,
+and the ark afloat. My other accidents, however, happened in peaceable
+times, being nothing more than such flurries as a man must meet with, in
+the woods; but this matter looks serious, and your ideas would greatly
+relieve my mind."
+
+"It's my notion, old Tom, that you, and your huts, and your traps, and
+your whole possessions, hereaway, are in desperate jippardy," returned
+the matter-of-fact Hurry, who saw no use in concealment. "Accordin' to
+my idees of valie, they're altogether not worth half as much to-day as
+they was yesterday, nor would I give more for 'em, taking the pay in
+skins."
+
+"Then I've children!" continued the father, making the allusion in a
+way that it might have puzzled even an indifferent observer to say
+was intended as a bait, or as an exclamation of paternal concern,
+"daughters, as you know, Hurry, and good girls too, I may say, though I
+am their father."
+
+"A man may say anything, Master Hutter, particularly when pressed by
+time and circumstances. You've darters, as you say, and one of them
+hasn't her equal on the frontiers for good looks, whatever she may have
+for good behavior. As for poor Hetty, she's Hetty Hutter, and that's as
+much as one can say about the poor thing. Give me Jude, if her conduct
+was only equal to her looks!"
+
+"I see, Harry March, I can only count on you as a fair-weather friend;
+and I suppose that your companion will be of the same way of thinking,"
+returned the other, with a slight show of pride, that was not altogether
+without dignity; "well, I must depend on Providence, which will not turn
+a deaf ear, perhaps, to a father's prayers."
+
+"If you've understood Hurry, here, to mean that he intends to desart
+you," said Deerslayer, with an earnest simplicity that gave double
+assurance of its truth, "I think you do him injustice, as I know you
+do me, in supposing I would follow him, was he so ontrue-hearted as to
+leave a family of his own color in such a strait as this. I've come on
+this at take, Master Hutter, to rende'vous a fri'nd, and I only wish he
+was here himself, as I make no doubt he will be at sunset to-morrow, when
+you'd have another rifle to aid you; an inexper'enced one, I'll allow,
+like my own, but one that has proved true so often ag'in the game, big
+and little, that I'll answer for its sarvice ag'in mortals."
+
+"May I depend on you to stand by me and my daughters, then, Deerslayer?"
+demanded the old man, with a father's anxiety in his countenance.
+
+"That may you, Floating Tom, if that's your name; and as a brother would
+stand by a sister, a husband his wife, or a suitor his sweetheart. In
+this strait you may count on me, through all advarsities; and I think
+Hurry does discredit to his natur' and wishes, if you can't count on
+him."
+
+"Not he," cried Judith, thrusting her handsome face out of the door;
+"his nature is hurry, as well as his name, and he'll hurry off, as
+soon as he thinks his fine figure in danger. Neither 'old Tom,' nor his
+'gals,' will depend much on Master March, now they know him, but you
+they will rely on, Deerslayer; for your honest face and honest heart
+tell us that what you promise you will perform."
+
+This was said, as much, perhaps, in affected scorn for Hurry, as in
+sincerity. Still, it was not said without feeling. The fine face of
+Judith sufficiently proved the latter circumstance; and if the conscious
+March fancied that he had never seen in it a stronger display of
+contempt--a feeling in which the beauty was apt to indulge--than while
+she was looking at him, it certainly seldom exhibited more of a womanly
+softness and sensibility, than when her speaking blue eyes were turned
+on his travelling companion.
+
+"Leave us, Judith," Hutter ordered sternly, before either of the young
+men could reply; "leave us; and do not return until you come with
+the venison and fish. The girl has been spoilt by the flattery of the
+officers, who sometimes find their way up here, Master March, and you'll
+not think any harm of her silly words."
+
+"You never said truer syllable, old Tom," retorted Hurry, who smarted
+under Judith's observations; "the devil-tongued youngsters of the
+garrison have proved her undoing! I scarce know Jude any longer, and
+shall soon take to admiring her sister, who is getting to be much more
+to my fancy."
+
+"I'm glad to hear this, Harry, and look upon it as a sign that you're
+coming to your right senses. Hetty would make a much safer and more
+rational companion than Jude, and would be much the most likely to
+listen to your suit, as the officers have, I greatly fear, unsettled her
+sister's mind."
+
+"No man needs a safer wife than Hetty," said Hurry, laughing, "though
+I'll not answer for her being of the most rational. But no matter;
+Deerslayer has not misconceived me, when he told you I should be found
+at my post. I'll not quit you, Uncle Tom, just now, whatever may be my
+feelin's and intentions respecting your eldest darter."
+
+Hurry had a respectable reputation for prowess among his associates,
+and Hutter heard this pledge with a satisfaction that was not concealed.
+Even the great personal strength of such an aid became of moment, in
+moving the ark, as well as in the species of hand-to-hand conflicts,
+that were not unfrequent in the woods; and no commander who was hard
+pressed could feel more joy at hearing of the arrival of reinforcements,
+than the borderer experienced at being told this important auxiliary
+was not about to quit him. A minute before, Hutter would have been well
+content to compromise his danger, by entering into a compact to act only
+on the defensive; but no sooner did he feel some security on this
+point, than the restlessness of man induced him to think of the means of
+carrying the war into the enemy's country.
+
+"High prices are offered for scalps on both sides," he observed, with a
+grim smile, as if he felt the force of the inducement, at the very time
+he wished to affect a superiority to earning money by means that the
+ordinary feelings of those who aspire to be civilized men repudiated,
+even while they were adopted. "It isn't right, perhaps, to take gold for
+human blood; and yet, when mankind is busy in killing one another, there
+can be no great harm in adding a little bit of skin to the plunder.
+What's your sentiments, Hurry, touching these p'ints?"
+
+"That you've made a vast mistake, old man, in calling savage blood human
+blood, at all. I think no more of a red-skin's scalp than I do of a pair
+of wolf's ears; and would just as lief finger money for the one as for
+the other. With white people 't is different, for they've a nat'ral
+avarsion to being scalped; whereas your Indian shaves his head
+in readiness for the knife, and leaves a lock of hair by way of
+braggadocio, that one can lay hold of in the bargain."
+
+"That's manly, however, and I felt from the first that we had only to
+get you on our side, to have your heart and hand," returned Tom, losing
+all his reserve, as he gained a renewed confidence in the disposition
+of his companions. "Something more may turn up from this inroad of the
+red-skins than they bargained for. Deerslayer, I conclude you're of
+Hurry's way of thinking, and look upon money 'arned in this way as being
+as likely to pass as money 'arned in trapping or hunting."
+
+"I've no such feelin', nor any wish to harbor it, not I," returned
+the other. "My gifts are not scalpers' gifts, but such as belong to my
+religion and color. I'll stand by you, old man, in the ark or in the
+castle, the canoe or the woods, but I'll not unhumanize my natur' by
+falling into ways that God intended for another race. If you and
+Hurry have got any thoughts that lean towards the colony's gold, go by
+yourselves in s'arch of it, and leave the females to my care. Much as I
+must differ from you both on all gifts that do not properly belong to a
+white man, we shall agree that it is the duty of the strong to take
+care of the weak, especially when the last belong to them that natur'
+intended man to protect and console by his gentleness and strength."
+
+"Hurry Harry, that is a lesson you might learn and practise on to some
+advantage," said the sweet, but spirited voice of Judith, from the
+cabin; a proof that she had over-heard all that had hitherto been said.
+
+"No more of this, Jude," called out the father angrily. "Move farther
+off; we are about to talk of matters unfit for a woman to listen to."
+
+Hutter did not take any steps, however, to ascertain whether he
+was obeyed or not; but dropping his voice a little, he pursued the
+discourse.
+
+"The young man is right, Hurry," he said; "and we can leave the children
+in his care. Now, my idea is just this; and I think you'll agree that it
+is rational and correct. There's a large party of these savages on shore
+and, though I didn't tell it before the girls, for they're womanish,
+and apt to be troublesome when anything like real work is to be done,
+there's women among 'em. This I know from moccasin prints; and 't is
+likely they are hunters, after all, who have been out so long that they
+know nothing of the war, or of the bounties."
+
+"In which case, old Tom, why was their first salute an attempt to cut
+our throats?"
+
+"We don't know that their design was so bloody. It's natural and easy
+for an Indian to fall into ambushes and surprises; and, no doubt they
+wished to get on board the ark first, and to make their conditions
+afterwards. That a disapp'inted savage should fire at us, is in rule;
+and I think nothing of that. Besides, how often they burned me out,
+and robbed my traps--ay, and pulled trigger on me, in the most peaceful
+times?"
+
+"The blackguards will do such things, I must allow; and we pay 'em off
+pretty much in their own c'ine. Women would not be on the war-path,
+sartainly; and, so far, there's reason in your idee."
+
+"Nor would a hunter be in his war-paint," returned Deerslayer. "I saw
+the Mingos, and know that they are out on the trail of mortal men; and
+not for beaver or deer."
+
+"There you have it ag'in, old fellow," said Hurry. "In the way of an
+eye, now, I'd as soon trust this young man, as trust the oldest settler
+in the colony; if he says paint, why paint it was."
+
+"Then a hunting-party and a war-party have met, for women must have been
+with 'em. It's only a few days since the runner went through with the
+tidings of the troubles; and it may be that warriors have come out to
+call in their women and children, to get an early blow."
+
+"That would stand the courts, and is just the truth," cried Hurry;
+"you've got it now, old Tom, and I should like to hear what you mean to
+make out of it."
+
+"The bounty," returned the other, looking up at his attentive companion
+in a cool, sullen manner, in which, however, heartless cupidity and
+indifference to the means were far more conspicuous than any feelings of
+animosity or revenge.
+
+"If there's women, there's children; and big and little have scalps; the
+colony pays for all alike."
+
+"More shame to it, that it should do so," interrupted Deerslayer;
+"more shame to it, that it don't understand its gifts, and pay greater
+attention to the will of God."
+
+"Hearken to reason, lad, and don't cry out afore you understand a
+case," returned the unmoved Hurry; "the savages scalp your fri'nds, the
+Delawares, or Mohicans whichever they may be, among the rest; and why
+shouldn't we scalp? I will own, it would be ag'in right for you and me
+now, to go into the settlements and bring out scalps, but it's a very
+different matter as concerns Indians. A man shouldn't take scalps, if he
+isn't ready to be scalped, himself, on fitting occasions. One good turn
+desarves another, the world over. That's reason, and I believe it to be
+good religion."
+
+"Ay, Master Hurry," again interrupted the rich voice of Judith, "is it
+religion to say that one bad turn deserves another?"
+
+"I'll never reason ag'in you, Judy, for you beat me with beauty, if you
+can't with sense. Here's the Canadas paying their Injins for scalps, and
+why not we pay--"
+
+"Our Indians!" exclaimed the girl, laughing with a sort of melancholy
+merriment. "Father, father! think no more of this, and listen to the
+advice of Deerslayer, who has a conscience; which is more than I can say
+or think of Harry March."
+
+Hutter now rose, and, entering the cabin, he compelled his daughters
+to go into the adjoining room, when he secured both the doors, and
+returned. Then he and Hurry pursued the subject; but, as the purport of
+all that was material in this discourse will appear in the narrative,
+it need not be related here in detail. The reader, however, can have
+no difficulty in comprehending the morality that presided over their
+conference. It was, in truth, that which, in some form or other, rules
+most of the acts of men, and in which the controlling principle is that
+one wrong will justify another. Their enemies paid for scalps, and this
+was sufficient to justify the colony for retaliating. It is true, the
+French used the same argument, a circumstance, as Hurry took occasion
+to observe in answer to one of Deerslayer's objections, that proved its
+truth, as mortal enemies would not be likely to have recourse to the
+same reason unless it were a good one. But neither Hutter nor Hurry was
+a man likely to stick at trifles in matters connected with the right of
+the aborigines, since it is one of the consequences of aggression that
+it hardens the conscience, as the only means of quieting it. In the
+most peaceable state of the country, a species of warfare was carried on
+between the Indians, especially those of the Canadas, and men of their
+caste; and the moment an actual and recognized warfare existed, it was
+regarded as the means of lawfully revenging a thousand wrongs, real
+and imaginary. Then, again, there was some truth, and a good deal of
+expediency, in the principle of retaliation, of which they both
+availed themselves, in particular, to answer the objections of their
+juster-minded and more scrupulous companion.
+
+"You must fight a man with his own we'pons, Deerslayer," cried Hurry,
+in his uncouth dialect, and in his dogmatical manner of disposing of all
+oral propositions; "if he's f'erce you must be f'ercer; if he's stout
+of heart, you must be stouter. This is the way to get the better of
+Christian or savage: by keeping up to this trail, you'll get soonest to
+the ind of your journey."
+
+"That's not Moravian doctrine, which teaches that all are to be judged
+according to their talents or l'arning; the Injin like an Injin; and the
+white man like a white man. Some of their teachers say, that if you're
+struck on the cheek, it's a duty to turn the other side of the face, and
+take another blow, instead of seeking revenge, whereby I understand--"
+
+"That's enough!" shouted Hurry; "that's all I want, to prove a man's
+doctrine! How long would it take to kick a man through the colony--in at
+one ind and out at the other, on that principle?"
+
+"Don't mistake me, March," returned the young hunter, with dignity; "I
+don't understand by this any more than that it's best to do this, if
+possible. Revenge is an Injin gift, and forgiveness a white man's.
+That's all. Overlook all you can is what's meant; and not revenge all
+you can. As for kicking, Master Hurry," and Deerslayer's sunburnt cheek
+flushed as he continued, "into the colony, or out of the colony, that's
+neither here nor there, seeing no one proposes it, and no one would
+be likely to put up with it. What I wish to say is, that a red-skin's
+scalping don't justify a pale-face's scalping."
+
+"Do as you're done by, Deerslayer; that's ever the Christian parson's
+doctrine."
+
+"No, Hurry, I've asked the Moravians consarning that; and it's
+altogether different. 'Do as you would be done by,' they tell me, is the
+true saying, while men practyse the false. They think all the colonies
+wrong that offer bounties for scalps, and believe no blessing will
+follow the measures. Above all things, they forbid revenge."
+
+"That for your Moravians!" cried March, snapping his fingers; "they're
+the next thing to Quakers; and if you'd believe all they tell you, not
+even a 'rat would be skinned, out of marcy. Who ever heard of marcy on a
+muskrat!"
+
+The disdainful manner of Hurry prevented a reply, and he and the old man
+resumed the discussion of their plans in a more quiet and confidential
+manner. This confidence lasted until Judith appeared, bearing the simple
+but savory supper. March observed, with a little surprise, that she
+placed the choicest bits before Deerslayer, and that in the little
+nameless attentions it was in her power to bestow, she quite obviously
+manifested a desire to let it be seen that she deemed him the honored
+guest. Accustomed, however, to the waywardness and coquetry of the
+beauty, this discovery gave him little concern, and he ate with an
+appetite that was in no degree disturbed by any moral causes. The
+easily-digested food of the forests offering the fewest possible
+obstacles to the gratification of this great animal indulgence,
+Deerslayer, notwithstanding the hearty meal both had taken in the woods,
+was in no manner behind his companion in doing justice to the viands.
+
+An hour later the scene had greatly changed. The lake was still placid
+and glassy, but the gloom of the hour had succeeded to the soft twilight
+of a summer evening, and all within the dark setting of the woods lay in
+the quiet repose of night. The forests gave up no song, or cry, or
+even murmur, but looked down from the hills on the lovely basin they
+encircled, in solemn stillness; and the only sound that was audible
+was the regular dip of the sweeps, at which Hurry and Deerslayer lazily
+pushed, impelling the ark towards the castle. Hutter had withdrawn to
+the stern of the scow, in order to steer, but, finding that the young
+men kept even strokes, and held the desired course by their own skill,
+he permitted the oar to drag in the water, took a seat on the end of the
+vessel, and lighted his pipe. He had not been thus placed many minutes,
+ere Hetty came stealthily out of the cabin, or house, as they usually
+termed that part of the ark, and placed herself at his feet, on a
+little bench that she brought with her. As this movement was by no means
+unusual in his feeble-minded child, the old man paid no other attention
+to it than to lay his hand kindly on her head, in an affectionate
+and approving manner; an act of grace that the girl received in meek
+silence.
+
+After a pause of several minutes, Hetty began to sing. Her voice was
+low and tremulous, but it was earnest and solemn. The words and the
+tune were of the simplest form, the first being a hymn that she had been
+taught by her mother, and the last one of those natural melodies
+that find favor with all classes, in every age, coming from and being
+addressed to the feelings. Hutter never listened to this simple strain
+without finding his heart and manner softened; facts that his daughter
+well knew, and by which she had often profited, through the sort of holy
+instinct that enlightens the weak of mind, more especially in their aims
+toward good.
+
+Hetty's low, sweet tones had not been raised many moments, when the dip
+of the oars ceased, and the holy strain arose singly on the breathing
+silence of the wilderness. As if she gathered courage with the theme,
+her powers appeared to increase as she proceeded; and though nothing
+vulgar or noisy mingled in her melody, its strength and melancholy
+tenderness grew on the ear, until the air was filled with this simple
+homage of a soul that seemed almost spotless. That the men forward
+were not indifferent to this touching interruption, was proved by their
+inaction; nor did their oars again dip until the last of the sweet
+sounds had actually died among the remarkable shores, which, at that
+witching hour, would waft even the lowest modulations of the human voice
+more than a mile. Hutter was much affected; for rude as he was by early
+habits, and even ruthless as he had got to be by long exposure to the
+practices of the wilderness, his nature was of that fearful mixture of
+good and evil that so generally enters into the moral composition of
+man.
+
+"You are sad to-night, child," said the father, whose manner and language
+usually assumed some of the gentleness and elevation of the civilized
+life he had led in youth, when he thus communed with this particular
+child; "we have just escaped from enemies, and ought rather to rejoice."
+
+"You can never do it, father!" said Hetty, in a low, remonstrating
+manner, taking his hard, knotty hand into both her own; "you have talked
+long with Harry March; but neither of you have the heart to do it!"
+
+"This is going beyond your means, foolish child; you must have been
+naughty enough to have listened, or you could know nothing of our talk."
+
+"Why should you and Hurry kill people--especially women and children?"
+
+"Peace, girl, peace; we are at war, and must do to our enemies as our
+enemies would do to us."
+
+"That's not it, father! I heard Deerslayer say how it was. You must do
+to your enemies as you wish your enemies would do to you. No man wishes
+his enemies to kill him."
+
+"We kill our enemies in war, girl, lest they should kill us. One side or
+the other must begin; and them that begin first, are most apt to get the
+victory. You know nothing about these things, poor Hetty, and had best
+say nothing."
+
+"Judith says it is wrong, father; and Judith has sense though I have
+none."
+
+"Jude understands better than to talk to me of these matters; for she
+has sense, as you say, and knows I'll not bear it. Which would you
+prefer, Hetty; to have your own scalp taken, and sold to the French, or
+that we should kill our enemies, and keep them from harming us?"
+
+"That's not it, father! Don't kill them, nor let them kill us. Sell your
+skins, and get more, if you can; but don't sell human blood."
+
+"Come, come, child; let us talk of matters you understand. Are you glad
+to see our old friend, March, back again? You like Hurry, and must know
+that one day he may be your brother--if not something nearer."
+
+"That can't be, father," returned the girl, after a considerable pause;
+"Hurry has had one father, and one mother; and people never have two."
+
+"So much for your weak mind, Hetty. When Jude marries, her husband's
+father will be her father, and her husband's sister her sister. If she
+should marry Hurry, then he will be your brother."
+
+"Judith will never have Hurry," returned the girl mildly, but
+positively; "Judith don't like Hurry."
+
+"That's more than you can know, Hetty. Harry March is the handsomest,
+and the strongest, and the boldest young man that ever visits the lake;
+and, as Jude is the greatest beauty, I don't see why they shouldn't come
+together. He has as much as promised that he will enter into this job
+with me, on condition that I'll consent."
+
+Hetty began to move her body back and forth, and other-wise to express
+mental agitation; but she made no answer for more than a minute. Her
+father, accustomed to her manner, and suspecting no immediate cause of
+concern, continued to smoke with the apparent phlegm which would seem to
+belong to that particular species of enjoyment.
+
+"Hurry is handsome, father," said Hetty, with a simple emphasis, that
+she might have hesitated about using, had her mind been more alive to
+the inferences of others.
+
+"I told you so, child," muttered old Hutter, without removing the pipe
+from between his teeth; "he's the likeliest youth in these parts; and
+Jude is the likeliest young woman I've met with since her poor mother
+was in her best days."
+
+"Is it wicked to be ugly, father?'"
+
+"One might be guilty of worse things--but you're by no means ugly;
+though not so comely as Jude."
+
+"Is Judith any happier for being so handsome?"
+
+"She may be, child, and she may not be. But talk of other matters now,
+for you hardly understand these, poor Hetty. How do you like our new
+acquaintance, Deerslayer?"
+
+"He isn't handsome, father. Hurry is far handsomer than Deerslayer."
+
+"That's true; but they say he is a noted hunter! His fame had reached
+me before I ever saw him; and I did hope he would prove to be as stout
+a warrior as he is dexterous with the deer. All men are not alike,
+howsever, child; and it takes time, as I know by experience, to give a
+man a true wilderness heart."
+
+"Have I got a wilderness heart, father--and Hurry, is his heart true
+wilderness?"
+
+"You sometimes ask queer questions, Hetty! Your heart is good, child,
+and fitter for the settlements than for the woods; while your reason is
+fitter for the woods than for the settlements."
+
+"Why has Judith more reason than I, father?"
+
+"Heaven help thee, child: this is more than I can answer. God gives
+sense, and appearance, and all these things; and he grants them as he
+seeth fit. Dost thou wish for more sense?"
+
+"Not I. The little I have troubles me; for when I think the hardest,
+then I feel the unhappiest. I don't believe thinking is good for me,
+though I do wish I was as handsome as Judith!"
+
+"Why so, poor child? Thy sister's beauty may cause her trouble, as it
+caused her mother before her. It's no advantage, Hetty, to be so marked
+for anything as to become an object of envy, or to be sought after more
+than others."
+
+"Mother was good, if she was handsome," returned the girl, the tears
+starting to her eyes, as usually happened when she adverted to her
+deceased parent.
+
+Old Hutter, if not equally affected, was moody and silent at this
+allusion to his wife. He continued smoking, without appearing disposed
+to make any answer, until his simple-minded daughter repeated her
+remark, in a way to show that she felt uneasiness lest he might be
+inclined to deny her assertion. Then he knocked the ashes out of his
+pipe, and laying his hand in a sort of rough kindness on the girl's
+head, he made a reply.
+
+"Thy mother was too good for this world," he said; "though others might
+not think so. Her good looks did not befriend her; and you have no
+occasion to mourn that you are not as much like her as your sister.
+Think less of beauty, child, and more of your duty, and you'll be as
+happy on this lake as you could be in the king's palace."
+
+"I know it, father; but Hurry says beauty is everything in a young
+woman."
+
+Hutter made an ejaculation expressive of dissatisfaction, and went
+forward, passing through the house in order to do so. Hetty's simple
+betrayal of her weakness in behalf of March gave him uneasiness on a
+subject concerning which he had never felt before, and he determined
+to come to an explanation at once with his visitor; for directness of
+speech and decision in conduct were two of the best qualities of
+this rude being, in whom the seeds of a better education seemed to be
+constantly struggling upwards, to be choked by the fruits of a life in
+which his hard struggles for subsistence and security had steeled his
+feelings and indurated his nature. When he reached the forward end of
+the scow, he manifested an intention to relieve Deerslayer at the oar,
+directing the latter to take his own place aft. By these changes, the
+old man and Hurry were again left alone, while the young hunter was
+transferred to the other end of the ark.
+
+Hetty had disappeared when Deerslayer reached his new post, and for some
+little time he directed the course of the slow-moving craft by himself.
+It was not long, however, before Judith came out of the cabin, as if
+disposed to do the honors of the place to a stranger engaged in the
+service of her family. The starlight was sufficient to permit objects to
+be plainly distinguished when near at hand, and the bright eyes of the
+girl had an expression of kindness in them, when they met those of the
+youth, that the latter was easily enabled to discover. Her rich
+hair shaded her spirited and yet soft countenance, even at that hour
+rendering it the more beautiful--as the rose is loveliest when reposing
+amid the shadows and contrasts of its native foliage. Little ceremony
+is used in the intercourse of the woods; and Judith had acquired a
+readiness of address, by the admiration that she so generally excited,
+which, if it did not amount to forwardness, certainly in no degree lent
+to her charms the aid of that retiring modesty on which poets love to
+dwell.
+
+"I thought I should have killed myself with laughing, Deerslayer," the
+beauty abruptly but coquettishly commenced, "when I saw that Indian
+dive into the river! He was a good-looking savage, too," the girl always
+dwelt on personal beauty as a sort of merit, "and yet one couldn't stop
+to consider whether his paint would stand water!"
+
+"And I thought they would have killed you with their we'pons, Judith,"
+returned Deerslayer; "it was an awful risk for a female to run in the
+face of a dozen Mingos!"
+
+"Did that make you come out of the cabin, in spite of their rifles,
+too?" asked the girl, with more real interest than she would have cared
+to betray, though with an indifference of manner that was the result of
+a good deal of practice united to native readiness.
+
+"Men ar'n't apt to see females in danger, and not come to their
+assistance. Even a Mingo knows that."
+
+This sentiment was uttered with as much simplicity of manner as of
+feeling, and Judith rewarded it with a smile so sweet, that even
+Deerslayer, who had imbibed a prejudice against the girl in consequence
+of Hurry's suspicions of her levity, felt its charm, notwithstanding
+half its winning influence was lost in the feeble light. It at once
+created a sort of confidence between them, and the discourse was
+continued on the part of the hunter, without the lively consciousness
+of the character of this coquette of the wilderness, with which it had
+certainly commenced.
+
+"You are a man of deeds, and not of words, I see plainly, Deerslayer,"
+continued the beauty, taking her seat near the spot where the other
+stood, "and I foresee we shall be very good friends. Hurry Harry has a
+tongue, and, giant as he is, he talks more than he performs."
+
+"March is your fri'nd, Judith; and fri'nds should be tender of each
+other, when apart."
+
+"We all know what Hurry's friendship comes to! Let him have his own way
+in everything, and he's the best fellow in the colony; but 'head him
+off,' as you say of the deer, and he is master of everything near him
+but himself. Hurry is no favorite of mine, Deerslayer; and I dare say,
+if the truth was known, and his conversation about me repeated, it would
+be found that he thinks no better of me than I own I do of him."
+
+The latter part of this speech was not uttered without uneasiness. Had
+the girl's companion been more sophisticated, he might have observed the
+averted face, the manner in which the pretty little foot was agitated,
+and other signs that, for some unexplained reason, the opinions of March
+were not quite as much a matter of indifference to her as she thought
+fit to pretend. Whether this was no more than the ordinary working of
+female vanity, feeling keenly even when it affected not to feel at all,
+or whether it proceeded from that deeply-seated consciousness of right
+and wrong which God himself has implanted in our breasts that we may
+know good from evil, will be made more apparent to the reader as we
+proceed in the tale. Deerslayer felt embarrassed. He well remembered the
+cruel imputations left by March's distrust; and, while he did not wish
+to injure his associate's suit by exciting resentment against him, his
+tongue was one that literally knew no guile. To answer without saying
+more or less than he wished, was consequently a delicate duty.
+
+"March has his say of all things in natur', whether of fri'nd or foe,"
+slowly and cautiously rejoined the hunter. "He's one of them that speak
+as they feel while the tongue's a-going, and that's sometimes different
+from what they'd speak if they took time to consider. Give me a
+Delaware, Judith, for one that reflects and ruminates on his idees!
+Inmity has made him thoughtful, and a loose tongue is no ricommend at
+their council fires."
+
+"I dare say March's tongue goes free enough when it gets on the subject
+of Judith Hutter and her sister," said the girl, rousing herself as if
+in careless disdain. "Young women's good names are a pleasant matter of
+discourse with some that wouldn't dare be so open-mouthed if there was a
+brother in the way. Master March may find it pleasant to traduce us, but
+sooner or later he'll repent.
+
+"Nay, Judith, this is taking the matter up too much in 'arnest. Hurry
+has never whispered a syllable ag'in the good name of Hetty, to begin
+with--"
+
+"I see how it is--I see how it is," impetuously interrupted Judith.
+"I am the one he sees fit to scorch with his withering tongue! Hetty,
+indeed! Poor Hetty!" she continued, her voice sinking into low, husky
+tones, that seemed nearly to stifle her in the utterance; "she is beyond
+and above his slanderous malice! Poor Hetty! If God has created her
+feeble-minded, the weakness lies altogether on the side of errors of
+which she seems to know nothing. The earth never held a purer being than
+Hetty Hutter, Deerslayer."
+
+"I can believe it--yes, I can believe that, Judith, and I hope 'arnestly
+that the same can be said of her handsome sister."
+
+There was a soothing sincerity in the voice of Deerslayer, which touched
+the girl's feelings; nor did the allusion to her beauty lessen the
+effect with one who only knew too well the power of her personal charms.
+Nevertheless, the still, small voice of conscience was not hushed, and
+it prompted the answer which she made, after giving herself time to
+reflect.
+
+"I dare say Hurry had some of his vile hints about the people of the
+garrisons," she added. "He knows they are gentlemen, and can never
+forgive any one for being what he feels he can never become himself."
+
+"Not in the sense of a king's officer, Judith, sartainly, for March
+has no turn that-a-way; but in the sense of reality, why may not a
+beaver-hunter be as respectable as a governor? Since you speak of it
+yourself, I'll not deny that he did complain of one as humble as you
+being so much in the company of scarlet coats and silken sashes. But 't
+was jealousy that brought it out of him, and I do think he mourned over
+his own thoughts as a mother would have mourned over her child."
+
+Perhaps Deerslayer was not aware of the full meaning that his earnest
+language conveyed. It is certain that he did not see the color that
+crimsoned the whole of Judith's fine face, nor detect the uncontrollable
+distress that immediately after changed its hue to deadly paleness. A
+minute or two elapsed in profound stillness, the splash of the water
+seeming to occupy all the avenues of sound; and then Judith arose, and
+grasped the hand of the hunter, almost convulsively, with one of her
+own.
+
+"Deerslayer," she said, hurriedly, "I'm glad the ice is broke between
+us. They say that sudden friendships lead to long enmities, but I do not
+believe it will turn out so with us. I know not how it is--but you are
+the first man I ever met, who did not seem to wish to flatter--to wish
+my ruin--to be an enemy in disguise--never mind; say nothing to Hurry,
+and another time we'll talk together again."
+
+As the girl released her grasp, she vanished in the house, leaving the
+astonished young man standing at the steering-oar, as motionless as
+one of the pines on the hills. So abstracted, indeed, had his thoughts
+become, that he was hailed by Hutter to keep the scow's head in the
+right direction, before he remembered his actual situation.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+
+    "So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain,
+    Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair."
+
+    Paradise lost, I.  125-26.
+
+Shortly after the disappearance of Judith, a light southerly air arose,
+and Hutter set a large square sail, that had once been the flying
+top-sail of an Albany sloop, but which having become threadbare in
+catching the breezes of Tappan, had been condemned and sold. He had a
+light, tough spar of tamarack that he could raise on occasion, and with
+a little contrivance, his duck was spread to the wind in a sufficiently
+professional manner. The effect on the ark was such as to supersede the
+necessity of rowing; and in about two hours the castle was seen, in the
+darkness, rising out of the water, at the distance of a hundred yards.
+The sail was then lowered, and by slow degrees the scow drifted up to
+the building, and was secured.
+
+No one had visited the house since Hurry and his companion left it. The
+place was found in the quiet of midnight, a sort of type of the solitude
+of a wilderness. As an enemy was known to be near, Hutter directed his
+daughters to abstain from the use of lights, luxuries in which they
+seldom indulged during the warm months, lest they might prove beacons to
+direct their foes where they might be found.
+
+"In open daylight I shouldn't fear a host of savages behind these stout
+logs, and they without any cover to skulk into," added Hutter, when he
+had explained to his guests the reasons why he forbade the use of light;
+"for I've three or four trusty weapons always loaded, and Killdeer, in
+particular, is a piece that never misses. But it's a different thing at
+night. A canoe might get upon us unseen, in the dark; and the savages
+have so many cunning ways of attacking, that I look upon it as bad
+enough to deal with 'em under a bright sun. I built this dwelling in
+order to have 'em at arm's length, in case we should ever get to
+blows again. Some people think it's too open and exposed, but I'm for
+anchoring out here, clear of underbrush and thickets, as the surest
+means of making a safe berth."
+
+"You was once a sailor, they tell me, old Tom?" said Hurry, in his
+abrupt manner, struck by one or two expressions that the other had just
+used, "and some people believe you could give us strange accounts of
+inimies and shipwrecks, if you'd a mind to come out with all you know?"
+
+"There are people in this world, Hurry," returned the other, evasively,
+"who live on other men's thoughts; and some such often find their way
+into the woods. What I've been, or what I've seen in youth, is of less
+matter now than what the savages are. It's of more account to find out
+what will happen in the next twenty-four hours than to talk over what
+happened twenty-four years since."
+
+"That's judgment, Deerslayer; yes, that's sound judgment. Here's Judith
+and Hetty to take care of, to say nothing of our own top-knots; and, for
+my part, I can sleep as well in the dark as I could under a noonday sun.
+To me it's no great matter whether there is light or not, to see to shut
+my eyes by."
+
+As Deerslayer seldom thought it necessary to answer his companion's
+peculiar vein of humor, and Hutter was evidently indisposed to dwell
+longer on the subject, it's discussion ceased with this remark. The
+latter had something more on his mind, however, than recollections. His
+daughters had no sooner left them, with an expressed intention of going
+to bed, than he invited his two companions to follow him again into the
+scow. Here the old man opened his project, keeping back the portion that
+he had reserved for execution by Hurry and himself.
+
+"The great object for people posted like ourselves is to command the
+water," he commenced. "So long as there is no other craft on the lake,
+a bark canoe is as good as a man-of-war, since the castle will not be
+easily taken by swimming. Now, there are but five canoes remaining in
+these parts, two of which are mine, and one is Hurry's. These three
+we have with us here; one being fastened in the canoe-dock beneath the
+house, and the other two being alongside the scow. The other canoes
+are housed on the shore, in hollow logs, and the savages, who are such
+venomous enemies, will leave no likely place unexamined in the morning,
+if they 're serious in s'arch of bounties--"
+
+"Now, friend Hutter," interrupted Hurry, "the Indian don't live that
+can find a canoe that is suitably wintered. I've done something at this
+business before now, and Deerslayer here knows that I am one that can
+hide a craft in such a way that I can't find it myself."
+
+"Very true, Hurry," put in the person to whom the appeal had been made,
+"but you overlook the sarcumstance that if you couldn't see the trail of
+the man who did the job, I could. I'm of Master Hutter's mind, that
+it's far wiser to mistrust a savage's ingenuity, than to build any great
+expectations on his want of eye-sight. If these two canoes can be got
+off to the castle, therefore, the sooner it's done the better."
+
+"Will you be of the party that's to do it?" demanded Hutter, in a way to
+show that the proposal both surprised and pleased him.
+
+"Sartain. I'm ready to enlist in any enterprise that's not ag'in a white
+man's lawful gifts. Natur' orders us to defend our lives, and the lives
+of others, too, when there's occasion and opportunity. I'll follow you,
+Floating Tom, into the Mingo camp, on such an arr'nd, and will strive to
+do my duty, should we come to blows; though, never having been tried in
+battle, I don't like to promise more than I may be able to perform. We
+all know our wishes, but none know their might till put to the proof."
+
+"That's modest and suitable, lad," exclaimed Hurry. "You've never
+yet heard the crack of an angry rifle; and, let me tell you, 'tis as
+different from the persuasion of one of your venison speeches, as the
+laugh of Judith Hutter, in her best humor, is from the scolding of a
+Dutch house keeper on the Mohawk. I don't expect you'll prove much of a
+warrior, Deerslayer, though your equal with the bucks and the does don't
+exist in all these parts. As for the ra'al sarvice, however, you'll turn
+out rather rearward, according to my consait."
+
+"We'll see, Hurry, we'll see," returned the other, meekly; so far as
+human eye could discover, not at all disturbed by these expressed doubts
+concerning his conduct on a point on which men are sensitive, precisely
+in the degree that they feel the consciousness of demerit; "having never
+been tried, I'll wait to know, before I form any opinion of myself; and
+then there'll be sartainty, instead of bragging. I've heard of them
+that was valiant afore the fight, who did little in it; and of them that
+waited to know their own tempers, and found that they weren't as bad as
+some expected, when put to the proof."
+
+"At any rate, we know you can use a paddle, young man," said Hutter,
+"and that's all we shall ask of you to-night. Let us waste no more time,
+but get into the canoe, and do, in place of talking."
+
+As Hutter led the way, in the execution of his project, the boat was
+soon ready, with Hurry and Deerslayer at the paddles. Before the old man
+embarked himself, however, he held a conference of several minutes with
+Judith, entering the house for that purpose; then, returning, he took
+his place in the canoe, which left the side of the ark at the next
+instant.
+
+Had there been a temple reared to God, in that solitary wilderness, its
+clock would have told the hour of midnight as the party set forth on
+their expedition. The darkness had increased, though the night was still
+clear, and the light of the stars sufficed for all the purposes of the
+adventurers. Hutter alone knew the places where the canoes were hid,
+and he directed the course, while his two athletic companions raised
+and dipped their paddles with proper caution, lest the sound should be
+carried to the ears of their enemies, across that sheet of placid water,
+in the stillness of deep night. But the bark was too light to require
+any extraordinary efforts, and skill supplying the place of strength,
+in about half an hour they were approaching the shore, at a point near a
+league from the castle.
+
+"Lay on your paddles, men," said Hutter, in a low voice, "and let us
+look about us for a moment. We must now be all eyes and ears, for these
+vermin have noses like bloodhounds."
+
+The shores of the lake were examined closely, in order to discover any
+glimmering of light that might have been left in a camp; and the men
+strained their eyes, in the obscurity, to see if some thread of smoke
+was not still stealing along the mountainside, as it arose from the
+dying embers of a fire. Nothing unusual could be traced; and as the
+position was at some distance from the outlet, or the spot where the
+savages had been met, it was thought safe to land. The paddles were
+plied again, and the bows of the canoe ground upon the gravelly beach
+with a gentle motion, and a sound barely audible. Hutter and Hurry
+immediately landed, the former carrying his own and his friend's rifle,
+leaving Deerslayer in charge of the canoe. The hollow log lay a little
+distance up the side of the mountain, and the old man led the way
+towards it, using so much caution as to stop at every third or fourth
+step, to listen if any tread betrayed the presence of a foe. The same
+death-like stillness, however, reigned on the midnight scene, and the
+desired place was reached without an occurrence to induce alarm.
+
+"This is it," whispered Hutter, laying a foot on the trunk of a fallen
+linden; "hand me the paddles first, and draw the boat out with care, for
+the wretches may have left it for a bait, after all."
+
+"Keep my rifle handy, butt towards me, old fellow," answered March.
+"If they attack me loaded, I shall want to unload the piece at 'em, at
+least. And feel if the pan is full."
+
+"All's right," muttered the other; "move slow, when you get your load,
+and let me lead the way."
+
+The canoe was drawn out of the log with the utmost care, raised by Hurry
+to his shoulder, and the two began to return to the shore, moving but
+a step at a time, lest they should tumble down the steep declivity. The
+distance was not great, but the descent was extremely difficult; and,
+towards the end of their little journey, Deerslayer was obliged to land
+and meet them, in order to aid in lifting the canoe through the bushes.
+With his assistance the task was successfully accomplished, and the
+light craft soon floated by the side of the other canoe. This was no
+sooner done, than all three turned anxiously towards the forest and the
+mountain, expecting an enemy to break out of the one, or to come rushing
+down the other. Still the silence was unbroken, and they all embarked
+with the caution that had been used in coming ashore.
+
+Hutter now steered broad off towards the centre of the lake. Having got
+a sufficient distance from the shore, he cast his prize loose, knowing
+that it would drift slowly up the lake before the light southerly air,
+and intending to find it on his return. Thus relieved of his tow, the
+old man held his way down the lake, steering towards the very point
+where Hurry had made his fruitless attempt on the life of the deer. As
+the distance from this point to the outlet was less than a mile, it
+was like entering an enemy's country; and redoubled caution became
+necessary. They reached the extremity of the point, however, and landed
+in safety on the little gravelly beach already mentioned. Unlike the
+last place at which they had gone ashore, here was no acclivity to
+ascend, the mountains looming up in the darkness quite a quarter of a
+mile farther west, leaving a margin of level ground between them and the
+strand. The point itself, though long, and covered with tall trees, was
+nearly flat, and for some distance only a few yards in width. Hutter and
+Hurry landed as before, leaving their companion in charge of the boat.
+
+In this instance, the dead tree that contained the canoe of which they
+had come in quest lay about half-way between the extremity of the narrow
+slip of land and the place where it joined the main shore; and knowing
+that there was water so near him on his left, the old man led the way
+along the eastern side of the belt with some confidence walking boldly,
+though still with caution. He had landed at the point expressly to get
+a glimpse into the bay and to make certain that the coast was clear;
+otherwise he would have come ashore directly abreast of the hollow tree.
+There was no difficulty in finding the latter, from which the canoe
+was drawn as before, and instead of carrying it down to the place where
+Deerslayer lay, it was launched at the nearest favorable spot. As soon
+as it was in the water, Hurry entered it, and paddled round to the
+point, whither Hutter also proceeded, following the beach. As the
+three men had now in their possession all the boats on the lake, their
+confidence was greatly increased, and there was no longer the same
+feverish desire to quit the shore, or the same necessity for extreme
+caution. Their position on the extremity of the long, narrow bit of land
+added to the feeling of security, as it permitted an enemy to approach
+in only one direction, that in their front, and under circumstances that
+would render discovery, with their habitual vigilance, almost certain.
+The three now landed together, and stood grouped in consultation on the
+gravelly point.
+
+"We've fairly tree'd the scamps," said Hurry, chuckling at their
+success; "if they wish to visit the castle, let 'em wade or swim! Old
+Tom, that idee of your'n, in burrowing out in the lake, was high proof,
+and carries a fine bead. There be men who would think the land safer
+than the water; but, after all, reason shows it isn't; the beaver, and
+rats, and other l'arned creatur's taking to the last when hard pressed.
+I call our position now, entrenched, and set the Canadas at defiance."
+
+"Let us paddle along this south shore," said Hutter, "and see if there's
+no sign of an encampment; but, first, let me have a better look into the
+bay, for no one has been far enough round the inner shore of the point
+to make suit of that quarter yet."
+
+As Hutter ceased speaking, all three moved in the direction he had
+named. Scarce had they fairly opened the bottom of the bay, when a
+general start proved that their eyes had lighted on a common object
+at the same instant. It was no more than a dying brand, giving out its
+flickering and failing light; but at that hour, and in that place, it
+was at once as conspicuous as "a good deed in a naughty world."
+There was not a shadow of doubt that this fire had been kindled at an
+encampment of the Indians. The situation, sheltered from observation on
+all sides but one, and even on that except for a very short distance,
+proved that more care had been taken to conceal the spot than would be
+used for ordinary purposes, and Hutter, who knew that a spring was
+near at hand, as well as one of the best fishing-stations on the lake,
+immediately inferred that this encampment contained the women and
+children of the party.
+
+"That's not a warrior's encampment," he growled to Hurry; "and there's
+bounty enough sleeping round that fire to make a heavy division of
+head-money. Send the lad to the canoes, for there'll come no good of him
+in such an onset, and let us take the matter in hand at once, like men."
+
+"There's judgment in your notion, old Tom, and I like it to the
+backbone. Deerslayer, do you get into the canoe, lad, and paddle off
+into the lake with the spare one, and set it adrift, as we did with the
+other; after which you can float along shore, as near as you can get to
+the head of the bay, keeping outside the point, howsever, and outside
+the rushes, too. You can hear us when we want you; and if there's any
+delay, I'll call like a loon--yes, that'll do it--the call of a loon
+shall be the signal. If you hear rifles, and feel like sogering, why,
+you may close in, and see if you can make the same hand with the savages
+that you do with the deer."
+
+"If my wishes could be followed, this matter would not be undertaken,
+Hurry----"
+
+"Quite true--nobody denies it, boy; but your wishes can't be followed;
+and that inds the matter. So just canoe yourself off into the middle
+of the lake, and by the time you get back there'll be movements in that
+camp!"
+
+The young man set about complying with great reluctance and a heavy
+heart. He knew the prejudices of the frontiermen too well, however, to
+attempt a remonstrance. The latter, indeed, under the circumstances,
+might prove dangerous, as it would certainly prove useless. He paddled
+the canoe, therefore, silently and with the former caution, to a spot
+near the centre of the placid sheet of water, and set the boat just
+recovered adrift, to float towards the castle, before the light
+southerly air. This expedient had been adopted, in both cases, under
+the certainty that the drift could not carry the light barks more than
+a league or two, before the return of light, when they might easily be
+overtaken in order to prevent any wandering savage from using them, by
+swimming off and getting possession, a possible but scarcely a probable
+event, all the paddles were retained.
+
+No sooner had he set the recovered canoe adrift, than Deerslayer
+turned the bows of his own towards the point on the shore that had been
+indicated by Hurry. So light was the movement of the little craft,
+and so steady the sweep of its master's arm, that ten minutes had not
+elapsed ere it was again approaching the land, having, in that brief
+time, passed over fully half a mile of distance. As soon as Deerslayer's
+eye caught a glimpse of the rushes, of which there were many growing in
+the water a hundred feet from the shore, he arrested the motion of
+the canoe, and anchored his boat by holding fast to the delicate
+but tenacious stem of one of the drooping plants. Here he remained,
+awaiting, with an intensity of suspense that can be easily imagined, the
+result of the hazardous enterprise.
+
+It would be difficult to convey to the minds of those who have never
+witnessed it, the sublimity that characterizes the silence of a solitude
+as deep as that which now reigned over the Glimmerglass. In the present
+instance, this sublimity was increased by the gloom of night, which
+threw its shadowy and fantastic forms around the lake, the forest,
+and the hills. It is not easy, indeed, to conceive of any place more
+favorable to heighten these natural impressions, than that Deerslayer
+now occupied. The size of the lake brought all within the reach of human
+senses, while it displayed so much of the imposing scene at a single
+view, giving up, as it might be, at a glance, a sufficiency to produce
+the deepest impressions. As has been said, this was the first lake
+Deerslayer had ever seen. Hitherto, his experience had been limited to
+the courses of rivers and smaller streams, and never before had he seen
+so much of that wilderness, which he so well loved, spread before
+his gaze. Accustomed to the forest, however, his mind was capable
+of portraying all its hidden mysteries, as he looked upon its leafy
+surface. This was also the first time he had been on a trail where human
+lives depended on the issue. His ears had often drunk in the traditions
+of frontier warfare, but he had never yet been confronted with an enemy.
+
+The reader will readily understand, therefore, how intense must have
+been the expectation of the young man, as he sat in his solitary canoe,
+endeavoring to catch the smallest sound that might denote the course of
+things on shore. His training had been perfect, so far as theory could
+go, and his self-possession, notwithstanding the high excitement, that
+was the fruit of novelty, would have done credit to a veteran. The
+visible evidences of the existence of the camp, or of the fire could not
+be detected from the spot where the canoe lay, and he was compelled to
+depend on the sense of hearing alone. He did not feel impatient, for
+the lessons he had heard taught him the virtue of patience, and, most
+of all, inculcated the necessity of wariness in conducting any covert
+assault on the Indians. Once he thought he heard the cracking of a
+dried twig, but expectation was so intense it might mislead him. In this
+manner minute after minute passed, until the whole time since he left
+his companions was extended to quite an hour. Deerslayer knew not
+whether to rejoice in or to mourn over this cautious delay, for, if
+it augured security to his associates, it foretold destruction to the
+feeble and innocent.
+
+It might have been an hour and a half after his companions and he had
+parted, when Deerslayer was aroused by a sound that filled him equally
+with concern and surprise. The quavering call of a loon arose from
+the opposite side of the lake, evidently at no great distance from
+its outlet. There was no mistaking the note of this bird, which is
+so familiar to all who know the sounds of the American lakes. Shrill,
+tremulous, loud, and sufficiently prolonged, it seems the very cry of
+warning. It is often raised, also, at night, an exception to the habits
+of most of the other feathered inmates of the wilderness; a circumstance
+which had induced Hurry to select it as his own signal. There had been
+sufficient time, certainly, for the two adventurers to make their way by
+land from the point where they had been left to that whence the call had
+come, but it was not probable that they would adopt such a course. Had
+the camp been deserted they would have summoned Deerslayer to the shore,
+and, did it prove to be peopled, there could be no sufficient motive
+for circling it, in order to re-embark at so great a distance. Should he
+obey the signal, and be drawn away from the landing, the lives of those
+who depended on him might be the forfeit--and, should he neglect the
+call, on the supposition that it had been really made, the consequences
+might be equally disastrous, though from a different cause. In this
+indecision he waited, trusting that the call, whether feigned or
+natural, would be speedily renewed. Nor was he mistaken. A very few
+minutes elapsed before the same shrill warning cry was repeated, and
+from the same part of the lake. This time, being on the alert, his
+senses were not deceived. Although he had often heard admirable
+imitations of this bird, and was no mean adept himself in raising its
+notes, he felt satisfied that Hurry, to whose efforts in that way he
+had attended, could never so completely and closely follow nature. He
+determined, therefore, to disregard that cry, and to wait for one less
+perfect and nearer at hand.
+
+Deerslayer had hardly come to this determination, when the profound
+stillness of night and solitude was broken by a cry so startling, as to
+drive all recollection of the more melancholy call of the loon from the
+listener's mind. It was a shriek of agony, that came either from one
+of the female sex, or from a boy so young as not yet to have attained a
+manly voice. This appeal could not be mistaken. Heart rending terror--if
+not writhing agony--was in the sounds, and the anguish that had awakened
+them was as sudden as it was fearful. The young man released his hold
+of the rush, and dashed his paddle into the water; to do, he knew
+not what--to steer, he knew not whither. A very few moments, however,
+removed his indecision. The breaking of branches, the cracking of
+dried sticks, and the fall of feet were distinctly audible; the
+sounds appearing to approach the water though in a direction that led
+diagonally towards the shore, and a little farther north than the spot
+that Deerslayer had been ordered to keep near. Following this clue,
+the young man urged the canoe ahead, paying but little attention to the
+manner in which he might betray its presence. He had reached a part of
+the shore, where its immediate bank was tolerably high and quite steep.
+Men were evidently threshing through the bushes and trees on the summit
+of this bank, following the line of the shore, as if those who fled
+sought a favorable place for descending. Just at this instant five or
+six rifles flashed, and the opposite hills gave back, as usual, the
+sharp reports in prolonged rolling echoes. One or two shrieks, like
+those which escape the bravest when suddenly overcome by unexpected
+anguish and alarm, followed; and then the threshing among the bushes was
+renewed, in a way to show that man was grappling with man.
+
+"Slippery devil!" shouted Hurry with the fury of disappointment--"his
+skin's greased! I sha'n't grapple! Take that for your cunning!"
+
+The words were followed by the fall of some heavy object among the
+smaller trees that fringed the bank, appearing to Deerslayer as if his
+gigantic associate had hurled an enemy from him in this unceremonious
+manner. Again the flight and pursuit were renewed, and then the young
+man saw a human form break down the hill, and rush several yards into
+the water. At this critical moment the canoe was just near enough to the
+spot to allow this movement, which was accompanied by no little noise,
+to be seen, and feeling that there he must take in his companion, if
+anywhere, Deerslayer urged the canoe forward to the rescue. His paddle
+had not been raised twice, when the voice of Hurry was heard filling
+the air with imprecations, and he rolled on the narrow beach, literally
+loaded down with enemies. While prostrate, and almost smothered with
+his foes, the athletic frontierman gave his loon-call, in a manner
+that would have excited laughter under circumstances less terrific. The
+figure in the water seemed suddenly to repent his own flight, and
+rushed to the shore to aid his companion, but was met and immediately
+overpowered by half a dozen fresh pursuers, who, just then, came leaping
+down the bank.
+
+"Let up, you painted riptyles--let up!" cried Hurry, too hard pressed to
+be particular about the terms he used; "isn't it enough that I am withed
+like a saw-log that ye must choke too!"
+
+This speech satisfied Deerslayer that his friends were prisoners,
+and that to land would be to share their fate. He was already within a
+hundred feet of the shore, when a few timely strokes of the paddle not
+only arrested his advance, but forced him off to six or eight times
+that distance from his enemies. Luckily for him, all of the Indians had
+dropped their rifles in the pursuit, or this retreat might not have been
+effected with impunity; though no one had noted the canoe in the first
+confusion of the melee.
+
+"Keep off the land, lad," called out Hutter; "the girls depend only on
+you, now; you will want all your caution to escape these savages. Keep
+off, and God prosper you, as you aid my children!"
+
+There was little sympathy in general between Hutter and the young man,
+but the bodily and mental anguish with which this appeal was made served
+at the moment to conceal from the latter the former's faults. He saw
+only the father in his sufferings, and resolved at once to give a pledge
+of fidelity to its interests, and to be faithful to his word.
+
+"Put your heart at ease, Master Hutter," he called out; "the gals shall
+be looked to, as well as the castle. The inimy has got the shore, 'tis
+no use to deny, but he hasn't got the water. Providence has the charge
+of all, and no one can say what will come of it; but, if good-will can
+sarve you and your'n, depend on that much. My exper'ence is small, but
+my will is good."
+
+"Ay, ay, Deerslayer," returned Hurry, in this stentorian voice,
+which was losing some of its heartiness, notwithstanding,--"Ay, ay,
+Deerslayer. You mean well enough, but what can you do? You're no great
+matter in the best of times, and such a person is not likely to turn
+out a miracle in the worst. If there's one savage on this lake shore,
+there's forty, and that's an army you ar'n't the man to overcome. The
+best way, in my judgment, will be to make a straight course to the
+castle; get the gals into the canoe, with a few eatables; then strike
+off for the corner of the lake where we came in, and take the best trail
+for the Mohawk. These devils won't know where to look for you for some
+hours, and if they did, and went off hot in the pursuit, they must
+turn either the foot or the head of the lake to get at you. That's my
+judgment in the matter; and if old Tom here wishes to make his last will
+and testament in a manner favorable to his darters, he'll say the same."
+
+"'Twill never do, young man," rejoined Hutter. "The enemy has scouts out
+at this moment, looking for canoes, and you'll be seen and taken. Trust
+to the castle; and above all things, keep clear of the land. Hold out a
+week, and parties from the garrisons will drive the savages off."
+
+"'Twon't be four-and-twenty hours, old fellow, afore these foxes will be
+rafting off to storm your castle," interrupted Hurry, with more of the
+heat of argument than might be expected from a man who was bound and a
+captive, and about whom nothing could be called free but his opinions
+and his tongue. "Your advice has a stout sound, but it will have a fatal
+tarmination. If you or I was in the house, we might hold out a few days,
+but remember that this lad has never seen an inimy afore to-night, and is
+what you yourself called settlement-conscienced; though for my part, I
+think the consciences in the settlements pretty much the same as they
+are out here in the woods. These savages are making signs, Deerslayer,
+for me to encourage you to come ashore with the canoe; but that I'll
+never do, as it's ag'in reason and natur'. As for old Tom and myself,
+whether they'll scalp us to-night, keep us for the torture by fire,
+or carry us to Canada, is more than any one knows but the devil that
+advises them how to act. I've such a big and bushy head that it's quite
+likely they'll indivor to get two scalps off it, for the bounty is a
+tempting thing, or old Tom and I wouldn't be in this scrape. Ay--there
+they go with their signs ag'in, but if I advise you to land may they eat
+me as well as roast me. No, no, Deerslayer--do you keep off where you
+are, and after daylight, on no account come within two hundred yards--"
+
+This injunction of Hurry's was stopped by a hand being rudely slapped
+against his mouth, the certain sign that some one in the party
+sufficiently understood English to have at length detected the drift of
+his discourse. Immediately after, the whole group entered the forest,
+Hutter and Hurry apparently making no resistance to the movement. Just
+as the sounds of the cracking bushes were ceasing, however, the voice of
+the father was again heard.
+
+"As you're true to my children, God prosper you, young man!" were the
+words that reached Deerslayer's ears; after which he found himself left
+to follow the dictates of his own discretion.
+
+Several minutes elapsed, in death-like stillness, when the party on the
+shore had disappeared in the woods. Owing to the distance--rather more
+than two hundred yards--and the obscurity, Deerslayer had been able
+barely to distinguish the group, and to see it retiring; but even this
+dim connection with human forms gave an animation to the scene that was
+strongly in contrast to the absolute solitude that remained. Although
+the young man leaned forward to listen, holding his breath and
+condensing every faculty in the single sense of hearing, not another
+sound reached his ears to denote the vicinity of human beings. It seemed
+as if a silence that had never been broken reigned on the spot again;
+and, for an instant, even that piercing shriek, which had so lately
+broken the stillness of the forest, or the execrations of March, would
+have been a relief to the feeling of desertion to which it gave rise.
+
+This paralysis of mind and body, however, could not last long in one
+constituted mentally and physically like Deerslayer. Dropping his paddle
+into the water, he turned the head of the canoe, and proceeded slowly,
+as one walks who thinks intently, towards the centre of the lake. When
+he believed himself to have reached a point in a line with that where
+he had set the last canoe adrift, he changed his direction northward,
+keeping the light air as nearly on his back as possible. After paddling
+a quarter of a mile in this direction, a dark object became visible
+on the lake, a little to the right; and turning on one side for the
+purpose, he had soon secured his lost prize to his own boat. Deerslayer
+now examined the heavens, the course of the air, and the position of the
+two canoes. Finding nothing in either to induce a change of plan, he lay
+down, and prepared to catch a few hours' sleep, that the morrow might
+find him equal to its exigencies.
+
+Although the hardy and the tired sleep profoundly, even in scenes of
+danger, it was some time before Deerslayer lost his recollection. His
+mind dwelt on what had passed, and his half-conscious faculties kept
+figuring the events of the night, in a sort of waking dream. Suddenly
+he was up and alert, for he fancied he heard the preconcerted signal of
+Hurry summoning him to the shore. But all was still as the grave again.
+The canoes were slowly drifting northward, the thoughtful stars were
+glimmering in their mild glory over his head, and the forest-bound sheet
+of water lay embedded between its mountains, as calm and melancholy as
+if never troubled by the winds, or brightened by a noonday sun. Once
+more the loon raised his tremulous cry, near the foot of the lake, and
+the mystery of the alarm was explained. Deerslayer adjusted his hard
+pillow, stretched his form in the bottom of the canoe, and slept.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+
+    "Clear, placid Leman I Thy contrasted lake
+    With the wild world I dwelt in, is a thing
+    Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake
+    Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring.
+    This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing
+    To waft me from distraction; once I loved
+    Torn ocean's roar, but thy soft murmuring
+    Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice reproved,
+    That I with stern delights should e'er have been so moved."
+
+    BYRON.
+
+Day had fairly dawned before the young man, whom we have left in the
+situation described in the last chapter, again opened his eyes. This
+was no sooner done, than he started up, and looked about him with
+the eagerness of one who suddenly felt the importance of accurately
+ascertaining his precise position. His rest had been deep and
+undisturbed; and when he awoke, it was with a clearness of intellect and
+a readiness of resources that were very much needed at that particular
+moment. The sun had not risen, it is true, but the vault of heaven was
+rich with the winning softness that "brings and shuts the day," while
+the whole air was filled with the carols of birds, the hymns of the
+feathered tribe. These sounds first told Deerslayer the risks he ran.
+The air, for wind it could scarce be called, was still light, it is
+true, but it had increased a little in the course of the night, and
+as the canoes were feathers on the water, they had drifted twice the
+expected distance; and, what was still more dangerous, had approached
+so near the base of the mountain that here rose precipitously from the
+eastern shore, as to render the carols of the birds plainly audible.
+This was not the worst. The third canoe had taken the same direction,
+and was slowly drifting towards a point where it must inevitably
+touch, unless turned aside by a shift of wind, or human hands. In other
+respects, nothing presented itself to attract attention, or to awaken
+alarm. The castle stood on its shoal, nearly abreast of the canoes, for
+the drift had amounted to miles in the course of the night, and the ark
+lay fastened to its piles, as both had been left so many hours before.
+
+As a matter of course, Deerslayer's attention was first given to the
+canoe ahead. It was already quite near the point, and a very few strokes
+of the paddle sufficed to tell him that it must touch before he could
+possibly overtake it. Just at this moment, too, the wind inopportunely
+freshened, rendering the drift of the light craft much more rapid than
+certain. Feeling the impossibility of preventing a contact with
+the land, the young man wisely determined not to heat himself with
+unnecessary exertions; but first looking to the priming of his piece,
+he proceeded slowly and warily towards the point, taking care to make
+a little circuit, that he might be exposed on only one side, as he
+approached.
+
+The canoe adrift being directed by no such intelligence, pursued its
+proper way, and grounded on a small sunken rock, at the distance of
+three or four yards from the shore. Just at that moment, Deerslayer had
+got abreast of the point, and turned the bows of his own boat to
+the land; first casting loose his tow, that his movements might be
+unencumbered. The canoe hung an instant to the rock; then it rose a
+hair's breadth on an almost imperceptible swell of the water, swung
+round, floated clear, and reached the strand. All this the young man
+noted, but it neither quickened his pulses, nor hastened his hand. If
+any one had been lying in wait for the arrival of the waif, he must
+be seen, and the utmost caution in approaching the shore became
+indispensable; if no one was in ambush, hurry was unnecessary. The point
+being nearly diagonally opposite to the Indian encampment, he hoped the
+last, though the former was not only possible, but probable; for the
+savages were prompt in adopting all the expedients of their particular
+modes of warfare, and quite likely had many scouts searching the shores
+for craft to carry them off to the castle. As a glance at the lake
+from any height or projection would expose the smallest object on its
+surface, there was little hope that either of the canoes would pass
+unseen; and Indian sagacity needed no instruction to tell which way a
+boat or a log would drift, when the direction of the wind was known. As
+Deerslayer drew nearer and nearer to the land, the stroke of his paddle
+grew slower, his eye became more watchful, and his ears and nostrils
+almost dilated with the effort to detect any lurking danger. It was a
+trying moment for a novice, nor was there the encouragement which
+even the timid sometimes feel, when conscious of being observed and
+commended. He was entirely alone, thrown on his own resources, and
+was cheered by no friendly eye, emboldened by no encouraging voice.
+Notwithstanding all these circumstances, the most experienced veteran
+in forest warfare could not have behaved better. Equally free from
+recklessness and hesitation, his advance was marked by a sort of
+philosophical prudence that appeared to render him superior to all
+motives but those which were best calculated to effect his purpose. Such
+was the commencement of a career in forest exploits, that afterwards
+rendered this man, in his way, and under the limits of his habits and
+opportunities, as renowned as many a hero whose name has adorned the
+pages of works more celebrated than legends simple as ours can ever
+become.
+
+When about a hundred yards from the shore, Deerslayer rose in the canoe,
+gave three or four vigorous strokes with the paddle, sufficient of
+themselves to impel the bark to land, and then quickly laying aside the
+instrument of labor, he seized that of war. He was in the very act of
+raising the rifle, when a sharp report was followed by the buzz of a
+bullet that passed so near his body as to cause him involuntarily to
+start. The next instant Deerslayer staggered, and fell his whole
+length in the bottom of the canoe. A yell--it came from a single
+voice--followed, and an Indian leaped from the bushes upon the open area
+of the point, bounding towards the canoe. This was the moment the young
+man desired. He rose on the instant, and levelled his own rifle at his
+uncovered foe; but his finger hesitated about pulling the trigger on one
+whom he held at such a disadvantage. This little delay, probably, saved
+the life of the Indian, who bounded back into the cover as swiftly as
+he had broken out of it. In the meantime Deerslayer had been swiftly
+approaching the land, and his own canoe reached the point just as his
+enemy disappeared. As its movements had not been directed, it touched
+the shore a few yards from the other boat; and though the rifle of his
+foe had to be loaded, there was not time to secure his prize, and carry
+it beyond danger, before he would be exposed to another shot. Under the
+circumstances, therefore, he did not pause an instant, but dashed into
+the woods and sought a cover.
+
+On the immediate point there was a small open area, partly in native
+grass, and partly beach, but a dense fringe of bushes lined its
+upper side. This narrow belt of dwarf vegetation passed, one issued
+immediately into the high and gloomy vaults of the forest. The land was
+tolerably level for a few hundred feet, and then it rose precipitously
+in a mountainside. The trees were tall, large, and so free from
+underbrush, that they resembled vast columns, irregularly scattered,
+upholding a dome of leaves. Although they stood tolerably close
+together, for their ages and size, the eye could penetrate to
+considerable distances; and bodies of men, even, might have engaged
+beneath their cover, with concert and intelligence.
+
+Deerslayer knew that his adversary must be employed in reloading, unless
+he had fled. The former proved to be the case, for the young man had no
+sooner placed himself behind a tree, than he caught a glimpse of the arm
+of the Indian, his body being concealed by an oak, in the very act of
+forcing the leathered bullet home. Nothing would have been easier than
+to spring forward, and decide the affair by a close assault on his
+unprepared foe; but every feeling of Deerslayer revolted at such a step,
+although his own life had just been attempted from a cover. He was yet
+unpracticed in the ruthless expedients of savage warfare, of which he
+knew nothing except by tradition and theory, and it struck him as unfair
+advantage to assail an unarmed foe. His color had heightened, his eye
+frowned, his lips were compressed, and all his energies were collected
+and ready; but, instead of advancing to fire, he dropped his rifle to
+the usual position of a sportsman in readiness to catch his aim, and
+muttered to himself, unconscious that he was speaking--
+
+"No, no--that may be red-skin warfare, but it's not a Christian's gifts.
+Let the miscreant charge, and then we'll take it out like men; for the
+canoe he must not, and shall not have. No, no; let him have time to
+load, and God will take care of the right!"
+
+All this time the Indian had been so intent on his own movements,
+that he was even ignorant that his enemy was in the woods. His only
+apprehension was, that the canoe would be recovered and carried away
+before he might be in readiness to prevent it. He had sought the cover
+from habit, but was within a few feet of the fringe of bushes, and could
+be at the margin of the forest in readiness to fire in a moment. The
+distance between him and his enemy was about fifty yards, and the trees
+were so arranged by nature that the line of sight was not interrupted,
+except by the particular trees behind which each party stood.
+
+His rifle was no sooner loaded, than the savage glanced around him, and
+advanced incautiously as regarded the real, but stealthily as respected
+the fancied position of his enemy, until he was fairly exposed. Then
+Deerslayer stepped from behind its own cover, and hailed him.
+
+"This-a-way, red-skin; this-a-way, if you're looking for me," he called
+out. "I'm young in war, but not so young as to stand on an open beach to
+be shot down like an owl, by daylight. It rests on yourself whether it's
+peace or war atween us; for my gifts are white gifts, and I'm not one
+of them that thinks it valiant to slay human mortals, singly, in the
+woods."
+
+The savage was a good deal startled by this sudden discovery of the
+danger he ran. He had a little knowledge of English, however, and caught
+the drift of the other's meaning. He was also too well schooled to
+betray alarm, but, dropping the butt of his rifle to the earth, with
+an air of confidence, he made a gesture of lofty courtesy. All this was
+done with the ease and self-possession of one accustomed to consider no
+man his superior. In the midst of this consummate acting, however, the
+volcano that raged within caused his eyes to glare, and his nostrils to
+dilate, like those of some wild beast that is suddenly prevented from
+taking the fatal leap.
+
+"Two canoes," he said, in the deep guttural tones of his race, holding
+up the number of fingers he mentioned, by way of preventing mistakes;
+"one for you--one for me."
+
+"No, no, Mingo, that will never do. You own neither; and neither shall
+you have, as long as I can prevent it. I know it's war atween your
+people and mine, but that's no reason why human mortals should slay each
+other, like savage creatur's that meet in the woods; go your way, then,
+and leave me to go mine. The world is large enough for us both; and when
+we meet fairly in battle, why, the Lord will order the fate of each of
+us."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the Indian; "my brother missionary--great talk; all
+about Manitou."
+
+"Not so--not so, warrior. I'm not good enough for the Moravians, and am
+too good for most of the other vagabonds that preach about in the woods.
+No, no; I'm only a hunter, as yet, though afore the peace is made,
+'tis like enough there'll be occasion to strike a blow at some of your
+people. Still, I wish it to be done in fair fight, and not in a quarrel
+about the ownership of a miserable canoe."
+
+"Good! My brother very young--but he is very wise. Little warrior--great
+talker. Chief, sometimes, in council."
+
+"I don't know this, nor do I say it, Injin," returned Deerslayer,
+coloring a little at the ill-concealed sarcasm of the other's manner;
+"I look forward to a life in the woods, and I only hope it may be a
+peaceable one. All young men must go on the war-path, when there's
+occasion, but war isn't needfully massacre. I've seen enough of the
+last, this very night, to know that Providence frowns on it; and I now
+invite you to go your own way, while I go mine; and hope that we may
+part fri'nds."
+
+"Good! My brother has two scalp--gray hair under 'other. Old
+wisdom--young tongue."
+
+Here the savage advanced with confidence, his hand extended, his face
+smiling, and his whole bearing denoting amity and respect. Deerslayer
+met his offered friendship in a proper spirit, and they shook hands
+cordially, each endeavoring to assure the other of his sincerity and
+desire to be at peace.
+
+"All have his own," said the Indian; "my canoe, mine; your canoe,
+your'n. Go look; if your'n, you keep; if mine, I keep."
+
+"That's just, red-skin; thought you must be wrong in thinking the canoe
+your property. Howsever, seein' is believin', and we'll go down to the
+shore, where you may look with your own eyes; for it's likely you'll
+object to trustin' altogether to mine."
+
+The Indian uttered his favorite exclamation of "Good!" and then they
+walked side by side, towards the shore. There was no apparent distrust
+in the manner of either, the Indian moving in advance, as if he wished
+to show his companion that he did not fear turning his back to him. As
+they reached the open ground, the former pointed towards Deerslayer's
+boat, and said emphatically--"No mine--pale-face canoe. This red man's.
+No want other man's canoe--want his own."
+
+"You're wrong, red-skin, you're altogether wrong. This canoe was left
+in old Hutter's keeping, and is his'n according to law, red or white,
+till its owner comes to claim it. Here's the seats and the stitching of
+the bark to speak for themselves. No man ever know'd an Injin to turn
+off such work."
+
+"Good! My brother little old--big wisdom. Injin no make him. White man's
+work."
+
+"I'm glad you think so, for holding out to the contrary might have made
+ill blood atween us, every one having a right to take possession of his
+own. I'll just shove the canoe out of reach of dispute at once, as the
+quickest way of settling difficulties."
+
+While Deerslayer was speaking, he put a foot against the end of the
+light boat, and giving a vigorous shove, he sent it out into the lake
+a hundred feet or more, where, taking the true current, it would
+necessarily float past the point, and be in no further danger of coming
+ashore. The savage started at this ready and decided expedient, and his
+companion saw that he cast a hurried and fierce glance at his own canoe,
+or that which contained the paddles. The change of manner, however, was
+but momentary, and then the Iroquois resumed his air of friendliness,
+and a smile of satisfaction.
+
+"Good!" he repeated, with stronger emphasis than ever. "Young head, old
+mind. Know how to settle quarrel. Farewell, brother. He go to house in
+water--muskrat house--Injin go to camp; tell chiefs no find canoe."
+
+Deerslayer was not sorry to hear this proposal, for he felt anxious
+to join the females, and he took the offered hand of the Indian very
+willingly. The parting words were friendly, and while the red man
+walked calmly towards the wood, with the rifle in the hollow of his arm,
+without once looking back in uneasiness or distrust, the white man moved
+towards the remaining canoe, carrying his piece in the same pacific
+manner, it is true, but keeping his eye fastened on the movements of the
+other. This distrust, however, seemed to be altogether uncalled for, and
+as if ashamed to have entertained it, the young man averted his look,
+and stepped carelessly up to his boat. Here he began to push the canoe
+from the shore, and to make his other preparations for departing. He
+might have been thus employed a minute, when, happening to turn his face
+towards the land, his quick and certain eye told him, at a glance, the
+imminent jeopardy in which his life was placed. The black, ferocious
+eyes of the savage were glancing on him, like those of the crouching
+tiger, through a small opening in the bushes, and the muzzle of his
+rifle seemed already to be opening in a line with his own body.
+
+Then, indeed, the long practice of Deerslayer, as a hunter did him good
+service. Accustomed to fire with the deer on the bound, and often when
+the precise position of the animal's body had in a manner to be guessed
+at, he used the same expedients here. To cock and poise his rifle were
+the acts of a single moment and a single motion: then aiming almost
+without sighting, he fired into the bushes where he knew a body ought
+to be, in order to sustain the appalling countenance which alone was
+visible. There was not time to raise the piece any higher, or to take
+a more deliberate aim. So rapid were his movements that both parties
+discharged their pieces at the same instant, the concussions mingling
+in one report. The mountains, indeed, gave back but a single echo.
+Deerslayer dropped his piece, and stood with head erect, steady as one
+of the pines in the calm of a June morning, watching the result; while
+the savage gave the yell that has become historical for its appalling
+influence, leaped through the bushes, and came bounding across the open
+ground, flourishing a tomahawk. Still Deerslayer moved not, but stood
+with his unloaded rifle fallen against his shoulders, while, with a
+hunter's habits, his hands were mechanically feeling for the powder-horn
+and charger. When about forty feet from his enemy, the savage hurled his
+keen weapon; but it was with an eye so vacant, and a hand so unsteady
+and feeble, that the young man caught it by the handle as it was flying
+past him. At that instant the Indian staggered and fell his whole length
+on the ground.
+
+"I know'd it--I know'd it!" exclaimed Deerslayer, who was already
+preparing to force a fresh bullet into his rifle; "I know'd it must come
+to this, as soon as I had got the range from the creatur's eyes. A man
+sights suddenly, and fires quick when his own life's in danger; yes, I
+know'd it would come to this. I was about the hundredth part of a second
+too quick for him, or it might have been bad for me! The riptyle's
+bullet has just grazed my side--but say what you will for or ag'in 'em,
+a red-skin is by no means as sartain with powder and ball as a white
+man. Their gifts don't seem to lie that a way. Even Chingachgook, great
+as he is in other matters, isn't downright deadly with the rifle."
+
+By this time the piece was reloaded, and Deerslayer, after tossing the
+tomahawk into the canoe, advanced to his victim, and stood over him,
+leaning on his rifle, in melancholy attention. It was the first
+instance in which he had seen a man fall in battle--it was the first
+fellow-creature against whom he had ever seriously raised his own hand.
+The sensations were novel; and regret, with the freshness of our better
+feelings, mingled with his triumph. The Indian was not dead, though shot
+directly through the body. He lay on his back motionless, but his eyes,
+now full of consciousness, watched each action of his victor--as the
+fallen bird regards the fowler--jealous of every movement. The man
+probably expected the fatal blow which was to precede the loss of his
+scalp; or perhaps he anticipated that this latter act of cruelty
+would precede his death. Deerslayer read his thoughts; and he found a
+melancholy satisfaction in relieving the apprehensions of the helpless
+savage.
+
+"No, no, red-skin," he said; "you've nothing more to fear from me. I am
+of a Christian stock, and scalping is not of my gifts. I'll just make
+sartain of your rifle, and then come back and do you what sarvice I can.
+Though here I can't stay much longer, as the crack of three rifles will
+be apt to bring some of your devils down upon me."
+
+The close of this was said in a sort of a soliloquy, as the young man
+went in quest of the fallen rifle. The piece was found where its owner
+had dropped it, and was immediately put into the canoe. Laying his own
+rifle at its side, Deerslayer then returned and stood over the Indian
+again.
+
+"All inmity atween you and me's at an ind red-skin," he said; "and you
+may set your heart at rest on the score of the scalp, or any further
+injury. My gifts are white, as I've told you; and I hope my conduct will
+be white also."
+
+Could looks have conveyed all they meant, it is probable Deerslayer's
+innocent vanity on the subject of color would have been rebuked a
+little; but he comprehended the gratitude that was expressed in the eyes
+of the dying savage, without in the least detecting the bitter sarcasm
+that struggled with the better feeling.
+
+"Water!" ejaculated the thirsty and unfortunate creature; "give poor
+Injin water."
+
+"Ay, water you shall have, if you drink the lake dry. I'll just carry
+you down to it that you may take your fill. This is the way, they
+tell me, with all wounded people--water is their greatest comfort and
+delight."
+
+So saying, Deerslayer raised the Indian in his arms, and carried him to
+the lake. Here he first helped him to take an attitude in which he could
+appease his burning thirst; after which he seated himself on a
+stone, and took the head of his wounded adversary in his own lap, and
+endeavored to soothe his anguish in the best manner he could.
+
+"It would be sinful in me to tell you your time hadn't come, warrior,"
+he commenced, "and therefore I'll not say it. You've passed the middle
+age already, and, considerin' the sort of lives ye lead, your days have
+been pretty well filled. The principal thing now, is to look forward
+to what comes next. Neither red-skin nor pale-face, on the whole,
+calculates much on sleepin' forever; but both expect to live in another
+world. Each has his gifts, and will be judged by 'em, and I suppose
+you've thought these matters over enough not to stand in need of sarmons
+when the trial comes. You'll find your happy hunting-grounds, if you've
+been a just Injin; if an onjust, you'll meet your desarts in another
+way. I've my own idees about these things; but you're too old and
+exper'enced to need any explanations from one as young as I."
+
+"Good!" ejaculated the Indian, whose voice retained its depth even as
+life ebbed away; "young head--old wisdom!"
+
+"It's sometimes a consolation, when the ind comes, to know that them
+we've harmed, or tried to harm, forgive us. I suppose natur' seeks
+this relief, by way of getting a pardon on 'arth; as we never can know
+whether He pardons, who is all in all, till judgment itself comes. It's
+soothing to know that any pardon at such times; and that, I conclude, is
+the secret. Now, as for myself, I overlook altogether your designs ag'in
+my life; first, because no harm came of 'em; next, because it's your
+gifts, and natur', and trainin', and I ought not to have trusted you at
+all; and, finally and chiefly, because I can bear no ill-will to a dying
+man, whether heathen or Christian. So put your heart at ease, so far as
+I'm consarned; you know best what other matters ought to trouble you, or
+what ought to give you satisfaction in so trying a moment."
+
+It is probable that the Indian had some of the fearful glimpses of the
+unknown state of being which God, in mercy, seems at times to afford
+to all the human race; but they were necessarily in conformity with his
+habits and prejudices. Like most of his people, and like too many of our
+own, he thought more of dying in a way to gain applause among those
+he left than to secure a better state of existence hereafter. While
+Deerslayer was speaking, his mind was a little bewildered, though he
+felt that the intention was good; and when he had done, a regret passed
+over his spirit that none of his own tribe were present to witness his
+stoicism, under extreme bodily suffering, and the firmness with which he
+met his end. With the high innate courtesy that so often distinguishes
+the Indian warrior before he becomes corrupted by too much intercourse
+with the worst class of the white men, he endeavored to express his
+thankfulness for the other's good intentions, and to let him understand
+that they were appreciated.
+
+"Good!" he repeated, for this was an English word much used by the
+savages, "good! young head; young heart, too. Old heart tough; no shed
+tear. Hear Indian when he die, and no want to lie--what he call him?"
+
+"Deerslayer is the name I bear now, though the Delawares have said that
+when I get back from this war-path, I shall have a more manly title,
+provided I can 'arn one."
+
+"That good name for boy--poor name for warrior. He get better quick.
+No fear there,"--the savage had strength sufficient, under the strong
+excitement he felt, to raise a hand and tap the young man on his
+breast,--"eye sartain--finger lightning--aim, death--great warrior soon.
+No Deerslayer--Hawkeye--Hawkeye--Hawkeye. Shake hand."
+
+Deerslayer--or Hawkeye, as the youth was then first named, for in after
+years he bore the appellation throughout all that region--Deerslayer
+took the hand of the savage, whose last breath was drawn in that
+attitude, gazing in admiration at the countenance of a stranger, who
+had shown so much readiness, skill, and firmness, in a scene that was
+equally trying and novel. When the reader remembers it is the highest
+gratification an Indian can receive to see his enemy betray weakness,
+he will be better able to appreciate the conduct which had extorted so
+great a concession at such a moment.
+
+"His spirit has fled!" said Deerslayer, in a suppressed, melancholy
+voice. "Ah's me! Well, to this we must all come, sooner or later; and
+he is happiest, let his skin be what color it may, who is best fitted to
+meet it. Here lies the body of no doubt a brave warrior, and the soul
+is already flying towards its heaven or hell, whether that be a happy
+hunting ground, a place scant of game, regions of glory, according to
+Moravian doctrine, or flames of fire! So it happens, too, as regards
+other matters! Here have old Hutter and Hurry Harry got themselves into
+difficulty, if they haven't got themselves into torment and death,
+and all for a bounty that luck offers to me in what many would think a
+lawful and suitable manner. But not a farthing of such money shall cross
+my hand. White I was born, and white will I die; clinging to color to
+the last, even though the King's majesty, his governors, and all his
+councils, both at home and in the colonies, forget from what they come,
+and where they hope to go, and all for a little advantage in warfare.
+No, no, warrior, hand of mine shall never molest your scalp, and so your
+soul may rest in peace on the p'int of making a decent appearance when
+the body comes to join it, in your own land of spirits."
+
+Deerslayer arose as soon as he had spoken. Then he placed the body of
+the dead man in a sitting posture, with its back against the little
+rock, taking the necessary care to prevent it from falling or in any
+way settling into an attitude that might be thought unseemly by
+the sensitive, though wild notions of a savage. When this duty was
+performed, the young man stood gazing at the grim countenance of his
+fallen foe, in a sort of melancholy abstraction. As was his practice,
+however, a habit gained by living so much alone in the forest, he then
+began again to give utterance to his thoughts and feelings aloud.
+
+"I didn't wish your life, red-skin," he said "but you left me no choice
+atween killing or being killed. Each party acted according to his
+gifts, I suppose, and blame can light on neither. You were treacherous,
+according to your natur' in war, and I was a little oversightful, as I'm
+apt to be in trusting others. Well, this is my first battle with a human
+mortal, though it's not likely to be the last. I have fou't most of
+the creatur's of the forest, such as bears, wolves, painters, and
+catamounts, but this is the beginning with the red-skins. If I was Injin
+born, now, I might tell of this, or carry in the scalp, and boast of
+the expl'ite afore the whole tribe; or, if my inimy had only been even
+a bear, 'twould have been nat'ral and proper to let everybody know what
+had happened; but I don't well see how I'm to let even Chingachgook into
+this secret, so long as it can be done only by boasting with a white
+tongue. And why should I wish to boast of it a'ter all? It's slaying a
+human, although he was a savage; and how do I know that he was a just
+Injin; and that he has not been taken away suddenly to anything but
+happy hunting-grounds. When it's onsartain whether good or evil has
+been done, the wisest way is not to be boastful--still, I should like
+Chingachgook to know that I haven't discredited the Delawares, or my
+training!"
+
+Part of this was uttered aloud, while part was merely muttered between
+the speaker's teeth; his more confident opinions enjoying the first
+advantage, while his doubts were expressed in the latter mode. Soliloquy
+and reflection received a startling interruption, however, by the sudden
+appearance of a second Indian on the lake shore, a few hundred yards
+from the point. This man, evidently another scout, who had probably been
+drawn to the place by the reports of the rifles, broke out of the forest
+with so little caution that Deerslayer caught a view of his person
+before he was himself discovered. When the latter event did occur, as
+was the case a moment later, the savage gave a loud yell, which was
+answered by a dozen voices from different parts of the mountainside.
+There was no longer any time for delay; in another minute the boat was
+quitting the shore under long and steady sweeps of the paddle.
+
+As soon as Deerslayer believed himself to be at a safe distance he
+ceased his efforts, permitting the little bark to drift, while he
+leisurely took a survey of the state of things. The canoe first sent
+adrift was floating before the air, quite a quarter of a mile above him,
+and a little nearer to the shore than he wished, now that he knew more
+of the savages were so near at hand. The canoe shoved from the point was
+within a few yards of him, he having directed his own course towards
+it on quitting the land. The dead Indian lay in grim quiet where he had
+left him, the warrior who had shown himself from the forest had already
+vanished, and the woods themselves were as silent and seemingly deserted
+as the day they came fresh from the hands of their great Creator. This
+profound stillness, however, lasted but a moment. When time had been
+given to the scouts of the enemy to reconnoitre, they burst out of the
+thicket upon the naked point, filling the air with yells of fury at
+discovering the death of their companion. These cries were immediately
+succeeded by shouts of delight when they reached the body and clustered
+eagerly around it. Deerslayer was a sufficient adept in the usages of
+the natives to understand the reason of the change. The yell was the
+customary lamentation at the loss of a warrior, the shout a sign of
+rejoicing that the conqueror had not been able to secure the scalp;
+the trophy, without which a victory is never considered complete. The
+distance at which the canoes lay probably prevented any attempts to
+injure the conqueror, the American Indian, like the panther of his own
+woods, seldom making any effort against his foe unless tolerably certain
+it is under circumstances that may be expected to prove effective.
+
+As the young man had no longer any motive to remain near the point, he
+prepared to collect his canoes, in order to tow them off to the castle.
+That nearest was soon in tow, when he proceeded in quest of the other,
+which was all this time floating up the lake. The eye of Deerslayer was
+no sooner fastened on this last boat, than it struck him that it was
+nearer to the shore than it would have been had it merely followed the
+course of the gentle current of air. He began to suspect the influence
+of some unseen current in the water, and he quickened his exertions, in
+order to regain possession of it before it could drift into a dangerous
+proximity to the woods. On getting nearer, he thought that the canoe had
+a perceptible motion through the water, and, as it lay broadside to the
+air, that this motion was taking it towards the land. A few vigorous
+strokes of the paddle carried him still nearer, when the mystery was
+explained. Something was evidently in motion on the off side of the
+canoe, or that which was farthest from himself, and closer scrutiny
+showed that it was a naked human arm. An Indian was lying in the bottom
+of the canoe, and was propelling it slowly but certainly to the shore,
+using his hand as a paddle. Deerslayer understood the whole artifice at
+a glance. A savage had swum off to the boat while he was occupied with
+his enemy on the point, got possession, and was using these means to
+urge it to the shore.
+
+Satisfied that the man in the canoe could have no arms, Deerslayer
+did not hesitate to dash close alongside of the retiring boat, without
+deeming it necessary to raise his own rifle. As soon as the wash of the
+water, which he made in approaching, became audible to the prostrate
+savage, the latter sprang to his feet, and uttered an exclamation that
+proved how completely he was taken by surprise.
+
+"If you've enj'yed yourself enough in that canoe, red-skin," Deerslayer
+coolly observed, stopping his own career in sufficient time to prevent
+an absolute collision between the two boats,--"if you've enj'yed
+yourself enough in that canoe, you'll do a prudent act by taking to the
+lake ag'in. I'm reasonable in these matters, and don't crave your blood,
+though there's them about that would look upon you more as a due-bill
+for the bounty than a human mortal. Take to the lake this minute, afore
+we get to hot words."
+
+The savage was one of those who did not understand a word of English,
+and he was indebted to the gestures of Deerslayer, and to the expression
+of an eye that did not often deceive, for an imperfect comprehension of
+his meaning. Perhaps, too, the sight of the rifle that lay so near the
+hand of the white man quickened his decision. At all events, he crouched
+like a tiger about to take his leap, uttered a yell, and the next
+instant his naked body disappeared in the water. When he rose to take
+breath, it was at the distance of several yards from the canoe, and the
+hasty glance he threw behind him denoted how much he feared the arrival
+of a fatal messenger from the rifle of his foe. But the young man made
+no indication of any hostile intention. Deliberately securing the canoe
+to the others, he began to paddle from the shore; and by the time the
+Indian reached the land, and had shaken himself, like a spaniel, on
+quitting the water, his dreaded enemy was already beyond rifle-shot on
+his way to the castle. As was so much his practice, Deerslayer did not
+fail to soliloquize on what had just occurred, while steadily pursuing
+his course towards the point of destination.
+
+"Well, well,"--he commenced,--"'twould have been wrong to kill a human
+mortal without an object. Scalps are of no account with me, and life
+is sweet, and ought not to be taken marcilessly by them that have white
+gifts. The savage was a Mingo, it's true; and I make no doubt he is, and
+will be as long as he lives, a ra'al riptyle and vagabond; but that's no
+reason I should forget my gifts and color. No, no,--let him go; if ever
+we meet ag'in, rifle in hand, why then 'twill be seen which has the
+stoutest heart and the quickest eye. Hawkeye! That's not a bad name
+for a warrior, sounding much more manful and valiant than Deerslayer!
+'Twouldn't be a bad title to begin with, and it has been fairly 'arned.
+If 't was Chingachgook, now, he might go home and boast of his deeds,
+and the chiefs would name him Hawkeye in a minute; but it don't become
+white blood to brag, and 't isn't easy to see how the matter can
+be known unless I do. Well, well,--everything is in the hands of
+Providence; this affair as well as another; I'll trust to that for
+getting my desarts in all things."
+
+Having thus betrayed what might be termed his weak spot, the young man
+continued to paddle in silence, making his way diligently, and as fast
+as his tows would allow him, towards the castle. By this time the sun
+had not only risen, but it had appeared over the eastern mountains, and
+was shedding a flood of glorious light on this as yet unchristened
+sheet of water. The whole scene was radiant with beauty; and no one
+unaccustomed to the ordinary history of the woods would fancy it had so
+lately witnessed incidents so ruthless and barbarous. As he approached
+the building of old Hutter, Deerslayer thought, or rather felt that
+its appearance was in singular harmony with all the rest of the scene.
+Although nothing had been consulted but strength and security, the rude,
+massive logs, covered with their rough bark, the projecting roof, and
+the form, would contribute to render the building picturesque in almost
+any situation, while its actual position added novelty and piquancy to
+its other points of interest.
+
+When Deerslayer drew nearer to the castle, however, objects of interest
+presented themselves that at once eclipsed any beauties that might have
+distinguished the scenery of the lake, and the site of the singular
+edifice. Judith and Hetty stood on the platform before the door, Hurry's
+dooryard awaiting his approach with manifest anxiety; the former, from
+time to time, taking a survey of his person and of the canoes through
+the old ship's spyglass that has been already mentioned. Never probably
+did this girl seem more brilliantly beautiful than at that moment; the
+flush of anxiety and alarm increasing her color to its richest tints,
+while the softness of her eyes, a charm that even poor Hetty shared with
+her, was deepened by intense concern. Such, at least, without pausing
+or pretending to analyze motives, or to draw any other very nice
+distinction between cause and effect, were the opinions of the young man
+as his canoes reached the side of the ark, where he carefully fastened
+all three before he put his foot on the platform.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+
+    "His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;
+    His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;
+    His tears pure messengers sent from his heart;
+    His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth."
+
+    Two Gentlemen of Verona, II.vii,75-78
+
+Neither of the girls spoke as Deerslayer stood before them alone, his
+countenance betraying all the apprehension he felt on account of two
+absent members of their party.
+
+"Father!" Judith at length exclaimed, succeeding in uttering the word,
+as it might be by a desperate effort.
+
+"He's met with misfortune, and there's no use in concealing it,"
+answered Deerslayer, in his direct and simple minded manner. "He
+and Hurry are in Mingo hands, and Heaven only knows what's to be the
+tarmination. I've got the canoes safe, and that's a consolation, since
+the vagabonds will have to swim for it, or raft off, to come near this
+place. At sunset we'll be reinforced by Chingachgook, if I can manage to
+get him into a canoe; and then, I think, we two can answer for the ark
+and the castle, till some of the officers in the garrisons hear of this
+war-path, which sooner or later must be the case, when we may look for
+succor from that quarter, if from no other."
+
+"The officers!" exclaimed Judith, impatiently, her color deepening, and
+her eye expressing a lively but passing emotion. "Who thinks or speaks
+of the heartless gallants now? We are sufficient of ourselves to defend
+the castle. But what of my father, and of poor Hurry Harry?"
+
+"'T is natural you should feel this consarn for your own parent, Judith,
+and I suppose it's equally so that you should feel it for Hurry Harry,
+too."
+
+Deerslayer then commenced a succinct but clear narrative of all that
+occurred during the night, in no manner concealing what had befallen
+his two companions, or his own opinion of what might prove to be the
+consequences. The girls listened with profound attention, but neither
+betrayed that feminine apprehension and concern which would have
+followed such a communication when made to those who were less
+accustomed to the hazards and accidents of a frontier life. To the
+surprise of Deerslayer, Judith seemed the most distressed, Hetty
+listening eagerly, but appearing to brood over the facts in melancholy
+silence, rather than betraying any outward signs of feeling. The
+former's agitation, the young man did not fail to attribute to the
+interest she felt in Hurry, quite as much as to her filial love, while
+Hetty's apparent indifference was ascribed to that mental darkness
+which, in a measure, obscured her intellect, and which possibly
+prevented her from foreseeing all the consequences. Little was said,
+however, by either, Judith and her sister busying themselves in making
+the preparations for the morning meal, as they who habitually attend
+to such matters toil on mechanically even in the midst of suffering and
+sorrow. The plain but nutritious breakfast was taken by all three in
+sombre silence. The girls ate little, but Deerslayer gave proof of
+possessing one material requisite of a good soldier, that of preserving
+his appetite in the midst of the most alarming and embarrassing
+circumstances. The meal was nearly ended before a syllable was uttered;
+then, however, Judith spoke in the convulsive and hurried manner in
+which feeling breaks through restraint, after the latter has become more
+painful than even the betrayal of emotion.
+
+"Father would have relished this fish," she exclaimed; "he says the
+salmon of the lakes is almost as good as the salmon of the sea."
+
+"Your father has been acquainted with the sea, they tell me, Judith,"
+returned the young man, who could not forbear throwing a glance of
+inquiry at the girl; for in common with all who knew Hutter, he had some
+curiosity on the subject of his early history. "Hurry Harry tells me he
+was once a sailor."
+
+Judith first looked perplexed; then, influenced by feelings that were
+novel to her, in more ways than one, she became suddenly communicative,
+and seemingly much interested in the discourse.
+
+"If Hurry knows anything of father's history, I would he had told it to
+me!" she cried. "Sometimes I think, too, he was once a sailor, and then
+again I think he was not. If that chest were open, or if it could speak,
+it might let us into his whole history. But its fastenings are too
+strong to be broken like pack thread."
+
+Deerslayer turned to the chest in question, and for the first time
+examined it closely. Although discolored, and bearing proofs of having
+received much ill-treatment, he saw that it was of materials and
+workmanship altogether superior to anything of the same sort he had
+ever before beheld. The wood was dark, rich, and had once been highly
+polished, though the treatment it had received left little gloss on
+its surface, and various scratches and indentations proved the rough
+collisions that it had encountered with substances still harder than
+itself. The corners were firmly bound with steel, elaborately and richly
+wrought, while the locks, of which it had no less than three, and the
+hinges, were of a fashion and workmanship that would have attracted
+attention even in a warehouse of curious furniture. This chest was quite
+large; and when Deerslayer arose, and endeavored to raise an end by its
+massive handle, he found that the weight fully corresponded with the
+external appearance.
+
+"Did you never see that chest opened, Judith?" the young man demanded
+with frontier freedom, for delicacy on such subjects was little felt
+among the people on the verge of civilization, in that age, even if it
+be to-day.
+
+"Never. Father has never opened it in my presence, if he ever opens it
+at all. No one here has ever seen its lid raised, unless it be father;
+nor do I even know that he has ever seen it."
+
+"Now you're wrong, Judith," Hetty quietly answered. "Father has raised
+the lid, and I've seen him do it."
+
+A feeling of manliness kept the mouth of Deerslayer shut; for, while he
+would not have hesitated about going far beyond what would be thought
+the bounds of propriety, in questioning the older sister, he had just
+scruples about taking what might be thought an advantage of the feeble
+intellect of the younger. Judith, being under no such restraint,
+however, turned quickly to the last speaker and continued the discourse.
+
+"When and where did you ever see that chest opened, Hetty?"
+
+"Here, and again and again. Father often opens it when you are away,
+though he don't in the least mind my being by, and seeing all he does,
+as well as hearing all he says."
+
+"And what is it that he does, and what does he say?"
+
+"That I cannot tell you, Judith," returned the other in a low but
+resolute voice. "Father's secrets are not my secrets."
+
+"Secrets! This is stranger still, Deerslayer, that father should tell
+them to Hetty, and not tell them to me!"
+
+"There's a good reason for that, Judith, though you're not to know it.
+Father's not here to answer for himself, and I'll say no more about it."
+
+Judith and Deerslayer looked surprised, and for a minute the first
+seemed pained. But, suddenly recollecting herself, she turned away from
+her sister, as if in pity for her weakness and addressed the young man.
+
+"You've told but half your story," she said, "breaking off at the place
+where you went to sleep in the canoe--or rather where you rose to listen
+to the cry of the loon. We heard the call of the loons, too, and thought
+their cries might bring a storm, though we are little used to tempests
+on this lake at this season of the year."
+
+"The winds blow and the tempests howl as God pleases; sometimes at one
+season, and sometimes at another," answered Deerslayer; "and the loons
+speak accordin' to their natur'. Better would it be if men were as
+honest and frank. After I rose to listen to the birds, finding it could
+not be Hurry's signal, I lay down and slept. When the day dawned I was
+up and stirring, as usual, and then I went in chase of the two canoes,
+lest the Mingos should lay hands on 'em."
+
+"You have not told us all, Deerslayer," said Judith earnestly. "We heard
+rifles under the eastern mountain; the echoes were full and long, and
+came so soon after the reports, that the pieces must have been fired on
+or quite near to the shore. Our ears are used to these signs, and are
+not to be deceived."
+
+"They've done their duty, gal, this time; yes, they've done their duty.
+Rifles have been sighted this morning, ay, and triggers pulled, too,
+though not as often as they might have been. One warrior has gone to his
+happy hunting-grounds, and that's the whole of it. A man of white blood
+and white gifts is not to be expected to boast of his expl'ites and to
+flourish scalps."
+
+Judith listened almost breathlessly; and when Deerslayer, in his quiet,
+modest manner, seemed disposed to quit the subject, she rose, and
+crossing the room, took a seat by his side. The manner of the girl had
+nothing forward about it, though it betrayed the quick instinct of a
+female's affection, and the sympathizing kindness of a woman's heart.
+She even took the hard hand of the hunter, and pressed it in both her
+own, unconsciously to herself, perhaps, while she looked earnestly and
+even reproachfully into his sun burnt face.
+
+"You have been fighting the savages, Deerslayer, singly and by
+yourself!" she said. "In your wish to take care of us---of Hetty--of me,
+perhaps, you've fought the enemy bravely, with no eye to encourage your
+deeds, or to witness your fall, had it pleased Providence to suffer so
+great a calamity!"
+
+"I've fou't, Judith; yes, I have fou't the inimy, and that too, for the
+first time in my life. These things must be, and they bring with 'em a
+mixed feelin' of sorrow and triumph. Human natur' is a fightin' natur',
+I suppose, as all nations kill in battle, and we must be true to our
+rights and gifts. What has yet been done is no great matter, but should
+Chingachgook come to the rock this evening, as is agreed atween us, and
+I get him off it onbeknown to the savages or, if known to them, ag'in
+their wishes and designs, then may we all look to something like
+warfare, afore the Mingos shall get possession of either the castle, or
+the ark, or yourselves."
+
+"Who is this Chingachgook; from what place does he come, and why does he
+come here?"
+
+"The questions are nat'ral and right, I suppose, though the youth has a
+great name, already, in his own part of the country. Chingachgook is a
+Mohican by blood, consorting with the Delawares by usage, as is the case
+with most of his tribe, which has long been broken up by the increase of
+our color. He is of the family of the great chiefs; Uncas, his father,
+having been the considerablest warrior and counsellor of his people.
+Even old Tamenund honors Chingachgook, though he is thought to be
+yet too young to lead in war; and then the nation is so disparsed and
+diminished, that chieftainship among 'em has got to be little more than
+a name.
+
+"Well, this war having commenced in 'arnest, the Delaware and I
+rendezvous'd an app'intment, to meet this evening at sunset on the
+rendezvous-rock at the foot of this very lake, intending to come out on
+our first hostile expedition ag'in the Mingos. Why we come exactly this
+a way is our own secret; but thoughtful young men on the war-path, as
+you may suppose, do nothing without a calculation and a design."
+
+"A Delaware can have no unfriendly intentions towards us," said Judith,
+after a moment's hesitation, "and we know you to be friendly."
+
+"Treachery is the last crime I hope to be accused of," returned
+Deerslayer, hurt at the gleam of distrust that had shot through Judith's
+mind; "and least of all, treachery to my own color."
+
+"No one suspects you, Deerslayer," the girl impetuously cried.
+"No--no--your honest countenance would be sufficient surety for the
+truth of a thousand hearts! If all men had as honest tongues, and no
+more promised what they did not mean to perform, there would be less
+wrong done in the world, and fine feathers and scarlet cloaks would not
+be excuses for baseness and deception."
+
+The girl spoke with strong, nay, even with convulsed feeling, and her
+fine eyes, usually so soft and alluring, flashed fire as she concluded.
+Deerslayer could not but observe this extraordinary emotion; but
+with the tact of a courtier, he avoided not only any allusion to the
+circumstance, but succeeded in concealing the effect of his discovery
+on himself. Judith gradually grew calm again, and as she was obviously
+anxious to appear to advantage in the eyes of the young man, she was
+soon able to renew the conversation as composedly as if nothing had
+occurred to disturb her.
+
+"I have no right to look into your secrets, or the secrets of your
+friend, Deerslayer," she continued, "and am ready to take all you say on
+trust. If we can really get another male ally to join us at this trying
+moment, it will aid us much; and I am not without hope that when the
+savages find that we are able to keep the lake, they will offer to give
+up their prisoners in exchange for skins, or at least for the keg of
+powder that we have in the house."
+
+The young man had the words "scalps" and "bounty" on his lips, but a
+reluctance to alarm the feelings of the daughters prevented him from
+making the allusion he had intended to the probable fate of their
+father. Still, so little was he practised in the arts of deception,
+that his expressive countenance was, of itself, understood by the
+quick-witted Judith, whose intelligence had been sharpened by the risks
+and habits of her life.
+
+"I understand what you mean," she continued, hurriedly, "and what you
+would say, but for the fear of hurting me--us, I mean; for Hetty
+loves her father quite as well as I do. But this is not as we think of
+Indians. They never scalp an unhurt prisoner, but would rather take him
+away alive, unless, indeed, the fierce wish for torturing should get the
+mastery of them. I fear nothing for my father's scalp, and little for
+his life. Could they steal on us in the night, we should all probably
+suffer in this way; but men taken in open strife are seldom injured;
+not, at least, until the time of torture comes."
+
+"That's tradition, I'll allow, and it's accordin' to practice--but,
+Judith, do you know the arr'nd on which your father and Hurry went ag'in
+the savages?"
+
+"I do; and a cruel errand it was! But what will you have? Men will be
+men, and some even that flaunt in their gold and silver, and carry the
+King's commission in their pockets, are not guiltless of equal cruelty."
+Judith's eye again flashed, but by a desperate struggle she resumed her
+composure. "I get warm when I think of all the wrong that men do,"
+she added, affecting to smile, an effort in which she only succeeded
+indifferently well. "All this is silly. What is done is done, and it
+cannot be mended by complaints. But the Indians think so little of
+the shedding of blood, and value men so much for the boldness of their
+undertakings, that, did they know the business on which their prisoners
+came, they would be more likely to honor than to injure them for it."
+
+"For a time, Judith; yes, I allow that, for a time. But when that
+feelin' dies away, then will come the love of revenge. We must
+indivor,--Chingachgook and I,--we must indivor to see what we can do to
+get Hurry and your father free; for the Mingos will no doubt hover about
+this lake some days, in order to make the most of their success."
+
+"You think this Delaware can be depended on, Deerslayer?" demanded the
+girl, thoughtfully.
+
+"As much as I can myself. You say you do not suspect me, Judith?"
+
+"You!" taking his hand again, and pressing it between her own, with a
+warmth that might have awakened the vanity of one less simple-minded,
+and more disposed to dwell on his own good qualities, "I would as soon
+suspect a brother! I have known you but a day, Deerslayer, but it has
+awakened the confidence of a year. Your name, however, is not unknown
+to me; for the gallants of the garrisons frequently speak of the lessons
+you have given them in hunting, and all proclaim your honesty."
+
+"Do they ever talk of the shooting, gal?" inquired the other eagerly,
+after, however, laughing in a silent but heartfelt manner. "Do they ever
+talk of the shooting? I want to hear nothing about my own, for if that
+isn't sartified to by this time, in all these parts, there's little
+use in being skilful and sure; but what do the officers say of their
+own--yes, what do they say of their own? Arms, as they call it, is their
+trade, and yet there's some among 'em that know very little how to use
+'em!"
+
+"Such I hope will not be the case with your friend Chingachgook, as you
+call him--what is the English of his Indian name?"
+
+"Big Sarpent--so called for his wisdom and cunning, Uncas is his ra'al
+name--all his family being called Uncas until they get a title that has
+been 'arned by deeds."
+
+"If he has all this wisdom, we may expect a useful friend in him, unless
+his own business in this part of the country should prevent him from
+serving us."
+
+"I see no great harm in telling you his arr'nd, a'ter all, and, as
+you may find means to help us, I will let you and Hetty into the whole
+matter, trusting that you'll keep the secret as if it was your own. You
+must know that Chingachgook is a comely Injin, and is much looked upon
+and admired by the young women of his tribe, both on account of his
+family, and on account of himself. Now, there is a chief that has a
+daughter called Wah-ta-Wah, which is intarpreted into Hist-oh-Hist, in
+the English tongue, the rarest gal among the Delawares, and the one
+most sought a'ter and craved for a wife by all the young warriors of the
+nation. Well, Chingachgook, among others, took a fancy to Wah-ta-Wah,
+and Wah-ta-Wah took a fancy to him." Here Deerslayer paused an instant;
+for, as he got thus far in his tale, Hetty Hutter arose, approached,
+and stood attentive at his knee, as a child draws near to listen to
+the legends of its mother. "Yes, he fancied her, and she fancied him,"
+resumed Deerslayer, casting a friendly and approving glance at the
+innocent and interested girl; "and when that is the case, and all the
+elders are agreed, it does not often happen that the young couple keep
+apart. Chingachgook couldn't well carry off such a prize without making
+inimies among them that wanted her as much as he did himself. A sartain
+Briarthorn, as we call him in English, or Yocommon, as he is tarmed in
+Injin, took it most to heart, and we mistrust him of having a hand in
+all that followed."
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah went with her father and mother, two moons ago, to fish for
+salmon on the western streams, where it is agreed by all in these parts
+that fish most abounds, and while thus empl'yed the gal vanished. For
+several weeks we could get no tidings of her; but here, ten days since,
+a runner, that came through the Delaware country, brought us a message,
+by which we learn that Wah-ta-Wah was stolen from her people, we think,
+but do not know it, by Briarthorn's sarcumventions,--and that she was
+now with the inimy, who had adopted her, and wanted her to marry a
+young Mingo. The message said that the party intended to hunt and forage
+through this region for a month or two, afore it went back into the
+Canadas, and that if we could contrive to get on a scent in this
+quarter, something might turn up that would lead to our getting the
+maiden off."
+
+"And how does that concern you, Deerslayer?" demanded Judith, a little
+anxiously.
+
+"It consarns me, as all things that touches a fri'nd consarns a fri'nd.
+I'm here as Chingachgook's aid and helper, and if we can get the young
+maiden he likes back ag'in, it will give me almost as much pleasure as
+if I had got back my own sweetheart."
+
+"And where, then, is your sweetheart, Deerslayer?"
+
+"She's in the forest, Judith--hanging from the boughs of the trees, in a
+soft rain--in the dew on the open grass--the clouds that float about in
+the blue heavens--the birds that sing in the woods--the sweet springs
+where I slake my thirst--and in all the other glorious gifts that come
+from God's Providence!"
+
+"You mean that, as yet, you've never loved one of my sex, but love best
+your haunts, and your own manner of life."
+
+"That's it--that's just it. I am white--have a white heart and can't,
+in reason, love a red-skinned maiden, who must have a red-skin heart
+and feelin's. No, no, I'm sound enough in them partic'lars, and hope to
+remain so, at least till this war is over. I find my time too much taken
+up with Chingachgook's affair, to wish to have one of my own on my hands
+afore that is settled."
+
+
+"The girl that finally wins you, Deerslayer, will at least win an honest
+heart,--one without treachery or guile; and that will be a victory that
+most of her sex ought to envy."
+
+As Judith uttered this, her beautiful face had a resentful frown on it;
+while a bitter smile lingered around a mouth that no derangement of the
+muscles could render anything but handsome. Her companion observed the
+change, and though little skilled in the workings of the female heart,
+he had sufficient native delicacy to understand that it might be well to
+drop the subject.
+
+As the hour when Chingachgook was expected still remained distant,
+Deerslayer had time enough to examine into the state of the defences,
+and to make such additional arrangements as were in his power, and the
+exigency of the moment seemed to require. The experience and foresight
+of Hutter had left little to be done in these particulars; still,
+several precautions suggested themselves to the young man, who may be
+said to have studied the art of frontier warfare, through the traditions
+and legends of the people among whom he had so long lived. The distance
+between the castle and the nearest point on the shore, prevented any
+apprehension on the subject of rifle-bullets thrown from the land. The
+house was within musket-shot in one sense, it was true, but aim was
+entirely out of the question, and even Judith professed a perfect
+disregard of any danger from that source. So long, then, as the party
+remained in possession of the fortress, they were safe, unless their
+assailants could find the means to come off and carry it by fire or
+storm, or by some of the devices of Indian cunning and Indian treachery.
+
+Against the first source of danger Hutter had made ample provision, and
+the building itself, the bark roof excepted, was not very combustible.
+The floor was scuttled in several places, and buckets provided with
+ropes were in daily use, in readiness for any such emergency. One of the
+girls could easily extinguish any fire that might be lighted, provided
+it had not time to make much headway. Judith, who appeared to understand
+all her father's schemes of defence, and who had the spirit to take no
+unimportant share in the execution of them, explained all these details
+to the young man, who was thus saved much time and labor in making his
+investigations.
+
+Little was to be apprehended during the day. In possession of the
+canoes and of the ark, no other vessel was to be found on the lake.
+Nevertheless, Deerslayer well knew that a raft was soon made, and, as
+dead trees were to be found in abundance near the water, did the savages
+seriously contemplate the risks of an assault, it would not be a very
+difficult matter to find the necessary means. The celebrated American
+axe, a tool that is quite unrivalled in its way, was then not very
+extensively known, and the savages were far from expert in the use of
+its hatchet-like substitute; still, they had sufficient practice in
+crossing streams by this mode to render it certain they would construct
+a raft, should they deem it expedient to expose themselves to the risks
+of an assault. The death of their warrior might prove a sufficient
+incentive, or it might act as a caution; but Deerslayer thought it more
+than possible that the succeeding night would bring matters to a crisis,
+and in this precise way. This impression caused him to wish ardently for
+the presence and succor of his Mohican friend, and to look forward to
+the approach of sunset with an increasing anxiety.
+
+As the day advanced, the party in the castle matured their plans,
+and made their preparations. Judith was active, and seemed to find a
+pleasure in consulting and advising with her new acquaintance,
+whose indifference to danger, manly devotion to herself and sister,
+guilelessness of manner, and truth of feeling, had won rapidly on both
+her imagination and her affections. Although the hours appeared long in
+some respects to Deerslayer, Judith did not find them so, and when the
+sun began to descend towards the pine-clad summits of the western hills,
+she felt and expressed her surprise that the day should so soon be
+drawing to a close. On the other hand, Hetty was moody and silent. She
+was never loquacious, or if she occasionally became communicative, it
+was under the influence of some temporary excitement that served to
+arouse her unsophisticated mind; but, for hours at a time, in the course
+of this all-important day, she seemed to have absolutely lost the use
+of her tongue. Nor did apprehension on account of her father materially
+affect the manner of either sister. Neither appeared seriously to dread
+any evil greater than captivity, and once or twice, when Hetty did
+speak, she intimated the expectation that Hutter would find the means
+to liberate himself. Although Judith was less sanguine on this head, she
+too betrayed the hope that propositions for a ransom would come,
+when the Indians discovered that the castle set their expedients and
+artifices at defiance. Deerslayer, however, treated these passing
+suggestions as the ill-digested fancies of girls, making his own
+arrangements as steadily, and brooding over the future as seriously, as
+if they had never fallen from their lips.
+
+At length the hour arrived when it became necessary to proceed to
+the place of rendezvous appointed with the Mohican, or Delaware, as
+Chingachgook was more commonly called. As the plan had been matured
+by Deerslayer, and fully communicated to his companions, all three set
+about its execution, in concert, and intelligently. Hetty passed into
+the ark, and fastening two of the canoes together, she entered one, and
+paddled up to a sort of gateway in the palisadoes that surrounded the
+building, through which she carried both; securing them beneath the
+house by chains that were fastened within the building. These palisadoes
+were trunks of trees driven firmly into the mud, and served the double
+purpose of a small inclosure that was intended to be used in this very
+manner, and to keep any enemy that might approach in boats at arm's
+length. Canoes thus docked were, in a measure, hid from sight, and as
+the gate was properly barred and fastened, it would not be an easy
+task to remove them, even in the event of their being seen. Previously,
+however, to closing the gate, Judith also entered within the inclosure
+with the third canoe, leaving Deerslayer busy in securing the door and
+windows inside the building, over her head. As everything was massive
+and strong, and small saplings were used as bars, it would have been the
+work of an hour or two to break into the building, when Deerslayer had
+ended his task, even allowing the assailants the use of any tools but
+the axe, and to be unresisted. This attention to security arose from
+Hutter's having been robbed once or twice by the lawless whites of the
+frontiers, during some of his many absences from home.
+
+As soon as all was fast in the inside of the dwelling, Deerslayer
+appeared at a trap, from which he descended into the canoe of Judith.
+When this was done, he fastened the door with a massive staple and stout
+padlock. Hetty was then received in the canoe, which was shoved outside
+of the palisadoes. The next precaution was to fasten the gate, and the
+keys were carried into the ark. The three were now fastened out of the
+dwelling, which could only be entered by violence, or by following the
+course taken by the young man in quitting it. The glass had been brought
+outside as a preliminary step, and Deerslayer next took a careful survey
+of the entire shore of the lake, as far as his own position would allow.
+Not a living thing was visible, a few birds excepted, and even the last
+fluttered about in the shades of the trees, as if unwilling to encounter
+the heat of a sultry afternoon. All the nearest points, in particular,
+were subjected to severe scrutiny, in order to make certain that no raft
+was in preparation; the result everywhere giving the same picture of
+calm solitude. A few words will explain the greatest embarrassment
+belonging to the situation of our party. Exposed themselves to the
+observation of any watchful eyes, the movements of their enemies were
+concealed by the drapery of a dense forest. While the imagination would
+be very apt to people the latter with more warriors than it really
+contained, their own weakness must be too apparent to all who might
+chance to cast a glance in their direction.
+
+"Nothing is stirring, howsever," exclaimed Deerslayer, as he finally
+lowered the glass, and prepared to enter the ark. "If the vagabonds do
+harbor mischief in their minds, they are too cunning to let it be seen;
+it's true, a raft may be in preparation in the woods, but it has not
+yet been brought down to the lake. They can't guess that we are about to
+quit the castle, and, if they did, they've no means of knowing where we
+intend to go."
+
+"This is so true, Deerslayer," returned Judith, "that now all is ready,
+we may proceed at once, boldly, and without the fear of being followed;
+else we shall be behind our time."
+
+"No, no; the matter needs management; for, though the savages are in the
+dark as to Chingachgook and the rock, they've eyes and legs, and will
+see in what direction we steer, and will be sartain to follow us. I
+shall strive to baffle 'em, howsever, by heading the scow in all manner
+of ways, first in one quarter and then in another, until they get to be
+a-leg-weary, and tired of tramping a'ter us."
+
+So far as it was in his power, Deerslayer was as good as his word. In
+less than five minutes after this speech was made, the whole party was
+in the ark, and in motion. There was a gentle breeze from the north, and
+boldly hoisting the sail, the young man laid the head of the unwieldy
+craft in such a direction, as, after making a liberal but necessary
+allowance for leeway, would have brought it ashore a couple of miles
+down the lake, and on its eastern side. The sailing of the ark was
+never very swift, though, floating as it did on the surface, it was not
+difficult to get it in motion, or to urge it along over the water at the
+rate of some three or four miles in the hour. The distance between the
+castle and the rock was a little more than two leagues. Knowing the
+punctuality of an Indian, Deerslayer had made his calculations closely,
+and had given himself a little more time than was necessary to reach the
+place of rendezvous, with a view to delay or to press his arrival, as
+might prove most expedient. When he hoisted the sail, the sun lay above
+the western hills, at an elevation that promised rather more than two
+hours of day; and a few minutes satisfied him that the progress of the
+scow was such as to equal his expectations.
+
+It was a glorious June afternoon, and never did that solitary sheet of
+water seem less like an arena of strife and bloodshed. The light air
+scarce descended as low as the bed of the lake, hovering over it, as if
+unwilling to disturb its deep tranquillity, or to ruffle its mirror-like
+surface. Even the forests appeared to be slumbering in the sun, and a
+few piles of fleecy clouds had lain for hours along the northern horizon
+like fixtures in the atmosphere, placed there purely to embellish the
+scene. A few aquatic fowls occasionally skimmed along the water, and a
+single raven was visible, sailing high above the trees, and keeping
+a watchful eye on the forest beneath him, in order to detect anything
+having life that the mysterious woods might offer as prey.
+
+The reader will probably have observed, that, amidst the frankness and
+abruptness of manner which marked the frontier habits of Judith, her
+language was superior to that used by her male companions, her own
+father included. This difference extended as well to pronunciation as
+to the choice of words and phrases. Perhaps nothing so soon betrays
+the education and association as the modes of speech; and few
+accomplishments so much aid the charm of female beauty as a graceful and
+even utterance, while nothing so soon produces the disenchantment that
+necessarily follows a discrepancy between appearance and manner, as
+a mean intonation of voice, or a vulgar use of words. Judith and her
+sister were marked exceptions to all the girls of their class, along
+that whole frontier; the officers of the nearest garrison having often
+flattered the former with the belief that few ladies of the towns
+acquitted themselves better than herself, in this important particular.
+This was far from being literally true, but it was sufficiently near the
+fact to give birth to the compliment. The girls were indebted to their
+mother for this proficiency, having acquired from her, in childhood, an
+advantage that no subsequent study or labor can give without a drawback,
+if neglected beyond the earlier periods of life. Who that mother was,
+or rather had been, no one but Hutter knew. She had now been dead two
+summers, and, as was stated by Hurry, she had been buried in the lake;
+whether in indulgence of a prejudice, or from a reluctance to take the
+trouble to dig her grave, had frequently been a matter of discussion
+between the rude beings of that region. Judith had never visited the
+spot, but Hetty was present at the interment, and she often paddled a
+canoe, about sunset or by the light of the moon, to the place, and gazed
+down into the limpid water, in the hope of being able to catch a glimpse
+of the form that she had so tenderly loved from infancy to the sad hour
+of their parting.
+
+"Must we reach the rock exactly at the moment the sun sets?" Judith
+demanded of the young man, as they stood near each other, Deerslayer
+holding the steering-oar, and she working with a needle at some ornament
+of dress, that much exceeded her station in life, and was altogether a
+novelty in the woods. "Will a few minutes, sooner or later, alter the
+matter? It will be very hazardous to remain long as near the shore as
+that rock!"
+
+"That's it, Judith; that's the very difficulty! The rock's within p'int
+blank for a shot-gun, and 'twill never do to hover about it too close
+and too long. When you have to deal with an Injin, you must calculate
+and manage, for a red natur' dearly likes sarcumvention. Now you see,
+Judith, that I do not steer towards the rock at all, but here to
+the eastward of it, whereby the savages will be tramping off in that
+direction, and get their legs a-wearied, and all for no advantage."
+
+"You think, then, they see us, and watch our movements, Deerslayer? I
+was in hopes they might have fallen back into the woods, and left us to
+ourselves for a few hours."
+
+"That's altogether a woman's consait. There's no let-up in an Injin's
+watchfulness when he's on a war-path, and eyes are on us at this
+minute, 'though the lake presarves us. We must draw near the rock on
+a calculation, and indivor to get the miscreants on a false scent. The
+Mingos have good noses, they tell me; but a white man's reason ought
+always to equalize their instinct."
+
+Judith now entered into a desultory discourse with Deerslayer, in which
+the girl betrayed her growing interest in the young man; an interest
+that his simplicity of mind and her decision of character, sustained as
+it was by the consciousness awakened by the consideration her personal
+charms so universally produced, rendered her less anxious to conceal
+than might otherwise have been the case. She was scarcely forward in
+her manner, though there was sometimes a freedom in her glances that it
+required all the aid of her exceeding beauty to prevent from awakening
+suspicions unfavorable to her discretion, if not to her morals. With
+Deerslayer, however, these glances were rendered less obnoxious to
+so unpleasant a construction; for she seldom looked at him without
+discovering much of the sincerity and nature that accompany the purest
+emotions of woman. It was a little remarkable that, as his captivity
+lengthened, neither of the girls manifested any great concern for
+her father; but, as has been said already, their habits gave them
+confidence, and they looked forward to his liberation, by means of a
+ransom, with a confidence that might, in a great degree, account for
+their apparent indifference. Once before, Hutter had been in the hands
+of the Iroquois, and a few skins had readily effected his release. This
+event, however, unknown to the sisters, had occurred in a time of
+peace between England and France, and when the savages were restrained,
+instead of being encouraged to commit their excesses, by the policy of
+the different colonial governments.
+
+While Judith was loquacious and caressing in her manner, Hetty remained
+thoughtful and silent. Once, indeed, she drew near to Deerslayer,
+and questioned him a little closely as to his intentions, as well as
+concerning the mode of effecting his purpose; but her wish to converse
+went no further. As soon as her simple queries were answered--and
+answered they all were, in the fullest and kindest manner--she withdrew
+to her seat, and continued to work on a coarse garment that she was
+making for her father, sometimes humming a low melancholy air, and
+frequently sighing.
+
+In this manner the time passed away; and when the sun was beginning to
+glow behind the fringe of the pines that bounded the western hill, or
+about twenty minutes before it actually set, the ark was nearly as low
+as the point where Hutter and Hurry had been made prisoners. By sheering
+first to one side of the lake, and then to the other, Deerslayer managed
+to create an uncertainty as to his object; and, doubtless, the savages,
+who were unquestionably watching his movements, were led to believe that
+his aim was to communicate with them, at or near this spot, and would
+hasten in that direction, in order to be in readiness to profit by
+circumstances. This artifice was well managed; since the sweep of the
+bay, the curvature of the lake, and the low marshy land that intervened,
+would probably allow the ark to reach the rock before its pursuers, if
+really collected near this point, could have time to make the circuit
+that would be required to get there by land. With a view to aid this
+deception, Deerslayer stood as near the western shore as was at all
+prudent; and then causing Judith and Hetty to enter the house, or cabin,
+and crouching himself so as to conceal his person by the frame of the
+scow, he suddenly threw the head of the latter round, and began to make
+the best of his way towards the outlet. Favored by an increase in
+the wind, the progress of the ark was such as to promise the complete
+success of this plan, though the crab-like movement of the craft
+compelled the helmsman to keep its head looking in a direction very
+different from that in which it was actually moving.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+
+    "Yet art thou prodigal of smiles--
+    Smiles, sweeter than thy frowns are stern:
+    Earth sends from all her thousand isles,
+    A shout at thy return.
+    The glory that comes down from thee
+    Bathes, in deep joy, the land and sea."
+
+    Bryant, "The Firmament," 11.19-24
+
+It may assist the reader in understanding the events we are about to
+record, if he has a rapidly sketched picture of the scene, placed before
+his eyes at a single view. It will be remembered that the lake was an
+irregularly shaped basin, of an outline that, in the main, was oval, but
+with bays and points to relieve its formality and ornament its shores.
+The surface of this beautiful sheet of water was now glittering like a
+gem, in the last rays of the evening sun, and the setting of the whole,
+hills clothed in the richest forest verdure, was lighted up with a sort
+of radiant smile, that is best described in the beautiful lines we have
+placed at the head of this chapter. As the banks, with few exceptions,
+rose abruptly from the water, even where the mountain did not
+immediately bound the view, there was a nearly unbroken fringe of leaves
+overhanging the placid lake, the trees starting out of the acclivities,
+inclining to the light, until, in many instances they extended their
+long limbs and straight trunks some forty or fifty feet beyond the line
+of the perpendicular. In these cases we allude only to the giants of the
+forest, pines of a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet in height, for
+of the smaller growth, very many inclined so far as to steep their lower
+branches in the water. In the position in which the Ark had now got, the
+castle was concealed from view by the projection of a point, as indeed
+was the northern extremity of the lake itself. A respectable mountain,
+forest clad, and rounded, like all the rest, limited the view in that
+direction, stretching immediately across the whole of the fair
+scene, with the exception of a deep bay that passed the western end,
+lengthening the basin, for more than a mile.
+
+The manner in which the water flowed out of the lake, beneath the leafy
+arches of the trees that lined the sides of the stream, has already been
+mentioned, and it has also been said that the rock, which was a favorite
+place of rendezvous throughout all that region, and where Deerslayer
+now expected to meet his friend, stood near this outlet, and at no great
+distance from the shore. It was a large, isolated stone that rested on
+the bottom of the lake, apparently left there when the waters tore away
+the earth from around it, in forcing for themselves a passage down the
+river, and which had obtained its shape from the action of the elements,
+during the slow progress of centuries. The height of this rock could
+scarcely equal six feet, and, as has been said, its shape was not unlike
+that which is usually given to beehives, or to a hay-cock. The latter,
+indeed, gives the best idea not only of its form, but of its dimensions.
+It stood, and still stands, for we are writing of real scenes, within
+fifty feet of the bank, and in water that was only two feet in depth,
+though there were seasons in which its rounded apex, if such a term can
+properly be used, was covered by the lake. Many of the trees stretched
+so far forward, as almost to blend the rock with the shore, when seen
+from a little distance, and one tall pine in particular overhung it in a
+way to form a noble and appropriate canopy to a seat that had held many
+a forest chieftain, during the long succession of unknown ages, in
+which America, and all it contained, had existed apart, in mysterious
+solitude, a world by itself; equally without a familiar history, and
+without an origin that the annals of man can reach.
+
+When distant some two or three hundred feet from the shore, Deerslayer
+took in his sail. He dropped his grapnel, as soon as he found the Ark
+had drifted in a line that was directly to windward of the rock. The
+motion of the scow was then checked, when it was brought head to wind,
+by the action of the breeze. As soon as this was done, Deerslayer "paid
+out line," and suffered the vessel to "set down" upon the rock, as fast
+as the light air could force it to leeward. Floating entirely on the
+surface, this was soon effected, and the young man checked the drift
+when he was told that the stern of the scow was within fifteen or
+eighteen feet of the desired spot.
+
+In executing this maneuver, Deerslayer had proceeded promptly, for,
+while he did not in the least doubt that he was both watched and
+followed by the foe, he believed he distracted their movements, by the
+apparent uncertainty of his own, and he knew they could have no means
+of ascertaining that the rock was his aim, unless indeed one of their
+prisoners had betrayed him; a chance so improbable in itself, as to give
+him no concern. Notwithstanding the celerity and decision his movements,
+he did not, however, venture so near the shore without taking due
+precautions to effect a retreat, in the event of its becoming necessary.
+He held the line in his hand, and Judith was stationed at a loop, on the
+side of the cabin next the shore, where she could watch the beach and
+the rock, and give timely notice of the approach of either friend
+or foe. Hetty was also placed on watch, but it was to keep the trees
+overhead in view, lest some enemy might ascend one, and, by completely
+commanding the interior of the scow render the defence of the hut, or
+cabin, useless.
+
+The sun had disappeared from the lake and valley, when Deerslayer
+checked the Ark, in the manner mentioned. Still it wanted a few
+minutes to the true sunset, and he knew Indian punctuality too well
+to anticipate any unmanly haste in his friend. The great question was,
+whether, surrounded by enemies as he was known to be, he had escaped
+their toils. The occurrences of the last twenty-four hours must be a
+secret to him, and like himself, Chingachgook was yet young on a path.
+It was true, he came prepared to encounter the party that withheld
+his promised bride, but he had no means ascertaining the extent of the
+danger he ran, or the precise positions occupied by either friends, or
+foes. In a word, the trained sagacity, and untiring caution of an Indian
+were all he had to rely on, amid the critical risks he unavoidably ran.
+
+"Is the rock empty, Judith?" inquired Deerslayer, as soon as he
+had checked the drift of the Ark, deeming it imprudent to venture
+unnecessarily near the shore. "Is any thing to be seen of the Delaware
+chief?"
+
+"Nothing, Deerslayer. Neither rock, shore, trees, nor lake seems to have
+ever held a human form."
+
+'Keep close, Judith--keep close, Hetty--a rifle has a prying eye, a
+nimble foot, and a desperate fatal tongue. Keep close then, but keep up
+actyve looks, and be on the alart. 'Twould grieve me to the heart, did
+any harm befall either of you.'
+
+"And you Deerslayer--" exclaimed Judith, turning her handsome face from
+the loop, to bestow a gracious and grateful look on the young man--"do
+you 'keep close', and have a proper care that the savages do not catch
+a glimpse of you! A bullet might be as fatal to you as to one of us; and
+the blow that you felt, would be felt by us all."
+
+"No fear of me, Judith--no fear of me, my good gal. Do not look
+this-a-way, although you look so pleasant and comely, but keep your eyes
+on the rock, and the shore, and the--"
+
+Deerslayer was interrupted by a slight exclamation from the girl, who,
+in obedience to his hurried gestures, as much as in obedience to his
+words, had immediately bent her looks again, in the opposite direction.
+
+"What is't?--What is't, Judith?" he hastily demanded--"Is any thing to
+be seen?"
+
+"There is a man on the rock!--An Indian warrior, in his paint--and
+armed!"
+
+"Where does he wear his hawk's feather?" eagerly added Deerslayer,
+relaxing his hold of the line, in readiness to drift nearer to the place
+of rendezvous. "Is it fast to the war-lock, or does he carry it above
+the left ear?"
+
+"'Tis as you say, above the left ear; he smiles, too, and mutters the
+word 'Mohican.'"
+
+"God be praised, 'tis the Sarpent, at last!" exclaimed the young man,
+suffering the line to slip through his hands, until hearing a light
+bound, in the other end of the craft, he instantly checked the rope,
+and began to haul it in, again, under the assurance that his object was
+effected. At that moment the door of the cabin was opened hastily, and,
+a warrior, darting through the little room, stood at Deerslayer's side,
+simply uttering the exclamation "Hugh!" At the next instant, Judith and
+Hetty shrieked, and the air was filled with the yell of twenty savages,
+who came leaping through the branches, down the bank, some actually
+falling headlong into the water, in their haste.
+
+"Pull, Deerslayer," cried Judith, hastily barring the door, in order
+to prevent an inroad by the passage through which the Delaware had just
+entered; "pull, for life and death--the lake is full of savages, wading
+after us!"
+
+The young men--for Chingachgook immediately came to his friend's
+assistance--needed no second bidding, but they applied themselves to
+their task in a way that showed how urgent they deemed the occasion. The
+great difficulty was in suddenly overcoming the inertia of so large
+a mass, for once in motion, it was easy to cause the scow to skim the
+water with all the necessary speed.
+
+"Pull, Deerslayer, for Heaven's sake!" cried Judith, again at the loop.
+"These wretches rush into the water like hounds following their prey!
+Ah--the scow moves! and now, the water deepens, to the arm-pits of the
+foremost, but they reach forward, and will seize the Ark!"
+
+A slight scream, and then a joyous laugh followed from the girl; the
+first produced by a desperate effort of their pursuers, and the last by
+its failure; the scow, which had now got fairly in motion gliding ahead
+into deep water, with a velocity that set the designs of their enemies
+at nought. As the two men were prevented by the position of the cabin
+from seeing what passed astern, they were compelled to inquire of the
+girls into the state of the chase.
+
+"What now, Judith?--What next?--Do the Mingos still follow, or are we
+quit of 'em, for the present," demanded Deerslayer, when he felt the
+rope yielding as if the scow was going fast ahead, and heard the scream
+and the laugh of the girl, almost in the same breath.
+
+"They have vanished!--One--the last--is just burying himself in the
+bushes of the bank--There, he has disappeared in the shadows of the
+trees! You have got your friend, and we are all safe!"
+
+The two men now made another great effort, pulled the Ark up swiftly to
+the grapnel, tripped it, and when the scow had shot some distance and
+lost its way, they let the anchor drop again. Then, for the first time
+since their meeting, they ceased their efforts. As the floating house
+now lay several hundred feet from the shore, and offered a complete
+protection against bullets, there was no longer any danger or any motive
+for immediate exertion.
+
+The manner in which the two friends now recognized each other, was
+highly characteristic. Chingachgook, a noble, tall, handsome and
+athletic young Indian warrior, first examined his rifle with care,
+opening the pan to make sure that the priming was not wet, and, assured
+of this important fact, he next cast furtive but observant glances
+around him, at the strange habitation and at the two girls. Still he
+spoke not, and most of all did he avoid the betrayal of a womanish
+curiosity, by asking questions.
+
+"Judith and Hetty" said Deerslayer, with an untaught, natural
+courtesy--"this is the Mohican chief of whom you've heard me speak;
+Chingachgook as he is called; which signifies Big Sarpent; so named for
+his wisdom and prudence, and cunning, and my 'arliest and latest fri'nd.
+I know'd it must be he, by the hawk's feather over the left ear, most
+other warriors wearing 'em on the war-lock."
+
+As Deerslayer ceased speaking, he laughed heartily, excited more
+perhaps by the delight of having got his friend safe at his side, under
+circumstances so trying, than by any conceit that happened to cross his
+fancy, and exhibiting this outbreaking of feeling in a manner that was a
+little remarkable, since his merriment was not accompanied by any
+noise. Although Chingachgook both understood and spoke English, he was
+unwilling to communicate his thoughts in it, like most Indians, and
+when he had met Judith's cordial shake of the hand, and Hetty's milder
+salute, in the courteous manner that became a chief, he turned away,
+apparently to await the moment when it might suit his friend to enter
+into an explanation of his future intentions, and to give a narrative
+of what had passed since their separation. The other understood his
+meaning, and discovered his own mode of reasoning in the matter, by
+addressing the girls.
+
+"This wind will soon die away altogether, now the sun is down," he said,
+"and there is no need for rowing ag'in it. In half an hour, or so, it
+will either be a flat calm, or the air will come off from the south
+shore, when we will begin our journey back ag'in to the castle; in the
+meanwhile, the Delaware and I will talk over matters, and get correct
+idees of each other's notions consarning the course we ought to take."
+
+No one opposed this proposition, and the girls withdrew into the cabin
+to prepare the evening meal, while the two young men took their seats
+on the head of the scow and began to converse. The dialogue was in
+the language of the Delawares. As that dialect, however, is but little
+understood, even by the learned; we shall not only on this, but on all
+subsequent occasions render such parts as it may be necessary to give
+closely, into liberal English; preserving, as far as possible, the idiom
+and peculiarities of the respective speakers, by way of presenting the
+pictures in the most graphic forms to the minds of the readers.
+
+It is unnecessary to enter into the details first related by Deerslayer,
+who gave a brief narrative of the facts that are already familiar to
+those who have read our pages. In relating these events, however, it
+may be well to say that the speaker touched only on the outlines, more
+particularly abstaining from saying anything about his encounter with,
+and victory over the Iroquois, as well as to his own exertions in behalf
+of the two deserted young women. When Deerslayer ended, the Delaware
+took up the narrative, in turn, speaking sententiously and with grave
+dignity. His account was both clear and short, nor was it embellished by
+any incidents that did not directly concern the history of his departure
+from the villages of his people, and his arrival in the valley of the
+Susquehannah. On reaching the latter, which was at a point only half
+a mile south of the outlet, he had soon struck a trail, which gave him
+notice of the probable vicinity of enemies. Being prepared for such an
+occurrence, the object of the expedition calling him directly into
+the neighborhood of the party of Iroquois that was known to be out, he
+considered the discovery as fortunate, rather than the reverse, and took
+the usual precautions to turn it to account. First following the river
+to its source, and ascertaining the position of the rock, he met another
+trail, and had actually been hovering for hours on the flanks of his
+enemies, watching equally for an opportunity to meet his mistress,
+and to take a scalp; and it may be questioned which he most ardently
+desired. He kept near the lake, and occasionally he ventured to some
+spot where he could get a view of what was passing on its surface. The
+Ark had been seen and watched, from the moment it hove in sight,
+though the young chief was necessarily ignorant that it was to be the
+instrument of his effecting the desired junction with his friend. The
+uncertainty of its movements, and the fact that it was unquestionably
+managed by white men, soon led him to conjecture the truth, however,
+and he held himself in readiness to get on board whenever a suitable
+occasion might offer. As the sun drew near the horizon he repaired
+to the rock, where, on emerging from the forest, he was gratified in
+finding the Ark lying, apparently in readiness to receive him. The
+manner of his appearance, and of his entrance into the craft is known.
+
+Although Chingachgook had been closely watching his enemies for hours,
+their sudden and close pursuit as he reached the scow was as much a
+matter of surprise to himself, as it had been to his friend. He could
+only account for it by the fact of their being more numerous than he had
+at first supposed, and by their having out parties of the existence of
+which he was ignorant. Their regular, and permanent encampment, if the
+word permanent can be applied to the residence of a party that intended
+to remain out, in all probability, but a few weeks, was not far from
+the spot where Hutter and Hurry had fallen into their hands, and, as a
+matter of course, near a spring.
+
+"Well, Sarpent," asked Deerslayer, when the other had ended his brief
+but spirited narrative, speaking always in the Delaware tongue, which
+for the reader's convenience only we render into the peculiar vernacular
+of the speaker--"Well, Sarpent, as you've been scouting around these
+Mingos, have you anything to tell us of their captyves, the father of
+these young women, and of another, who, I somewhat conclude, is the
+lovyer of one of 'em."
+
+"Chingachgook has seen them. An old man, and a young warrior--the
+falling hemlock and the tall pine."
+
+"You're not so much out, Delaware; you're not so much out. Old Hutter is
+decaying, of a sartainty, though many solid blocks might be hewn out of
+his trunk yet, and, as for Hurry Harry, so far as height and strength
+and comeliness go, he may be called the pride of the human forest. Were
+the men bound, or in any manner suffering torture? I ask on account of
+the young women, who, I dare to say, would be glad to know."
+
+"It is not so, Deerslayer. The Mingos are too many to cage their game.
+Some watch; some sleep; some scout; some hunt. The pale-faces are
+treated like brothers to-day; to-morrow they will lose their scalps."
+
+"Yes, that's red natur', and must be submitted to! Judith and Hetty,
+here's comforting tidings for you, the Delaware telling me that neither
+your father nor Hurry Harry is in suffering, but, bating the loss of
+liberty, as well off as we are ourselves. Of course they are kept in the
+camp; otherwise they do much as they please."
+
+"I rejoice to hear this, Deerslayer," returned Judith, "and now we are
+joined by your friend, I make no manner of question that we shall find
+an opportunity to ransom the prisoners. If there are any women in the
+camp, I have articles of dress that will catch their eyes, and, should
+the worst come to the worst, we can open the great chest, which I think
+will be found to hold things that may tempt the chiefs."
+
+"Judith," said the young man, looking up at her with a smile and an
+expression of earnest curiosity, that in spite of the growing obscurity
+did not escape the watchful looks of the girl, "can you find it in your
+heart, to part with your own finery, to release prisoners; even though
+one be your own father, and the other is your sworn suitor and lovyer?"
+
+The flush on the face of the girl arose in part from resentment,
+but more perhaps from a gentler and a novel feeling, that, with the
+capricious waywardness of taste, had been rapidly rendering her more
+sensitive to the good opinion of the youth who questioned her, than
+to that of any other person. Suppressing the angry sensation, with
+instinctive quickness, she answered with a readiness and truth, that
+caused her sister to draw near to listen, though the obtuse intellect
+of the latter was far from comprehending the workings of a heart as
+treacherous, as uncertain, and as impetuous in its feelings, as that of
+the spoiled and flattered beauty.
+
+"Deerslayer," answered Judith, after a moment's pause, "I shall be
+honest with you. I confess that the time has been when what you call
+finery, was to me the dearest thing on earth; but I begin to feel
+differently. Though Hurry Harry is nought to me nor ever can be, I
+would give all I own to set him free. If I would do this for blustering,
+bullying, talking Hurry, who has nothing but good looks to recommend
+him, you may judge what I would do for my own father."
+
+"This sounds well, and is according to woman's gifts. Ah's, me! The same
+feelin's is to be found among the young women of the Delawares. I've
+known 'em, often and often, sacrifice their vanity to their hearts. 'Tis
+as it should be--'tis as it should be I suppose, in both colours. Woman
+was created for the feelin's, and is pretty much ruled by feelin'."
+
+"Would the savages let father go, if Judith and I give them all our best
+things?" demanded Hetty, in her innocent, mild, manner.
+
+"Their women might interfere, good Hetty; yes, their women might
+interfere with such an ind in view. But, tell me, Sarpent, how is it
+as to squaws among the knaves; have they many of their own women in the
+camp?"
+
+The Delaware heard and understood all that passed, though with Indian
+gravity and finesse he had sat with averted face, seemingly inattentive
+to a discourse in which he had no direct concern. Thus appealed to,
+however, he answered his friend in his ordinary sententious manner.
+
+"Six--" he said, holding up all the fingers of one hand, and the thumb
+of the other, "besides this." The last number denoted his betrothed,
+whom, with the poetry and truth of nature, he described by laying his
+hand on his own heart.
+
+"Did you see her, chief--did you get a glimpse of her pleasant
+countenance, or come close enough to her ear, to sing in it the song she
+loves to hear?"
+
+"No, Deerslayer--the trees were too many, and leaves covered their
+boughs like clouds hiding the heavens in a storm. But"--and the young
+warrior turned his dark face towards his friend, with a smile on it that
+illuminated its fierce-looking paint and naturally stern lineaments
+with a bright gleam of human feeling, "Chingachgook heard the laugh of
+Wah-ta-Wah, and knew it from the laugh of the women of the Iroquois. It
+sounded in his ears, like the chirp of the wren."
+
+"Ay, trust a lovyer's ear for that, and a Delaware's ear for all sounds
+that are ever heard in the woods. I know not why it is so, Judith, but
+when young men--and I dares to say it may be all the same with young
+women, too--but when they get to have kind feelin's towards each other,
+it's wonderful how pleasant the laugh, or the speech becomes, to the
+other person. I've seen grim warriors listening to the chattering and
+the laughing of young gals, as if it was church music, such as is heard
+in the old Dutch church that stands in the great street of Albany, where
+I've been, more than once, with peltry and game."
+
+"And you, Deerslayer," said Judith quickly, and with more sensibility
+than marked her usually light and thoughtless manner,--"have you never
+felt how pleasant it is to listen to the laugh of the girl you love?"
+
+"Lord bless you gal!--Why I've never lived enough among my own colour
+to drop into them sort of feelin's,--no never! I dares to say, they are
+nat'ral and right, but to me there's no music so sweet as the sighing
+of the wind in the tree tops, and the rippling of a stream from a full,
+sparkling, natyve fountain of pure forest water--unless, indeed,"
+he continued, dropping his head for an instant in a thoughtful
+manner--"unless indeed it be the open mouth of a sartain hound, when
+I'm on the track of a fat buck. As for unsartain dogs, I care little for
+their cries, seein' they are as likely to speak when the deer is not in
+sight, as when it is."
+
+Judith walked slowly and pensively away, nor was there any of her
+ordinary calculating coquetry in the light tremulous sigh that,
+unconsciously to herself, arose to her lips. On the other hand Hetty
+listened with guileless attention, though it struck her simple mind as
+singular that the young man should prefer the melody of the woods,
+to the songs of girls, or even to the laugh of innocence and joy.
+Accustomed, however, to defer in most things to her sister, she soon
+followed Judith into the cabin, where she took a seat and remained
+pondering intensely over some occurrence, or resolution, or
+opinion--which was a secret to all but herself. Left alone, Deerslayer
+and his friend resumed their discourse.
+
+"Has the young pale-face hunter been long on this lake?" demanded the
+Delaware, after courteously waiting for the other to speak first.
+
+"Only since yesterday noon, Sarpent, though that has been long enough to
+see and do much." The gaze that the Indian fastened on his companion was
+so keen that it seemed to mock the gathering darkness of the night.
+As the other furtively returned his look, he saw the two black eyes
+glistening on him, like the balls of the panther, or those of the penned
+wolf. He understood the meaning of this glowing gaze, and answered
+evasively, as he fancied would best become the modesty of a white man's
+gifts.
+
+"'Tis as you suspect, Sarpent; yes, 'tis somewhat that-a-way. I have
+fell in with the inimy, and I suppose it may be said I've fou't them,
+too."
+
+An exclamation of delight and exultation escaped the Indian, and then
+laying his hand eagerly on the arm of his friend, he asked if there were
+any scalps taken.
+
+"That I will maintain in the face of all the Delaware tribe, old
+Tamenund, and your own father the great Uncas, as well as the rest, is
+ag'in white gifts! My scalp is on my head, as you can see, Sarpent, and
+that was the only scalp that was in danger, when one side was altogether
+Christian and white."
+
+"Did no warrior fall?--Deerslayer did not get his name by being slow of
+sight, or clumsy with the rifle!"
+
+"In that particular, chief, you're nearer reason, and therefore nearer
+being right. I may say one Mingo fell."
+
+"A chief!" demanded the other with startling vehemence.
+
+"Nay, that's more than I know, or can say. He was artful, and
+treacherous, and stout-hearted, and may well have gained popularity
+enough with his people to be named to that rank. The man fou't well,
+though his eye was'n't quick enough for one who had had his schooling in
+your company, Delaware."
+
+"My brother and friend struck the body?"
+
+"That was uncalled for, seeing that the Mingo died in my arms. The truth
+may as well be said, at once; he fou't like a man of red gifts, and I
+fou't like a man with gifts of my own colour. God gave me the victory;
+I coul'n't fly in the face of his Providence by forgetting my birth and
+natur'. White he made me, and white I shall live and die."
+
+"Good! Deerslayer is a pale-face, and has pale-face hands. A Delaware
+will look for the scalp, and hang it on a pole, and sing a song in his
+honour, when we go back to our people. The glory belongs to the tribe;
+it must not be lost."
+
+"This is easy talking, but 'twill not be as easy doing. The Mingo's body
+is in the hands of his fri'nds and, no doubt, is hid in some hole where
+Delaware cunning will never be able to get at the scalp."
+
+The young man then gave his friend a succinct, but clear account, of the
+event of the morning, concealing nothing of any moment, and yet touching
+on every thing modestly and with a careful attention to avoid the Indian
+habit of boasting. Chingachgook again expressed his satisfaction at the
+honour won by his friend, and then both arose, the hour having arrived
+when it became prudent to move the Ark further from the land.
+
+It was now quite dark, the heavens having become clouded, and the stars
+hid. The north wind had ceased--as was usual with the setting of the
+sun, and a light air arose from the south. This change favoring the
+design of Deerslayer, he lifted his grapnel, and the scow immediately
+and quite perceptibly began to drift more into the lake. The sail was
+set, when the motion of the craft increased to a rate not much less than
+two miles in the hour. As this superseded the necessity of rowing, an
+occupation that an Indian would not be likely to desire, Deerslayer,
+Chingachgook and Judith seated themselves in the stern of the scow,
+where they first governed its movements by holding the oar. Here they
+discoursed on their future movements, and on the means that ought to be
+used in order to effect the liberation of their friends.
+
+In this dialogue Judith held a material part, the Delaware readily
+understanding all she said, while his own replies and remarks, both of
+which were few and pithy, were occasionally rendered into English by his
+friend. Judith rose greatly in the estimation of her companions, in the
+half hour that followed. Prompt of resolution and firm of purpose, her
+suggestions and expedients partook of her spirit and sagacity, both of
+which were of a character to find favor with men of the frontier. The
+events that had occurred since their meeting, as well as her isolated
+and dependant situation, induced the girl to feel towards Deerslayer
+like the friend of a year instead of an acquaintance of a day, and so
+completely had she been won by his guileless truth of character and of
+feeling, pure novelties in our sex, as respected her own experience,
+that his peculiarities excited her curiosity, and created a confidence
+that had never been awakened by any other man. Hitherto she had been
+compelled to stand on the defensive in her intercourse with men, with
+what success was best known to herself, but here had she been suddenly
+thrown into the society and under the protection of a youth, who
+evidently as little contemplated evil towards herself as if he had been
+her brother. The freshness of his integrity, the poetry and truth of his
+feelings, and even the quaintness of his forms of speech, all had their
+influence, and aided in awakening an interest that she found as pure
+as it was sudden and deep. Hurry's fine face and manly form had never
+compensated for his boisterous and vulgar tone, and her intercourse with
+the officers had prepared her to make comparisons under which even his
+great natural advantages suffered. But this very intercourse with the
+officers who occasionally came upon the lake to fish and hunt, had an
+effect in producing her present sentiments towards the young stranger.
+With them, while her vanity had been gratified, and her self-love
+strongly awakened, she had many causes deeply to regret the
+acquaintance--if not to mourn over it, in secret sorrow--for it was
+impossible for one of her quick intellect not to perceive how hollow was
+the association between superior and inferior, and that she was regarded
+as the play thing of an idle hour, rather than as an equal and a friend,
+by even the best intentioned and least designing of her scarlet-clad
+admirers. Deerslayer, on the other hand, had a window in his breast
+through which the light of his honesty was ever shining; and even his
+indifference to charms that so rarely failed to produce a sensation,
+piqued the pride of the girl, and gave him an interest that another,
+seemingly more favored by nature, might have failed to excite.
+
+In this manner half an hour passed, during which time the Ark had been
+slowly stealing over the water, the darkness thickening around it;
+though it was easy to see that the gloom of the forest at the southern
+end of the lake was getting to be distant, while the mountains that
+lined the sides of the beautiful basin were overshadowing it, nearly
+from side to side. There was, indeed, a narrow stripe of water, in the
+centre of the lake where the dim light that was still shed from the
+heavens, fell upon its surface in a line extending north and south;
+and along this faint track, a sort of inverted milky way, in which the
+obscurity was not quite as dense as in other places, the scow held her
+course, he who steered well knowing that it led in the direction he
+wished to go. The reader is not to suppose, however, that any difficulty
+could exist as to the course. This would have been determined by that of
+the air, had it not been possible to distinguish the mountains, as well
+as by the dim opening to the south, which marked the position of the
+valley in that quarter, above the plain of tall trees, by a sort of
+lessened obscurity; the difference between the darkness of the forest,
+and that of the night, as seen only in the air. The peculiarities
+at length caught the attention of Judith and the Deerslayer, and the
+conversation ceased, to allow each to gaze at the solemn stillness and
+deep repose of nature.
+
+"'Tis a gloomy night--" observed the girl, after a pause of several
+minutes--"I hope we may be able to find the castle."
+
+"Little fear of our missing that, if we keep this path in the middle of
+the lake," returned the young man. "Natur' has made us a road here, and,
+dim as it is, there'll be little difficulty following it."
+
+"Do you hear nothing, Deerslayer?--It seemed as if the water was
+stirring quite near us!"
+
+"Sartainly something did move the water, oncommon like; must have been
+a fish. Them creatur's prey upon each other like men and animals on the
+land; one has leaped into the air and fallen hard, back into his own
+element. 'Tis of little use Judith, for any to strive to get out of
+their elements, since it's natur' to stay in 'em, and natur' will have
+its way. Ha! That sounds like a paddle, used with more than common
+caution!"
+
+At this moment the Delaware bent forward and pointed significantly into
+the boundary of gloom, as if some object had suddenly caught his eye.
+Both Deerslayer and Judith followed the direction of his gesture, and
+each got a view of a canoe at the same instant. The glimpse of this
+startling neighbor was dim, and to eyes less practised it might have
+been uncertain, though to those in the Ark the object was evidently
+a canoe with a single individual in it; the latter standing erect and
+paddling. How many lay concealed in its bottom, of course could not be
+known. Flight, by means of oars, from a bark canoe impelled by vigorous
+and skilful hands, was utterly impracticable, and each of the men seized
+his rifle in expectation of a conflict.
+
+"I can easily bring down the paddler," whispered Deerslayer, "but
+we'll first hail him, and ask his arrn'd." Then raising his voice, he
+continued in a solemn manner--"hold! If ye come nearer, I must fire,
+though contrary to my wishes, and then sartain death will follow. Stop
+paddling, and answer."
+
+"Fire, and slay a poor defenseless girl," returned a soft tremulous
+female voice. "And God will never forgive you! Go your way, Deerslayer,
+and let me go mine."
+
+"Hetty!" exclaimed the young man and Judith in a breath; and the former
+sprang instantly to the spot where he had left the canoe they had been
+towing. It was gone, and he understood the whole affair. As for the
+fugitive, frightened at the menace she ceased paddling, and remained
+dimly visible, resembling a spectral outline of a human form, standing
+on the water. At the next moment the sail was lowered, to prevent the
+Ark from passing the spot where the canoe lay. This last expedient,
+however, was not taken in time, for the momentum of so heavy a craft,
+and the impulsion of the air, soon set her by, bringing Hetty directly
+to windward, though still visible, as the change in the positions of
+the two boats now placed her in that species of milky way which has been
+mentioned.
+
+"What can this mean, Judith?" demanded Deerslayer--"Why has your sister
+taken the canoe, and left us?"
+
+"You know she is feeble-minded, poor girl!--and she has her own ideas of
+what ought to be done. She loves her father more than most children love
+their parents--and--then--"
+
+"Then, what, gal? This is a trying moment; one in which truth must be
+spoken!"
+
+Judith felt a generous and womanly regret at betraying her sister, and
+she hesitated ere she spoke again. But once more urged by Deerslayer,
+and conscious herself of all the risks the whole party was running by
+the indiscretion of Hetty, she could refrain no longer.
+
+"Then, I fear, poor, weak-minded Hetty has not been altogether able
+to see all the vanity, and rudeness and folly, that lie hid behind the
+handsome face and fine form of Hurry Harry. She talks of him in her
+sleep, and sometimes betrays the inclination in her waking moments."
+
+"You think, Judith, that your sister is now bent on some mad scheme to
+serve her father and Hurry, which will, in all likelihood, give them
+riptyles the Mingos, the mastership of a canoe?"
+
+"Such, I fear, will turn out to be the fact, Deerslayer. Poor Hetty has
+hardly sufficient cunning to outwit a savage."
+
+All this while the canoe, with the form of Hetty erect in one end of it,
+was dimly perceptible, though the greater drift of the Ark rendered it,
+at each instant, less and less distinct. It was evident no time was to
+be lost, lest it should altogether disappear. The rifles were now laid
+aside as useless, the two men seizing the oars and sweeping the head of
+the scow round in the direction of the canoe. Judith, accustomed to the
+office, flew to the other end of the Ark, and placed herself at what
+might be called the helm. Hetty took the alarm at these preparations,
+which could not be made without noise, and started off like a bird that
+had been suddenly put up by the approach of unexpected danger.
+
+As Deerslayer and his companion rowed with the energy of those who
+felt the necessity of straining every nerve, and Hetty's strength was
+impaired by a nervous desire to escape, the chase would have quickly
+terminated in the capture of the fugitive, had not the girl made several
+short and unlooked-for deviations in her course. These turnings gave her
+time, and they had also the effect of gradually bringing both canoe and
+Ark within the deeper gloom, cast by the shadows from the hills. They
+also gradually increased the distance between the fugitive and her
+pursuers, until Judith called out to her companions to cease rowing, for
+she had completely lost sight of the canoe.
+
+When this mortifying announcement was made, Hetty was actually so near
+as to understand every syllable her sister uttered, though the latter
+had used the precaution of speaking as low as circumstances would allow
+her to do, and to make herself heard. Hetty stopped paddling at the same
+moment, and waited the result with an impatience that was breathless,
+equally from her late exertions, and her desire to land. A dead silence
+immediately fell on the lake, during which the three in the Ark were
+using their senses differently, in order to detect the position of the
+canoe. Judith bent forward to listen, in the hope of catching some sound
+that might betray the direction in which her sister was stealing away,
+while her two companions brought their eyes as near as possible to
+a level with the water, in order to detect any object that might be
+floating on its surface. All was vain, however, for neither sound nor
+sight rewarded their efforts. All this time Hetty, who had not the
+cunning to sink into the canoe, stood erect, a finger pressed on her
+lips, gazing in the direction in which the voices had last been heard,
+resembling a statue of profound and timid attention. Her ingenuity had
+barely sufficed to enable her to seize the canoe and to quit the Ark,
+in the noiseless manner related, and then it appeared to be momentarily
+exhausted. Even the doublings of the canoe had been as much the
+consequence of an uncertain hand and of nervous agitation, as of any
+craftiness or calculation.
+
+The pause continued several minutes, during which Deerslayer and the
+Delaware conferred together in the language of the latter. Then the oars
+dipped, again, and the Ark moved away, rowing with as little noise as
+possible. It steered westward, a little southerly, or in the direction
+of the encampment of the enemy. Having reached a point at no great
+distance from the shore, and where the obscurity was intense on account
+of the proximity of the land, it lay there near an hour, in waiting for
+the expected approach of Hetty, who, it was thought, would make the best
+of her way to that spot as soon as she believed herself released
+from the danger of pursuit. No success rewarded this little blockade,
+however, neither appearance nor sound denoting the passage of the canoe.
+Disappointed at this failure, and conscious of the importance of getting
+possession of the fortress before it could be seized by the enemy,
+Deerslayer now took his way towards the castle, with the apprehension
+that all his foresight in securing the canoes would be defeated by this
+unguarded and alarming movement on the part of the feeble-minded Hetty.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+
+    "But who in this wild wood
+    May credit give to either eye, or ear?
+    From rocky precipice or hollow cave,
+    'Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves,
+    And creaking boughs, and cries of nightly birds,
+    Returning seeming answer!"
+
+    Joanna Baihie, "Rayner: A Tragedy," II.L3-4, 6-g.
+
+Fear, as much as calculation, had induced Hetty to cease paddling, when
+she found that her pursuers did not know in which direction to proceed.
+She remained stationary until the Ark had pulled in near the encampment,
+as has been related in the preceding chapter, when she resumed the
+paddle and with cautious strokes made the best of her way towards the
+western shore. In order to avoid her pursuers, however, who, she rightly
+suspected, would soon be rowing along that shore themselves, the head
+of the canoe was pointed so far north as to bring her to land on a point
+that thrust itself into the lake, at the distance of near a league from
+the outlet. Nor was this altogether the result of a desire to escape,
+for, feeble minded as she was, Hetty Hutter had a good deal of that
+instinctive caution which so often keeps those whom God has thus visited
+from harm. She was perfectly aware of the importance of keeping the
+canoes from falling into the hands of the Iroquois, and long familiarity
+with the lake had suggested one of the simplest expedients, by which
+this great object could be rendered compatible with her own purpose.
+
+The point in question was the first projection that offered on that side
+of the lake, where a canoe, if set adrift with a southerly air would
+float clear of the land, and where it would be no great violation of
+probabilities to suppose it might even hit the castle; the latter lying
+above it, almost in a direct line with the wind. Such then was Hetty's
+intention, and she landed on the extremity of the gravelly point,
+beneath an overhanging oak, with the express intention of shoving the
+canoe off from the shore, in order that it might drift up towards her
+father's insulated abode. She knew, too, from the logs that occasionally
+floated about the lake, that did it miss the castle and its appendages
+the wind would be likely to change before the canoe could reach the
+northern extremity of the lake, and that Deerslayer might have an
+opportunity of regaining it in the morning, when no doubt he would be
+earnestly sweeping the surface of the water, and the whole of its wooded
+shores, with glass. In all this, too, Hetty was less governed by any
+chain of reasoning than by her habits, the latter often supplying the
+place of mind, in human beings, as they perform the same for animals of
+the inferior classes.
+
+The girl was quite an hour finding her way to the point, the distance
+and the obscurity equally detaining her, but she was no sooner on the
+gravelly beach than she prepared to set the canoe adrift, in the manner
+mentioned. While in the act of pushing it from her, she heard low
+voices that seemed to come among the trees behind her. Startled at this
+unexpected danger Hetty was on the point of springing into the canoe
+in order to seek safety in flight, when she thought she recognized the
+tones of Judith's melodious voice. Bending forward so as to catch the
+sounds more directly, they evidently came from the water, and then she
+understood that the Ark was approaching from the south, and so close
+in with the western shore, as necessarily to cause it to pass the point
+within twenty yards of the spot where she stood. Here, then, was all she
+could desire; the canoe was shoved off into the lake, leaving its late
+occupant alone on the narrow strand.
+
+When this act of self-devotion was performed, Hetty did not retire. The
+foliage of the overhanging trees and bushes would have almost concealed
+her person, had there been light, but in that obscurity it was utterly
+impossible to discover any object thus shaded, at the distance of a few
+feet. Flight, too, was perfectly easy, as twenty steps would effectually
+bury her in the forest. She remained, therefore, watching with intense
+anxiety the result of her expedient, intending to call the attention
+of the others to the canoe with her voice, should they appear to
+pass without observing it. The Ark approached under its sail, again,
+Deerslayer standing in its bow, with Judith near him, and the Delaware
+at the helm. It would seem that in the bay below it had got too close to
+the shore, in the lingering hope of intercepting Hetty, for, as it came
+nearer, the latter distinctly heard the directions that the young man
+forward gave to his companion aft, in order to clear the point.
+
+"Lay her head more off the shore, Delaware," said Deerslayer for the
+third time, speaking in English that his fair companion might understand
+his words--"Lay her head well off shore. We have got embayed here, and
+needs keep the mast clear of the trees. Judith, there's a canoe!"
+
+The last words were uttered with great earnestness, and Deerslayer's
+hand was on his rifle ere they were fairly out of his mouth. But the
+truth flashed on the mind of the quick-witted girl, and she instantly
+told her companion that the boat must be that in which her sister had
+fled.
+
+"Keep the scow straight, Delaware; steer as straight as your bullet
+flies when sent ag'in a buck; there--I have it."
+
+The canoe was seized, and immediately secured again to the side of the
+Ark. At the next moment the sail was lowered, and the motion of the Ark
+arrested by means of the oars.
+
+"Hetty!" called out Judith, concern, even affection betraying itself in
+her tones. "Are you within hearing, sister--for God's sake answer, and
+let me hear the sound of your voice, again! Hetty!--dear Hetty."
+
+"I'm here, Judith--here on the shore, where it will be useless to follow
+me, as I will hide in the woods."
+
+"Oh! Hetty what is't you do! Remember 'tis drawing near midnight, and
+that the woods are filled with savages and wild beasts!"
+
+"Neither will harm a poor half-witted girl, Judith. God is as much with
+me, here, as he would be in the Ark or in the hut. I am going to help my
+father, and poor Hurry Harry, who will be tortured and slain unless some
+one cares for them."
+
+"We all care for them, and intend to-morrow to send them a flag of
+truce, to buy their ransom. Come back then, sister; trust to us, who
+have better heads than you, and who will do all we can for father."
+
+"I know your head is better than mine, Judith, for mine is very weak, to
+be sure; but I must go to father and poor Hurry. Do you and Deerslayer
+keep the castle, sister; leave me in the hands of God."
+
+
+"God is with us all, Hetty--in the castle, or on the shore--father as
+well as ourselves, and it is sinful not to trust to his goodness. You
+can do nothing in the dark; will lose your way in the forest, and perish
+for want of food."
+
+"God will not let that happen to a poor child that goes to serve her
+father, sister. I must try and find the savages."
+
+"Come back for this night only; in the morning, we will put you ashore,
+and leave you to do as you may think right."
+
+"You say so, Judith, and you think so; but you would not. Your heart
+would soften, and you'd see tomahawks and scalping knives in the air.
+Besides, I've got a thing to tell the Indian chief that will answer all
+our wishes, and I'm afraid I may forget it, if I don't tell it to him at
+once. You'll see that he will let father go, as soon as he hears it!"
+
+"Poor Hetty! What can you say to a ferocious savage that will be likely
+to change his bloody purpose!"
+
+"That which will frighten him, and make him let father go--" returned
+the simple-minded girl, positively. "You'll see, sister; you'll see, how
+soon it will bring him to, like a gentle child!"
+
+"Will you tell me, Hetty, what you intend to say?" asked Deerslayer. "I
+know the savages well, and can form some idee how far fair words will be
+likely, or not, to work on their bloody natur's. If it's not suited to
+the gifts of a red-skin, 'twill be of no use; for reason goes by gifts,
+as well as conduct."
+
+"Well, then," answered Hetty, dropping her voice to a low, confidential,
+tone, for the stillness of the night, and the nearness of the Ark,
+permitted her to do this and still to be heard--"Well, then, Deerslayer,
+as you seem a good and honest young man I will tell you. I mean not to
+say a word to any of the savages until I get face to face with their
+head chief, let them plague me with as many questions as they please
+I'll answer none of them, unless it be to tell them to lead me to their
+wisest man--Then, Deerslayer, I'll tell him that God will not forgive
+murder, and thefts; and that if father and Hurry did go after the
+scalps of the Iroquois, he must return good for evil, for so the Bible
+commands, else he will go into everlasting punishment. When he hears
+this, and feels it to be true, as feel it he must, how long will it be
+before he sends father, and Hurry, and me to the shore, opposite the
+castle, telling us all three to go our way in peace?"
+
+The last question was put in a triumphant manner, and then the
+simple-minded girl laughed at the impression she never doubted that her
+project had made on her auditors. Deerslayer was dumb-founded at this
+proof of guileless feebleness of mind, but Judith had suddenly bethought
+her of a means of counteracting this wild project, by acting on the
+very feelings that had given it birth. Without adverting to the closing
+question, or the laugh, therefore, she hurriedly called to her sister by
+name, as one suddenly impressed with the importance of what she had to
+say. But no answer was given to the call.
+
+By the snapping of twigs, and the rustling of leaves, Hetty had
+evidently quitted the shore, and was already burying herself in the
+forest. To follow would have been fruitless, since the darkness, as
+well as the dense cover that the woods everywhere offered, would have
+rendered her capture next to impossible, and there was also the never
+ceasing danger of falling into the hands of their enemies. After a short
+and melancholy discussion, therefore, the sail was again set, and
+the Ark pursued its course towards its habitual moorings, Deerslayer
+silently felicitating himself on the recovery of the canoe, and brooding
+over his plans for the morrow. The wind rose as the party quitted the
+point, and in less than an hour they reached the castle. Here all was
+found as it had been left, and the reverse of the ceremonies had to
+be taken in entering the building, that had been used on quitting it.
+Judith occupied a solitary bed that night bedewing the pillow with her
+tears, as she thought of the innocent and hitherto neglected creature,
+who had been her companion from childhood, and bitter regrets came over
+her mind, from more causes than one, as the weary hours passed away,
+making it nearly morning before she lost her recollection in sleep.
+Deerslayer and the Delaware took their rest in the Ark, where we shall
+leave them enjoying the deep sleep of the honest, the healthful and
+fearless, to return to the girl we have last seen in the midst of the
+forest.
+
+When Hetty left the shore, she took her way unhesitatingly into the
+woods, with a nervous apprehension of being followed. Luckily, this
+course was the best she could have hit on to effect her own purpose,
+since it was the only one that led her from the point. The night was so
+intensely dark, beneath the branches of the trees, that her progress
+was very slow, and the direction she went altogether a matter of chance,
+after the first few yards. The formation of the ground, however, did not
+permit her to deviate far from the line in which she desired to proceed.
+On one hand it was soon bounded by the acclivity of the hill, while
+the lake, on the other, served as a guide. For two hours did this
+single-hearted and simple-minded girl toil through the mazes of the
+forest, sometimes finding herself on the brow of the bank that bounded
+the water, and at others struggling up an ascent that warned her to go
+no farther in that direction, since it necessarily ran at right angles
+to the course on which she wished to proceed. Her feet often slid from
+beneath her, and she got many falls, though none to do her injury; but,
+by the end of the period mentioned, she had become so weary as to want
+strength to go any farther. Rest was indispensable, and she set about
+preparing a bed, with the readiness and coolness of one to whom the
+wilderness presented no unnecessary terrors. She knew that wild beasts
+roamed through all the adjacent forest, but animals that preyed on the
+human species were rare, and of dangerous serpents there were literally
+none. These facts had been taught her by her father, and whatever her
+feeble mind received at all, it received so confidingly as to leave her
+no uneasiness from any doubts, or scepticism. To her the sublimity
+of the solitude in which she was placed, was soothing, rather than
+appalling, and she gathered a bed of leaves, with as much indifference
+to the circumstances that would have driven the thoughts of sleep
+entirely from the minds of most of her sex, as if she had been preparing
+her place of nightly rest beneath the paternal roof. As soon as Hetty
+had collected a sufficient number of the dried leaves to protect her
+person from the damps of the ground, she kneeled beside the humble pile,
+clasped her raised hands in an attitude of deep devotion, and in a soft,
+low, but audible voice repeated the Lord's Prayer. This was followed by
+those simple and devout verses, so familiar to children, in which she
+recommended her soul to God, should it be called away to another state
+of existence, ere the return of morning. This duty done, she lay down
+and disposed herself to sleep. The attire of the girl, though suited
+to the season, was sufficiently warm for all ordinary purposes, but the
+forest is ever cool, and the nights of that elevated region of country,
+have always a freshness about them, that renders clothing more necessary
+than is commonly the case in the summers of a low latitude. This had
+been foreseen by Hetty, who had brought with her a coarse heavy mantle,
+which, when laid over her body, answered all the useful purposes of
+a blanket. Thus protected, she dropped asleep in a few minutes, as
+tranquilly as if watched over by the guardian care of that mother,
+who had so recently been taken from her forever, affording in this
+particular a most striking contrast between her own humble couch, and
+the sleepless pillow of her sister.
+
+Hour passed after hour, in a tranquility as undisturbed and a rest as
+sweet as if angels, expressly commissioned for that object, watched
+around the bed of Hetty Hutter. Not once did her soft eyes open, until
+the grey of the dawn came struggling through the tops of the trees,
+falling on their lids, and, united to the freshness of a summer's
+morning, giving the usual summons to awake. Ordinarily, Hetty was up
+ere the rays of the sun tipped the summits of the mountains, but on this
+occasion her fatigue had been so great, and her rest was so profound,
+that the customary warnings failed of their effect. The girl murmured
+in her sleep, threw an arm forward, smiled as gently as an infant in
+its cradle, but still slumbered. In making this unconscious gesture,
+her hand fell on some object that was warm, and in the half unconscious
+state in which she lay, she connected the circumstance with her habits.
+At the next moment, a rude attack was made on her side, as if a rooting
+animal were thrusting its snout beneath, with a desire to force her
+position, and then, uttering the name of "Judith" she awoke. As the
+startled girl arose to a sitting attitude she perceived that some dark
+object sprang from her, scattering the leaves and snapping the fallen
+twigs in its haste. Opening her eyes, and recovering from the first
+confusion and astonishment of her situation, Hetty perceived a cub, of
+the common American brown bear, balancing itself on its hinder legs, and
+still looking towards her, as if doubtful whether it would be safe to
+trust itself near her person again. The first impulse of Hetty, who had
+been mistress of several of these cubs, was to run and seize the little
+creature as a prize, but a loud growl warned her of the danger of such
+a procedure. Recoiling a few steps, the girl looked hurriedly round, and
+perceived the dam, watching her movements with fiery eyes at no great
+distance. A hollow tree, that once been the home of bees, having
+recently fallen, the mother with two more cubs was feasting on the
+dainty food that this accident had placed within her reach; while the
+first kept a jealous eye on the situation of its truant and reckless
+young.
+
+It would exceed all the means of human knowledge to presume to analyze
+the influences that govern the acts of the lower animals. On this
+occasion, the dam, though proverbially fierce when its young is thought
+to be in danger, manifested no intention to attack the girl. It quitted
+the honey, and advanced to a place within twenty feet of her, where it
+raised itself on its hind legs and balanced its body in a sort of angry,
+growling discontent, but approached no nearer. Happily, Hetty did not
+fly. On the contrary, though not without terror, she knelt with her face
+towards the animal, and with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, repeated
+the prayer of the previous night. This act of devotion was not the
+result of alarm, but it was a duty she never neglected to perform
+ere she slept, and when the return of consciousness awoke her to the
+business of the day. As the girl arose from her knees, the bear dropped
+on its feet again, and collecting its cubs around her, permitted them
+to draw their natural sustenance. Hetty was delighted with this proof of
+tenderness in an animal that has but a very indifferent reputation for
+the gentler feelings, and as a cub would quit its mother to frisk and
+leap about in wantonness, she felt a strong desire again to catch it
+up in her arms, and play with it. But admonished by the growl, she had
+self-command sufficient not to put this dangerous project in execution,
+and recollecting her errand among the hills, she tore herself away from
+the group, and proceeded on her course along the margin of the lake, of
+which she now caught glimpses again through the trees. To her surprise,
+though not to her alarm, the family of bears arose and followed her
+steps, keeping a short distance behind her; apparently watching every
+movement as if they had a near interest in all she did.
+
+In this manner, escorted by the dam and cubs, the girl proceeded
+nearly a mile, thrice the distance she had been able to achieve in the
+darkness, during the same period of time. She then reached a brook that
+had dug a channel for itself into the earth, and went brawling into
+the lake, between steep and high banks, covered with trees. Here Hetty
+performed her ablutions; then drinking of the pure mountain water, she
+went her way, refreshed and lighter of heart, still attended by her
+singular companions. Her course now lay along a broad and nearly level
+terrace, which stretched from the top of the bank that bounded the
+water, to a low acclivity that rose to a second and irregular platform
+above. This was at a part of the valley where the mountains ran
+obliquely, forming the commencement of a plain that spread between
+the hills, southward of the sheet of water. Hetty knew, by this
+circumstance, that she was getting near to the encampment, and had she
+not, the bears would have given her warning of the vicinity of human
+beings. Snuffing the air, the dam refused to follow any further, though
+the girl looked back and invited her to come by childish signs, and even
+by direct appeals made in her own sweet voice. It was while making her
+way slowly through some bushes, in this manner, with averted face and
+eyes riveted on the immovable animals, that the girl suddenly found her
+steps arrested by a human hand, that was laid lightly on her shoulder.
+
+"Where go?--" said a soft female voice, speaking hurriedly, and in
+concern.--"Indian--red man savage--wicked warrior--that-a-way."
+
+This unexpected salutation alarmed the girl no more than the presence of
+the fierce inhabitants of the woods. It took her a little by surprise,
+it is true, but she was in a measure prepared for some such meeting, and
+the creature who stopped her was as little likely to excite terror as
+any who ever appeared in the guise of an Indian. It was a girl, not much
+older than herself, whose smile was sunny as Judith's in her brightest
+moments, whose voice was melody itself, and whose accents and manner had
+all the rebuked gentleness that characterizes the sex among a people
+who habitually treat their women as the attendants and servitors of the
+warriors. Beauty among the women of the aboriginal Americans, before
+they have become exposed to the hardships of wives and mothers, is by no
+means uncommon. In this particular, the original owners of the country
+were not unlike their more civilized successors, nature appearing to
+have bestowed that delicacy of mien and outline that forms so great a
+charm in the youthful female, but of which they are so early deprived;
+and that, too, as much by the habits of domestic life as from any other
+cause.
+
+The girl who had so suddenly arrested the steps of Hetty was dressed
+in a calico mantle that effectually protected all the upper part of her
+person, while a short petticoat of blue cloth edged with gold lace, that
+fell no lower than her knees, leggings of the same, and moccasins of
+deer-skin, completed her attire. Her hair fell in long dark braids down
+her shoulders and back, and was parted above a low smooth forehead, in
+a way to soften the expression of eyes that were full of archness and
+natural feeling. Her face was oval, with delicate features, the teeth
+were even and white, while the mouth expressed a melancholy tenderness,
+as if it wore this peculiar meaning in intuitive perception of the fate
+of a being who was doomed from birth to endure a woman's sufferings,
+relieved by a woman's affections. Her voice, as has been already
+intimated, was soft as the sighing of the night air, a characteristic of
+the females of her race, but which was so conspicuous in herself as
+to have produced for her the name of Wah-ta-Wah; which rendered into
+English means Hist-oh-Hist.
+
+In a word, this was the betrothed of Chingachgook, who--having succeeded
+in lulling their suspicions, was permitted to wander around the
+encampment of her captors. This indulgence was in accordance with the
+general policy of the red man, who well knew, moreover, that her trail
+could have been easily followed in the event of flight. It will also be
+remembered that the Iroquois, or Hurons, as it would be better to call
+them, were entirely ignorant of the proximity of her lover, a fact,
+indeed, that she did not know herself.
+
+It is not easy to say which manifested the most self-possession at this
+unexpected meeting; the pale-face, or the red girl. But, though a little
+surprised, Wah-ta-Wah was the most willing to speak, and far the readier
+in foreseeing consequences, as well as in devising means to avert them.
+Her father, during her childhood, had been much employed as a warrior by
+the authorities of the Colony, and dwelling for several years near the
+forts, she had caught a knowledge of the English tongue, which she spoke
+in the usual, abbreviated manner of an Indian, but fluently, and without
+any of the ordinary reluctance of her people.
+
+"Where go?--" repeated Wah-ta-Wah, returning the smile of Hetty, in her
+own gentle, winning, manner--"wicked warrior that-a-way--good warrior,
+far off."
+
+"What's your name?" asked Hetty, with the simplicity of a child.
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah. I no Mingo--good Delaware--Yengeese friend. Mingo cruel,
+and love scalp, for blood--Delaware love him, for honor. Come here,
+where no eyes."
+
+Wah-ta-Wah now led her companion towards the lake, descending the bank
+so as to place its overhanging trees and bushes between them and any
+probable observers. Nor did she stop until they were both seated, side
+by side, on a fallen log, one end of which actually lay buried in the
+water.
+
+"Why you come for?" the young Indian eagerly inquired--"Where you come
+for?" Hetty told her tale in her own simple and truth-loving manner. She
+explained the situation of her father, and stated her desire to serve
+him, and if possible to procure his release.
+
+"Why your father come to Mingo camp in night?" asked the Indian girl,
+with a directness, which if not borrowed from the other, partook largely
+of its sincerity. "He know it war-time, and he no boy--he no want
+beard--no want to be told Iroquois carry tomahawk, and knife, and rifle.
+Why he come night time, seize me by hair, and try to scalp Delaware
+girl?"
+
+"You!" said Hetty, almost sickening with horror--"Did he seize you--did
+he try to scalp you?"
+
+"Why no? Delaware scalp sell for much as Mingo scalp. Governor no tell
+difference. Wicked t'ing for pale-face to scalp. No his gifts, as the
+good Deerslayer always tell me."
+
+"And do you know the Deerslayer?" said Hetty, coloring with delight and
+surprise; forgetting her regrets, at the moment, in the influence of
+this new feeling. "I know him, too. He is now in the Ark, with Judith
+and a Delaware who is called the Big Serpent. A bold and handsome
+warrior is this Serpent, too!"
+
+Spite of the rich deep colour that nature had bestowed on the Indian
+beauty, the tell-tale blood deepened on her cheeks, until the blush gave
+new animation and intelligence to her jet-black eyes. Raising a finger
+in an attitude of warning, she dropped her voice, already so soft and
+sweet, nearly to a whisper, as she continued the discourse.
+
+"Chingachgook!" returned the Delaware girl, sighing out the harsh
+name, in sounds so softly guttural, as to cause it to reach the ear in
+melody--"His father, Uncas--great chief of the Mahicanni--next to old
+Tamenund!--More as warrior, not so much gray hair, and less at Council
+Fire. You know Serpent?"
+
+"He joined us last evening, and was in the Ark with me, for two or three
+hours before I left it. I'm afraid, Hist--" Hetty could not pronounce
+the Indian name of her new friend, but having heard Deerslayer give her
+this familiar appellation, she used it without any of the ceremony of
+civilized life--"I'm afraid Hist, he has come after scalps, as well as
+my poor father and Hurry Harry."
+
+"Why he shouldn't--ha? Chingachgook red warrior--very red--scalp make
+his honor--Be sure he take him."
+
+"Then," said Hetty, earnestly, "he will be as wicked as any other. God
+will not pardon in a red man, what he will not pardon in a white man.
+
+"No true--" returned the Delaware girl, with a warmth that nearly
+amounted to passion. "No true, I tell you! The Manitou smile and pleased
+when he see young warrior come back from the war path, with two, ten,
+hundred scalp on a pole! Chingachgook father take scalp--grandfather
+take scalp--all old chief take scalp, and Chingachgook take as many
+scalp as he can carry, himself."
+
+"Then, Hist, his sleep of nights must be terrible to think of. No one
+can be cruel, and hope to be forgiven."
+
+"No cruel--plenty forgiven--" returned Wah-ta-Wah, stamping her little
+foot on the stony strand, and shaking her head in a way to show how
+completely feminine feeling, in one of its aspects, had gotten the
+better of feminine feeling in another. "I tell you, Serpent brave; he go
+home, this time, with four,--yes--two scalp."
+
+"And is that his errand, here?--Did he really come all this distance,
+across mountain, and valley, rivers and lakes, to torment his fellow
+creatures, and do so wicked a thing?"
+
+This question at once appeased the growing ire of the half-offended
+Indian beauty. It completely got the better of the prejudices of
+education, and turned all her thoughts to a gentler and more feminine
+channel. At first, she looked around her, suspiciously, as if
+distrusting eavesdroppers; then she gazed wistfully into the face of her
+attentive companion; after which this exhibition of girlish coquetry
+and womanly feeling, terminated by her covering her face with both her
+hands, and laughing in a strain that might well be termed the melody of
+the woods. Dread of discovery, however, soon put a stop to this naive
+exhibition of feeling, and removing her hands, this creature of impulses
+gazed again wistfully into the face of her companion, as if inquiring
+how far she might trust a stranger with her secret. Although Hetty
+had no claims to her sister's extraordinary beauty, many thought
+her countenance the most winning of the two. It expressed all the
+undisguised sincerity of her character, and it was totally free from
+any of the unpleasant physical accompaniments that so frequently attend
+mental imbecility. It is true that one accustomed to closer observations
+than common, might have detected the proofs of her feebleness of
+intellect in the language of her sometimes vacant eyes, but they were
+signs that attracted sympathy by their total want of guile, rather than
+by any other feeling. The effect on Hist, to use the English and more
+familiar translation of the name, was favorable, and yielding to an
+impulse of tenderness, she threw her arms around Hetty, and embraced her
+with an outpouring emotion, so natural that it was only equaled by its
+warmth.
+
+"You good--" whispered the young Indian--"you good, I know; it so long
+since Wah-ta-Wah have a friend--a sister--any body to speak her heart
+to! You Hist friend; don't I say trut'?"
+
+"I never had a friend," answered Hetty returning the warm embrace with
+unfeigned earnestness. "I've a sister, but no friend. Judith loves
+me, and I love Judith; but that's natural, and as we are taught in the
+Bible--but I should like to have a friend! I'll be your friend, with all
+my heart, for I like your voice and your smile, and your way of thinking
+in every thing, except about the scalps--"
+
+"No t'ink more of him--no say more of scalp--" interrupted Hist,
+soothingly--"You pale-face, I red-skin; we bring up different fashion.
+Deerslayer and Chingachgook great friend, and no the same colour, Hist
+and--what your name, pretty pale-face?"
+
+"I am called Hetty, though when they spell the name in the bible, they
+always spell it Esther."
+
+"What that make?--no good, no harm. No need to spell name at
+all--Moravian try to make Wah-ta-Wah spell, but no won't let him. No
+good for Delaware girl to know too much--know more than warrior some
+time; that great shame. My name Wah-ta-Wah that say Hist in your tongue;
+you call him, Hist--I call him, Hetty."
+
+These preliminaries settled to their mutual satisfaction, the two girls
+began to discourse of their several hopes and projects. Hetty made her
+new friend more fully acquainted with her intentions in behalf of her
+father, and, to one in the least addicted to prying into the affairs,
+Hist would have betrayed her own feelings and expectations in connection
+with the young warrior of her own tribe. Enough was revealed on both
+sides, however, to let each party get a tolerable insight into the views
+of the other, though enough still remained in mental reservation,
+to give rise to the following questions and answers, with which the
+interview in effect closed. As the quickest witted, Hist was the first
+with her interrogatories. Folding an arm about the waist of Hetty, she
+bent her head so as to look up playfully into the face of the other,
+and, laughing, as if her meaning were to be extracted from her looks,
+she spoke more plainly.
+
+"Hetty got broder, as well as fader?--" she said--"Why no talk of
+broder, as well as fader?"
+
+"I have no brother, Hist. I had one once, they say, but he is dead many
+a year, and lies buried in the lake, by the side of my mother."
+
+"No got broder--got a young warrior--Love him, almost as much as fader,
+eh? Very handsome, and brave-looking; fit to be chief, if he good as he
+seem to be."
+
+"It's wicked to love any man as well as I love my father, and so I
+strive not to do it, Hist," returned the conscientious Hetty, who knew
+not how to conceal an emotion, by an approach to an untruth as venial as
+an evasion, though powerfully tempted by female shame to err, "though I
+sometimes think wickedness will get the better of me, if Hurry comes so
+often to the lake. I must tell you the truth, dear Hist, because you ask
+me, but I should fall down and die in the woods, if he knew it!"
+
+"Why he no ask you, himself?--Brave looking--why not bold speaking?
+Young warrior ought to ask young girl, no make young girl speak first.
+Mingo girls too shame for that."
+
+This was said indignantly, and with the generous warmth a young female
+of spirit would be apt to feel, at what she deemed an invasion of
+her sex's most valued privilege. It had little influence on the
+simple-minded, but also just-minded Hetty, who, though inherently
+feminine in all her impulses, was much more alive to the workings of her
+own heart, than to any of the usages with which convention has protected
+the sensitiveness of her sex.
+
+"Ask me what?' the startled girl demanded, with a suddenness that proved
+how completely her fears had been aroused. 'Ask me, if I like him as
+well as I do my own father! Oh! I hope he will never put such a question
+to me, for I should have to answer, and that would kill me!"
+
+"No--no--no kill, quite--almost," returned the other, laughing in spite
+of herself. "Make blush come--make shame come too; but he no stay great
+while; then feel happier than ever. Young warrior must tell young girl
+he want to make wife, else never can live in his wigwam."
+
+"Hurry don't want to marry me--nobody will ever want to marry me, Hist."
+
+"How you can know? P'raps every body want to marry you, and by-and-bye,
+tongue say what heart feel. Why nobody want to marry you?"
+
+"I am not full witted, they say. Father often tells me this; and so does
+Judith, sometimes, when she is vexed; but I shouldn't so much mind them,
+as I did mother. She said so once and then she cried as if her heart
+would break; and, so, I know I'm not full witted."
+
+Hist gazed at the gentle, simple girl, for quite a minute without
+speaking, and then the truth appeared to flash all at once on the
+mind of the young Indian maid. Pity, reverence and tenderness seemed
+struggling together in her breast, and then rising suddenly, she
+indicated a wish to her companion that she would accompany her to the
+camp, which was situated at no great distance. This unexpected change
+from the precautions that Hist had previously manifested a desire to
+use, in order to prevent being seen, to an open exposure of the person
+of her friend, arose from the perfect conviction that no Indian would
+harm a being whom the Great Spirit had disarmed, by depriving it of its
+strongest defence, reason. In this respect, nearly all unsophisticated
+nations resemble each other, appearing to offer spontaneously, by
+a feeling creditable to human nature, that protection by their own
+forbearance, which has been withheld by the inscrutable wisdom of
+Providence. Wah-ta-Wah, indeed, knew that in many tribes the mentally
+imbecile and the mad were held in a species of religious reverence,
+receiving from these untutored inhabitants of the forest respect and
+honors, instead of the contumely and neglect that it is their fortune to
+meet with among the more pretending and sophisticated.
+
+Hetty accompanied her new friend without apprehension or reluctance. It
+was her wish to reach the camp, and, sustained by her motives, she felt
+no more concern for the consequences than did her companion herself,
+now the latter was apprised of the character of the protection that the
+pale-face maiden carried with her. Still, as they proceeded slowly along
+a shore that was tangled with overhanging bushes, Hetty continued the
+discourse, assuming the office of interrogating which the other had
+instantly dropped, as soon as she ascertained the character of the mind
+to which her questions had been addressed.
+
+"But you are not half-witted," said Hetty, "and there's no reason why
+the Serpent should not marry you."
+
+"Hist prisoner, and Mingo got big ear. No speak of Chingachgook when
+they by. Promise Hist that, good Hetty."
+
+"I know--I know--" returned Hetty, half-whispering, in her eagerness
+to let the other see she understood the necessity of caution. "I
+know--Deerslayer and the Serpent mean to get you away from the Iroquois,
+and you wish me not to tell the secret."
+
+"How you know?" said Hist, hastily, vexed at the moment that the other
+was not even more feeble minded than was actually the case. "How you
+know? Better not talk of any but fader and Hurry--Mingo understand
+dat; he no understand t'udder. Promise you no talk about what you no
+understand."
+
+"But I do understand this, Hist, and so I must talk about it. Deerslayer
+as good as told father all about it, in my presence, and as nobody
+told me not to listen, I overheard it all, as I did Hurry and father's
+discourse about the scalps."
+
+"Very bad for pale-faces to talk about scalps, and very bad for young
+woman to hear! Now you love Hist, I know, Hetty, and so, among Injins,
+when love hardest never talk most."
+
+"That's not the way among white people, who talk most about them they
+love best. I suppose it's because I'm only half-witted that I don't see
+the reason why it should be so different among red people."
+
+"That what Deerslayer call gift. One gift to talk; t'udder gift to hold
+tongue. Hold tongue your gift, among Mingos. If Sarpent want to see
+Hist, so Hetty want to see Hurry. Good girl never tell secret of
+friend."
+
+Hetty understood this appeal, and she promised the Delaware girl not to
+make any allusion to the presence of Chingachgook, or to the motive of
+his visit to the lake.
+
+"Maybe he get off Hurry and fader, as well as Hist, if let him have his
+way," whispered Wah-ta-Wah to her companion, in a confiding flattering
+way, just as they got near enough to the encampment to hear the voices
+of several of their own sex, who were apparently occupied in the usual
+toils of women of their class. "Tink of dat, Hetty, and put two, twenty
+finger on mouth. No get friend free without Sarpent do it."
+
+A better expedient could not have been adopted, to secure the silence
+and discretion of Hetty, than that which was now presented to her mind.
+As the liberation of her father and the young frontier man was the great
+object of her adventure, she felt the connection between it and the
+services of the Delaware, and with an innocent laugh, she nodded her
+head, and in the same suppressed manner, promised a due attention to
+the wishes of her friend. Thus assured, Hist tarried no longer, but
+immediately and openly led the way into the encampment of her captors.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI.
+
+
+    "The great King of Kings
+    Hath in the table of his law commanded,
+    That thou shalt do no murder.
+    Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand,
+    To hurl upon their heads that break his law."
+
+    Richard III, I.iv.i95-97 199-200.
+
+That the party to which Hist compulsorily belonged was not one that was
+regularly on the war path, was evident by the presence of females. It
+was a small fragment of a tribe that had been hunting and fishing
+within the English limits, where it was found by the commencement of
+hostilities, and, after passing the winter and spring by living on what
+was strictly the property of its enemies, it chose to strike a hostile
+blow before it finally retired. There was also deep Indian sagacity
+in the manoeuvre which had led them so far into the territory of
+their foes. When the runner arrived who announced the breaking out of
+hostilities between the English and French--a struggle that was certain
+to carry with it all the tribes that dwelt within the influence of the
+respective belligerents--this particular party of the Iroquois were
+posted on the shores of the Oneida, a lake that lies some fifty miles
+nearer to their own frontier than that which is the scene of our tale.
+
+To have fled in a direct line for the Canadas would have exposed them to
+the dangers of a direct pursuit, and the chiefs had determined to adopt
+the expedient of penetrating deeper into a region that had now become
+dangerous, in the hope of being able to retire in the rear of their
+pursuers, instead of having them on their trail. The presence of the
+women had induced the attempt at this ruse, the strength of these
+feebler members of the party being unequal to the effort of escaping
+from the pursuit of warriors. When the reader remembers the vast extent
+of the American wilderness, at that early day, he will perceive that
+it was possible for even a tribe to remain months undiscovered in
+particular portions of it; nor was the danger of encountering a foe, the
+usual precautions being observed, as great in the woods, as it is on the
+high seas, in a time of active warfare.
+
+The encampment being temporary, it offered to the eye no more than the
+rude protection of a bivouac, relieved in some slight degree by the
+ingenious expedients which suggested themselves to the readiness of
+those who passed their lives amid similar scenes. One fire, that had
+been kindled against the roots of a living oak, sufficed for the whole
+party; the weather being too mild to require it for any purpose but
+cooking. Scattered around this centre of attraction, were some fifteen
+or twenty low huts, or perhaps kennels would be a better word, into
+which their different owners crept at night, and which were also
+intended to meet the exigencies of a storm.
+
+These little huts were made of the branches of trees, put together with
+some ingenuity, and they were uniformly topped with bark that had been
+stripped from fallen trees; of which every virgin forest possesses
+hundreds, in all stages of decay. Of furniture they had next to none.
+Cooking utensils of the simplest sort were lying near the fire, a few
+articles of clothing were to be seen in or around the huts, rifles,
+horns, and pouches leaned against the trees, or were suspended from the
+lower branches, and the carcasses of two or three deer were stretched to
+view on the same natural shambles.
+
+As the encampment was in the midst of a dense wood, the eye could not
+take in its tout ensemble at a glance, but hut after hut started out of
+the gloomy picture, as one gazed about him in quest of objects. There
+was no centre, unless the fire might be so considered, no open area
+where the possessors of this rude village might congregate, but all was
+dark, covert and cunning, like its owners. A few children strayed from
+hut to hut, giving the spot a little of the air of domestic life, and
+the suppressed laugh and low voices of the women occasionally broke
+in upon the deep stillness of the sombre forest. As for the men, they
+either ate, slept, or examined their arms. They conversed but little,
+and then usually apart, or in groups withdrawn from the females, whilst
+an air of untiring, innate watchfulness and apprehension of danger
+seemed to be blended even with their slumbers.
+
+As the two girls came near the encampment, Hetty uttered a slight
+exclamation, on catching a view of the person of her father. He was
+seated on the ground with his back to a tree, and Hurry stood near him
+indolently whittling a twig. Apparently they were as much at liberty as
+any others in or about the camp, and one unaccustomed to Indian usages
+would have mistaken them for visitors, instead of supposing them to
+be captives. Wah-ta-Wah led her new friend quite near them, and then
+modestly withdrew, that her own presence might be no restraint on her
+feelings. But Hetty was not sufficiently familiar with caresses or
+outward demonstrations of fondness, to indulge in any outbreaking of
+feeling. She merely approached and stood at her father's side without
+speaking, resembling a silent statue of filial affection. The old man
+expressed neither alarm nor surprise at her sudden appearance. In these
+particulars he had caught the stoicism of the Indians, well knowing
+that there was no more certain mode of securing their respect than by
+imitating their self-command. Nor did the savages themselves betray the
+least sign of surprise at this sudden appearance of a stranger among
+them. In a word, this arrival produced much less visible sensation,
+though occurring under circumstances so peculiar, than would be seen in
+a village of higher pretensions to civilization did an ordinary traveler
+drive up to the door of its principal inn.
+
+Still a few warriors collected, and it was evident by the manner in
+which they glanced at Hetty as they conversed together, that she was
+the subject of their discourse, and probable that the reasons of her
+unlooked-for appearance were matters of discussion. This phlegm of
+manner is characteristic of the North American Indian--some say of his
+white successor also--but, in this case much should be attributed to the
+peculiar situation in which the party was placed. The force in the Ark,
+the presence of Chingachgook excepted, was well known, no tribe or body
+of troops was believed to be near, and vigilant eyes were posted round
+the entire lake, watching day and night the slightest movement of those
+whom it would not be exaggerated now to term the besieged.
+
+Hutter was inwardly much moved by the conduct of Hetty, though he
+affected so much indifference of manner. He recollected her gentle
+appeal to him before he left the Ark, and misfortune rendered that of
+weight which might have been forgotten amid the triumph of success. Then
+he knew the simple, single-hearted fidelity of his child, and understood
+why she had come, and the total disregard of self that reigned in all
+her acts.
+
+"This is not well, Hetty," he said, deprecating the consequences to the
+girl herself more than any other evil. "These are fierce Iroquois, and
+are as little apt to forget an injury, as a favor."
+
+"Tell me, father--" returned the girl, looking furtively about her as
+if fearful of being overheard, "did God let you do the cruel errand
+on which you came? I want much to know this, that I may speak to the
+Indians plainly, if he did not."
+
+"You should not have come hither, Hetty; these brutes will not
+understand your nature or your intentions!"
+
+"How was it, father; neither you nor Hurry seems to have any thing that
+looks like scalps."
+
+"If that will set your mind at peace, child, I can answer you, no. I had
+caught the young creatur' who came here with you, but her screeches soon
+brought down upon me a troop of the wild cats, that was too much for any
+single Christian to withstand. If that will do you any good, we are as
+innocent of having taken a scalp, this time, as I make no doubt we shall
+also be innocent of receiving the bounty."
+
+"Thank God for that, father! Now I can speak boldly to the Iroquois, and
+with an easy conscience. I hope Hurry, too, has not been able to harm
+any of the Indians?"
+
+"Why, as to that matter, Hetty," returned the individual in question,
+"you've put it pretty much in the natyve character of the religious
+truth. Hurry has not been able, and that is the long and short of it.
+I've seen many squalls, old fellow, both on land and on the water, but
+never did I feel one as lively and as snappish as that which come down
+upon us, night afore last, in the shape of an Indian hurrah-boys! Why,
+Hetty, you're no great matter at a reason, or an idee that lies a little
+deeper than common, but you're human and have some human notions--now
+I'll just ask you to look at them circumstances. Here was old Tom, your
+father, and myself, bent on a legal operation, as is to be seen in the
+words of the law and the proclamation; thinking no harm; when we were
+set upon by critturs that were more like a pack of hungry wolves than
+mortal savages even, and there they had us tethered like two sheep, in
+less time than it has taken me to tell you the story."
+
+"You are free now, Hurry," returned Hetty, glancing timidly at the fine
+unfettered limbs of the young giant--"You have no cords, or withes, to
+pain your arms, or legs, now."
+
+"Not I, Hetty. Natur' is natur', and freedom is natur', too. My limbs
+have a free look, but that's pretty much the amount of it, sin' I can't
+use them in the way I should like. Even these trees have eyes; ay, and
+tongues too; for was the old man, here, or I, to start one single rod
+beyond our gaol limits, sarvice would be put on the bail afore we could
+'gird up our loins' for a race, and, like as not, four or five rifle
+bullets would be travelling arter us, carrying so many invitations to
+curb our impatience. There isn't a gaol in the colony as tight as this
+we are now in; for I've tried the vartues of two or three on 'em, and I
+know the mater'als they are made of, as well as the men that made 'em;
+takin' down being the next step in schoolin', to puttin' up, in all such
+fabrications."
+
+Lest the reader should get an exaggerated opinion of Hurry's demerits
+from this boastful and indiscreet revelation, it may be well to say that
+his offences were confined to assaults and batteries, for several
+of which he had been imprisoned, when, as he has just said, he often
+escaped by demonstrating the flimsiness of the constructions in which he
+was confined, by opening for himself doors in spots where the architects
+had neglected to place them. But Hetty had no knowledge of gaols, and
+little of the nature of crimes, beyond what her unadulterated and almost
+instinctive perceptions of right and wrong taught her, and this sally
+of the rude being who had spoken was lost upon her. She understood his
+general meaning, however, and answered in reference to that alone.
+
+"It's so best, Hurry," she said. "It is best father and you should be
+quiet and peaceable, 'till I have spoken to the Iroquois, when all will
+be well and happy. I don't wish either of you to follow, but leave me to
+myself. As soon as all is settled, and you are at liberty to go back to
+the castle, I will come and let you know it."
+
+Hetty spoke with so much simple earnestness, seemed so confident of
+success, and wore so high an air of moral feeling and truth, that
+both the listeners felt more disposed to attach an importance to her
+mediation, than might otherwise have happened. When she manifested an
+intention to quit them, therefore, they offered no obstacle, though they
+saw she was about to join the group of chiefs who were consulting apart,
+seemingly on the manner and motive of her own sudden appearance.
+
+When Hist--for so we love best to call her--quitted her companion, she
+strayed near one or two of the elder warriors, who had shown her most
+kindness in her captivity, the principal man of whom had even offered to
+adopt her as his child if she would consent to become a Huron. In taking
+this direction, the shrewd girl did so to invite inquiry. She was too
+well trained in the habits of her people to obtrude the opinions of one
+of her sex and years on men and warriors, but nature had furnished
+a tact and ingenuity that enabled her to attract the attention she
+desired, without wounding the pride of those to whom it was her duty to
+defer and respect. Even her affected indifference stimulated curiosity,
+and Hetty had hardly reached the side of her father, before the Delaware
+girl was brought within the circle of the warriors, by a secret but
+significant gesture. Here she was questioned as to the person of her
+companion, and the motives that had brought her to the camp. This
+was all that Hist desired. She explained the manner in which she had
+detected the weakness of Hetty's reason, rather exaggerating than
+lessening the deficiency in her intellect, and then she related in
+general terms the object of the girl in venturing among her enemies.
+The effect was all that the speaker expected, her account investing the
+person and character of their visitor with a sacredness and respect that
+she well knew would prove her protection. As soon as her own purpose was
+attained, Hist withdrew to a distance, where, with female consideration
+and a sisterly tenderness she set about the preparation of a meal, to be
+offered to her new friend as soon as the latter might be at liberty to
+partake of it. While thus occupied, however, the ready girl in no degree
+relaxed in her watchfulness, noting every change of countenance among
+the chiefs, every movement of Hetty's, and the smallest occurrence that
+could be likely to affect her own interests, or that of her new friend.
+
+As Hetty approached the chiefs they opened their little circle, with an
+ease and deference of manner that would have done credit to men of more
+courtly origin. A fallen tree lay near, and the oldest of the warriors
+made a quiet sign for the girl to be seated on it, taking his place at
+her side with the gentleness of a father. The others arranged themselves
+around the two with grave dignity, and then the girl, who had sufficient
+observation to perceive that such a course was expected of her, began
+to reveal the object of her visit. The moment she opened her mouth to
+speak, however, the old chief gave a gentle sign for her to forbear,
+said a few words to one of his juniors, and then waited in silent
+patience until the latter had summoned Hist to the party. This
+interruption proceeded from the chief's having discovered that there
+existed a necessity for an interpreter, few of the Hurons present
+understanding the English language, and they but imperfectly.
+
+Wah-ta-Wah was not sorry to be called upon to be present at the
+interview, and least of all in the character in which she was now
+wanted. She was aware of the hazards she ran in attempting to deceive
+one or two of the party, but was none the less resolved to use every
+means that offered, and to practice every artifice that an Indian
+education could supply, to conceal the facts of the vicinity of her
+betrothed, and of the errand on which he had come. One unpracticed in
+the expedients and opinions of savage life would not have suspected the
+readiness of invention, the wariness of action, the high resolution, the
+noble impulses, the deep self-devotion, and the feminine disregard of
+self when the affections were concerned, that lay concealed beneath the
+demure looks, the mild eyes, and the sunny smiles of this young Indian
+beauty. As she approached them, the grim old warriors regarded her with
+pleasure, for they had a secret pride in the hope of engrafting so rare
+a scion on the stock of their own nation; adoption being as regularly
+practised, and as distinctly recognized among the tribes of America,
+as it ever had been among those nations that submit to the sway of the
+Civil Law.
+
+As soon as Hist was seated by the side of Hetty, the old chief desired
+her to ask "the fair young pale-face" what had brought her among the
+Iroquois, and what they could do to serve her.
+
+"Tell them, Hist, who I am--Thomas Hutter's youngest daughter; Thomas
+Hutter, the oldest of their two prisoners; he who owns the castle and
+the Ark, and who has the best right to be thought the owner of these
+hills, and that lake, since he has dwelt so long, and trapped so long,
+and fished so long, among them--They'll know whom you mean by Thomas
+Hutter, if you tell them, that. And then tell them that I've come here
+to convince them they ought not to harm father and Hurry, but let them
+go in peace, and to treat them as brethren rather than as enemies. Now
+tell them all this plainly, Hist, and fear nothing for yourself or me.
+God will protect us."
+
+Wah-ta-Wah did as the other desired, taking care to render the words of
+her friend as literally as possible into the Iroquois tongue, a language
+she used with a readiness almost equal to that with which she spoke her
+own. The chiefs heard this opening explanation with grave decorum, the
+two who had a little knowledge of English intimating their satisfaction
+with the interpreter by furtive but significant glances of the eyes.
+
+"And, now, Hist," continued Hetty, as soon as it was intimated to her
+that she might proceed, "and, now, Hist, I wish you to tell these red
+men, word for word, what I am about to say. Tell them first, that father
+and Hurry came here with an intention to take as many scalps as they
+could, for the wicked governor and the province have offered money for
+scalps, whether of warriors, or women, men or children, and the love of
+gold was too strong for their hearts to withstand it. Tell them this,
+dear Hist, just as you have heard it from me, word for word."
+
+Wah-ta-Wah hesitated about rendering this speech as literally as had
+been desired, but detecting the intelligence of those who understood
+English, and apprehending even a greater knowledge than they actually
+possessed she found herself compelled to comply. Contrary to what a
+civilized man would have expected, the admission of the motives and of
+the errands of their prisoners produced no visible effect on either the
+countenances or the feelings of the listeners. They probably considered
+the act meritorious, and that which neither of them would have hesitated
+to perform in his own person, he would not be apt to censure in another.
+
+"And, now, Hist," resumed Hetty, as soon as she perceived that her first
+speeches were understood by the chiefs, "you can tell them more. They
+know that father and Hurry did not succeed, and therefore they can bear
+them no grudge for any harm that has been done. If they had slain their
+children and wives it would not alter the matter, and I'm not certain
+that what I am about to tell them would not have more weight had there
+been mischief done. But ask them first, Hist, if they know there is a
+God, who reigns over the whole earth, and is ruler and chief of all who
+live, let them be red, or white, or what color they may?"
+
+Wah-ta-Wah looked a little surprised at this question, for the idea of
+the Great Spirit is seldom long absent from the mind of an Indian girl.
+She put the question as literally as possible, however, and received a
+grave answer in the affirmative.
+
+"This is right," continued Hetty, "and my duty will now be light. This
+Great Spirit, as you call our God, has caused a book to be written,
+that we call a Bible, and in this book have been set down all his
+commandments, and his holy will and pleasure, and the rules by which all
+men are to live, and directions how to govern the thoughts even, and
+the wishes, and the will. Here, this is one of these holy books, and
+you must tell the chiefs what I am about to read to them from its sacred
+pages."
+
+As Hetty concluded, she reverently unrolled a small English Bible from
+its envelope of coarse calico, treating the volume with the sort of
+external respect that a Romanist would be apt to show to a religious
+relic. As she slowly proceeded in her task the grim warriors watched
+each movement with riveted eyes, and when they saw the little volume
+appear a slight expression of surprise escaped one or two of them. But
+Hetty held it out towards them in triumph, as if she expected the sight
+would produce a visible miracle, and then, without betraying either
+surprise or mortification at the Stoicism of the Indian, she turned
+eagerly to her new friend, in order to renew the discourse.
+
+"This is the sacred volume, Hist," she said--"and these words, and
+lines, and verses, and chapters, all came from God."
+
+"Why Great Spirit no send book to Injin, too?" demanded Hist, with the
+directness of a mind that was totally unsophisticated.
+
+"Why?" answered Hetty, a little bewildered by a question so unexpected.
+"Why?--Ah! you know the Indians don't know how to read."
+
+If Hist was not satisfied with this explanation, she did not deem the
+point of sufficient importance to be pressed. Simply bending her body,
+in a gentle admission of the truth of what she heard, she sat patiently
+awaiting the further arguments of the pale-face enthusiast.
+
+"You can tell these chiefs that throughout this book, men are ordered to
+forgive their enemies; to treat them as they would brethren; and never
+to injure their fellow creatures, more especially on account of revenge
+or any evil passions. Do you think you can tell them this, so that they
+will understand it, Hist?"
+
+"Tell him well enough, but he no very easy to understand." Hist then
+conveyed the ideas of Hetty, in the best manner she could, to the
+attentive Indians, who heard her words with some such surprise as an
+American of our own times would be apt to betray at a suggestion that
+the great modern but vacillating ruler of things human, public opinion,
+might be wrong. One or two of their number, however, having met with
+missionaries, said a few words in explanation, and then the group gave
+all its attention to the communications that were to follow. Before
+Hetty resumed she inquired earnestly of Hist if the chiefs had
+understood her, and receiving an evasive answer, was fain to be
+satisfied.
+
+"I will now read to the warriors some of the verses that it is good for
+them to know," continued the girl, whose manner grew more solemn and
+earnest as she proceeded--"and they will remember that they are the very
+words of the Great Spirit. First, then, ye are commanded to 'love thy
+neighbor as Thyself.' Tell them that, dear Hist."
+
+"Neighbor, for Injin, no mean pale-face," answered the Delaware girl,
+with more decision than she had hitherto thought it necessary to use.
+"Neighbor mean Iroquois for Iroquois, Mohican for Mohican, Pale-face for
+pale face. No need tell chief any thing else."
+
+"You forget, Hist, these are the words of the Great Spirit, and
+the chiefs must obey them as well as others. Here is another
+commandment--'Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him
+the other also.'"
+
+"What that mean?" demanded Hist, with the quickness of lightning.
+
+Hetty explained that it was an order not to resent injuries, but rather
+to submit to receive fresh wrongs from the offender.
+
+"And hear this, too, Hist," she added. "'Love your enemies, bless them
+that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
+despitefully use you and persecute you.'"
+
+By this time Hetty had become excited; her eye gleamed with the
+earnestness of her feelings, her cheeks flushed, and her voice, usually
+so low and modulated, became stronger and more impressive. With the
+Bible she had been early made familiar by her mother, and she now turned
+from passage to passage with surprising rapidity, taking care to cull
+such verses as taught the sublime lessons of Christian charity and
+Christian forgiveness. To translate half she said, in her pious
+earnestness, Wah-ta-Wah would have found impracticable, had she made the
+effort, but wonder held her tongue tied, equally with the chiefs, and
+the young, simple-minded enthusiast had fairly become exhausted with
+her own efforts, before the other opened her mouth, again, to utter a
+syllable. Then, indeed, the Delaware girl gave a brief translation of
+the substance of what had been both read and said, confining herself to
+one or two of the more striking of the verses, those that had struck her
+own imagination as the most paradoxical, and which certainly would have
+been the most applicable to the case, could the uninstructed minds of
+the listeners embrace the great moral truths they conveyed.
+
+It will be scarcely necessary to tell the reader the effect that
+such novel duties would be likely to produce among a group of Indian
+warriors, with whom it was a species of religious principle never to
+forget a benefit, or to forgive an injury. Fortunately, the previous
+explanations of Hist had prepared the minds of the Hurons for something
+extravagant, and most of that which to them seemed inconsistent and
+paradoxical, was accounted for by the fact that the speaker possessed
+a mind that was constituted differently from those of most of the
+human race. Still there were one or two old men who had heard similar
+doctrines from the missionaries, and these felt a desire to occupy an
+idle moment by pursuing a subject that they found so curious.
+
+"This is the Good Book of the pale-faces," observed one of these
+chiefs, taking the volume from the unresisting hands of Hetty, who gazed
+anxiously at his face while he turned the leaves, as if she expected to
+witness some visible results from the circumstance. "This is the law by
+which my white brethren professes to live?"
+
+Hist, to whom this question was addressed, if it might be considered as
+addressed to any one, in particular, answered simply in the affirmative;
+adding that both the French of the Canadas, and the Yengeese of the
+British provinces equally admitted its authority, and affected to revere
+its principles.
+
+"Tell my young sister," said the Huron, looking directly at Hist, "that
+I will open my mouth and say a few words."
+
+"The Iroquois chief go to speak--my pale-face friend listen," said Hist.
+
+"I rejoice to hear it!" exclaimed Hetty. "God has touched his heart, and
+he will now let father and Hurry go."
+
+"This is the pale-face law," resumed the chief. "It tells him to do good
+to them that hurt him, and when his brother asks him for his rifle to
+give him the powder horn, too. Such is the pale-face law?"
+
+"Not so--not so--" answered Hetty earnestly, when these words had been
+interpreted--"There is not a word about rifles in the whole book, and
+powder and bullets give offence to the Great Spirit."
+
+"Why then does the pale-face use them? If he is ordered to give double
+to him that asks only for one thing, why does he take double from the
+poor Indian who ask for no thing. He comes from beyond the rising sun,
+with this book in his hand, and he teaches the red man to read it, but
+why does he forget himself all it says? When the Indian gives, he is
+never satisfied; and now he offers gold for the scalps of our women and
+children, though he calls us beasts if we take the scalp of a warrior
+killed in open war. My name is Rivenoak."
+
+When Hetty had got this formidable question fairly presented to her mind
+in the translation, and Hist did her duty with more than usual
+readiness on this occasion, it scarcely need be said that she was sorely
+perplexed. Abler heads than that of this poor girl have frequently been
+puzzled by questions of a similar drift, and it is not surprising that
+with all her own earnestness and sincerity she did not know what answer
+to make.
+
+"What shall I tell them, Hist," she asked imploringly--"I know that all
+I have read from the book is true, and yet it wouldn't seem so, would
+it, by the conduct of those to whom the book was given?"
+
+"Give 'em pale-face reason," returned Hist, ironically--"that always
+good for one side; though he bad for t'other."
+
+"No--no--Hist, there can't be two sides to truth--and yet it does seem
+strange! I'm certain I have read the verses right, and no one would be
+so wicked as to print the word of God wrong. That can never be, Hist."
+
+"Well, to poor Injin girl, it seem every thing can be to pale-faces,"
+returned the other, coolly. "One time 'ey say white, and one time 'ey
+say black. Why never can be?"
+
+Hetty was more and more embarrassed, until overcome with the
+apprehension that she had failed in her object, and that the lives of
+her father and Hurry would be the forfeit of some blunder of her own,
+she burst into tears. From that moment the manner of Hist lost all its
+irony and cool indifference, and she became the fond caressing friend
+again. Throwing her arms around the afflicted girl, she attempted
+to soothe her sorrows by the scarcely ever failing remedy of female
+sympathy.
+
+"Stop cry--no cry--" she said, wiping the tears from the face of Hetty,
+as she would have performed the same office for a child, and stopping
+to press her occasionally to her own warm bosom with the affection of
+a sister. "Why you so trouble? You no make he book, if he be wrong, and
+you no make he pale-face if he wicked. There wicked red man, and wicked
+white man--no colour all good--no colour all wicked. Chiefs know that
+well enough."
+
+Hetty soon recovered from this sudden burst of grief, and then her
+mind reverted to the purpose of her visit, with all its single-hearted
+earnestness. Perceiving that the grim looking chiefs were still standing
+around her in grave attention, she hoped that another effort to convince
+them of the right might be successful. "Listen, Hist," she said,
+struggling to suppress her sobs, and to speak distinctly--"Tell the
+chiefs that it matters not what the wicked do--right is right--The words
+of The Great Spirit are the words of The Great Spirit--and no one can go
+harmless for doing an evil act, because another has done it before him.
+'Render good for evil,' says this book, and that is the law for the red
+man as well as for the white man."
+
+"Never hear such law among Delaware, or among Iroquois--" answered
+Hist soothingly. "No good to tell chiefs any such laws as dat. Tell 'em
+somet'ing they believe."
+
+Hist was about to proceed, notwithstanding, when a tap on the shoulder
+from the finger of the oldest chief caused her to look up. She then
+perceived that one of the warriors had left the group, and was already
+returning to it with Hutter and Hurry. Understanding that the two
+last were to become parties in the inquiry, she became mute, with
+the unhesitating obedience of an Indian woman. In a few seconds the
+prisoners stood face to face with the principal men of the captors.
+
+"Daughter," said the senior chief to the young Delaware, "ask this grey
+beard why he came into our camp?"
+
+The question was put by Hist, in her own imperfect English, but in a
+way that was easy to be understood. Hutter was too stern and obdurate
+by nature to shrink from the consequences of any of his acts, and he
+was also too familiar with the opinions of the savages not to understand
+that nothing was to be gained by equivocation or an unmanly dread of
+their anger. Without hesitating, therefore, he avowed the purpose
+with which he had landed, merely justifying it by the fact that the
+government of the province had bid high for scalps. This frank avowal
+was received by the Iroquois with evident satisfaction, not so much,
+however, on account of the advantage it gave them in a moral point of
+view, as by its proving that they had captured a man worthy of occupying
+their thoughts and of becoming a subject of their revenge. Hurry,
+when interrogated, confessed the truth, though he would have been
+more disposed to concealment than his sterner companion, did the
+circumstances very well admit of its adoption. But he had tact enough to
+discover that equivocation would be useless, at that moment, and he made
+a merit of necessity by imitating a frankness, which, in the case
+of Hutter, was the offspring of habits of indifference acting on
+a disposition that was always ruthless, and reckless of personal
+consequences.
+
+As soon as the chiefs had received the answers to their questions, they
+walked away in silence, like men who deemed the matter disposed of,
+all Hetty's dogmas being thrown away on beings trained in violence from
+infancy to manhood. Hetty and Hist were now left alone with Hutter and
+Hurry, no visible restraint being placed on the movements of either;
+though all four, in fact, were vigilantly and unceasingly watched. As
+respects the men, care was had to prevent them from getting possession
+of any of the rifles that lay scattered about, their own included; and
+there all open manifestations of watchfulness ceased. But they, who
+were so experienced in Indian practices, knew too well how great was the
+distance between appearances and reality, to become the dupes of this
+seeming carelessness. Although both thought incessantly of the means of
+escape, and this without concert, each was aware of the uselessness
+of attempting any project of the sort that was not deeply laid, and
+promptly executed. They had been long enough in the encampment, and were
+sufficiently observant to have ascertained that Hist, also, was a sort
+of captive, and, presuming on the circumstance, Hutter spoke in her
+presence more openly than he might otherwise have thought it prudent to
+do; inducing Hurry to be equally unguarded by his example.
+
+"I'll not blame you, Hetty, for coming on this errand, which was well
+meant if not very wisely planned," commenced the father, seating himself
+by the side of his daughter and taking her hand; a sign of affection
+that this rude being was accustomed to manifest to this particular
+child. "But preaching, and the Bible, are not the means to turn an
+Indian from his ways. Has Deerslayer sent any message; or has he any
+scheme by which he thinks to get us free?"
+
+"Ay, that's the substance of it!" put in Hurry. "If you can help us,
+gal, to half a mile of freedom, or even a good start of a short quarter,
+I'll answer for the rest. Perhaps the old man may want a little more,
+but for one of my height and years that will meet all objections."
+
+Hetty looked distressed, turning her eyes from one to the other, but she
+had no answer to give to the question of the reckless Hurry.
+
+"Father," she said, "neither Deerslayer nor Judith knew of my coming
+until I had left the Ark. They are afraid the Iroquois will make a raft
+and try to get off to the hut, and think more of defending that than of
+coming to aid you."
+
+"No--no--no--" said Hist hurriedly, though in a low voice, and with her
+face bent towards the earth, in order to conceal from those whom
+she knew to be watching them the fact of her speaking at all.
+"No--no--no--Deerslayer different man. He no t'ink of defending 'self,
+with friend in danger. Help one another, and all get to hut."
+
+"This sounds well, old Tom," said Hurry, winking and laughing, though he
+too used the precaution to speak low--"Give me a ready witted squaw
+for a fri'nd, and though I'll not downright defy an Iroquois, I think I
+would defy the devil."
+
+"No talk loud," said Hist. "Some Iroquois got Yengeese tongue, and all
+got Yengeese ear."
+
+"Have we a friend in you, young woman?" enquired Hutter with an
+increasing interest in the conference. "If so, you may calculate on a
+solid reward, and nothing will be easier than to send you to your own
+tribe, if we can once fairly get you off with us to the castle. Give us
+the Ark and the canoes, and we can command the lake, spite of all the
+savages in the Canadas. Nothing but artillery could drive us out of the
+castle, if we can get back to it.
+
+"S'pose 'ey come ashore to take scalp?" retorted Hist, with cool irony,
+at which the girl appeared to be more expert than is common for her sex.
+
+"Ay--ay--that was a mistake; but there is little use in lamentations,
+and less still, young woman, in flings."
+
+"Father," said Hetty, "Judith thinks of breaking open the big chest,
+in hopes of finding something in that which may buy your freedom of the
+savages."
+
+A dark look came over Hutter at the announcement of this fact, and he
+muttered his dissatisfaction in a way to render it intelligible enough.
+
+"What for no break open chest?" put in Hist. "Life sweeter than old
+chest--scalp sweeter than old chest. If no tell darter to break him
+open, Wah-ta-Wah no help him to run away."
+
+"Ye know not what ye ask--ye are but silly girls, and the wisest way for
+ye both is to speak of what ye understand and to speak of nothing else.
+I little like this cold neglect of the savages, Hurry; it's a proof that
+they think of something serious, and if we are to do any thing, we must
+do it soon. Can we count on this young woman, think you?"
+
+"Listen--" said Hist quickly, and with an earnestness that proved how
+much her feelings were concerned--"Wah-ta-Wah no Iroquois--All over
+Delaware--got Delaware heart--Delaware feeling. She prisoner, too. One
+prisoner help t'udder prisoner. No good to talk more, now. Darter stay
+with fader--Wah-ta-Wah come and see friend--all look right--Then tell
+what he do."
+
+This was said in a low voice, but distinctly, and in a manner to make an
+impression. As soon as it was uttered the girl arose and left the
+group, walking composedly towards the hut she occupied, as if she had no
+further interest in what might pass between the pale-faces.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII.
+
+
+    "She speaks much of her father; says she hears,
+    There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her breast;
+    Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
+    That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,
+    Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
+    The hearers to collection;"
+
+    Hamlet, IV.v.4-9.
+
+We left the occupants of the castle and the ark, buried in sleep. Once,
+or twice, in the course of the night, it is true, Deerslayer or the
+Delaware, arose and looked out upon the tranquil lake; when, finding
+all safe, each returned to his pallet, and slept like a man who was not
+easily deprived of his natural rest. At the first signs of the dawn the
+former arose, however, and made his personal arrangements for the day;
+though his companion, whose nights had not been tranquil or without
+disturbances of late, continued on his blanket until the sun had fairly
+risen; Judith, too, was later than common that morning, for the earlier
+hours of the night had brought her little of either refreshment or
+sleep. But ere the sun had shown himself over the eastern hills these
+too were up and afoot, even the tardy in that region seldom remaining on
+their pallets after the appearance of the great luminary. Chingachgook
+was in the act of arranging his forest toilet, when Deerslayer entered
+the cabin of the Ark and threw him a few coarse but light summer
+vestments that belonged to Hutter.
+
+"Judith hath given me them for your use, chief," said the latter, as he
+cast the jacket and trousers at the feet of the Indian, "for it's ag'in
+all prudence and caution to be seen in your war dress and paint. Wash
+off all them fiery streaks from your cheeks, put on these garments, and
+here is a hat, such as it is, that will give you an awful oncivilized
+sort of civilization, as the missionaries call it. Remember that Hist is
+at hand, and what we do for the maiden must be done while we are
+doing for others. I know it's ag'in your gifts and your natur' to wear
+clothes, unless they are cut and carried in a red man's fashion, but
+make a vartue of necessity and put these on at once, even if they do
+rise a little in your throat."
+
+Chingachgook, or the Serpent, eyed the vestments with strong disgust;
+but he saw the usefulness of the disguise, if not its absolute
+necessity. Should the Iroquois discover a red man, in or about the
+Castle, it might, indeed, place them more on their guard, and give
+their suspicions a direction towards their female captive. Any thing was
+better than a failure, as it regarded his betrothed, and, after turning
+the different garments round and round, examining them with a species
+of grave irony, affecting to draw them on in a way that defeated itself,
+and otherwise manifesting the reluctance of a young savage to confine
+his limbs in the usual appliances of civilized life, the chief submitted
+to the directions of his companion, and finally stood forth, so far
+as the eye could detect, a red man in colour alone. Little was to be
+apprehended from this last peculiarity, however, the distance from the
+shore, and the want of glasses preventing any very close scrutiny,
+and Deerslayer, himself, though of a brighter and fresher tint, had a
+countenance that was burnt by the sun to a hue scarcely less red than
+that of his Mohican companion. The awkwardness of the Delaware in his
+new attire caused his friend to smile more than once that day, but he
+carefully abstained from the use of any of those jokes which would have
+been bandied among white men on such an occasion, the habits of a chief,
+the dignity of a warrior on his first path, and the gravity of the
+circumstances in which they were placed uniting to render so much levity
+out of season.
+
+The meeting at the morning meal of the three islanders, if we may use
+the term, was silent, grave and thoughtful. Judith showed by her looks
+that she had passed an unquiet night, while the two men had the future
+before them, with its unseen and unknown events. A few words of courtesy
+passed between Deerslayer and the girl, in the course of the breakfast,
+but no allusion was made to their situation. At length Judith, whose
+heart was full, and whose novel feelings disposed her to entertain
+sentiments more gentle and tender than common, introduced the subject,
+and this in a way to show how much of her thoughts it had occupied, in
+the course of the last sleepless night.
+
+"It would be dreadful, Deerslayer," the girl abruptly exclaimed, "should
+anything serious befall my father and Hetty! We cannot remain quietly
+here and leave them in the hands of the Iroquois, without bethinking us
+of some means of serving them."
+
+"I'm ready, Judith, to sarve them, and all others who are in trouble,
+could the way to do it be p'inted out. It's no trifling matter to fall
+into red-skin hands, when men set out on an ar'n'd like that which took
+Hutter and Hurry ashore; that I know as well as another, and I wouldn't
+wish my worst inimy in such a strait, much less them with whom I've
+journeyed, and eat, and slept. Have you any scheme, that you would like
+to have the Sarpent and me indivour to carry out?"
+
+"I know of no other means to release the prisoners, than by bribing
+the Iroquois. They are not proof against presents, and we might offer
+enough, perhaps, to make them think it better to carry away what to them
+will be rich gifts, than to carry away poor prisoners; if, indeed, they
+should carry them away at all!"
+
+"This is well enough, Judith; yes, it's well enough, if the inimy is
+to be bought, and we can find articles to make the purchase with. Your
+father has a convenient lodge, and it is most cunningly placed, though
+it doesn't seem overstock'd with riches that will be likely to buy his
+ransom. There's the piece he calls Killdeer, might count for something,
+and I understand there's a keg of powder about, which might be a
+make-weight, sartain; and yet two able bodied men are not to be bought
+off for a trifle--besides--"
+
+"Besides what?" demanded Judith impatiently, observing that the other
+hesitated to proceed, probably from a reluctance to distress her.
+
+"Why, Judith, the Frenchers offer bounties as well as our own side, and
+the price of two scalps would purchase a keg of powder, and a rifle;
+though I'll not say one of the latter altogether as good as Killdeer,
+there, which your father va'nts as uncommon, and unequalled, like. But
+fair powder, and a pretty sartain rifle; then the red men are not the
+expartest in fire arms, and don't always know the difference atwixt that
+which is ra'al, and that which is seeming."
+
+"This is horrible!" muttered the girl, struck by the homely manner in
+which her companion was accustomed to state his facts. "But you overlook
+my own clothes, Deerslayer, and they, I think, might go far with the
+women of the Iroquois."
+
+"No doubt they would; no doubt they would, Judith," returned the other,
+looking at her keenly, as if he would ascertain whether she were really
+capable of making such a sacrifice. "But, are you sartain, gal, you
+could find it in your heart to part with your own finery for such a
+purpose? Many is the man who has thought he was valiant till danger
+stared him in the face; I've known them, too, that consaited they were
+kind and ready to give away all they had to the poor, when they've
+been listening to other people's hard heartedness; but whose fists
+have clench'd as tight as the riven hickory when it came to downright
+offerings of their own. Besides, Judith, you're handsome--uncommon in
+that way, one might observe and do no harm to the truth--and they that
+have beauty, like to have that which will adorn it. Are you sartain you
+could find it in your heart to part with your own finery?"
+
+The soothing allusion to the personal charms of the girl was well timed,
+to counteract the effect produced by the distrust that the young man
+expressed of Judith's devotion to her filial duties. Had another said
+as much as Deerslayer, the compliment would most probably have been
+overlooked in the indignation awakened by the doubts, but even the
+unpolished sincerity, that so often made this simple minded hunter bare
+his thoughts, had a charm for the girl; and while she colored, and for
+an instant her eyes flashed fire, she could not find it in her heart
+to be really angry with one whose very soul seemed truth and manly
+kindness. Look her reproaches she did, but conquering the desire to
+retort, she succeeded in answering in a mild and friendly manner.
+
+"You must keep all your favorable opinions for the Delaware girls,
+Deerslayer, if you seriously think thus of those of your own colour,"
+she said, affecting to laugh. "But try me; if you find that I regret
+either ribbon or feather, silk or muslin, then may you think what you
+please of my heart, and say what you think."
+
+"That's justice! The rarest thing to find on 'arth is a truly just man.
+So says Tamenund, the wisest prophet of the Delawares, and so all must
+think that have occasion to see, and talk, and act among Mankind. I love
+a just man, Sarpent. His eyes are never covered with darkness towards
+his inimies, while they are all sunshine and brightness towards his
+fri'nds. He uses the reason that God has given him, and he uses it with
+a feelin' of his being ordered to look at, and to consider things as
+they are, and not as he wants them to be. It's easy enough to find men
+who call themselves just, but it's wonderful oncommon to find them that
+are the very thing, in fact. How often have I seen Indians, gal, who
+believed they were lookin' into a matter agreeable to the will of the
+Great Spirit, when in truth they were only striving to act up to their
+own will and pleasure, and this, half the time, with a temptation to
+go wrong that could no more be seen by themselves, than the stream that
+runs in the next valley can be seen by us through yonder mountain',
+though any looker on might have discovered it as plainly as we can
+discover the parch that are swimming around this hut."
+
+"Very true, Deerslayer," rejoined Judith, losing every trace of
+displeasure in a bright smile--"very true, and I hope to see you act on
+this love of justice in all matters in which I am concerned. Above all,
+I hope you will judge for yourself, and not believe every evil story
+that a prating idler like Hurry Harry may have to tell, that goes to
+touch the good name of any young woman, who may not happen to have the
+same opinion of his face and person that the blustering gallant has of
+himself."
+
+"Hurry Harry's idees do not pass for gospel with me, Judith; but even
+worse than he may have eyes and ears," returned the other gravely.
+
+"Enough of this!" exclaimed Judith, with flashing eye and a flush that
+mounted to her temples, "and more of my father and his ransom. 'Tis as
+you say, Deerslayer; the Indians will not be likely to give up their
+prisoners without a heavier bribe than my clothes can offer, and
+father's rifle and powder. There is the chest."
+
+"Ay, there is the chest as you say, Judith, and when the question gets
+to be between a secret and a scalp, I should think most men would prefer
+keeping the last. Did your father ever give you any downright commands
+consarning that chist?"
+
+
+"Never. He has always appeared to think its locks, and its steel bands,
+and its strength, its best protection."
+
+"'Tis a rare chest, and altogether of curious build," returned
+Deerslayer, rising and approaching the thing in question, on which
+he seated himself, with a view to examine it with greater ease.
+"Chingachgook, this is no wood that comes of any forest that you or I
+have ever trailed through! 'Tisn't the black walnut, and yet it's quite
+as comely, if not more so, did the smoke and the treatment give it fair
+play."
+
+The Delaware drew near, felt of the wood, examined its grain, endeavored
+to indent the surface with a nail, and passed his hand curiously over
+the steel bands, the heavy padlocks, and the other novel peculiarities
+of the massive box.
+
+"No--nothing like this grows in these regions," resumed Deerslayer.
+"I've seen all the oaks, both the maples, the elms, the bass woods, all
+the walnuts, the butternuts, and every tree that has a substance and
+colour, wrought into some form or other, but never have I before seen
+such a wood as this! Judith, the chest itself would buy your father's
+freedom, or Iroquois cur'osity isn't as strong as red-skin cur'osity, in
+general; especially in the matter of woods."
+
+"The purchase might be cheaper made, perhaps, Deerslayer. The chest is
+full, and it would be better to part with half than to part with the
+whole. Besides, father--I know not why--but father values that chest
+highly."
+
+"He would seem to prize what it holds more than the chest, itself,
+judging by the manner in which he treats the outside, and secures the
+inside. Here are three locks, Judith; is there no key?"
+
+"I've never seen one, and yet key there must be, since Hetty told us she
+had often seen the chest opened."
+
+"Keys no more lie in the air, or float on the water, than humans, gal;
+if there is a key, there must be a place in which it is kept."
+
+"That is true, and it might not be difficult to find it, did we dare to
+search!"
+
+"This is for you, Judith; it is altogether for you. The chist is your'n,
+or your father's; and Hutter is your father, not mine. Cur'osity is a
+woman's, and not a man's failing, and there you have got all the reasons
+before you. If the chist has articles for ransom, it seems to me they
+would be wisely used in redeeming their owner's life, or even in saving
+his scalp; but that is a matter for your judgment, and not for ourn.
+When the lawful owner of a trap, or a buck, or a canoe, isn't present,
+his next of kin becomes his riprisentyve by all the laws of the woods.
+We therefore leave you to say whether the chist shall, or shall not be
+opened."
+
+"I hope you do not believe I can hesitate, when my father's life's in
+danger, Deerslayer!"
+
+"Why, it's pretty much putting a scolding ag'in tears and mourning.
+It's not onreasonable to foretell that old Tom may find fault with
+what you've done, when he sees himself once more in his hut, here, but
+there's nothing unusual in men's falling out with what has been done for
+their own good; I dare to say that even the moon would seem a different
+thing from what it now does, could we look at it from the other side."
+
+"Deerslayer, if we can find the key, I will authorize you to open
+the chest, and to take such things from it as you may think will buy
+father's ransom."
+
+"First find the key, gal; we'll talk of the rest a'terwards. Sarpent,
+you've eyes like a fly, and a judgment that's seldom out. Can you help
+us in calculating where Floating Tom would be apt to keep the key of a
+chist that he holds to be as private as this?"
+
+The Delaware had taken no part in the discourse until he was thus
+directly appealed to, when he quitted the chest, which had continued to
+attract his attention, and cast about him for the place in which a key
+would be likely to be concealed under such circumstances. As Judith and
+Deerslayer were not idle the while, the whole three were soon engaged in
+an anxious and spirited search. As it was certain that the desired key
+was not to be found in any of the common drawers or closets, of which
+there were several in the building, none looked there, but all turned
+their inquiries to those places that struck them as ingenious hiding
+places, and more likely to be used for such a purpose. In this manner
+the outer room was thoroughly but fruitlessly examined, when they
+entered the sleeping apartment of Hutter. This part of the rude building
+was better furnished than the rest of the structure, containing several
+articles that had been especially devoted to the service of the deceased
+wife of its owner, but as Judith had all the rest of the keys, it was
+soon rummaged without bringing to light the particular key desired.
+
+They now entered the bed room of the daughters. Chingachgook was
+immediately struck with the contrast between the articles and the
+arrangement of that side of the room that might be called Judith's, and
+that which more properly belonged to Hetty. A slight exclamation escaped
+him, and pointing in each direction he alluded to the fact in a low
+voice, speaking to his friend in the Delaware tongue.
+
+"'Tis as you think, Sarpent," answered Deerslayer, whose remarks we
+always translate into English, preserving as much as possible of the
+peculiar phraseology and manner of the man, "'Tis just so, as any one
+may see, and 'tis all founded in natur'. One sister loves finery, some
+say overmuch; while t'other is as meek and lowly as God ever created
+goodness and truth. Yet, after all, I dare say that Judith has her
+vartues, and Hetty has her failin's."
+
+"And the 'Feeble-Mind' has seen the chist opened?" inquired
+Chingachgook, with curiosity in his glance.
+
+"Sartain; that much I've heard from her own lips; and, for that matter,
+so have you. It seems her father doesn't misgive her discretion, though
+he does that of his eldest darter."
+
+"Then the key is hid only from the Wild Rose?" for so Chingachgook
+had begun gallantly to term Judith, in his private discourse with his
+friend.
+
+"That's it! That's just it! One he trusts, and the other he doesn't.
+There's red and white in that, Sarpent, all tribes and nations agreeing
+in trusting some, and refusing to trust other some. It depends on
+character and judgment."
+
+"Where could a key be put, so little likely to be found by the Wild
+Rose, as among coarse clothes?"
+
+Deerslayer started, and turning to his friend with admiration expressed
+in every lineament of his face, he fairly laughed, in his silent but
+hearty manner, at the ingenuity and readiness of the conjecture.
+
+"Your name's well bestowed, Sarpent--yes, 'tis well bestowed! Sure
+enough, where would a lover of finery be so little likely to s'arch, as
+among garments as coarse and onseemly as these of poor Hetty's. I dares
+to say, Judith's delicate fingers haven't touched a bit of cloth
+as rough and oncomely as that petticoat, now, since she first made
+acquaintance with the officers! Yet, who knows? The key may be as likely
+to be on the same peg, as in any other place. Take down the garment,
+Delaware, and let us see if you are ra'ally a prophet." Chingachgook
+did as desired, but no key was found. A coarse pocket, apparently empty,
+hung on the adjoining peg, and this was next examined. By this time,
+the attention of Judith was called in that direction, and she spoke
+hurriedly and like one who wished to save unnecessary trouble.
+
+"Those are only the clothes of poor Hetty, dear simple girl!" she said,
+"Nothing we seek would be likely to be there."
+
+The words were hardly out of the handsome mouth of the speaker, when
+Chingachgook drew the desired key from the pocket. Judith was too quick
+of apprehension not to understand the reason a hiding place so simple
+and exposed had been used. The blood rushed to her face, as much with
+resentment, perhaps, as with shame, and she bit her lip, though she
+continued silent. Deerslayer and his friend now discovered the delicacy
+of men of native refinement, neither smiling or even by a glance
+betraying how completely he understood the motives and ingenuity of this
+clever artifice. The former, who had taken the key from the Indian, led
+the way into the adjoining room, and applying it to a lock ascertained
+that the right instrument had actually been found. There were three
+padlocks, each of which however was easily opened by this single key.
+Deerslayer removed them all, loosened the hasps, raised the lid a little
+to make certain it was loose, and then he drew back from the chest
+several feet, signing to his friend to follow.
+
+"This is a family chist, Judith," he said, "and 'tis like to hold family
+secrets. The Sarpent and I will go into the Ark, and look to the canoes,
+and paddles, and oars, while you can examine it by yourself, and find
+out whether any thing that will be a make-weight in a ransom is, or is
+not, among the articles. When you've got through give us a call, and
+we'll all sit in council together touching the valie of the articles."
+
+"Stop, Deerslayer," exclaimed the girl, as he was about to withdraw.
+"Not a single thing will I touch--I will not even raise the lid--unless
+you are present. Father and Hetty have seen fit to keep the inside of
+this chest a secret from me, and I am much too proud to pry into their
+hidden treasures unless it were for their own good. But on no account
+will I open the chest alone. Stay with me, then; I want witnesses of
+what I do."
+
+"I rather think, Sarpent, that the gal is right! Confidence and reliance
+beget security, but suspicion is like to make us all wary. Judith has a
+right to ask us to be present, and should the chist hold any of Master
+Hutter's secrets, they will fall into the keeping of two as close
+mouthed young men as are to be found. We will stay with you, Judith--but
+first let us take a look at the lake and the shore, for this chist will
+not be emptied in a minute."
+
+The two men now went out on the platform, and Deerslayer swept the shore
+with the glass, while the Indian gravely turned his eye on the water and
+the woods, in quest of any sign that might betray the machinations
+of their enemies. Nothing was visible, and assured of their temporary
+security, the three collected around the chest again, with the avowed
+object of opening it.
+
+Judith had held this chest and its unknown contents in a species of
+reverence as long as she could remember. Neither her father nor her
+mother ever mentioned it in her presence, and there appeared to be a
+silent convention that in naming the different objects that occasionally
+stood near it, or even lay on its lid, care should be had to avoid any
+allusion to the chest itself. Habit had rendered this so easy, and so
+much a matter of course, that it was only quite recently the girl had
+began even to muse on the singularity of the circumstance. But there had
+never been sufficient intimacy between Hutter and his eldest daughter to
+invite confidence. At times he was kind, but in general, with her more
+especially, he was stern and morose. Least of all had his authority been
+exercised in a way to embolden his child to venture on the liberty she
+was about to take, without many misgivings of the consequences, although
+the liberty proceeded from a desire to serve himself. Then Judith was
+not altogether free from a little superstition on the subject of this
+chest, which had stood a sort of tabooed relic before her eyes from
+childhood to the present hour. Nevertheless the time had come when
+it would seem that this mystery was to be explained, and that under
+circumstances, too, which left her very little choice in the matter.
+
+Finding that both her companions were watching her movements, in grave
+silence, Judith placed a hand on the lid and endeavored to raise it. Her
+strength, however, was insufficient, and it appeared to the girl, who
+was fully aware that all the fastenings were removed, that she was
+resisted in an unhallowed attempt by some supernatural power.
+
+"I cannot raise the lid, Deerslayer!" she said--"Had we not better give
+up the attempt, and find some other means of releasing the prisoners?"
+
+"Not so--Judith; not so, gal. No means are as sartain and easy, as a
+good bribe," answered the other. "As for the lid, 'tis held by nothing
+but its own weight, which is prodigious for so small a piece of wood,
+loaded with iron as it is."
+
+As Deerslayer spoke, he applied his own strength to the effort, and
+succeeded in raising the lid against the timbers of the house, where he
+took care to secure it by a sufficient prop. Judith fairly trembled
+as she cast her first glance at the interior, and she felt a temporary
+relief in discovering that a piece of canvas, that was carefully tucked
+in around the edges, effectually concealed all beneath it. The chest was
+apparently well stored, however, the canvas lying within an inch of the
+lid.
+
+"Here's a full cargo," said Deerslayer, eyeing the arrangement, "and
+we had needs go to work leisurely and at our ease. Sarpent, bring some
+stools while I spread this blanket on the floor, and then we'll begin
+work orderly and in comfort."
+
+The Delaware complied, Deerslayer civilly placed a stool for Judith,
+took one himself, and commenced the removal of the canvas covering.
+This was done deliberately, and in as cautious a manner as if it were
+believed that fabrics of a delicate construction lay hidden beneath.
+When the canvass was removed, the first articles that came in view were
+some of the habiliments of the male sex. They were of fine materials,
+and, according to the fashions of the age, were gay in colours and rich
+in ornaments. One coat in particular was of scarlet, and had button
+holes worked in gold thread. Still it was not military, but was part of
+the attire of a civilian of condition, at a period when social rank
+was rigidly respected in dress. Chingachgook could not refrain from an
+exclamation of pleasure, as soon as Deerslayer opened this coat and held
+it up to view, for, notwithstanding all his trained self-command, the
+splendor of the vestment was too much for the philosophy of an Indian.
+Deerslayer turned quickly, and he regarded his friend with momentary
+displeasure as this burst of weakness escaped him, and then he
+soliloquized, as was his practice whenever any strong feeling suddenly
+got the ascendancy.
+
+"'Tis his gift!--yes, 'tis the gift of a red-skin to love finery, and
+he is not to be blamed. This is an extr'ornary garment, too, and
+extr'ornary things get up extr'ornary feelin's. I think this will do,
+Judith, for the Indian heart is hardly to be found in all America that
+can withstand colours like these, and glitter like that. If this coat
+was ever made for your father, you've come honestly by the taste for
+finery, you have."
+
+"That coat was never made for father," answered the girl, quickly--"it
+is much too long, while father is short and square."
+
+"Cloth was plenty if it was, and glitter cheap," answered Deerslayer,
+with his silent, joyous laugh. "Sarpent, this garment was made for a man
+of your size, and I should like to see it on your shoulders."
+
+Chingachgook, nothing loath, submitted to the trial, throwing aside the
+coarse and thread bare jacket of Hutter, to deck his person in a coat
+that was originally intended for a gentleman. The transformation was
+ludicrous, but as men are seldom struck with incongruities in their own
+appearance, any more than in their own conduct, the Delaware studied
+this change in a common glass, by which Hutter was in the habit of
+shaving, with grave interest. At that moment he thought of Hist, and
+we owe it to truth, to say, though it may militate a little against the
+stern character of a warrior to avow it, that he wished he could be seen
+by her in his present improved aspect.
+
+"Off with it, Sarpent--off with it," resumed the inflexible Deerslayer.
+"Such garments as little become you as they would become me. Your gifts
+are for paint, and hawk's feathers, and blankets, and wampum, and mine
+are for doublets of skins, tough leggings, and sarviceable moccasins.
+I say moccasins, Judith, for though white, living as I do in the woods
+it's necessary to take to some of the practyces of the woods, for
+comfort's sake and cheapness."
+
+"I see no reason, Deerslayer, why one man may not wear a scarlet coat,
+as well as another," returned the girl. "I wish I could see you in this
+handsome garment."
+
+"See me in a coat fit for a Lord!--Well, Judith, if you wait till that
+day, you'll wait until you see me beyond reason and memory. No--no--gal,
+my gifts are my gifts, and I'll live and die in 'em, though I never
+bring down another deer, or spear another salmon. What have I done that
+you should wish to see me in such a flaunting coat, Judith?"
+
+"Because I think, Deerslayer, that the false-tongued and false-hearted
+young gallants of the garrisons, ought not alone to appear in fine
+feathers, but that truth and honesty have their claims to be honored and
+exalted."
+
+"And what exaltification"--the reader will have remarked that Deerslayer
+had not very critically studied his dictionary--"and what exaltification
+would it be to me, Judith, to be bedizened and bescarleted like a Mingo
+chief that has just got his presents up from Quebec? No--no--I'm well as
+I am; and if not, I can be no better. Lay the coat down on the blanket,
+Sarpent, and let us look farther into the chist."
+
+The tempting garment, one surely that was never intended for Hutter, was
+laid aside, and the examination proceeded. The male attire, all of which
+corresponded with the coat in quality, was soon exhausted, and then
+succeeded female. A beautiful dress of brocade, a little the worse
+from negligent treatment, followed, and this time open exclamations of
+delight escaped the lips of Judith. Much as the girl had been addicted
+to dress, and favorable as had been her opportunities of seeing
+some little pretension in that way among the wives of the different
+commandants, and other ladies of the forts, never before had she beheld
+a tissue, or tints, to equal those that were now so unexpectedly placed
+before her eyes. Her rapture was almost childish, nor would she allow
+the inquiry to proceed, until she had attired her person in a robe so
+unsuited to her habits and her abode. With this end, she withdrew into
+her own room, where with hands practised in such offices, she soon got
+rid of her own neat gown of linen, and stood forth in the gay tints of
+the brocade. The dress happened to fit the fine, full person of Judith,
+and certainly it had never adorned a being better qualified by natural
+gifts to do credit to its really rich hues and fine texture. When she
+returned, both Deerslayer and Chingachgook, who had passed the brief
+time of her absence in taking a second look at the male garments, arose
+in surprise, each permitting exclamations of wonder and pleasure to
+escape him, in a way so unequivocal as to add new lustre to the eyes
+of Judith, by flushing her cheeks with a glow of triumph. Affecting,
+however, not to notice the impression she had made, the girl seated
+herself with the stateliness of a queen, desiring that the chest might
+be looked into, further.
+
+"I don't know a better way to treat with the Mingos, gal," cried
+Deerslayer, "than to send you ashore as you be, and to tell 'em that a
+queen has arrived among 'em! They'll give up old Hutter, and Hurry, and
+Hetty, too, at such a spectacle!"
+
+"I thought your tongue too honest to flatter, Deerslayer," returned the
+girl, gratified at this admiration more than she would have cared to
+own. "One of the chief reasons of my respect for you, was your love for
+truth."
+
+"And 'tis truth, and solemn truth, Judith, and nothing else. Never did
+eyes of mine gaze on as glorious a lookin' creatur' as you be yourself,
+at this very moment! I've seen beauties in my time, too, both white and
+red; and them that was renowned and talk'd of, far and near; but never
+have I beheld one that could hold any comparison with what you are at
+this blessed instant, Judith; never."
+
+The glance of delight which the girl bestowed on the frank-speaking
+hunter in no degree lessened the effect of her charms, and as the
+humid eyes blended with it a look of sensibility, perhaps Judith never
+appeared more truly lovely, than at what the young man had called that
+"blessed instant." He shook his head, held it suspended a moment
+over the open chest, like one in doubt, and then proceeded with the
+examination.
+
+Several of the minor articles of female dress came next, all of a
+quality to correspond with the gown. These were laid at Judith's feet,
+in silence, as if she had a natural claim to their possession. One or
+two, such as gloves, and lace, the girl caught up, and appended to her
+already rich attire in affected playfulness, but with the real design
+of decorating her person as far as circumstances would allow. When
+these two remarkable suits, male and female they might be termed, were
+removed, another canvas covering separated the remainder of the
+articles from the part of the chest which they had occupied. As soon
+as Deerslayer perceived this arrangement he paused, doubtful of the
+propriety of proceeding any further.
+
+"Every man has his secrets, I suppose," he said, "and all men have
+a right to their enj'yment. We've got low enough in this chist in my
+judgment to answer our wants, and it seems to me we should do well by
+going no farther; and by letting Master Hutter have to himself, and his
+own feelin's, all that's beneath this cover.
+
+"Do you mean, Deerslayer, to offer these clothes to the Iroquois as
+ransom?" demanded Judith, quickly.
+
+"Sartain. What are we prying into another man's chist for, but to sarve
+its owner in the best way we can. This coat, alone, would be very apt
+to gain over the head chief of the riptyles, and if his wife or darter
+should happen to be out with him, that there gownd would soften the
+heart of any woman that is to be found atween Albany and Montreal. I do
+not see that we want a larger stock in trade than them two articles."
+
+"To you it may seem so, Deerslayer," returned the disappointed girl,
+"but of what use could a dress like this be to any Indian woman? She
+could not wear it among the branches of the trees, the dirt and smoke of
+the wigwam would soon soil it, and how would a pair of red arms appear,
+thrust through these short, laced sleeves!"
+
+"All very true, gal, and you might go on and say it is altogether out of
+time, and place and season, in this region at all. What is it to us how
+the finery is treated, so long as it answers our wishes? I do not see
+that your father can make any use of such clothes, and it's lucky he has
+things that are of no valie to himself, that will bear a high price with
+others. We can make no better trade for him, than to offer these duds
+for his liberty. We'll throw in the light frivol'ties, and get Hurry off
+in the bargain."
+
+"Then you think, Deerslayer, that Thomas Hutter has no one in his
+family--no child--no daughter, to whom this dress may be thought
+becoming, and whom you could wish to see in it, once and awhile, even
+though it should be at long intervals, and only in playfulness?"
+
+"I understand you, Judith--yes, I now understand your meaning, and I
+think I can say, your wishes. That you are as glorious in that dress as
+the sun when it rises or sets in a soft October day, I'm ready to allow,
+and that you greatly become it is a good deal more sartain than that it
+becomes you. There's gifts in clothes, as well as in other things. Now
+I do not think that a warrior on his first path ought to lay on the same
+awful paints as a chief that has had his virtue tried, and knows from
+exper'ence he will not disgrace his pretensions. So it is with all of
+us, red or white. You are Thomas Hutter's darter, and that gownd was
+made for the child of some governor, or a lady of high station, and it
+was intended to be worn among fine furniture, and in rich company. In
+my eyes, Judith, a modest maiden never looks more becoming than when
+becomingly clad, and nothing is suitable that is out of character.
+Besides, gal, if there's a creatur' in the colony that can afford to
+do without finery, and to trust to her own good looks and sweet
+countenance, it's yourself."
+
+"I'll take off the rubbish this instant, Deerslayer," cried the girl,
+springing up to leave the room, "and never do I wish to see it on any
+human being, again."
+
+"So it is with 'em, all, Sarpent," said the other, turning to his friend
+and laughing, as soon as the beauty had disappeared. "They like finery,
+but they like their natyve charms most of all. I'm glad the gal has
+consented to lay aside her furbelows, howsever, for it's ag'in reason
+for one of her class to wear em; and then she is handsome enough, as I
+call it, to go alone. Hist would show oncommon likely, too, in such a
+gownd, Delaware!"
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah is a red-skin girl, Deerslayer," returned the Indian, "like
+the young of the pigeon, she is to be known by her own feathers. I
+should pass by without knowing her, were she dressed in such a skin.
+It's wisest always to be so clad that our friends need not ask us for
+our names. The 'Wild Rose' is very pleasant, but she is no sweeter for
+so many colours."
+
+"That's it!--that's natur', and the true foundation for love and
+protection. When a man stoops to pick a wild strawberry, he does not
+expect to find a melon; and when he wishes to gather a melon, he's
+disapp'inted if it proves to be a squash; though squashes be often
+brighter to the eye than melons. That's it, and it means stick to your
+gifts, and your gifts will stick to you."
+
+The two men had now a little discussion together, touching the propriety
+of penetrating any farther into the chest of Hutter, when Judith
+re-appeared, divested of her robes, and in her own simple linen frock
+again.
+
+"Thank you, Judith," said Deerslayer, taking her kindly by the hand--"for
+I know it went a little ag'in the nat'ral cravings of woman, to lay
+aside so much finery, as it might be in a lump. But you're more pleasing
+to the eye as you stand, you be, than if you had a crown on your head,
+and jewels dangling from your hair. The question now is, whether to lift
+this covering to see what will be ra'ally the best bargain we can make
+for Master Hutter, for we must do as we think he would be willing to do,
+did he stand here in our places."
+
+Judith looked very happy. Accustomed as she was to adulation, the homely
+homage of Deerslayer had given her more true satisfaction, than she had
+ever yet received from the tongue of man. It was not the terms in which
+this admiration had been expressed, for they were simple enough, that
+produced so strong an impression; nor yet their novelty, or their warmth
+of manner, nor any of those peculiarities that usually give value to
+praise; but the unflinching truth of the speaker, that carried his
+words so directly to the heart of the listener. This is one of the
+great advantages of plain dealing and frankness. The habitual and wily
+flatterer may succeed until his practices recoil on himself, and like
+other sweets his aliment cloys by its excess; but he who deals honestly,
+though he often necessarily offends, possesses a power of praising that
+no quality but sincerity can bestow, since his words go directly to
+the heart, finding their support in the understanding. Thus it was with
+Deerslayer and Judith. So soon and so deeply did this simple hunter
+impress those who knew him with a conviction of his unbending honesty,
+that all he uttered in commendation was as certain to please, as all he
+uttered in the way of rebuke was as certain to rankle and excite enmity,
+where his character had not awakened a respect and affection, that in
+another sense rendered it painful. In after life, when the career of
+this untutored being brought him in contact with officers of rank, and
+others entrusted with the care of the interests of the state, this same
+influence was exerted on a wider field, even generals listening to his
+commendations with a glow of pleasure, that it was not always in the
+power of their official superiors to awaken. Perhaps Judith was the
+first individual of his own colour who fairly submitted to this natural
+consequence of truth and fair-dealing on the part of Deerslayer. She had
+actually pined for his praise, and she had now received it, and that
+in the form which was most agreeable to her weaknesses and habits of
+thought. The result will appear in the course of the narrative.
+
+"If we knew all that chest holds, Deerslayer," returned the girl, when
+she had a little recovered from the immediate effect produced by his
+commendations of her personal appearance, "we could better determine on
+the course we ought to take."
+
+"That's not onreasonable, gal, though it's more a pale-face than a
+red-skin gift to be prying into other people's secrets."
+
+"Curiosity is natural, and it is expected that all human beings should
+have human failings. Whenever I've been at the garrisons, I've found
+that most in and about them had a longing to learn their neighbor's
+secrets."
+
+"Yes, and sometimes to fancy them, when they couldn't find 'em out!
+That's the difference atween an Indian gentleman and a white gentleman.
+The Sarpent, here, would turn his head aside if he found himself
+onknowingly lookin' into another chief's wigwam, whereas in the
+settlements while all pretend to be great people, most prove they've
+got betters, by the manner in which they talk of their consarns. I'll be
+bound, Judith, you wouldn't get the Sarpent, there, to confess there
+was another in the tribe so much greater than himself, as to become the
+subject of his idees, and to empl'y his tongue in conversations about
+his movements, and ways, and food, and all the other little matters that
+occupy a man when he's not empl'y'd in his greater duties. He who does
+this is but little better than a blackguard, in the grain, and them that
+encourages him is pretty much of the same kidney, let them wear coats as
+fine as they may, or of what dye they please."
+
+"But this is not another man's wigwam; it belongs to my father, these
+are his things, and they are wanted in his service."
+
+"That's true, gal; that's true, and it carries weight with it. Well,
+when all is before us we may, indeed, best judge which to offer for the
+ransom, and which to withhold."
+
+Judith was not altogether as disinterested in her feelings as she
+affected to be. She remembered that the curiosity of Hetty had
+been indulged in connection with this chest, while her own had been
+disregarded, and she was not sorry to possess an opportunity of being
+placed on a level with her less gifted sister in this one particular. It
+appearing to be admitted all round that the enquiry into the contents of
+the chest ought to be renewed, Deerslayer proceeded to remove the second
+covering of canvass.
+
+The articles that lay uppermost, when the curtain was again raised on
+the secrets of the chest, were a pair of pistols, curiously inlaid with
+silver. Their value would have been considerable in one of the towns,
+though as weapons in the woods they were a species of arms seldom
+employed; never, indeed, unless it might be by some officer from
+Europe, who visited the colonies, as many were then wont to do, so much
+impressed with the superiority of the usages of London as to fancy they
+were not to be laid aside on the frontiers of America. What occurred on
+the discovery of these weapons will appear in the succeeding chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII.
+
+
+    "An oaken, broken, elbow-chair;
+    A caudle-cup without an ear;
+    A battered, shattered ash bedstead;
+    A box of deal without a lid;
+    A pair of tongs, but out of joint;
+    A back-sword poker, without point;
+    A dish which might good meat afford once;
+    An Ovid, and an old
+    Concordance."
+
+    Thomas Sheridan, "A True and Faithful Inventory of the Goods
+    belonging to Dr. Swift," II. i-6, 13-14.
+
+No sooner did Deerslayer raise the pistols, than he turned to the
+Delaware and held them up for his admiration.
+
+"Child gun," said the Serpent, smiling, while he handled one of the
+instruments as if it had been a toy.
+
+"Not it, Sarpent; not it--'twas made for a man and would satisfy a
+giant, if rightly used. But stop; white men are remarkable for their
+carelessness in putting away fire arms, in chists and corners. Let me
+look if care has been given to these."
+
+As Deerslayer spoke, he took the weapon from the hand of his friend and
+opened the pan. The last was filled with priming, caked like a bit of
+cinder, by time, moisture and compression. An application of the ramrod
+showed that both the pistols were charged, although Judith could testify
+that they had probably lain for years in the chest. It is not easy to
+portray the surprise of the Indian at this discovery, for he was in the
+practice of renewing his priming daily, and of looking to the contents
+of his piece at other short intervals.
+
+"This is white neglect," said Deerslayer, shaking his head, "and scarce
+a season goes by that some one in the settlements doesn't suffer from
+it. It's extr'ornary too, Judith--yes, it's downright extr'ornary that
+the owner shall fire his piece at a deer, or some other game, or perhaps
+at an inimy, and twice out of three times he'll miss; but let him catch
+an accident with one of these forgotten charges, and he makes it sartain
+death to a child, or a brother, or a fri'nd! Well, we shall do a good
+turn to the owner if we fire these pistols for him, and as they're
+novelties to you and me, Sarpent, we'll try our hands at a mark. Freshen
+that priming, and I'll do the same with this, and then we'll see who is
+the best man with a pistol; as for the rifle, that's long been settled
+atween us."
+
+Deerslayer laughed heartily at his own conceit, and, in a minute or two,
+they were both standing on the platform, selecting some object in the
+Ark for their target. Judith was led by curiosity to their side.
+
+"Stand back, gal, stand a little back; these we'pons have been
+long loaded," said Deerslayer, "and some accident may happen in the
+discharge." "Then you shall not fire them! Give them both to the
+Delaware; or it would be better to unload them without firing."
+
+"That's ag'in usage--and some people say, ag'in manhood; though I hold
+to no such silly doctrine. We must fire 'em, Judith; yes, we must fire
+'em; though I foresee that neither will have any great reason to boast
+of his skill."
+
+Judith, in the main, was a girl of great personal spirit, and her habits
+prevented her from feeling any of the terror that is apt to come over
+her sex at the report of fire arms. She had discharged many a rifle,
+and had even been known to kill a deer, under circumstances that were
+favorable to the effort. She submitted therefore, falling a little back
+by the side of Deerslayer, giving the Indian the front of the platform
+to himself. Chingachgook raised the weapon several times, endeavored to
+steady it by using both hands, changed his attitude from one that was
+awkward to another still more so, and finally drew the trigger with a
+sort of desperate indifference, without having, in reality, secured any
+aim at all. The consequence was, that instead of hitting the knot which
+had been selected for the mark, he missed the ark altogether; the bullet
+skipping along the water like a stone that was thrown by hand.
+
+"Well done--Sarpent--well done--" cried Deerslayer laughing, with his
+noiseless glee, "you've hit the lake, and that's an expl'ite for some
+men! I know'd it, and as much as said it, here, to Judith; for your
+short we'pons don't belong to red-skin gifts. You've hit the lake, and
+that's better than only hitting the air! Now, stand back and let us see
+what white gifts can do with a white we'pon. A pistol isn't a rifle, but
+colour is colour."
+
+The aim of Deerslayer was both quick and steady, and the report followed
+almost as soon as the weapon rose. Still the pistol hung fire, as it is
+termed, and fragments of it flew in a dozen directions, some falling on
+the roof of the castle, others in the Ark, and one in the water. Judith
+screamed, and when the two men turned anxiously towards the girl she was
+as pale as death, trembling in every limb.
+
+"She's wounded--yes, the poor gal's wounded, Sarpent, though one
+couldn't foresee it, standing where she did. We'll lead her in to a
+seat, and we must do the best for her that our knowledge and skill can
+afford."
+
+Judith allowed herself to be supported to a seat, swallowed a mouthful
+of the water that the Delaware offered her in a gourd, and, after a
+violent fit of trembling that seemed ready to shake her fine frame to
+dissolution, she burst into tears.
+
+"The pain must be borne, poor Judith--yes, it must be borne," said
+Deerslayer, soothingly, "though I am far from wishing you not to weep;
+for weeping often lightens galish feelin's. Where can she be hurt,
+Sarpent? I see no signs of blood, nor any rent of skin or garments?"
+
+"I am uninjured, Deerslayer," stammered the girl through her tears.
+"It's fright--nothing more, I do assure you, and, God be praised! no
+one, I find, has been harmed by the accident."
+
+"This is extr'ornary!" exclaimed the unsuspecting and simple minded
+hunter--"I thought, Judith, you'd been above settlement weaknesses,
+and that you was a gal not to be frightened by the sound of a bursting
+we'pon--No--I didn't think you so skeary! Hetty might well have been
+startled; but you've too much judgment and reason to be frightened
+when the danger's all over. They're pleasant to the eye, chief, and
+changeful, but very unsartain in their feelin's!"
+
+Shame kept Judith silent. There had been no acting in her agitation, but
+all had fairly proceeded from sudden and uncontrollable alarm--an alarm
+that she found almost as inexplicable to herself, as it proved to be
+to her companions. Wiping away the traces of tears, however, she smiled
+again, and was soon able to join in the laugh at her own folly.
+
+"And you, Deerslayer," she at length succeeded in saying--"are you,
+indeed, altogether unhurt? It seems almost miraculous that a pistol
+should have burst in your hand, and you escape without the loss of a
+limb, if not of life!"
+
+"Such wonders ar'n't oncommon, at all, among worn out arms. The first
+rifle they gave me play'd the same trick, and yet I liv'd through it,
+though not as onharmless as I've got out of this affair. Thomas Hutter
+is master of one pistol less than he was this morning, but, as it
+happened in trying to sarve him, there's no ground of complaint. Now,
+draw near, and let us look farther into the inside of the chist."
+
+Judith, by this time, had so far gotten the better of her agitation as
+to resume her seat, and the examination went on. The next article that
+offered was enveloped in cloth, and on opening it, it proved to be one
+of the mathematical instruments that were then in use among seamen,
+possessing the usual ornaments and fastenings in brass. Deerslayer and
+Chingachgook expressed their admiration and surprise at the appearance
+of the unknown instrument, which was bright and glittering, having
+apparently been well cared for.
+
+"This goes beyond the surveyors, Judith!" Deerslayer exclaimed, after
+turning the instrument several times in his hands. "I've seen all their
+tools often, and wicked and heartless enough are they, for they never
+come into the forest but to lead the way to waste and destruction; but
+none of them have as designing a look as this! I fear me, after all,
+that Thomas Hutter has journeyed into the wilderness with no fair
+intentions towards its happiness. Did you ever see any of the cravings
+of a surveyor about your father, gal?"
+
+"He is no surveyor, Deerslayer, nor does he know the use of that
+instrument, though he seems to own it. Do you suppose that Thomas Hutter
+ever wore that coat? It is as much too large for him, as this instrument
+is beyond his learning."
+
+"That's it--that must be it, Sarpent, and the old fellow, by some
+onknown means, has fallen heir to another man's goods! They say he has
+been a mariner, and no doubt this chist, and all it holds--ha! What have
+we here?--This far out does the brass and black wood of the tool!"
+
+Deerslayer had opened a small bag, from which he was taking, one by one,
+the pieces of a set of chessmen. They were of ivory, much larger than
+common, and exquisitely wrought. Each piece represented the character
+or thing after which it is named; the knights being mounted, the castles
+stood on elephants, and even the pawns possessed the heads and busts of
+men. The set was not complete, and a few fractures betrayed bad usage;
+but all that was left had been carefully put away and preserved. Even
+Judith expressed wonder, as these novel objects were placed before her
+eyes, and Chingachgook fairly forgot his Indian dignity in admiration
+and delight. The latter took up each piece, and examined it with never
+tiring satisfaction, pointing out to the girl the more ingenious and
+striking portions of the workmanship. But the elephants gave him the
+greatest pleasure. The "Hughs!" that he uttered, as he passed his
+fingers over their trunks, and ears, and tails, were very distinct,
+nor did he fail to note the pawns, which were armed as archers. This
+exhibition lasted several minutes, during which time Judith and the
+Indian had all the rapture to themselves. Deerslayer sat silent,
+thoughtful, and even gloomy, though his eyes followed each movement of
+the two principal actors, noting every new peculiarity about the pieces
+as they were held up to view. Not an exclamation of pleasure, nor a word
+of condemnation passed his lips. At length his companions observed
+his silence, and then, for the first time since the chessmen had been
+discovered, did he speak.
+
+"Judith," he asked earnestly, but with a concern that amounted almost to
+tenderness of manner, "did your parents ever talk to you of religion?"
+
+The girl coloured, and the flashes of crimson that passed over her
+beautiful countenance were like the wayward tints of a Neapolitan sky in
+November. Deerslayer had given her so strong a taste for truth,
+however, that she did not waver in her answer, replying simply and with
+sincerity.
+
+"My mother did often," she said, "my father never. I thought it made my
+mother sorrowful to speak of our prayers and duties, but my father has
+never opened his mouth on such matters, before or since her death."
+
+"That I can believe--that I can believe. He has no God--no such God
+as it becomes a man of white skin to worship, or even a red-skin. Them
+things are idols!"
+
+Judith started, and for a moment she seemed seriously hurt. Then she
+reflected, and in the end she laughed. "And you think, Deerslayer, that
+these ivory toys are my father's Gods? I have heard of idols, and know
+what they are."
+
+"Them are idols!" repeated the other, positively. "Why should your
+father keep 'em, if he doesn't worship 'em."
+
+"Would he keep his gods in a bag, and locked up in a chest? No, no,
+Deerslayer; my poor father carries his God with him, wherever he goes,
+and that is in his own cravings. These things may really be idols--I
+think they are myself, from what I have heard and read of idolatry,
+but they have come from some distant country, and like all the other
+articles, have fallen into Thomas Hutter's hands when he was a sailor."
+
+"I'm glad of it--I am downright glad to hear it, Judith, for I do not
+think I could have mustered the resolution to strive to help a white
+idolater out of his difficulties! The old man is of my colour and nation
+and I wish to sarve him, but as one who denied all his gifts, in the way
+of religion, it would have come hard to do so. That animal seems to give
+you great satisfaction, Sarpent, though it's an idolatrous beast at the
+best."
+
+"It is an elephant," interrupted Judith. "I've often seen pictures of
+such animals, at the garrisons, and mother had a book in which there was
+a printed account of the creature. Father burnt that with all the other
+books, for he said Mother loved reading too well. This was not long
+before mother died, and I've sometimes thought that the loss hastened
+her end."
+
+This was said equally without levity and without any very deep
+feeling. It was said without levity, for Judith was saddened by her
+recollections, and yet she had been too much accustomed to live for
+self, and for the indulgence of her own vanities, to feel her mother's
+wrongs very keenly. It required extraordinary circumstances to awaken a
+proper sense of her situation, and to stimulate the better feelings of
+this beautiful, but misguided girl, and those circumstances had not yet
+occurred in her brief existence.
+
+"Elephant, or no elephant, 'tis an idol," returned the hunter, "and not
+fit to remain in Christian keeping."
+
+"Good for Iroquois!" said Chingachgook, parting with one of the castles
+with reluctance, as his friend took it from him to replace it in the
+bag--"Elephon buy whole tribe--buy Delaware, almost!"
+
+"Ay, that it would, as any one who comprehends red-skin natur' must
+know," answered Deerslayer, "but the man that passes false money,
+Sarpent, is as bad as he who makes it. Did you ever know a just Injin
+that wouldn't scorn to sell a 'coon skin for the true marten, or to pass
+off a mink for a beaver. I know that a few of these idols, perhaps one
+of them elephants, would go far towards buying Thomas Hutter's liberty,
+but it goes ag'in conscience to pass such counterfeit money. Perhaps no
+Injin tribe, hereaway, is downright idolators but there's some that come
+so near it, that white gifts ought to be particular about encouraging
+them in their mistake."
+
+"If idolatry is a gift, Deerslayer, and gifts are what you seem to think
+them, idolatry in such people can hardly be a sin," said Judith with
+more smartness than discrimination.
+
+"God grants no such gifts to any of his creatur's, Judith," returned the
+hunter, seriously. "He must be adored, under some name or other, and not
+creatur's of brass or ivory. It matters not whether the Father of All is
+called God, or Manitou, Deity or Great Spirit, he is none the less our
+common maker and master; nor does it count for much whether the souls
+of the just go to Paradise, or Happy Hunting Grounds, since He may send
+each his own way, as suits his own pleasure and wisdom; but it curdles
+my blood, when I find human mortals so bound up in darkness and consait,
+as to fashion the 'arth, or wood, or bones, things made by their own
+hands, into motionless, senseless effigies, and then fall down afore
+them, and worship 'em as a Deity!"
+
+"After all, Deerslayer, these pieces of ivory may not be idols, at all.
+I remember, now, to have seen one of the officers at the garrison with
+a set of fox and geese made in some such a design as these, and here is
+something hard, wrapped in cloth, that may belong to your idols."
+
+Deerslayer took the bundle the girl gave him, and unrolling it, he found
+the board within. Like the pieces it was large, rich, and inlaid with
+ebony and ivory. Putting the whole in conjunction the hunter, though
+not without many misgivings, slowly came over to Judith's opinion, and
+finally admitted that the fancied idols must be merely the curiously
+carved men of some unknown game. Judith had the tact to use her victory
+with great moderation, nor did she once, even in the most indirect
+manner, allude to the ludicrous mistake of her companion.
+
+This discovery of the uses of the extraordinary-looking little images
+settled the affair of the proposed ransom. It was agreed generally, and
+all understood the weaknesses and tastes of Indians, that nothing could
+be more likely to tempt the cupidity of the Iroquois than the elephants,
+in particular. Luckily the whole of the castles were among the pieces,
+and these four tower-bearing animals it was finally determined should be
+the ransom offered. The remainder of the men, and, indeed, all the rest
+of the articles in the chest, were to be kept out of view, and to be
+resorted to only as a last appeal. As soon as these preliminaries were
+settled, everything but those intended for the bribe was carefully
+replaced in the chest, all the covers were 'tucked in' as they had
+been found, and it was quite possible, could Hutter have been put in
+possession of the castle again, that he might have passed the remainder
+of his days in it without even suspecting the invasion that had been
+made on the privacy of the chest. The rent pistol would have been the
+most likely to reveal the secret, but this was placed by the side of its
+fellow, and all were pressed down as before, some half a dozen packages
+in the bottom of the chest not having been opened at all. When this was
+done the lid was lowered, the padlocks replaced, and the key turned. The
+latter was then replaced in the pocket from which it had been taken.
+
+More than an hour was consumed in settling the course proper to be
+pursued, and in returning everything to its place. The pauses to
+converse were frequent, and Judith, who experienced a lively pleasure
+in the open, undisguised admiration with which Deerslayer's honest eyes
+gazed at her handsome face, found the means to prolong the interview,
+with a dexterity that seems to be innate in female coquetry. Deerslayer,
+indeed, appeared to be the first who was conscious of the time that had
+been thus wasted, and to call the attention of his companions to the
+necessity of doing something towards putting the plan of ransoming into
+execution. Chingachgook had remained in Hutter's bed room, where the
+elephants were laid, to feast his eyes with the images of animals so
+wonderful, and so novel. Perhaps an instinct told him that his presence
+would not be as acceptable to his companions as this holding himself
+aloof, for Judith had not much reserve in the manifestations of her
+preferences, and the Delaware had not got so far as one betrothed
+without acquiring some knowledge of the symptoms of the master passion.
+
+"Well, Judith," said Deerslayer, rising, after the interview had lasted
+much longer than even he himself suspected, "'tis pleasant convarsing
+with you, and settling all these matters, but duty calls us another way.
+All this time, Hurry and your father, not to say Hetty--" The word was
+cut short in the speaker's mouth, for, at that critical moment, a light
+step was heard on the platform, or 'court-yard', a human figure darkened
+the doorway, and the person last mentioned stood before him. The low
+exclamation that escaped Deerslayer and the slight scream of Judith were
+hardly uttered, when an Indian youth, between the ages of fifteen and
+seventeen, stood beside her. These two entrances had been made with
+moccasined feet, and consequently almost without noise, but, unexpected
+and stealthy as they were, they had not the effect to disturb
+Deerslayer's self possession. His first measure was to speak rapidly in
+Delaware to his friend, cautioning him to keep out of sight, while he
+stood on his guard; the second was to step to the door to ascertain
+the extent of the danger. No one else, however, had come, and a simple
+contrivance, in the shape of a raft, that lay floating at the side of
+the Ark, at once explained the means that had been used in bringing
+Hetty off. Two dead and dry, and consequently buoyant, logs of pine
+were bound together with pins and withes and a little platform of riven
+chestnut had been rudely placed on their surfaces. Here Hetty had been
+seated, on a billet of wood, while the young Iroquois had rowed the
+primitive and slow-moving, but perfectly safe craft from the shore.
+
+As soon as Deerslayer had taken a close survey of this raft, and
+satisfied himself nothing else was near, he shook his head and muttered
+in his soliloquizing way--"This comes of prying into another man's
+chist! Had we been watchful, and keen eyed, such a surprise could never
+have happened, and, getting this much from a boy teaches us what we
+may expect when the old warriors set themselves fairly about their
+sarcumventions. It opens the way, howsever, to a treaty for the ransom,
+and I will hear what Hetty has to say."
+
+Judith, as soon as her surprise and alarm had a little abated,
+discovered a proper share of affectionate joy at the return of her
+sister. She folded her to her bosom, and kissed her, as had been her
+wont in the days of their childhood and innocence. Hetty herself was
+less affected, for to her there was no surprise, and her nerves were
+sustained by the purity and holiness of her purpose. At her sister's
+request she took a seat, and entered into an account of her adventures
+since they had parted. Her tale commenced just as Deerslayer returned,
+and he also became an attentive listener, while the young Iroquois stood
+near the door, seemingly as indifferent to what was passing as one of
+its posts.
+
+The narrative of the girl was sufficiently clear, until she reached the
+time where we left her in the camp, after the interview with the chiefs,
+and, at the moment when Hist quitted her, in the abrupt manner already
+related. The sequel of the story may be told in her own language.
+
+"When I read the texts to the chiefs, Judith, you could not have seen
+that they made any changes on their minds," she said, "but if seed is
+planted, it will grow. God planted the seeds of all these trees--"
+
+"Ay that did he--that did he--" muttered Deerslayer; "and a goodly
+harvest has followed."
+
+"God planted the seeds of all these trees," continued Hetty, after a
+moment's pause, "and you see to what a height and shade they have grown!
+So it is with the Bible. You may read a verse this year, and forget
+it, and it will come back to you a year hence, when you least expect to
+remember it."
+
+"And did you find any thing of this among the savages, poor Hetty?"
+
+"Yes, Judith, and sooner and more fully than I had even hoped. I did not
+stay long with father and Hurry, but went to get my breakfast with Hist.
+As soon as we had done the chiefs came to us, and then we found the
+fruits of the seed that had been planted. They said what I had read
+from the good book was right--it must be right--it sounded right; like a
+sweet bird singing in their ears; and they told me to come back and say
+as much to the great warrior who had slain one of their braves; and to
+tell it to you, and to say how happy they should be to come to church
+here, in the castle, or to come out in the sun, and hear me read more
+of the sacred volume--and to tell you that they wish you would lend them
+some canoes that they can bring father and Hurry and their women to the
+castle, that we might all sit on the platform there and listen to the
+singing of the Pale-face Manitou. There, Judith; did you ever know of
+any thing that so plainly shows the power of the Bible, as that!"
+
+"If it were true 't would be a miracle, indeed, Hetty. But all this is
+no more than Indian cunning and Indian treachery, striving to get the
+better of us by management, when they find it is not to be done by
+force."
+
+"Do you doubt the Bible, sister, that you judge the savages so harshly!"
+
+"I do not doubt the Bible, poor Hetty, but I much doubt an Indian and an
+Iroquois. What do you say to this visit, Deerslayer?"
+
+"First let me talk a little with Hetty," returned the party appealed to;
+"Was the raft made a'ter you had got your breakfast, gal, and did you
+walk from the camp to the shore opposite to us, here?"
+
+"Oh! no, Deerslayer. The raft was ready made and in the water--could that
+have been by a miracle, Judith?"
+
+"Yes--yes--an Indian miracle," rejoined the hunter--"They're expart
+enough in them sort of miracles. And you found the raft ready made to
+your hands, and in the water, and in waiting like for its cargo?"
+
+"It was all as you say. The raft was near the camp, and the Indians
+put me on it, and had ropes of bark, and they dragged me to the place
+opposite to the castle, and then they told that young man to row me off,
+here."
+
+"And the woods are full of the vagabonds, waiting to know what is to be
+the upshot of the miracle. We comprehend this affair, now, Judith, but
+I'll first get rid of this young Canada blood sucker, and then we'll
+settle our own course. Do you and Hetty leave us together, first
+bringing me the elephants, which the Sarpent is admiring, for 'twill
+never do to let this loping deer be alone a minute, or he'll borrow a
+canoe without asking."
+
+Judith did as desired, first bringing the pieces, and retiring with her
+sister into their own room. Deerslayer had acquired some knowledge of
+most of the Indian dialects of that region, and he knew enough of the
+Iroquois to hold a dialogue in the language. Beckoning to the lad,
+therefore, he caused him to take a seat on the chest, when he placed
+two of the castles suddenly before him. Up to that moment, this youthful
+savage had not expressed a single intelligible emotion, or fancy. There
+were many things, in and about the place, that were novelties to him,
+but he had maintained his self-command with philosophical composure. It
+is true, Deerslayer had detected his dark eye scanning the defences and
+the arms, but the scrutiny had been made with such an air of innocence,
+in such a gaping, indolent, boyish manner, that no one but a man who had
+himself been taught in a similar school, would have even suspected
+his object. The instant, however, the eyes of the savage fell upon the
+wrought ivory, and the images of the wonderful, unknown beasts, surprise
+and admiration got the mastery of him. The manner in which the natives
+of the South Sea Islands first beheld the toys of civilized life has
+been often described, but the reader is not to confound it with the
+manner of an American Indian, under similar circumstances. In this
+particular case, the young Iroquois or Huron permitted an exclamation of
+rapture to escape him, and then he checked himself like one who had
+been guilty of an indecorum. After this, his eyes ceased to wander, but
+became riveted on the elephants, one of which, after a short hesitation,
+he even presumed to handle. Deerslayer did not interrupt him for
+quite ten minutes, knowing that the lad was taking such note of the
+curiosities, as would enable him to give the most minute and accurate
+description of their appearance to his seniors, on his return. When he
+thought sufficient time had been allowed to produce the desired effect,
+the hunter laid a finger on the naked knee of the youth and drew his
+attention to himself.
+
+"Listen," he said; "I want to talk with my young friend from the
+Canadas. Let him forget that wonder for a minute."
+
+"Where t'other pale brother?" demanded the boy, looking up and letting
+the idea that had been most prominent in his mind, previously to the
+introduction of the chess men, escape him involuntarily.
+
+"He sleeps, or if he isn't fairly asleep, he is in the room where the
+men do sleep," returned Deerslayer. "How did my young friend know there
+was another?"
+
+"See him from the shore. Iroquois have got long eyes--see beyond the
+clouds--see the bottom of the Great Spring!"
+
+"Well, the Iroquois are welcome. Two pale-faces are prisoners in the
+camp of your fathers, boy."
+
+The lad nodded, treating the circumstance with great apparent
+indifference; though a moment after he laughed as if exulting in the
+superior address of his own tribe.
+
+"Can you tell me, boy, what your chiefs intend to do with these
+captyves, or haven't they yet made up their minds?"
+
+The lad looked a moment at the hunter with a little surprise. Then he
+coolly put the end of his fore finger on his own head, just above the
+left ear, and passed it round his crown with an accuracy and readiness
+that showed how well he had been drilled in the peculiar art of his
+race.
+
+"When?" demanded Deerslayer, whose gorge rose at this cool demonstration
+of indifference to human life. "And why not take them to your wigwams?"
+
+"Road too long, and full of pale-faces. Wigwam full, and scalps sell
+high. Small scalp, much gold."
+
+"Well that explains it--yes, that does explain it. There's no need of
+being any plainer. Now you know, lad, that the oldest of your prisoners
+is the father of these two young women, and the other is the suitor of
+one of them. The gals nat'rally wish to save the scalps of such fri'nds,
+and they will give them two ivory creaturs, as ransom. One for each
+scalp. Go back and tell this to your chiefs, and bring me the answer
+before the sun sets."
+
+The boy entered zealously into this project, and with a sincerity that
+left no doubt of his executing his commission with intelligence and
+promptitude. For a moment he forgot his love of honor, and all his
+clannish hostility to the British and their Indians, in his wish to
+have such a treasure in his tribe, and Deerslayer was satisfied with the
+impression he had made. It is true the lad proposed to carry one of the
+elephants with him, as a specimen of the other, but to this his brother
+negotiator was too sagacious to consent; well knowing that it might
+never reach its destination if confided to such hands. This little
+difficulty was soon arranged, and the boy prepared to depart. As he
+stood on the platform, ready to step aboard of the raft, he hesitated,
+and turned short with a proposal to borrow a canoe, as the means most
+likely to shorten the negotiations. Deerslayer quietly refused the
+request, and, after lingering a little longer, the boy rowed slowly away
+from the castle, taking the direction of a thicket on the shore that lay
+less than half a mile distant. Deerslayer seated himself on a stool and
+watched the progress of the ambassador, sometimes closely scanning the
+whole line of shore, as far as eye could reach, and then placing an
+elbow on a knee, he remained a long time with his chin resting on the
+hand.
+
+During the interview between Deerslayer and the lad, a different scene
+took place in the adjoining room. Hetty had inquired for the Delaware,
+and being told why and where he remained concealed, she joined him. The
+reception which Chingachgook gave his visitor was respectful and gentle.
+He understood her character, and, no doubt, his disposition to be kind
+to such a being was increased by the hope of learning some tidings of
+his betrothed. As soon as the girl entered she took a seat, and invited
+the Indian to place himself near her; then she continued silent, as if
+she thought it decorous for him to question her, before she consented to
+speak on the subject she had on her mind. But, as Chingachgook did not
+understand this feeling, he remained respectfully attentive to any thing
+she might be pleased to tell him.
+
+"You are Chingachgook, the Great Serpent of the Delawares, ar'n't
+you?" the girl at length commenced, in her own simple way losing her
+self-command in the desire to proceed, but anxious first to make sure
+of the individual. "Chingachgook," returned the Delaware with grave
+dignity. "That say Great Sarpent, in Deerslayer tongue."
+
+"Well, that is my tongue. Deerslayer, and father, and Judith, and I,
+and poor Hurry Harry--do you know Henry March, Great Serpent? I know you
+don't, however, or he would have spoken of you, too."
+
+"Did any tongue name Chingachgook, Drooping-Lily"? for so the chief had
+named poor Hetty. "Was his name sung by a little bird among Iroquois?"
+
+Hetty did not answer at first, but, with that indescribable feeling that
+awakens sympathy and intelligence among the youthful and unpracticed
+of her sex, she hung her head, and the blood suffused her cheek ere she
+found her tongue. It would have exceeded her stock of intelligence to
+explain this embarrassment, but, though poor Hetty could not reason, on
+every emergency, she could always feel. The colour slowly receded from
+her cheeks, and the girl looked up archly at the Indian, smiling with
+the innocence of a child, mingled with the interest of a woman.
+
+"My sister, the Drooping Lily, hear such bird!" Chingachgook added, and
+this with a gentleness of tone and manner that would have astonished
+those who sometimes heard the discordant cries that often came from the
+same throat; these transitions from the harsh and guttural, to the soft
+and melodious not being infrequent in ordinary Indian dialogues. "My
+sister's ears were open--has she lost her tongue?"
+
+"You are Chingachgook--you must be; for there is no other red man here,
+and she thought Chingachgook would come."
+
+"Chin-gach-gook," pronouncing the name slowly, and dwelling on each
+syllable--"Great Sarpent, Yengeese tongue."
+
+[It is singular there should be any question concerning the origin of
+the well-known sobriquet of "Yankees." Nearly all the old writers who
+speak of the Indians first known to the colonists make them
+pronounce the word "English" as "Yengeese." Even at this day, it is a
+provincialism of New England to say "Anglish" instead of "Inglish," and
+there is a close conformity of sound between "Anglish" and "yengeese,"
+more especially if the latter word, as was probably the case, be
+pronounced short. The transition from "Yengeese," thus pronounced, to
+"Yankees" is quite easy. If the former is pronounced "Yangis," it is
+almost identical with "Yankees," and Indian words have seldom been spelt
+as they are pronounced. Thus the scene of this tale is spelt "Otsego,"
+and is properly pronounced "Otsago." The liquids of the Indians would
+easily convert "En" into "Yen."]
+
+"Chin-gach-gook," repeated Hetty, in the same deliberate manner. "Yes,
+so Hist called it, and you must be the chief."
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah," added the Delaware.
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah, or Hist-oh-Hist. I think Hist prettier than Wah, and so I
+call her Hist."
+
+"Wah very sweet in Delaware ears!"
+
+"You make it sound differently from me. But, never mind, I did hear the
+bird you speak of sing, Great Serpent."
+
+"Will my sister say words of song? What she sing most--how she
+look--often she laugh?"
+
+"She sang Chin-gach-gook oftener than any thing else; and she laughed
+heartily, when I told how the Iroquois waded into the water after us,
+and couldn't catch us. I hope these logs haven't ears, Serpent!"
+
+"No fear logs; fear sister next room. No fear Iroquois; Deerslayer stuff
+his eyes and ears with strange beast."
+
+"I understand you, Serpent, and I understood Hist. Sometimes I think I'm
+not half as feeble minded as they say I am. Now, do you look up at the
+roof, and I'll tell you all. But you frighten me, you look so eager when
+I speak of Hist."
+
+The Indian controlled his looks, and affected to comply with the simple
+request of the girl.
+
+"Hist told me to say, in a very low voice, that you mustn't trust the
+Iroquois in anything. They are more artful than any Indians she knows.
+Then she says that there is a large bright star that comes over the
+hill, about an hour after dark"--Hist had pointed out the planet
+Jupiter, without knowing it--"and just as that star comes in sight, she
+will be on the point, where I landed last night, and that you must come
+for her, in a canoe."
+
+"Good--Chingachgook understand well enough, now; but he understand
+better if my sister sing him ag'in."
+
+Hetty repeated her words, more fully explaining what star was meant, and
+mentioning the part of the point where he was to venture ashore. She now
+proceeded in her own unsophisticated way to relate her intercourse with
+the Indian maid, and to repeat several of her expressions and opinions
+that gave great delight to the heart of her betrothed. She particularly
+renewed her injunctions to be on their guard against treachery, a
+warning that was scarcely needed, however, as addressed to men as
+wary as those to whom it was sent. She also explained with sufficient
+clearness, for on all such subjects the mind of the girl seldom failed
+her, the present state of the enemy, and the movements they had made
+since morning. Hist had been on the raft with her until it quitted the
+shore, and was now somewhere in the woods, opposite to the castle, and
+did not intend to return to the camp until night approached; when she
+hoped to be able to slip away from her companions, as they followed
+the shore on their way home, and conceal herself on the point. No
+one appeared to suspect the presence of Chingachgook, though it was
+necessarily known that an Indian had entered the Ark the previous night,
+and it was suspected that he had since appeared in and about the castle
+in the dress of a pale-face. Still some little doubt existed on the
+latter point, for, as this was the season when white men might be
+expected to arrive, there was some fear that the garrison of the castle
+was increasing by these ordinary means. All this had Hist communicated
+to Hetty while the Indians were dragging them along shore, the distance,
+which exceeded six miles, affording abundance of time.
+
+"Hist don't know, herself, whether they suspect her or not, or whether
+they suspect you, but she hopes neither is the case. And now, Serpent,
+since I have told you so much from your betrothed," continued Hetty,
+unconsciously taking one of the Indian's hands, and playing with the
+fingers, as a child is often seen to play with those of a parent, "you
+must let me tell you something from myself. When you marry Hist, you
+must be kind to her, and smile on her, as you do now on me, and not look
+cross as some of the chiefs do at their squaws. Will you promise this?"
+
+"Alway good to Wah!--too tender to twist hard; else she break."
+
+"Yes, and smile, too; you don't know how much a girl craves smiles
+from them she loves. Father scarce smiled on me once, while I was with
+him--and, Hurry--Yes--Hurry talked loud and laughed, but I don't think
+he smiled once either. You know the difference between a smile and a
+laugh?"
+
+"Laugh, best. Hear Wah laugh, think bird sing!"
+
+"I know that; her laugh is pleasant, but you must smile. And then,
+Serpent, you mustn't make her carry burthens and hoe corn, as so many
+Indians do; but treat her more as the pale-faces treat their wives."
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah no pale-face--got red-skin; red heart, red feelin's. All
+red; no pale-face. Must carry papoose."
+
+"Every woman is willing to carry her child," said Hetty smiling, "and
+there is no harm in that. But you must love Hist, and be gentle, and
+good to her; for she is gentle and good herself."
+
+Chingachgook gravely bowed, and then he seemed to think this part of the
+subject might be dismissed. Before there was time for Hetty to resume
+her communications, the voice of Deerslayer was heard calling on his
+friend, in the outer room. At this summons the Serpent arose to obey,
+and Hetty joined her sister.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV.
+
+
+    "'A stranger animal,' cries one,
+    'Sure never liv'd beneath the sun;
+    A lizard's body lean and long,
+    A fish's head, a serpent's tongue,
+    Its foot, with triple claw disjoined;
+    And what a length of tail behind!'"
+
+    James Merrick, "The Chameleon," 11.21-26.
+
+The first act of the Delaware, on rejoining his friend, was to proceed
+gravely to disencumber himself of his civilized attire, and to stand
+forth an Indian warrior again. The protest of Deerslayer was met by his
+communicating the fact that the presence of an Indian in the hut was
+known to the Iroquois, and that maintaining the disguise would be more
+likely to direct suspicions to his real object, than if he came out
+openly as a member of a hostile tribe. When the latter understood the
+truth, and was told that he had been deceived in supposing the chief had
+succeeded in entering the Ark undiscovered, he cheerfully consented to
+the change, since further attempt at concealment was useless. A gentler
+feeling than the one avowed, however, lay at the bottom of the Indian's
+desire to appear as a son of the forest. He had been told that Hist was
+on the opposite shore, and nature so far triumphed over all distinctions
+of habit, and tribes and people, as to reduce this young savage warrior
+to the level of a feeling which would have been found in the most
+refined inhabitant of a town, under similar circumstances. There was a
+mild satisfaction in believing that she he loved could see him, and as
+he walked out on the platform in his scanty, native attire, an Apollo
+of the wilderness, a hundred of the tender fancies that fleet through
+lovers' brains beset his imagination and softened his heart. All this
+was lost on Deerslayer, who was no great adept in the mysteries of
+Cupid, but whose mind was far more occupied with the concerns that
+forced themselves on his attention, than with any of the truant fancies
+of love. He soon recalled his companion, therefore, to a sense of their
+actual condition, by summoning him to a sort of council of war, in which
+they were to settle their future course. In the dialogue that followed,
+the parties mutually made each other acquainted with what had passed
+in their several interviews. Chingachgook was told the history of the
+treaty about the ransom, and Deerslayer heard the whole of Hetty's
+communications. The latter listened with generous interest to his
+friend's hopes, and promised cheerfully all the assistance he could
+lend.
+
+"'Tis our main ar'n'd, Sarpent, as you know, this battling for the
+castle and old Hutter's darters, coming in as a sort of accident.
+Yes--yes--I'll be actyve in helping little Hist, who's not only one
+of the best and handsomest maidens of the tribe, but the very best and
+handsomest. I've always encouraged you, chief, in that liking, and it's
+proper, too, that a great and ancient race like your'n shouldn't come to
+an end. If a woman of red skin and red gifts could get to be near enough
+to me to wish her for a wife, I'd s'arch for just such another, but that
+can never be; no, that can never be. I'm glad Hetty has met with
+Hist, howsever, for though the first is a little short of wit and
+understanding, the last has enough for both. Yes, Sarpent," laughing
+heartily--"put 'em together, and two smarter gals isn't to be found in
+all York Colony!"
+
+"I will go to the Iroquois camp," returned the Delaware, gravely. "No
+one knows Chingachgook but Wah, and a treaty for lives and scalps
+should be made by a chief. Give me the strange beasts, and let me take a
+canoe."
+
+Deerslayer dropped his head and played with the end of a fish-pole in
+the water, as he sat dangling his legs over the edge of the platform,
+like a man who was lost in thought by the sudden occurrence of a novel
+idea. Instead of directly answering the proposal of his friend, he began
+to soliloquize, a circumstance however that in no manner rendered
+his words more true, as he was remarkable for saying what he thought,
+whether the remarks were addressed to himself, or to any one else.
+
+"Yes--yes--" he said--"this must be what they call love! I've heard
+say that it sometimes upsets reason altogether, leaving a young man as
+helpless, as to calculation and caution, as a brute beast. To think that
+the Sarpent should be so lost to reason, and cunning, and wisdom! We
+must sartainly manage to get Hist off, and have 'em married as soon
+as we get back to the tribe, or this war will be of no more use to the
+chief, than a hunt a little oncommon extr'ornary. Yes--Yes--he'll never
+be the man he was, till this matter is off his mind, and he comes to his
+senses like all the rest of mankind. Sarpent, you can't be in airnest,
+and therefore I shall say but little to your offer. But you're a chief,
+and will soon be sent out on the war path at head of the parties, and
+I'll just ask if you'd think of putting your forces into the inimy's
+hands, afore the battle is fou't?"
+
+"Wah!" ejaculated the Indian.
+
+"Ay--Wah--I know well enough it's Wah, and altogether Wah--Ra'ally,
+Sarpent, I'm consarned and mortified about you! I never heard so weak an
+idee come from a chief, and he, too, one that's already got a name for
+being wise, young and inexper'enced as he is. Canoe you sha'n't have, so
+long as the v'ice of fri'ndship and warning can count for any thing."
+
+"My pale-face friend is right. A cloud came over the face of
+Chingachgook, and weakness got into his mind, while his eyes were dim.
+My brother has a good memory for good deeds, and a weak memory for bad.
+He will forget."
+
+"Yes, that's easy enough. Say no more about it chief, but if another
+of them clouds blow near you, do your endivours to get out of its way.
+Clouds are bad enough in the weather, but when they come to the reason,
+it gets to be serious. Now, sit down by me here, and let us calculate
+our movements a little, for we shall soon either have a truce and
+a peace, or we shall come to an actyve and bloody war. You see the
+vagabonds can make logs sarve their turn, as well as the best raftsmen
+on the rivers, and it would be no great expl'ite for them to invade us
+in a body. I've been thinking of the wisdom of putting all old Tom's
+stores into the Ark, of barring and locking up the Castle, and of taking
+to the Ark, altogether. That is moveable, and by keeping the sail up,
+and shifting places, we might worry through a great many nights, without
+them Canada wolves finding a way into our sheep fold!"
+
+Chingachgook listened to this plan with approbation. Did the negotiation
+fail, there was now little hope that the night would pass without
+an assault, and the enemy had sagacity enough to understand that
+in carrying the castle they would probably become masters of all it
+contained, the offered ransom included, and still retain the advantages
+they had hitherto gained. Some precaution of the sort appeared to be
+absolutely necessary, for now the numbers of the Iroquois were known, a
+night attack could scarcely be successfully met. It would be impossible
+to prevent the enemy from getting possession of the canoes and the Ark,
+and the latter itself would be a hold in which the assailants would be
+as effectually protected against bullets as were those in the building.
+For a few minutes, both the men thought of sinking the Ark in the
+shallow water, of bringing the canoes into the house, and of depending
+altogether on the castle for protection. But reflection satisfied them
+that, in the end, this expedient would fail. It was so easy to collect
+logs on the shore, and to construct a raft of almost any size, that it
+was certain the Iroquois, now they had turned their attention to
+such means, would resort to them seriously, so long as there was the
+certainty of success by perseverance. After deliberating maturely,
+and placing all the considerations fairly before them, the two young
+beginners in the art of forest warfare settled down into the opinion
+that the Ark offered the only available means of security. This decision
+was no sooner come to, than it was communicated to Judith. The girl
+had no serious objection to make, and all four set about the measures
+necessary to carrying the plan into execution.
+
+The reader will readily understand that Floating Tom's worldly goods
+were of no great amount. A couple of beds, some wearing apparel, the
+arms and ammunition, a few cooking utensils, with the mysterious and
+but half examined chest formed the principal items. These were all soon
+removed, the Ark having been hauled on the eastern side of the building,
+so that the transfer could be made without being seen from the shore. It
+was thought unnecessary to disturb the heavier and coarser articles of
+furniture, as they were not required in the Ark, and were of but little
+value in themselves. As great caution was necessary in removing the
+different objects, most of which were passed out of a window with a view
+to conceal what was going on, it required two or three hours before all
+could be effected. By the expiration of that time, the raft made its
+appearance, moving from the shore. Deerslayer immediately had recourse
+to the glass, by the aid of which he perceived that two warriors were
+on it, though they appeared to be unarmed. The progress of the raft was
+slow, a circumstance that formed one of the great advantages that would
+be possessed by the scow, in any future collision between them, the
+movements of the latter being comparatively swift and light. As there
+was time to make the dispositions for the reception of the two dangerous
+visitors, everything was prepared for them, long before they had got
+near enough to be hailed. The Serpent and the girls retired into the
+building, where the former stood near the door, well provided with
+rifles, while Judith watched the proceedings without through a loop. As
+for Deerslayer, he had brought a stool to the edge of the platform, at
+the point towards which the raft was advancing, and taken his seat with
+his rifle leaning carelessly between his legs.
+
+As the raft drew nearer, every means possessed by the party in the
+castle was resorted to, in order to ascertain if their visitors had any
+firearms. Neither Deerslayer nor Chingachgook could discover any, but
+Judith, unwilling to trust to simple eyesight, thrust the glass through
+the loop, and directed it towards the hemlock boughs that lay between
+the two logs of the raft, forming a sort of flooring, as well as a seat
+for the use of the rowers. When the heavy moving craft was within fifty
+feet of him, Deerslayer hailed the Hurons, directing them to cease
+rowing, it not being his intention to permit them to land. Compliance,
+of course, was necessary, and the two grim-looking warriors instantly
+quitted their seats, though the raft continued slowly to approach, until
+it had driven in much nearer to the platform.
+
+"Are ye chiefs?" demanded Deerslayer with dignity--"Are ye chiefs?--Or
+have the Mingos sent me warriors without names, on such an ar'n'd? If
+so, the sooner ye go back, the sooner them will be likely to come that a
+warrior can talk with."
+
+"Hugh!" exclaimed the elder of the two on the raft, rolling his glowing
+eyes over the different objects that were visible in and about the
+Castle, with a keenness that showed how little escaped him. "My brother
+is very proud, but Rivenoak (we use the literal translation of the term,
+writing as we do in English) is a name to make a Delaware turn pale."
+
+"That's true, or it's a lie, Rivenoak, as it may be; but I am not likely
+to turn pale, seeing that I was born pale. What's your ar'n'd, and why
+do you come among light bark canoes, on logs that are not even dug out?"
+
+"The Iroquois are not ducks, to walk on water! Let the pale-faces give
+them a canoe, and they'll come in a canoe."
+
+"That's more rational, than likely to come to pass. We have but four
+canoes, and being four persons that's only one for each of us. We thank
+you for the offer, howsever, though we ask leave not to accept it. You
+are welcome, Iroquois, on your logs."
+
+"Thanks--My young pale-face warrior--he has got a name--how do the
+chiefs call him?"
+
+Deerslayer hesitated a moment, and a gleam of pride and human weakness
+came over him. He smiled, muttered between his teeth, and then looking
+up proudly, he said--"Mingo, like all who are young and actyve, I've
+been known by different names, at different times. One of your warriors
+whose spirit started for the Happy Grounds of your people, as lately
+as yesterday morning, thought I desarved to be known by the name of
+Hawkeye, and this because my sight happened to be quicker than his own,
+when it got to be life or death atween us."
+
+Chingachgook, who was attentively listening to all that passed, heard
+and understood this proof of passing weakness in his friend, and on
+a future occasion he questioned him more closely concerning the
+transaction on the point, where Deerslayer had first taken human life.
+When he had got the whole truth, he did not fail to communicate it to
+the tribe, from which time the young hunter was universally known among
+the Delawares by an appellation so honorably earned. As this, however,
+was a period posterior to all the incidents of this tale, we shall
+continue to call the young hunter by the name under which he has been
+first introduced to the reader. Nor was the Iroquois less struck with
+the vaunt of the white man. He knew of the death of his comrade, and had
+no difficulty in understanding the allusion, the intercourse between the
+conqueror and his victim on that occasion having been seen by several
+savages on the shore of the lake, who had been stationed at different
+points just within the margin of bushes to watch the drifting canoes,
+and who had not time to reach the scene of action, ere the victor had
+retired. The effect on this rude being of the forest was an exclamation
+of surprise; then such a smile of courtesy, and wave of the hand,
+succeeded, as would have done credit to Asiatic diplomacy. The two
+Iroquois spoke to each other in low tones, and both drew near the end of
+the raft that was closest to the platform.
+
+"My brother, Hawkeye, has sent a message to the Hurons," resumed
+Rivenoak, "and it has made their hearts very glad. They hear he has
+images of beasts with two tails! Will he show them to his friends?"
+
+"Inimies would be truer," returned Deerslayer, "but sound isn't sense,
+and does little harm. Here is one of the images; I toss it to you under
+faith of treaties. If it's not returned, the rifle will settle the p'int
+atween us."
+
+The Iroquois seemed to acquiesce in the conditions, and Deerslayer arose
+and prepared to toss one of the elephants to the raft, both parties
+using all the precaution that was necessary to prevent its loss. As
+practice renders men expert in such things, the little piece of ivory
+was soon successfully transferred from one hand to the other, and then
+followed another scene on the raft, in which astonishment and delight
+got the mastery of Indian stoicism. These two grim old warriors
+manifested even more feeling, as they examined the curiously wrought
+chessman, than had been betrayed by the boy; for, in the case of the
+latter, recent schooling had interposed its influence; while the men,
+like all who are sustained by well established characters, were not
+ashamed to let some of their emotions be discovered. For a few minutes
+they apparently lost the consciousness of their situation, in the
+intense scrutiny they bestowed on a material so fine, work so highly
+wrought, and an animal so extraordinary. The lip of the moose is,
+perhaps, the nearest approach to the trunk of the elephant that is to
+be found in the American forest, but this resemblance was far from being
+sufficiently striking to bring the new creature within the range of
+their habits and ideas, and the more they studied the image, the greater
+was their astonishment. Nor did these children of the forest mistake
+the structure on the back of the elephant for a part of the animal. They
+were familiar with horses and oxen, and had seen towers in the Canadas,
+and found nothing surprising in creatures of burthen. Still, by a very
+natural association, they supposed the carving meant to represent that
+the animal they saw was of a strength sufficient to carry a fort on its
+back; a circumstance that in no degree lessened their wonder.
+
+"Has my pale-face brother any more such beasts?" at last the senior of
+the Iroquois asked, in a sort of petitioning manner.
+
+"There's more where them came from, Mingo," was the answer; "one is
+enough, howsever, to buy off fifty scalps."
+
+"One of my prisoners is a great warrior--tall as a pine--strong as the
+moose--active as a deer--fierce as the panther! Some day he'll be a
+great chief, and lead the army of King George!"
+
+"Tut-tut Mingo; Hurry Harry is Hurry Harry, and you'll never make
+more than a corporal of him, if you do that. He's tall enough, of a
+sartainty; but that's of no use, as he only hits his head ag'in the
+branches as he goes through the forest. He's strong too, but a strong
+body isn't a strong head, and the king's generals are not chosen for
+their sinews; he's swift, if you will, but a rifle bullet is swifter;
+and as for f'erceness, it's no great ricommend to a soldier; they that
+think they feel the stoutest often givin' out at the pinch. No, no,
+you'll niver make Hurry's scalp pass for more than a good head of curly
+hair, and a rattle pate beneath it!"
+
+"My old prisoner very wise--king of the lake--great warrior, wise
+counsellor!"
+
+"Well, there's them that might gainsay all this, too, Mingo. A very wise
+man wouldn't be apt to be taken in so foolish a manner as befell Master
+Hutter, and if he gives good counsel, he must have listened to very bad
+in that affair. There's only one king of this lake, and he's a long way
+off, and isn't likely ever to see it. Floating Tom is some such king of
+this region, as the wolf that prowls through the woods is king of the
+forest. A beast with two tails is well worth two such scalps!"
+
+"But my brother has another beast?--He will give two"--holding up as
+many fingers, "for old father?"
+
+"Floating Tom is no father of mine, but he'll fare none the worse for
+that. As for giving two beasts for his scalp, and each beast with two
+tails, it is quite beyond reason. Think yourself well off, Mingo, if you
+make a much worse trade."
+
+By this time the self-command of Rivenoak had got the better of his
+wonder, and he began to fall back on his usual habits of cunning, in
+order to drive the best bargain he could. It would be useless to relate
+more than the substance of the desultory dialogue that followed, in
+which the Indian manifested no little management, in endeavoring
+to recover the ground lost under the influence of surprise. He even
+affected to doubt whether any original for the image of the beast
+existed, and asserted that the oldest Indian had never heard a tradition
+of any such animal. Little did either of them imagine at the time that
+long ere a century elapsed, the progress of civilization would bring
+even much more extraordinary and rare animals into that region, as
+curiosities to be gazed at by the curious, and that the particular
+beast, about which the disputants contended, would be seen laving its
+sides and swimming in the very sheet of water, on which they had met.
+
+[The Otsego is a favorite place for the caravan keepers to let
+their elephants bathe. The writer has seen two at a time, since the
+publication of this book, swimming about in company.]
+
+As is not uncommon on such occasions, one of the parties got a little
+warm in the course of the discussion, for Deerslayer met all the
+arguments and prevarication of his subtle opponent with his own cool
+directness of manner, and unmoved love of truth. What an elephant was he
+knew little better than the savage, but he perfectly understood that
+the carved pieces of ivory must have some such value in the eyes of an
+Iroquois as a bag of gold or a package of beaver skins would in those of
+a trader. Under the circumstances, therefore, he felt it to be
+prudent not to concede too much at first, since there existed a
+nearly unconquerable obstacle to making the transfers, even after the
+contracting parties had actually agreed upon the terms. Keeping this
+difficulty in view, he held the extra chessmen in reserve, as a means of
+smoothing any difficulty in the moment of need.
+
+At length the savage pretended that further negotiation was useless,
+since he could not be so unjust to his tribe as to part with the
+honor and emoluments of two excellent, full grown male scalps for
+a consideration so trifling as a toy like that he had seen, and he
+prepared to take his departure. Both parties now felt as men are wont to
+feel, when a bargain that each is anxious to conclude is on the eve of
+being broken off, in consequence of too much pertinacity in the way
+of management. The effect of the disappointment was very different,
+however, on the respective individuals. Deerslayer was mortified, and
+filled with regret, for he not only felt for the prisoners, but he also
+felt deeply for the two girls. The conclusion of the treaty, therefore,
+left him melancholy and full of regret. With the savage, his defeat
+produced the desire of revenge. In a moment of excitement, he had loudly
+announced his intention to say no more, and he felt equally enraged with
+himself and with his cool opponent, that he had permitted a pale face to
+manifest more indifference and self-command than an Indian chief. When
+he began to urge his raft away from the platform his countenance lowered
+and his eye glowed, even while he affected a smile of amity and a
+gesture of courtesy at parting.
+
+It took some little time to overcome the inertia of the logs, and while
+this was being done by the silent Indian, Rivenoak stalked over the
+hemlock boughs that lay between the logs in sullen ferocity, eyeing
+keenly the while the hut, the platform and the person of his late
+disputant. Once he spoke in low, quick tones to his companion, and he
+stirred the boughs with his feet like an animal that is restive. At that
+moment the watchfulness of Deerslayer had a little abated, for he sat
+musing on the means of renewing the negotiation without giving too much
+advantage to the other side. It was perhaps fortunate for him that the
+keen and bright eyes of Judith were as vigilant as ever. At the instant
+when the young man was least on his guard, and his enemy was the most
+on the alert, she called out in a warning voice to the former, most
+opportunely giving the alarm.
+
+"Be on your guard, Deerslayer," the girl cried--"I see rifles with the
+glass, beneath the hemlock brush, and the Iroquois is loosening them
+with his feet!"
+
+It would seem that the enemy had carried their artifices so far as to
+employ an agent who understood English. The previous dialogue had taken
+place in his own language, but it was evident by the sudden manner in
+which his feet ceased their treacherous occupation, and in which the
+countenance of Rivenoak changed from sullen ferocity to a smile of
+courtesy, that the call of the girl was understood. Signing to his
+companion to cease his efforts to set the logs in motion, he advanced to
+the end of the raft which was nearest to the platform, and spoke.
+
+"Why should Rivenoak and his brother leave any cloud between them," he
+said. "They are both wise, both brave, and both generous; they ought to
+part friends. One beast shall be the price of one prisoner."
+
+"And, Mingo," answered the other, delighted to renew the negotiations on
+almost any terms, and determined to clinch the bargain if possible by a
+little extra liberality, "you'll see that a pale-face knows how to pay
+a full price, when he trades with an open heart, and an open hand. Keep
+the beast that you had forgotten to give back to me, as you was about to
+start, and which I forgot to ask for, on account of consarn at parting
+in anger. Show it to your chiefs. When you bring us our fri'nds, two
+more shall be added to it, and," hesitating a moment in distrust of the
+expediency of so great a concession; then, deciding in its favor--"and,
+if we see them afore the sun sets, we may find a fourth to make up an
+even number."
+
+This settled the matter. Every gleam of discontent vanished from the
+dark countenance of the Iroquois, and he smiled as graciously, if not as
+sweetly, as Judith Hutter, herself. The piece already in his possession
+was again examined, and an ejaculation of pleasure showed how much he
+was pleased with this unexpected termination of the affair. In point of
+fact, both he and Deerslayer had momentarily forgotten what had become
+of the subject of their discussion, in the warmth of their feelings, but
+such had not been the case with Rivenoak's companion. This man retained
+the piece, and had fully made up his mind, were it claimed under such
+circumstances as to render its return necessary, to drop it in the lake,
+trusting to his being able to find it again at some future day. This
+desperate expedient, however, was no longer necessary, and after
+repeating the terms of agreement, and professing to understand them,
+the two Indians finally took their departure, moving slowly towards the
+shore.
+
+"Can any faith be put in such wretches?" asked Judith, when she and
+Hetty had come out on the platform, and were standing at the side of
+Deerslayer, watching the dull movement of the logs. "Will they not
+rather keep the toy they have, and send us off some bloody proofs of
+their getting the better of us in cunning, by way of boasting? I've
+heard of acts as bad as this."
+
+"No doubt, Judith; no manner of doubt, if it wasn't for Indian natur'.
+But I'm no judge of a red-skin, if that two tail'd beast doesn't set
+the whole tribe in some such stir as a stick raises in a beehive! Now,
+there's the Sarpent; a man with narves like flint, and no more cur'osity
+in every day consarns than is befitting prudence; why he was so overcome
+with the sight of the creatur', carved as it is in bone, that I felt
+ashamed for him! That's just their gifts, howsever, and one can't well
+quarrel with a man for his gifts, when they are lawful. Chingachgook
+will soon get over his weakness and remember that he's a chief, and
+that he comes of a great stock, and has a renowned name to support and
+uphold; but as for yonder scamps, there'll be no peace among 'em until
+they think they've got possession of every thing of the natur' of that
+bit of carved bone that's to be found among Thomas Hutter's stores!"
+
+"They only know of the elephants, and can have no hopes about the other
+things."
+
+"That's true, Judith; still, covetousness is a craving feelin'! They'll
+say, if the pale-faces have these cur'ous beasts with two tails, who
+knows but they've got some with three, or for that matter with four!
+That's what the schoolmasters call nat'ral arithmetic, and 'twill be
+sartain to beset the feelin's of savages. They'll never be easy, till
+the truth is known."
+
+"Do you think, Deerslayer," inquired Hetty, in her simple and innocent
+manner, "that the Iroquois won't let father and Hurry go? I read to them
+several of the very best verses in the whole Bible, and you see what
+they have done, already."
+
+The hunter, as he always did, listened kindly and even affectionately to
+Hetty's remarks; then he mused a moment in silence. There was something
+like a flush on his cheek as he answered, after quite a minute had
+passed.
+
+"I don't know whether a white man ought to be ashamed, or not, to own he
+can't read, but such is my case, Judith. You are skilful, I find, in all
+such matters, while I have only studied the hand of God as it is seen in
+the hills and the valleys, the mountain-tops, the streams, the forests
+and the springs. Much l'arning may be got in this way, as well as out
+of books; and, yet, I sometimes think it is a white man's gift to read!
+When I hear from the mouths of the Moravians the words of which Hetty
+speaks, they raise a longing in my mind, and I then think I will know
+how to read 'em myself; but the game in summer, and the traditions, and
+lessons in war, and other matters, have always kept me behind hand."
+
+"Shall I teach you, Deerslayer?" asked Hetty, earnestly. "I'm
+weak-minded, they say, but I can read as well as Judith. It might save
+your life to know how to read the Bible to the savages, and it will
+certainly save your soul; for mother told me that, again and again!"
+
+"Thankee, Hetty--yes, thankee, with all my heart. These are like to be
+too stirring times for much idleness, but after it's peace, and I come
+to see you ag'in on this lake, then I'll give myself up to it, as if
+'twas pleasure and profit in a single business. Perhaps I ought to
+be ashamed, Judith, that 'tis so; but truth is truth. As for these
+Iroquois, 'tisn't very likely they'll forget a beast with two tails, on
+account of a varse or two from the Bible. I rather expect they'll give
+up the prisoners, and trust to some sarcumvenion or other to get 'em
+back ag'in, with us and all in the castle and the Ark in the bargain.
+Howsever, we must humour the vagabonds, first to get your father and
+Hurry out of their hands, and next to keep the peace atween us, until
+such time as the Sarpent there can make out to get off his betrothed
+wife. If there's any sudden outbreakin' of anger and ferocity, the
+Indians will send off all their women and children to the camp at once,
+whereas, by keeping 'em calm and trustful we may manage to meet Hist at
+the spot she has mentioned. Rather than have the bargain fall through,
+now, I'd throw in half a dozen of them effigy bow-and-arrow men, such as
+we've in plenty in the chist."
+
+Judith cheerfully assented, for she would have resigned even the
+flowered brocade, rather than not redeem her father and please
+Deerslayer. The prospects of success were now so encouraging as to
+raise the spirits of all in the castle, though a due watchfulness of
+the movements of the enemy was maintained. Hour passed after hour,
+notwithstanding, and the sun had once more begun to fall towards the
+summits of the western hills, and yet no signs were seen of the return
+of the raft. By dint of sweeping the shore with the glass, Deerslayer
+at length discovered a place in the dense and dark woods where, he
+entertained no doubt, the Iroquois were assembled in considerable
+numbers. It was near the thicket whence the raft had issued, and a
+little rill that trickled into the lake announced the vicinity of
+a spring. Here, then, the savages were probably holding their
+consultation, and the decision was to be made that went to settle the
+question of life or death for the prisoners. There was one ground for
+hope in spite of the delay, however, that Deerslayer did not fail to
+place before his anxious companions. It was far more probable that
+the Indians had left their prisoners in the camp, than that they had
+encumbered themselves by causing them to follow through the woods a
+party that was out on a merely temporary excursion. If such was the
+fact, it required considerable time to send a messenger the necessary
+distance, and to bring the two white men to the spot where they were
+to embark. Encouraged by these reflections, a new stock of patience was
+gathered, and the declension of the sun was viewed with less alarm.
+
+The result justified Deerslayer's conjecture. Not long before the
+sun had finally disappeared, the two logs were seen coming out of the
+thicket, again, and as it drew near, Judith announced that her father
+and Hurry, both of them pinioned, lay on the bushes in the centre. As
+before, the two Indians were rowing. The latter seemed to be conscious
+that the lateness of the hour demanded unusual exertions, and contrary
+to the habits of their people, who are ever averse to toil, they labored
+hard at the rude substitutes for oars. In consequence of this diligence,
+the raft occupied its old station in about half the time that had been
+taken in the previous visits.
+
+Even after the conditions were so well understood, and matters had
+proceeded so far, the actual transfer of the prisoners was not a duty
+to be executed without difficulty. The Iroquois were compelled to
+place great reliance on the good faith of their foes, though it
+was reluctantly given; and was yielded to necessity rather than to
+confidence. As soon as Hutter and Hurry should be released, the party
+in the castle numbered two to one, as opposed to those on the raft, and
+escape by flight was out of the question, as the former had three bark
+canoes, to say nothing of the defences of the house and the Ark. All
+this was understood by both parties, and it is probable the arrangement
+never could have been completed, had not the honest countenance and
+manner of Deerslayer wrought their usual effect on Rivenoak.
+
+"My brother knows I put faith in him," said the latter, as he advanced
+with Hutter, whose legs had been released to enable the old man to
+ascend to the platform. "One scalp--one more beast."
+
+"Stop, Mingo," interrupted the hunter, "keep your prisoner a moment. I
+have to go and seek the means of payment."
+
+This excuse, however, though true in part, was principally a fetch.
+Deerslayer left the platform, and entering the house, he directed Judith
+to collect all the arms and to conceal them in her own room. He then
+spoke earnestly to the Delaware, who stood on guard as before, near the
+entrance of the building, put the three remaining castles in his pocket,
+and returned.
+
+"You are welcome back to your old abode, Master Hutter," said
+Deerslayer, as he helped the other up on the platform, slyly passing
+into the hand of Rivenoak, at the same time, another of the castles.
+"You'll find your darters right glad to see you, and here's Hetty come
+herself to say as much in her own behalf."
+
+Here the hunter stopped speaking and broke out into a hearty fit of his
+silent and peculiar laughter. Hurry's legs were just released, and he
+had been placed on his feet. So tightly had the ligatures been drawn,
+that the use of his limbs was not immediately recovered, and the young
+giant presented, in good sooth, a very helpless and a somewhat ludicrous
+picture. It was this unusual spectacle, particularly the bewildered
+countenance, that excited the merriment of Deerslayer.
+
+"You look like a girdled pine in a clearin', Hurry Harry, that is
+rocking in a gale," said Deerslayer, checking his unseasonable mirth,
+more from delicacy to the others than from any respect to the liberated
+captive. "I'm glad, howsever, to see that you haven't had your hair
+dressed by any of the Iroquois barbers, in your late visit to their
+camp."
+
+"Harkee, Deerslayer," returned the other a little fiercely, "it will
+be prudent for you to deal less in mirth and more in friendship on this
+occasion. Act like a Christian, for once, and not like a laughing gal
+in a country school when the master's back is turned, and just tell me
+whether there's any feet, or not, at the end of these legs of mine. I
+think I can see them, but as for feelin' they might as well be down on
+the banks of the Mohawk, as be where they seem to be."
+
+"You've come off whole, Hurry, and that's not a little," answered the
+other, secretly passing to the Indian the remainder of the stipulated
+ransom, and making an earnest sign at the same moment for him to
+commence his retreat. "You've come off whole, feet and all, and are
+only a little numb from a tight fit of the withes. Natur'll soon set the
+blood in motion, and then you may begin to dance, to celebrate what I
+call a most wonderful and onexpected deliverance from a den of wolves."
+
+Deerslayer released the arms of his friends, as each landed, and the
+two were now stamping and limping about on the platform, growling
+and uttering denunciations as they endeavored to help the returning
+circulation. They had been tethered too long, however, to regain the use
+of their limbs in a moment, and the Indians being quite as diligent on
+their return as on their advance, the raft was fully a hundred yards
+from the castle when Hurry, turning accidentally in that direction,
+discovered how fast it was getting beyond the reach of his vengeance. By
+this time he could move with tolerable facility, though still numb and
+awkward. Without considering his own situation, however, he seized the
+rifle that leaned against the shoulder of Deerslayer, and attempted to
+cock and present it. The young hunter was too quick for him. Seizing the
+piece he wrenched it from the hands of the giant, not, however, until
+it had gone off in the struggle, when pointed directly upward. It is
+probable that Deerslayer could have prevailed in such a contest, on
+account of the condition of Hurry's limbs, but the instant the gun went
+off, the latter yielded, and stumped towards the house, raising his legs
+at each step quite a foot from the ground, from an uncertainty of the
+actual position of his feet. But he had been anticipated by Judith. The
+whole stock of Hutter's arms, which had been left in the building as a
+resource in the event of a sudden outbreaking of hostilities, had
+been removed, and were already secreted, agreeably to Deerslayer's
+directions. In consequence of this precaution, no means offered by which
+March could put his designs in execution.
+
+Disappointed in his vengeance, Hurry seated himself, and like Hutter,
+for half an hour, he was too much occupied in endeavoring to restore the
+circulation, and in regaining the use of his limbs, to indulge in any
+other reflections. By the end of this time the raft had disappeared, and
+night was beginning to throw her shadows once more over the whole sylvan
+scene. Before darkness had completely set in, and while the girls were
+preparing the evening meal, Deerslayer related to Hutter an outline of
+events that had taken place, and gave him a history of the means he had
+adopted for the security of his children and property.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV.
+
+
+    "As long as Edwarde rules thys lande,
+    Ne quiet you wylle ye know;
+    Your sonnes and husbandes shall be slayne,
+    And brookes with bloode shall 'flowe.'
+
+    "You leave youre geode and lawfulle kynge,
+    Whenne ynne adversity;
+    Like me, untoe the true cause stycke,
+    And for the true cause dye."
+
+    Chatterton.
+
+The calm of evening was again in singular contrast, while its gathering
+gloom was in as singular unison with the passions of men. The sun was
+set, and the rays of the retiring luminary had ceased to gild the edges
+of the few clouds that had sufficient openings to admit the passage of
+its fading light. The canopy overhead was heavy and dense, promising
+another night of darkness, but the surface of the lake was scarcely
+disturbed by a ripple. There was a little air, though it scarce deserved
+to be termed wind. Still, being damp and heavy, it had a certain force.
+The party in the castle were as gloomy and silent as the scene. The
+two ransomed prisoners felt humbled and discoloured, but their humility
+partook of the rancour of revenge. They were far more disposed to
+remember the indignity with which they had been treated during the last
+few hours of their captivity, than to feel grateful for the previous
+indulgence. Then that keen-sighted monitor, conscience, by reminding
+them of the retributive justice of all they had endured, goaded them
+rather to turn the tables on their enemies than to accuse themselves.
+As for the others, they were thoughtful equally from regret and joy.
+Deerslayer and Judith felt most of the former sensation, though from
+very different causes, while Hetty for the moment was perfectly happy.
+The Delaware had also lively pictures of felicity in the prospect of
+so soon regaining his betrothed. Under such circumstances, and in this
+mood, all were taking the evening meal.
+
+"Old Tom!" cried Hurry, bursting into a fit of boisterous laughter,
+"you look'd amazin'ly like a tethered bear, as you was stretched on
+them hemlock boughs, and I only wonder you didn't growl more. Well, it's
+over, and syth's and lamentations won't mend the matter! There's the
+blackguard Rivenoak, he that brought us off has an oncommon scalp, and
+I'd give as much for it myself as the Colony. Yes, I feel as rich as the
+governor in these matters now, and will lay down with them doubloon for
+doubloon. Judith, darling, did you mourn for me much, when I was in the
+hands of the Philipsteins?"
+
+The last were a family of German descent on the Mohawk, to whom Hurry
+had a great antipathy, and whom he had confounded with the enemies of
+Judea.
+
+"Our tears have raised the lake, Hurry March, as you might have seen by
+the shore!" returned Judith, with a feigned levity that she was far
+from feeling. "That Hetty and I should have grieved for father was to be
+expected; but we fairly rained tears for you."
+
+"We were sorry for poor Hurry, as well as for father, Judith!" put in
+her innocent and unconscious sister.
+
+"True, girl, true; but we feel sorrow for everybody that's in trouble,
+you know," returned the other in a quick, admonitory manner and a low
+tone. "Nevertheless, we are glad to see you, Master March, and out of
+the hands of the Philipsteins, too."
+
+"Yes, they're a bad set, and so is the other brood of 'em, down on the
+river. It's a wonderment to me how you got us off, Deerslayer; and I
+forgive you the interference that prevented my doin' justice on that
+vagabond, for this small service. Let us into the secret, that we may do
+you the same good turn, at need. Was it by lying, or by coaxing?"
+
+"By neither, Hurry, but by buying. We paid a ransom for you both,
+and that, too, at a price so high you had well be on your guard ag'in
+another captyvement, lest our stock of goods shouldn't hold out."
+
+"A ransom! Old Tom has paid the fiddler, then, for nothing of mine would
+have bought off the hair, much less the skin. I didn't think men as keen
+set as them vagabonds would let a fellow up so easy, when they had him
+fairly at a close hug, and floored. But money is money, and somehow it's
+unnat'ral hard to withstand. Indian or white man, 'tis pretty much the
+same. It must be owned, Judith, there's a considerable of human natur'
+in mankind ginirally, arter all!"
+
+Hutter now rose, and signing to Deerslayer, he led him to an inner room,
+where, in answer to his questions, he first learned the price that had
+been paid for his release. The old man expressed neither resentment nor
+surprise at the inroad that had been made on his chest, though he
+did manifest some curiosity to know how far the investigation of its
+contents had been carried. He also inquired where the key had been
+found. The habitual frankness of Deerslayer prevented any prevarication,
+and the conference soon terminated by the return of the two to the
+outer room, or that which served for the double purpose of parlour and
+kitchen.
+
+"I wonder if it's peace or war, between us and the savages!" exclaimed
+Hurry, just as Deerslayer, who had paused for a single instant, listened
+attentively, and was passing through the outer door without stopping.
+"This givin' up captives has a friendly look, and when men have traded
+together on a fair and honourable footing they ought to part fri'nds,
+for that occasion at least. Come back, Deerslayer, and let us have
+your judgment, for I'm beginnin' to think more of you, since your late
+behaviour, than I used to do."
+
+"There's an answer to your question, Hurry, since you're in such haste
+to come ag'in to blows."
+
+As Deerslayer spoke, he threw on the table on which the other was
+reclining with one elbow a sort of miniature fagot, composed of a dozen
+sticks bound tightly together with a deer-skin thong. March seized it
+eagerly, and holding it close to a blazing knot of pine that lay on
+the hearth, and which gave out all the light there was in the room,
+ascertained that the ends of the several sticks had been dipped in
+blood.
+
+"If this isn't plain English," said the reckless frontier man, "it's
+plain Indian! Here's what they call a dicliration of war, down at York,
+Judith. How did you come by this defiance, Deerslayer?"
+
+"Fairly enough. It lay not a minut' since, in what you call Floatin'
+Tom's door-yard."
+
+"How came it there?"
+
+"It never fell from the clouds, Judith, as little toads sometimes do,
+and then it don't rain."
+
+"You must prove where it come from, Deerslayer, or we shall suspect some
+design to skear them that would have lost their wits long ago, if fear
+could drive 'em away."
+
+Deerslayer had approached a window, and cast a glance out of it on the
+dark aspect of the lake. As if satisfied with what he beheld, he drew
+near Hurry, and took the bundle of sticks into his own hand, examining
+it attentively.
+
+"Yes, this is an Indian declaration of war, sure enough," he said,
+"and it's a proof how little you're suited to be on the path it has
+travelled, Harry March, that it has got here, and you never the wiser as
+to the means. The savages may have left the scalp on your head, but they
+must have taken off the ears; else you'd have heard the stirring of the
+water made by the lad as he come off ag'in on his two logs. His ar'n'd
+was to throw these sticks at our door, as much as to say, we've struck
+the war-post since the trade, and the next thing will be to strike you."
+
+"The prowling wolves! But hand me that rifle, Judith, and I'll send an
+answer back to the vagabonds through their messenger."
+
+"Not while I stand by, Master March," coolly put in Deerslayer,
+motioning for the other to forbear. "Faith is faith, whether given to a
+red-skin, or to a Christian. The lad lighted a knot, and came off fairly
+under its blaze to give us this warning; and no man here should harm
+him, while empl'yed on such an ar'n'd. There's no use in words, for the
+boy is too cunning to leave the knot burning, now his business is done,
+and the night is already too dark for a rifle to have any sartainty."
+
+"That may be true enough, as to a gun, but there's virtue still in a
+canoe," answered Hurry, passing towards the door with enormous strides,
+carrying a rifle in his hands. "The being doesn't live that shall stop
+me from following and bringing back that riptyle's scalp. The more on
+'em that you crush in the egg, the fewer there'll be to dart at you in
+the woods!"
+
+Judith trembled like the aspen, she scarce knew why herself, though
+there was the prospect of a scene of violence; for if Hurry was fierce
+and overbearing in the consciousness of his vast strength, Deerslayer
+had about him the calm determination that promises greater perseverance,
+and a resolution more likely to effect its object. It was the stern,
+resolute eye of the latter, rather than the noisy vehemence of the
+first, that excited her apprehensions. Hurry soon reached the spot where
+the canoe was fastened, but not before Deerslayer had spoken in a quick,
+earnest voice to the Serpent, in Delaware. The latter had been the
+first, in truth, to hear the sounds of the oars, and he had gone upon
+the platform in jealous watchfulness. The light satisfied him that a
+message was coming, and when the boy cast his bundle of sticks at his
+feet, it neither moved his anger nor induced surprise. He merely stood
+at watch, rifle in hand, to make certain that no treachery lay behind
+the defiance. As Deerslayer now called to him, he stepped into the
+canoe, and quick as thought removed the paddles. Hurry was furious
+when he found that he was deprived of the means of proceeding. He first
+approached the Indian with loud menaces, and even Deerslayer stood
+aghast at the probable consequences. March shook his sledge-hammer fists
+and flourished his arms as he drew near the Indian, and all expected he
+would attempt to fell the Delaware to the earth; one of them, at least,
+was well aware that such an experiment would be followed by immediate
+bloodshed. But even Hurry was awed by the stern composure of the chief,
+and he, too, knew that such a man was not to be outraged with impunity;
+he therefore turned to vent his rage on Deerslayer, where he foresaw no
+consequences so terrible. What might have been the result of this second
+demonstration if completed, is unknown, since it was never made.
+
+"Hurry," said a gentle, soothing voice at his elbow, "it's wicked to be
+so angry, and God will not overlook it. The Iroquois treated you well,
+and they didn't take your scalp, though you and father wanted to take
+theirs."
+
+The influence of mildness on passion is well known. Hetty, too, had
+earned a sort of consideration, that had never before been enjoyed
+by her, through the self-devotion and decision of her recent conduct.
+Perhaps her established mental imbecility, by removing all distrust of
+a wish to control, aided her influence. Let the cause be as questionable
+as it might, the effect we sufficiently certain. Instead of throttling
+his old fellow-traveler, Hurry turned to the girl and poured out a
+portion of his discontent, if none of his anger, in her attentive ears.
+
+"'Tis too bad, Hetty!" he exclaimed; "as bad as a county gaol or a lack
+of beaver, to get a creatur' into your very trap, then to see it get
+off. As much as six first quality skins, in valie, has paddled off on
+them clumsy logs, when twenty strokes of a well-turned paddle would
+overtake 'em. I say in valie, for as to the boy in the way of natur', he
+is only a boy, and is worth neither more nor less than one. Deerslayer,
+you've been ontrue to your fri'nds in letting such a chance slip through
+my fingers well as your own."
+
+The answer was given quietly, but with a voice as steady as a fearless
+nature and the consciousness of rectitude could make it. "I should
+have been untrue to the right, had I done otherwise," returned the
+Deerslayer, steadily; "and neither you, nor any other man has authority
+to demand that much of me. The lad came on a lawful business, and the
+meanest red-skin that roams the woods would be ashamed of not respecting
+his ar'n'd. But he's now far beyond your reach, Master March, and
+there's little use in talking, like a couple of women, of what can no
+longer be helped."
+
+So saying, Deerslayer turned away, like one resolved to waste no more
+words on the subject, while Hutter pulled Harry by the sleeve, and led
+him into the ark. There they sat long in private conference. In the
+mean time, the Indian and his friend had their secret consultation; for,
+though it wanted some three or four hours to the rising of the star, the
+former could not abstain from canvassing his scheme, and from opening
+his heart to the other. Judith, too, yielded to her softer feelings,
+and listened to the whole of Hetty's artless narrative of what occurred
+after she landed. The woods had few terrors for either of these girls,
+educated as they had been, and accustomed as they were to look out daily
+at their rich expanse or to wander beneath their dark shades; but the
+elder sister felt that she would have hesitated about thus venturing
+alone into an Iroquois camp. Concerning Hist, Hetty was not very
+communicative. She spoke of her kindness and gentleness and of the
+meeting in the forest; but the secret of Chingachgook was guarded with
+a shrewdness and fidelity that many a sharper-witted girl might have
+failed to display.
+
+At length the several conferences were broken up by the reappearance
+of Hutter on the platform. Here he assembled the whole party, and
+communicated as much of his intentions as he deemed expedient. Of the
+arrangement made by Deerslayer, to abandon the castle during the night
+and to take refuge in the ark, he entirely approved. It struck him as it
+had the others, as the only effectual means of escaping destruction.
+Now that the savages had turned their attention to the construction of
+rafts, no doubt could exist of their at least making an attempt to carry
+the building, and the message of the bloody sticks sufficiently showed
+their confidence in their own success. In short, the old man viewed
+the night as critical, and he called on all to get ready as soon as
+possible, in order to abandon the dwellings temporarily at least, if not
+forever.
+
+These communications made, everything proceeded promptly and with
+intelligence; the castle was secured in the manner already described,
+the canoes were withdrawn from the dock and fastened to the ark by the
+side of the other; the few necessaries that had been left in the
+house were transferred to the cabin, the fire was extinguished and all
+embarked.
+
+The vicinity of the hills, with their drapery of pines, had the effect
+to render nights that were obscure darker than common on the lake.
+As usual, however, a belt of comparative light was etched through the
+centre of the sheet, while it was within the shadows of the mountains
+that the gloom rested most heavily on the water. The island, or castle,
+stood in this belt of comparative light, but still the night was so dark
+as to cover the aperture of the ark. At the distance of an observer on
+the shore her movements could not be seen at all, more particularly as a
+background of dark hillside filled up the perspective of every view that
+was taken diagonally or directly across the water. The prevailing wind
+on the lakes of that region is west, but owing to the avenues formed by
+the mountains it is frequently impossible to tell the true direction
+of the currents, as they often vary within short distances and brief
+differences of time. This is truer in light fluctuating puffs of air
+than in steady breezes; though the squalls of even the latter are
+familiarly known to be uncertain and baffling in all mountainous regions
+and narrow waters. On the present occasion, Hutter himself (as he shoved
+the ark from her berth at the side of the platform) was at a loss to
+pronounce which way the wind blew. In common, this difficulty was solved
+by the clouds, which, floating high above the hill tops, as a matter of
+course obeyed the currents; but now the whole vault of heaven seemed
+a mass of gloomy wall. Not an opening of any sort was visible, and
+Chingachgook was already trembling lest the non-appearance of the star
+might prevent his betrothed from being punctual to her appointment.
+Under these circumstances, Hutter hoisted his sail, seemingly with the
+sole intention of getting away from the castle, as it might be dangerous
+to remain much longer in its vicinity. The air soon filled the cloth,
+and when the scow was got under command, and the sail was properly
+trimmed, it was found that the direction was southerly, inclining
+towards the eastern shore. No better course offering for the purposes
+of the party, the singular craft was suffered to skim the surface of
+the water in this direction for more than hour, when a change in the
+currents of the air drove them over towards the camp.
+
+Deerslayer watched all the movements of Hutter and Harry with jealous
+attention. At first, he did not know whether to ascribe the course they
+held to accident or to design; but he now began to suspect the latter.
+Familiar as Hutter was with the lake, it was easy to deceive one who had
+little practice on the water; and let his intentions be what they
+might, it was evident, ere two hours had elapsed, that the ark had got
+sufficient space to be within a hundred rods of the shore, directly
+abreast of the known position of the camp. For a considerable time
+previously to reaching this point, Hurry, who had some knowledge of the
+Algonquin language, had been in close conference with the Indian, and
+the result was now announced by the latter to Deerslayer, who had been a
+cold, not to say distrusted, looker-on of all that passed.
+
+"My old father, and my young brother, the Big Pine,"--for so the
+Delaware had named March--"want to see Huron scalps at their belts,"
+said Chingachgook to his friend. "There is room for some on the girdle
+of the Sarpent, and his people will look for them when he goes back to
+his village. Their eyes must not be left long in a fog, but they must
+see what they look for. I know that my brother has a white hand; he will
+not strike even the dead. He will wait for us; when we come back, he
+will not hide his face from shame for his friend. The great Serpent of
+the Mohicans must be worthy to go on the war-path with Hawkeye."
+
+"Ay, ay, Sarpent, I see how it is; that name's to stick, and in time I
+shall get to be known by it instead of Deerslayer; well, if such honours
+will come, the humblest of us all must be willing to abide by 'em. As
+for your looking for scalps, it belongs to your gifts, and I see no harm
+in it. Be marciful, Sarpent, howsever; be marciful, I beseech of you. It
+surely can do no harm to a red-skin's honour to show a little marcy. As
+for the old man, the father of two young women, who might ripen better
+feelin's in his heart, and Harry March, here, who, pine as he is, might
+better bear the fruit of a more Christianized tree, as for them two, I
+leave them in the hands of the white man's God. Wasn't it for the bloody
+sticks, no man should go ag'in the Mingos this night, seein' that it
+would dishonor our faith and characters; but them that crave blood can't
+complain if blood is shed at their call. Still, Sarpent, you can be
+marciful. Don't begin your career with the wails of women and the cries
+of children. Bear yourself so that Hist will smile, and not weep, when
+she meets you. Go, then; and the Manitou presarve you!"
+
+"My brother will stay here with the scow. Wah will soon be standing on
+the shore waiting, and Chingachgook must hasten."
+
+The Indian then joined his two co-adventurers, and first lowering the
+sail, they all three entered the canoe, and left the side of the ark.
+Neither Hutter nor March spoke to Deerslayer concerning their object, or
+the probable length of their absence. All this had been confided to
+the Indian, who had acquitted himself of the trust with characteristic
+brevity. As soon as the canoe was out of sight, and that occurred
+ere the paddles had given a dozen strokes, Deerslayer made the best
+dispositions he could to keep the ark as nearly stationary as possible;
+and then he sat down in the end of the scow, to chew the cud of his own
+bitter reflections. It was not long, however, before he was joined by
+Judith, who sought every occasion to be near him, managing her attack on
+his affections with the address that was suggested by native coquetry,
+aided by no little practice, but which received much of its most
+dangerous power from the touch of feeling that threw around her manner,
+voice, accents, thoughts, and acts, the indescribable witchery of
+natural tenderness. Leaving the young hunter exposed to these dangerous
+assailants, it has become our more immediate business to follow the
+party in the canoe to the shore.
+
+The controlling influence that led Hutter and Hurry to repeat their
+experiment against the camp was precisely that which had induced the
+first attempt, a little heightened, perhaps, by the desire of revenge.
+But neither of these two rude beings, so ruthless in all things that
+touched the rights and interests of the red man, thought possessing
+veins of human feeling on other matters, was much actuated by any other
+desire than a heartless longing for profit. Hurry had felt angered at
+his sufferings, when first liberated, it is true, but that emotion
+soon disappeared in the habitual love of gold, which he sought with the
+reckless avidity of a needy spendthrift, rather than with the ceaseless
+longings of a miser. In short, the motive that urged them both so soon
+to go against the Hurons, was an habitual contempt of their enemy,
+acting on the unceasing cupidity of prodigality. The additional chances
+of success, however, had their place in the formation of the second
+enterprise. It was known that a large portion of the warriors--perhaps
+all--were encamped for the night abreast of the castle, and it was hoped
+that the scalps of helpless victims would be the consequence. To confess
+the truth, Hutter in particular--he who had just left two daughters
+behind him--expected to find few besides women and children in the camp.
+The fact had been but slightly alluded to in his communications with
+Hurry, and with Chingachgook it had been kept entirely out of view. If
+the Indian thought of it at all, it was known only to himself.
+
+Hutter steered the canoe; Hurry had manfully taken his post in the bows,
+and Chingachgook stood in the centre. We say stood, for all three were
+so skilled in the management of that species of frail bark, as to be
+able to keep erect positions in the midst of the darkness. The approach
+to the shore was made with great caution, and the landing effected in
+safety. The three now prepared their arms, and began their tiger-like
+approach upon the camp. The Indian was on the lead, his two companions
+treading in his footsteps with a stealthy cautiousness of manner that
+rendered their progress almost literally noiseless. Occasionally a
+dried twig snapped under the heavy weight of the gigantic Hurry, or the
+blundering clumsiness of the old man; but, had the Indian walked on air,
+his step could not have seemed lighter. The great object was first to
+discover the position of the fire, which was known to be the centre of
+the whole encampment. At length the keen eye of Chingachgook caught a
+glimpse of this important guide. It was glimmering at a distance among
+the trunks of trees. There was no blaze, but merely a single smouldering
+brand, as suited the hour; the savages usually retiring and rising with
+the revolutions of the sun.
+
+As soon as a view was obtained of this beacon, the progress of the
+adventurers became swifter and more certain. In a few minutes they got
+to the edge of the circle of little huts. Here they stopped to survey
+their ground, and to concert their movements. The darkness was so deep
+as to render it difficult to distinguish anything but the glowing brand,
+the trunks of the nearest trees, and the endless canopy of leaves that
+veiled the clouded heaven. It was ascertained, however, that a hut was
+quite near, and Chingachgook attempted to reconnnoitre its interior.
+The manner in which the Indian approached the place that was supposed to
+contain enemies, resembled the wily advances of the cat on the bird. As
+he drew near, he stooped to his hands and knees, for the entrance was so
+low as to require this attitude, even as a convenience. Before trusting
+his head inside, however, he listened long to catch the breathing of
+sleepers. No sound was audible, and this human Serpent thrust his head
+in at the door, or opening, as another serpent would have peered in on
+the nest. Nothing rewarded the hazardous experiment; for, after feeling
+cautiously with a hand, the place was found to be empty.
+
+The Delaware proceeded in the same guarded manner to one or two more
+of the huts, finding all in the same situation. He then returned to his
+companions, and informed them that the Hurons had deserted their camp.
+A little further inquiry corroborated this fact, and it only remained to
+return to the canoe. The different manner in which the adventurers bore
+the disappointment is worthy of a passing remark. The chief, who had
+landed solely with the hope of acquiring renown, stood stationary,
+leaning against a tree, waiting the pleasure of his companions. He was
+mortified, and a little surprised, it is true; but he bore all with
+dignity, falling back for support on the sweeter expectations that still
+lay in reserve for that evening. It was true, he could not now hope to
+meet his mistress with the proofs of his daring and skill on his person,
+but he might still hope to meet her; and the warrior, who was zealous in
+the search, might always hope to be honored. On the other hand, Hutter
+and Hurry, who had been chiefly instigated by the basest of all human
+motives, the thirst of gain, could scarce control their feelings. They
+went prowling among the huts, as if they expected to find some forgotten
+child or careless sleeper; and again and again did they vent their spite
+on the insensible huts, several of which were actually torn to pieces,
+and scattered about the place. Nay, they even quarrelled with each
+other, and fierce reproaches passed between them. It is possible
+some serious consequences might have occurred, had not the Delaware
+interfered to remind them of the danger of being so unguarded, and of
+the necessity of returning to the ark. This checked the dispute, and in
+a few minutes they were paddling sullenly back to the spot where they
+hoped to find that vessel.
+
+It has been said that Judith took her place at the side of Deerslayer,
+soon after the adventurers departed. For a short time the girl was
+silent, and the hunter was ignorant which of the sisters had approached
+him, but he soon recognized the rich, full-spirited voice of the elder,
+as her feelings escaped in words.
+
+"This is a terrible life for women, Deerslayer!" she exclaimed. "Would
+to Heaven I could see an end of it!"
+
+"The life is well enough, Judith," was the answer, "being pretty much as
+it is used or abused. What would you wish to see in its place?"
+
+"I should be a thousand times happier to live nearer to civilized
+beings--where there are farms and churches, and houses built as it might
+be by Christian hands; and where my sleep at night would be sweet and
+tranquil! A dwelling near one of the forts would be far better than this
+dreary place where we live!"
+
+"Nay, Judith, I can't agree too lightly in the truth of all this. If
+forts are good to keep off inimies, they sometimes hold inimies of their
+own. I don't think 'twould be for your good, or the good of Hetty, to
+live near one; and if I must say what I think, I'm afeard you are
+a little too near as it is." Deerslayer went on, in his own steady,
+earnest manner, for the darkness concealed the tints that colored the
+cheeks of the girl almost to the brightness of crimson, while her own
+great efforts suppressed the sounds of the breathing that nearly choked
+her. "As for farms, they have their uses, and there's them that like
+to pass their lives on 'em; but what comfort can a man look for in a
+clearin', that he can't find in double quantities in the forest? If air,
+and room, and light, are a little craved, the windrows and the streams
+will furnish 'em, or here are the lakes for such as have bigger longings
+in that way; but where are you to find your shades, and laughing
+springs, and leaping brooks, and vinerable trees, a thousand years old,
+in a clearin'? You don't find them, but you find their disabled trunks,
+marking the 'arth like headstones in a graveyard. It seems to me that
+the people who live in such places must be always thinkin' of their own
+inds, and of universal decay; and that, too, not of the decay that is
+brought about by time and natur', but the decay that follows waste and
+violence. Then as to churches, they are good, I suppose, else wouldn't
+good men uphold 'em. But they are not altogether necessary. They call
+'em the temples of the Lord; but, Judith, the whole 'arth is a temple of
+the Lord to such as have the right mind. Neither forts nor churches
+make people happier of themselves. Moreover, all is contradiction in
+the settlements, while all is concord in the woods. Forts and churches
+almost always go together, and yet they're downright contradictions;
+churches being for peace, and forts for war. No, no--give me the strong
+places of the wilderness, which is the trees, and the churches, too,
+which are arbors raised by the hand of natur'."
+
+"Woman is not made for scenes like these, Deerslayer, scenes of which we
+shall have no end, as long as this war lasts."
+
+"If you mean women of white colour, I rather think you're not far from
+the truth, gal; but as for the females of the redmen, such visitations
+are quite in character. Nothing would make Hist, now, the bargained
+wife of yonder Delaware, happier than to know that he is at this moment
+prowling around his nat'ral inimies, striving after a scalp."
+
+"Surely, surely, Deerslayer, she cannot be a woman, and not feel concern
+when she thinks the man she loves is in danger!"
+
+"She doesn't think of the danger, Judith, but of the honor; and when the
+heart is desperately set on such feelin's, why, there is little room to
+crowd in fear. Hist is a kind, gentle, laughing, pleasant creatur', but
+she loves honor, as well as any Delaware gal I ever know'd. She's to
+meet the Sarpent an hour hence, on the p'int where Hetty landed, and no
+doubt she has her anxiety about it, like any other woman; but she'd be
+all the happier did she know that her lover was at this moment waylaying
+a Mingo for his scalp."
+
+"If you really believe this, Deerslayer, no wonder you lay so much
+stress on gifts. Certain am I, that no white girl could feel anything
+but misery while she believed her betrothed in danger of his life! Nor
+do I suppose even you, unmoved and calm as you ever seem to be, could be
+at peace if you believed your Hist in danger."
+
+"That's a different matter--'tis altogether a different matter, Judith.
+Woman is too weak and gentle to be intended to run such risks, and man
+must feel for her. Yes, I rather think that's as much red natur' as it's
+white. But I have no Hist, nor am I like to have; for I hold it wrong to
+mix colours, any way except in friendship and sarvices."
+
+"In that you are and feel as a white man should! As for Hurry Harry, I
+do think it would be all the same to him whether his wife were a squaw
+or a governor's daughter, provided she was a little comely, and could
+help to keep his craving stomach full."
+
+"You do March injustice, Judith; yes, you do. The poor fellow dotes
+on you, and when a man has ra'ally set his heart on such a creatur' it
+isn't a Mingo, or even a Delaware gal, that'll be likely to unsettle
+his mind. You may laugh at such men as Hurry and I, for we're rough and
+unteached in the ways of books and other knowledge; but we've our good
+p'ints, as well as our bad ones. An honest heart is not to be despised,
+gal, even though it be not varsed in all the niceties that please the
+female fancy."
+
+"You, Deerslayer! And do you--can you, for an instant, suppose I place
+you by the side of Harry March? No, no, I am not so far gone in dullness
+as that. No one--man or woman--could think of naming your honest heart,
+manly nature, and simple truth, with the boisterous selfishness, greedy
+avarice, and overbearing ferocity of Harry March. The very best that can
+be said of him, is to be found in his name of Hurry Skurry, which, if it
+means no great harm, means no great good. Even my father, following his
+feelings with the other, as he is doing at this moment, well knows the
+difference between you. This I know, for he said as much to me, in plain
+language."
+
+Judith was a girl of quick sensibilities and of impetuous feelings; and,
+being under few of the restraints that curtail the manifestations of
+maiden emotions among those who are educated in the habits of civilized
+life, she sometimes betrayed the latter with a feeling that was so
+purely natural as to place it as far above the wiles of coquetry as it
+was superior to its heartlessness. She had now even taken one of the
+hard hands of the hunter and pressed it between both her own, with a
+warmth and earnestness that proved how sincere was her language. It
+was perhaps fortunate that she was checked by the very excess of her
+feelings, since the same power might have urged her on to avow all that
+her father had said--the old man not having been satisfied with making a
+comparison favorable to Deerslayer, as between the hunter and Hurry, but
+having actually, in his blunt rough way, briefly advised his daughter to
+cast off the latter entirely, and to think of the former as a husband.
+Judith would not willingly have said this to any other man, but
+there was so much confidence awakened by the guileless simplicity of
+Deerslayer, that one of her nature found it a constant temptation to
+overstep the bounds of habit. She went no further, however, immediately
+relinquishing the hand, and falling back on a reserve that was more
+suited to her sex, and, indeed, to her natural modesty.
+
+"Thankee, Judith, thankee with all my heart," returned the hunter, whose
+humility prevented him from placing any flattering interpretation on
+either the conduct or the language of the girl. "Thankee as much as if
+it was all true. Harry's sightly--yes, he's as sightly as the tallest
+pine of the mountains, and the Sarpent has named him accordingly;
+however, some fancy good looks, and some fancy good conduct, only. Hurry
+has one advantage, and it depends on himself whether he'll have t'other
+or--Hark! That's your father's voice, gal, and he speaks like a man
+who's riled at something."
+
+"God save us from any more of these horrible scenes!" exclaimed Judith,
+bending her face to her knees, and endeavoring to exclude the discordant
+sounds, by applying her hands to her ears. "I sometimes wish I had no
+father!"
+
+This was bitterly said, and the repinings which extorted the words were
+bitterly felt. It is impossible to say what might next have escaped her
+had not a gentle, low voice spoken at her elbow.
+
+"Judith, I ought to have read a chapter to father and Hurry!" said the
+innocent but terrified speaker, "and that would have kept them from
+going again on such an errand. Do you call to them, Deerslayer, and
+tell them I want them, and that it will be good for them both if they'll
+return and hearken to my words."
+
+"Ah's me! Poor Hetty, you little know the cravin's for gold and revenge,
+if you believe they are so easily turned aside from their longin's! But
+this is an uncommon business in more ways than one, Judith. I hear your
+father and Hurry growling like bears, and yet no noise comes from the
+mouth of the young chief. There's an ind of secrecy, and yet his
+whoop, which ought to ring in the mountains, accordin' to rule in such
+sarcumstances, is silent!"
+
+"Justice may have alighted on him, and his death have saved the lives of
+the innocent."
+
+"Not it--not it--the Sarpent is not the one to suffer if that's to be
+the law. Sartainly there has been no onset, and 'tis most likely that
+the camp's deserted, and the men are comin' back disapp'inted. That
+accounts for the growls of Hurry and the silence of the Sarpent."
+
+Just at this instant a fall of a paddle was heard in the canoe, for
+vexation made March reckless. Deerslayer felt convinced that his
+conjecture was true. The sail being down, the ark had not drifted
+far; and ere many minutes he heard Chingachgook, in a low, quiet tone,
+directing Hutter how to steer in order to reach it. In less time than it
+takes to tell the fact, the canoe touched the scow, and the adventurers
+entered the latter. Neither Hutter nor Hurry spoke of what had occurred.
+But the Delaware, in passing his friend, merely uttered the words
+"fire's out," which, if not literally true, sufficiently explained the
+truth to his listener.
+
+It was now a question as to the course to be steered. A short surly
+conference was held, when Hutter decided that the wisest way would be
+to keep in motion as the means most likely to defeat any attempt at a
+surprise--announcing his own and March's intention to requite themselves
+for the loss of sleep during their captivity, by lying down. As the air
+still baffled and continued light, it was finally determined to sail
+before it, let it come in what direction it might, so long as it did not
+blow the ark upon the strand. This point settled, the released prisoners
+helped to hoist the sail, and they threw themselves upon two of the
+pallets, leaving Deerslayer and his friend to look after the movements
+of the craft. As neither of the latter was disposed to sleep, on account
+of the appointment with Hist, this arrangement was acceptable to all
+parties. That Judith and Hetty remained up also, in no manner impaired
+the agreeable features of this change.
+
+For some time the scow rather drifted than sailed along the western
+shore, following a light southerly current of the air. The progress
+was slow--not exceeding a couple of miles in the hour--but the two men
+perceived that it was not only carrying them towards the point they
+desired to reach, but at a rate that was quite as fast as the hour
+yet rendered necessary. But little more was said the while even by the
+girls; and that little had more reference to the rescue of Hist than to
+any other subject. The Indian was calm to the eye, but as minute after
+minute passed, his feelings became more and more excited, until they
+reached a state that might have satisfied the demands of even the most
+exacting mistress. Deerslayer kept the craft as much in the bays as was
+prudent, for the double purpose of sailing within the shadows of the
+woods, and of detecting any signs of an encampment they might pass on
+the shore. In this manner they doubled one low point, and were already
+in the bay that was terminated north by the goal at which they aimed.
+The latter was still a quarter of a mile distant, when Chingachgook
+came silently to the side of his friend and pointed to a place directly
+ahead. A small fire was glimmering just within the verge of the bushes
+that lined the shore on the southern side of the point--leaving no doubt
+that the Indians had suddenly removed their camp to the very place,
+or at least the very projection of land where Hist had given them the
+rendezvous!
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+
+    "I hear thee babbling to the vale
+    Of sunshine and of flowers,
+    But unto me thou bring'st a tale
+    Of visionary hours."
+
+    Wordsworth.
+
+One 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 arranged 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
+being able to effect that object.
+
+"There's one advantage, Judith, in finding that fire so near the water,"
+he said, while executing these little manoeuvres, "since it shows
+the Mingos believe we are in the hut, and our coming on 'em from this
+quarter will be an unlooked for event. But it's lucky Harry March and
+your father 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 lowered 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 prevailed 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
+instead 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 betrothed, as they call it, and not
+mine, it's altogether his affair; 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 women, fri'ndship counts for something,
+too, with other some. I dares to say, the Delaware can paddle a canoe
+by himself, 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 ambushment, 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
+myself. No--no--Judith, you wouldn't desert 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 Judith 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 softhearted 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 believe 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 manful to backbite
+them he couldn't win by fair means; and that even an Indian is always
+tender, touching a young woman'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 fellow will forget every
+thing but your comeliness. Hot words don't always come from the heart,
+but oftener from the stomach than anywhere else. Try him, Judith, when
+he awakes, and see the virtue of a smile."
+
+Deerslayer laughed, in his own manner, as he concluded, and then he
+intimated to the patient-looking, but really impatient Chingachgook, his
+readiness to proceed. As the young man entered the canoe, the girl stood
+immovable 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 sufferings.
+
+Chingachgook and his pale-face friend set forth on their hazardous and
+delicate enterprise, with a coolness and method 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
+debut of his companion 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 followed either experiment.
+Now, it was certain that an important 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 soldiers; and
+while one of them set forth impelled by sentiments that usually carry
+men so far, both had all their feelings of pride and manhood enlisted in
+their success.
+
+Instead of steering in a direct line to the point, then distant 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 two
+adventurers to double nearly the whole point, close in with the shore,
+had not this preliminary 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 apparently was taking him in
+a direction nearly opposite to that one might think he most wished to
+go. A few minutes sufficed, 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 the 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 rendezvous. The utmost skill and
+precaution now became necessary 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
+deliberate were all its motions. Still it continued to advance, until
+its bows grated on the gravel of the beach, at the precise 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 behind rather than above the
+hills, and the evening 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 footsteps.
+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 habitually cautious, and seldom break out in loud
+conversation, 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 exactly how near it was to themselves. Once or twice, it
+seemed as if stragglers from around the fire were approaching 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 enable themselves to form some
+plausible conjectures for the non-appearance of Hist. The Delaware,
+however, resolutely 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, leaving 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 possible. Indeed, it would not have been easy to devise any means
+more favourable to reconnoitering 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 certainly 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 extraordinary 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 touching 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 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 constituted, in a moral
+sense, and of a steadiness that no danger could appall, 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
+object of his visit. This will more fully appear when we describe it.
+
+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 Indians 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 appetite. 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 totally successful; and food, 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 Salvator Rosa would have delighted to draw,
+his swarthy features illuminated as much by pleasure as by the torchlike
+flame, while he showed another of the tribe one of the elephants that
+had caused so much sensation among his people. A boy was looking over
+his shoulder, in dull curiosity, completing the group. More in the
+background eight or ten warriors lay half recumbent on the ground, or
+sat with their backs reclining against trees, so many types of indolent
+repose. 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 everything was not going on in its usual train.
+Most of the young women 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 background 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 attempting 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 agreeable 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 return 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 appearing in the background, 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 circumstance 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 prepared to enter the wood. The whole
+projection into the lake contained about two acres of land; and the part
+that formed the point, and on which the camp was placed, did not compose
+a surface of more than half that size. It was principally 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. Beneath, 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 regions 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 portions 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 contributing 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,
+so far as circumstances allowed, had been noted by Deerslayer, and
+explained to his friend.
+
+The reader will understand that the little rise in the ground, that lay
+behind the Indian encampment, greatly favoured the secret advance of the
+two adventurers. It prevented 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 consequently more in the 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 the trees, producing an effect that
+was more pleasing than advantageous. Still the glare had its uses; for,
+while the background was in obscurity, the foreground was in strong
+light; exposing the savages and concealing their foes. Profiting by
+the latter circumstance, the young men advanced cautiously towards the
+ridge, Deerslayer in front, for he insisted on this arrangement, lest
+the Delaware should be led by his feelings into some indiscretion. It
+required but a moment to reach the foot of the little ascent, and
+then commenced 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 overlook 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,
+however, to protect themselves against any straggler in the rear, they
+placed their bodies against the trunk of an oak, standing 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 blazing 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
+adventurers could not have approached at a more fortunate instant.
+
+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 warriors 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
+occasionally have reached the canoe. Deerslayer felt the tremolo 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 the Indian, 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 conversed 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 animals dare 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 warrior?"
+
+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 grates, 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 laughter. 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, however ludicrous. The
+speech of Hist produced a retort, and the 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 sat 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 uncertainty 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 adventurers 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 enormous pine that grew
+between it and the fire, a circumstance which alone would have rendered
+objects within its cloud invisible 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 where she
+stood, and her companion 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 Chingachgook 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 enemies. 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 crumbs 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 background of light, resembling the dim shadows of the
+phantasmagoria. 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 indomitable 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 at bay.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII.
+
+
+   "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?"
+
+    Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh, "The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan"
+
+The fire, the canoe, and the spring, near which Deerslayer commenced his
+retreat, would have stood in the angles 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 detour 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 alarms, more especially 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 came up
+the ascent, as related, but were also heard, under the first impulse,
+diverging not only towards the hill in the rear, but towards the
+extremity of the point, in a direction opposite to that he was about
+to take himself. Promptitude, consequently became a matter of the last
+importance, 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 sacrificed 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 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 already in the canoe, with Hist, anxiously waiting his
+appearance, occupied but a moment. Laying his rifle in the bottom 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. Everything was now suspended by a hair; a false
+step ruining all. With a generosity that would have rendered a Roman
+illustrious throughout all time, but which, in the career of one so
+simple and humble, would have been forever 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 sufficient to destroy one who had sunk, under
+the great disadvantages 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 prevent 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.
+
+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 intelligible to 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 Deerslayer's antagonist
+so far recovered his breath and his recollection, 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 paddle into the water, and the light canoe glided noiselessly away,
+holding its course towards the centre of the lake until safe from shot,
+after which it sought the Ark. When Deerslayer reached the fire, he
+found himself surrounded 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 prisoner; 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 afterwards
+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 possessed 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 ankle to ankle, not so much
+to prevent his walking, as to place an obstacle in the way of his
+attempting to escape by any sudden leap. Even this extra provision
+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,
+attaining 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
+negotiation, for it had received a great accession by the occurrences
+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 ventured upon the point, the abstraction or escape of
+Hist, and most of all the self-devotion of the prisoner, united to
+the readiness 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 understood.
+
+While this admiration and these honors were so unreservedly 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 holding 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 prowlers 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 screaming, an employment
+at which she had played her part with no small degree of success, but
+having succeeded in effectually alarming all within reach of a pair of
+lungs that had been strengthened by long practice, she next turned her
+attention 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 savages, 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 redmen
+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--woodchuck-mink--hedgehog--pig--toad--spider--yengee--"
+
+Here the old woman, having expended her breath and exhausted her
+epithets, was fain to pause a moment, though both her fists were shaken
+in the prisoner's face, and the whole of her wrinkled countenance was
+filled with fierce resentment. Deerslayer looked upon these impotent
+attempts to arouse him as indifferently as a gentleman in our own 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 permanently
+affect those who resort to their use; but he was spared any further
+attack at present, by the interposition of Rivenoak, 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 harbored in the human breast. Rivenoak
+quietly 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 Hurons 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 pleasant,
+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 human 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."
+
+"'Tis a good name! The hawk is sure of his blow. Hawkeye is not a woman;
+why does he live with the Delawares?"
+
+"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
+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 'tis well known to Satan. But if you wish to get any thing
+out of me, speak plainer, for bargains can not 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 Muskrat," this was the name by
+which all the Indians designated Hutter--"and 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 shore, 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, 'twould
+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 in feelin's and habits. But when old
+Hutter's eyes are well befogged, 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 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 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. Sarcumventions in war, may
+be, and are, lawful; but sarcumventions, and deceit, and treachery among
+fri'inds 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
+be ontrue 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 resentment. Affecting to smile, he seemed to
+listen eagerly, and he then pondered on what he had heard.
+
+"Does Hawkeye love the Muskrat?" he abruptly demanded; "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 eagles' 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 an untruth, he preferred
+being silent. The Huron mistook 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 the
+treasures 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 sternest 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 willing 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," answered the other,
+laughing, always in his silent manner, with as much heartiness as if he
+were not a captive, and in danger 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, where 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 parfect satisfaction. For
+what else should we come? And yet, it isn't 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 come
+for that, and for no other purpose, and we got what we come 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 Huron with more curiosity than it was usual for him to betray.
+
+Deerslayer laughed again, and seem'd to enjoy the success 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 folk's
+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 musick! 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 suppressing any violent
+exhibition of resentment. He now quitted his prisoner and, joining
+the rest of the 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 communication from the party above,
+while the two adventurers were watching the camp, was now despatched
+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 as vexed 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 ascendency. 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 inextinguishable 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 induce 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, adopting the name by
+which he knew he would be known in future, 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 Delaware, and her body has gone to find it. The catamount is actyve I
+know, but its legs can't keep pace with a woman's wishes."
+
+"The Serpent of the Delawares is a dog--he is a poor bull trout 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 timorsome gals in the settlements, with your catamount
+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
+fish."
+
+"How do you know that, Catamount? how do you know that?" returned
+Deerslayer laughing. "She has gone into the lake, you see, and maybe she
+prefars a trout to a mongrel 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 settlements tarm it,
+the high road to matrimony. Take my advice, Catamount, and s'arch for
+a wife among the Huron 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 Deerslayer. Here he
+continued silent for a little time, maintaining 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 an 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 sarcumventions, 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; 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 compliment, 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 constitutes
+respect, in matters connected with the treatment of captives, he felt
+his blood chill at the announcement, even while he maintained an aspect
+so steeled that his quick sighted enemy could discover in it no signs of
+weakness.
+
+"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 properly 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
+forever."
+
+"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 feelin'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
+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
+which was certainly justified by the treatment formerly received 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 attack. 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 arr'nd
+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
+Judith told you to come ashore--why should your sister 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
+arr'nd?"
+
+"Not they. 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 there 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! Whey should she feel so
+much unsartainty about me?--Ah---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 to 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
+Delawares, and this is a matter in which pale-face and red-skin gifts
+are all as one as the same. When the feelin' begins, the young woman
+is thoughtful, and has no eyes or ears onless 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 back biting 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. Judith 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 them vagabonds. Rivenoak 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 movements, 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 outwit 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 neighborhood. 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! Harkee, Hetty," dropping
+his voice and speaking still more confidentially, "you are a little weak
+minded, it must be allowed, but you know something of Injins. 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 father, 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 suffers 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 complaints are consarned, but there the
+triumph of the vagabonds will ind; nothing short of God's abandoning him
+to the devils can make an honest man ontrue to his colour and duty."
+
+Hetty listened with great attention, and her mild but speaking
+countenance manifested a strong sympathy in the anticipated 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
+borrow her Bible, and to read it while the savages were inflicting 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 confidence in
+his fidelity. Hetty now walked away, and approached 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 pretending diplomacy of civilization, or by
+confining his answers to the truth, and the truth only.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+
+    "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 pleasure 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.  Don Juan, IV, lxxi.
+
+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 opposite to the ark, but the darkness had completely
+concealed that vessel from his notice. Others had examined in different
+directions, and everywhere the stillness of night was added to the
+silence and solitude of the woods.
+
+It was consequently 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 movements 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 procured 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 became 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 secrecy 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. Perhaps, too, they placed most of their confidence on the
+knowledge 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 watchfulness, 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 necessary 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 approached the spot where the Indian stood. Her movements
+were so natural, and so perfectly devoid of any of the stealthiness 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 adventure, and where Hist had embarked, the sentinel
+saw her light form gradually disappear in the gloom without uneasiness
+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
+that that of any person of feeble intellect would excite in civilized
+society, while her person met with more consideration and respect.
+
+Hetty certainly had no very distinct notions of the localities, 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 anything 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
+distinguish 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 his favourite, who had promised to relieve the
+ennui of a midnight watch with her presence. This man was also ignorant
+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 direction 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 curvature of the land and the bushes,
+would have been completely 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 purposes, 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 sweetheart, 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 shingle 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 several 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 without 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 before 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 sentry, 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 mothers ought all
+to read, else how can they teach their children? 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 savages, but he would try to bear it as
+becomes a Christian white man, and that no one need be afeard--why does
+Deerslayer 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! Deerslayer 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 sister to wonder. "He is true. There is no
+lie about Deerslayer. 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, between 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 unequal, 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 handsomest mortal in the
+world--even handsomer than you are yourself; because a man's good looks,
+you know, are always 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 betray 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 Deerslayer--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 Harry 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 than Hurry even;--for, sister,
+Harry doesn't always pronounce his words right! Did you ever notice
+that?"
+
+"Certainly, he is as coarse in speech as in everything else. But I fear
+you flatter me, Hetty, when you think I can be justly called the equal
+of a man like Deerslayer. It is 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; particularly by females. But
+you'll have to land in the morning, and try again what can be done for
+Deerslayer. Tortured 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 feelings 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 towards 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 Hurry Harry'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 abandon his children!"
+
+"Perhaps father has thought us in our cabin asleep, Judith, 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 instant, 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
+succeeded was, if possible, more appalling than the fierce and sudden
+interruption of the deep silence of midnight. Resolute 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 solemnly, "and it was
+a cry of anguish! If the ark has moved 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 excitement
+kept others from noting their movements. Presently a glare of light
+caught the eye of Judith through an opening in the bushes, and steering
+by it, she so directed the canoe as to keep it visible, while she got as
+near the land as was 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 supported 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 delinquency. 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,
+peculiar 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 distance 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 possible 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 imagination, 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 backwardness 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
+captive, 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 suffered to drift
+northerly, while the girls sought such repose as their situation and
+feelings would permit.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+
+    "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."
+
+    Byron, Marino Faliero, IV.ii.230-35.
+
+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 elder, and the known
+impunity with which the younger passed among the savages. Long
+familiarity 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 hazardous now to
+venture to land, and he reluctantly relinquished for the night the
+ruthless designs that cupidity 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
+neighbor'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 Hurry. "Every man must
+meet his own debts, and answer for his own sins. I'm amazed, howsever,
+that a lad as skilful and watchful as Deerslayer should have been caught
+in such a trap! Didn't he know any better than to go prowling about a
+Huron camp at midnight, with no place to retreat to but a lake? or did
+he think himself a buck, that by taking to the water could throw off the
+scent and swim himself 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 Judith, or Hetty, though I've been through
+the Ark, and looked into all its living creatur's."
+
+Hutter briefly explained the manner in which his daughters 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," exclaimed 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 I say, all the parties had best
+look to it! Let's up kedge, old fellow, and move nearer to this p'int,
+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 anything 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 consequences, and for a moment he
+was sorely disturbed by conflicting 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 of 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. Chingachgook arose, and for a single instant the
+ancient animosity of tribes was forgotten, in a feeling of colour;
+but he recollected himself in season to prevent any of the fierce
+consequences 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 earnestly, 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 being 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
+supplied 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 conscience 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 resenting,
+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 Judith and
+Hetty reached the centre of the lake, and had lain down to endeavor 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. Nevertheless, there was the usual current of heavy, damp
+night air, which, passing over the summits of the trees, scarcely
+appeared to descend as 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 apparently never proceeding far in
+any one direction. The currents 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 keep in motion, in order to 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 passions and temper his ferocity, it was that which
+grew upon the eyes of Hutter and Hurry as the hours advanced, changing
+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 appear 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 sun. In the one case the
+panorama is gradually 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 background; 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 moral 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 aspirations 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 whole was 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 castle, with the avowed intention of
+taking possession, for the day at least, as the place most favorable
+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 favorable to permit it
+to be reached 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
+exclamation 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 misguided 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 particularly those of superior characters and
+stations, singularly maintain their self-possession and stoicism, in
+the midst of the flood of marvels that present themselves in their
+occasional 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 the 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 surveyed 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 quitted the cabin to join Hutter and
+Hurry.
+
+The Ark was slowly but steadily advancing, and the castle 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 manner. "Have you
+discovered a chipmunk 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 land
+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 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 somewhat 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 arter 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 chiente, and I know something about gaols from exper'ence."
+
+"No see moccasin," said Hist, impatiently "why no look--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 visitors in our absence. Moccasins are no rarities, however, 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 castle, and every thing near it, was subjected to a
+scrutiny still more rigid than ever. There the moccasin lay, beyond a
+question, floating so lightly, and preserving its form so well, that it
+was scarcely wet. It had caught by a piece of the rough bark of one of
+the piles, on the exterior of the water-palisade that formed the dock
+already mentioned, which circumstance alone prevented it from drifting
+away before the air. There were many modes, however, of accounting for
+the presence of the moccasin, without supposing it to have been dropped
+by an enemy. It might have fallen from the platform, even while Hutter
+was in possession of the place, and drifted to the spot where it was now
+seen, remaining unnoticed until detected by the acute vision of Hist.
+It might have drifted from a distance, up or down the lake, and
+accidentally become attached to the pile, or palisade. It might have
+been thrown from a window, and alighted in that particular place; or it
+might certainly have fallen from a scout, or an assailant, during the
+past night, who was obliged to abandon it to the lake, in the deep
+obscurity which then prevailed.
+
+All these conjectures passed from Hutter to Hurry, the former appearing
+disposed to regard the omen as a little sinister, while the latter
+treated it with his usual reckless disdain. As for the Indian, he was of
+opinion that the moccasin should be viewed as one would regard a
+trail in the woods, which might, or might not, equally, prove to be
+threatening. Hist, however, had something available to propose. She
+declared her readiness to take a canoe, to proceed to the palisade and
+bring away the moccasin, when its ornaments would show whether it came
+from the Canadas or not. Both the white men were disposed to accept
+this offer, but the Delaware interfered to prevent the risk. If such a
+service was to be undertaken, it best became a warrior to expose himself
+in its execution, and he gave his refusal to let his betrothed proceed,
+much in the quiet but brief manner in which an Indian husband issues his
+commands.
+
+"Well then, Delaware, go yourself if you're so tender of your squaw,"
+put in the unceremonious Hurry. "That moccasin must be had, or Floating
+Tom will keep off, here, at arm's length, till the hearth cools in his
+cabin. It's but a little deerskin, a'ter all, and cut this-a-way or
+that-a-way, it's not a skear-crow to frighten true hunters from their
+game. What say you, Sarpent, shall you or I canoe it?"
+
+"Let red man go.--Better eyes than pale-face--know Huron trick better,
+too."
+
+"That I'll gainsay, to the hour of my death! A white man's eyes, and a
+white man's nose, and for that matter his sight and ears are all better
+than an Injin's when fairly tried. Time and ag'in have I put that to
+the proof, and what is proved is sartain. Still I suppose the poorest
+vagabond going, whether Delaware or Huron, can find his way to yonder
+hut and back ag'in, and so, Sarpent, use your paddle and welcome."
+
+Chingachgook was already in the canoe, and he dipped the implement
+the other named into the water, just as Hurry's limber tongue ceased.
+Wah-ta-Wah saw the departure of her warrior on this occasion with the
+submissive silence of an Indian girl, but with most of the misgivings
+and apprehensions of her sex. Throughout the whole of the past night,
+and down to the moment, when they used the glass together in the
+hut, Chingachgook had manifested as much manly tenderness towards his
+betrothed as one of the most refined sentiment could have shown under
+similar circumstances, but now every sign of weakness was lost in an
+appearance of stern resolution. Although Hist timidly endeavored to
+catch his eye as the canoe left the side of the Ark, the pride of a
+warrior would not permit him to meet her fond and anxious looks. The
+canoe departed and not a wandering glance rewarded her solicitude.
+
+Nor were the Delaware's care and gravity misplaced, under the
+impressions with which he proceeded on this enterprise. If the enemy had
+really gained possession of the building he was obliged to put himself
+under the very muzzles of their rifles, as it were, and this too without
+the protection of any of that cover which forms so essential an ally in
+Indian warfare. It is scarcely possible to conceive of a service more
+dangerous, and had the Serpent been fortified by the experience of ten
+more years, or had his friend the Deerslayer been present, it would
+never have been attempted; the advantages in no degree compensating for
+the risk. But the pride of an Indian chief was acted on by the rivalry
+of colour, and it is not unlikely that the presence of the very creature
+from whom his ideas of manhood prevented his receiving a single glance,
+overflowing as he was with the love she so well merited, had no small
+influence on his determination.
+
+Chingachgook paddled steadily towards the palisades, keeping his eyes on
+the different loops of the building. Each instant he expected to see
+the muzzle of a rifle protruded, or to hear its sharp crack; but he
+succeeded in reaching the piles in safety. Here he was, in a measure,
+protected, having the heads of the palisades between him and the hut,
+and the chances of any attempt on his life while thus covered, were
+greatly diminished. The canoe had reached the piles with its head
+inclining northward, and at a short distance from the moccasin. Instead
+of turning to pick up the latter, the Delaware slowly made the circuit
+of the whole building, deliberately examining every object that should
+betray the presence of enemies, or the commission of violence. Not a
+single sign could he discover, however, to confirm the suspicions that
+had been awakened. The stillness of desertion pervaded the building; not
+a fastening was displaced, not a window had been broken. The door looked
+as secure as at the hour when it was closed by Hutter, and even the gate
+of the dock had all the customary fastenings. In short, the most wary
+and jealous eye could detect no other evidence of the visit of enemies,
+than that which was connected with the appearance of the floating
+moccasin.
+
+The Delaware was now greatly at a loss how to proceed. At one moment, as
+he came round in front of the castle, he was on the point of stepping up
+on the platform and of applying his eye to one of the loops, with a view
+of taking a direct personal inspection of the state of things within;
+but he hesitated. Though of little experience in such matters, himself,
+he had heard so much of Indian artifices through traditions, had
+listened with such breathless interest to the narration of the escapes
+of the elder warriors, and, in short, was so well schooled in the theory
+of his calling, that it was almost as impossible for him to make
+any gross blunder on such an occasion, as it was for a well grounded
+scholar, who had commenced correctly, to fail in solving his problem in
+mathematics. Relinquishing the momentary intention to land, the chief
+slowly pursued his course round the palisades. As he approached the
+moccasin, having now nearly completed the circuit of the building, he
+threw the ominous article into the canoe, by a dexterous and almost
+imperceptible movement of his paddle. He was now ready to depart, but
+retreat was even more dangerous than the approach, as the eye could
+no longer be riveted on the loops. If there was really any one in the
+castle, the motive of the Delaware in reconnoitering must be understood,
+and it was the wisest way, however perilous it might be, to retire
+with an air of confidence, as if all distrust were terminated by the
+examination. Such, accordingly, was the course adopted by the Indian,
+who paddled deliberately away, taking the direction of the Ark,
+suffering no nervous impulse to quicken the motions of his arms, or to
+induce him to turn even a furtive glance behind him.
+
+No tender wife, reared in the refinements of the highest civilization,
+ever met a husband on his return from the field with more of sensibility
+in her countenance than Hist discovered, as she saw the Great Serpent
+of the Delawares step, unharmed, into the Ark. Still she repressed her
+emotion, though the joy that sparkled in her dark eyes, and the smile
+that lighted her pretty mouth, spoke a language that her betrothed could
+understand.
+
+"Well, Sarpent," cried Hurry, always the first to speak, "what news
+from the muskrats? Did they shew their teeth, as you surrounded their
+dwelling?"
+
+"I no like him," sententiously returned the Delaware. "Too still. So
+still, can see silence!"
+
+"That's downright Injin--as if any thing could make less noise than
+nothing! If you've no better reason than this to give, old Tom had
+better hoist his sail, and go and get his breakfast under his own roof.
+What has become of the moccasin?"
+
+"Here," returned Chingachgook, holding up his prize for the general
+inspection. The moccasin was examined, and Hist confidently pronounced
+it to be Huron, by the manner in which the porcupine's quills were
+arranged on its front. Hutter and the Delaware, too, were decidedly of
+the same opinion. Admitting all this, however, it did not necessarily
+follow that its owners were in the castle. The moccasin might have
+drifted from a distance, or it might have fallen from the foot of some
+scout, who had quitted the place when his errand was accomplished. In
+short it explained nothing, while it awakened so much distrust.
+
+Under the circumstances, Hutter and Hurry were not men to be long
+deterred from proceeding by proofs as slight as that of the moccasin.
+They hoisted the sail again, and the Ark was soon in motion, heading
+towards the castle. The wind or air continued light, and the movement
+was sufficiently slow to allow of a deliberate survey of the building,
+as the scow approached. The same death-like silence reigned, and it was
+difficult to fancy that any thing possessing animal life could be in
+or around the place. Unlike the Serpent, whose imagination had acted
+through his traditions until he was ready to perceive an artificial,
+in a natural stillness, the others saw nothing to apprehend in a
+tranquility that, in truth, merely denoted the repose of inanimate
+objects. The accessories of the scene, too, were soothing and calm,
+rather than exciting. The day had not yet advanced so far as to bring
+the sun above the horizon, but the heavens, the atmosphere, and the
+woods and lake were all seen under that softened light which immediately
+precedes his appearance, and which perhaps is the most witching period
+of the four and twenty hours. It is the moment when every thing is
+distinct, even the atmosphere seeming to possess a liquid lucidity, the
+hues appearing gray and softened, with the outlines of objects defined,
+and the perspective just as moral truths that are presented in their
+simplicity, without the meretricious aids of ornament or glitter. In a
+word, it is the moment when the senses seem to recover their powers, in
+the simplest and most accurate forms, like the mind emerging from the
+obscurity of doubts into the tranquility and peace of demonstration.
+Most of the influence that such a scene is apt to produce on those who
+are properly constituted in a moral sense, was lost on Hutter and
+Hurry; but both the Delawares, though too much accustomed to witness
+the loveliness of morning-tide to stop to analyze their feelings, were
+equally sensible of the beauties of the hour, though it was probably in
+a way unknown to themselves. It disposed the young warrior to peace, and
+never had he felt less longings for the glory of the combat, than when
+he joined Hist in the cabin, the instant the scow rubbed against the
+side of the platform. From the indulgence of such gentle emotions,
+however, he was aroused by a rude summons from Hurry, who called on him
+to come forth and help to take in the sail, and to secure the Ark.
+
+Chingachgook obeyed, and by the time he had reached the head of the
+scow, Hurry was on the platform, stamping his feet, like one glad to
+touch what, by comparison, might be called terra firma, and proclaiming
+his indifference to the whole Huron tribe in his customary noisy,
+dogmatical manner. Hutter had hauled a canoe up to the head of the scow,
+and was already about to undo the fastenings of the gate, in order to
+enter within the 'dock.' March had no other motive in landing than a
+senseless bravado, and having shaken the door in a manner to put its
+solidity to the proof, he joined Hutter in the canoe and began to aid
+him in opening the gate. The reader will remember that this mode of
+entrance was rendered necessary by the manner in which the owner of this
+singular residence habitually secured it, whenever it was left empty;
+more particularly at moments when danger was apprehended. Hutter had
+placed a line in the Delaware's hand, on entering the canoe, intimating
+that the other was to fasten the Ark to the platform and to lower the
+sail. Instead of following these directions, however, Chingachgook left
+the sail standing, and throwing the bight of the rope over the head of
+a pile, he permitted the Ark to drift round until it lay against the
+defences, in a position where it could be entered only by means of a
+boat, or by passing along the summits of the palisades; the latter being
+an exploit that required some command of the feet, and which was not to
+be attempted in the face of a resolute enemy.
+
+In consequence of this change in the position of the scow, which was
+effected before Hutter had succeeded in opening the gate of his dock,
+the Ark and the Castle lay, as sailors would express it, yard-arm and
+yard-arm, kept asunder some ten or twelve feet by means of the piles. As
+the scow pressed close against the latter, their tops formed a species
+of breast work that rose to the height of a man's head, covering in
+a certain degree the parts of the scow that were not protected by the
+cabin. The Delaware surveyed this arrangement with great satisfaction
+and, as the canoe of Hutter passed through the gate into the dock, he
+thought that he might defend his position against any garrison in the
+castle, for a sufficient time, could he but have had the helping arm of
+his friend Deerslayer. As it was, he felt comparatively secure, and
+no longer suffered the keen apprehensions he had lately experienced in
+behalf of Hist.
+
+A single shove sent the canoe from the gate to the trap beneath the
+castle. Here Hutter found all fast, neither padlock nor chain nor bar
+having been molested. The key was produced, the locks removed, the chain
+loosened, and the trap pushed upward. Hurry now thrust his head in at
+the opening; the arms followed, and the colossal legs rose without any
+apparent effort. At the next instant, his heavy foot was heard stamping
+in the passage above; that which separated the chambers of the father
+and daughters, and into which the trap opened. He then gave a shout of
+triumph.
+
+"Come on, old Tom," the reckless woodsman called out from within the
+building--"here's your tenement, safe and sound; ay, and as empty as a
+nut that has passed half an hour in the paws of a squirrel! The Delaware
+brags of being able to see silence; let him come here, and he may feel
+it, in the bargain."
+
+"Any silence where you are, Hurry Harry," returned Hutter, thrusting his
+head in at the hole as he uttered the last word, which instantly caused
+his voice to sound smothered to those without--"Any silence where you
+are, ought to be both seen and felt, for it's unlike any other silence."
+
+"Come, come, old fellow; hoist yourself up, and we'll open doors and
+windows and let in the fresh air to brighten up matters. Few words in
+troublesome times, make men the best fri'nds. Your darter Judith is what
+I call a misbehaving young woman, and the hold of the whole family on me
+is so much weakened by her late conduct, that it wouldn't take a speech
+as long as the ten commandments to send me off to the river, leaving you
+and your traps, your Ark and your children, your man servants and your
+maid servants, your oxen and your asses, to fight this battle with the
+Iroquois by yourselves. Open that window, Floating Tom, and I'll blunder
+through and do the same job to the front door."
+
+A moment of silence succeeded, and a noise like that produced by the
+fall of a heavy body followed. A deep execration from Hurry succeeded,
+and then the whole interior of the building seemed alive. The noises
+that now so suddenly, and we may add so unexpectedly even to the
+Delaware, broke the stillness within, could not be mistaken. They
+resembled those that would be produced by a struggle between tigers in a
+cage. Once or twice the Indian yell was given, but it seemed smothered,
+and as if it proceeded from exhausted or compressed throats, and, in a
+single instance, a deep and another shockingly revolting execration
+came from the throat of Hurry. It appeared as if bodies were constantly
+thrown upon the floor with violence, as often rising to renew the
+struggle. Chingachgook felt greatly at a loss what to do. He had all the
+arms in the Ark, Hutter and Hurry having proceeded without their rifles,
+but there was no means of using them, or of passing them to the hands of
+their owners. The combatants were literally caged, rendering it almost
+as impossible under the circumstances to get out, as to get into the
+building. Then there was Hist to embarrass his movements, and to cripple
+his efforts. With a view to relieve himself from this disadvantage,
+he told the girl to take the remaining canoe and to join Hutter's
+daughters, who were incautiously but deliberately approaching, in order
+to save herself, and to warn the others of their danger. But the girl
+positively and firmly refused to comply. At that moment no human power,
+short of an exercise of superior physical force, could have induced her
+to quit the Ark. The exigency of the moment did not admit of delay, and
+the Delaware seeing no possibility of serving his friends, cut the line
+and by a strong shove forced the scow some twenty feet clear of the
+piles. Here he took the sweeps and succeeded in getting a short distance
+to windward, if any direction could be thus termed in so light an air,
+but neither the time, nor his skill at the oars, allowed the distance to
+be great. When he ceased rowing, the Ark might have been a hundred yards
+from the platform, and half that distance to the southward of it, the
+sail being lowered. Judith and Hetty had now discovered that something
+was wrong, and were stationary a thousand feet farther north.
+
+All this while the furious struggle continued within the house. In
+scenes like these, events thicken in less time than they can be related.
+From the moment when the first fall was heard within the building to
+that when the Delaware ceased his awkward attempts to row, it might have
+been three or four minutes, but it had evidently served to weaken the
+combatants. The oaths and execrations of Hurry were no longer heard, and
+even the struggles had lost some of their force and fury. Nevertheless
+they still continued with unabated perseverance. At this instant the
+door flew open, and the fight was transferred to the platform, the light
+and the open air. A Huron had undone the fastenings of the door, and
+three or four of his tribe rushed after him upon the narrow space, as
+if glad to escape from some terrible scene within. The body of another
+followed, pitched headlong through the door with terrific violence. Then
+March appeared, raging like a lion at bay, and for an instant freed from
+his numerous enemies. Hutter was already a captive and bound. There was
+now a pause in the struggle, which resembled a lull in a tempest. The
+necessity of breathing was common to all, and the combatants stood
+watching each other, like mastiffs that have been driven from their
+holds, and are waiting for a favorable opportunity of renewing them. We
+shall profit by this pause to relate the manner in which the Indians had
+obtained possession of the castle, and this the more willingly because
+it may be necessary to explain to the reader why a conflict which
+had been so close and fierce, should have also been so comparatively
+bloodless.
+
+Rivenoak and his companion, particularly the latter who had appeared to
+be a subordinate and occupied solely with his raft, had made the closest
+observations in their visits to the castle. Even the boy had brought
+away minute and valuable information. By these means the Hurons obtained
+a general idea of the manner in which the place was constructed and
+secured, as well as of details that enabled them to act intelligently in
+the dark. Notwithstanding the care that Hutter had taken to drop the Ark
+on the east side of the building when he was in the act of transferring
+the furniture from the former to the latter, he had been watched in a
+way to render the precaution useless. Scouts were on the look-out on
+the eastern as well as on the western shore of the lake, and the whole
+proceeding had been noted. As soon as it was dark, rafts like that
+already described approached from both shores to reconnoitre, and
+the Ark had passed within fifty feet of one of them without its being
+discovered; the men it held lying at their length on the logs, so as
+to blend themselves and their slow moving machine with the water. When
+these two sets of adventurers drew near the castle they encountered
+each other, and after communicating their respective observations, they
+unhesitatingly approached the building. As had been expected, it was
+found empty. The rafts were immediately sent for a reinforcement to the
+shore, and two of the savages remained to profit by their situation.
+These men succeeded in getting on the roof, and by removing some of the
+bark, in entering what might be termed the garret. Here they were found
+by their companions. Hatchets now opened a hole through the squared
+logs of the upper floor, through which no less than eight of the most
+athletic of the Indians dropped into the rooms beneath. Here they were
+left, well supplied with arms and provisions, either to stand a siege,
+or to make a sortie, as the case might require. The night was passed in
+sleep, as is usual with Indians in a state of inactivity. The returning
+day brought them a view of the approach of the Ark through the loops,
+the only manner in which light and air were now admitted, the windows
+being closed most effectually with plank, rudely fashioned to fit. As
+soon as it was ascertained that the two white men were about to enter by
+the trap, the chief who directed the proceedings of the Hurons took his
+measures accordingly. He removed all the arms from his own people, even
+to the knives, in distrust of savage ferocity when awakened by personal
+injuries, and he hid them where they could not be found without a
+search. Ropes of bark were then prepared, and taking their stations in
+the three different rooms, they all waited for the signal to fall upon
+their intended captives. As soon as the party had entered the building,
+men without replaced the bark of the roof, removed every sign of their
+visit, with care, and then departed for the shore. It was one of these
+who had dropped his moccasin, which he had not been able to find again
+in the dark. Had the death of the girl been known, it is probable
+nothing could have saved the lives of Hurry and Hutter, but that event
+occurred after the ambush was laid, and at a distance of several miles
+from the encampment near the castle. Such were the means that had been
+employed to produce the state of things we shall continue to describe.
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+
+    "Now all is done that man can do,
+    And all is done in vain!
+    My love!  my native land, adieu
+    For I must cross the main, My dear,
+    For I must cross the main."
+
+    Robert Burns, "It was a' for our Rightfu' King," II.  7-12.
+
+The last chapter we left the combatants breathing in their narrow lists.
+Accustomed to the rude sports of wrestling and jumping, then so common
+in America, more especially on the frontiers, Hurry possessed an
+advantage, in addition to his prodigious strength, that had rendered the
+struggle less unequal than it might otherwise appear to be. This alone
+had enabled him to hold out so long, against so many enemies, for the
+Indian is by no means remarkable for his skill, or force, in athletic
+exercises. As yet, no one had been seriously hurt, though several of the
+savages had received severe falls, and he, in particular, who had been
+thrown bodily upon the platform, might be said to be temporarily hors
+de combat. Some of the rest were limping, and March himself had not
+entirely escaped from bruises, though want of breath was the principal
+loss that both sides wished to repair.
+
+Under circumstances like those in which the parties were placed, a
+truce, let it come from what cause it might, could not well be of long
+continuance. The arena was too confined, and the distrust of treachery
+too great, to admit of this. Contrary to what might be expected in his
+situation, Hurry was the first to recommence hostilities. Whether this
+proceeded from policy, an idea that he might gain some advantage by
+making a sudden and unexpected assault, or was the fruit of irritation
+and his undying hatred of an Indian, it is impossible to say. His onset
+was furious, however, and at first it carried all before it. He seized
+the nearest Huron by the waist, raised him entirely from the platform,
+and hurled him into the water, as if he had been a child. In half a
+minute, two more were at his side, one of whom received a grave injury
+by the friend who had just preceded him. But four enemies remained, and,
+in a hand to hand conflict, in which no arms were used but those which
+nature had furnished, Hurry believed himself fully able to cope with
+that number of red-skins.
+
+"Hurrah! Old Tom," he shouted--"The rascals are taking to the lake, and
+I'll soon have 'em all swimming!" As these words were uttered a violent
+kick in the face sent back the injured Indian, who had caught at the
+edge of the platform, and was endeavoring to raise himself to its level,
+helplessly and hopelessly into the water. When the affray was over,
+his dark body was seen, through the limpid element of the Glimmerglass,
+lying, with outstretched arms, extended on the bottom of the shoal on
+which the Castle stood, clinging to the sands and weeds, as if life were
+to be retained by this frenzied grasp of death. A blow sent into the pit
+of another's stomach doubled him up like a worm that had been trodden
+on, and but two able bodied foes remained to be dealt with. One of
+these, however, was not only the largest and strongest of the Hurons,
+but he was also the most experienced of their warriors present, and that
+one whose sinews were the best strung in fights, and by marches on
+the warpath. This man fully appreciated the gigantic strength of his
+opponent, and had carefully husbanded his own. He was also equipped
+in the best manner for such a conflict, standing in nothing but his
+breech-cloth, the model of a naked and beautiful statue of agility and
+strength. To grasp him required additional dexterity and unusual force.
+Still Hurry did not hesitate, but the kick that had actually destroyed
+one fellow creature was no sooner given, than he closed in with this
+formidable antagonist, endeavoring to force him into the water, also.
+The struggle that succeeded was truly frightful. So fierce did it
+immediately become, and so quick and changeful were the evolutions of
+the athletes, that the remaining savage had no chance for interfering,
+had he possessed the desire; but wonder and apprehension held him
+spell bound. He was an inexperienced youth, and his blood curdled as
+he witnessed the fell strife of human passions, exhibited too, in an
+unaccustomed form.
+
+Hurry first attempted to throw his antagonist. With this view he seized
+him by the throat, and an arm, and tripped with the quickness and
+force of an American borderer. The effect was frustrated by the agile
+movements of the Huron, who had clothes to grasp by, and whose feet
+avoided the attempt with a nimbleness equal to that with which it was
+made. Then followed a sort of melee, if such a term can be applied to
+a struggle between two in which no efforts were strictly visible,
+the limbs and bodies of the combatants assuming so many attitudes and
+contortions as to defeat observation. This confused but fierce rally
+lasted less than a minute, however; when, Hurry, furious at having
+his strength baffled by the agility and nakedness of his foe, made
+a desperate effort, which sent the Huron from him, hurling his body
+violently against the logs of the hut. The concussion was so great as
+momentarily to confuse the latter's faculties. The pain, too, extorted
+a deep groan; an unusual concession to agony to escape a red man in
+the heat of battle. Still he rushed forward again to meet his enemy,
+conscious that his safety rested on it's resolution. Hurry now seized
+the other by the waist, raised him bodily from the platform, and fell
+with his own great weight on the form beneath. This additional shock
+so stunned the sufferer, that his gigantic white opponent now had him
+completely at his mercy. Passing his hands around the throat of his
+victim, he compressed them with the strength of a vice, fairly doubling
+the head of the Huron over the edge of the platform, until the chin was
+uppermost, with the infernal strength he expended. An instant sufficed
+to show the consequences. The eyes of the sufferer seemed to start
+forward, his tongue protruded, and his nostrils dilated nearly to
+splitting. At this instant a rope of bark, having an eye, was passed
+dexterously within the two arms of Hurry, the end threaded the eye,
+forming a noose, and his elbows were drawn together behind his
+back, with a power that all his gigantic strength could not resist.
+Reluctantly, even under such circumstances, did the exasperated borderer
+see his hands drawn from their deadly grasp, for all the evil passions
+were then in the ascendant. Almost at the same instant a similar
+fastening secured his ankles, and his body was rolled to the centre of
+the platform as helplessly, and as cavalierly, as if it were a log of
+wood. His rescued antagonist, however, did not rise, for while he began
+again to breathe, his head still hung helplessly over the edge of the
+logs, and it was thought at first that his neck was dislocated. He
+recovered gradually only, and it was hours before he could walk. Some
+fancied that neither his body, nor his mind, ever totally recovered from
+this near approach to death.
+
+Hurry owed his defeat and capture to the intensity with which he had
+concentrated all his powers on his fallen foe. While thus occupied, the
+two Indians he had hurled into the water mounted to the heads of the
+piles, along which they passed, and joined their companion on the
+platform. The latter had so far rallied his faculties as to have gotten
+the ropes, which were in readiness for use as the others appeared, and
+they were applied in the manner related, as Hurry lay pressing his
+enemy down with his whole weight, intent only on the horrible office of
+strangling him. Thus were the tables turned, in a single moment; he who
+had been so near achieving a victory that would have been renowned
+for ages, by means of traditions, throughout all that region, lying
+helpless, bound and a captive. So fearful had been the efforts of the
+pale-face, and so prodigious the strength he exhibited, that even as he
+lay tethered like a sheep before them, they regarded him with respect,
+and not without dread. The helpless body of their stoutest warrior was
+still stretched on the platform, and, as they cast their eyes towards
+the lake, in quest of the comrade that had been hurled into it so
+unceremoniously, and of whom they had lost sight in the confusion of
+the fray, they perceived his lifeless form clinging to the grass on the
+bottom, as already described. These several circumstances contributed to
+render the victory of the Hurons almost as astounding to themselves as a
+defeat.
+
+Chingachgook and his betrothed witnessed the whole of this struggle from
+the Ark. When the three Hurons were about to pass the cords around the
+arms of the prostrate Hurry the Delaware sought his rifle, but, before
+he could use it the white man was bound and the mischief was done. He
+might still bring down an enemy, but to obtain the scalp was impossible,
+and the young chief, who would so freely risk his own life to obtain
+such a trophy, hesitated about taking that of a foe without such an
+object in view. A glance at Hist, and the recollection of what might
+follow, checked any transient wish for revenge. The reader has been told
+that Chingachgook could scarcely be said to know how to manage the oars
+of the Ark at all, however expert he might be in the use of the paddle.
+Perhaps there is no manual labor at which men are so bungling and
+awkward, as in their first attempts to pull oar, even the experienced
+mariner, or boat man, breaking down in his efforts to figure with the
+celebrated rullock of the gondolier. In short it is, temporarily, an
+impracticable thing for a new beginner to succeed with a single oar, but
+in this case it was necessary to handle two at the same time, and those
+of great size. Sweeps, or large oars, however, are sooner rendered of
+use by the raw hand than lighter implements, and this was the reason
+that the Delaware had succeeded in moving the Ark as well as he did in a
+first trial. That trial, notwithstanding, sufficed to produce distrust,
+and he was fully aware of the critical situation in which Hist and
+himself were now placed, should the Hurons take to the canoe that was
+still lying beneath the trap, and come against them. At the moment he
+thought of putting Hist into the canoe in his own possession, and of
+taking to the eastern mountain in the hope of reaching the Delaware
+villages by direct flight. But many considerations suggested themselves
+to put a stop to this indiscreet step. It was almost certain that scouts
+watched the lake on both sides, and no canoe could possibly approach
+shore without being seen from the hills. Then a trail could not be
+concealed from Indian eyes, and the strength of Hist was unequal to
+a flight sufficiently sustained to outstrip the pursuit of trained
+warriors. This was a part of America in which the Indians did not know
+the use of horses, and everything would depend on the physical energies
+of the fugitives. Last, but far from being least, were the thoughts
+connected with the situation of Deerslayer, a friend who was not to be
+deserted in his extremity.
+
+Hist in some particulars reasoned, and even felt, differently though she
+arrived at the same conclusions. Her own anger disturbed her less than
+her concern for the two sisters, on whose behalf her womanly sympathies
+were now strongly enlisted. The canoe of the girls, by the time the
+struggle on the platform had ceased, was within three hundred yards of
+the castle, and here Judith ceased paddling, the evidences of strife
+first becoming apparent to the eyes. She and Hetty were standing erect,
+anxiously endeavoring to ascertain what had occurred, but unable to
+satisfy their doubts from the circumstance that the building, in a great
+measure, concealed the scene of action.
+
+The parties in the Ark, and in the canoe, were indebted to the ferocity
+of Hurry's attack for their momentary security. In any ordinary case,
+the girls would have been immediately captured, a measure easy of
+execution now the savages had a canoe, were it not for the rude check
+the audacity of the Hurons had received in the recent struggle. It
+required some little time to recover from the effects of this violent
+scene, and this so much the more, because the principal man of the
+party, in the way of personal prowess at least, had been so great a
+sufferer. Still it was of the last importance that Judith and her sister
+should seek immediate refuge in the Ark, where the defences offered a
+temporary shelter at least, and the first step was to devise the means
+of inducing them to do so. Hist showed herself in the stern of the scow,
+and made many gestures and signs, in vain, in order to induce the girls
+to make a circuit to avoid the Castle, and to approach the Ark from
+the eastward. But these signs were distrusted or misunderstood. It is
+probable Judith was not yet sufficiently aware of the real state of
+things to put full confidence in either party. Instead of doing as
+desired, she rather kept more aloof, paddling slowly back to the north,
+or into the broadest part of the lake, where she could command the
+widest view, and had the fairest field for flight before her. At
+this instant the sun appeared above the pines of the eastern range of
+mountains and a light southerly breeze arose, as was usual enough at
+that season and hour. Chingachgook lost no time in hoisting the sail.
+Whatever might be in reserve for him, there could be no question that
+it was every way desirable to get the Ark at such a distance from the
+castle as to reduce his enemies to the necessity of approaching the
+former in the canoe, which the chances of war had so inopportunely, for
+his wishes and security, thrown into their hands. The appearance of the
+opening duck seemed first to arouse the Hurons from their apathy, and by
+the time the head of the scow had fallen off before the wind, which it
+did unfortunately in the wrong direction, bringing it within a few
+yards of the platform, Hist found it necessary to warn her lover of the
+importance of covering his person against the rifles of his foes. This
+was a danger to be avoided under all circumstances, and so much the
+more, because the Delaware found that Hist would not take to the cover
+herself so long as he remained exposed. Accordingly, Chingachgook
+abandoned the scow to its own movements, forced Hist into the cabin, the
+doors of which he immediately secured, and then he looked about him for
+the rifles. The situation of the parties was now so singular as to merit
+a particular description. The Ark was within sixty yards of the castle,
+a little to the southward, or to windward of it, with its sail full, and
+the steering oar abandoned. The latter, fortunately, was loose, so
+that it produced no great influence on the crab like movements of the
+unwieldy craft. The sail being as sailors term it, flying, or having no
+braces, the air forced the yard forward, though both sheets were fast.
+The effect was threefold on a boat with a bottom that was perfectly
+flat, and which drew merely some three or four inches water. It pressed
+the head slowly round to leeward, it forced the whole fabric bodily
+in the same direction at the same time, and the water that unavoidably
+gathered under the lee gave the scow also a forward movement. All these
+changes were exceedingly slow, however, for the wind was not only light,
+but it was baffling as usual, and twice or thrice the sail shook. Once
+it was absolutely taken aback.
+
+Had there been any keel to the Ark, it would inevitably have run foul of
+the platform, bows on, when it is probable nothing could have prevented
+the Hurons from carrying it; more particularly as the sail would have
+enabled them to approach under cover. As it was, the scow wore slowly
+round, barely clearing that part of the building. The piles projecting
+several feet, they were not cleared, but the head of the slow moving
+craft caught between two of them, by one of its square corners, and
+hung. At this moment the Delaware was vigilantly watching through a loop
+for an opportunity to fire, while the Hurons kept within the building,
+similarly occupied. The exhausted warrior reclined against the hut,
+there having been no time to remove him, and Hurry lay, almost as
+helpless as a log, tethered like a sheep on its way to the slaughter,
+near the middle of the platform. Chingachgook could have slain the
+first, at any moment, but his scalp would have been safe, and the young
+chief disdained to strike a blow that could lead to neither honor nor
+advantage.
+
+"Run out one of the poles, Sarpent, if Sarpent you be," said Hurry, amid
+the groans that the tightness of the ligatures was beginning to extort
+from him--"run out one of the poles, and shove the head of the scow off,
+and you'll drift clear of us--and, when you've done that good turn for
+yourself just finish this gagging blackguard for me."
+
+The appeal of Hurry, however, had no other effect than to draw
+the attention of Hist to his situation. This quick witted creature
+comprehended it at a glance. His ankles were bound with several turns of
+stout bark rope, and his arms, above the elbows, were similarly secured
+behind his back; barely leaving him a little play of the hands and
+wrists. Putting her mouth near a loop she said in a low but distinct
+voice--"Why you don't roll here, and fall in scow? Chingachgook shoot
+Huron, if he chase!"
+
+"By the Lord, gal, that's a judgematical thought, and it shall be tried,
+if the starn of your scow will come a little nearer. Put a bed at the
+bottom, for me to fall on."
+
+This was said at a happy moment, for, tired of waiting, all the Indians
+made a rapid discharge of their rifles, almost simultaneously, injuring
+no one; though several bullets passed through the loops. Hist had heard
+part of Hurry's words, but most of what he said was lost in the sharp
+reports of the firearms. She undid the bar of the door that led to the
+stern of the scow, but did not dare to expose her person. All this time,
+the head of the Ark hung, but by a gradually decreasing hold as the
+other end swung slowly round, nearer and nearer to the platform. Hurry,
+who now lay with his face towards the Ark, occasionally writhing and
+turning over like one in pain, evolutions he had performed ever since he
+was secured, watched every change, and, at last, he saw that the whole
+vessel was free, and was beginning to grate slowly along the sides
+of the piles. The attempt was desperate, but it seemed to be the only
+chance for escaping torture and death, and it suited the reckless daring
+of the man's character. Waiting to the last moment, in order that the
+stern of the scow might fairly rub against the platform, he began to
+writhe again, as if in intolerable suffering, execrating all Indians in
+general, and the Hurons in particular, and then he suddenly and rapidly
+rolled over and over, taking the direction of the stern of the scow.
+Unfortunately, Hurry's shoulders required more space to revolve in
+than his feet, and by the time he reached the edge of the platform
+his direction had so far changed as to carry him clear of the Ark
+altogether, and the rapidity of his revolutions and the emergency
+admitting of no delay, he fell into the water. At this instant,
+Chingachgook, by an understanding with his betrothed, drew the fire of
+the Hurons again, not a man of whom saw the manner in which one whom
+they knew to be effectually tethered, had disappeared. But Hist's
+feelings were strongly interested in the success of so bold a scheme,
+and she watched the movements of Hurry as the cat watches the mouse. The
+moment he was in motion she foresaw the consequences, and this the more
+readily, as the scow was now beginning to move with some steadiness, and
+she bethought her of the means of saving him. With a sort of instinctive
+readiness, she opened the door at the very moment the rifles were
+ringing in her ears, and protected by the intervening cabin, she stepped
+into the stem of the scow in time to witness the fall of Hurry into the
+lake. Her foot was unconsciously placed on the end of one of the sheets
+of the sail, which was fastened aft, and catching up all the spare rope
+with the awkwardness, but also with the generous resolution of a woman,
+she threw it in the direction of the helpless Hurry. The line fell
+on the head and body of the sinking man and he not only succeeded in
+grasping separate parts of it with his hands, but he actually got
+a portion of it between his teeth. Hurry was an expert swimmer, and
+tethered as he was he resorted to the very expedient that philosophy and
+reflection would have suggested. He had fallen on his back, and instead
+of floundering and drowning himself by desperate efforts to walk on the
+water, he permitted his body to sink as low as possible, and was already
+submerged, with the exception of his face, when the line reached him.
+In this situation he might possibly have remained until rescued by the
+Hurons, using his hands as fishes use their fins, had he received no
+other succour, but the movement of the Ark soon tightened the rope, and
+of course he was dragged gently ahead holding even pace with the scow.
+The motion aided in keeping his face above the surface of the water, and
+it would have been possible for one accustomed to endurance to have been
+towed a mile in this singular but simple manner.
+
+It has been said that the Hurons did not observe the sudden
+disappearance of Hurry. In his present situation he was not only hid
+from view by the platform, but, as the Ark drew slowly ahead, impelled
+by a sail that was now filled, he received the same friendly service
+from the piles. The Hurons, indeed, were too intent on endeavoring to
+slay their Delaware foe, by sending a bullet through some one of the
+loops or crevices of the cabin, to bethink them at all of one whom they
+fancied so thoroughly tied. Their great concern was the manner in which
+the Ark rubbed past the piles, although its motion was lessened at least
+one half by the friction, and they passed into the northern end of the
+castle in order to catch opportunities of firing through the loops of
+that part of the building. Chingachgook was similarly occupied, and
+remained as ignorant as his enemies of the situation of Hurry. As the
+Ark grated along the rifles sent their little clouds of smoke from one
+cover to the other, but the eyes and movements of the opposing parties
+were too quick to permit any injury to be done. At length one side had
+the mortification and the other the pleasure of seeing the scow swing
+clear of the piles altogether, when it immediately moved away, with a
+materially accelerated motion, towards the north.
+
+Chingachgook now first learned from Hist the critical condition of
+Hurry. To have exposed either of their persons in the stern of the scow
+would have been certain death, but fortunately the sheet to which the
+man clung led forward to the foot of the sail. The Delaware found means
+to unloosen it from the cleet aft, and Hist, who was already forward for
+that purpose, immediately began to pull upon the line. At this moment
+Hurry was towing fifty or sixty feet astern, with nothing but his face
+above water. As he was dragged out clear of the castle and the piles
+he was first perceived by the Hurons, who raised a hideous yell and
+commenced a fire on, what may very well be termed the floating mass. It
+was at the same instant that Hist began to pull upon the line forward--a
+circumstance that probably saved Hurry's life, aided by his own
+self-possession and border readiness. The first bullet struck the
+water directly on the spot where the broad chest of the young giant was
+visible through the pure element, and might have pierced his heart had
+the angle at which it was fired been less acute. Instead of penetrating
+the lake, however, it glanced from its smooth surface, rose, and buried
+itself in the logs of the cabin near the spot at which Chingachgook had
+shown himself the minute before, while clearing the line from the cleet.
+A second, and a third, and a fourth bullet followed, all meeting
+with the same resistance of the water, though Hurry sensibly felt the
+violence of the blows they struck upon the lake so immediately above,
+and so near his breast. Discovering their mistake, the Hurons now
+changed their plan, and aimed at the uncovered face; but by this
+time Hist was pulling on the line, the target advanced and the deadly
+missiles still fell upon the water. In another moment the body was
+dragged past the end of the scow and became concealed. As for the
+Delaware and Hist, they worked perfectly covered by the cabin, and in
+less time than it requires to tell it, they had hauled the huge frame of
+Harry to the place they occupied. Chingachgook stood in readiness with
+his keen knife, and bending over the side of the scow he soon severed
+the bark that bound the limbs of the borderer. To raise him high enough
+to reach the edge of the boat and to aid him in entering were less easy,
+as Hurry's arms were still nearly useless, but both were done in time,
+when the liberated man staggered forward and fell exhausted and helpless
+into the bottom of the scow. Here we shall leave him to recover his
+strength and the due circulation of his blood, while we proceed with
+the narrative of events that crowd upon us too fast to admit of any
+postponement. The moment the Hurons lost sight of the body of Hurry they
+gave a common yell of disappointment, and three of the most active of
+their number ran to the trap and entered the canoe. It required some
+little delay, however, to embark with their weapons, to find the paddles
+and, if we may use a phrase so purely technical, "to get out of dock."
+By this time Hurry was in the scow, and the Delaware had his rifles
+again in readiness. As the Ark necessarily sailed before the wind, it
+had got by this time quite two hundred yards from the castle, and was
+sliding away each instant, farther and farther, though with a motion so
+easy as scarcely to stir the water. The canoe of the girls was quite
+a quarter of a mile distant from the Ark, obviously keeping aloof, in
+ignorance of what had occurred, and in apprehension of the consequences
+of venturing too near. They had taken the direction of the eastern
+shore, endeavoring at the same time to get to windward of the Ark, and
+in a manner between the two parties, as if distrusting which was to be
+considered a friend, and which an enemy. The girls, from long habit,
+used the paddles with great dexterity, and Judith, in particular, had
+often sportively gained races, in trials of speed with the youths that
+occasionally visited the lake.
+
+When the three Hurons emerged from behind the palisades, and found
+themselves on the open lake, and under the necessity of advancing
+unprotected on the Ark, if they persevered in the original design, their
+ardor sensibly cooled. In a bark canoe they were totally without cover,
+and Indian discretion was entirely opposed to such a sacrifice of life
+as would most probably follow any attempt to assault an enemy entrenched
+as effectually as the Delaware. Instead of following the Ark, therefore,
+these three warriors inclined towards the eastern shore, keeping at
+a safe distance from the rifles of Chingachgook. But this manoeuvre
+rendered the position of the girls exceedingly critical. It threatened
+to place them if not between two fires, at least between two dangers, or
+what they conceived to be dangers, and instead of permitting the Hurons
+to enclose her, in what she fancied a sort of net, Judith immediately
+commenced her retreat in a southern direction, at no very great distance
+from the shore. She did not dare to land; if such an expedient were
+to be resorted to at all, she could only venture on it in the last
+extremity. At first the Indians paid little or no attention to the other
+canoe, for, fully apprised of its contents, they deemed its capture
+of comparatively little moment, while the Ark, with its imaginary
+treasures, the persons of the Delaware and of Hurry, and its means of
+movement on a large scale, was before them. But this Ark had its
+dangers as well as its temptations, and after wasting near an hour in
+vacillating evolutions, always at a safe distance from the rifle, the
+Hurons seemed suddenly to take their resolution, and began to display it
+by giving eager chase to the girls.
+
+When this last design was adopted, the circumstances of all parties, as
+connected with their relative positions, were materially changed.
+The Ark had sailed and drifted quite half a mile, and was nearly that
+distance due north of the castle. As soon as the Delaware perceived that
+the girls avoided him, unable to manage his unwieldy craft, and knowing
+that flight from a bark canoe, in the event of pursuit, would be a
+useless expedient if attempted, he had lowered his sail, in the hope it
+might induce the sisters to change their plan and to seek refuge in the
+scow. This demonstration produced no other effect than to keep the Ark
+nearer to the scene of action, and to enable those in her to become
+witnesses of the chase. The canoe of Judith was about a quarter of a
+mile south of that of the Hurons, a little nearer to the east shore, and
+about the same distance to the southward of the castle as it was from
+the hostile canoe, a circumstance which necessarily put the last nearly
+abreast of Hutter's fortress. With the several parties thus situated the
+chase commenced.
+
+At the moment when the Hurons so suddenly changed their mode of attack
+their canoe was not in the best possible racing trim. There were but
+two paddles, and the third man so much extra and useless cargo. Then
+the difference in weight between the sisters and the other two men,
+more especially in vessels so extremely light, almost neutralized any
+difference that might proceed from the greater strength of the Hurons,
+and rendered the trial of speed far from being as unequal as it might
+seem. Judith did not commence her exertions until the near approach of
+the other canoe rendered the object of the movement certain, and then
+she exhorted Hetty to aid her with her utmost skill and strength.
+
+"Why should we run, Judith?" asked the simple minded girl. "The Hurons
+have never harmed me, nor do I think they ever will."
+
+"That may be true as to you, Hetty, but it will prove very different
+with me. Kneel down and say your prayer, and then rise and do your
+utmost to help escape. Think of me, dear girl, too, as you pray."
+
+Judith gave these directions from a mixed feeling; first because she
+knew that her sister ever sought the support of her great ally in
+trouble, and next because a sensation of feebleness and dependance
+suddenly came over her own proud spirit, in that moment of apparent
+desertion and trial. The prayer was quickly said, however, and the
+canoe was soon in rapid motion. Still, neither party resorted to their
+greatest exertions from the outset, both knowing that the chase
+was likely to be arduous and long. Like two vessels of war that are
+preparing for an encounter, they seemed desirous of first ascertaining
+their respective rates of speed, in order that they might know how to
+graduate their exertions, previously to the great effort. A few minutes
+sufficed to show the Hurons that the girls were expert, and that it
+would require all their skill and energies to overtake them.
+
+Judith had inclined towards the eastern shore at the commencement of the
+chase, with a vague determination of landing and flying to the woods as
+a last resort, but as she approached the land, the certainty that scouts
+must be watching her movements made her reluctance to adopt such an
+expedient unconquerable. Then she was still fresh, and had sanguine
+hopes of being able to tire out her pursuers. With such feelings she
+gave a sweep with her paddle, and sheered off from the fringe of dark
+hemlocks beneath the shades of which she was so near entering, and held
+her way again, more towards the centre of the lake. This seemed the
+instant favorable for the Hurons to make their push, as it gave them
+the entire breadth of the sheet to do it in; and this too in the widest
+part, as soon as they had got between the fugitives and the land. The
+canoes now flew, Judith making up for what she wanted in strength by her
+great dexterity and self command. For half a mile the Indians gained
+no material advantage, but the continuance of so great exertions for so
+many minutes sensibly affected all concerned. Here the Indians resorted
+to an expedient that enabled them to give one of their party time to
+breathe, by shifting their paddles from hand to hand, and this too
+without sensibly relaxing their efforts.
+
+Judith occasionally looked behind her, and she saw this expedient
+practised. It caused her immediately to distrust the result, since her
+powers of endurance were not likely to hold out against those of men who
+had the means of relieving each other. Still she persevered, allowing no
+very visible consequences immediately to follow the change.
+
+As yet the Indians had not been able to get nearer to the girls than two
+hundred yards, though they were what seamen would term "in their wake";
+or in a direct line behind them, passing over the same track of water.
+This made the pursuit what is technically called a "stern chase",
+which is proverbially a "long chase": the meaning of which is that, in
+consequence of the relative positions of the parties, no change becomes
+apparent except that which is a direct gain in the nearest possible
+approach. "Long" as this species of chase is admitted to be, however,
+Judith was enabled to perceive that the Hurons were sensibly drawing
+nearer and nearer, before she had gained the centre of the lake. She
+was not a girl to despair, but there was an instant when she thought of
+yielding, with the wish of being carried to the camp where she knew the
+Deerslayer to be a captive; but the considerations connected with the
+means she hoped to be able to employ in order to procure his release
+immediately interposed, in order to stimulate her to renewed exertions.
+Had there been any one there to note the progress of the two canoes, he
+would have seen that of Judith flying swiftly away from its pursuers,
+as the girl gave it freshly impelled speed, while her mind was thus
+dwelling on her own ardent and generous schemes. So material, indeed,
+was the difference in the rate of going between the two canoes for
+the next five minutes, that the Hurons began to be convinced all their
+powers must be exerted or they would suffer the disgrace of being
+baffled by women. Making a furious effort under the mortification of
+such a conviction, one of the strongest of their party broke his paddle
+at the very moment when he had taken it from the hand of a comrade to
+relieve him. This at once decided the matter, a canoe containing three
+men and having but one paddle being utterly unable to overtake fugitives
+like the daughters of Thomas Hutter.
+
+"There, Judith!" exclaimed Hetty, who saw the accident, "I hope now you
+will own, that praying is useful! The Hurons have broke a paddle, and
+they never can overtake us."
+
+"I never denied it, poor Hetty, and sometimes wish in bitterness of
+spirit that I had prayed more myself, and thought less of my beauty!
+As you say, we are now safe and need only go a little south and take
+breath."
+
+This was done; the enemy giving up the pursuit, as suddenly as a ship
+that has lost an important spar, the instant the accident occurred.
+Instead of following Judith's canoe, which was now lightly skimming over
+the water towards the south, the Hurons turned their bows towards the
+castle, where they soon arrived and landed. The girls, fearful that some
+spare paddles might be found in or about the buildings, continued on,
+nor did they stop until so distant from their enemies as to give them
+every chance of escape, should the chase be renewed. It would seem that
+the savages meditated no such design, but at the end of an hour their
+canoe, filled with men, was seen quitting the castle and steering
+towards the shore. The girls were without food, and they now drew nearer
+to the buildings and the Ark, having finally made up their minds from
+its manoeuvres that the latter contained friends.
+
+Notwithstanding the seeming desertion of the castle, Judith approached
+it with extreme caution. The Ark was now quite a mile to the northward,
+but sweeping up towards the buildings, and this, too, with a regularity
+of motion that satisfied Judith a white man was at the oars. When within
+a hundred yards of the building the girls began to encircle it, in order
+to make sure that it was empty. No canoe was nigh, and this emboldened
+them to draw nearer and nearer, until they had gone round the piles and
+reached the platform.
+
+"Do you go into the house, Hetty," said Judith, "and see that the
+savages are gone. They will not harm you, and if any of them are still
+here you can give me the alarm. I do not think they will fire on a poor
+defenceless girl, and I at least may escape, until I shall be ready to
+go among them of my own accord."
+
+Hetty did as desired, Judith retiring a few yards from the platform the
+instant her sister landed, in readiness for flight. But the last was
+unnecessary, not a minute elapsing before Hetty returned to communicate
+that all was safe.
+
+"I've been in all the rooms, Judith," said the latter earnestly, "and
+they are empty, except father's; he is in his own chamber, sleeping,
+though not as quietly as we could wish."
+
+"Has any thing happened to father?" demanded Judith, as her foot touched
+the platform; speaking quickly, for her nerves were in a state to be
+easily alarmed.
+
+Hetty seemed concerned, and she looked furtively about her as if
+unwilling any one but a child should hear what she had to communicate,
+and even that she should learn it abruptly.
+
+"You know how it is with father sometimes, Judith," she said, "When
+overtaken with liquor he doesn't always know what he says or does, and
+he seems to be overtaken with liquor now."
+
+"That is strange! Would the savages have drunk with him, and then leave
+him behind? But 'tis a grievous sight to a child, Hetty, to witness such
+a failing in a parent, and we will not go near him 'til he wakes."
+
+A groan from the inner room, however, changed this resolution, and the
+girls ventured near a parent whom it was no unusual thing for them to
+find in a condition that lowers a man to the level of brutes. He was
+seated, reclining in a corner of the narrow room with his shoulders
+supported by the angle, and his head fallen heavily on his chest. Judith
+moved forward with a sudden impulse, and removed a canvass cap that was
+forced so low on his head as to conceal his face, and indeed all but his
+shoulders. The instant this obstacle was taken away, the quivering and
+raw flesh, the bared veins and muscles, and all the other disgusting
+signs of mortality, as they are revealed by tearing away the skin,
+showed he had been scalped, though still living.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI.
+
+
+    "Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,
+    And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him;
+    But nothing he'll reck, if they'll let him sleep on,
+    In the grave where a Briton has laid him."
+
+    Charles Wolfe, "The Burial of Sir John Moore," vi.
+
+The reader must imagine the horror that daughters would experience, at
+unexpectedly beholding the shocking spectacle that was placed before the
+eyes of Judith and Esther, as related in the close of the last chapter.
+We shall pass over the first emotions, the first acts of filial piety,
+and proceed with the narrative by imagining rather than relating most of
+the revolting features of the scene. The mutilated and ragged head was
+bound up, the unseemly blood was wiped from the face of the sufferer,
+the other appliances required by appearances and care were resorted to,
+and there was time to enquire into the more serious circumstances of the
+case. The facts were never known until years later in all their details,
+simple as they were, but they may as well be related here, as it can be
+done in a few words. In the struggle with the Hurons, Hutter had been
+stabbed by the knife of the old warrior, who had used the discretion
+to remove the arms of every one but himself. Being hard pushed by his
+sturdy foe, his knife had settled the matter. This occurred just as
+the door was opened, and Hurry burst out upon the platform, as has
+been previously related. This was the secret of neither party's having
+appeared in the subsequent struggle; Hutter having been literally
+disabled, and his conqueror being ashamed to be seen with the traces of
+blood about him, after having used so many injunctions to convince his
+young warriors of the necessity of taking their prisoners alive. When
+the three Hurons returned from the chase, and it was determined to
+abandon the castle and join the party on the land, Hutter was simply
+scalped to secure the usual trophy, and was left to die by inches, as
+has been done in a thousand similar instances by the ruthless warriors
+of this part of the American continent. Had the injury of Hutter been
+confined to his head, he might have recovered, however, for it was
+the blow of the knife that proved mortal. There are moments of vivid
+consciousness, when the stern justice of God stands forth in colours so
+prominent as to defy any attempts to veil them from the sight, however
+unpleasant they may appear, or however anxious we may be to avoid
+recognising it. Such was now the fact with Judith and Hetty, who both
+perceived the decrees of a retributive Providence, in the manner of
+their father's suffering, as a punishment for his own recent attempts
+on the Iroquois. This was seen and felt by Judith with the keenness of
+perception and sensibility that were suited to her character, while
+the impression made on the simpler mind of her sister was perhaps less
+lively, though it might well have proved more lasting.
+
+"Oh! Judith," exclaimed the weak minded girl, as soon as their first
+care had been bestowed on sufferer. "Father went for scalps, himself,
+and now where is his own? The Bible might have foretold this dreadful
+punishment!"
+
+"Hush, Hetty--hush, poor sister--He opens his eyes; he may hear and
+understand you. 'Tis as you say and think, but 'tis too dreadful to
+speak."
+
+"Water," ejaculated Hutter, as it might be by a desperate effort, that
+rendered his voice frightfully deep and strong for one as near death as
+he evidently was--"Water--foolish girls--will you let me die of thirst?"
+
+Water was brought and administered to the sufferer; the first he
+had tasted in hours of physical anguish. It had the double effect of
+clearing his throat and of momentarily reviving his sinking system. His
+eyes opened with that anxious, distended gaze which is apt to accompany
+the passage of a soul surprised by death, and he seemed disposed to
+speak.
+
+"Father," said Judith, inexpressibly pained by his deplorable situation,
+and this so much the more from her ignorance of what remedies ought
+to be applied--"Father, can we do any thing for you? Can Hetty and I
+relieve your pain?"
+
+"Father!" slowly repeated the old man. "No, Judith; no, Hetty--I'm no
+father. She was your mother, but I'm no father. Look in the chest--'Tis
+all there--give me more water."
+
+The girls complied, and Judith, whose early recollections extended
+farther back than her sister's, and who on every account had more
+distinct impressions of the past, felt an uncontrollable impulse of joy
+as she heard these words. There had never been much sympathy between her
+reputed father and herself, and suspicions of this very truth had often
+glanced across her mind, in consequence of dialogues she had overheard
+between Hutter and her mother. It might be going too far to say she had
+never loved him, but it is not so to add that she rejoiced it was no
+longer a duty. With Hetty the feeling was different. Incapable of
+making all the distinctions of her sister, her very nature was full
+of affection, and she had loved her reputed parent, though far less
+tenderly than the real parent, and it grieved her now to hear him
+declare he was not naturally entitled to that love. She felt a double
+grief, as if his death and his words together were twice depriving her
+of parents. Yielding to her feelings, the poor girl went aside and wept.
+
+The very opposite emotions of the two girls kept both silent for a long
+time. Judith gave water to the sufferer frequently, but she forbore to
+urge him with questions, in some measure out of consideration for his
+condition, but, if truth must be said, quite as much lest something he
+should add in the way of explanation might disturb her pleasing belief
+that she was not Thomas Hutter's child. At length Hetty dried her tears,
+and came and seated herself on a stool by the side of the dying man, who
+had been placed at his length on the floor, with his head supported by
+some coarse vestments that had been left in the house.
+
+"Father," she said "you will let me call you father, though you say you
+are not one--Father, shall I read the Bible to you--mother always said
+the Bible was good for people in trouble. She was often in trouble
+herself, and then she made me read the Bible to her--for Judith wasn't
+as fond of the Bible as I am--and it always did her good. Many is the
+time I've known mother begin to listen with the tears streaming from her
+eyes, and end with smiles and gladness. Oh! father, you don't know how
+much good the Bible can do, for you've never tried it. Now, I'll read a
+chapter and it will soften your heart as it softened the hearts of the
+Hurons."
+
+While poor Hetty had so much reverence for, and faith in, the virtues
+of the Bible, her intellect was too shallow to enable her fully to
+appreciate its beauties, or to fathom its profound and sometimes
+mysterious wisdom. That instinctive sense of right which appeared to
+shield her from the commission of wrong, and even cast a mantle of
+moral loveliness and truth around her character, could not penetrate
+abstrusities, or trace the nice affinities between cause and effect,
+beyond their more obvious and indisputable connection, though she
+seldom failed to see all the latter, and to defer to all their just
+consequences. In a word, she was one of those who feel and act correctly
+without being able to give a logical reason for it, even admitting
+revelation as her authority. Her selections from the Bible, therefore,
+were commonly distinguished by the simplicity of her own mind, and were
+oftener marked for containing images of known and palpable things than
+for any of the higher cast of moral truths with which the pages of that
+wonderful book abound--wonderful, and unequalled, even without referring
+to its divine origin, as a work replete with the profoundest philosophy,
+expressed in the noblest language. Her mother, with a connection that
+will probably strike the reader, had been fond of the book of Job, and
+Hetty had, in a great measure, learned to read by the frequent lessons
+she had received from the different chapters of this venerable and
+sublime poem--now believed to be the oldest book in the world. On this
+occasion the poor girl was submissive to her training, and she turned to
+that well known part of the sacred volume, with the readiness with which
+the practised counsel would cite his authorities from the stores of
+legal wisdom. In selecting the particular chapter, she was influenced by
+the caption, and she chose that which stands in our English version
+as "Job excuseth his desire of death." This she read steadily, from
+beginning to end, in a sweet, low and plaintive voice; hoping devoutly
+that the allegorical and abstruse sentences might convey to the heart of
+the sufferer the consolation he needed. It is another peculiarity of the
+comprehensive wisdom of the Bible that scarce a chapter, unless it
+be strictly narration, can be turned to, that does not contain some
+searching truth that is applicable to the condition of every human
+heart, as well as to the temporal state of its owner, either through
+the workings of that heart, or even in a still more direct form. In this
+instance, the very opening sentence--"Is there not an appointed time to
+man on earth?" was startling, and as Hetty proceeded, Hutter applied, or
+fancied he could apply many aphorisms and figures to his own worldly
+and mental condition. As life is ebbing fast, the mind clings eagerly to
+hope when it is not absolutely crushed by despair. The solemn words "I
+have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Why
+hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to
+myself," struck Hutter more perceptibly than the others, and, though too
+obscure for one of his blunted feelings and obtuse mind either to feel
+or to comprehend in their fullest extent, they had a directness of
+application to his own state that caused him to wince under them.
+
+"Don't you feel better now, father?" asked Hetty, closing the volume.
+"Mother was always better when she had read the Bible."
+
+"Water," returned Hutter--"give me water, Judith. I wonder if my tongue
+will always be so hot! Hetty, isn't there something in the Bible about
+cooling the tongue of a man who was burning in Hell fire?"
+
+Judith turned away shocked, but Hetty eagerly sought the passage, which
+she read aloud to the conscience stricken victim of his own avaricious
+longings.
+
+"That's it, poor Hetty; yes, that's it. My tongue wants cooling,
+now--what will it be hereafter?"
+
+This appeal silenced even the confiding Hetty, for she had no answer
+ready for a confession so fraught with despair. Water, so long as it
+could relieve the sufferer, it was in the power of the sisters to give,
+and from time to time it was offered to the lips of the sufferer as he
+asked for it. Even Judith prayed. As for Hetty, as soon as she found
+that her efforts to make her father listen to her texts were no longer
+rewarded with success, she knelt at his side and devoutly repeated
+the words which the Saviour has left behind him as a model for human
+petitions. This she continued to do, at intervals, as long as it seemed
+to her that the act could benefit the dying man. Hutter, however,
+lingered longer than the girls had believed possible when they first
+found him. At times he spoke intelligibly, though his lips oftener moved
+in utterance of sounds that carried no distinct impressions
+to the mind. Judith listened intently, and she heard the
+words--"husband"--"death"-"pirate"--"law"--"scalps"--and several others
+of similar import, though there was no sentence to tell the precise
+connection in which they were used. Still they were sufficiently
+expressive to be understood by one whose ears had not escaped all the
+rumours that had been circulated to her reputed father's discredit, and
+whose comprehension was as quick as her faculties were attentive.
+
+During the whole of the painful hour that succeeded, neither of the
+sisters bethought her sufficiently of the Hurons to dread their return.
+It seemed as if their desolation and grief placed them above the danger
+of such an interruption, and when the sound of oars was at length heard,
+even Judith, who alone had any reason to apprehend the enemy, did not
+start, but at once understood that the Ark was near. She went upon the
+platform fearlessly, for should it turn out that Hurry was not
+there, and that the Hurons were masters of the scow also, escape was
+impossible. Then she had the sort of confidence that is inspired by
+extreme misery. But there was no cause for any new alarm, Chingachgook,
+Hist, and Hurry all standing in the open part of the scow, cautiously
+examining the building to make certain of the absence of the enemy.
+They, too, had seen the departure of the Hurons, as well as the approach
+of the canoe of the girls to the castle, and presuming on the latter
+fact, March had swept the scow up to the platform. A word sufficed to
+explain that there was nothing to be apprehended, and the Ark was soon
+moored in her old berth.
+
+Judith said not a word concerning the condition of her father, but Hurry
+knew her too well not to understand that something was more than usually
+wrong. He led the way, though with less of his confident bold manner
+than usual, into the house, and penetrating to the inner room, found
+Hutter lying on his back with Hetty sitting at his side, fanning him
+with pious care. The events of the morning had sensibly changed the
+manner of Hurry. Notwithstanding his skill as a swimmer, and the
+readiness with which he had adopted the only expedient that could
+possibly save him, the helplessness of being in the water, bound hand
+and foot, had produced some such effect on him, as the near approach
+of punishment is known to produce on most criminals, leaving a vivid
+impression of the horrors of death upon his mind, and this too in
+connection with a picture of bodily helplessness; the daring of this man
+being far more the offspring of vast physical powers, than of the energy
+of the will, or even of natural spirit. Such heroes invariably lose a
+large portion of their courage with the failure of their strength, and
+though Hurry was now unfettered and as vigorous as ever, events were too
+recent to permit the recollection of his late deplorable condition to
+be at all weakened. Had he lived a century, the occurrences of the few
+momentous minutes during which he was in the lake would have produced a
+chastening effect on his character, if not always on his manner.
+
+Hurry was not only shocked when he found his late associate in this
+desperate situation, but he was greatly surprised. During the struggle
+in the building, he had been far too much occupied himself to learn what
+had befallen his comrade, and, as no deadly weapon had been used in his
+particular case, but every effort had been made to capture him without
+injury, he naturally believed that Hutter had been overcome, while he
+owed his own escape to his great bodily strength, and to a fortunate
+concurrence of extraordinary circumstances. Death, in the silence and
+solemnity of a chamber, was a novelty to him. Though accustomed to
+scenes of violence, he had been unused to sit by the bedside and watch
+the slow beating of the pulse, as it gradually grew weaker and weaker.
+Notwithstanding the change in his feelings, the manners of a life could
+not be altogether cast aside in a moment, and the unexpected scene
+extorted a characteristic speech from the borderer.
+
+"How now! old Tom," he said, "have the vagabonds got you at an
+advantage, where you're not only down, but are likely to be kept down!
+I thought you a captyve it's true, but never supposed you so hard run as
+this!"
+
+Hutter opened his glassy eyes, and stared wildly at the speaker. A flood
+of confused recollections rushed on his wavering mind at the sight of
+his late comrade. It was evident that he struggled with his own images,
+and knew not the real from the unreal.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked in a husky whisper, his failing strength
+refusing to aid him in a louder effort of his voice.
+
+"Who are you?--You look like the mate of 'The Snow'--he was a giant,
+too, and near overcoming us."
+
+"I'm your mate, Floating Tom, and your comrade, but have nothing to do
+with any snow. It's summer now, and Harry March always quits the hills
+as soon after the frosts set in, as is convenient."
+
+"I know you--Hurry Skurry--I'll sell you a scalp!--a sound one, and of a
+full grown man--What'll you give?"
+
+"Poor Tom! That scalp business hasn't turned out at all profitable, and
+I've pretty much concluded to give it up; and to follow a less bloody
+calling."
+
+"Have you got any scalp? Mine's gone--How does it feel to have a scalp?
+I know how it feels to lose one--fire and flames about the brain--and
+a wrenching at the heart--no--no--kill first, Hurry, and scalp
+afterwards."
+
+"What does the old fellow mean, Judith? He talks like one that is
+getting tired of the business as well as myself. Why have you bound up
+his head? or, have the savages tomahawked him about the brains?"
+
+"They have done that for him which you and he, Harry March, would have
+so gladly done for them. His skin and hair have been torn from his head
+to gain money from the governor of Canada, as you would have torn theirs
+from the heads of the Hurons, to gain money from the Governor of York."
+
+Judith spoke with a strong effort to appear composed, but it was neither
+in her nature, nor in the feeling of the moment to speak altogether
+without bitterness. The strength of her emphasis, indeed, as well as her
+manner, caused Hetty to look up reproachfully.
+
+"These are high words to come from Thomas Hutter's darter, as Thomas
+Hutter lies dying before her eyes," retorted Hurry.
+
+"God be praised for that!--whatever reproach it may bring on my poor
+mother, I am not Thomas Hutter's daughter."
+
+"Not Thomas Hutter's darter!--Don't disown the old fellow in his last
+moments, Judith, for that's a sin the Lord will never overlook. If
+you're not Thomas Hutter's darter, whose darter be you?"
+
+This question rebuked the rebellious spirit of Judith, for, in getting
+rid of a parent whom she felt it was a relief to find she might own
+she had never loved, she overlooked the important circumstance that no
+substitute was ready to supply his place.
+
+"I cannot tell you, Harry, who my father was," she answered more mildly;
+"I hope he was an honest man, at least."
+
+"Which is more than you think was the case with old Hutter? Well,
+Judith, I'll not deny that hard stories were in circulation consarning
+Floating Tom, but who is there that doesn't get a scratch, when an inimy
+holds the rake? There's them that say hard things of me, and even you,
+beauty as you be, don't always escape."
+
+This was said with a view to set up a species of community of character
+between the parties, and as the politicians are wont to express it, with
+ulterior intentions. What might have been the consequences with one of
+Judith's known spirit, as well as her assured antipathy to the speaker,
+it is not easy to say, for, just then, Hutter gave unequivocal signs
+that his last moment was nigh. Judith and Hetty had stood by the dying
+bed of their mother, and neither needed a monitor to warn them of the
+crisis, and every sign of resentment vanished from the face of the
+first. Hutter opened his eyes, and even tried to feel about him with his
+hands, a sign that sight was failing. A minute later, his breathing
+grew ghastly; a pause totally without respiration followed; and, then,
+succeeded the last, long drawn sigh, on which the spirit is supposed
+to quit the body. This sudden termination of the life of one who had
+hitherto filled so important a place in the narrow scene on which he had
+been an actor, put an end to all discussion.
+
+The day passed by without further interruption, the Hurons, though
+possessed of a canoe, appearing so far satisfied with their success as
+to have relinquished all immediate designs on the castle. It would not
+have been a safe undertaking, indeed, to approach it under the rifles of
+those it was now known to contain, and it is probable that the truce was
+more owing to this circumstance than to any other. In the mean while the
+preparations were made for the interment of Hutter. To bury him on the
+land was impracticable, and it was Hetty's wish that his body should lie
+by the side of that of her mother, in the lake. She had it in her power
+to quote one of his speeches, in which he himself had called the lake
+the "family burying ground," and luckily this was done without the
+knowledge of her sister, who would have opposed the plan, had she known
+it, with unconquerable disgust. But Judith had not meddled with the
+arrangement, and every necessary disposition was made without her
+privity or advice.
+
+The hour chosen for the rude ceremony was just as the sun was setting,
+and a moment and a scene more suited to paying the last offices to one
+of calm and pure spirit could not have been chosen. There are a mystery
+and a solemn dignity in death, that dispose the living to regard the
+remains of even a malefactor with a certain degree of reverence. All
+worldly distinctions have ceased; it is thought that the veil has been
+removed, and that the character and destiny of the departed are now as
+much beyond human opinions, as they are beyond human ken. In nothing
+is death more truly a leveller than in this, since, while it may be
+impossible absolutely to confound the great with the low, the worthy
+with the unworthy, the mind feels it to be arrogant to assume a right to
+judge of those who are believed to be standing at the judgment seat
+of God. When Judith was told that all was ready, she went upon the
+platform, passive to the request of her sister, and then she first took
+heed of the arrangement. The body was in the scow, enveloped in a sheet,
+and quite a hundred weight of stones, that had been taken from the fire
+place, were enclosed with it, in order that it might sink. No other
+preparation seemed to be thought necessary, though Hetty carried her
+Bible beneath her arm.
+
+When all were on board the Ark, the singular habitation of the man whose
+body it now bore to its final abode, was set in motion. Hurry was at the
+oars. In his powerful hands, indeed, they seemed little more than a pair
+of sculls, which were wielded without effort, and, as he was expert in
+their use, the Delaware remained a passive spectator of the proceedings.
+The progress of the Ark had something of the stately solemnity of a
+funeral procession, the dip of the oars being measured, and the movement
+slow and steady. The wash of the water, as the blades rose and fell,
+kept time with the efforts of Hurry, and might have been likened to the
+measured tread of mourners. Then the tranquil scene was in beautiful
+accordance with a rite that ever associates with itself the idea of God.
+At that instant, the lake had not even a single ripple on its glassy
+surface, and the broad panorama of woods seemed to look down on the holy
+tranquillity of the hour and ceremony in melancholy stillness. Judith
+was affected to tears, and even Hurry, though he hardly knew why, was
+troubled. Hetty preserved the outward signs of tranquillity, but
+her inward grief greatly surpassed that of her sister, since her
+affectionate heart loved more from habit and long association, than
+from the usual connections of sentiment and taste. She was sustained by
+religious hope, however, which in her simple mind usually occupied the
+space that worldly feelings filled in that of Judith, and she was not
+without an expectation of witnessing some open manifestation of divine
+power, on an occasion so solemn. Still she was neither mystical nor
+exaggerated; her mental imbecility denying both. Nevertheless her
+thoughts had generally so much of the purity of a better world about
+them that it was easy for her to forget earth altogether, and to think
+only of heaven. Hist was serious, attentive and interested, for she
+had often seen the interments of the pale-faces, though never one that
+promised to be as peculiar as this; while the Delaware, though grave,
+and also observant, in his demeanor was stoical and calm.
+
+Hetty acted as pilot, directing Hurry how to proceed, to find that spot
+in the lake which she was in the habit of terming "mother's grave." The
+reader will remember that the castle stood near the southern extremity
+of a shoal that extended near half a mile northerly, and it was at the
+farthest end of this shallow water that Floating Tom had seen fit to
+deposit the remains of his wife and child. His own were now in the
+course of being placed at their side. Hetty had marks on the land
+by which she usually found the spot, although the position of the
+buildings, the general direction of the shoal, and the beautiful
+transparency of the water all aided her, the latter even allowing the
+bottom to be seen. By these means the girl was enabled to note their
+progress, and at the proper time she approached March, whispering, "Now,
+Hurry you can stop rowing. We have passed the stone on the bottom, and
+mother's grave is near."
+
+March ceased his efforts, immediately dropping the kedge and taking the
+warp in his hand in order to check the scow. The Ark turned slowly round
+under this restraint, and when it was quite stationary, Hetty was seen
+at its stern, pointing into the water, the tears streaming from her
+eyes, in ungovernable natural feeling. Judith had been present at the
+interment of her mother, but she had never visited the spot since. The
+neglect proceeded from no indifference to the memory of the deceased;
+for she had loved her mother, and bitterly had she found occasion to
+mourn her loss; but she was averse to the contemplation of death; and
+there had been passages in her own life since the day of that interment
+which increased this feeling, and rendered her, if possible, still more
+reluctant to approach the spot that contained the remains of one whose
+severe lessons of female morality and propriety had been deepened and
+rendered doubly impressive by remorse for her own failings. With Hetty,
+the case had been very different. To her simple and innocent mind, the
+remembrance of her mother brought no other feeling than one of gentle
+sorrow; a grief that is so often termed luxurious even, because it
+associates with itself the images of excellence and the purity of a
+better state of existence. For an entire summer, she had been in
+the habit of repairing to the place after night-fall; and carefully
+anchoring her canoe so as not to disturb the body, she would sit and
+hold fancied conversations with the deceased, sing sweet hymns to the
+evening air, and repeat the orisons that the being who now slumbered
+below had taught her in infancy. Hetty had passed her happiest hours in
+this indirect communion with the spirit of her mother; the wildness
+of Indian traditions and Indian opinions, unconsciously to herself,
+mingling with the Christian lore received in childhood. Once she had
+even been so far influenced by the former as to have bethought her of
+performing some of those physical rites at her mother's grave which the
+redmen are known to observe; but the passing feeling had been obscured
+by the steady, though mild light of Christianity, which never ceased
+to burn in her gentle bosom. Now her emotions were merely the natural
+outpourings of a daughter that wept for a mother whose love was
+indelibly impressed on the heart, and whose lessons had been too
+earnestly taught to be easily forgotten by one who had so little
+temptation to err.
+
+There was no other priest than nature at that wild and singular funeral
+rite. March cast his eyes below, and through the transparent medium of
+the clear water, which was almost as pure as air, he saw what Hetty was
+accustomed to call "mother's grave." It was a low, straggling mound of
+earth, fashioned by no spade, out of a corner of which gleamed a bit of
+the white cloth that formed the shroud of the dead. The body had been
+lowered to the bottom, and Hutter brought earth from the shore and let
+it fall upon it, until all was concealed. In this state the place had
+remained until the movement of the waters revealed the solitary sign of
+the uses of the spot that has just been mentioned.
+
+Even the most rude and brawling are chastened by the ceremonies of a
+funeral. March felt no desire to indulge his voice in any of its coarse
+outbreakings, and was disposed to complete the office he had undertaken
+in decent sobriety. Perhaps he reflected on the retribution that
+had alighted on his late comrade, and bethought him of the frightful
+jeopardy in which his own life had so lately been placed. He signified
+to Judith that all was ready, received her directions to proceed, and,
+with no other assistant than his own vast strength, raised the body and
+bore it to the end of the scow. Two parts of a rope were passed beneath
+the legs and shoulders, as they are placed beneath coffins, and then the
+corpse was slowly lowered beneath the surface of the lake.
+
+"Not there--Harry March--no, not there," said Judith, shuddering
+involuntarily; "do not lower it quite so near the spot where mother
+lies!"
+
+"Why not, Judith?" asked Hetty, earnestly. "They lived together in life,
+and should lie together in death."
+
+"No--no--Harry March, further off--further off. Poor Hetty, you know not
+what you say. Leave me to order this."
+
+"I know I am weak-minded, Judith, and that you are clever--but, surely
+a husband should be placed near a wife. Mother always said that this was
+the way they bury in Christian churchyards."
+
+This little controversy was conducted earnestly, but in smothered
+voices, as if the speakers feared that the dead might overhear them.
+Judith could not contend with her sister at such a moment, but a
+significant gesture induced March to lower the body at a little distance
+from that of his wife; when he withdrew the cords, and the act was
+performed.
+
+"There's an end of Floating Tom!" exclaimed Hurry, bending over
+the scow, and gazing through the water at the body. "He was a brave
+companion on a scout, and a notable hand with traps. Don't weep, Judith,
+don't be overcome, Hetty, for the righteousest of us all must die; and
+when the time comes, lamentations and tears can't bring the dead to
+life. Your father will be a loss to you, no doubt; most fathers are a
+loss, especially to onmarried darters; but there's a way to cure that
+evil, and you're both too young and handsome to live long without
+finding it out. When it's agreeable to hear what an honest and
+onpretending man has to say, Judith, I should like to talk a little with
+you, apart."
+
+Judith had scarce attended to this rude attempt of Hurry's at
+consolation, although she necessarily understood its general drift, and
+had a tolerably accurate notion of its manner. She was weeping at the
+recollection of her mother's early tenderness, and painful images of
+long forgotten lessons and neglected precepts were crowding her mind.
+The words of Hurry, however, recalled her to the present time, and
+abrupt and unseasonable as was their import, they did not produce
+those signs of distaste that one might have expected from the girl's
+character. On the contrary, she appeared to be struck with some sudden
+idea, gazed intently for a moment at the young man, dried her eyes, and
+led the way to the other end of the scow, signifying her wish for him to
+follow. Here she took a seat and motioned for March to place himself at
+her side. The decision and earnestness with which all this was done a
+little intimidated her companion, and Judith found it necessary to open
+the subject herself.
+
+"You wish to speak to me of marriage, Harry March," she said, "and
+I have come here, over the grave of my parents, as it might
+be--no--no--over the grave of my poor, dear, dear, mother, to hear what
+you have to say."
+
+"This is oncommon, and you have a skearful way with you this evening,
+Judith," answered Hurry, more disturbed than he would have cared to own,
+"but truth is truth, and it shall come out, let what will follow. You
+well know, gal, that I've long thought you the comeliest young woman my
+eyes ever beheld, and that I've made no secret of that fact, either here
+on the lake, out among the hunters and trappers, or in the settlements."
+
+"Yes--yes, I've heard this before, and I suppose it to be true,"
+answered Judith with a sort of feverish impatience.
+
+"When a young man holds such language of any particular young woman,
+it's reasonable to calculate he sets store by her."
+
+"True--true, Hurry--all this you've told me, again and again."
+
+"Well, if it's agreeable, I should think a woman coul'n't hear it too
+often. They all tell me this is the way with your sex, that nothing
+pleases them more than to repeat over and over, for the hundredth time,
+how much you like 'em, unless it be to talk to 'em of their good looks!"
+
+"No doubt--we like both, on most occasions, but this is an uncommon
+moment, Hurry, and vain words should not be too freely used. I would
+rather hear you speak plainly."
+
+"You shall have your own way, Judith, and I some suspect you always
+will. I've often told you that I not only like you better than any other
+young woman going, or, for that matter, better than all the young women
+going, but you must have obsarved, Judith, that I've never asked you, in
+up and down tarms, to marry me."
+
+"I have observed both," returned the girl, a smile struggling about
+her beautiful mouth, in spite of the singular and engrossing intentness
+which caused her cheeks to flush and lighted her eyes with a brilliancy
+that was almost dazzling--"I have observed both, and have thought the
+last remarkable for a man of Harry March's decision and fearlessness."
+
+"There's been a reason, gal, and it's one that troubles me even now--nay,
+don't flush up so, and look fiery like, for there are thoughts which
+will stick long in any man's mind, as there be words that will stick in
+his throat--but, then ag'in, there's feelin's that will get the better
+of 'em all, and to these feelin's I find I must submit. You've no longer
+a father, or a mother, Judith, and it's morally unpossible that you and
+Hetty could live here, alone, allowing it was peace and the Iroquois was
+quiet; but, as matters stand, not only would you starve, but you'd both
+be prisoners, or scalped, afore a week was out. It's time to think of a
+change and a husband, and, if you'll accept of me, all that's past shall
+be forgotten, and there's an end on't."
+
+Judith had difficulty in repressing her impatience until this rude
+declaration and offer were made, which she evidently wished to hear,
+and which she now listened to with a willingness that might well have
+excited hope. She hardly allowed the young man to conclude, so eager was
+she to bring him to the point, and so ready to answer.
+
+"There--Hurry--that's enough," she said, raising a hand as if to stop
+him--"I understand you as well as if you were to talk a month. You
+prefer me to other girls, and you wish me to become your wife."
+
+"You put it in better words than I can do, Judith, and I wish you to
+fancy them said just as you most like to hear 'em."
+
+"They're plain enough, Harry, and 'tis fitting they should be so. This
+is no place to trifle or deceive in. Now, listen to my answer, which
+shall be, in every tittle, as sincere as your offer. There is a reason,
+March, why I should never--
+
+"I suppose I understand you, Judith, but if I'm willing to overlook that
+reason, it's no one's consarn but mine--Now, don't brighten up like the
+sky at sundown, for no offence is meant, and none should be taken."
+
+"I do not brighten up, and will not take offence," said Judith,
+struggling to repress her indignation, in a way she had never found it
+necessary to exert before. "There is a reason why I should not, cannot,
+ever be your wife, Hurry, that you seem to overlook, and which it is
+my duty now to tell you, as plainly as you have asked me to consent to
+become so. I do not, and I am certain that I never shall, love you well
+enough to marry you. No man can wish for a wife who does not prefer
+him to all other men, and when I tell you this frankly, I suppose you
+yourself will thank me for my sincerity."
+
+"Ah! Judith, them flaunting, gay, scarlet-coated officers of the
+garrisons have done all this mischief!"
+
+"Hush, March; do not calumniate a daughter over her mother's grave! Do
+not, when I only wish to treat you fairly, give me reason to call for
+evil on your head in bitterness of heart! Do not forget that I am a
+woman, and that you are a man; and that I have neither father, nor
+brother, to revenge your words!"
+
+"Well, there is something in the last, and I'll say no more. Take time,
+Judith, and think better on this."
+
+"I want no time--my mind has long been made up, and I have only waited
+for you to speak plainly, to answer plainly. We now understand each
+other, and there is no use in saying any more."
+
+The impetuous earnestness of the girl awed the young man, for never
+before had he seen her so serious and determined. In most, of their
+previous interviews she had met his advances with evasion or sarcasm,
+but these Hurry had mistaken for female coquetry, and had supposed might
+easily be converted into consent. The struggle had been with himself,
+about offering, nor had he ever seriously believed it possible that
+Judith would refuse to become the wife of the handsomest man on all that
+frontier. Now that the refusal came, and that in terms so decided as to
+put all cavilling out of the question; if not absolutely dumbfounded,
+he was so much mortified and surprised as to feel no wish to attempt to
+change her resolution.
+
+"The Glimmerglass has now no great call for me," he exclaimed after
+a minute's silence. "Old Tom is gone, the Hurons are as plenty on the
+shore as pigeons in the woods, and altogether it is getting to be an
+onsuitable place."
+
+"Then leave it. You see it is surrounded by dangers, and there is no
+reason why you should risk your life for others. Nor do I know that
+you can be of any service to us. Go, to-night; we'll never accuse you of
+having done any thing forgetful, or unmanly."
+
+"If I do go, 'twill be with a heavy heart on your account, Judith; I
+would rather take you with me."
+
+"That is not to be spoken of any longer, March; but, I will land you in
+one of the canoes, as soon as it is dark and you can strike a trail for
+the nearest garrison. When you reach the fort, if you send a party--"
+
+Judith smothered the words, for she felt that it was humiliating to be
+thus exposing herself to the comments and reflections of one who was not
+disposed to view her conduct in connection with all in those garrisons,
+with an eye of favor. Hurry, however, caught the idea, and without
+perverting it, as the girl dreaded, he answered to the purpose.
+
+"I understand what you would say, and why you don't say it." he replied.
+"If I get safe to the fort, a party shall start on the trail of these
+vagabonds, and I'll come with it, myself, for I should like to see you
+and Hetty in a place of safety, before we part forever."
+
+"Ah, Harry March, had you always spoken thus, felt thus, my feelings
+towards you might have been different!"
+
+"Is it too late, now, Judith? I'm rough and a woodsman, but we all
+change under different treatment from what we have been used to."
+
+"It is too late, March. I can never feel towards you, or any other man
+but one, as you would wish to have me. There, I've said enough, surely,
+and you will question me no further. As soon as it is dark, I or the
+Delaware will put you on the shore. You will make the best of your way
+to the Mohawk, and the nearest garrison, and send all you can to our
+assistance. And, Hurry, we are now friends, and I may trust in you, may
+I not?"
+
+"Sartain, Judith; though our fri'ndship would have been all the warmer,
+could you look upon me as I look upon you."
+
+Judith hesitated, and some powerful emotion was struggling within her.
+Then, as if determined to look down all weaknesses, and accomplish her
+purposes at every hazard, she spoke more plainly.
+
+"You will find a captain of the name of Warley at the nearest post," she
+said, pale as death, and even trembling as she spoke; "I think it likely
+he will wish to head the party, but I would greatly prefer it should
+be another. If Captain Warley can be kept back, 't would make me very
+happy!"
+
+"That's easier said than done, Judith, for these officers do pretty much
+as they please. The Major will order, and captains, and lieutenants, and
+ensigns must obey. I know the officer you mean, a red faced, gay, oh!
+be joyful sort of a gentleman, who swallows madeira enough to drown the
+Mohawk, and yet a pleasant talker. All the gals in the valley admire
+him, and they say he admires all the gals. I don't wonder he is your
+dislike, Judith, for he's a very gin'ral lover, if he isn't a gin'ral
+officer."
+
+Judith did not answer, though her frame shook, and her colour changed
+from pale to crimson, and from crimson back again to the hue of death.
+
+"Alas! my poor mother!" she ejaculated mentally instead of uttering it
+aloud, "We are over thy grave, but little dost thou know how much thy
+lessons have been forgotten; thy care neglected; thy love defeated!"
+
+As this goading of the worm that never dies was felt, she arose and
+signified to Hurry, that she had no more to communicate.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII.
+
+
+    "That point in misery, which makes the oppressed man regardless
+     of his own life, makes him too Lord of the oppressor's."
+
+    Coleridge, Remorse, V.i.201-04.
+
+All this time Hetty had remained seated in the head of the scow, looking
+sorrowfully into the water which held the body of her mother, as well
+as that of the man whom she had been taught to consider her father.
+Hist stood near her in gentle quiet, but had no consolation to offer in
+words. The habits of her people taught her reserve in this respect, and
+the habits of her sex induced her to wait patiently for a moment when
+she might manifest some soothing sympathy by means of acts, rather than
+of speech. Chingachgook held himself a little aloof, in grave reserve,
+looking like a warrior, but feeling like a man.
+
+Judith joined her sister with an air of dignity and solemnity it was not
+her practice to show, and, though the gleamings of anguish were still
+visible on her beautiful face, when she spoke it was firmly and without
+tremor. At that instant Hist and the Delaware withdrew, moving towards
+Hurry, in the other end of the boat.
+
+"Sister," said Judith kindly, "I have much to say to you; we will get
+into this canoe, and paddle off to a distance from the Ark--The secrets
+of two orphans ought not to be heard by every ear."
+
+"Certainly, Judith, by the ears of their parents? Let Hurry lift the
+grapnel and move away with the Ark, and leave us here, near the graves
+of father and mother, to say what we may have to say."
+
+"Father!" repeated Judith slowly, the blood for the first time since her
+parting with March mounting to her cheeks--"He was no father of ours,
+Hetty! That we had from his own mouth, and in his dying moments."
+
+"Are you glad, Judith, to find you had no father! He took care of us,
+and fed us, and clothed us, and loved us; a father could have done no
+more. I don't understand why he wasn't a father."
+
+"Never mind, dear child, but let us do as you have said. It may be well
+to remain here, and let the Ark move a little away. Do you prepare the
+canoe, and I will tell Hurry and the Indians our wishes."
+
+This was soon and simply done, the Ark moving with measured strokes of
+the sweeps a hundred yards from the spot, leaving the girls floating,
+seemingly in air, above the place of the dead; so buoyant was the
+light vessel that held them, and so limpid the element by which it was
+sustained.
+
+"The death of Thomas Hutter," Judith commenced, after a short pause had
+prepared her sister to receive her communications, "has altered all our
+prospects, Hetty. If he was not our father, we are sisters, and must
+feel alike and live together."
+
+"How do I know, Judith, that you wouldn't be as glad to find I am not
+your sister, as you are in finding that Thomas Hutter, as you call him,
+was not your father. I am only half witted, and few people like to
+have half witted relations; and then I'm not handsome--at least, not as
+handsome as you--and you may wish a handsomer sister."
+
+"No, no Hetty. You and you only are my sister--my heart, and my love for
+you tell me that--and mother was my mother--of that too am I glad, and
+proud; for she was a mother to be proud of--but father was not father!"
+
+"Hush, Judith! His spirit may be near; it would grieve it to hear his
+children talking so, and that, too, over his very grave. Children should
+never grieve parents, mother often told me, and especially when they are
+dead!"
+
+"Poor Hetty! They are happily removed beyond all cares on our account.
+Nothing that I can do or say will cause mother any sorrow now--there is
+some consolation in that, at least! And nothing you can say or do will
+make her smile, as she used to smile on your good conduct when living."
+
+"You don't know that, Judith. Spirits can see, and mother may see as
+well as any spirit. She always told us that God saw all we did, and that
+we should do nothing to offend him; and now she has left us, I strive to
+do nothing that can displease her. Think how her spirit would mourn and
+feel sorrow, Judith, did it see either of us doing what is not right;
+and spirits may see, after all; especially the spirits of parents that
+feel anxious about their children."
+
+"Hetty--Hetty--you know not what you say!" murmured Judith, almost livid
+with emotion--"The dead cannot see, and know nothing of what passes
+here! But, we will not talk of this any longer. The bodies of Mother
+and Thomas Hutter lie together in the lake, and we will hope that the
+spirits of both are with God. That we, the children of one of them,
+remain on earth is certain; it is now proper to know what we are to do
+in future."
+
+"If we are not Thomas Hutter's children, Judith, no one will dispute our
+right to his property. We have the castle and the Ark, and the canoes,
+and the woods, and the lakes, the same as when he was living, and what
+can prevent us from staying here, and passing our lives just as we ever
+have done?"
+
+"No, no poor sister--this can no longer be. Two girls would not be safe
+here, even should these Hurons fail in getting us into their power.
+Even father had as much as he could sometimes do, to keep peace upon the
+lake, and we should fail altogether. We must quit this spot, Hetty, and
+remove into the settlements."
+
+"I am sorry you think so, Judith," returned Hetty, dropping her head on
+her bosom, and looking thoughtfully down at the spot where the funeral
+pile of her mother could just be seen. "I am very sorry to hear it. I
+would rather stay here, where, if I wasn't born, I've passed my life.
+I don't like the settlements--they are full of wickedness and heart
+burnings, while God dwells unoffended in these hills! I love the trees,
+and the mountains, and the lake, and the springs; all that his bounty
+has given us, and it would grieve me sorely, Judith, to be forced to
+quit them. You are handsome, and not at all half-witted, and one day you
+will marry, and then you will have a husband, and I a brother to take
+care of us, if women can't really take care of themselves in such a
+place as this."
+
+"Ah! if this could be so, Hetty, then, indeed, I could now be a thousand
+times happier in these woods, than in the settlements. Once I did not
+feel thus, but now I do. Yet where is the man to turn this beautiful
+place into such a garden of Eden for us?"
+
+"Harry March loves you, sister," returned poor Hetty, unconsciously
+picking the bark off the canoe as she spoke. "He would be glad to be
+your husband, I'm sure, and a stouter and a braver youth is not to be
+met with the whole country round."
+
+"Harry March and I understand each other, and no more need be said about
+him. There is one--but no matter. It is all in the hands of providence,
+and we must shortly come to some conclusion about our future manner of
+living. Remain here--that is, remain here, alone, we cannot--and perhaps
+no occasion will ever offer for remaining in the manner you think of. It
+is time, too, Hetty, we should learn all we can concerning our relations
+and family. It is not probable we are altogether without relations, and
+they may be glad to see us. The old chest is now our property, and we
+have a right to look into it, and learn all we can by what it holds.
+Mother was so very different from Thomas Hutter, that, now I know we are
+not his children, I burn with a desire to know whose children we can be.
+There are papers in that chest, I am certain, and those papers may tell
+us all about our parents and natural friends."
+
+"Well, Judith, you know best, for you are cleverer than common, mother
+always said, and I am only half-witted. Now father and mother are dead,
+I don't much care for any relation but you, and don't think I could love
+them I never saw, as well as I ought. If you don't like to marry Hurry,
+I don't see who you can choose for a husband, and then I fear we shall
+have to quit the lake, after all."
+
+"What do you think of Deerslayer, Hetty?" asked Judith, bending
+forward like her unsophisticated sister, and endeavoring to conceal her
+embarrassment in a similar manner. "Would he not make a brother-in-law
+to your liking?"
+
+"Deerslayer!" repeated the other, looking up in unfeigned surprise.
+"Why, Judith, Deerslayer isn't in the least comely, and is altogether
+unfit for one like you!"
+
+"He is not ill-looking, Hetty, and beauty in a man is not of much
+matter."
+
+"Do you think so, Judith? I know that beauty is of no great matter, in
+man or woman, in the eyes of God, for mother has often told me so, when
+she thought I might have been sorry I was not as handsome as you, though
+she needn't have been uneasy on that account, for I never coveted any
+thing that is yours, sister--but, tell me so she did--still, beauty is
+very pleasant to the eye, in both! I think, if I were a man, I should
+pine more for good looks than I do as a girl. A handsome man is a more
+pleasing sight than a handsome woman."
+
+"Poor child! You scarce know what you say, or what you mean! Beauty in
+our sex is something, but in men, it passes for little. To be sure,
+a man ought to be tall, but others are tall, as well as Hurry; and
+active--and I think I know those that are more active--and strong; well,
+he hasn't all the strength in the world--and brave--I am certain I can
+name a youth who is braver!"
+
+"This is strange, Judith!--I didn't think the earth held a handsomer, or
+a stronger, or a more active or a braver man than Hurry Harry! I'm sure
+I never met his equal in either of these things."
+
+"Well, well, Hetty--say no more of this. I dislike to hear you talking
+in this manner. 'Tis not suitable to your innocence, and truth, and
+warm-hearted sincerity. Let Harry March go. He quits us to-night, and no
+regret of mine will follow him, unless it be that he has staid so long,
+and to so little purpose."
+
+"Ah! Judith; that is what I've long feared--and I did so hope he might
+be my brother-in-law!"
+
+"Never mind it now. Let us talk of our poor mother--and of Thomas
+Hutter."
+
+"Speak kindly then, sister, for you can't be quite certain that spirits
+don't both hear and see. If father wasn't father, he was good to us,
+and gave us food and shelter. We can't put any stones over their graves,
+here in the water, to tell people all this, and so we ought to say it
+with our tongues."
+
+"They will care little for that, girl. 'Tis a great consolation to know,
+Hetty, that if mother ever did commit any heavy fault when young, she
+lived sincerely to repent of it; no doubt her sins were forgiven her."
+
+"Tisn't right, Judith, for children to talk of their parents' sins. We
+had better talk of our own."
+
+"Talk of your sins, Hetty!--If there ever was a creature on earth
+without sin, it is you! I wish I could say, or think the same of myself;
+but we shall see. No one knows what changes affection for a good husband
+can make in a woman's heart. I don't think, child, I have even now the
+same love for finery I once had."
+
+"It would be a pity, Judith, if you did think of clothes, over your
+parents' graves! We will never quit this spot, if you say so, and will
+let Hurry go where he pleases."
+
+"I am willing enough to consent to the last, but cannot answer for the
+first, Hetty. We must live, in future, as becomes respectable young
+women, and cannot remain here, to be the talk and jest of all the rude
+and foul tongu'd trappers and hunters that may come upon the lake. Let
+Hurry go by himself, and then I'll find the means to see Deerslayer,
+when the future shall be soon settled. Come, girl, the sun has set,
+and the Ark is drifting away from us; let us paddle up to the scow, and
+consult with our friends. This night I shall look into the chest, and
+to-morrow shall determine what we are to do. As for the Hurons, now we
+can use our stores without fear of Thomas Hutter, they will be easily
+bought off. Let me get Deerslayer once out of their hands, and a single
+hour shall bring things to an understanding."
+
+Judith spoke with decision, and she spoke with authority, a habit she
+had long practised towards her feeble-minded sister. But, while thus
+accustomed to have her way, by the aid of manner and a readier command
+of words, Hetty occasionally checked her impetuous feelings and hasty
+acts by the aid of those simple moral truths that were so deeply
+engrafted in all her own thoughts and feelings; shining through both
+with a mild and beautiful lustre that threw a sort of holy halo around
+so much of what she both said and did. On the present occasion, this
+healthful ascendancy of the girl of weak intellect, over her of a
+capacity that, in other situations, might have become brilliant and
+admired, was exhibited in the usual simple and earnest manner.
+
+"You forget, Judith, what has brought us here," she said reproachfully.
+"This is mother's grave, and we have just laid the body of father by her
+side. We have done wrong to talk so much of ourselves at such a spot,
+and ought now to pray God to forgive us, and ask him to teach us where
+we are to go, and what we are to do."
+
+Judith involuntarily laid aside her paddle, while Hetty dropped on her
+knees, and was soon lost in her devout but simple petitions. Her sister
+did not pray. This she had long ceased to do directly, though anguish of
+spirit frequently wrung from her mental and hasty appeals to the great
+source of benevolence, for support, if not for a change of spirit.
+Still she never beheld Hetty on her knees, that a feeling of tender
+recollection, as well as of profound regret at the deadness of her own
+heart, did not come over her. Thus had she herself done in childhood,
+and even down to the hour of her ill fated visits to the garrisons, and
+she would willingly have given worlds, at such moments, to be able to
+exchange her present sensations for the confiding faith, those pure
+aspirations, and the gentle hope that shone through every lineament
+and movement of her otherwise, less favored sister. All she could do,
+however, was to drop her head to her bosom, and assume in her attitude
+some of that devotion in which her stubborn spirit refused to unite.
+When Hetty rose from her knees, her countenance had a glow and serenity
+that rendered a face that was always agreeable, positively handsome.
+Her mind was at peace, and her conscience acquitted her of a neglect of
+duty.
+
+"Now, you may go if you want to, Judith," she said, "for God has been
+kind to me, and lifted a burden off my heart. Mother had many such
+burdens, she used to tell me, and she always took them off in this
+way. 'Tis the only way, sister, such things can be done. You may raise
+a stone, or a log, with your hands; but the heart must be lightened by
+prayer. I don't think you pray as often as you used to do, when younger,
+Judith!"
+
+"Never mind--never mind, child," answered the other huskily, "'tis no
+matter, now. Mother is gone, and Thomas Hutter is gone, and the time has
+come when we must think and act for ourselves."
+
+As the canoe moved slowly away from the place, under the gentle
+impulsion of the elder sister's paddle, the younger sat musing, as was
+her wont whenever her mind was perplexed by any idea more abstract and
+difficult of comprehension than common.
+
+"I don't know what you mean by 'future', Judith," she at length,
+suddenly observed. "Mother used to call Heaven the future, but you seem
+to think it means next week, or to-morrow!"
+
+"It means both, dear sister--every thing that is yet to come, whether in
+this world or another. It is a solemn word, Hetty, and most so, I fear,
+to them that think the least about it. Mother's future is eternity; ours
+may yet mean what will happen while we live in this world--Is not that a
+canoe just passing behind the castle--here, more in the direction of
+the point, I mean; it is hid, now; but certainly I saw a canoe stealing
+behind the logs!"
+
+"I've seen it some time," Hetty quietly answered, for the Indians had
+few terrors for her, "but I didn't think it right to talk about such
+things over mother's grave! The canoe came from the camp, Judith,
+and was paddled by a single man. He seemed to be Deerslayer, and no
+Iroquois."
+
+"Deerslayer!" returned the other, with much of her native
+impetuosity--"That cannot be! Deerslayer is a prisoner, and I have
+been thinking of the means of setting him free. Why did you fancy it
+Deerslayer, child?"
+
+"You can look for yourself, sister, for there comes the canoe in sight,
+again, on this side of the hut."
+
+Sure enough, the light boat had passed the building, and was now
+steadily advancing towards the Ark; the persons on board of which were
+already collecting in the head of the scow to receive their visitor. A
+single glance sufficed to assure Judith that her sister was right, and
+that Deerslayer was alone in the canoe. His approach was so calm and
+leisurely, however, as to fill her with wonder, since a man who had
+effected his escape from enemies by either artifice or violence, would
+not be apt to move with the steadiness and deliberation with which his
+paddle swept the water. By this time the day was fairly departing, and
+objects were already seen dimly under the shores. In the broad lake,
+however, the light still lingered, and around the immediate scene of the
+present incidents, which was less shaded than most of the sheet, being
+in its broadest part, it cast a glow that bore some faint resemblance to
+the warm tints of an Italian or Grecian sunset. The logs of the hut and
+Ark had a sort of purple hue, blended with the growing obscurity, and
+the bark of the hunter's boat was losing its distinctness in colours
+richer, but more mellowed, than those it showed under a bright sun.
+As the two canoes approached each other--for Judith and her sister had
+plied their paddles so as to intercept the unexpected visiter ere
+he reached the Ark--even Deerslayer's sun-burned countenance wore a
+brighter aspect than common, under the pleasing tints that seemed to
+dance in the atmosphere. Judith fancied that delight at meeting her had
+some share in this unusual and agreeable expression. She was not aware
+that her own beauty appeared to more advantage than common, from the
+same natural cause, nor did she understand what it would have given her
+so much pleasure to know, that the young man actually thought her, as
+she drew nearer, the loveliest creature of her sex his eyes had ever
+dwelt on.
+
+"Welcome--welcome, Deerslayer!" exclaimed the girl, as the canoes
+floated at each other's side; "we have had a melancholy--a frightful
+day--but your return is, at least, one misfortune the less! Have the
+Hurons become more human, and let you go; or have you escaped from the
+wretches, by your own courage and skill?"
+
+"Neither, Judith--neither one nor t'other. The Mingos are Mingos still,
+and will live and die Mingos; it is not likely their natur's will ever
+undergo much improvement. Well! They've their gifts, and we've our'n,
+Judith, and it doesn't much become either to speak ill of what the Lord
+has created; though, if the truth must be said, I find it a sore trial
+to think kindly or to talk kindly of them vagabonds. As for outwitting
+them, that might have been done, and it was done, too, atween the
+Sarpent, yonder, and me, when we were on the trail of Hist--" here the
+hunter stopped to laugh in his own silent fashion--"but it's no easy
+matter to sarcumvent the sarcumvented. Even the fa'ans get to know the
+tricks of the hunters afore a single season is over, and an Indian whose
+eyes have once been opened by a sarcumvention never shuts them ag'in
+in precisely the same spot. I've known whites to do that, but never a
+red-skin. What they l'arn comes by practice, and not by books, and
+of all schoolmasters exper'ence gives lessons that are the longest
+remembered."
+
+"All this is true, Deerslayer, but if you have not escaped from the
+savages, how came you here?"
+
+"That's a nat'ral question, and charmingly put. You are wonderful
+handsome this evening, Judith, or Wild Rose, as the Sarpent calls you,
+and I may as well say it, since I honestly think it! You may well call
+them Mingos, savages too, for savage enough do they feel, and savage
+enough will they act, if you once give them an opportunity. They feel
+their loss here, in the late skrimmage, to their hearts' cores, and are
+ready to revenge it on any creatur' of English blood that may fall in
+their way. Nor, for that matter do I much think they would stand at
+taking their satisfaction out of a Dutch man."
+
+"They have killed father; that ought to satisfy their wicked cravings
+for blood," observed Hetty reproachfully.
+
+"I know it, gal--I know the whole story--partly from what I've seen
+from the shore, since they brought me up from the point, and partly from
+their threats ag'in myself, and their other discourse. Well, life is
+unsartain at the best, and we all depend on the breath of our nostrils
+for it, from day to day. If you've lost a staunch fri'nd, as I make
+no doubt you have, Providence will raise up new ones in his stead, and
+since our acquaintance has begun in this oncommon manner, I shall take
+it as a hint that it will be a part of my duty in futur', should the
+occasion offer, to see you don't suffer for want of food in the wigwam.
+I can't bring the dead to life, but as to feeding the living, there's
+few on all this frontier can outdo me, though I say it in the way
+of pity and consolation, like, and in no particular, in the way of
+boasting."
+
+"We understand you, Deerslayer," returned Judith, hastily, "and take all
+that falls from your lips, as it is meant, in kindness and friendship.
+Would to Heaven all men had tongues as true, and hearts as honest!"
+
+"In that respect men do differ, of a sartainty, Judith. I've known them
+that wasn't to be trusted any farther than you can see them; and others
+ag'in whose messages, sent with a small piece of wampum, perhaps, might
+just as much be depended on, as if the whole business was finished afore
+your face. Yes, Judith, you never said truer word, than when you said
+some men might be depended on, and other some might not."
+
+"You are an unaccountable being, Deerslayer," returned the girl, not a
+little puzzled with the childish simplicity of character that the hunter
+so often betrayed--a simplicity so striking that it frequently appeared
+to place him nearly on a level with the fatuity of poor Hetty, though
+always relieved by the beautiful moral truth that shone through all that
+this unfortunate girl both said and did--"You are a most unaccountable
+man, and I often do not know how to understand you. But never mind, just
+now; you have forgotten to tell us by what means you are here."
+
+"I!--Oh! That's not very onaccountable, if I am myself, Judith. I'm out
+on furlough."
+
+"Furlough!--That word has a meaning among the soldiers that I
+understand; but I cannot tell what it signifies when used by a
+prisoner."
+
+"It means just the same. You're right enough; the soldiers do use it,
+and just in the same way as I use it. A furlough is when a man has leave
+to quit a camp or a garrison for a sartain specified time; at the end
+of which he is to come back and shoulder his musket, or submit to his
+torments, just as he may happen to be a soldier, or a captyve. Being the
+last, I must take the chances of a prisoner."
+
+"Have the Hurons suffered you to quit them in this manner, without watch
+or guard."
+
+"Sartain--I woul'n't have come in any other manner, unless indeed it had
+been by a bold rising, or a sarcumvention."
+
+"What pledge have they that you will ever return?"
+
+"My word," answered the hunter simply. "Yes, I own I gave 'em that, and
+big fools would they have been to let me come without it! Why in
+that case, I shouldn't have been obliged to go back and ondergo any
+deviltries their fury may invent, but might have shouldered my rifle,
+and made the best of my way to the Delaware villages. But, Lord! Judith,
+they know'd this, just as well as you and I do, and would no more let me
+come away, without a promise to go back, than they would let the wolves
+dig up the bones of their fathers!"
+
+"Is it possible you mean to do this act of extraordinary
+self-destruction and recklessness?"
+
+"Anan!"
+
+"I ask if it can be possible that you expect to be able to put yourself
+again in the power of such ruthless enemies, by keeping your word."
+
+Deerslayer looked at his fair questioner for a moment with stern
+displeasure. Then the expression of his honest and guileless face
+suddenly changed, lighting as by a quick illumination of thought, after
+which he laughed in his ordinary manner.
+
+"I didn't understand you, at first, Judith; no, I didn't! You believe
+that Chingachgook and Hurry Harry won't suffer it; but you don't know
+mankind thoroughly yet, I see. The Delaware would be the last man on
+'arth to offer any objections to what he knows is a duty, and, as for
+March, he doesn't care enough about any creatur' but himself to
+spend many words on such a subject. If he did, 'twould make no great
+difference howsever; but not he, for he thinks more of his gains than
+of even his own word. As for my promises, or your'n, Judith, or any
+body else's, they give him no consarn. Don't be under any oneasiness,
+therefore, gal; I shall be allowed to go back according to the furlough;
+and if difficulties was made, I've not been brought up, and edicated as
+one may say, in the woods, without knowing how to look 'em down."
+
+Judith made no answer for some little time. All her feelings as a woman,
+and as a woman who, for the first time in her life was beginning to
+submit to that sentiment which has so much influence on the happiness
+or misery of her sex, revolted at the cruel fate that she fancied
+Deerslayer was drawing down upon himself, while the sense of right,
+which God has implanted in every human breast, told her to admire an
+integrity as indomitable and as unpretending as that which the other so
+unconsciously displayed. Argument, she felt, would be useless, nor was
+she at that moment disposed to lessen the dignity and high principle
+that were so striking in the intentions of the hunter, by any attempt to
+turn him from his purpose. That something might yet occur to supersede
+the necessity for this self immolation she tried to hope, and then she
+proceeded to ascertain the facts in order that her own conduct might be
+regulated by her knowledge of circumstances.
+
+"When is your furlough out, Deerslayer," she asked, after both canoes
+were heading towards the Ark, and moving, with scarcely a perceptible
+effort of the paddles, through the water.
+
+"To-morrow noon; not a minute afore; and you may depend on it, Judith,
+I shan't quit what I call Christian company, to go and give myself up
+to them vagabonds, an instant sooner than is downright necessary. They
+begin to fear a visit from the garrisons, and wouldn't lengthen the time
+a moment, and it's pretty well understood atween us that, should I fail
+in my ar'n'd, the torments are to take place when the sun begins to
+fall, that they may strike upon their home trail as soon as it is dark."
+
+This was said solemnly, as if the thought of what was believed to be
+in reserve duly weighed on the prisoner's mind, and yet so simply, and
+without a parade of suffering, as rather to repel than to invite any
+open manifestations of sympathy.
+
+"Are they bent on revenging their losses?" Judith asked faintly, her own
+high spirit yielding to the influence of the other's quiet but dignified
+integrity of purpose.
+
+"Downright, if I can judge of Indian inclinations by the symptoms. They
+think howsever I don't suspect their designs, I do believe, but one that
+has lived so long among men of red-skin gifts, is no more likely to be
+misled in Injin feelin's, than a true hunter is like to lose his trail,
+or a stanch hound his scent. My own judgment is greatly ag'in my own
+escape, for I see the women are a good deal enraged on behalf of Hist,
+though I say it, perhaps, that shouldn't say it, seein' that I had a
+considerable hand myself in getting the gal off. Then there was a cruel
+murder in their camp last night, and that shot might just as well have
+been fired into my breast. Howsever, come what will, the Sarpent and his
+wife will be safe, and that is some happiness in any case."
+
+"Oh! Deerslayer, they will think better of this, since they have given
+you until to-morrow noon to make up your mind!"
+
+"I judge not, Judith; yes, I judge not. An Injin is an Injin, gal, and
+it's pretty much hopeless to think of swarving him, when he's got the
+scent and follows it with his nose in the air. The Delawares, now, are a
+half Christianized tribe--not that I think such sort of Christians much
+better than your whole blooded onbelievers--but, nevertheless, what good
+half Christianizing can do to a man, some among 'em have got, and yet
+revenge clings to their hearts like the wild creepers here to the tree!
+Then, I slew one of the best and boldest of their warriors, they say,
+and it is too much to expect that they should captivate the man who did
+this deed, in the very same scouting on which it was performed, and
+they take no account of the matter. Had a month, or so, gone by, their
+feelin's would have been softened down, and we might have met in a more
+friendly way, but it is as it is. Judith, this is talking of nothing but
+myself, and my own consarns, when you have had trouble enough, and may
+want to consult a fri'nd a little about your own matters. Is the old man
+laid in the water, where I should think his body would like to rest?"
+
+"It is, Deerslayer," answered Judith, almost inaudibly. "That duty has
+just been performed. You are right in thinking that I wish to consult a
+friend; and that friend is yourself. Hurry Harry is about to leave us;
+when he is gone, and we have got a little over the feelings of this
+solemn office, I hope you will give me an hour alone. Hetty and I are at
+a loss what to do."
+
+"That's quite nat'ral, coming as things have, suddenly and fearfully.
+But here's the Ark, and we'll say more of this when there is a better
+opportunity."
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII.
+
+
+    "The winde is great upon the highest hilles;
+    The quiet life is in the dale below;
+    Who tread on ice shall slide against their willes;
+    They want not cares, that curious arts should know.
+    Who lives at ease and can content him so,
+    Is perfect wise, and sets us all to schoole:
+    Who hates this lore may well be called a foole."
+
+    Thomas Churchyard, "Shore's Wife," xlvii.
+
+The meeting between Deerslayer and his friends in the Ark was grave and
+anxious. The two Indians, in particular, read in his manner that he was
+not a successful fugitive, and a few sententious words sufficed to
+let them comprehend the nature of what their friend had termed his
+'furlough.' Chingachgook immediately became thoughtful, while Hist,
+as usual, had no better mode of expressing her sympathy than by those
+little attentions which mark the affectionate manner of woman.
+
+In a few minutes, however, something like a general plan for the
+proceedings of the night was adopted, and to the eye of an uninstructed
+observer things would be thought to move in their ordinary train. It was
+now getting to be dark, and it was decided to sweep the Ark up to the
+castle, and secure it in its ordinary berth. This decision was come to,
+in some measure on account of the fact that all the canoes were again
+in the possession of their proper owners, but principally, from the
+security that was created by the representations of Deerslayer. He had
+examined the state of things among the Hurons, and felt satisfied that
+they meditated no further hostilities during the night, the loss they
+had met having indisposed them to further exertions for the moment.
+Then, he had a proposition to make; the object of his visit; and, if
+this were accepted, the war would at once terminate between the parties;
+and it was improbable that the Hurons would anticipate the failure of a
+project on which their chiefs had apparently set their hearts, by having
+recourse to violence previously to the return of their messenger. As
+soon as the Ark was properly secured, the different members of the party
+occupied themselves in their several peculiar manners, haste in council,
+or in decision, no more characterizing the proceedings of these border
+whites, than it did those of their red neighbors. The women busied
+themselves in preparations for the evening meal, sad and silent, but
+ever attentive to the first wants of nature. Hurry set about repairing
+his moccasins, by the light of a blazing knot; Chingachgook seated
+himself in gloomy thought, while Deerslayer proceeded, in a manner
+equally free from affectation and concern, to examine 'Killdeer', the
+rifle of Hutter that has been already mentioned, and which subsequently
+became so celebrated, in the hands of the individual who was now making
+a survey of its merits. The piece was a little longer than usual, and
+had evidently been turned out from the work shops of some manufacturer
+of a superior order. It had a few silver ornaments, though, on the
+whole, it would have been deemed a plain piece by most frontier men, its
+great merit consisting in the accuracy of its bore, the perfection of
+the details, and the excellence of the metal. Again and again did the
+hunter apply the breech to his shoulder, and glance his eye along the
+sights, and as often did he poise his body and raise the weapon slowly,
+as if about to catch an aim at a deer, in order to try the weight, and
+to ascertain its fitness for quick and accurate firing. All this was
+done, by the aid of Hurry's torch, simply, but with an earnestness and
+abstraction that would have been found touching by any spectator who
+happened to know the real situation of the man.
+
+"'Tis a glorious we'pon, Hurry!" Deerslayer at length exclaimed, "and it
+may be thought a pity that it has fallen into the hands of women. The
+hunters have told me of its expl'ites, and by all I have heard, I should
+set it down as sartain death in exper'enced hands. Hearken to the tick
+of this lock--a wolf trap has'n't a livelier spring; pan and cock speak
+together, like two singing masters undertaking a psalm in meetin'. I
+never did see so true a bore, Hurry, that's sartain!"
+
+"Ay, Old Tom used to give the piece a character, though he wasn't the
+man to particularize the ra'al natur' of any sort of fire arms, in
+practise," returned March, passing the deer's thongs through the
+moccasin with the coolness of a cobbler. "He was no marksman, that we
+must all allow; but he had his good p'ints, as well as his bad ones. I
+have had hopes that Judith might consait the idee of giving Killdeer to
+me."
+
+"There's no saying what young women may do, that's a truth, Hurry, and I
+suppose you're as likely to own the rifle as another. Still, when things
+are so very near perfection, it's a pity not to reach it entirely."
+
+"What do you mean by that?--Would not that piece look as well on my
+shoulder, as on any man's?"
+
+"As for looks, I say nothing. You are both good-looking, and might
+make what is called a good-looking couple. But the true p'int is as to
+conduct. More deer would fall in one day, by that piece, in some man's
+hands, than would fall in a week in your'n, Hurry! I've seen you try;
+yes, remember the buck t'other day."
+
+"That buck was out of season, and who wishes to kill venison out of
+season. I was merely trying to frighten the creatur', and I think you
+will own that he was pretty well skeared, at any rate."
+
+"Well, well, have it as you say. But this is a lordly piece, and would
+make a steady hand and quick eye the King of the Woods!"
+
+"Then keep it, Deerslayer, and become King of the Woods," said Judith,
+earnestly, who had heard the conversation, and whose eye was never long
+averted from the honest countenance of the hunter. "It can never be in
+better hands than it is, at this moment, and there I hope it will remain
+these fifty years.
+
+"Judith you can't be in 'arnest!" exclaimed Deerslayer, taken so much
+by surprise, as to betray more emotion than it was usual for him to
+manifest on ordinary occasions. "Such a gift would be fit for a ra'al
+King to make; yes, and for a ra'al King to receive."
+
+"I never was more in earnest, in my life, Deerslayer, and I am as much
+in earnest in the wish as in the gift."
+
+"Well, gal, well; we'll find time to talk of this ag'in. You mustn't be
+down hearted, Hurry, for Judith is a sprightly young woman, and she has
+a quick reason; she knows that the credit of her father's rifle is
+safer in my hands, than it can possibly be in yourn; and, therefore,
+you mustn't be down hearted. In other matters, more to your liking, too,
+you'll find she'll give you the preference."
+
+Hurry growled out his dissatisfaction, but he was too intent on quitting
+the lake, and in making his preparations, to waste his breath on a
+subject of this nature. Shortly after, the supper was ready, and it was
+eaten in silence as is so much the habit of those who consider the table
+as merely a place of animal refreshment. On this occasion, however,
+sadness and thought contributed their share to the general desire not to
+converse, for Deerslayer was so far an exception to the usages of men of
+his cast, as not only to wish to hold discourse on such occasions, but
+as often to create a similar desire in his companions.
+
+The meal ended, and the humble preparations removed, the whole party
+assembled on the platform to hear the expected intelligence from
+Deerslayer on the subject of his visit. It had been evident he was in
+no haste to make his communication, but the feelings of Judith would no
+longer admit of delay. Stools were brought from the Ark and the hut,
+and the whole six placed themselves in a circle, near the door, watching
+each other's countenances, as best they could, by the scanty means that
+were furnished by a lovely star-light night. Along the shores, beneath
+the mountains, lay the usual body of gloom, but in the broad lake no
+shadow was cast, and a thousand mimic stars were dancing in the limpid
+element, that was just stirred enough by the evening air to set them all
+in motion.
+
+"Now, Deerslayer," commenced Judith, whose impatience resisted further
+restraint--"now, Deerslayer, tell us all the Hurons have to say, and the
+reason why they have sent you on parole, to make us some offer."
+
+"Furlough, Judith; furlough is the word; and it carries the same meaning
+with a captyve at large, as it does with a soldier who has leave to quit
+his colors. In both cases the word is passed to come back, and now
+I remember to have heard that's the ra'al signification; 'furlough'
+meaning a 'word' passed for the doing of any thing of the like. Parole
+I rather think is Dutch, and has something to do with the tattoos of
+the garrisons. But this makes no great difference, since the vartue of a
+pledge lies in the idee, and not in the word. Well, then, if the message
+must be given, it must; and perhaps there is no use in putting it off.
+Hurry will soon be wanting to set out on his journey to the river, and
+the stars rise and set, just as if they cared for neither Injin nor
+message. Ah's! me; 'Tisn't a pleasant, and I know it's a useless ar'n'd,
+but it must be told."
+
+"Harkee, Deerslayer," put in Hurry, a little authoritatively--"You're
+a sensible man in a hunt, and as good a fellow on a march, as a
+sixty-miler-a-day could wish to meet with, but you're oncommon slow
+about messages; especially them that you think won't be likely to be
+well received. When a thing is to be told, why tell it; and don't hang
+back like a Yankee lawyer pretending he can't understand a Dutchman's
+English, just to get a double fee out of him."
+
+"I understand you, Hurry, and well are you named to-night, seeing you've
+no time to lose. But let us come at once to the p'int, seeing that's the
+object of this council--for council it may be called, though women have
+seats among us. The simple fact is this. When the party came back
+from the castle, the Mingos held a council, and bitter thoughts were
+uppermost, as was plain to be seen by their gloomy faces. No one likes
+to be beaten, and a red-skin as little as a pale-face. Well, when they
+had smoked upon it, and made their speeches, and their council fire had
+burnt low, the matter came out. It seems the elders among 'em consaited
+I was a man to be trusted on a furlough--They're wonderful obsarvant,
+them Mingos; that their worst mimics must allow--but they consaited I
+was such a man; and it isn't often--" added the hunter, with a pleasing
+consciousness that his previous life justified this implicit reliance
+on his good faith--"it isn't often they consait any thing so good of a
+pale-face; but so they did with me, and, therefore, they didn't hesitate
+to speak their minds, which is just this: You see the state of things.
+The lake, and all on it, they fancy, lie at their marcy. Thomas Hutter
+is deceased, and, as for Hurry, they've got the idee he has been near
+enough to death to-day, not to wish to take another look at him
+this summer. Therefore, they account all your forces as reduced to
+Chingachgook and the two young women, and, while they know the Delaware
+to be of a high race, and a born warrior, they know he's now on his
+first war path. As for the gals, of course they set them down much as
+they do women in gin'ral."
+
+"You mean that they despise us!" interrupted Judith, with eyes that
+flashed so brightly as to be observed by all present.
+
+"That will be seen in the end. They hold that all on the lake lies
+at their marcy, and, therefore, they send by me this belt of wampum,"
+showing the article in question to the Delaware, as he spoke, "with
+these words. 'Tell the Sarpent, they say, that he has done well for a
+beginner; he may now strike across the mountains for his own villages,
+and no one shall look for his trail. If he has found a scalp, let him
+take it with him, for the Huron braves have hearts, and can feel for a
+young warrior who doesn't wish to go home empty-handed. If he is nimble,
+he is welcome to lead out a party in pursuit. Hist, howsever, must go
+back to the Hurons, for, when she left there in the night, she carried
+away by mistake, that which doesn't belong to her."
+
+"That can't be true!" said Hetty earnestly. "Hist is no such girl, but
+one that gives every body his due--"
+
+How much more she would have said in remonstrance cannot be known,
+inasmuch as Hist, partly laughing and partly hiding her face in shame,
+passed her own hand across the speaker's mouth in a way to check the
+words.
+
+"You don't understand Mingo messages, poor Hetty--" resumed Deerslayer,
+"which seldom mean what lies exactly uppermost. Hist has brought away
+with her the inclinations of a young Huron, and they want her back
+again, that the poor young man may find them where he last saw them! The
+Sarpent they say is too promising a young warrior not to find as many
+wives as he wants, but this one he cannot have. That's their meaning,
+and nothing else, as I understand it."
+
+"They are very obliging and thoughtful, in supposing a young woman can
+forget all her own inclinations in order to let this unhappy youth find
+his!" said Judith, ironically; though her manner became more bitter as
+she proceeded. "I suppose a woman is a woman, let her colour be white,
+or red, and your chiefs know little of a woman's heart, Deerslayer,
+if they think it can ever forgive when wronged, or ever forget when it
+fairly loves."
+
+"I suppose that's pretty much the truth with some women, Judith, though
+I've known them that could do both. The next message is to you. They say
+the Muskrat, as they called your father, has dove to the bottom of the
+lake; that he will never come up again, and that his young will soon
+be in want of wigwams if not of food. The Huron huts, they think, are
+better than the huts of York, and they wish you to come and try them.
+Your colour is white, they own, but they think young women who've lived
+so long in the woods would lose their way in the clearin's. A great
+warrior among them has lately lost his wife, and he would be glad to put
+the Wild Rose on her bench at his fireside. As for the Feeble Mind, she
+will always be honored and taken care of by red warriors. Your father's
+goods they think ought to go to enrich the tribe, but your own property,
+which is to include everything of a female natur', will go like that
+of all wives, into the wigwam of the husband. Moreover, they've lost a
+young maiden by violence, lately, and 'twill take two pale-faces to fill
+her seat."
+
+"And do you bring such a message to me," exclaimed Judith, though the
+tone in which the words were uttered had more in it of sorrow than of
+anger. "Am I a girl to be an Indian's slave?"
+
+"If you wish my honest thoughts on this p'int, Judith, I shall answer
+that I don't think you'll, willingly, ever become any man's slave;
+red-skin or white. You're not to think hard, howsever, of my bringing
+the message, as near as I could, in the very words in which it was given
+to me. Them was the conditions on which I got my furlough, and a bargain
+is a bargain, though it is made with a vagabond. I've told you what
+they've said, but I've not yet told you what I think you ought, one and
+all, to answer."
+
+"Ay; let's hear that, Deerslayer," put in Hurry. "My cur'osity is up on
+that consideration, and I should like, right well, to hear your idees
+of the reasonableness of the reply. For my part, though, my own mind is
+pretty much settled on the p'int of my own answer, which shall be made
+known as soon as necessary."
+
+"And so is mine, Hurry, on all the different heads, and on no one is
+it more sartainly settled that on your'n. If I was you, I should
+say--'Deerslayer, tell them scamps they don't know Harry March! He is
+human; and having a white skin, he has also a white natur', which natur'
+won't let him desart females of his own race and gifts in their greatest
+need. So set me down as one that will refuse to come into your treaty,
+though you should smoke a hogshead of tobacco over it.'"
+
+March was a little embarrassed at this rebuke, which was uttered with
+sufficient warmth of manner, and with a point that left no doubt of the
+meaning. Had Judith encouraged him, he would not have hesitated about
+remaining to defend her and her sister, but under the circumstances a
+feeling of resentment rather urged him to abandon them. At all events,
+there was not a sufficiency of chivalry in Hurry Harry to induce him
+to hazard the safety of his own person unless he could see a direct
+connection between the probable consequences and his own interests.
+It is no wonder, therefore, that his answer partook equally of his
+intention, and of the reliance he so boastingly placed on his gigantic
+strength, which if it did not always make him outrageous, usually made
+him impudent, as respects those with whom he conversed.
+
+"Fair words make long friendships, Master Deerslayer," he said a little
+menacingly. "You're but a stripling, and you know by exper'ence what you
+are in the hands of a man. As you're not me, but only a go between sent
+by the savages to us Christians, you may tell your empl'yers that they
+do know Harry March, which is a proof of their sense as well as his.
+He's human enough to follow human natur', and that tells him to see the
+folly of one man's fighting a whole tribe. If females desart him, they
+must expect to be desarted by him, whether they're of his own gifts or
+another man's gifts. Should Judith see fit to change her mind, she's
+welcome to my company to the river, and Hetty with her; but shouldn't
+she come to this conclusion, I start as soon as I think the enemy's
+scouts are beginning to nestle themselves in among the brush and leaves
+for the night."
+
+"Judith will not change her mind, and she does not ask your company,
+Master March," returned the girl with spirit.
+
+"That p'int's settled, then," resumed Deerslayer, unmoved by the other's
+warmth. "Hurry Harry must act for himself, and do that which will be
+most likely to suit his own fancy. The course he means to take will give
+him an easy race, if it don't give him an easy conscience. Next comes
+the question with Hist--what say you gal?--Will you desart your duty,
+too, and go back to the Mingos and take a Huron husband, and all not
+for the love of the man you're to marry, but for the love of your own
+scalp?"
+
+"Why you talk so to Hist!" demanded the girl half-offended. "You t'ink
+a red-skin girl made like captain's lady, to laugh and joke with any
+officer that come."
+
+"What I think, Hist, is neither here nor there in this matter. I must
+carry back your answer, and in order to do so it is necessary that you
+should send it. A faithful messenger gives his ar'n'd, word for word."
+
+Hist no longer hesitated to speak her mind fully. In the excitement she
+rose from her bench, and naturally recurring to that language in which
+she expressed herself the most readily, she delivered her thoughts
+and intentions, beautifully and with dignity, in the tongue of her own
+people.
+
+"Tell the Hurons, Deerslayer," she said, "that they are as ignorant as
+moles; they don't know the wolf from the dog. Among my people, the rose
+dies on the stem where it budded, the tears of the child fall on the
+graves of its parents; the corn grows where the seed has been planted.
+The Delaware girls are not messengers to be sent, like belts of wampum,
+from tribe to tribe. They are honeysuckles, that are sweetest in their
+own woods; their own young men carry them away in their bosoms, because
+they are fragrant; they are sweetest when plucked from their native
+stems. Even the robin and the martin come back, year after year, to
+their old nests; shall a woman be less true hearted than a bird? Set the
+pine in the clay and it will turn yellow; the willow will not flourish
+on the hill; the tamarack is healthiest in the swamp; the tribes of the
+sea love best to hear the winds that blow over the salt water. As for
+a Huron youth, what is he to a maiden of the Lenni Lenape. He may
+be fleet, but her eyes do not follow him in the race; they look back
+towards the lodges of the Delawares. He may sing a sweet song for the
+girls of Canada, but there is no music for Wah, but in the tongue she
+has listened to from childhood. Were the Huron born of the people that
+once owned the shores of the salt lake, it would be in vain, unless he
+were of the family of Uncas. The young pine will rise to be as high as
+any of its fathers. Wah-ta-Wah has but one heart, and it can love but
+one husband."
+
+Deerslayer listened to this characteristic message, which was given
+with an earnestness suited to the feelings from which it sprung, with
+undisguised delight, meeting the ardent eloquence of the girl, as she
+concluded, with one of his own heartfelt, silent, and peculiar fits of
+laughter.
+
+"That's worth all the wampum in the woods!" he exclaimed. "You don't
+understand it, I suppose, Judith, but if you'll look into your feelin's,
+and fancy that an inimy had sent to tell you to give up the man of your
+ch'ice, and to take up with another that wasn't the man of your ch'ice,
+you'll get the substance of it, I'll warrant! Give me a woman for ra'al
+eloquence, if they'll only make up their minds to speak what they feel.
+By speakin', I don't mean chatterin', howsever; for most of them will do
+that by the hour; but comm' out with their honest, deepest feelin's in
+proper words. And now, Judith, having got the answer of a red-skin girl,
+it is fit I should get that of a pale-face, if, indeed, a countenance
+that is as blooming as your'n can in any wise so be tarmed. You are well
+named the Wild Rose, and so far as colour goes, Hetty ought to be called
+the Honeysuckle."
+
+"Did this language come from one of the garrison gallants, I should
+deride it, Deerslayer, but coming from you, I know it can be depended
+on," returned Judith, deeply gratified by his unmeditated and
+characteristic compliments. "It is too soon, however, to ask my answer;
+the Great Serpent has not yet spoken."
+
+"The Sarpent! Lord; I could carry back his speech without hearing a
+word of it! I didn't think of putting the question to him at all, I
+will allow; though 'twould be hardly right either, seeing that truth is
+truth, and I'm bound to tell these Mingos the fact and nothing else. So,
+Chingachgook, let us hear your mind on this matter--are you inclined
+to strike across the hills towards your village, to give up Hist to
+a Huron, and to tell the chiefs at home that, if they're actyve and
+successful, they may possibly get on the end of the Iroquois trail some
+two or three days a'ter the inimy has got off of it?"
+
+Like his betrothed, the young chief arose, that his answer might be
+given with due distinctness and dignity. Hist had spoken with her hands
+crossed upon her bosom, as if to suppress the emotions within, but the
+warrior stretched an arm before him with a calm energy that aided in
+giving emphasis to his expressions. "Wampum should be sent for wampum,"
+he said; "a message must be answered by a message. Hear what the Great
+Serpent of the Delawares has to say to the pretended wolves from the
+great lakes, that are howling through our woods. They are no wolves;
+they are dogs that have come to get their tails and ears cropped by the
+hands of the Delawares. They are good at stealing young women; bad at
+keeping them. Chingachgook takes his own where he finds it; he asks
+leave of no cur from the Canadas. If he has a tender feeling in his
+heart, it is no business of the Hurons. He tells it to her who most
+likes to know it; he will not bellow it in the forest, for the ears of
+those that only understand yells of terror. What passes in his lodge
+is not for the chiefs of his own people to know; still less for Mingo
+rogues--"
+
+"Call 'em vagabonds, Sarpent--" interrupted Deerslayer, unable to
+restrain his delight--"yes, just call 'em up-and-down vagabonds, which
+is a word easily intarpreted, and the most hateful of all to their ears,
+it's so true. Never fear me; I'll give em your message, syllable for
+syllable, sneer for sneer, idee for idee, scorn for scorn, and they
+desarve no better at your hands--only call 'em vagabonds, once or twice,
+and that will set the sap mounting in 'em, from their lowest roots to
+the uppermost branches!"
+
+"Still less for Mingo vagabonds," resumed Chingachgook, quite willingly
+complying with his friend's request. "Tell the Huron dogs to howl
+louder, if they wish a Delaware to find them in the woods, where they
+burrow like foxes, instead of hunting like warriors. When they had a
+Delaware maiden in their camp, there was a reason for hunting them up;
+now they will be forgotten unless they make a noise. Chingachgook don't
+like the trouble of going to his villages for more warriors; he can
+strike their run-a-way trail; unless they hide it under ground, he will
+follow it to Canada alone. He will keep Wah-ta-Wah with him to cook his
+game; they two will be Delawares enough to scare all the Hurons back to
+their own country."
+
+"That's a grand despatch, as the officers call them things!"
+cried Deerslayer; "'twill set all the Huron blood in motion; most
+particularily that part where he tells 'em Hist, too, will keep on their
+heels 'til they're fairly driven out of the country. Ahs! me; big words
+ain't always big deeds, notwithstanding! The Lord send that we be able
+to be only one half as good as we promise to be! And now, Judith, it's
+your turn to speak, for them miscreants will expect an answer from each
+person, poor Hetty, perhaps, excepted."
+
+"And why not Hetty, Deerslayer? She often speaks to the purpose;
+the Indians may respect her words, for they feel for people in her
+condition."
+
+"That is true, Judith, and quick-thoughted in you. The red-skins do
+respect misfortunes of all kinds, and Hetty's in particular. So, Hetty,
+if you have any thing to say, I'll carry it to the Hurons as faithfully
+as if it was spoken by a schoolmaster, or a missionary."
+
+The girl hesitated a moment, and then she answered in her own gentle,
+soft tones, as earnestly as any who had preceded her.
+
+"The Hurons can't understand the difference between white people and
+themselves," she said, "or they wouldn't ask Judith and me to go and
+live in their villages. God has given one country to the red men and
+another to us. He meant us to live apart. Then mother always said that
+we should never dwell with any but Christians, if possible, and that
+is a reason why we can't go. This lake is ours, and we won't leave it.
+Father and mother's graves are in it, and even the worst Indians love to
+stay near the graves of their fathers. I will come and see them again,
+if they wish me to, and read more out of the Bible to them, but I can't
+quit father's and mother's graves."
+
+"That will do--that will do, Hetty, just as well as if you sent them
+a message twice as long," interrupted the hunter. "I'll tell 'em all
+you've said, and all you mean, and I'll answer for it that they'll be
+easily satisfied. Now, Judith, your turn comes next, and then this part
+of my ar'n'd will be tarminated for the night."
+
+Judith manifested a reluctance to give her reply, that had awakened a
+little curiosity in the messenger. Judging from her known spirit, he had
+never supposed the girl would be less true to her feelings and principles
+than Hist, or Hetty, and yet there was a visible wavering of purpose
+that rendered him slightly uneasy. Even now when directly required
+to speak, she seemed to hesitate, nor did she open her lips until the
+profound silence told her how anxiously her words were expected. Then,
+indeed, she spoke, but it was doubtingly and with reluctance.
+
+"Tell me, first--tell us, first, Deerslayer," she commenced, repeating
+the words merely to change the emphasis--"what effect will our answers
+have on your fate? If you are to be the sacrifice of our spirit, it
+would have been better had we all been more wary as to the language we
+use. What, then, are likely to be the consequences to yourself?"
+
+"Lord, Judith, you might as well ask me which way the wind will blow
+next week, or what will be the age of the next deer that will be shot! I
+can only say that their faces look a little dark upon me, but it doesn't
+thunder every time a black cloud rises, nor does every puff of wind
+blow up rain. That's a question, therefore, much more easily put than
+answered."
+
+"So is this message of the Iroquois to me," answered Judith rising,
+as if she had determined on her own course for the present. "My answer
+shall be given, Deerslayer, after you and I have talked together alone,
+when the others have laid themselves down for the night."
+
+There was a decision in the manner of the girl that disposed Deerslayer
+to comply, and this he did the more readily as the delay could produce
+no material consequences one way or the other. The meeting now broke up,
+Hurry announcing his resolution to leave them speedily. During the hour
+that was suffered to intervene, in order that the darkness might deepen
+before the frontierman took his departure, the different individuals
+occupied themselves in their customary modes, the hunter, in particular,
+passing most of the time in making further enquiries into the perfection
+of the rifle already mentioned.
+
+The hour of nine soon arrived, however, and then it had been determined
+that Hurry should commence his journey. Instead of making his adieus
+frankly, and in a generous spirit, the little he thought it necessary
+to say was uttered sullenly and in coldness. Resentment at what he
+considered Judith's obstinacy was blended with mortification at the
+career he had since reaching the lake, and, as is usual with the vulgar
+and narrow-minded, he was more disposed to reproach others with his
+failures than to censure himself. Judith gave him her hand, but it was
+quite as much in gladness as with regret, while the two Delawares were
+not sorry to find he was leaving them. Of the whole party, Hetty alone
+betrayed any real feeling. Bashfulness, and the timidity of her sex and
+character, kept even her aloof, so that Hurry entered the canoe, where
+Deerslayer was already waiting for him, before she ventured near enough
+to be observed. Then, indeed, the girl came into the Ark and approached
+its end, just as the little bark was turning from it, with a movement
+so light and steady as to be almost imperceptible. An impulse of feeling
+now overcame her timidity, and Hetty spoke.
+
+"Goodbye Hurry--" she called out, in her sweet voice--"goodbye, dear
+Hurry. Take care of yourself in the woods, and don't stop once, 'til you
+reach the garrison. The leaves on the trees are scarcely plentier than
+the Hurons round the lake, and they'll not treat a strong man like you
+as kindly as they treat me."
+
+The ascendency which March had obtained over this feebleminded, but
+right-thinking, and right-feeling girl, arose from a law of nature. Her
+senses had been captivated by his personal advantages, and her moral
+communications with him had never been sufficiently intimate to
+counteract an effect that must have been otherwise lessened, even with
+one whose mind was as obtuse as her own. Hetty's instinct of right, if
+such a term can be applied to one who seemed taught by some kind spirit
+how to steer her course with unerring accuracy, between good and evil,
+would have revolted at Hurry's character on a thousand points, had there
+been opportunities to enlighten her, but while he conversed and trifled
+with her sister, at a distance from herself, his perfection of form
+and feature had been left to produce their influence on her simple
+imagination and naturally tender feelings, without suffering by the
+alloy of his opinions and coarseness. It is true she found him rough and
+rude; but her father was that, and most of the other men she had seen,
+and that which she believed to belong to all of the sex struck her less
+unfavorably in Hurry's character than it might otherwise have done.
+Still, it was not absolutely love that Hetty felt for Hurry, nor do
+we wish so to portray it, but merely that awakening sensibility and
+admiration, which, under more propitious circumstances, and always
+supposing no untoward revelations of character on the part of the young
+man had supervened to prevent it, might soon have ripened into that
+engrossing feeling. She felt for him an incipient tenderness, but
+scarcely any passion. Perhaps the nearest approach to the latter that
+Hetty had manifested was to be seen in the sensitiveness which had
+caused her to detect March's predilection for her sister, for, among
+Judith's many admirers, this was the only instance in which the
+dull mind of the girl had been quickened into an observation of the
+circumstances.
+
+Hurry received so little sympathy at his departure that the gentle tones
+of Hetty, as she thus called after him, sounded soothingly. He checked
+the canoe, and with one sweep of his powerful arm brought it back to the
+side of the Ark. This was more than Hetty, whose courage had risen with
+the departure of her hero, expected, and she now shrunk timidly back at
+this unexpected return.
+
+"You're a good gal, Hetty, and I can't quit you without shaking hands,"
+said March kindly. "Judith, a'ter all, isn't worth as much as you,
+though she may be a trifle better looking. As to wits, if honesty and
+fair dealing with a young man is a sign of sense in a young woman,
+you're worth a dozen Judiths; ay, and for that matter, most young women
+of my acquaintance."
+
+"Don't say any thing against Judith, Harry," returned Hetty imploringly.
+"Father's gone, and mother's gone, and nobody's left but Judith and me,
+and it isn't right for sisters to speak evil, or to hear evil of each
+other. Father's in the lake, and so is mother, and we should all fear
+God, for we don't know when we may be in the lake, too."
+
+"That sounds reasonable, child, as does most you say. Well, if we ever
+meet ag'in, Hetty, you'll find a fri'nd in me, let your sister do what
+she may. I was no great fri'nd of your mother I'll allow, for we didn't
+think alike on most p'ints, but then your father, Old Tom, and I,
+fitted each other as remarkably as a buckskin garment will fit any
+reasonable-built man. I've always been unanimous of opinion that Old
+Floating Tom Hutter, at the bottom, was a good fellow, and will maintain
+that ag'in all inimies for his sake, as well as for your'n."
+
+"Goodbye, Hurry," said Hetty, who now wanted to hasten the young man
+off, as ardently as she had wished to keep him only the moment before,
+though she could give no clearer account of the latter than of the
+former feeling; "goodbye, Hurry; take care of yourself in the woods;
+don't halt 'til you reach the garrison. I'll read a chapter in the Bible
+for you before I go to bed, and think of you in my prayers."
+
+This was touching a point on which March had no sympathies, and without
+more words, he shook the girl cordially by the hand and re-entered the
+canoe. In another minute the two adventurers were a hundred feet from
+the Ark, and half a dozen had not elapsed before they were completely
+lost to view. Hetty sighed deeply, and rejoined her sister and Hist.
+
+For some time Deerslayer and his companion paddled ahead in silence.
+It had been determined to land Hurry at the precise point where he is
+represented, in the commencement of our tale, as having embarked, not
+only as a place little likely to be watched by the Hurons, but because
+he was sufficiently familiar with the signs of the woods, at that spot,
+to thread his way through them in the dark. Thither, then, the light
+craft proceeded, being urged as diligently and as swiftly as two
+vigorous and skilful canoemen could force their little vessel through,
+or rather over, the water. Less than a quarter of an hour sufficed for
+the object, and, at the end of that time, being within the shadows of
+the shore, and quite near the point they sought, each ceased his efforts
+in order to make their parting communications out of earshot of any
+straggler who might happen to be in the neighborhood.
+
+"You will do well to persuade the officers at the garrison to lead out
+a party ag'in these vagabonds as soon as you git in, Hurry," Deerslayer
+commenced; "and you'll do better if you volunteer to guide it up
+yourself. You know the paths, and the shape of the lake, and the natur'
+of the land, and can do it better than a common, gin'ralizing scout.
+Strike at the Huron camp first, and follow the signs that will then show
+themselves. A few looks at the hut and the Ark will satisfy you as to
+the state of the Delaware and the women, and, at any rate, there'll be
+a fine opportunity to fall on the Mingo trail, and to make a mark on the
+memories of the blackguards that they'll be apt to carry with 'em a long
+time. It won't be likely to make much difference with me, since that
+matter will be detarmined afore to-morrow's sun has set, but it may make
+a great change in Judith and Hetty's hopes and prospects!"
+
+"And as for yourself, Nathaniel," Hurry enquired with more interest
+than he was accustomed to betray in the welfare of others--"And, as for
+yourself, what do you think is likely to turn up?"
+
+"The Lord, in his wisdom, only can tell, Henry March! The clouds look
+black and threatening, and I keep my mind in a state to meet the worst.
+Vengeful feelin's are uppermost in the hearts of the Mingos, and any
+little disapp'intment about the plunder, or the prisoners, or Hist, may
+make the torments sartain. The Lord, in his wisdom, can only detarmine
+my fate, or your'n!"
+
+"This is a black business, and ought to be put a stop to in some way or
+other--" answered Hurry, confounding the distinctions between right and
+wrong, as is usual with selfish and vulgar men. "I heartily wish old
+Hutter and I had scalped every creatur' in their camp, the night
+we first landed with that capital object! Had you not held back,
+Deerslayer, it might have been done, and then you wouldn't have found
+yourself, at the last moment, in the desperate condition you mention."
+
+"'Twould have been better had you said you wished you had never
+attempted to do what it little becomes any white man's gifts to
+undertake; in which case, not only might we have kept from coming to
+blows, but Thomas Hutter would now have been living, and the hearts of
+the savages would be less given to vengeance. The death of that young
+woman, too, was on-called for, Henry March, and leaves a heavy load on
+our names if not on our consciences!"
+
+This was so apparent, and it seemed so obvious to Hurry himself, at the
+moment, that he dashed his paddle into the water, and began to urge the
+canoe towards the shore, as if bent only on running away from his own
+lively remorse. His companion humoured this feverish desire for change,
+and, in a minute or two, the bows of the boat grated lightly on the
+shingle of the beach. To land, shoulder his pack and rifle, and to get
+ready for his march occupied Hurry but an instant, and with a growling
+adieu, he had already commenced his march, when a sudden twinge of
+feeling brought him to a dead stop, and immediately after to the other's
+side.
+
+"You cannot mean to give yourself up ag'in to them murdering savages,
+Deerslayer!" he said, quite as much in angry remonstrance, as with
+generous feeling. "'Twould be the act of a madman or a fool!"
+
+"There's them that thinks it madness to keep their words, and there's
+them that don't, Hurry Harry. You may be one of the first, but I'm one
+of the last. No red-skin breathing shall have it in his power to say
+that a Mingo minds his word more than a man of white blood and white
+gifts, in any thing that consarns me. I'm out on a furlough, and if I've
+strength and reason, I'll go in on a furlough afore noon to-morrow!"
+
+"What's an Injin, or a word passed, or a furlough taken from creatur's
+like them, that have neither souls, nor reason!"
+
+"If they've got neither souls nor reason, you and I have both, Henry
+March, and one is accountable for the other. This furlough is not, as
+you seem to think, a matter altogether atween me and the Mingos, seeing
+it is a solemn bargain made atween me and God. He who thinks that he
+can say what he pleases, in his distress, and that twill all pass for
+nothing, because 'tis uttered in the forest, and into red men's ears,
+knows little of his situation, and hopes, and wants. The woods are but
+the ears of the Almighty, the air is his breath, and the light of the
+sun is little more than a glance of his eye. Farewell, Harry; we may not
+meet ag'in, but I would wish you never to treat a furlough, or any other
+solemn thing that your Christian God has been called on to witness, as
+a duty so light that it may be forgotten according to the wants of the
+body, or even accordin' to the cravings of the spirit."
+
+March was now glad again to escape. It was quite impossible that he
+could enter into the sentiments that ennobled his companion, and he
+broke away from both with an impatience that caused him secretly to
+curse the folly that could induce a man to rush, as it were, on his own
+destruction. Deerslayer, on the contrary, manifested no such excitement.
+Sustained by his principles, inflexible in the purpose of acting up to
+them, and superior to any unmanly apprehension, he regarded all before
+him as a matter of course, and no more thought of making any unworthy
+attempt to avoid it, than a Mussulman thinks of counteracting the
+decrees of Providence. He stood calmly on the shore, listening to
+the reckless tread with which Hurry betrayed his progress through the
+bushes, shook his head in dissatisfaction at the want of caution, and
+then stepped quietly into his canoe. Before he dropped the paddle again
+into the water, the young man gazed about him at the scene presented by
+the star-lit night. This was the spot where he had first laid his eyes
+on the beautiful sheet of water on which he floated. If it was then
+glorious in the bright light of a summer's noon-tide, it was now sad and
+melancholy under the shadows of night. The mountains rose around it like
+black barriers to exclude the outer world, and the gleams of pale light
+that rested on the broader parts of the basin were no bad symbols of
+the faintness of the hopes that were so dimly visible in his own future.
+Sighing heavily, he pushed the canoe from the land, and took his way
+back with steady diligence towards the Ark and the castle.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+
+    "Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame;
+    Thy private feasting to a public fast;
+    Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name;
+    Thy sugar'd tongue to bitter worm wood taste:
+    Thy violent vanities can never last."
+
+    Shakespeare, Rape of Lucrece, 11.  890-94.
+
+Judith was waiting the return of Deerslayer on the platform, with
+stifled impatience, when the latter reached the hut. Hist and Hetty were
+both in a deep sleep, on the bed usually occupied by the two daughters
+of the house, and the Delaware was stretched on the floor of the
+adjoining room, his rifle at his side, and a blanket over him, already
+dreaming of the events of the last few days. There was a lamp burning
+in the Ark, for the family was accustomed to indulge in this luxury on
+extraordinary occasions, and possessed the means, the vessel being of a
+form and material to render it probable it had once been an occupant of
+the chest.
+
+As soon as the girl got a glimpse of the canoe, she ceased her hurried
+walk up and down the platform and stood ready to receive the young man,
+whose return she had now been anxiously expecting for some time. She
+helped him to fasten the canoe, and by aiding in the other little
+similar employments, manifested her desire to reach a moment of liberty
+as soon as possible. When this was done, in answer to an inquiry of his,
+she informed him of the manner in which their companions had disposed of
+themselves. He listened attentively, for the manner of the girl was so
+earnest and impressive as to apprise him that she had something on her
+mind of more than common concern.
+
+"And now, Deerslayer," Judith continued, "you see I have lighted the
+lamp, and put it in the cabin of the Ark. That is never done with
+us, unless on great occasions, and I consider this night as the most
+important of my life. Will you follow me and see what I have to show
+you--hear what I have to say."
+
+The hunter was a little surprised, but, making no objections, both were
+soon in the scow, and in the room that contained the light. Here two
+stools were placed at the side of the chest, with the lamp on another,
+and a table near by to receive the different articles as they might
+be brought to view. This arrangement had its rise in the feverish
+impatience of the girl, which could brook no delay that it was in
+her power to obviate. Even all the padlocks were removed, and it only
+remained to raise the heavy lid, again, to expose all the treasures of
+this long secreted hoard.
+
+"I see, in part, what all this means," observed Deerslayer--"yes, I see
+through it, in part. But why is not Hetty present? Now Thomas Hutter is
+gone, she is one of the owners of these cur'osities, and ought to see
+them opened and handled."
+
+"Hetty sleeps--" answered Judith, huskily. "Happily for her, fine
+clothes and riches have no charms. Besides she has this night given her
+share of all that the chest may hold to me, that I may do with it as I
+please."
+
+"Is poor Hetty compass enough for that, Judith?" demanded the
+just-minded young man. "It's a good rule and a righteous one, never to
+take when them that give don't know the valie of their gifts; and such
+as God has visited heavily in their wits ought to be dealt with as
+carefully as children that haven't yet come to their understandings."
+
+Judith was hurt at this rebuke, coming from the person it did, but
+she would have felt it far more keenly had not her conscience fully
+acquitted her of any unjust intentions towards her feeble-minded but
+confiding sister. It was not a moment, however, to betray any of her
+usual mountings of the spirit, and she smothered the passing sensation
+in the desire to come to the great object she had in view.
+
+"Hetty will not be wronged," she mildly answered; "she even knows not
+only what I am about to do, Deerslayer, but why I do it. So take your
+seat, raise the lid of the chest, and this time we will go to the
+bottom. I shall be disappointed if something is not found to tell us
+more of the history of Thomas Hutter and my mother."
+
+"Why Thomas Hutter, Judith, and not your father? The dead ought to meet
+with as much reverence as the living!"
+
+"I have long suspected that Thomas Hutter was not my father, though I
+did think he might have been Hetty's, but now we know he was the father
+of neither. He acknowledged that much in his dying moments. I am old
+enough to remember better things than we have seen on this lake, though
+they are so faintly impressed on my memory that the earlier part of my
+life seems like a dream."
+
+"Dreams are but miserable guides when one has to detarmine about
+realities, Judith," returned the other admonishingly. "Fancy nothing and
+hope nothing on their account, though I've known chiefs that thought 'em
+useful."
+
+"I expect nothing for the future from them, my good friend, but cannot
+help remembering what has been. This is idle, however, when half an hour
+of examination may tell us all, or even more than I want to know."
+
+Deerslayer, who comprehended the girl's impatience, now took his seat
+and proceeded once more to bring to light the different articles that
+the chest contained. As a matter of course, all that had been previously
+examined were found where they had been last deposited, and they excited
+much less interest or comment than when formerly exposed to view. Even
+Judith laid aside the rich brocade with an air of indifference, for she
+had a far higher aim before her than the indulgence of vanity, and was
+impatient to come at the still hidden, or rather unknown, treasures.
+
+"All these we have seen before," she said, "and will not stop to open.
+The bundle under your hand, Deerslayer, is a fresh one; that we will
+look into. God send it may contain something to tell poor Hetty and
+myself who we really are!"
+
+"Ay, if some bundles could speak, they might tell wonderful secrets,"
+returned the young man deliberately undoing the folds of another piece
+of course canvass, in order to come at the contents of the roll that lay
+on his knees: "though this doesn't seem to be one of that family, seeing
+'tis neither more nor less than a sort of flag, though of what nation,
+it passes my l'arnin' to say."
+
+"That flag must have some meaning to it--" Judith hurriedly interposed.
+"Open it wider, Deerslayer, that we may see the colours."
+
+"Well, I pity the ensign that has to shoulder this cloth, and to parade
+it about on the field. Why 'tis large enough, Judith, to make a dozen of
+them colours the King's officers set so much store by. These can be no
+ensign's colours, but a gin'ral's!"
+
+"A ship might carry it, Deerslayer, and ships I know do use such things.
+Have you never heard any fearful stories about Thomas Hutter's having
+once been concerned with the people they call buccaneers?"
+
+"Buck-ah-near! Not I--not I--I never heard him mentioned as good at a
+buck far off, or near by. Hurry Harry did till me something about its
+being supposed that he had formerly, in some way or other, dealings with
+sartain sea robbers, but, Lord, Judith, it can't surely give you any
+satisfaction to make out that ag'in your mother's own husband, though he
+isn't your father."
+
+"Anything will give me satisfaction that tells me who I am, and helps to
+explain the dreams of childhood. My mother's husband! Yes, he must have
+been that, though why a woman like her, should have chosen a man like
+him, is more than mortal reason can explain. You never saw mother,
+Deerslayer, and can't feel the vast, vast difference there was between
+them!"
+
+"Such things do happen, howsever;--yes, they do happen; though why
+providence lets them come to pass is more than I understand. I've knew
+the f'ercest warriors with the gentlest wives of any in the tribe, and
+awful scolds fall to the lot of Injins fit to be missionaries."
+
+"That was not it, Deerslayer; that was not it. Oh! if it should prove
+that--no; I cannot wish she should not have been his wife at all. That
+no daughter can wish for her own mother! Go on, now, and let us see what
+the square looking bundle holds."
+
+Deerslayer complied, and he found that it contained a small trunk of
+pretty workmanship, but fastened. The next point was to find a key; but,
+search proving ineffectual, it was determined to force the lock. This
+Deerslayer soon effected by the aid of an iron instrument, and it
+was found that the interior was nearly filled with papers. Many were
+letters; some fragments of manuscripts, memorandums, accounts, and other
+similar documents. The hawk does not pounce upon the chicken with a more
+sudden swoop than Judith sprang forward to seize this mine of hitherto
+concealed knowledge. Her education, as the reader will have perceived,
+was far superior to her situation in life, and her eye glanced over page
+after page of the letters with a readiness that her schooling supplied,
+and with an avidity that found its origin in her feelings. At first it
+was evident that the girl was gratified; and we may add with reason, for
+the letters written by females, in innocence and affection, were of a
+character to cause her to feel proud of those with whom she had every
+reason to think she was closely connected by the ties of blood. It does
+not come within the scope of our plan to give more of these epistles,
+however, than a general idea of their contents, and this will best be
+done by describing the effect they produced on the manner, appearance,
+and feeling of her who was so eagerly perusing them.
+
+It has been said, already, that Judith was much gratified with the
+letters that first met her eye. They contained the correspondence of
+an affectionate and inteffigent mother to an absent daughter, with such
+allusions to the answers as served in a great measure to fill up the
+vacuum left by the replies. They were not without admonitions and
+warnings, however, and Judith felt the blood mounting to her temples,
+and a cold shudder succeeding, as she read one in which the propriety
+of the daughter's indulging in as much intimacy as had evidently been
+described in one of the daughter's own letters, with an officer "who
+came from Europe, and who could hardly be supposed to wish to form an
+honorable connection in America," was rather coldly commented on by the
+mother. What rendered it singular was the fact that the signatures had
+been carefully cut from every one of these letters, and wherever a name
+occurred in the body of the epistles it had been erased with so much
+diligence as to render it impossible to read it. They had all been
+enclosed in envelopes, according to the fashion of the age, and not an
+address either was to be found. Still the letters themselves had been
+religiously preserved, and Judith thought she could discover traces of
+tears remaining on several. She now remembered to have seen the little
+trunk in her mother's keeping, previously to her death, and she supposed
+it had first been deposited in the chest, along with the other forgotten
+or concealed objects, when the letters could no longer contribute to
+that parent's grief or happiness.
+
+Next came another bundle, and these were filled with the protestations
+of love, written with passion certainly, but also with that deceit which
+men so often think it justifiable to use to the other sex. Judith
+had shed tears abundantly over the first packet, but now she felt a
+sentiment of indignation and pride better sustaining her. Her hand
+shook, however, and cold shivers again passed through her frame, as she
+discovered a few points of strong resemblance between these letters and
+some it had been her own fate to receive. Once, indeed, she laid the
+packet down, bowed her head to her knees, and seemed nearly convulsed.
+All this time Deerslayer sat a silent but attentive observer of every
+thing that passed. As Judith read a letter she put it into his hands to
+hold until she could peruse the next; but this served in no degree to
+enlighten her companion, as he was totally unable to read. Nevertheless
+he was not entirely at fault in discovering the passions that were
+contending in the bosom of the fair creature by his side, and, as
+occasional sentences escaped her in murmurs, he was nearer the truth, in
+his divinations, or conjectures, than the girl would have been pleased
+at discovering.
+
+Judith had commenced with the earliest letters, luckily for a ready
+comprehension of the tale they told, for they were carefully arranged in
+chronological order, and to any one who would take the trouble to peruse
+them, would have revealed a sad history of gratified passion, coldness,
+and finally of aversion. As she obtained the clue to their import, her
+impatience would not admit of delay, and she soon got to glancing her
+eyes over a page by way of coming at the truth in the briefest manner
+possible. By adopting this expedient, one to which all who are eager to
+arrive at results without encumbering themselves with details are so apt
+to resort, Judith made a rapid progress in these melancholy revelations
+of her mother's failing and punishment. She saw that the period of her
+own birth was distinctly referred to, and even learned that the homely
+name she bore was given her by the father, of whose person she retained
+so faint an impression as to resemble a dream. This name was not
+obliterated from the text of the letters, but stood as if nothing was to
+be gained by erasing it. Hetty's birth was mentioned once, and in that
+instance the name was the mother's, but ere this period was reached came
+the signs of coldness, shadowing forth the desertion that was so soon to
+follow. It was in this stage of the correspondence that her mother had
+recourse to the plan of copying her own epistles. They were but few, but
+were eloquent with the feelings of blighted affection, and contrition.
+Judith sobbed over them, until again and again she felt compelled to
+lay them aside from sheer physical inability to see; her eyes being
+literally obscured with tears. Still she returned to the task, with
+increasing interest, and finally succeeded in reaching the end of the
+latest communication that had probably ever passed between her parents.
+
+All this occupied fully an hour, for near a hundred letters were glanced
+at, and some twenty had been closely read. The truth now shone clear
+upon the acute mind of Judith, so far as her own birth and that of Hetty
+were concerned. She sickened at the conviction, and for the moment
+the rest of the world seemed to be cut off from her, and she had now
+additional reasons for wishing to pass the remainder of her life on the
+lake, where she had already seen so many bright and so many sorrowing
+days.
+
+There yet remained more letters to examine. Judith found these were a
+correspondence between her mother and Thomas Hovey. The originals of
+both parties were carefully arranged, letter and answer, side by
+side; and they told the early history of the connection between the
+ill-assorted pair far more plainly than Judith wished to learn it. Her
+mother made the advances towards a marriage, to the surprise, not to
+say horror of her daughter, and she actually found a relief when
+she discovered traces of what struck her as insanity--or a morbid
+desperation, bordering on that dire calamity--in the earlier letters of
+that ill-fated woman. The answers of Hovey were coarse and illiterate,
+though they manifested a sufficient desire to obtain the hand of a woman
+of singular personal attractions, and whose great error he was willing
+to overlook for the advantage of possessing one every way so much his
+superior, and who it also appeared was not altogether destitute of
+money. The remainder of this part of the correspondence was brief, and
+it was soon confined to a few communications on business, in which
+the miserable wife hastened the absent husband in his preparations to
+abandon a world which there was a sufficient reason to think was as
+dangerous to one of the parties as it was disagreeable to the other. But
+a sincere expression had escaped her mother, by which Judith could get a
+clue to the motives that had induced her to marry Hovey, or Hutter, and
+this she found was that feeling of resentment which so often tempts the
+injured to inflict wrongs on themselves by way of heaping coals on the
+heads of those through whom they have suffered. Judith had enough of the
+spirit of that mother to comprehend this sentiment, and for a moment did
+she see the exceeding folly which permitted such revengeful feelings to
+get the ascendancy.
+
+There what may be called the historical part of the papers ceased. Among
+the loose fragments, however, was an old newspaper that contained
+a proclamation offering a reward for the apprehension of certain
+free-booters by name, among which was that of Thomas Hovey. The
+attention of the girl was drawn to the proclamation and to this
+particular name by the circumstance that black lines had been drawn
+under both, in ink. Nothing else was found among the papers that could
+lead to a discovery of either the name or the place of residence of the
+wife of Hutter. All the dates, signatures, and addresses had been
+cut from the letters, and wherever a word occurred in the body of the
+communications that might furnish a clue, it was scrupulously erased.
+Thus Judith found all her hopes of ascertaining who her parents were
+defeated, and she was obliged to fall back on her own resources and
+habits for everything connected with the future. Her recollection of her
+mother's manners, conversation, and sufferings filled up many a gap
+in the historical facts she had now discovered, and the truth, in
+its outlines, stood sufficiently distinct before her to take away all
+desire, indeed, to possess any more details. Throwing herself back in
+her seat, she simply desired her companion to finish the examination of
+the other articles in the chest, as it might yet contain something of
+importance.
+
+"I'll do it, Judith; I'll do it," returned the patient Deerslayer, "but
+if there's many more letters to read, we shall see the sun ag'in afore
+you've got through with the reading of them! Two good hours have you
+been looking at them bits of papers!"
+
+"They tell me of my parents, Deerslayer, and have settled my plans for
+life. A girl may be excused, who reads about her own father and mother,
+and that too for the first time in her life! I am sorry to have kept you
+waiting."
+
+"Never mind me, gal; never mind me. It matters little whether I sleep
+or watch; but though you be pleasant to look at, and are so handsome,
+Judith, it is not altogether agreeable to sit so long to behold you
+shedding tears. I know that tears don't kill, and that some people are
+better for shedding a few now and then, especially young women; but I'd
+rather see you smile any time, Judith, than see you weep."
+
+This gallant speech was rewarded with a sweet, though a melancholy
+smile; and then the girl again desired her companion to finish the
+examination of the chest. The search necessarily continued some time,
+during which Judith collected her thoughts and regained her composure.
+She took no part in the search, leaving everything to the young
+man, looking listlessly herself at the different articles that came
+uppermost. Nothing further of much interest or value, however, was
+found. A sword or two, such as were then worn by gentlemen, some buckles
+of silver, or so richly plated as to appear silver, and a few handsome
+articles of female dress, composed the principal discoveries. It struck
+both Judith and the Deerslayer, notwithstanding, that some of these
+things might be made useful in effecting a negotiation with the
+Iroquois, though the latter saw a difficulty in the way that was not so
+apparent to the former. The conversation was first renewed in connection
+with this point.
+
+"And now, Deerslayer," said Judith, "we may talk of yourself, and of the
+means of getting you out of the hands of the Hurons. Any part, or all
+of what you have seen in the chest, will be cheerfully given by me and
+Hetty to set you at liberty."
+
+"Well, that's gin'rous,--yes, 'tis downright free-hearted, and
+free-handed, and gin'rous. This is the way with women; when they take up
+a fri'ndship, they do nothing by halves, but are as willing to part with
+their property as if it had no value in their eyes. However, while I
+thank you both, just as much as if the bargain was made, and Rivenoak,
+or any of the other vagabonds, was here to accept and close the treaty,
+there's two principal reasons why it can never come to pass, which may
+be as well told at once, in order no onlikely expectations may be raised
+in you, or any onjustifiable hopes in me."
+
+"What reason can there be, if Hetty and I are willing to part with the
+trifles for your sake, and the savages are willing to receive them?"
+
+"That's it, Judith; you've got the idees, but they're a little out of
+their places, as if a hound should take the back'ard instead of the
+leading scent. That the Mingos will be willing to receive them things,
+or any more like 'em you may have to offer is probable enough, but
+whether they'll pay valie for 'em is quite another matter. Ask yourself,
+Judith, if any one should send you a message to say that, for such or
+such a price, you and Hetty might have that chist and all it holds,
+whether you'd think it worth your while to waste many words on the
+bargain?"
+
+"But this chest and all it holds, are already ours; there is no reason
+why we should purchase what is already our own."
+
+"Just so the Mingos caculate! They say the chist is theirn, already; or,
+as good as theirn, and they'll not thank anybody for the key."
+
+"I understand you, Deerslayer; surely we are yet in possession of the
+lake, and we can keep possession of it until Hurry sends troops to drive
+off the enemy. This we may certainly do provided you will stay with us,
+instead of going back and giving yourself up a prisoner, again, as you
+now seem determined on."
+
+"That Hurry Harry should talk in this-a-way, is nat'ral, and according to
+the gifts of the man. He knows no better, and, therefore, he is little
+likely to feel or to act any better; but, Judith, I put it to your heart
+and conscience--would you, could you think of me as favorably, as I hope
+and believe you now do, was I to forget my furlough and not go back to
+the camp?"
+
+"To think more favorably of you than I now do, Deerslayer, would not
+be easy; but I might continue to think as favorably--at least it seems
+so--I hope I could, for a world wouldn't tempt me to let you do anything
+that might change my real opinion of you."
+
+"Then don't try to entice me to overlook my furlough, gal! A furlough
+is a sacred thing among warriors and men that carry their lives in their
+hands, as we of the forests do, and what a grievous disapp'intment would
+it be to old Tamenund, and to Uncas, the father of the Sarpent, and to
+my other fri'nds in the tribe, if I was so to disgrace myself on my very
+first war-path. This you will pairceive, moreover, Judith, is without
+laying any stress on nat'ral gifts, and a white man's duties, to say
+nothing of conscience. The last is king with me, and I try never to
+dispute his orders."
+
+"I believe you are right, Deerslayer," returned the girl, after a little
+reflection and in a saddened voice: "a man like you ought not to act
+as the selfish and dishonest would be apt to act; you must, indeed,
+go back. We will talk no more of this, then. Should I persuade you to
+anything for which you would be sorry hereafter, my own regret would not
+be less than yours. You shall not have it to say, Judith--I scarce know
+by what name to call myself, now!"
+
+"And why not? Why not, gal? Children take the names of their parents,
+nat'rally, and by a sort of gift, like, and why shouldn't you and Hetty
+do as others have done afore ye? Hutter was the old man's name, and
+Hutter should be the name of his darters;--at least until you are given
+away in lawful and holy wedlock."
+
+"I am Judith, and Judith only," returned the girl positively--"until the
+law gives me a right to another name. Never will I use that of Thomas
+Hutter again; nor, with my consent, shall Hetty! Hutter was not even his
+own name, I find, but had he a thousand rights to it, it would give none
+to me. He was not my father, thank heaven; though I may have no reason
+to be proud of him that was!"
+
+"This is strange!" said Deerslayer, looking steadily at the excited
+girl, anxious to know more, but unwilling to inquire into matters that
+did not properly concern him; "yes, this is very strange and oncommon!
+Thomas Hutter wasn't Thomas Hutter, and his darters weren't his darters!
+Who, then, could Thomas Hutter be, and who are his darters?"
+
+"Did you never hear anything whispered against the former life of this
+person, Deerslayer?" demanded Judith "Passing, as I did, for his child,
+such reports reached even me."
+
+"I'll not deny it, Judith; no, I'll not deny it. Sartain things have
+been said, as I've told you, but I'm not very credible as to reports.
+Young as I am, I've lived long enough to l'arn there's two sorts of
+characters in the world--them that is 'arned by deeds, and them that is
+'arned by tongues, and so I prefar to see and judge for myself, instead
+of letting every jaw that chooses to wag become my judgment. Hurry Harry
+spoke pretty plainly of the whole family, as we journeyed this-a-way,
+and he did hint something consarning Thomas Hutter's having been a
+free-liver on the water, in his younger days. By free-liver, I mean that
+he made free to live on other men's goods."
+
+"He told you he was a pirate--there is no need of mincing matters
+between friends. Read that, Deerslayer, and you will see that he told
+you no more than the truth. This Thomas Hovey was the Thomas Hutter you
+knew, as is seen by these letters."
+
+As Judith spoke, with a flushed cheek and eyes dazzling with the
+brilliancy of excitement, she held the newspaper towards her companion,
+pointing to the proclamation of a Colonial Governor, already mentioned.
+
+"Bless you, Judith!" answered the other laughing, "you might as well ask
+me to print that--or, for that matter to write it. My edication has been
+altogether in the woods; the only book I read, or care about reading,
+is the one which God has opened afore all his creatur's in the noble
+forests, broad lakes, rolling rivers, blue skies, and the winds and
+tempests, and sunshine, and other glorious marvels of the land! This
+book I can read, and I find it full of wisdom and knowledge."
+
+"I crave your pardon, Deerslayer," said Judith, earnestly, more abashed
+than was her wont, in finding that she had in advertently made an appeal
+that might wound her compan ion's pride. "I had forgotten your manner of
+life, and least of all did I wish to hurt your feelings."
+
+"Hurt my feelin's? Why should it hurt my feelin's to ask me to read,
+when I can't read. I'm a hunter--and I may now begin to say a warrior,
+and no missionary, and therefore books and papers are of no account with
+such as I--No, no--Judith," and here the young man laughed cordially,
+"not even for wads, seeing that your true deerkiller always uses the
+hide of a fa'a'n, if he's got one, or some other bit of leather suitably
+prepared. There's some that do say, all that stands in print is true,
+in which case I'll own an unl'arned man must be somewhat of a loser;
+nevertheless, it can't be truer than that which God has printed with his
+own hand in the sky, and the woods, and the rivers, and the springs."
+
+"Well, then, Hutter, or Hovey, was a pirate, and being no father of
+mine, I cannot wish to call him one. His name shall no longer be my
+name."
+
+"If you dislike the name of that man, there's the name of your mother,
+Judith. Her'n may sarve you just as good a turn."
+
+"I do not know it. I've look'd through those papers, Deerslayer, in the
+hope of finding some hint by which I might discover who my mother was,
+but there is no more trace of the past, in that respect, than the bird
+leaves in the air."
+
+"That's both oncommon, and onreasonable. Parents are bound to give their
+offspring a name, even though they give 'em nothing else. Now I come of
+a humble stock, though we have white gifts and a white natur', but we
+are not so poorly off as to have no name. Bumppo we are called, and I've
+heard it said--" a touch of human vanity glowing on his cheek, "that the
+time has been when the Bumppos had more standing and note among mankind
+than they have just now."
+
+"They never deserved them more, Deerslayer, and the name is a good one;
+either Hetty, or myself, would a thousand times rather be called Hetty
+Bumppo, or Judith Bumppo, than to be called Hetty or Judith Hutter."
+
+"That's a moral impossible," returned the hunter, good humouredly,
+"onless one of you should so far demean herself as to marry me."
+
+Judith could not refrain from smiling, when she found how simply and
+naturally the conversation had come round to the very point at which she
+had aimed to bring it. Although far from unfeminine or forward, either
+in her feelings or her habits, the girl was goaded by a sense of wrongs
+not altogether merited, incited by the hopelessness of a future that
+seemed to contain no resting place, and still more influenced by
+feelings that were as novel to her as they proved to be active and
+engrossing. The opening was too good, therefore, to be neglected,
+though she came to the subject with much of the indirectness and perhaps
+justifiable address of a woman.
+
+"I do not think Hetty will ever marry, Deerslayer," she said, "and if
+your name is to be borne by either of us, it must be borne by me."
+
+"There's been handsome women too, they tell me, among the Bumppos,
+Judith, afore now, and should you take up with the name, oncommon as you
+be in this particular, them that knows the family won't be altogether
+surprised."
+
+"This is not talking as becomes either of us, Deerslayer, for whatever
+is said on such a subject, between man and woman, should be said
+seriously and in sincerity of heart. Forgetting the shame that ought to
+keep girls silent until spoken to, in most cases, I will deal with you
+as frankly as I know one of your generous nature will most like to be
+dealt by. Can you--do you think, Deerslayer, that you could be happy
+with such a wife as a woman like myself would make?"
+
+"A woman like you, Judith! But where's the sense in trifling about such
+a thing? A woman like you, that is handsome enough to be a captain's
+lady, and fine enough, and so far as I know edicated enough, would be
+little apt to think of becoming my wife. I suppose young gals that
+feel themselves to be smart, and know themselves to be handsome, find a
+sartain satisfaction in passing their jokes ag'in them that's neither,
+like a poor Delaware hunter."
+
+This was said good naturedly, but not without a betrayal of feeling
+which showed that something like mortified sensibility was blended
+with the reply. Nothing could have occurred more likely to awaken all
+Judith's generous regrets, or to aid her in her purpose, by adding the
+stimulant of a disinterested desire to atone to her other impulses, and
+cloaking all under a guise so winning and natural, as greatly to lessen
+the unpleasant feature of a forwardness unbecoming the sex.
+
+"You do me injustice if you suppose I have any such thought, or wish,"
+she answered, earnestly. "Never was I more serious in my life, or more
+willing to abide by any agreement that we may make to-night. I have had
+many suitors, Deerslayer--nay, scarce an unmarried trapper or hunter
+has been in at the Lake these four years, who has not offered to take me
+away with him, and I fear some that were married, too--"
+
+"Ay, I'll warrant that!" interrupted the other--"I'll warrant all that!
+Take 'em as a body, Judith, 'arth don't hold a set of men more given to
+theirselves, and less given to God and the law."
+
+"Not one of them would I--could I listen to; happily for myself perhaps,
+has it been that such was the case. There have been well looking youths
+among them too, as you may have seen in your acquaintance, Henry March."
+
+"Yes, Harry is sightly to the eye, though, to my idees, less so to the
+judgment. I thought, at first, you meant to have him, Judith, I did; but
+afore he went, it was easy enough to verify that the same lodge wouldn't
+be big enough for you both."
+
+"You have done me justice in that at least, Deerslayer. Hurry is a man I
+could never marry, though he were ten times more comely to the eye, and
+a hundred times more stout of heart than he really is."
+
+"Why not, Judith, why not? I own I'm cur'ous to know why a youth like
+Hurry shouldn't find favor with a maiden like you?"
+
+"Then you shall know, Deerslayer," returned the girl, gladly availing
+herself of the opportunity of indirectly extolling the qualities which
+had so strongly interested her in her listener; hoping by these means
+covertly to approach the subject nearest her heart. "In the first place,
+looks in a man are of no importance with a woman, provided he is manly,
+and not disfigured, or deformed."
+
+"There I can't altogether agree with you," returned the other
+thoughtfully, for he had a very humble opinion of his own personal
+appearance; "I have noticed that the comeliest warriors commonly get the
+best-looking maidens of the tribe for wives, and the Sarpent, yonder,
+who is sometimes wonderful in his paint, is a gineral favorite with all
+the Delaware young women, though he takes to Hist, himself, as if she
+was the only beauty on 'arth!"
+
+"It may be so with Indians; but it is different with white girls. So
+long as a young man has a straight and manly frame, that promises to
+make him able to protect a woman, and to keep want from the door, it is
+all they ask of the figure. Giants like Hurry may do for grenadiers, but
+are of little account as lovers. Then as to the face, an honest look,
+one that answers for the heart within, is of more value than any shape
+or colour, or eyes, or teeth, or trifles like them. The last may do for
+girls, but who thinks of them at all, in a hunter, or a warrior, or a
+husband? If there are women so silly, Judith is not among them."
+
+"Well, this is wonderful! I always thought that handsome liked handsome,
+as riches love riches!"
+
+"It may be so with you men, Deerslayer, but it is not always so with us
+women. We like stout-hearted men, but we wish to see them modest; sure
+on a hunt, or the war-path, ready to die for the right, and unwilling to
+yield to the wrong. Above all we wish for honesty--tongues that are not
+used to say what the mind does not mean, and hearts that feel a little
+for others, as well as for themselves. A true-hearted girl could die for
+such a husband! while the boaster, and the double-tongued suitor gets to
+be as hateful to the sight, as he is to the mind."
+
+Judith spoke bitterly, and with her usual force, but her listener was
+too much struck with the novelty of the sensations he experienced to
+advert to her manner. There was something so soothing to the humility of
+a man of his temperament, to hear qualities that he could not but know
+he possessed himself, thus highly extolled by the loveliest female he
+had ever beheld, that, for the moment, his faculties seemed suspended
+in a natural and excusable pride. Then it was that the idea of the
+possibility of such a creature as Judith becoming his companion for life
+first crossed his mind. The image was so pleasant, and so novel, that
+he continued completely absorbed by it for more than a minute, totally
+regardless of the beautiful reality that was seated before him, watching
+the expression of his upright and truth-telling countenance with a
+keenness that gave her a very fair, if not an absolutely accurate clue
+to his thoughts. Never before had so pleasing a vision floated before
+the mind's eye of the young hunter, but, accustomed most to practical
+things, and little addicted to submitting to the power of his
+imagination, even while possessed of so much true poetical feeling in
+connection with natural objects in particular, he soon recovered his
+reason, and smiled at his own weakness, as the fancied picture faded
+from his mental sight, and left him the simple, untaught, but highly
+moral being he was, seated in the Ark of Thomas Hutter, at midnight,
+with the lovely countenance of its late owner's reputed daughter,
+beaming on him with anxious scrutiny, by the light of the solitary lamp.
+
+"You're wonderful handsome, and enticing, and pleasing to look on,
+Judith!" he exclaimed, in his simplicity, as fact resumed its ascendency
+over fancy. "Wonderful! I don't remember ever to have seen so beautiful
+a gal, even among the Delawares; and I'm not astonished that Hurry Harry
+went away soured as well as disapp'inted!"
+
+"Would you have had me, Deerslayer, become the wife of such a man as
+Henry March?"
+
+"There's that which is in his favor, and there's that which is ag'in
+him. To my taste, Hurry wouldn't make the best of husbands, but I fear
+that the tastes of most young women, hereaway, wouldn't be so hard upon
+him."
+
+"No--no--Judith without a name would never consent to be called Judith
+March! Anything would be better than that."
+
+"Judith Bumppo wouldn't sound as well, gal; and there's many names that
+would fall short of March, in pleasing the ear."
+
+"Ah! Deerslayer, the pleasantness of the sound, in such cases, doesn't
+come through the ear, but through the heart. Everything is agreeable,
+when the heart is satisfied. Were Natty Bumppo, Henry March, and Henry
+March, Natty Bumppo, I might think the name of March better than it is;
+or were he, you, I should fancy the name of Bumppo horrible!"
+
+"That's just it--yes, that's the reason of the matter. Now, I'm
+nat'rally avarse to sarpents, and I hate even the word, which, the
+missionaries tell me, comes from human natur', on account of a sartain
+sarpent at the creation of the 'arth, that outwitted the first woman;
+yet, ever since Chingachgook has 'arned the title he bears, why the
+sound is as pleasant to my ears as the whistle of the whippoorwill of a
+calm evening--it is. The feelin's make all the difference in the world,
+Judith, in the natur' of sounds; ay, even in that of looks, too."
+
+"This is so true, Deerslayer, that I am surprised you should think it
+remarkable a girl, who may have some comeliness herself, should not
+think it necessary that her husband should have the same advantage, or
+what you fancy an advantage. To me, looks in a man is nothing provided
+his countenance be as honest as his heart."
+
+"Yes, honesty is a great advantage, in the long run; and they that are
+the most apt to forget it in the beginning, are the most apt to l'arn
+it in the ind. Nevertheless, there's more, Judith, that look to present
+profit than to the benefit that is to come after a time. One they think
+a sartainty, and the other an onsartainty. I'm glad, howsever, that you
+look at the thing in its true light, and not in the way in which so many
+is apt to deceive themselves."
+
+"I do thus look at it, Deerslayer," returned the girl with emphasis,
+still shrinking with a woman's sensitiveness from a direct offer of her
+hand, "and can say, from the bottom of my heart, that I would rather
+trust my happiness to a man whose truth and feelings may be depended
+on, than to a false-tongued and false-hearted wretch that had chests
+of gold, and houses and lands--yes, though he were even seated on a
+throne!"
+
+"These are brave words, Judith; they're downright brave words; but
+do you think that the feelin's would keep 'em company, did the ch'ice
+actually lie afore you? If a gay gallant in a scarlet coat stood on one
+side, with his head smelling like a deer's foot, his face smooth and
+blooming as your own, his hands as white and soft as if God hadn't
+bestowed 'em that man might live by the sweat of his brow, and his step
+as lofty as dancing-teachers and a light heart could make it; and the
+other side stood one that has passed his days in the open air till his
+forehead is as red as his cheek; had cut his way through swamps and
+bushes till his hand was as rugged as the oaks he slept under; had
+trodden on the scent of game till his step was as stealthy as the
+catamount's, and had no other pleasant odor about him than such as
+natur' gives in the free air and the forest--now, if both these men
+stood here, as suitors for your feelin's, which do you think would win
+your favor?"
+
+Judith's fine face flushed, for the picture that her companion had
+so simply drawn of a gay officer of the garrisons had once been
+particularly grateful to her imagination, though experience and
+disappointment had not only chilled all her affections, but given them a
+backward current, and the passing image had a momentary influence on her
+feelings; but the mounting colour was succeeded by a paleness so deadly,
+as to make her appear ghastly.
+
+"As God is my judge," the girl solemnly answered, "did both these men
+stand before me, as I may say one of them does, my choice, if I know my
+own heart, would be the latter. I have no wish for a husband who is any
+way better than myself."
+
+"This is pleasant to listen to, and might lead a young man in time to
+forget his own onworthiness, Judith! Howsever, you hardly think all that
+you say. A man like me is too rude and ignorant for one that has had
+such a mother to teach her. Vanity is nat'ral, I do believe, but vanity
+like that, would surpass reason."
+
+"Then you do not know of what a woman's heart is capable! Rude you are
+not, Deerslayer, nor can one be called ignorant that has studied what
+is before his eyes as closely as you have done. When the affections are
+concerned, all things appear in their pleasantest colors, and trifles
+are overlooked, or are forgotten. When the heart feels sunshine, nothing
+is gloomy, even dull looking objects, seeming gay and bright, and so it
+would be between you and the woman who should love you, even though your
+wife might happen, in some matters, to possess what the world calls the
+advantage over you."
+
+"Judith, you come of people altogether above mine, in the world, and
+onequal matches, like onequal fri'ndships can't often tarminate kindly.
+I speak of this matter altogether as a fanciful thing, since it's not
+very likely that you, at least, would be apt to treat it as a matter
+that can ever come to pass."
+
+Judith fastened her deep blue eyes on the open, frank countenance of
+her companion, as if she would read his soul. Nothing there betrayed
+any covert meaning, and she was obliged to admit to herself, that he
+regarded the conversation as argumentative, rather than positive, and
+that he was still without any active suspicion that her feelings were
+seriously involved in the issue. At first, she felt offended; then she
+saw the injustice of making the self-abasement and modesty of the hunter
+a charge against him, and this novel difficulty gave a piquancy to the
+state of affairs that rather increased her interest in the young man. At
+that critical instant, a change of plan flashed on her mind, and with
+a readiness of invention that is peculiar to the quick-witted and
+ingenious, she adopted a scheme by which she hoped effectually to bind
+him to her person. This scheme partook equally of her fertility of
+invention, and of the decision and boldness of her character. That the
+conversation might not terminate too abruptly, however, or any suspicion
+of her design exist, she answered the last remark of Deerslayer, as
+earnestly and as truly as if her original intention remained unaltered.
+
+"I, certainly, have no reason to boast of parentage, after what I have
+seen this night," said the girl, in a saddened voice. "I had a mother,
+it is true; but of her name even, I am ignorant--and, as for my father,
+it is better, perhaps, that I should never know who he was, lest I speak
+too bitterly of him!"
+
+"Judith," said Deerslayer, taking her hand kindly, and with a manly
+sincerity that went directly to the girl's heart, "tis better to say no
+more to-night. Sleep on what you've seen and felt; in the morning
+things that now look gloomy, may look more che'rful. Above all, never
+do anything in bitterness, or because you feel as if you'd like to take
+revenge on yourself for other people's backslidings. All that has been
+said or done atween us, this night, is your secret, and shall never be
+talked of by me, even with the Sarpent, and you may be sartain if he
+can't get it out of me no man can. If your parents have been faulty, let
+the darter be less so; remember that you're young, and the youthful may
+always hope for better times; that you're more quick-witted than usual,
+and such gin'rally get the better of difficulties, and that, as for
+beauty, you're oncommon, which is an advantage with all. It is time to
+get a little rest, for to-morrow is like to prove a trying day to some
+of us."
+
+Deerslayer arose as he spoke, and Judith had no choice but to comply.
+The chest was closed and secured, and they parted in silence, she to
+take her place by the side of Hist and Hetty, and he to seek a blanket
+on the floor of the cabin he was in. It was not five minutes ere the
+young man was in a deep sleep, but the girl continued awake for a long
+time. She scarce knew whether to lament, or to rejoice, at having
+failed in making herself understood. On the one hand were her womanly
+sensibilities spared; on the other was the disappointment of defeated,
+or at least of delayed expectations, and the uncertainty of a future
+that looked so dark. Then came the new resolution, and the bold project
+for the morrow, and when drowsiness finally shut her eyes, they closed
+on a scene of success and happiness, that was pictured by the fancy,
+under the influence of a sanguine temperament, and a happy invention.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+
+    "But, mother, now a shade has past,
+    Athwart my brightest visions here,
+    A cloud of darkest gloom has wrapt,
+    The remnant of my brief career!
+    No song, no echo can I win,
+    The sparkling fount has died within."
+
+    Margaret Davidson, "To my Mother," 11.  7-12.
+
+Hist and Hetty arose with the return of light, leaving Judith still
+buried in sleep. It took but a minute for the first to complete her
+toilet. Her long coal-black hair was soon adjusted in a simple knot,
+the calico dress belted tight to her slender waist, and her little feet
+concealed in their gaudily ornamented moccasins. When attired, she left
+her companion employed in household affairs, and went herself on
+the platform to breathe the pure air of the morning. Here she found
+Chingachgook studying the shores of the lake, the mountains and the
+heavens, with the sagacity of a man of the woods, and the gravity of an
+Indian.
+
+The meeting between the two lovers was simple, but affectionate. The
+chief showed a manly kindness, equally removed from boyish weakness and
+haste, while the girl betrayed, in her smile and half averted looks, the
+bashful tenderness of her sex. Neither spoke, unless it were with the
+eyes, though each understood the other as fully as if a vocabulary of
+words and protestations had been poured out. Hist seldom appeared
+to more advantage than at that moment, for just from her rest and
+ablutions, there was a freshness about her youthful form and face that
+the toils of the wood do not always permit to be exhibited, by even the
+juvenile and pretty. Then Judith had not only imparted some of her
+own skill in the toilet, during their short intercourse, but she had
+actually bestowed a few well selected ornaments from her own stores,
+that contributed not a little to set off the natural graces of the
+Indian maid. All this the lover saw and felt, and for a moment his
+countenance was illuminated with a look of pleasure, but it soon grew
+grave again, and became saddened and anxious. The stools used the
+previous night were still standing on the platform; placing two against
+the walls of the hut, he seated himself on one, making a gesture to
+his companion to take the other. This done, he continued thoughtful and
+silent for quite a minute, maintaining the reflecting dignity of one
+born to take his seat at the council-fire, while Hist was furtively
+watching the expression of his face, patient and submissive, as became
+a woman of her people. Then the young warrior stretched his arm before
+him, as if to point out the glories of the scene at that witching
+hour, when the whole panorama, as usual, was adorned by the mellow
+distinctness of early morning, sweeping with his hand slowly over lake,
+hills and heavens. The girl followed the movement with pleased wonder,
+smiling as each new beauty met her gaze.
+
+"Hugh!" exclaimed the chief, in admiration of a scene so unusual even
+to him, for this was the first lake he had ever beheld. "This is the
+country of the Manitou! It is too good for Mingos, Hist; but the curs of
+that tribe are howling in packs through the woods. They think that the
+Delawares are asleep, over the mountains."
+
+"All but one of them is, Chingachgook. There is one here; and he is of
+the blood of Uncas!"
+
+"What is one warrior against a tribe? The path to our villages is
+very long and crooked, and we shall travel it under a cloudy sky. I am
+afraid, too, Honeysuckle of the Hills, that we shall travel it alone!"
+
+Hist understood the allusion, and it made her sad; though it sounded
+sweet to her ears to be compared, by the warrior she so loved, to the
+most fragrant and the pleasantest of all the wild flowers of her native
+woods. Still she continued silent, as became her when the allusion was
+to a grave interest that men could best control, though it exceeded the
+power of education to conceal the smile that gratified feeling brought
+to her pretty mouth.
+
+"When the sun is thus," continued the Delaware, pointing to the zenith,
+by simply casting upward a hand and finger, by a play of the wrist, "the
+great hunter of our tribe will go back to the Hurons to be treated like
+a bear, that they roast and skin even on full stomachs."
+
+"The Great Spirit may soften their hearts, and not suffer them to be so
+bloody minded. I have lived among the Hurons, and know them. They have
+hearts, and will not forget their own children, should they fall into
+the hands of the Delawares."
+
+"A wolf is forever howling; a hog will always eat. They have lost
+warriors; even their women will call out for vengeance. The pale-face
+has the eyes of an eagle, and can see into a Mingo's heart; he looks for
+no mercy. There is a cloud over his spirit, though it is not before his
+face."
+
+A long, thoughtful pause succeeded, during which Hist stealthily took
+the hand of the chief, as if seeking his support, though she scarce
+ventured to raise her eyes to a countenance that was now literally
+becoming terrible, under the conflicting passions and stern resolution
+that were struggling in the breast of its owner.
+
+"What will the Son of Uncas do?" the girl at length timidly asked. "He
+is a chief, and is already celebrated in council, though so young; what
+does his heart tell him is wisest; does the head, too, speak the same
+words as the heart?"
+
+"What does Wah-ta-Wah say, at a moment when my dearest friend is in such
+danger. The smallest birds sing the sweetest; it is always pleasant to
+hearken to their songs. I wish I could hear the Wren of the Woods in my
+difficulty; its note would reach deeper than the ear."
+
+Again Hist experienced the profound gratification that the language of
+praise can always awaken when uttered by those we love. The 'Honeysuckle
+of the Hills' was a term often applied to the girl by the young men of
+the Delawares, though it never sounded so sweet in her ears as from the
+lips of Chingachgook; but the latter alone had ever styled her the Wren
+of the Woods. With him, however, it had got to be a familiar phrase, and
+it was past expression pleasant to the listener, since it conveyed to
+her mind the idea that her advice and sentiments were as acceptable to
+her future husband, as the tones of her voice and modes of conveying
+them were agreeable; uniting the two things most prized by an Indian
+girl, as coming from her betrothed, admiration for a valued physical
+advantage, with respect for her opinion. She pressed the hand she held
+between both her own, and answered--
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah says that neither she nor the Great Serpent could ever
+laugh again, or ever sleep without dreaming of the Hurons, should the
+Deerslayer die under a Mingo tomahawk, and they do nothing to save him.
+She would rather go back, and start on her long path alone, than let
+such a dark cloud pass before her happiness."
+
+"Good! The husband and the wife will have but one heart; they will see
+with the same eyes, and feel with the same feelings."
+
+What further was said need not be related here. That the conversation
+was of Deerslayer, and his hopes, has been seen already, but the
+decision that was come to will better appear in the course of the
+narrative. The youthful pair were yet conversing when the sun appeared
+above the tops of the pines, and the light of a brilliant American
+day streamed down into the valley, bathing "in deep joy" the lake, the
+forests and the mountain sides. Just at this instant Deerslayer came out
+of the cabin of the Ark and stepped upon the platform. His first look
+was at the cloudless heavens, then his rapid glance took in the entire
+panorama of land and water, when he had leisure for a friendly nod at
+his friends, and a cheerful smile for Hist.
+
+"Well," he said, in his usual, composed manner, and pleasant voice, "he
+that sees the sun set in the west, and wakes 'arly enough in the morning
+will be sartain to find him coming back ag'in in the east, like a buck
+that is hunted round his ha'nt. I dare say, now, Hist, you've beheld
+this, time and ag'in, and yet it never entered into your galish mind to
+ask the reason?"
+
+Both Chingachgook and his betrothed looked up at the luminary, with an
+air that betokened sudden wonder, and then they gazed at each other,
+as if to seek the solution of the difficulty. Familiarity deadens the
+sensibilities even as connected with the gravest natural phenomena,
+and never before had these simple beings thought of enquiring into a
+movement that was of daily occurrence, however puzzling it might appear
+on investigation. When the subject was thus suddenly started, it struck
+both alike, and at the same instant, with some such force, as any new
+and brilliant proposition in the natural sciences would strike the
+scholar. Chingachgook alone saw fit to answer.
+
+"The pale-faces know everything," he said; "can they tell us why the sun
+hides his face, when he goes back, at night."
+
+"Ay, that is downright red-skin l'arnin'" returned the other, laughing,
+though he was not altogether insensible to the pleasure of proving the
+superiority of his race by solving the difficulty, which he set about
+doing in his own peculiar manner. "Harkee, Sarpent," he continued more
+gravely, though too simply for affectation; "this is easierly explained
+than an Indian brain may fancy. The sun, while he seems to keep
+traveling in the heavens, never budges, but it is the 'arth that turns
+round, and any one can understand, if he is placed on the side of a
+mill-wheel, for instance, when it's in motion, that he must some times
+see the heavens, while he is at other times under water. There's no
+great secret in that; but plain natur'; the difficulty being in setting
+the 'arth in motion."
+
+"How does my brother know that the earth turns round?" demanded the
+Indian. "Can he see it?"
+
+"Well, that's been a puzzler, I will own, Delaware, for I've often
+tried, but never could fairly make it out. Sometimes I've consaited that
+I could; and then ag'in, I've been obliged to own it an onpossibility.
+Howsever, turn it does, as all my people say, and you ought to believe
+'em, since they can foretell eclipses, and other prodigies, that used
+to fill the tribes with terror, according to your own traditions of such
+things."
+
+"Good. This is true; no red man will deny it. When a wheel turns, my
+eyes can see it--they do not see the earth turn."
+
+"Ay, that's what I call sense obstinacy! Seeing is believing, they say,
+and what they can't see, some men won't in the least give credit to.
+Neverthless, chief, that isn't quite as good reason as it mayat first
+seem. You believe in the Great Spirit, I know, and yet, I conclude, it
+would puzzle you to show where you see him!"
+
+"Chingachgook can see Him everywhere--everywhere in good things--the Evil
+Spirit in bad. Here, in the lake; there, in the forest; yonder, in the
+clouds; in Hist, in the Son of Uncas, in Tannemund, in Deerslayer. The
+Evil Spirit is in the Mingos. That I see; I do not see the earth turn
+round."
+
+"I don't wonder they call you the Sarpent, Delaware; no, I don't!
+There's always a meaning in your words, and there's often a meaning in
+your countenance, too! Notwithstanding, your answers doesn't quite meet
+my idee. That God is observable in all nat'ral objects is allowable, but
+then he is not perceptible in the way I mean. You know there is a Great
+Spirit by his works, and the pale-faces know that the 'arth turns round
+by its works. This is the reason of the matter, though how it is to
+be explained is more than I can exactly tell you. This I know; all my
+people consait that fact, and what all the pale-faces consait, is very
+likely to be true."
+
+"When the sun is in the top of that pine to-morrow, where will my
+brother Deerslayer be?"
+
+The hunter started, and he looked intently, though totally without
+alarm, at his friend. Then he signed for him to follow, and led the way
+into the Ark, where he might pursue the subject unheard by those whose
+feelings he feared might get the mastery over their reason. Here he
+stopped, and pursued the conversation in a more confidential tone.
+
+"'Twas a little onreasonable in you Sarpent," he said, "to bring up such
+a subject afore Hist, and when the young women of my own colour might
+overhear what was said. Yes, 'twas a little more onreasonable than most
+things that you do. No matter; Hist didn't comprehend, and the other
+didn't hear. Howsever, the question is easier put than answered. No
+mortal can say where he will be when the sun rises to-morrow. I will ask
+you the same question, Sarpent, and should like to hear what answer you
+can give."
+
+"Chingachgook will be with his friend Deerslayer--if he be in the land
+of spirits, the Great Serpent will crawl at his side; if beneath yonder
+sun, its warmth and light shall fall on both."
+
+"I understand you, Delaware," returned the other, touched with the
+simple self-devotion of his friend, "Such language is as plain in one
+tongue as in another. It comes from the heart, and goes to the heart,
+too. 'Tis well to think so, and it may be well to say so, for that
+matter, but it would not be well to do so, Sarpent. You are no longer
+alone in life, for though you have the lodges to change, and other
+ceremonies to go through, afore Hist becomes your lawful wife, yet are
+you as good as married in all that bears on the feelin's, and joy, and
+misery. No--no--Hist must not be desarted, because a cloud is passing
+atween you and me, a little onexpectedly and a little darker than we may
+have looked for."
+
+"Hist is a daughter of the Mohicans. She knows how to obey her husband.
+Where he goes, she will follow. Both will be with the Great Hunter of
+the Delawares, when the sun shall be in the pine to-morrow."
+
+"The Lord bless and protect you! Chief, this is downright madness. Can
+either, or both of you, alter a Mingo natur'? Will your grand looks,
+or Hist's tears and beauty, change a wolf into a squirrel, or make a
+catamount as innocent as a fa'an? No--Sarpent, you will think better
+of this matter, and leave me in the hands of God. A'ter all, it's by no
+means sartain that the scamps design the torments, for they may yet be
+pitiful, and bethink them of the wickedness of such a course--though it
+is but a hopeless expectation to look forward to a Mingo's turning aside
+from evil, and letting marcy get uppermost in his heart. Nevertheless,
+no one knows to a sartainty what will happen, and young creatur's, like
+Hist, a'n't to be risked on onsartainties. This marrying is altogether
+a different undertaking from what some young men fancy. Now, if you was
+single, or as good as single, Delaware, I should expect you to be actyve
+and stirring about the camp of the vagabonds, from sunrise to sunset,
+sarcumventing and contriving, as restless as a hound off the scent, and
+doing all manner of things to help me, and to distract the inimy, but
+two are oftener feebler than one, and we must take things as they are,
+and not as we want 'em to be."
+
+"Listen, Deerslayer," returned the Indian with an emphasis so decided as
+to show how much he was in earnest. "If Chingachgook was in the hands
+of the Hurons, what would my pale-face brother do? Sneak off to the
+Delaware villages, and say to the chiefs, and old men, and young
+warriors--'see, here is Wah-ta-Wah; she is safe, but a little tired;
+and here is the Son of Uncas, not as tired as the Honeysuckle, being
+stronger, but just as safe.' Would he do this?"
+
+"Well, that's oncommon ingen'ous; it's cunning enough for a Mingo,
+himself! The Lord only knows what put it into your head to ask such a
+question. What would I do? Why, in the first place, Hist wouldn't be
+likely to be in my company at all, for she would stay as near you as
+possible, and therefore all that part about her couldn't be said without
+talking nonsense. As for her being tired, that would fall through too,
+if she didn't go, and no part of your speech would be likely to come
+from me; so, you see, Sarpent, reason is ag'in you, and you may as well
+give it up, since to hold out ag'in reason, is no way becoming a chief
+of your character and repitation."
+
+"My brother is not himself; he forgets that he is talking to one who has
+sat at the Council Fire of his nation," returned the other kindly. "When
+men speak, they should say that which does not go in at one side of the
+head and out at the other. Their words shouldn't be feathers, so light
+that a wind which does not ruffle the water can blow them away. He
+has not answered my question; when a chief puts a question, his friend
+should not talk of other things."
+
+"I understand you, Delaware; I understand well enough what you mean, and
+truth won't allow me to say otherwise. Still it's not as easy to answer
+as you seem to think, for this plain reason. You wish me to say what
+I would do if I had a betrothed as you have, here, on the lake, and a
+fri'nd yonder in the Huron camp, in danger of the torments. That's it,
+isn't it?"
+
+The Indian bowed his head silently, and always with unmoved gravity,
+though his eye twinkled at the sight of the other's embarrassment.
+
+"Well, I never had a betrothed--never had the kind of feelin's toward
+any young woman that you have towards Hist, though the Lord knows my
+feelin's are kind enough towards 'em all! Still my heart, as they call
+it in such matters, isn't touched, and therefore I can't say what I
+would do. A fri'nd pulls strong, that I know by exper'ence, Sarpent,
+but, by all that I've seen and heard consarning love, I'm led to think
+that a betrothed pulls stronger."
+
+"True; but the betrothed of Chingachgook does not pull towards the
+lodges of the Delawares; she pulls towards the camp of the Hurons."
+
+"She's a noble gal, for all her little feet, and hands that an't bigger
+than a child's, and a voice that is as pleasant as a mocker's; she's a
+noble gal, and like the stock of her sires! Well, what is it, Sarpent;
+for I conclude she hasn't changed her mind, and means to give herself
+up, and turn Huron wife. What is it you want?"
+
+"Wah-ta-Wah will never live in the wigwam of an Iroquois," answered
+the Delaware drily. "She has little feet, but they can carry her to the
+villages of her people; she has small hands, too, but her mind is large.
+My brother will see what we can do, when the time shall come, rather
+than let him die under Mingo torments."
+
+"Attempt nothing heedlessly, Delaware," said the other earnestly; "I
+suppose you must and will have your way; and, on the whole it's right
+you should, for you'd neither be happy, unless something was undertaken.
+But attempt nothing heedlessly--I didn't expect you'd quit the lake,
+while my matter remained in unsartainty, but remember, Sarpent, that no
+torments that Mingo ingenuity can invent, no ta'ntings and revilings;
+no burnings and roastings and nail-tearings, nor any other onhuman
+contrivances can so soon break down my spirit, as to find that you and
+Hist have fallen into the power of the inimy in striving to do something
+for my good."
+
+"The Delawares are prudent. The Deerslayer will not find them running
+into a strange camp with their eyes shut."
+
+Here the dialogue terminated. Hetty announced that the breakfast was
+ready, and the whole party was soon seated around the simple board, in
+the usual primitive manner of borderers. Judith was the last to take her
+seat, pale, silent, and betraying in her countenance that she had passed
+a painful, if not a sleepless, night. At this meal scarce a syllable was
+exchanged, all the females manifesting want of appetites, though the
+two men were unchanged in this particular. It was early when the
+party arose, and there still remained several hours before it would be
+necessary for the prisoner to leave his friends. The knowledge of this
+circumstance, and the interest all felt in his welfare, induced the
+whole to assemble on the platform again, in the desire to be near the
+expected victim, to listen to his discourse, and if possible to show
+their interest in him by anticipating his wishes. Deerslayer, himself,
+so far as human eyes could penetrate, was wholly unmoved, conversing
+cheerfully and naturally, though he avoided any direct allusions to the
+expected and great event of the day. If any evidence could be discovered
+of his thought's reverting to that painful subject at all, it was in the
+manner in which he spoke of death and the last great change.
+
+"Grieve not, Hetty," he said, for it was while consoling this
+simple-minded girl for the loss of her parents that he thus betrayed his
+feelings, "since God has app'inted that all must die. Your parents, or
+them you fancied your parents, which is the same thing, have gone afore
+you; this is only in the order of natur', my good gal, for the aged
+go first, and the young follow. But one that had a mother like your'n,
+Hetty, can be at no loss to hope the best, as to how matters will turn
+out in another world. The Delaware, here, and Hist, believe in happy
+hunting grounds, and have idees befitting their notions and gifts as
+red-skins, but we who are of white blood hold altogether to a different
+doctrine. Still, I rather conclude our heaven is their land of spirits,
+and that the path which leads to it will be travelled by all colours
+alike. 'Tis onpossible for the wicked to enter on it, I will allow, but
+fri'nds can scarce be separated, though they are not of the same race
+on 'arth. Keep up your spirits, poor Hetty, and look forward to the
+day when you will meet your mother ag'in, and that without pain, or
+sorrowing."
+
+"I do expect to see mother," returned the truth-telling and simple girl,
+"but what will become of father?"
+
+"That's a non-plusser, Delaware," said the hunter, in the Indian
+dialect--"yes, that is a downright non-plusser! The Muskrat was not
+a saint on 'arth, and it's fair to guess he'll not be much of one,
+hereafter! Howsever, Hetty," dropping into the English by an easy
+transition, "howsever, Hetty, we must all hope for the best. That is
+wisest, and it is much the easiest to the mind, if one can only do it.
+I ricommend to you, trusting to God, and putting down all misgivings and
+fainthearted feelin's. It's wonderful, Judith, how different people have
+different notions about the futur', some fancying one change, and some
+fancying another. I've known white teachers that have thought all was
+spirit, hereafter, and them, ag'in, that believed the body will be
+transported to another world, much as the red-skins themselves imagine,
+and that we shall walk about in the flesh, and know each other, and talk
+together, and be fri'nds there as we've been fri'nds here."
+
+"Which of these opinions is most pleasing to you, Deerslayer?" asked the
+girl, willing to indulge his melancholy mood, and far from being free
+from its influence herself. "Would it be disagreeable to think that you
+should meet all who are now on this platform in another world? Or have
+you known enough of us here, to be glad to see us no more.
+
+"The last would make death a bitter portion; yes it would. It's eight
+good years since the Sarpent and I began to hunt together, and the
+thought that we were never to meet ag'in would be a hard thought to me.
+He looks forward to the time when he shall chase a sort of spirit-deer,
+in company, on plains where there's no thorns, or brambles, or marshes,
+or other hardships to overcome, whereas I can't fall into all these
+notions, seeing that they appear to be ag'in reason. Spirits can't
+eat, nor have they any use for clothes, and deer can only rightfully be
+chased to be slain, or slain, unless it be for the venison or the
+hides. Now, I find it hard to suppose that blessed spirits can be put to
+chasing game without an object, tormenting the dumb animals just for the
+pleasure and agreeableness of their own amusements. I never yet pulled
+a trigger on buck or doe, Judith, unless when food or clothes was
+wanting."
+
+"The recollection of which, Deerslayer, must now be a great consolation
+to you."
+
+"It is the thought of such things, my fri'nds, that enables a man to
+keep his furlough. It might be done without it, I own; for the worst
+red-skins sometimes do their duty in this matter; but it makes that
+which might otherwise be hard, easy, if not altogether to our liking.
+Nothing truly makes a bolder heart than a light conscience."
+
+Judith turned paler than ever, but she struggled for self-command, and
+succeeded in obtaining it. The conflict had been severe, however, and
+it left her so little disposed to speak that Hetty pursued the subject.
+This was done in the simple manner natural to the girl.
+
+"It would be cruel to kill the poor deer," she said, "in this world, or
+any other, when you don't want their venison, or their skins. No good
+white man, and no good red man would do it. But it's wicked for a
+Christian to talk about chasing anything in heaven. Such things are
+not done before the face of God, and the missionary that teaches these
+doctrines can't be a true missionary. He must be a wolf in sheep's
+clothing. I suppose you know what a sheep is, Deerslayer."
+
+"That I do, gal, and a useful creatur' it is, to such as like cloths
+better than skins for winter garments. I understand the natur' of sheep,
+though I've had but little to do with 'em, and the natur' of wolves too,
+and can take the idee of a wolf in the fleece of a sheep, though I think
+it would be like to prove a hot jacket for such a beast, in the warm
+months!"
+
+"And sin and hypocrisy are hot jackets, as they will find who put them
+on," returned Hetty, positively, "so the wolf would be no worse off than
+the sinner. Spirits don't hunt, nor trap, nor fish, nor do anything that
+vain men undertake, since they've none of the longings of this world to
+feed. Oh! Mother told me all that, years ago, and I don't wish to hear
+it denied."
+
+"Well, my good Hetty, in that case you'd better not broach your doctrine
+to Hist, when she and you are alone, and the young Delaware maiden is
+inclined to talk religion. It's her fixed idee, I know, that the good
+warriors do nothing but hunt and fish in the other world, though I don't
+believe that she fancies any of them are brought down to trapping, which
+is no empl'yment for a brave. But of hunting and fishing, accordin' to
+her notion, they've their fill, and that, too, over the most agreeablest
+hunting grounds, and among game that is never out of season, and which
+is just actyve and instinctyve enough to give a pleasure to death. So I
+wouldn't ricommend it to you to start Hist on that idee."
+
+"Hist can't be so wicked as to believe any such thing," returned the
+other, earnestly. "No Indian hunts after he is dead."
+
+"No wicked Indian, I grant you; no wicked Indian, sartainly. He is
+obliged to carry the ammunition, and to look on without sharing in the
+sport, and to cook, and to light the fires, and to do every thing that
+isn't manful. Now, mind; I don't tell you these are my idees, but they
+are Hist's idees, and, therefore, for the sake of peace the less you say
+to her ag'in 'em, the better."
+
+"And what are your ideas of the fate of an Indian, in the other world?"
+demanded Judith, who had just found her voice.
+
+"Ah! gal, any thing but that! I am too Christianized to expect any thing
+so fanciful as hunting and fishing after death, nor do I believe there
+is one Manitou for the red-skin and another for a pale-face. You find
+different colours on 'arth, as any one may see, but you don't find
+different natur's. Different gifts, but only one natur'."
+
+"In what is a gift different from a nature? Is not nature itself a gift
+from God?"
+
+"Sartain; that's quick-thoughted, and creditable, Judith, though the
+main idee is wrong. A natur' is the creatur' itself; its wishes, wants,
+idees and feelin's, as all are born in him. This natur' never can be
+changed, in the main, though it may undergo some increase, or lessening.
+Now, gifts come of sarcumstances. Thus, if you put a man in a town, he
+gets town gifts; in a settlement, settlement gifts; in a forest, gifts
+of the woods. A soldier has soldierly gifts, and a missionary preaching
+gifts. All these increase and strengthen, until they get to fortify
+natur', as it might be, and excuse a thousand acts and idees. Still
+the creatur' is the same at the bottom; just as a man who is clad in
+regimentals is the same as the man that is clad in skins. The garments
+make a change to the eye, and some change in the conduct, perhaps; but
+none in the man. Herein lies the apology for gifts; seein' that you
+expect different conduct from one in silks and satins, from one in
+homespun; though the Lord, who didn't make the dresses, but who made
+the creatur's themselves, looks only at his own work. This isn't ra'al
+missionary doctrine, but it's as near it as a man of white colour need
+be. Ah's! me; little did I think to be talking of such matters, to-day,
+but it's one of our weaknesses never to know what will come to pass.
+Step into the Ark with me, Judith, for a minute; I wish to convarse with
+you."
+
+Judith complied with a willingness she could scarce conceal. Following
+the hunter into the cabin, she took a seat on a stool, while the young
+man brought Killdeer, the rifle she had given him, out of a corner, and
+placed himself on another, with the weapon laid upon his knees. After
+turning the piece round and round, and examining its lock and its breech
+with a sort of affectionate assiduity, he laid it down and proceeded to
+the subject which had induced him to desire the interview.
+
+"I understand you, Judith, to say that you gave me this rifle," he said.
+"I agreed to take it, because a young woman can have no particular use
+for firearms. The we'pon has a great name, and it desarves it, and
+ought of right to be carried by some known and sure hand, for the best
+repitation may be lost by careless and thoughtless handling."
+
+"Can it be in better hands than those in which it is now, Deerslayer?
+Thomas Hutter seldom missed with it; with you it must turn out to be--"
+
+"Sartain death!" interrupted the hunter, laughing. "I once know'd a
+beaver-man that had a piece he called by that very name, but 'twas all
+boastfulness, for I've seen Delawares that were as true with arrows,
+at a short range. Howsever, I'll not deny my gifts--for this is a gift,
+Judith, and not natur'--but, I'll not deny my gifts, and therefore allow
+that the rifle couldn't well be in better hands than it is at present.
+But, how long will it be likely to remain there? Atween us, the truth
+may be said, though I shouldn't like to have it known to the Sarpent and
+Hist; but, to you the truth may be spoken, since your feelin's will not
+be as likely to be tormented by it, as those of them that have known me
+longer and better. How long am I like to own this rifle or any other?
+That is a serious question for our thoughts to rest on, and should
+that happen which is so likely to happen, Killdeer would be without an
+owner."
+
+Judith listened with apparent composure, though the conflict within
+came near overpowering her. Appreciating the singular character of her
+companion, however, she succeeded in appearing calm, though, had not his
+attention been drawn exclusively to the rifle, a man of his keenness of
+observation could scarce have failed to detect the agony of mind with
+which the girl had hearkened to his words. Her great self-command,
+notwithstanding, enabled her to pursue the subject in a way still to
+deceive him.
+
+"What would you have me do with the weapon," she asked, "should that
+which you seem to expect take place?"
+
+"That's just what I wanted to speak to you about, Judith; that's just
+it. There's Chingachgook, now, though far from being parfect sartainty,
+with a rifle--for few red-skins ever get to be that--though far
+from being parfect sartainty, he is respectable, and is coming on.
+Nevertheless, he is my fri'nd, and all the better fri'nd, perhaps,
+because there never can be any hard feelin's atween us, touchin' our
+gifts, his'n bein' red, and mine bein' altogether white. Now, I should
+like to leave Killdeer to the Sarpent, should any thing happen to keep
+me from doing credit and honor to your precious gift, Judith."
+
+"Leave it to whom you please, Deerslayer. The rifle is your own, to do
+with as you please. Chingachgook shall have it, should you never return
+to claim it, if that be your wish."
+
+"Has Hetty been consulted in this matter? Property goes from the parent
+to the children, and not to one child, in partic'lar!"
+
+"If you place your right on that of the law, Deerslayer, I fear none of
+us can claim to be the owner. Thomas Hutter was no more the father
+of Esther, than he was the father of Judith. Judith and Esther we are
+truly, having no other name!"
+
+"There may be law in that, but there's no great reason, gal. Accordin'
+to the custom of families, the goods are your'n, and there's no one
+here to gainsay it. If Hetty would only say that she is willing, my
+mind would be quite at ease in the matter. It's true, Judith, that
+your sister has neither your beauty, nor your wit; but we should be the
+tenderest of the rights and welfare of the most weak-minded."
+
+The girl made no answer but placing herself at a window, she summoned
+her sister to her side. When the question was put to Hetty, that
+simple-minded and affectionate creature cheerfully assented to the
+proposal to confer on Deerslayer a full right of ownership to the
+much-coveted rifle. The latter now seemed perfectly happy, for the time
+being at least, and after again examining and re-examining his prize, he
+expressed a determination to put its merits to a practical test, before
+he left the spot. No boy could have been more eager to exhibit the
+qualities of his trumpet, or his crossbow, than this simple forester was
+to prove those of his rifle. Returning to the platform, he first took
+the Delaware aside, and informed him that this celebrated piece was
+to become his property, in the event of any thing serious befalling
+himself.
+
+"This is a new reason why you should be wary, Sarpent, and not run into
+any oncalculated danger," the hunter added, "for, it will be a victory
+of itself to a tribe to own such a piece as this! The Mingos will turn
+green with envy, and, what is more, they will not ventur' heedlessly
+near a village where it is known to be kept. So, look well to it,
+Delaware, and remember that you've now to watch over a thing that has
+all the valie of a creatur', without its failin's. Hist may be,
+and should be precious to you, but Killdeer will have the love and
+veneration of your whole people."
+
+"One rifle like another, Deerslayer," returned the Indian, in English,
+the language used by the other, a little hurt at his friend's lowering
+his betrothed to the level of a gun. "All kill; all wood and iron. Wife
+dear to heart; rifle good to shoot."
+
+"And what is a man in the woods without something to shoot with?--a
+miserable trapper, or a forlorn broom and basket maker, at the best.
+Such a man may hoe corn, and keep soul and body together, but he can
+never know the savory morsels of venison, or tell a bear's ham from a
+hog's. Come, my fri'nd, such another occasion may never offer ag'in,
+and I feel a strong craving for a trial with this celebrated piece.
+You shall bring out your own rifle, and I will just sight Killdeer in a
+careless way, in order that we may know a few of its secret vartues."
+
+As this proposition served to relieve the thoughts of the whole party,
+by giving them a new direction, while it was likely to produce no
+unpleasant results, every one was willing to enter into it; the girls
+bringing forth the firearms with an alacrity bordering on cheerfulness.
+Hutter's armory was well supplied, possessing several rifles, all of
+which were habitually kept loaded in readiness to meet any sudden demand
+for their use. On the present occasion it only remained to freshen the
+primings, and each piece was in a state for service. This was soon done,
+as all assisted in it, the females being as expert in this part of the
+system of defence as their male companions.
+
+"Now, Sarpent, we'll begin in a humble way, using Old Tom's commoners
+first, and coming to your we'pon and Killdeer as the winding up
+observations," said Deerslayer, delighted to be again, weapon in hand,
+ready to display his skill. "Here's birds in abundance, some in, and
+some over the lake, and they keep at just a good range, hovering round
+the hut. Speak your mind, Delaware, and p'int out the creatur' you wish
+to alarm. Here's a diver nearest in, off to the eastward, and that's a
+creatur' that buries itself at the flash, and will be like enough to try
+both piece and powder."
+
+Chingachgook was a man of few words. No sooner was the bird pointed out
+to him than he took his aim and fired. The duck dove at the flash, as
+had been expected, and the bullet skipped harmlessly along the surface
+of the lake, first striking the water within a few inches of the spot
+where the bird had so lately swam. Deerslayer laughed, cordially and
+naturally, but at the same time he threw himself into an attitude
+of preparation and stood keenly watching the sheet of placid water.
+Presently a dark spot appeared, and then the duck arose to breathe, and
+shook its wings. While in this act, a bullet passed directly through
+its breast, actually turning it over lifeless on its back. At the next
+moment, Deerslayer stood with the breech of his rifle on the platform,
+as tranquil as if nothing had happened, though laughing in his own
+peculiar manner.
+
+"There's no great trial of the pieces in that!" he said, as if anxious
+to prevent a false impression of his own merit. "No, that proof's
+neither for nor ag'in the rifles, seeing it was all quickness of hand
+and eye. I took the bird at a disadvantage, or he might have got under,
+again, afore the bullet reached him. But the Sarpent is too wise to mind
+such tricks, having long been used to them. Do you remember the time,
+chief, when you thought yourself sartain of the wild-goose, and I took
+him out of your very eyes, as it might be with a little smoke! Howsever,
+such things pass for nothing atween fri'nds, and young folk will have
+their fun, Judith. Ay; here's just the bird we want, for it's as good
+for the fire, as it is for the aim, and nothing should be lost that can
+be turned to just account. There, further north, Delaware."
+
+The latter looked in the required direction, and he soon saw a large
+black duck floating in stately repose on the water. At that distant day,
+when so few men were present to derange the harmony of the wilderness,
+all the smaller lakes with which the interior of New York so abounds
+were places of resort for the migratory aquatic birds, and this sheet
+like the others had once been much frequented by all the varieties of
+the duck, by the goose, the gull, and the loon. On the appearance of
+Hutter, the spot was comparatively deserted for other sheets, more
+retired and remote, though some of each species continued to resort
+thither, as indeed they do to the present hour. At that instant, a
+hundred birds were visible from the castle, sleeping on the water or
+laying their feathers in the limpid element, though no other offered so
+favorable a mark as that Deerslayer had just pointed out to his friend.
+Chingachgook, as usual, spared his words, and proceeded to execution.
+This time his aim was more careful than before, and his success in
+proportion. The bird had a wing crippled, and fluttered along the water
+screaming, materially increasing its distance from its enemies.
+
+"That bird must be put out of pain," exclaimed Deerslayer, the moment
+the animal endeavored to rise on the wing, "and this is the rifle and
+the eye to do it."
+
+The duck was still floundering along, when the fatal bullet overtook it,
+severing the head from the neck as neatly as if it had been done with
+an axe. Hist had indulged in a low cry of delight at the success of the
+young Indian, but now she affected to frown and resent the greater skill
+of his friend. The chief, on the contrary, uttered the usual exclamation
+of pleasure, and his smile proved how much he admired, and how little he
+envied.
+
+"Never mind the gal, Sarpent, never mind Hist's feelin's, which will
+neither choke, nor drown, slay nor beautify," said Deerslayer, laughing.
+"'Tis nat'ral for women to enter into their husband's victories and
+defeats, and you are as good as man and wife, so far as prejudyce and
+fri'ndship go. Here is a bird over head that will put the pieces to the
+proof. I challenge you to an upward aim, with a flying target. That's
+a ra'al proof, and one that needs sartain rifles, as well as sartain
+eyes."
+
+The species of eagle that frequents the water, and lives on fish, was
+also present, and one was hovering at a considerable height above the
+hut, greedily watching for an opportunity to make a swoop; its hungry
+young elevating their heads from a nest that was in sight, in the naked
+summit of a dead pine. Chingachgook silently turned a new piece against
+this bird, and after carefully watching his time, fired. A wider circuit
+than common denoted that the messenger had passed through the air at no
+great distance from the bird, though it missed its object. Deerslayer,
+whose aim was not more true than it was quick, fired as soon as it was
+certain his friend had missed, and the deep swoop that followed left
+it momentarily doubtful whether the eagle was hit or not. The marksman
+himself, however, proclaimed his own want of success, calling on his
+friend to seize another rifle, for he saw signs on the part of the bird
+of an intention to quit the spot.
+
+"I made him wink, Sarpent, I do think his feathers were ruffled, but
+no blood has yet been drawn, nor is that old piece fit for so nice and
+quick a sight. Quick, Delaware, you've now a better rifle, and, Judith,
+bring out Killdeer, for this is the occasion to try his merits, if he
+has 'em."
+
+A general movement followed, each of the competitors got ready, and the
+girls stood in eager expectation of the result. The eagle had made a
+wide circuit after his low swoop, and fanning his way upward, once more
+hovered nearly over the hut, at a distance even greater than before.
+Chingachgook gazed at him, and then expressed his opinion of the
+impossibility of striking a bird at that great height, and while he was
+so nearly perpendicular, as to the range. But a low murmur from Hist
+produced a sudden impulse and he fired. The result showed how well he
+had calculated, the eagle not even varying his flight, sailing round and
+round in his airy circle, and looking down, as if in contempt, at his
+foes.
+
+"Now, Judith," cried Deerslayer, laughing, with glistening and delighted
+eyes, "we'll see if Killdeer isn't Killeagle, too! Give me room
+Sarpent, and watch the reason of the aim, for by reason any thing may be
+l'arned."
+
+A careful sight followed, and was repeated again and again, the bird
+continuing to rise higher and higher. Then followed the flash and the
+report. The swift messenger sped upward, and, at the next instant, the
+bird turned on its side, and came swooping down, now struggling with
+one wing and then with the other, sometimes whirling in a circuit,
+next fanning desperately as if conscious of its injury, until, having
+described several complete circles around the spot, it fell heavily into
+the end of the Ark. On examining the body, it was found that the
+bullet had pierced it about half way between one of its wings and the
+breast-bone.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI.
+
+
+    "Upon two stony tables, spread before her,
+    She lean'd her bosom, more than stony hard,
+    There slept th' impartial judge, and strict restorer
+    Of wrong, or right, with pain or with reward;
+    There hung the score of all our debts, the card
+    Where good, and bad, and life, and death, were painted;
+    Was never heart of mortal so untainted,
+    But when the roll was read, with thousand terrors fainted."
+
+    Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victory in Heaven, lxv.
+
+"We've done an unthoughtful thing, Sarpent--yes, Judith, we've done an
+unthoughtful thing in taking life with an object no better than vanity!"
+exclaimed Deerslayer, when the Delaware held up the enormous bird, by
+its wings, and exhibited the dying eyes riveted on its enemies with
+the gaze that the helpless ever fasten on their destroyers. "'Twas more
+becomin' two boys to gratify their feelin's in this onthoughtful manner,
+than two warriors on a warpath, even though it be their first. Ah's!
+me; well, as a punishment I'll quit you at once, and when I find myself
+alone with them bloody-minded Mingos, it's more than like I'll have
+occasion to remember that life is sweet, even to the beasts of the woods
+and the fowls of the air. There, Judith; there's Kildeer; take him back,
+ag'in, and keep him for some hand that's more desarving to own such a
+piece."
+
+"I know of none as deserving as your own, Deerslayer," answered the girl
+in haste; "none but yours shall keep the rifle."
+
+"If it depended on skill, you might be right enough, gal, but we should
+know when to use firearms, as well as how to use 'em. I haven't l'arnt
+the first duty yet, it seems; so keep the piece till I have. The sight
+of a dyin' and distressed creatur', even though it be only a bird,
+brings wholesome thoughts to a man who don't know how soon his own time
+may come, and who is pretty sartain that it will come afore the sun
+sets; I'd give back all my vain feelin's, and rej'icin's in hand and
+eye, if that poor eagle was only on its nest ag'in, with its young,
+praisin' the Lord for anything that we can know about the matter, for
+health and strength!"
+
+The listeners were confounded with this proof of sudden repentance in
+the hunter, and that too for an indulgence so very common, that men
+seldom stop to weigh its consequences, or the physical suffering it may
+bring on the unoffending and helpless. The Delaware understood what was
+said, though he scarce understood the feelings which had prompted the
+words, and by way of disposing of the difficulty, he drew his keen
+knife, and severed the head of the sufferer from its body.
+
+"What a thing is power!" continued the hunter, "and what a thing it is
+to have it, and not to know how to use it. It's no wonder, Judith, that
+the great so often fail of their duties, when even the little and the
+humble find it so hard to do what's right, and not to do what's wrong.
+Then, how one evil act brings others a'ter it! Now, wasn't it for this
+furlough of mine, which must soon take me back to the Mingos, I'd find
+this creatur's nest, if I travelled the woods a fortnight--though
+an eagle's nest is soon found by them that understands the bird's
+natur',--but I'd travel a fortnight rather than not find it, just to put
+the young, too, out of their pain."
+
+"I'm glad to hear you say this, Deerslayer," observed Hetty, "and God
+will be more apt to remember your sorrow for what you've done, than the
+wickedness itself. I thought how wicked it was to kill harmless birds,
+while you were shooting, and meant to tell you so; but, I don't know how
+it happened,--I was so curious to see if you could hit an eagle at so
+great a height, that I forgot altogether to speak, 'till the mischief
+was done."
+
+"That's it; that's just it, my good Hetty. We can all see our faults and
+mistakes when it's too late to help them! Howsever I'm glad you didn't
+speak, for I don't think a word or two would have stopped me, just at
+that moment, and so the sin stands in its nakedness, and not aggravated
+by any unheeded calls to forbear. Well, well, bitter thoughts are hard
+to be borne at all times, but there's times when they're harder than at
+others."
+
+Little did Deerslayer know, while thus indulging in feelings that
+were natural to the man, and so strictly in accordance with his
+own unsophisticated and just principles, that, in the course of the
+inscrutable providence, which so uniformly and yet so mysteriously
+covers all events with its mantle, the very fault he was disposed so
+severely to censure was to be made the means of determining his own
+earthly fate. The mode and the moment in which he was to feel the
+influence of this interference, it would be premature to relate, but
+both will appear in the course of the succeeding chapters. As for
+the young man, he now slowly left the Ark, like one sorrowing for his
+misdeeds, and seated himself in silence on the platform. By this time
+the sun had ascended to some height, and its appearance, taken in
+connection with his present feelings, induced him to prepare to depart.
+The Delaware got the canoe ready for his friend, as soon as apprised of
+his intention, while Hist busied herself in making the few arrangements
+that were thought necessary to his comfort. All this was done without
+ostentation, but in a way that left Deerslayer fully acquainted with,
+and equally disposed to appreciate, the motive. When all was ready, both
+returned to the side of Judith and Hetty, neither of whom had moved from
+the spot where the young hunter sat.
+
+"The best fri'nds must often part," the last began, when he saw the
+whole party grouped around him--"yes, fri'ndship can't alter the ways
+of Providence, and let our feelin's be as they may, we must part. I've
+often thought there's moments when our words dwell longer on the mind
+than common, and when advice is remembered, just because the mouth that
+gives it isn't likely to give it ag'in. No one knows what will happen in
+this world, and therefore it may be well, when fri'nds separate under a
+likelihood that the parting may be long, to say a few words in kindness,
+as a sort of keepsakes. If all but one will go into the Ark, I'll talk
+to each in turn, and what is more, I'll listen to what you may have to
+say back ag'in, for it's a poor counsellor that won't take as well as
+give."
+
+As the meaning of the speaker was understood, the two Indians
+immediately withdrew as desired, leaving the sisters, however, still
+standing at the young man's side. A look of Deerslayer's induced Judith
+to explain.
+
+"You can advise Hetty as you land," she said hastily, "for I intend that
+she shall accompany you to the shore."
+
+"Is this wise, Judith? It's true, that under common sarcumstances
+a feeble mind is a great protection among red-skins, but when their
+feelin's are up, and they're bent on revenge, it's hard to say what may
+come to pass. Besides--"
+
+"What were you about to say, Deerslayer?" asked Judith, whose gentleness
+of voice and manner amounted nearly to tenderness, though she struggled
+hard to keep her emotions and apprehensions in subjection.
+
+"Why, simply that there are sights and doin's that one even as little
+gifted with reason and memory as Hetty here, might better not witness.
+So, Judith, you would do well to let me land alone, and to keep your
+sister back."
+
+"Never fear for me, Deerslayer," put in Hetty, who comprehended enough
+of the discourse to know its general drift, "I'm feeble minded, and that
+they say is an excuse for going anywhere; and what that won't excuse,
+will be overlooked on account of the Bible I always carry. It is
+wonderful, Judith, how all sorts of men; the trappers as well as the
+hunters; red-men as well as white; Mingos as well as Delawares do
+reverence and fear the Bible!"
+
+"I think you have not the least ground to fear any injury, Hetty,"
+answered the sister, "and therefore I shall insist on your going to the
+Huron camp with our friend. Your being there can do no harm, not even to
+yourself, and may do great good to Deerslayer."
+
+"This is not a moment, Judith, to dispute, and so have the matter your
+own way," returned the young man. "Get yourself ready, Hetty, and go
+into the canoe, for I've a few parting words to say to your sister,
+which can do you no good."
+
+Judith and her companion continued silent, until Hetty had so far
+complied as to leave them alone, when Deerslayer took up the subject,
+as if it had been interrupted by some ordinary occurrence, and in a very
+matter of fact way.
+
+"Words spoken at parting, and which may be the last we ever hear from a
+fri'nd are not soon forgotten," he repeated, "and so Judith, I intend
+to speak to you like a brother, seein' I'm not old enough to be your
+father. In the first place, I wish to caution you ag'in your inimies,
+of which two may be said to ha'nt your very footsteps, and to beset your
+ways. The first is oncommon good looks, which is as dangerous a foe
+to some young women, as a whole tribe of Mingos could prove, and which
+calls for great watchfulness--not to admire and praise--but to distrust
+and sarcumvent. Yes, good looks may be sarcumvented, and fairly
+outwitted, too. In order to do this you've only to remember that they
+melt like the snows, and, when once gone, they never come back ag'in.
+The seasons come and go, Judith, and if we have winter, with storms and
+frosts, and spring with chills and leafless trees, we have summer with
+its sun and glorious skies, and fall with its fruits, and a garment
+thrown over the forest, that no beauty of the town could rummage out of
+all the shops in America. 'Arth is in an etarnal round, the goodness of
+God bringing back the pleasant when we've had enough of the onpleasant.
+But it's not so with good looks. They are lent for a short time in
+youth, to be used and not abused, and, as I never met with a young woman
+to whom providence has been as bountiful as it has to you, Judith, in
+this partic'lar, I warn you, as it might be with my dyin' breath, to
+beware of the inimy--fri'nd, or inimy, as we deal with the gift."
+
+It was so grateful to Judith to hear these unequivocal admissions of her
+personal charms, that much would have been forgiven to the man who
+made them, let him be who he might. But, at that moment, and from a far
+better feeling, it would not have been easy for Deerslayer seriously
+to offend her, and she listened with a patience, which, had it been
+foretold only a week earlier, it would have excited her indignation to
+hear.
+
+"I understand your meaning, Deerslayer," returned the girl, with a
+meekness and humility that a little surprised her listener, "and hope to
+be able to profit by it. But, you have mentioned only one of the enemies
+I have to fear; who, or what is the other."
+
+"The other is givin' way afore your own good sense and judgment, I
+find, Judith; yes, he's not as dangerous as I supposed. Howsever, havin'
+opened the subject, it will be as well to end it honestly. The first
+inimy you have to be watchful of, as I've already told you, Judith,
+is oncommon good looks, and the next is an oncommon knowledge of the
+sarcumstance. If the first is bad, the last doesn't, in any way, mend
+the matter, so far as safety and peace of mind are consarned."
+
+How much longer the young man would have gone on in his simple and
+unsuspecting, but well intentioned manner, it might not be easy to say,
+had he not been interrupted by his listener's bursting into tears, and
+giving way to an outbreak of feeling, which was so much the more violent
+from the fact that it had been with so much difficulty suppressed. At
+first her sobs were so violent and uncontrollable that Deerslayer was a
+little appalled, and he was abundantly repentant from the instant that
+he discovered how much greater was the effect produced by his words than
+he had anticipated. Even the austere and exacting are usually appeased
+by the signs of contrition, but the nature of Deerslayer did not require
+proofs of intense feelings so strong in order to bring him down to a
+level with the regrets felt by the girl herself. He arose, as if an
+adder had stung him, and the accents of the mother that soothes her
+child were scarcely more gentle and winning than the tones of his voice,
+as he now expressed his contrition at having gone so far.
+
+"It was well meant, Judith," he said, "but it was not intended to hurt
+your feelin's so much. I have overdone the advice, I see; yes, I've
+overdone it, and I crave your pardon for the same. Fri'ndship's an awful
+thing! Sometimes it chides us for not having done enough; and then,
+ag'in it speaks in strong words for havin' done too much. Howsever, I
+acknowledge I've overdone the matter, and as I've a ra'al and strong
+regard for you, I rej'ice to say it, inasmuch as it proves how much
+better you are, than my own vanity and consaits had made you out to be."
+
+Judith now removed her hands from her face, her tears had ceased, and
+she unveiled a countenance so winning with the smile which rendered
+it even radiant, that the young man gazed at her, for a moment, with
+speechless delight.
+
+"Say no more, Deerslayer," she hastily interposed; "it pains me to hear
+you find fault with yourself. I know my own weakness, all the better,
+now I see that you have discovered it; the lesson, bitter as I have
+found it for a moment, shall not be forgotten. We will not talk any
+longer of these things, for I do not feel myself brave enough for the
+undertaking, and I should not like the Delaware, or Hist, or even Hetty,
+to notice my weakness. Farewell, Deerslayer; may God bless and protect
+you as your honest heart deserves blessings and protection, and as I
+must think he will."
+
+Judith had so far regained the superiority that properly belonged to her
+better education, high spirit, and surpassing personal advantages, as
+to preserve the ascendancy she had thus accidentally obtained, and
+effectually prevented any return to the subject that was as singularly
+interrupted, as it had been singularly introduced. The young man
+permitted her to have every thing her own way, and when she pressed his
+hard hand in both her own, he made no resistance, but submitted to the
+homage as quietly, and with quite as matter of course a manner, as a
+sovereign would have received a similar tribute from a subject, or the
+mistress from her suitor. Feeling had flushed the face and illuminated
+the whole countenance of the girl, and her beauty was never more
+resplendant than when she cast a parting glance at the youth. That
+glance was filled with anxiety, interest and gentle pity. At the next
+instant, she darted into the hut and was seen no more, though she spoke
+to Hist from a window, to inform her that their friend expected her
+appearance.
+
+"You know enough of red-skin natur', and red-skin usages, Wah-ta-Wah,
+to see the condition I am in on account of this furlough," commenced the
+hunter in Delaware, as soon as the patient and submissive girl of
+that people had moved quietly to his side; "you will therefore best
+onderstand how onlikely I am ever to talk with you ag'in. I've but
+little to say; but that little comes from long livin' among your people,
+and from havin' obsarved and noted their usages. The life of a woman is
+hard at the best, but I must own, though I'm not opinionated in favor of
+my own colour, that it is harder among the red men than it is among
+the pale-faces. This is a p'int on which Christians may well boast, if
+boasting can be set down for Christianity in any manner or form, which I
+rather think it cannot. Howsever, all women have their trials. Red women
+have their'n in what I should call the nat'ral way, while white women
+take 'em innoculated like. Bear your burthen, Hist, becomingly, and
+remember if it be a little toilsome, how much lighter it is than that of
+most Indian women. I know the Sarpent well--what I call cordially--and
+he will never be a tyrant to any thing he loves, though he will expect
+to be treated himself like a Mohican Chief. There will be cloudy days
+in your lodge I suppose, for they happen under all usages, and among all
+people, but, by keepin' the windows of the heart open there will always
+be room for the sunshine to enter. You come of a great stock yourself,
+and so does Chingachgook. It's not very likely that either will ever
+forget the sarcumstance and do any thing to disgrace your forefathers.
+Nevertheless, likin' is a tender plant, and never thrives long when
+watered with tears. Let the 'arth around your married happiness be
+moistened by the dews of kindness."
+
+"My pale brother is very wise; Wah will keep in her mind all that his
+wisdom tells her."
+
+"That's judicious and womanly, Hist. Care in listening, and
+stout-heartedness in holding to good counsel, is a wife's great
+protection. And, now, ask the Sarpent to come and speak with me, for a
+moment, and carry away with you all my best wishes and prayers. I shall
+think of you, Hist, and of your intended husband, let what may come to
+pass, and always wish you well, here and hereafter, whether the last is
+to be according to Indian idees, or Christian doctrines."
+
+Hist shed no tear at parting. She was sustained by the high resolution
+of one who had decided on her course, but her dark eyes were luminous
+with the feelings that glowed within, and her pretty countenance beamed
+with an expression of determination that was in marked and singular
+contrast to its ordinary gentleness. It was but a minute ere the
+Delaware advanced to the side of his friend with the light, noiseless
+tread of an Indian.
+
+"Come this-a-way, Sarpent, here more out of sight of the women,"
+commenced the Deerslayer, "for I've several things to say that mustn't
+so much as be suspected, much less overheard. You know too well
+the natur' of furloughs and Mingos to have any doubts or misgivin's
+consarnin' what is like to happen, when I get back to the camp. On them
+two p'ints therefore, a few words will go a great way. In the first
+place, chief, I wish to say a little about Hist, and the manner in which
+you red men treat your wives. I suppose it's accordin' to the gifts of
+your people that the women should work, and the men hunt; but there's
+such a thing as moderation in all matters. As for huntin', I see no good
+reason why any limits need be set to that, but Hist comes of too good a
+stock to toil like a common drudge. One of your means and standin' need
+never want for corn, or potatoes, or anything that the fields yield;
+therefore, I hope the hoe will never be put into the hands of any wife
+of yourn. You know I am not quite a beggar, and all I own, whether in
+ammunition, skins, arms, or calicoes, I give to Hist, should I not come
+back to claim them by the end of the season. This will set the maiden
+up, and will buy labor for her, for a long time to come. I suppose I
+needn't tell you to love the young woman, for that you do already, and
+whomsoever the man ra'ally loves, he'll be likely enough to cherish.
+Nevertheless, it can do no harm to say that kind words never rankle,
+while bitter words do. I know you're a man, Sarpent, that is less apt to
+talk in his own lodge, than to speak at the Council Fire; but forgetful
+moments may overtake us all, and the practyse of kind doin', and kind
+talkin', is a wonderful advantage in keepin' peace in a cabin, as well
+as on a hunt."
+
+"My ears are open," returned the Delaware gravely; "the words of my
+brother have entered so far that they never can fall out again. They
+are like rings, that have no end, and cannot drop. Let him speak on; the
+song of the wren and the voice of a friend never tire."
+
+"I will speak a little longer, chief, but you will excuse it for the
+sake of old companionship, should I now talk about myself. If the worst
+comes to the worst, it's not likely there'll be much left of me but
+ashes, so a grave would be useless, and a sort of vanity. On that score
+I'm no way partic'lar, though it might be well enough to take a look
+at the remains of the pile, and should any bones, or pieces be found,
+'twould be more decent to gather them together, and bury them, than to
+let them lie for the wolves to gnaw at, and howl over. These matters
+can make no great difference in the mind, but men of white blood and
+Christian feelin's have rather a gift for graves."
+
+"It shall be done as my brother says," returned the Indian, gravely. "If
+his mind is full, let him empty it in the bosom of a friend."
+
+"I thank you, Sarpent; my mind's easy enough; yes, it's tolerable easy.
+Idees will come uppermost that I'm not apt to think about in common,
+it's true, but by striving ag'in some, and lettin' other some out, all
+will come right in the long run. There's one thing, howsever, chief,
+that does seem to me to be onreasonable, and ag'in natur', though the
+missionaries say it's true, and bein' of my religion and colour I feel
+bound to believe them. They say an Injin may torment and tortur' the
+body to his heart's content, and scalp, and cut, and tear, and burn,
+and consume all his inventions and deviltries, until nothin' is left but
+ashes, and they shall be scattered to the four winds of heaven, yet when
+the trumpet of God shall sound, all will come together ag'in, and the
+man will stand forth in his flesh, the same creatur' as to looks, if not
+as to feelin's, that he was afore he was harmed!"
+
+"The missionaries are good men--mean well," returned the Delaware
+courteously; "they are not great medicines. They think all they say,
+Deerslayer; that is no reason why warriors and orators should be all
+ears. When Chingachgook shall see the father of Tamenund standing in his
+scalp, and paint, and war lock, then will he believe the missionaries."
+
+"Seein' is believin', of a sartainty; ahs! me--and some of us may see
+these things sooner than we thought. I comprehind your meanin' about
+Tamenund's father, Sarpent, and the idee's a close idee. Tamenund is now
+an elderly man, say eighty every day of it, and his father was scalped,
+and tormented, and burnt, when the present prophet was a youngster. Yes,
+if one could see that come to pass, there wouldn't be much difficulty
+in yieldin' faith to all that the missionaries say. Howsever, I am
+not ag'in the opinion now, for you must know, Sarpent, that the great
+principle of Christianity is to believe without seeing, and a man should
+always act up to his religion and principles, let them be what they
+may."
+
+"That is strange for a wise nation!" said the Delaware with emphasis.
+"The red man looks hard, that he may see and understand."
+
+"Yes, that's plauserble, and is agreeable to mortal pride, but it's not
+as deep as it seems. If we could understand all we see, Sarpent, there
+might be not only sense, but safety, in refusin' to give faith to any
+one thing that we might find oncomperhensible; but when there's so many
+things about which it may be said we know nothin' at all, why, there's
+little use, and no reason, in bein' difficult touchin' any one in
+partic'lar. For my part, Delaware, all my thoughts haven't been on the
+game, when outlyin' in the hunts and scoutin's of our youth. Many's the
+hour I've passed, pleasantly enough too, in what is tarmed conterplation
+by my people. On such occasions the mind is actyve, though the body
+seems lazy and listless. An open spot on a mountain side, where a wide
+look can be had at the heavens and the 'arth, is a most judicious place
+for a man to get a just idee of the power of the Manitou, and of his
+own littleness. At such times, there isn't any great disposition to find
+fault with little difficulties, in the way of comperhension, as there
+are so many big ones to hide them. Believin' comes easy enough to me at
+such times, and if the Lord made man first out of 'arth, as they tell me
+it is written in the Bible; then turns him into dust at death; I see
+no great difficulty in the way to bringin' him back in the body,
+though ashes be the only substance left. These things lie beyond our
+understandin', though they may and do lie so close to our feelin's. But,
+of all the doctrines, Sarpent, that which disturbs me, and disconsarts
+my mind the most, is the one which teaches us to think that a pale-face
+goes to one heaven, and a red-skin to another; it may separate in death
+them which lived much together, and loved each other well, in life!"
+
+"Do the missionaries teach their white brethren to think it is so?"
+demanded the Indian, with serious earnestness. "The Delawares believe
+that good men and brave warriors will hunt together in the same pleasant
+woods, let them belong to whatever tribe they may; that all the unjust
+Indians and cowards will have to sneak in with the dogs and the wolves
+to get venison for their lodges."
+
+"'Tis wonderful how many consaits mankind have consarnin' happiness and
+misery, here after!" exclaimed the hunter, borne away by the power of
+his own thoughts. "Some believe in burnin's and flames, and some think
+punishment is to eat with the wolves and dogs. Then, ag'in, some fancy
+heaven to be only the carryin' out of their own 'arthly longin's, while
+others fancy it all gold and shinin' lights! Well, I've an idee of my
+own, in that matter, which is just this, Sarpent. Whenever I've done
+wrong, I've ginirally found 'twas owin' to some blindness of the mind,
+which hid the right from view, and when sight has returned, then has
+come sorrow and repentance. Now, I consait that, after death, when
+the body is laid aside or, if used at all, is purified and without its
+longin's, the spirit sees all things in their ra'al lights and never
+becomes blind to truth and justice. Such bein' the case, all that has
+been done in life, is beheld as plainly as the sun is seen at noon;
+the good brings joy, while the evil brings sorrow. There's nothin'
+onreasonable in that, but it's agreeable to every man's exper'ence."
+
+"I thought the pale-faces believed all men were wicked; who then could
+ever find the white man's heaven?"
+
+"That's ingen'ous, but it falls short of the missionary teachin's.
+You'll be Christianized one day, I make no doubt, and then 'twill all
+come plain enough. You must know, Sarpent, that there's been a great
+deed of salvation done, that, by God's help, enables all men to find
+a pardon for their wickednesses, and that is the essence of the white
+man's religion. I can't stop to talk this matter over with you any
+longer, for Hetty's in the canoe, and the furlough takes me away, but
+the time will come I hope when you'll feel these things; for, after all,
+they must be felt rather than reasoned about. Ah's! me; well, Delaware,
+there's my hand; you know it's that of a fri'nd, and will shake it as
+such, though it never has done you one half the good its owner wishes it
+had."
+
+The Indian took the offered hand, and returned its pressure warmly. Then
+falling back on his acquired stoicism of manner, which so many mistake
+for constitutional indifference, he drew up in reserve, and prepared
+to part from his friend with dignity. Deerslayer, however, was more
+natural, nor would he have at all cared about giving way to his
+feelings, had not the recent conduct and language of Judith given him
+some secret, though ill defined apprehensions of a scene. He was too
+humble to imagine the truth concerning the actual feelings of that
+beautiful girl, while he was too observant not to have noted the
+struggle she had maintained with herself, and which had so often led
+her to the very verge of discovery. That something extraordinary was
+concealed in her breast he thought obvious enough, and, through a
+sentiment of manly delicacy that would have done credit to the highest
+human refinement, he shrunk from any exposure of her secret that might
+subsequently cause regret to the girl, herself. He therefore determined
+to depart, now, and that without any further manifestations of feeling
+either from him, or from others.
+
+"God bless you! Sarpent--God bless you!" cried the hunter, as the canoe
+left the side of the platform. "Your Manitou and my God only know when
+and where we shall meet ag'in; I shall count it a great blessing, and a
+full reward for any little good I may have done on 'arth, if we shall be
+permitted to know each other, and to consort together, hereafter, as we
+have so long done in these pleasant woods afore us!"
+
+Chingachgook waved his hand. Drawing the light blanket he wore over
+his head, as a Roman would conceal his grief in his robes, he slowly
+withdrew into the Ark, in order to indulge his sorrow and his musings,
+alone. Deerslayer did not speak again until the canoe was half-way to
+the shore. Then he suddenly ceased paddling, at an interruption that
+came from the mild, musical voice of Hetty.
+
+"Why do you go back to the Hurons, Deerslayer?" demanded the girl. "They
+say I am feeble-minded, and such they never harm, but you have as much
+sense as Hurry Harry; and more too, Judith thinks, though I don't see
+how that can well be."
+
+"Ah! Hetty, afore we land I must convarse a little with you child,
+and that too on matters touching your own welfare, principally. Stop
+paddling--or, rather, that the Mingos needn't think we are plotting and
+contriving, and so treat us accordingly, just dip your paddle lightly,
+and give the canoe a little motion and no more. That's just the idee and
+the movement; I see you're ready enough at an appearance, and might be
+made useful at a sarcumvention if it was lawful now to use one--that's
+just the idee and the movement! Ah's! me. Desait and a false tongue are
+evil things, and altogether onbecoming our colour, Hetty, but it is a
+pleasure and a satisfaction to outdo the contrivances of a red-skin in
+the strife of lawful warfare. My path has been short, and is like soon
+to have an end, but I can see that the wanderings of a warrior aren't
+altogether among brambles and difficulties. There's a bright side to a
+warpath, as well as to most other things, if we'll only have the wisdom
+to see it, and the ginerosity to own it."
+
+"And why should your warpath, as you call it, come so near to an end,
+Deerslayer?"
+
+"Because, my good girl, my furlough comes so near to an end. They're
+likely to have pretty much the same tarmination, as regards time, one
+following on the heels of the other, as a matter of course."
+
+"I don't understand your meaning, Deerslayer--" returned the girl,
+looking a little bewildered. "Mother always said people ought to speak
+more plainly to me than to most other persons, because I'm feeble
+minded. Those that are feeble minded, don't understand as easily as
+those that have sense."
+
+"Well then, Hetty, the simple truth is this. You know that I'm now a
+captyve to the Hurons, and captyves can't do, in all things, as they
+please--"
+
+"But how can you be a captive," eagerly interrupted the girl--"when you
+are out here on the lake, in father's best canoe, and the Indians are in
+the woods with no canoe at all? That can't be true, Deerslayer!"
+
+"I wish with all my heart and soul, Hetty, that you was right, and that
+I was wrong, instead of your bein' all wrong, and I bein' only too near
+the truth. Free as I seem to your eyes, gal, I'm bound hand and foot in
+ra'ality."
+
+"Well it is a great misfortune not to have sense! Now I can't see or
+understand that you are a captive, or bound in any manner. If you are
+bound, with what are your hands and feet fastened?"
+
+"With a furlough, gal; that's a thong that binds tighter than any
+chain. One may be broken, but the other can't. Ropes and chains allow of
+knives, and desait, and contrivances; but a furlough can be neither cut,
+slipped nor sarcumvented."
+
+"What sort of a thing is a furlough, then, if it be stronger than hemp
+or iron? I never saw a furlough."
+
+"I hope you may never feel one, gal; the tie is altogether in the
+feelin's, in these matters, and therefore is to be felt and not seen.
+You can understand what it is to give a promise, I dare to say, good
+little Hetty?"
+
+"Certainly. A promise is to say you will do a thing, and that binds you
+to be as good as your word. Mother always kept her promises to me, and
+then she said it would be wicked if I didn't keep my promises to her,
+and to every body else."
+
+"You have had a good mother, in some matters, child, whatever she may
+have been in other some. That is a promise, and as you say it must be
+kept. Now, I fell into the hands of the Mingos last night, and they let
+me come off to see my fri'nds and send messages in to my own colour, if
+any such feel consarn on my account, on condition that I shall be back
+when the sun is up to-day, and take whatever their revenge and hatred
+can contrive, in the way of torments, in satisfaction for the life of
+a warrior that fell by my rifle, as well as for that of the young woman
+shot by Hurry, and other disapp'intments met with on and about this
+lake. What is called a promise atween mother and darter, or even atween
+strangers in the settlements is called a furlough when given by one
+soldier to another, on a warpath. And now I suppose you understand my
+situation, Hetty."
+
+The girl made no answer for some time, but she ceased paddling
+altogether, as if the novel idea distracted her mind too much to admit
+of other employment. Then she resumed the dialogue earnestly and with
+solicitude.
+
+"Do you think the Hurons will have the heart to do what you say,
+Deerslayer?" she asked. "I have found them kind and harmless."
+
+"That's true enough as consarns one like you, Hetty, but it's a very
+different affair when it comes to an open inimy, and he too the owner of
+a pretty sartain rifle. I don't say that they bear me special malice on
+account of any expl'ites already performed, for that would be bragging,
+as it might be, on the varge of the grave, but it's no vanity to believe
+that they know one of their bravest and cunnin'est chiefs fell by my
+hands. Such bein' the case, the tribe would reproach them if they failed
+to send the spirit of a pale-face to keep the company of the spirit of
+their red brother; always supposin' that he can catch it. I look for
+no marcy, Hetty, at their hands; and my principal sorrow is that such a
+calamity should befall me on my first warpath: that it would come sooner
+or later, every soldier counts on and expects."
+
+"The Hurons shall not harm you, Deerslayer," cried the girl, much
+excited--"'Tis wicked as well as cruel; I have the Bible, here, to tell
+them so. Do you think I would stand by and see you tormented?"
+
+"I hope not, my good Hetty, I hope not; and, therefore, when the moment
+comes, I expect you will move off, and not be a witness of what you
+can't help, while it would grieve you. But, I haven't stopped the
+paddles to talk of my own afflictions and difficulties, but to speak a
+little plainly to you, gal, consarnin' your own matters."
+
+"What can you have to say to me, Deerslayer! Since mother died, few talk
+to me of such things."
+
+"So much the worse, poor gal; yes, 'tis so much the worse, for one of
+your state of mind needs frequent talking to, in order to escape the
+snares and desaits of this wicked world. You haven't forgotten Hurry
+Harry, gal, so soon, I calculate?"
+
+"I!--I forget Henry March!" exclaimed Hetty, starting. "Why should I
+forget him, Deerslayer, when he is our friend, and only left us last
+night. Then the large bright star that mother loved so much to gaze at
+was just over the top of yonder tall pine on the mountain, as Hurry got
+into the canoe; and when you landed him on the point, near the east bay,
+it wasn't more than the length of Judith's handsomest ribbon above it."
+
+"And how can you know how long I was gone, or how far I went to land
+Hurry, seein' you were not with us, and the distance was so great, to
+say nothing of the night?"
+
+"Oh! I know when it was, well enough," returned Hetty
+positively--"There's more ways than one for counting time and distance.
+When the mind is engaged, it is better than any clock. Mine is feeble,
+I know, but it goes true enough in all that touches poor Hurry Harry.
+Judith will never marry March, Deerslayer."
+
+"That's the p'int, Hetty; that's the very p'int I want to come to.
+I suppose you know that it's nat'ral for young people to have kind
+feelin's for one another, more especially when one happens to be a youth
+and t'other a maiden. Now, one of your years and mind, gal, that has
+neither father nor mother, and who lives in a wilderness frequented by
+hunters and trappers, needs be on her guard against evils she little
+dreams of."
+
+"What harm can it be to think well of a fellow creature," returned Hetty
+simply, though the conscious blood was stealing to her cheeks in spite
+of a spirit so pure that it scarce knew why it prompted the blush, "the
+Bible tells us to 'love them who despitefully use' us, and why shouldn't
+we like them that do not."
+
+"Ah! Hetty, the love of the missionaries isn't the sort of likin' I
+mean. Answer me one thing, child; do you believe yourself to have mind
+enough to become a wife, and a mother?"
+
+"That's not a proper question to ask a young woman, Deerslayer, and
+I'll not answer it," returned the girl, in a reproving manner--much as
+a parent rebukes a child for an act of indiscretion. "If you have any
+thing to say about Hurry, I'll hear that--but you must not speak evil of
+him; he is absent, and 'tis unkind to talk evil of the absent."
+
+"Your mother has given you so many good lessons, Hetty, that my fears
+for you are not as great as they were. Nevertheless, a young woman
+without parents, in your state of mind, and who is not without beauty,
+must always be in danger in such a lawless region as this. I would say
+nothin' amiss of Hurry, who, in the main, is not a bad man for one
+of his callin', but you ought to know one thing, which it may not be
+altogether pleasant to tell you, but which must be said. March has a
+desperate likin' for your sister Judith."
+
+"Well, what of that? Everybody admires Judith, she's so handsome, and
+Hurry has told me, again and again, how much he wishes to marry her.
+But that will never come to pass, for Judith don't like Hurry. She likes
+another, and talks about him in her sleep; though you need not ask me
+who he is, for all the gold in King George's crown, and all the jewels
+too, wouldn't tempt me to tell you his name. If sisters can't keep each
+other's secrets, who can?"
+
+"Sartainly, I do not wish you to tell me, Hetty, nor would it be any
+advantage to a dyin' man to know. What the tongue says when the mind's
+asleep, neither head nor heart is answerable for."
+
+"I wish I knew why Judith talks so much in her sleep, about officers,
+and honest hearts, and false tongues, but I suppose she don't like to
+tell me, as I'm feeble minded. Isn't it odd, Deerslayer, that Judith
+don't like Hurry--he who is the bravest looking youth that ever comes
+upon the lake, and is as handsome as she is herself. Father always said
+they would be the comeliest couple in the country, though mother didn't
+fancy March any more than Judith. There's no telling what will happen,
+they say, until things actually come to pass."
+
+"Ahs! me--well, poor Hetty, 'tis of no great use to talk to them that
+can't understand you, and so I'll say no more about what I did wish
+to speak of, though it lay heavy on my mind. Put the paddle in motion
+ag'in, gal, and we'll push for the shore, for the sun is nearly up, and
+my furlough is almost out."
+
+The canoe now glided ahead, holding its way towards the point where
+Deerslayer well knew that his enemies expected him, and where he now
+began to be afraid he might not arrive in season to redeem his
+plighted faith. Hetty, perceiving his impatience without very clearly
+comprehending its cause, however, seconded his efforts in a way that
+soon rendered their timely return no longer a matter of doubt. Then,
+and then only, did the young man suffer his exertions to flag, and Hetty
+began, again, to prattle in her simple confiding manner, though nothing
+farther was uttered that it may be thought necessary to relate.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII.
+
+
+    "Thou hast been busy, Death, this day, and yet
+    But half thy work is done!  The gates of hell
+    Are thronged, yet twice ten thousand spirits more
+    Who from their warm and healthful tenements
+    Fear no divorce; must, ere the sun go down,
+    Enter the world of woe!"--
+
+    Southey, Roderick, the Last of the Goths, XXIV, i-6.
+
+One experienced in the signs of the heavens, would have seen that the
+sun wanted but two or three minutes of the zenith, when Deerslayer
+landed on the point, where the Hurons were now encamped, nearly abreast
+of the castle. This spot was similar to the one already described, with
+the exception that the surface of the land was less broken, and less
+crowded with trees. Owing to these two circumstances, it was all the
+better suited to the purpose for which it had been selected, the space
+beneath the branches bearing some resemblance to a densely wooded lawn.
+Favoured by its position and its spring, it had been much resorted to by
+savages and hunters, and the natural grasses had succeeded their fires,
+leaving an appearance of sward in places, a very unusual accompaniment
+of the virgin forest. Nor was the margin of water fringed with bushes,
+as on so much of its shore, but the eye penetrated the woods immediately
+on reaching the strand, commanding nearly the whole area of the
+projection.
+
+If it was a point of honor with the Indian warrior to redeem his word,
+when pledged to return and meet his death at a given hour, so was it
+a point of characteristic pride to show no womanish impatience, but to
+reappear as nearly as possible at the appointed moment. It was well not
+to exceed the grace accorded by the generosity of the enemy, but it was
+better to meet it to a minute. Something of this dramatic effect mingles
+with most of the graver usages of the American aborigines, and no doubt,
+like the prevalence of a similar feeling among people more sophisticated
+and refined, may be referred to a principle of nature. We all love the
+wonderful, and when it comes attended by chivalrous self-devotion and a
+rigid regard to honor, it presents itself to our admiration in a shape
+doubly attractive. As respects Deerslayer, though he took a pride in
+showing his white blood, by often deviating from the usages of the
+red-men, he frequently dropped into their customs, and oftener into
+their feelings, unconsciously to himself, in consequence of having no
+other arbiters to appeal to, than their judgments and tastes. On the
+present occasion, he would have abstained from betraying a feverish
+haste by a too speedy return, since it would have contained a tacit
+admission that the time asked for was more than had been wanted; but,
+on the other hand, had the idea occurred to him, he would have quickened
+his movements a little, in order to avoid the dramatic appearance of
+returning at the precise instant set as the utmost limit of his absence.
+Still, accident had interfered to defeat the last intention, for when
+the young man put his foot on the point, and advanced with a steady
+tread towards the group of chiefs that was seated in grave array on
+a fallen tree, the oldest of their number cast his eye upward, at an
+opening in the trees, and pointed out to his companions the startling
+fact that the sun was just entering a space that was known to mark the
+zenith. A common, but low exclamation of surprise and admiration escaped
+every mouth, and the grim warriors looked at each other, some with envy
+and disappointment, some with astonishment at the precise accuracy of
+their victim, and others with a more generous and liberal feeling. The
+American Indian always deemed his moral victories the noblest, prizing
+the groans and yielding of his victim under torture, more than the
+trophy of his scalp; and the trophy itself more than his life. To slay,
+and not to bring off the proof of victory, indeed, was scarcely deemed
+honorable, even these rude and fierce tenants of the forest, like their
+more nurtured brethren of the court and the camp, having set up for
+themselves imaginary and arbitrary points of honor, to supplant the
+conclusions of the right and the decisions of reason.
+
+The Hurons had been divided in their opinions concerning the probability
+of their captive's return. Most among them, indeed, had not expected it
+possible for a pale-face to come back voluntarily, and meet the known
+penalties of an Indian torture; but a few of the seniors expected better
+things from one who had already shown himself so singularly cool, brave
+and upright. The party had come to its decision, however, less in
+the expectation of finding the pledge redeemed, than in the hope of
+disgracing the Delawares by casting into their teeth the delinquency
+of one bred in their villages. They would have greatly preferred that
+Chingachgook should be their prisoner, and prove the traitor, but the
+pale-face scion of the hated stock was no bad substitute for their
+purposes, failing in their designs against the ancient stem. With a
+view to render their triumph as signal as possible, in the event of the
+hour's passing without the reappearance of the hunter, all the warriors
+and scouts of the party had been called in, and the whole band, men,
+women and children, was now assembled at this single point, to be a
+witness of the expected scene. As the castle was in plain view, and
+by no means distant, it was easily watched by daylight, and, it being
+thought that its inmates were now limited to Hurry, the Delaware and
+the two girls, no apprehensions were felt of their being able to escape
+unseen. A large raft having a breast-work of logs had been prepared,
+and was in actual readiness to be used against either Ark or castle
+as occasion might require, so soon as the fate of Deerslayer was
+determined, the seniors of the party having come to the opinion that it
+was getting to be hazardous to delay their departure for Canada beyond
+the coming night. In short the band waited merely to dispose of this
+single affair, ere it brought matters with those in the Castle to a
+crisis, and prepared to commence its retreat towards the distant waters
+of Ontario.
+
+It was an imposing scene into which Deerslayer now found himself
+advancing. All the older warriors were seated on the trunk of the fallen
+tree, waiting his approach with grave decorum. On the right stood the
+young men, armed, while left was occupied by the women and children. In
+the centre was an open space of considerable extent, always canopied by
+trees, but from which the underbrush, dead wood, and other obstacles had
+been carefully removed. The more open area had probably been much used
+by former parties, for this was the place where the appearance of a
+sward was the most decided. The arches of the woods, even at high noon,
+cast their sombre shadows on the spot, which the brilliant rays of the
+sun that struggled through the leaves contributed to mellow, and, if
+such an expression can be used, to illuminate. It was probably from a
+similar scene that the mind of man first got its idea of the effects of
+gothic tracery and churchly hues, this temple of nature producing
+some such effect, so far as light and shadow were concerned, as the
+well-known offspring of human invention.
+
+As was not unusual among the tribes and wandering bands of the
+Aborigines, two chiefs shared, in nearly equal degrees, the principal
+and primitive authority that was wielded over these children of the
+forest. There were several who might claim the distinction of being
+chief men, but the two in question were so much superior to all the rest
+in influence, that, when they agreed, no one disputed their mandates,
+and when they were divided the band hesitated, like men who had lost
+their governing principle of action. It was also in conformity with
+practice, perhaps we might add in conformity with nature, that one of
+the chiefs was indebted to his mind for his influence, whereas the other
+owed his distinction altogether to qualities that were physical. One
+was a senior, well known for eloquence in debate, wisdom in council, and
+prudence in measures; while his great competitor, if not his rival, was
+a brave distinguished in war, notorious for ferocity, and remarkable, in
+the way of intellect, for nothing but the cunning and expedients of the
+war path. The first was Rivenoak, who has already been introduced to the
+reader, while the last was called le Panth'ere, in the language of the
+Canadas, or the Panther, to resort to the vernacular of the English
+colonies. The appellation of the fighting chief was supposed to indicate
+the qualities of the warrior, agreeably to a practice of the red man's
+nomenclature, ferocity, cunning and treachery being, perhaps, the
+distinctive features of his character. The title had been received from
+the French, and was prized so much the more from that circumstance,
+the Indian submitting profoundly to the greater intelligence of his
+pale-face allies, in most things of this nature. How well the sobriquet
+was merited will be seen in the sequel.
+
+Rivenoak and the Panther sat side by side awaiting the approach of their
+prisoner, as Deerslayer put his moccasined foot on the strand, nor did
+either move, or utter a syllable, until the young man had advanced into
+the centre of the area, and proclaimed his presence with his voice. This
+was done firmly, though in the simple manner that marked the character
+of the individual.
+
+"Here I am, Mingos," he said, in the dialect of the Delawares, a
+language that most present understood; "here I am, and there is the sun.
+One is not more true to the laws of natur', than the other has proved
+true to his word. I am your prisoner; do with me what you please. My
+business with man and 'arth is settled; nothing remains now but to meet
+the white man's God, accordin' to a white man's duties and gifts."
+
+A murmur of approbation escaped even the women at this address, and, for
+an instant there was a strong and pretty general desire to adopt into
+the tribe one who owned so brave a spirit. Still there were dissenters
+from this wish, among the principal of whom might be classed the
+Panther, and his sister, le Sumach, so called from the number of her
+children, who was the widow of le Loup Cervier, now known to have fallen
+by the hand of the captive. Native ferocity held one in subjection,
+while the corroding passion of revenge prevented the other from
+admitting any gentler feeling at the moment. Not so with Rivenoak. This
+chief arose, stretched his arm before him in a gesture of courtesy, and
+paid his compliments with an ease and dignity that a prince might have
+envied. As, in that band, his wisdom and eloquence were confessedly
+without rivals, he knew that on himself would properly fall the duty of
+first replying to the speech of the pale-face.
+
+"Pale-face, you are honest," said the Huron orator. "My people are happy
+in having captured a man, and not a skulking fox. We now know you; we
+shall treat you like a brave. If you have slain one of our warriors, and
+helped to kill others, you have a life of your own ready to give away in
+return. Some of my young men thought that the blood of a pale-face was
+too thin; that it would refuse to run under the Huron knife. You will
+show them it is not so; your heart is stout, as well as your body. It
+is a pleasure to make such a prisoner; should my warriors say that the
+death of le Loup Cervier ought not to be forgotten, and that he cannot
+travel towards the land of spirits alone, that his enemy must be sent
+to overtake him, they will remember that he fell by the hand of a brave,
+and send you after him with such signs of our friendship as shall not
+make him ashamed to keep your company. I have spoken; you know what I
+have said."
+
+"True enough, Mingo, all true as the gospel," returned the simple minded
+hunter, "you have spoken, and I do know not only what you have said,
+but, what is still more important, what you mean. I dare to say
+your warrior the Lynx was a stout-hearted brave, and worthy of your
+fri'ndship and respect, but I do not feel unworthy to keep his company,
+without any passport from your hands. Nevertheless, here I am, ready
+to receive judgment from your council, if, indeed, the matter was not
+detarmined among you afore I got back."
+
+"My old men would not sit in council over a pale-face until they saw him
+among them," answered Rivenoak, looking around him a little ironically;
+"they said it would be like sitting in council over the winds; they go
+where they will, and come back as they see fit, and not otherwise. There
+was one voice that spoke in your favor, Deerslayer, but it was alone,
+like the song of the wren whose mate has been struck by the hawk."
+
+"I thank that voice whosever it may have been, Mingo, and will say it
+was as true a voice as the rest were lying voices. A furlough is as
+binding on a pale-face, if he be honest, as it is on a red-skin, and was
+it not so, I would never bring disgrace on the Delawares, among whom I
+may be said to have received my edication. But words are useless, and
+lead to braggin' feelin's; here I am; act your will on me."
+
+Rivenoak made a sign of acquiescence, and then a short conference was
+privately held among the chiefs. As soon as the latter ended, three or
+four young men fell back from among the armed group, and disappeared.
+Then it was signified to the prisoner that he was at liberty to go at
+large on the point, until a council was held concerning his fate. There
+was more of seeming, than of real confidence, however, in this apparent
+liberality, inasmuch as the young men mentioned already formed a line of
+sentinels across the breadth of the point, inland, and escape from any
+other part was out of the question. Even the canoe was removed beyond
+this line of sentinels, to a spot where it was considered safe from
+any sudden attempt. These precautions did not proceed from a failure of
+confidence, but from the circumstance that the prisoner had now complied
+with all the required conditions of his parole, and it would have been
+considered a commendable and honorable exploit to escape from his foes.
+So nice, indeed, were the distinctions drawn by the savages in cases of
+this nature, that they often gave their victims a chance to evade the
+torture, deeming it as creditable to the captors to overtake, or to
+outwit a fugitive, when his exertions were supposed to be quickened by
+the extreme jeopardy of his situation, as it was for him to get clear
+from so much extraordinary vigilance.
+
+Nor was Deerslayer unconscious of, or forgetful, of his rights and of
+his opportunities. Could he now have seen any probable opening for an
+escape, the attempt would not have been delayed a minute. But the case
+seem'd desperate. He was aware of the line of sentinels, and felt
+the difficulty of breaking through it, unharmed. The lake offered
+no advantages, as the canoe would have given his foes the greatest
+facilities for overtaking him; else would he have found it no difficult
+task to swim as far as the castle. As he walked about the point, he even
+examined the spot to ascertain if it offered no place of concealment,
+but its openness, its size, and the hundred watchful glances that were
+turned towards him, even while those who made them affected not to
+see him, prevented any such expedient from succeeding. The dread and
+disgrace of failure had no influence on Deerslayer, who deemed it even
+a point of honor to reason and feel like a white man, rather than as an
+Indian, and who felt it a sort of duty to do all he could that did not
+involve a dereliction from principle, in order to save his life. Still
+he hesitated about making the effort, for he also felt that he ought to
+see the chance of success before he committed himself.
+
+In the mean time the business of the camp appeared to proceed in its
+regular train. The chiefs consulted apart, admitting no one but the
+Sumach to their councils, for she, the widow of the fallen warrior,
+had an exclusive right to be heard on such an occasion. The young men
+strolled about in indolent listlessness, awaiting the result with Indian
+patience, while the females prepared the feast that was to celebrate the
+termination of the affair, whether it proved fortunate or otherwise for
+our hero. No one betrayed feeling, and an indifferent observer, beyond
+the extreme watchfulness of the sentinels, would have detected no
+extraordinary movement or sensation to denote the real state of things.
+Two or three old women put their heads together, and it appeared
+unfavorably to the prospects of Deerslayer, by their scowling looks, and
+angry gestures; but a group of Indian girls were evidently animated by a
+different impulse, as was apparent by stolen glances that expressed pity
+and regret. In this condition of the camp, an hour soon glided away.
+
+Suspense is perhaps the feeling of all others that is most difficult to
+be supported. When Deerslayer landed, he fully expected in the course of
+a few minutes to undergo the tortures of an Indian revenge, and he
+was prepared to meet his fate manfully; but, the delay proved far more
+trying than the nearer approach of suffering, and the intended victim
+began seriously to meditate some desperate effort at escape, as it
+might be from sheer anxiety to terminate the scene, when he was suddenly
+summoned, to appear once more in front of his judges, who had already
+arranged the band in its former order, in readiness to receive him.
+
+"Killer of the Deer," commenced Rivenoak, as soon as his captive stood
+before him, "my aged men have listened to wise words; they are ready to
+speak. You are a man whose fathers came from beyond the rising sun; we
+are children of the setting sun; we turn our faces towards the Great
+Sweet Lakes, when we look towards our villages. It may be a wide country
+and full of riches towards the morning, but it is very pleasant towards
+the evening. We love most to look in that direction. When we gaze at the
+east, we feel afraid, canoe after canoe bringing more and more of your
+people in the track of the sun, as if their land was so full as to run
+over. The red men are few already; they have need of help. One of our
+best lodges has lately been emptied by the death of its master; it will
+be a long time before his son can grow big enough to sit in his place.
+There is his widow; she will want venison to feed her and her children,
+for her sons are yet like the young of the robin, before they quit the
+nest. By your hand has this great calamity befallen her. She has two
+duties; one to le Loup Cervier, and one to his children. Scalp for
+scalp, life for life, blood for blood, is one law; to feed her young,
+another. We know you, Killer of the Deer. You are honest; when you say a
+thing, it is so. You have but one tongue, and that is not forked, like
+a snake's. Your head is never hid in the grass; all can see it. What
+you say, that will you do. You are just. When you have done wrong, it is
+your wish to do right, again, as soon as you can. Here, is the Sumach;
+she is alone in her wigwam, with children crying around her for
+food--yonder is a rifle; it is loaded and ready to be fired. Take the
+gun, go forth and shoot a deer; bring the venison and lay it before the
+widow of Le Loup Cervier, feed her children; call yourself her husband.
+After which, your heart will no longer be Delaware, but Huron; le
+Sumach's ears will not hear the cries of her children; my people will
+count the proper number of warriors."
+
+"I fear'd this, Rivenoak," answered Deerslayer, when the other had
+ceased speaking--"yes, I did dread that it would come to this. Howsever,
+the truth is soon told, and that will put an end to all expectations on
+this head. Mingo, I'm white and Christian born; 't would ill become me
+to take a wife, under red-skin forms, from among heathen. That which
+I wouldn't do, in peaceable times, and under a bright sun, still less
+would I do behind clouds, in order to save my life. I may never marry;
+most likely Providence in putting me up here in the woods, has intended
+I should live single, and without a lodge of my own; but should such a
+thing come to pass, none but a woman of my own colour and gifts shall
+darken the door of my wigwam. As for feeding the young of your dead
+warrior, I would do that cheerfully, could it be done without discredit;
+but it cannot, seeing that I can never live in a Huron village. Your
+own young men must find the Sumach in venison, and the next time she
+marries, let her take a husband whose legs are not long enough to
+overrun territory that don't belong to him. We fou't a fair battle, and
+he fell; in this there is nothin' but what a brave expects, and should
+be ready to meet. As for getting a Mingo heart, as well might you expect
+to see gray hairs on a boy, or the blackberry growing on the pine.
+No--no Huron; my gifts are white so far as wives are consarned; it is
+Delaware, in all things touchin' Injins."
+
+These words were scarcely out of the mouth of Deerslayer, before a
+common murmur betrayed the dissatisfaction with which they had been
+heard. The aged women, in particular, were loud in their expressions of
+disgust, and the gentle Sumach, herself, a woman quite old enough to be
+our hero's mother, was not the least pacific in her denunciations.
+But all the other manifestations of disappointment and discontent were
+thrown into the background, by the fierce resentment of the Panther.
+This grim chief had thought it a degradation to permit his sister to
+become the wife of a pale-face of the Yengeese at all, and had only
+given a reluctant consent to the arrangement--one by no means unusual
+among the Indians, however--at the earnest solicitations of the
+bereaved widow; and it goaded him to the quick to find his condescension
+slighted, the honor he had with so much regret been persuaded to accord,
+condemned. The animal from which he got his name does not glare on his
+intended prey with more frightful ferocity than his eyes gleamed on the
+captive, nor was his arm backward in seconding the fierce resentment
+that almost consumed his breast.
+
+"Dog of the pale-faces!" he exclaimed in Iroquois, "go yell among the
+curs of your own evil hunting grounds!"
+
+The denunciation was accompanied by an appropriate action. Even while
+speaking his arm was lifted, and the tomahawk hurled. Luckily the loud
+tones of the speaker had drawn the eye of Deerslayer towards him, else
+would that moment have probably closed his career. So great was the
+dexterity with which this dangerous weapon was thrown, and so deadly the
+intent, that it would have riven the scull of the prisoner, had he not
+stretched forth an arm, and caught the handle in one of its turns, with
+a readiness quite as remarkable as the skill with which the missile had
+been hurled. The projectile force was so great, notwithstanding, that
+when Deerslayer's arm was arrested, his hand was raised above and behind
+his own head, and in the very attitude necessary to return the
+attack. It is not certain whether the circumstance of finding himself
+unexpectedly in this menacing posture and armed tempted the young man
+to retaliate, or whether sudden resentment overcame his forbearance and
+prudence. His eye kindled, however, and a small red spot appeared on
+each cheek, while he cast all his energy into the effort of his arm, and
+threw back the weapon at his assailant. The unexpectedness of this blow
+contributed to its success, the Panther neither raising an arm, nor
+bending his head to avoid it. The keen little axe struck the victim in
+a perpendicular line with the nose, directly between the eyes, literally
+braining him on the spot. Sallying forward, as the serpent darts at its
+enemy even while receiving its own death wound, this man of powerful
+frame fell his length into the open area formed by the circle, quivering
+in death. A common rush to his relief left the captive, in a single
+instant, quite without the crowd, and, willing to make one desperate
+effort for life, he bounded off with the activity of a deer. There was
+but a breathless instant, when the whole band, old and young, women
+and children, abandoning the lifeless body of the Panther where it lay,
+raised the yell of alarm and followed in pursuit.
+
+Sudden as had been the event which induced Deerslayer to make this
+desperate trial of speed, his mind was not wholly unprepared for the
+fearful emergency. In the course of the past hour, he had pondered well
+on the chances of such an experiment, and had shrewdly calculated all
+the details of success and failure. At the first leap, therefore, his
+body was completely under the direction of an intelligence that turned
+all its efforts to the best account, and prevented everything like
+hesitation or indecision at the important instant of the start. To this
+alone was he indebted for the first great advantage, that of getting
+through the line of sentinels unharmed. The manner in which this was
+done, though sufficiently simple, merits a description.
+
+Although the shores of the point were not fringed with bushes, as was
+the case with most of the others on the lake, it was owing altogether
+to the circumstance that the spot had been so much used by hunters and
+fishermen. This fringe commenced on what might be termed the main land,
+and was as dense as usual, extending in long lines both north and south.
+In the latter direction, then, Deerslayer held his way, and, as the
+sentinels were a little without the commencement of this thicket, before
+the alarm was clearly communicated to them the fugitive had gained its
+cover. To run among the bushes, however, was out of the question, and
+Deerslayer held his way, for some forty or fifty yards, in the water,
+which was barely knee deep, offering as great an obstacle to the speed
+of his pursuers as it did to his own. As soon as a favorable spot
+presented, he darted through the line of bushes and issued into the open
+woods. Several rifles were discharged at Deerslayer while in the water,
+and more followed as he came out into the comparative exposure of the
+clear forest. But the direction of his line of flight, which partially
+crossed that of the fire, the haste with which the weapons had been
+aimed, and the general confusion that prevailed in the camp prevented
+any harm from being done. Bullets whistled past him, and many cut twigs
+from the branches at his side, but not one touched even his dress. The
+delay caused by these fruitless attempts was of great service to the
+fugitive, who had gained more than a hundred yards on even the leading
+men of the Hurons, ere something like concert and order had entered
+into the chase. To think of following with rifles in hand was out of
+the question, and after emptying their pieces in vague hopes of wounding
+their captive, the best runners of the Indians threw them aside, calling
+out to the women and boys to recover and load them, again, as soon as
+possible.
+
+Deerslayer knew too well the desperate nature of the struggle in which
+he was engaged to lose one of the precious moments. He also knew that
+his only hope was to run in a straight line, for as soon as he began to
+turn, or double, the greater number of his pursuers would put escape out
+of the question. He held his way therefore, in a diagonal direction up
+the acclivity, which was neither very high nor very steep in this part
+of the mountain, but which was sufficiently toilsome for one contending
+for life, to render it painfully oppressive. There, however, he
+slackened his speed to recover breath, proceeding even at a quick walk,
+or a slow trot, along the more difficult parts of the way. The Hurons
+were whooping and leaping behind him, but this he disregarded, well
+knowing they must overcome the difficulties he had surmounted ere they
+could reach the elevation to which he had attained. The summit of the
+first hill was now quite near him, and he saw, by the formation of the
+land, that a deep glen intervened before the base of a second hill could
+be reached. Walking deliberately to the summit, he glanced eagerly about
+him in every direction in quest of a cover. None offered in the ground,
+but a fallen tree lay near him, and desperate circumstances required
+desperate remedies. This tree lay in a line parallel to the glen, at the
+brow of the hill. To leap on it, and then to force his person as close
+as possible under its lower side, took but a moment. Previously to
+disappearing from his pursuers, however, Deerslayer stood on the height
+and gave a cry of triumph, as if exulting at the sight of the descent
+that lay before him. In the next instant he was stretched beneath the
+tree.
+
+No sooner was this expedient adopted, than the young man ascertained how
+desperate had been his own efforts, by the violence of the pulsations in
+his frame. He could hear his heart beat, and his breathing was like the
+action of a bellows, in quick motion. Breath was gained, however,
+and the heart soon ceased to throb as if about to break through its
+confinement. The footsteps of those who toiled up the opposite side
+of the acclivity were now audible, and presently voices and treads
+announced the arrival of the pursuers. The foremost shouted as they
+reached the height; then, fearful that their enemy would escape under
+favor of the descent, each leaped upon the fallen tree and plunged into
+the ravine, trusting to get a sight of the pursued ere he reached the
+bottom. In this manner, Huron followed Huron until Natty began to hope
+the whole had passed. Others succeeded, however, until quite forty had
+leaped over the tree, and then he counted them, as the surest mode of
+ascertaining how many could be behind. Presently all were in the bottom
+of the glen, quite a hundred feet below him, and some had even ascended
+part of the opposite hill, when it became evident an inquiry was making
+as to the direction he had taken. This was the critical moment, and one
+of nerves less steady, or of a training that had been neglected, would
+have seized it to rise and fly. Not so with Deerslayer. He still lay
+quiet, watching with jealous vigilance every movement below, and fast
+regaining his breath.
+
+The Hurons now resembled a pack of hounds at fault. Little was said, but
+each man ran about, examining the dead leaves as the hound hunts for
+the lost scent. The great number of moccasins that had passed made the
+examination difficult, though the in-toe of an Indian was easily to be
+distinguished from the freer and wider step of a white man. Believing
+that no more pursuers remained behind, and hoping to steal away unseen,
+Deerslayer suddenly threw himself over the tree, and fell on the upper
+side. This achievement appeared to be effected successfully, and hope
+beat high in the bosom of the fugitive.
+
+Rising to his hands and feet, after a moment lost in listening to the
+sounds in the glen, in order to ascertain if he had been seen, the young
+man next scrambled to the top of the hill, a distance of only ten yards,
+in the expectation of getting its brow between him and his pursuers, and
+himself so far under cover. Even this was effected, and he rose to his
+feet, walking swiftly but steadily along the summit, in a direction
+opposite to that in which he had first fled. The nature of the calls in
+the glen, however, soon made him uneasy, and he sprang upon the summit
+again, in order to reconnoitre. No sooner did he reach the height than
+he was seen, and the chase renewed. As it was better footing on the
+level ground, Deerslayer now avoided the side hill, holding his flight
+along the ridge; while the Hurons, judging from the general formation of
+the land, saw that the ridge would soon melt into the hollow, and kept
+to the latter, as the easiest mode of heading the fugitive. A few, at
+the same time, turned south, with a view to prevent his escaping in that
+direction, while some crossed his trail towards the water, in order to
+prevent his retreat by the lake, running southerly.
+
+The situation of Deerslayer was now more critical than it ever had
+been. He was virtually surrounded on three sides, having the lake on
+the fourth. But he had pondered well on all the chances, and took
+his measures with coolness, even while at the top of his speed. As is
+generally the case with the vigorous border men, he could outrun any
+single Indian among his pursuers, who were principally formidable to
+him on account of their numbers, and the advantages they possessed in
+position, and he would not have hesitated to break off in a straight
+line at any spot, could he have got the whole band again fairly behind
+him. But no such chance did, or indeed could now offer, and when he
+found that he was descending towards the glen, by the melting away of
+the ridge, he turned short, at right angles to his previous course,
+and went down the declivity with tremendous velocity, holding his way
+towards the shore. Some of his pursuers came panting up the hill in
+direct chase, while most still kept on in the ravine, intending to head
+him at its termination.
+
+Deerslayer had now a different, though a desperate project in view.
+Abandoning all thoughts of escape by the woods, he made the best of his
+way towards the canoe. He knew where it lay; could it be reached, he had
+only to run the gauntlet of a few rifles, and success would be certain.
+None of the warriors had kept their weapons, which would have retarded
+their speed, and the risk would come either from the uncertain hands
+of the women, or from those of some well grown boy; though most of the
+latter were already out in hot pursuit. Everything seemed propitious to
+the execution of this plan, and the course being a continued descent,
+the young man went over the ground at a rate that promised a speedy
+termination to his toil.
+
+As Deerslayer approached the point, several women and children were
+passed, but, though the former endeavoured to cast dried branches
+between his legs, the terror inspired by his bold retaliation on
+the redoubted Panther was so great, that none dared come near enough
+seriously to molest him. He went by all triumphantly and reached the
+fringe of bushes. Plunging through these, our hero found himself once
+more in the lake, and within fifty feet of the canoe. Here he ceased
+to run, for he well understood that his breath was now all important to
+him. He even stooped, as he advanced, and cooled his parched mouth by
+scooping water up in his hand to drink. Still the moments pressed, and
+he soon stood at the side of the canoe. The first glance told him that
+the paddles had been removed! This was a sore disappointment, after all
+his efforts, and, for a single moment, he thought of turning, and of
+facing his foes by walking with dignity into the centre of the camp
+again. But an infernal yell, such as the American savage alone can
+raise, proclaimed the quick approach of the nearest of his pursuers,
+and the instinct of life triumphed. Preparing himself duly, and giving a
+right direction to its bows, he ran off into the water bearing the canoe
+before him, threw all his strength and skill into a last effort, and
+cast himself forward so as to fall into the bottom of the light craft
+without materially impeding its way. Here he remained on his back, both
+to regain his breath and to cover his person from the deadly rifle.
+The lightness, which was such an advantage in paddling the canoe, now
+operated unfavorably. The material was so like a feather, that the boat
+had no momentum, else would the impulse in that smooth and placid sheet
+have impelled it to a distance from the shore that would have rendered
+paddling with the hands safe. Could such a point once be reached,
+Deerslayer thought he might get far enough out to attract the attention
+of Chingachgook and Judith, who would not fail to come to his relief
+with other canoes, a circumstance that promised everything. As the young
+man lay in the bottom of the canoe, he watched its movements by studying
+the tops of the trees on the mountainside, and judged of his distance by
+the time and the motions. Voices on the shore were now numerous, and he
+heard something said about manning the raft, which, fortunately for the
+fugitive, lay at a considerable distance on the other side of the point.
+
+Perhaps the situation of Deerslayer had not been more critical that
+day than it was at this moment. It certainly had not been one half as
+tantalizing. He lay perfectly quiet for two or three minutes, trusting
+to the single sense of hearing, confident that the noise in the lake
+would reach his ears, did any one venture to approach by swimming.
+Once or twice he fancied that the element was stirred by the cautious
+movement of an arm, and then he perceived it was the wash of the water
+on the pebbles of the strand; for, in mimicry of the ocean, it is seldom
+that those little lakes are so totally tranquil as not to possess a
+slight heaving and setting on their shores. Suddenly all the voices
+ceased, and a death like stillness pervaded the spot: A quietness as
+profound as if all lay in the repose of inanimate life. By this time,
+the canoe had drifted so far as to render nothing visible to Deerslayer,
+as he lay on his back, except the blue void of space, and a few of those
+brighter rays that proceed from the effulgence of the sun, marking his
+proximity. It was not possible to endure this uncertainty long. The
+young man well knew that the profound stillness foreboded evil, the
+savages never being so silent as when about to strike a blow; resembling
+the stealthy foot of the panther ere he takes his leap. He took out a
+knife and was about to cut a hole through the bark, in order to get
+a view of the shore, when he paused from a dread of being seen in the
+operation, which would direct the enemy where to aim their bullets. At
+this instant a rifle was fired, and the ball pierced both sides of the
+canoe, within eighteen inches of the spot where his head lay. This was
+close work, but our hero had too lately gone through that which was
+closer to be appalled. He lay still half a minute longer, and then he
+saw the summit of an oak coming slowly within his narrow horizon.
+
+Unable to account for this change, Deerslayer could restrain his
+impatience no longer. Hitching his body along, with the utmost caution,
+he got his eye at the bullet hole, and fortunately commanded a very
+tolerable view of the point. The canoe, by one of those imperceptible
+impulses that so often decide the fate of men as well as the course of
+things, had inclined southerly, and was slowly drifting down the lake.
+It was lucky that Deerslayer had given it a shove sufficiently vigorous
+to send it past the end of the point, ere it took this inclination, or
+it must have gone ashore again. As it was, it drifted so near it as to
+bring the tops of two or three trees within the range of the young man's
+view, as has been mentioned, and, indeed, to come in quite as close
+proximity with the extremity of the point as was at all safe. The
+distance could not much have exceeded a hundred feet, though fortunately
+a light current of air from the southwest began to set it slowly off
+shore.
+
+Deerslayer now felt the urgent necessity of resorting to some expedient
+to get farther from his foes, and if possible to apprise his friends
+of his situation. The distance rendered the last difficult, while the
+proximity to the point rendered the first indispensable. As was usual in
+such craft, a large, round, smooth stone was in each end of the canoe,
+for the double purpose of seats and ballast; one of these was within
+reach of his feet. This stone he contrived to get so far between his
+legs as to reach it with his hands, and then he managed to roll it to
+the side of its fellow in the bows, where the two served to keep the
+trim of the light boat, while he worked his own body as far aft as
+possible. Before quitting the shore, and as soon as he perceived that
+the paddles were gone, Deerslayer had thrown a bit of dead branch into
+the canoe, and this was within reach of his arm. Removing the cap he
+wore, he put it on the end of this stick, and just let it appear over
+the edge of the canoe, as far as possible from his own person. This ruse
+was scarcely adopted before the young man had a proof how much he had
+underrated the intelligence of his enemies. In contempt of an artifice
+so shallow and common place, a bullet was fired directly through another
+part of the canoe, which actually raised his skin. He dropped the cap,
+and instantly raised it immediately over his head, as a safeguard.
+It would seem that this second artifice was unseen, or what was more
+probable, the Hurons feeling certain of recovering their captive, wished
+to take him alive.
+
+Deerslayer lay passive a few minutes longer, his eye at the bullet
+hole, however, and much did he rejoice at seeing that he was drifting,
+gradually, farther and farther from the shore. When he looked upward,
+the treetops had disappeared, but he soon found that the canoe was
+slowly turning, so as to prevent his getting a view of anything at his
+peephole, but of the two extremities of the lake. He now bethought him
+of the stick, which was crooked and offered some facilities for rowing
+without the necessity of rising. The experiment succeeded on trial,
+better even than he had hoped, though his great embarrassment was to
+keep the canoe straight. That his present manoeuvre was seen soon became
+apparent by the clamor on the shore, and a bullet entering the stern of
+the canoe traversed its length, whistling between the arms of our hero,
+and passed out at the head. This satisfied the fugitive that he was
+getting away with tolerable speed, and induced him to increase his
+efforts. He was making a stronger push than common, when another
+messenger from the point broke the stick out-board, and at once deprived
+him of his oar. As the sound of voices seemed to grow more and more
+distant, however, Deerslayer determined to leave all to the drift, until
+he believed himself beyond the reach of bullets. This was nervous work,
+but it was the wisest of all the expedients that offered, and the young
+man was encouraged to persevere in it by the circumstance that he felt
+his face fanned by the air, a proof that there was a little more wind.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVIII.
+
+
+    "Nor widows' tears, nor tender orphans' cries
+    Can stop th' invader's force;
+    Nor swelling seas, nor threatening skies,
+    Prevent the pirate's course:
+    Their lives to selfish ends decreed
+    Through blood and rapine they proceed;
+    No anxious thoughts of ill repute,
+    Suspend the impetuous and unjust pursuit;
+    But power and wealth obtain'd, guilty and great,
+    Their fellow creatures' fears they raise, or urge their hate."
+
+    Congreve, "Pindaric Ode," ii.
+
+By this time Deerslayer had been twenty minutes in the canoe, and he
+began to grow a little impatient for some signs of relief from his
+friends. The position of the boat still prevented his seeing in any
+direction, unless it were up or down the lake, and, though he knew that
+his line of sight must pass within a hundred yards of the castle, it,
+in fact, passed that distance to the westward of the buildings. The
+profound stillness troubled him also, for he knew not whether to ascribe
+it to the increasing space between him and the Indians, or to some new
+artifice. At length, wearied with fruitless watchfulness, the young man
+turned himself on his back, closed his eyes, and awaited the result
+in determined acquiescence. If the savages could so completely control
+their thirst for revenge, he was resolved to be as calm as themselves,
+and to trust his fate to the interposition of the currents and air.
+
+Some additional ten minutes may have passed in this quiescent manner, on
+both sides, when Deerslayer thought he heard a slight noise, like a low
+rubbing against the bottom of his canoe. He opened his eyes of course,
+in expectation of seeing the face or arm of an Indian rising from the
+water, and found that a canopy of leaves was impending directly over
+his head. Starting to his feet, the first object that met his eye was
+Rivenoak, who had so far aided the slow progress of the boat, as to
+draw it on the point, the grating on the strand being the sound that had
+first given our hero the alarm. The change in the drift of the canoe had
+been altogether owing to the baffling nature of the light currents of
+the air, aided by some eddies in the water.
+
+"Come," said the Huron with a quiet gesture of authority, to order his
+prisoner to land, "my young friend has sailed about till he is tired; he
+will forget how to run again, unless he uses his legs."
+
+"You've the best of it, Huron," returned Deerslayer, stepping steadily
+from the canoe, and passively following his leader to the open area of
+the point; "Providence has helped you in an onexpected manner. I'm your
+prisoner ag'in, and I hope you'll allow that I'm as good at breaking
+gaol, as I am at keeping furloughs."
+
+"My young friend is a Moose!" exclaimed the Huron. "His legs are very
+long; they have given my young men trouble. But he is not a fish; he
+cannot find his way in the lake. We did not shoot him; fish are taken
+in nets, and not killed by bullets. When he turns Moose again he will be
+treated like a Moose."
+
+"Ay, have your talk, Rivenoak; make the most of your advantage. 'Tis
+your right, I suppose, and I know it is your gift. On that p'int
+there'll be no words atween us, for all men must and ought to follow
+their gifts. Howsever, when your women begin to ta'nt and abuse me, as I
+suppose will soon happen, let 'em remember that if a pale-face struggles
+for life so long as it's lawful and manful, he knows how to loosen his
+hold on it, decently, when he feels that the time has come. I'm your
+captyve; work your will on me."
+
+"My brother has had a long run on the hills, and a pleasant sail on the
+water," returned Rivenoak more mildly, smiling, at the same time, in a
+way that his listener knew denoted pacific intentions. "He has seen the
+woods; he has seen the water. Which does he like best? Perhaps he has
+seen enough to change his mind, and make him hear reason."
+
+"Speak out, Huron. Something is in your thoughts, and the sooner it is
+said, the sooner you'll get my answer."
+
+"That is straight! There is no turning in the talk of my pale-face
+friend, though he is a fox in running. I will speak to him; his ears
+are now open wider than before, and his eyes are not shut. The Sumach
+is poorer than ever. Once she had a brother and a husband. She had
+children, too. The time came and the husband started for the Happy
+Hunting Grounds, without saying farewell; he left her alone with his
+children. This he could not help, or he would not have done it; le Loup
+Cervier was a good husband. It was pleasant to see the venison, and wild
+ducks, and geese, and bear's meat, that hung in his lodge in winter. It
+is now gone; it will not keep in warm weather. Who shall bring it back
+again? Some thought the brother would not forget his sister, and that,
+next winter, he would see that the lodge should not be empty. We thought
+this; but the Panther yelled, and followed the husband on the path of
+death. They are now trying which shall first reach the Happy Hunting
+Grounds. Some think the Lynx can run fastest, and some think the Panther
+can jump the farthest. The Sumach thinks both will travel so fast and so
+far that neither will ever come back. Who shall feed her and her young?
+The man who told her husband and her brother to quit her lodge, that
+there might be room for him to come into it. He is a great hunter, and
+we know that the woman will never want."
+
+"Ay, Huron this is soon settled, accordin' to your notions, but it goes
+sorely ag'in the grain of a white man's feelin's. I've heard of men's
+saving their lives this-a-way, and I've know'd them that would prefar
+death to such a sort of captivity. For my part, I do not seek my end,
+nor do I seek matrimony."
+
+"The pale-face will think of this, while my people get ready for the
+council. He will be told what will happen. Let him remember how hard it
+is to lose a husband and a brother. Go; when we want him, the name of
+Deerslayer will be called."
+
+This conversation had been held with no one near but the speakers. Of
+all the band that had so lately thronged the place, Rivenoak alone was
+visible. The rest seemed to have totally abandoned the spot. Even the
+furniture, clothes, arms, and other property of the camp had entirely
+disappeared, and the place bore no other proofs of the crowd that had so
+lately occupied it, than the traces of their fires and resting places,
+and the trodden earth that still showed the marks of their feet. So
+sudden and unexpected a change caused Deerslayer a good deal of surprise
+and some uneasiness, for he had never known it to occur, in the course
+of his experience among the Delawares. He suspected, however, and
+rightly, that a change of encampment was intended, and that the mystery
+of the movement was resorted to in order to work on his apprehensions.
+
+Rivenoak walked up the vista of trees as soon as he ceased speaking,
+leaving Deerslayer by himself. The chief disappeared behind the covers
+of the forest, and one unpractised in such scenes might have believed
+the prisoner left to the dictates of his own judgment. But the young
+man, while he felt a little amazement at the dramatic aspect of things,
+knew his enemies too well to fancy himself at liberty, or a free
+agent. Still, he was ignorant how far the Hurons meant to carry
+their artifices, and he determined to bring the question, as soon as
+practicable, to the proof. Affecting an indifference he was far from
+feeling, he strolled about the area, gradually getting nearer and nearer
+to the spot where he had landed, when he suddenly quickened his pace,
+though carefully avoiding all appearance of flight, and pushing aside
+the bushes, he stepped upon the beach. The canoe was gone, nor could he
+see any traces of it, after walking to the northern and southern verges
+of the point, and examining the shores in both directions. It
+was evidently removed beyond his reach and knowledge, and under
+circumstances to show that such had been the intention of the savages.
+
+Deerslayer now better understood his actual situation. He was a prisoner
+on the narrow tongue of land, vigilantly watched beyond a question, and
+with no other means of escape than that of swimming. He, again, thought
+of this last expedient, but the certainty that the canoe would be sent
+in chase, and the desperate nature of the chances of success deterred
+him from the undertaking. While on the strand, he came to a spot where
+the bushes had been cut, and thrust into a small pile. Removing a few of
+the upper branches, he found beneath them the dead body of the Panther.
+He knew that it was kept until the savages might find a place to inter
+it, where it would be beyond the reach of the scalping knife. He gazed
+wistfully towards the castle, but there all seemed to be silent and
+desolate, and a feeling of loneliness and desertion came over him to
+increase the gloom of the moment.
+
+"God's will be done!" murmured the young man, as he walked sorrowfully
+away from the beach, entering again beneath the arches of the wood.
+"God's will be done, on 'arth as it is in heaven! I did hope that my
+days would not be numbered so soon, but it matters little a'ter all. A
+few more winters, and a few more summers, and 'twould have been over,
+accordin' to natur'. Ah's! me, the young and actyve seldom think death
+possible, till he grins in their faces, and tells 'em the hour is come!"
+
+While this soliloquy was being pronounced, the hunter advanced into the
+area, where to his surprise he saw Hetty alone, evidently awaiting his
+return. The girl carried the Bible under her arm, and her face, over
+which a shadow of gentle melancholy was usually thrown, now seemed sad
+and downcast. Moving nearer, Deerslayer spoke.
+
+"Poor Hetty," he said, "times have been so troublesome, of late, that
+I'd altogether forgotten you; we meet, as it might be to mourn over what
+is to happen. I wonder what has become of Chingachgook and Wah!"
+
+"Why did you kill the Huron, Deerslayer?--" returned the girl
+reproachfully. "Don't you know your commandments, which say 'Thou shalt
+not kill!' They tell me you have now slain the woman's husband and
+brother!"
+
+"It's true, my good Hetty--'tis gospel truth, and I'll not deny what has
+come to pass. But, you must remember, gal, that many things are lawful
+in war, which would be onlawful in peace. The husband was shot in open
+fight--or, open so far as I was consarned, while he had a better cover
+than common--and the brother brought his end on himself, by casting his
+tomahawk at an unarmed prisoner. Did you witness that deed, gal?"
+
+"I saw it, and was sorry it happened, Deerslayer, for I hoped you
+wouldn't have returned blow for blow, but good for evil."
+
+"Ah, Hetty, that may do among the Missionaries, but 'twould make an
+onsartain life in the woods! The Panther craved my blood, and he was
+foolish enough to throw arms into my hands, at the very moment he was
+striving a'ter it. 'Twould have been ag'in natur' not to raise a hand in
+such a trial, and 'twould have done discredit to my training and gifts.
+No--no--I'm as willing to give every man his own as another, and so I
+hope you'll testify to them that will be likely to question you as to
+what you've seen this day."
+
+"Deerslayer, do you mean to marry Sumach, now she has neither husband
+nor brother to feed her?"
+
+"Are such your idees of matrimony, Hetty! Ought the young to wive
+with the old--the pale-face with the red-skin--the Christian with the
+heathen? It's ag'in reason and natur', and so you'll see, if you think
+of it a moment."
+
+"I've always heard mother say," returned Hetty, averting her face more
+from a feminine instinct than from any consciousness of wrong, "that
+people should never marry until they loved each other better than
+brothers and sisters, and I suppose that is what you mean. Sumach is
+old, and you are young!"
+
+"Ay and she's red, and I'm white. Beside, Hetty, suppose you was a wife,
+now, having married some young man of your own years, and state, and
+colour--Hurry Harry, for instance--" Deerslayer selected this example
+simply from the circumstance that he was the only young man known to
+both--"and that he had fallen on a war path, would you wish to take to
+your bosom, for a husband, the man that slew him?"
+
+"Oh! no, no, no--" returned the girl shuddering--"That would be wicked
+as well as heartless! No Christian girl could, or would do that! I never
+shall be the wife of Hurry, I know, but were he my husband no man should
+ever be it, again, after his death!"
+
+"I thought it would get to this, Hetty, when you come to understand
+sarcumstances. 'Tis a moral impossibility that I should ever marry
+Sumach, and, though Injin weddin's have no priests and not much
+religion, a white man who knows his gifts and duties can't profit by
+that, and so make his escape at the fitting time. I do think death would
+be more nat'ral like, and welcome, than wedlock with this woman."
+
+"Don't say it too loud," interrupted Hetty impatiently; "I suppose she
+will not like to hear it. I'm sure Hurry would rather marry even me than
+suffer torments, though I am feeble minded; and I am sure it would kill
+me to think he'd prefer death to being my husband."
+
+"Ay, gal, you ain't Sumach, but a comely young Christian, with a good
+heart, pleasant smile, and kind eye. Hurry might be proud to get you,
+and that, too, not in misery and sorrow, but in his best and happiest
+days. Howsever, take my advice, and never talk to Hurry about these
+things; he's only a borderer, at the best."
+
+"I wouldn't tell him, for the world!" exclaimed the girl, looking about
+her like one affrighted, and blushing, she knew not why. "Mother always
+said young women shouldn't be forward, and speak their minds before
+they're asked; Oh! I never forget what mother told me. 'Tis a pity Hurry
+is so handsome, Deerslayer; I do think fewer girls would like him then,
+and he would sooner know his own mind."
+
+"Poor gal, poor gal, it's plain enough how it is, but the Lord will bear
+in mind one of your simple heart and kind feelin's! We'll talk no more
+of these things; if you had reason, you'd be sorrowful at having let
+others so much into your secret. Tell me, Hetty, what has become of all
+the Hurons, and why they let you roam about the p'int as if you, too,
+was a prisoner?"
+
+"I'm no prisoner, Deerslayer, but a free girl, and go when and where I
+please. Nobody dare hurt me! If they did, God would be angry, as I can
+show them in the Bible. No--no--Hetty Hutter is not afraid; she's in
+good hands. The Hurons are up yonder in the woods, and keep a good watch
+on us both, I'll answer for it, since all the women and children are on
+the look-out. Some are burying the body of the poor girl who was shot,
+so that the enemy and the wild beasts can't find it. I told 'em that
+father and mother lay in the lake, but I wouldn't let them know in what
+part of it, for Judith and I don't want any of their heathenish company
+in our burying ground."
+
+"Ahs! me; Well, it is an awful despatch to be standing here, alive and
+angry, and with the feelin's up and ferocious, one hour, and then to be
+carried away at the next, and put out of sight of mankind in a hole in
+the 'arth! No one knows what will happen to him on a warpath, that's
+sartain."
+
+Here the stirring of leaves and the cracking of dried twigs interrupted
+the discourse, and apprised Deerslayer of the approach of his enemies.
+The Hurons closed around the spot that had been prepared for the coming
+scene, and in the centre of which the intended victim now stood, in a
+circle, the armed men being so distributed among the feebler members
+of the band, that there was no safe opening through which the prisoner
+could break. But the latter no longer contemplated flight, the recent
+trial having satisfied him of his inability to escape when pursued so
+closely by numbers. On the contrary, all his energies were aroused in
+order to meet his expected fate, with a calmness that should do credit
+to his colour and his manhood; one equally removed from recreant alarm,
+and savage boasting.
+
+When Rivenoak re-appeared in the circle, he occupied his old place at
+the head of the area. Several of the elder warriors stood near him,
+but, now that the brother of Sumach had fallen, there was no longer
+any recognised chief present whose influence and authority offered a
+dangerous rivalry to his own. Nevertheless, it is well known that little
+which could be called monarchical or despotic entered into the politics
+of the North American tribes, although the first colonists, bringing
+with them to this hemisphere the notions and opinions of their own
+countries, often dignified the chief men of those primitive nations
+with the titles of kings and princes. Hereditary influence did certainly
+exist, but there is much reason to believe it existed rather as a
+consequence of hereditary merit and acquired qualifications, than as a
+birthright. Rivenoak, however, had not even this claim, having risen to
+consideration purely by the force of talents, sagacity, and, as Bacon
+expresses it in relation to all distinguished statesmen, "by a union of
+great and mean qualities;" a truth of which the career of the profound
+Englishman himself furnishes so apt an illustration. Next to arms,
+eloquence offers the great avenue to popular favor, whether it be in
+civilized or savage life, and Rivenoak had succeeded, as so many have
+succeeded before him, quite as much by rendering fallacies acceptable
+to his listeners, as by any profound or learned expositions of truth, or
+the accuracy of his logic. Nevertheless, he had influence; and was far
+from being altogether without just claims to its possession. Like most
+men who reason more than they feel, the Huron was not addicted to the
+indulgence of the more ferocious passions of his people: he had been
+commonly found on the side of mercy, in all the scenes of vindictive
+torture and revenge that had occurred in his tribe since his own
+attainment to power. On the present occasion, he was reluctant to
+proceed to extremities, although the provocation was so great. Still
+it exceeded his ingenuity to see how that alternative could well be
+avoided. Sumach resented her rejection more than she did the deaths of
+her husband and brother, and there was little probability that the
+woman would pardon a man who had so unequivocally preferred death to
+her embraces. Without her forgiveness, there was scarce a hope that
+the tribe could be induced to overlook its loss, and even to Rivenoak,
+himself, much as he was disposed to pardon, the fate of our hero now
+appeared to be almost hopelessly sealed.
+
+When the whole band was arrayed around the captive, a grave silence, so
+much the more threatening from its profound quiet, pervaded the
+place. Deerslayer perceived that the women and boys had been preparing
+splinters of the fat pine roots, which he well knew were to be stuck
+into his flesh, and set in flames, while two or three of the young men
+held the thongs of bark with which he was to be bound. The smoke of a
+distant fire announced that the burning brands were in preparation, and
+several of the elder warriors passed their fingers over the edges of
+their tomahawks, as if to prove their keenness and temper. Even the
+knives seemed loosened in their sheathes, impatient for the bloody and
+merciless work to begin.
+
+"Killer of the Deer," recommenced Rivenoak, certainly without any signs
+of sympathy or pity in his manner, though with calmness and dignity,
+"Killer of the Deer, it is time that my people knew their minds. The
+sun is no longer over our heads; tired of waiting on the Hurons, he
+has begun to fall near the pines on this side of the valley. He is
+travelling fast towards the country of our French fathers; it is to warn
+his children that their lodges are empty, and that they ought to be at
+home. The roaming wolf has his den, and he goes to it when he wishes to
+see his young. The Iroquois are not poorer than the wolves. They have
+villages, and wigwams, and fields of corn; the Good Spirits will be
+tired of watching them alone. My people must go back and see to their
+own business. There will be joy in the lodges when they hear our whoop
+from the forest! It will be a sorrowful whoop; when it is understood,
+grief will come after it. There will be one scalp-whoop, but there
+will be only one. We have the fur of the Muskrat; his body is among the
+fishes. Deerslayer must say whether another scalp shall be on our pole.
+Two lodges are empty; a scalp, living or dead, is wanted at each door."
+
+"Then take 'em dead, Huron," firmly, but altogether without dramatic
+boasting, returned the captive. "My hour is come, I do suppose, and what
+must be, must. If you are bent on the tortur', I'll do my indivours to
+bear up ag'in it, though no man can say how far his natur' will stand
+pain, until he's been tried."
+
+"The pale-face cur begins to put his tail between his legs!" cried
+a young and garrulous savage, who bore the appropriate title of the
+Corbeau Rouge; a sobriquet he had gained from the French by his facility
+in making unseasonable noises, and an undue tendency to hear his own
+voice; "he is no warrior; he has killed the Loup Cervier when looking
+behind him not to see the flash of his own rifle. He grunts like a hog,
+already; when the Huron women begin to torment him, he will cry like the
+young of the catamount. He is a Delaware woman, dressed in the skin of a
+Yengeese!"
+
+"Have your say, young man; have your say," returned Deerslayer, unmoved;
+"you know no better, and I can overlook it. Talking may aggravate
+women, but can hardly make knives sharper, fire hotter, or rifles more
+sartain."
+
+Rivenoak now interposed, reproving the Red Crow for his premature
+interference, and then directing the proper persons to bind the captive.
+This expedient was adopted, not from any apprehensions that he would
+escape, or from any necessity that was yet apparent of his being unable
+to endure the torture with his limbs free, but from an ingenious design
+of making him feel his helplessness, and of gradually sapping his
+resolution by undermining it, as it might be, little by little.
+Deerslayer offered no resistance. He submitted his arms and legs, freely
+if not cheerfully, to the ligaments of bark, which were bound around
+them by order of the chief, in a way to produce as little pain as
+possible. These directions were secret, and given in the hope that the
+captive would finally save himself from any serious bodily suffering
+by consenting to take the Sumach for a wife. As soon as the body of
+Deerslayer was withed in bark sufficiently to create a lively sense
+of helplessness, he was literally carried to a young tree, and bound
+against it in a way that effectually prevented him from moving, as well
+as from falling. The hands were laid flat against the legs, and thongs
+were passed over all, in a way nearly to incorporate the prisoner with
+the tree. His cap was then removed, and he was left half-standing,
+half-sustained by his bonds, to face the coming scene in the best manner
+he could.
+
+Previously to proceeding to any thing like extremities, it was the wish
+of Rivenoak to put his captive's resolution to the proof by renewing the
+attempt at a compromise. This could be effected only in one manner, the
+acquiescence of the Sumach being indispensably necessary to a compromise
+of her right to be revenged. With this view, then, the woman was next
+desired to advance, and to look to her own interests; no agent being
+considered as efficient as the principal, herself, in this negotiation.
+The Indian females, when girls, are usually mild and submissive, with
+musical tones, pleasant voices and merry laughs, but toil and suffering
+generally deprive them of most of these advantages by the time they have
+reached an age which the Sumach had long before passed. To render their
+voices harsh, it would seem to require active, malignant, passions,
+though, when excited, their screams can rise to a sufficiently
+conspicuous degree of discordancy to assert their claim to possess
+this distinctive peculiarity of the sex. The Sumach was not altogether
+without feminine attraction, however, and had so recently been deemed
+handsome in her tribe, as not to have yet learned the full influence
+that time and exposure produce on man, as well as on woman. By an
+arrangement of Rivenoak's, some of the women around her had been
+employing the time in endeavoring to persuade the bereaved widow that
+there was still a hope Deerslayer might be prevailed on to enter her
+wigwam, in preference to entering the world of spirits, and this, too,
+with a success that previous symptoms scarcely justified. All this was
+the result of a resolution on the part of the chief to leave no proper
+means unemployed, in order to get transferred to his own nation the
+greatest hunter that was then thought to exist in all that region,
+as well as a husband for a woman who he felt would be likely to be
+troublesome, were any of her claims to the attention and care of the
+tribe overlooked.
+
+In conformity with this scheme, the Sumach had been secretly advised to
+advance into the circle, and to make her appeal to the prisoner's sense
+of justice, before the band had recourse to the last experiment. The
+woman, nothing loth, consented, for there was some such attraction in
+becoming the wife of a noted hunter, among the females of the tribes, as
+is experienced by the sex, in more refined life, when they bestow their
+hands on the affluent. As the duties of a mother were thought to be
+paramount to all other considerations, the widow felt none of that
+embarrassment, in preferring her claims, to which even a female fortune
+hunter among ourselves might be liable. When she stood forth before the
+whole party, therefore, the children that she led by the hands fully
+justified all she did.
+
+"You see me before you, cruel pale-face," the woman commenced; "your
+spirit must tell you my errand. I have found you; I cannot find le Loup
+Cervier, nor the Panther; I have looked for them in the lake, in the
+woods, in the clouds. I cannot say where they have gone."
+
+"No man knows, good Sumach, no man knows," interposed the captive. "When
+the spirit leaves the body, it passes into a world beyond our knowledge,
+and the wisest way, for them that are left behind, is to hope for
+the best. No doubt both your warriors have gone to the Happy Hunting
+Grounds, and at the proper time you will see 'em ag'in, in their
+improved state. The wife and sister of braves must have looked forward
+to some such tarmination of their 'arthly careers."
+
+"Cruel pale-face, what had my warriors done that you should slay them!
+They were the best hunters, and the boldest young men of their tribe;
+the Great Spirit intended that they should live until they withered like
+the branches of the hemlock, and fell of their own weight--"
+
+"Nay--nay--good Sumach," interrupted Deerslayer, whose love of truth was
+too indomitable to listen to such hyperbole with patience, even though
+it came from the torn breast of a widow--"Nay--nay, good Sumach, this is
+a little outdoing red-skin privileges. Young man was neither, any more
+than you can be called a young woman, and as to the Great Spirit's
+intending that they should fall otherwise than they did, that's a
+grievous mistake, inasmuch as what the Great Spirit intends is sartain
+to come to pass. Then, agin, it's plain enough neither of your fri'nds
+did me any harm; I raised my hand ag'in 'em on account of what they were
+striving to do, rather than what they did. This is nat'ral law, 'to do
+lest you should be done by.'"
+
+"It is so. Sumach has but one tongue; she can tell but one story. The
+pale face struck the Hurons lest the Hurons should strike him. The
+Hurons are a just nation; they will forget it. The chiefs will shut
+their eyes and pretend not to have seen it; the young men will believe
+the Panther and the Lynx have gone to far off hunts, and the Sumach will
+take her children by the hand, and go into the lodge of the pale-face
+and say--'See; these are your children; they are also mine--feed us, and
+we will live with you.'"
+
+"The tarms are onadmissable, woman, and though I feel for your losses,
+which must be hard to bear, the tarms cannot be accepted. As to givin'
+you ven'son, in case we lived near enough together, that would be no
+great expl'ite; but as for becomin' your husband, and the father of your
+children, to be honest with you, I feel no callin' that-a-way."
+
+"Look at this boy, cruel pale-face; he has no father to teach him to
+kill the deer, or to take scalps. See this girl; what young man will
+come to look for a wife in a lodge that has no head? There are more
+among my people in the Canadas, and the Killer of Deer will find as many
+mouths to feed as his heart can wish for."
+
+"I tell you, woman," exclaimed Deerslayer, whose imagination was far
+from seconding the appeal of the widow, and who began to grow restive
+under the vivid pictures she was drawing, "all this is nothing to me.
+People and kindred must take care of their own fatherless, leaving them
+that have no children to their own loneliness. As for me, I have no
+offspring, and I want no wife. Now, go away Sumach; leave me in the
+hands of your chiefs, for my colour, and gifts, and natur' itself cry
+out ag'in the idee of taking you for a wife."
+
+It is unnecessary to expatiate on the effect of this downright refusal
+of the woman's proposals. If there was anything like tenderness in her
+bosom--and no woman was probably ever entirely without that feminine
+quality--it all disappeared at this plain announcement. Fury, rage,
+mortified pride, and a volcano of wrath burst out, at one explosion,
+converting her into a sort of maniac, as it might beat the touch of a
+magician's wand. Without deigning a reply in words, she made the arches
+of the forest ring with screams, and then flew forward at her victim,
+seizing him by the hair, which she appeared resolute to draw out by the
+roots. It was some time before her grasp could be loosened. Fortunately
+for the prisoner her rage was blind; since his total helplessness left
+him entirely at her mercy. Had it been better directed it might have
+proved fatal before any relief could have been offered. As it was, she
+did succeed in wrenching out two or three handsful of hair, before the
+young men could tear her away from her victim.
+
+The insult that had been offered to the Sumach was deemed an insult to
+the whole tribe; not so much, however, on account of any respect that
+was felt for the woman, as on account of the honor of the Huron nation.
+Sumach, herself, was generally considered to be as acid as the berry
+from which she derived her name, and now that her great supporters, her
+husband and brother, were both gone, few cared about concealing their
+aversion. Nevertheless, it had become a point of honor to punish the
+pale-face who disdained a Huron woman, and more particularly one who
+coolly preferred death to relieving the tribe from the support of a
+widow and her children. The young men showed an impatience to begin
+to torture that Rivenoak understood, and, as his older associates
+manifested no disposition to permit any longer delay, he was compelled
+to give the signal for the infernal work to proceed.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIX.
+
+
+    "The ugly bear now minded not the stake,
+    Nor how the cruel mastiffs do him tear,
+    The stag lay still unroused from the brake,
+    The foamy boar feared not the hunter's spear:
+    All thing was still in desert, bush, and briar:"
+
+    Thomas Sackville; "The Complaint of Henry Duke of Buckingham,"
+    lxxxi.
+
+'Twas one of the common expedients of the savages, on such occasions,
+to put the nerves of their victims to the severest proofs. On the other
+hand, it was a matter of Indian pride to betray no yielding to terror,
+or pain, but for the prisoner to provoke his enemies to such acts of
+violence as would soonest produce death. Many a warrior had been known
+to bring his own sufferings to a more speedy termination, by taunting
+reproaches and reviling language, when he found that his physical system
+was giving way under the agony of sufferings produced by a hellish
+ingenuity that might well eclipse all that has been said of the infernal
+devices of religious persecution. This happy expedient of taking refuge
+from the ferocity of his foes, in their passions, was denied Deerslayer
+however, by his peculiar notions of the duty of a white man, and he
+had stoutly made up his mind to endure everything, in preference to
+disgracing his colour.
+
+No sooner did the young men understand that they were at liberty to
+commence, than some of the boldest and most forward among them sprang
+into the arena, tomahawk in hand. Here they prepared to throw that
+dangerous weapon, the object being to strike the tree as near as
+possible to the victim's head, without absolutely hitting him. This
+was so hazardous an experiment that none but those who were known to be
+exceedingly expert with the weapon were allowed to enter the lists
+at all, lest an early death might interfere with the expected
+entertainment. In the truest hands it was seldom that the captive
+escaped injury in these trials, and it often happened that death
+followed, even when the blow was not premeditated. In the particular
+case of our hero, Rivenoak and the older warriors were apprehensive that
+the example of the Panther's fate might prove a motive with some fiery
+spirit suddenly to sacrifice his conqueror, when the temptation of
+effecting it in precisely the same manner, and possibly with the
+identical weapon with which the warrior had fallen, offered. This
+circumstance of itself rendered the ordeal of the tomahawk doubly
+critical for the Deerslayer. It would seem, however, that all who now
+entered what we shall call the lists, were more disposed to exhibit
+their own dexterity, than to resent the deaths of their comrades. Each
+prepared himself for the trial with the feelings of rivalry, rather
+than with the desire for vengeance, and, for the first few minutes, the
+prisoner had little more connection with the result, than grew out of
+the interest that necessarily attached itself to a living target. The
+young men were eager, instead of being fierce, and Rivenoak thought he
+still saw signs of being able to save the life of the captive when the
+vanity of the young men had been gratified; always admitting that it was
+not sacrificed to the delicate experiments that were about to be made.
+The first youth who presented himself for the trial was called The
+Raven, having as yet had no opportunity of obtaining a more warlike
+sobriquet. He was remarkable for high pretension, rather than for skill
+or exploits, and those who knew his character thought the captive
+in imminent danger when he took his stand, and poised the tomahawk.
+Nevertheless, the young man was good natured, and no thought was
+uppermost in his mind other than the desire to make a better cast than
+any of his fellows. Deerslayer got an inkling of this warrior's want
+of reputation by the injunctions that he had received from the seniors,
+who, indeed, would have objected to his appearing in the arena, at all,
+but for an influence derived from his father; an aged warrior of
+great merit, who was then in the lodges of the tribe. Still, our hero
+maintained an appearance of self-possession. He had made up his mind
+that his hour was come, and it would have been a mercy, instead of a
+calamity, to fall by the unsteadiness of the first hand that was raised
+against him. After a suitable number of flourishes and gesticulations
+that promised much more than he could perform, the Raven let the
+tomahawk quit his hand. The weapon whirled through the air with the
+usual evolutions, cut a chip from the sapling to which the prisoner was
+bound within a few inches of his cheek, and stuck in a large oak that
+grew several yards behind him. This was decidedly a bad effort, and a
+common sneer proclaimed as much, to the great mortification of the young
+man. On the other hand, there was a general but suppressed murmur of
+admiration at the steadiness with which the captive stood the trial. The
+head was the only part he could move, and this had been purposely left
+free, that the tormentors might have the amusement, and the tormented
+endure the shame, of his dodging, and otherwise attempting to avoid the
+blows. Deerslayer disappointed these hopes by a command of nerve that
+rendered his whole body as immovable as the tree to which he was bound.
+Nor did he even adopt the natural and usual expedient of shutting his
+eyes, the firmest and oldest warrior of the red-men never having more
+disdainfully denied himself this advantage under similar circumstances.
+
+The Raven had no sooner made his unsuccessful and puerile effort, than
+he was succeeded by le Daim-Mose, or the Moose; a middle aged warrior
+who was particularly skilful in the use of the tomahawk, and from whose
+attempt the spectators confidently looked for gratification. This man
+had none of the good nature of the Raven, but he would gladly have
+sacrificed the captive to his hatred of the pale-faces generally,
+were it not for the greater interest he felt in his own success as
+one particularly skilled in the use of this weapon. He took his stand
+quietly, but with an air of confidence, poised his little axe but
+a single instant, advanced a foot with a quick motion, and threw.
+Deerslayer saw the keen instrument whirling towards him, and believed
+all was over; still, he was not touched. The tomahawk had actually bound
+the head of the captive to the tree, by carrying before it some of his
+hair, having buried itself deep beneath the soft bark. A general yell
+expressed the delight of the spectators, and the Moose felt his heart
+soften a little towards the prisoner, whose steadiness of nerve alone
+enabled him to give this evidence of his consummate skill.
+
+Le Daim-Mose was succeeded by the Bounding Boy, or le Garcon qui Bondi
+who came leaping into the circle, like a hound or a goat at play. This
+was one of those elastic youths whose muscles seemed always in motion,
+and who either affected, or who from habit was actually unable, to
+move in any other manner than by showing the antics just mentioned.
+Nevertheless, he was both brave and skilful, and had gained the respect
+of his people by deeds in war, as well as success in the hunts. A
+far nobler name would long since have fallen to his share, had not a
+French-man of rank inadvertently given him this sobriquet, which he
+religiously preserved as coming from his Great Father who lived beyond
+the Wide Salt Lake. The Bounding Boy skipped about in front of the
+captive, menacing him with his tomahawk, now on one side and now on
+another, and then again in front, in the vain hope of being able
+to extort some sign of fear by this parade of danger. At length
+Deerslayer's patience became exhausted by all this mummery, and he spoke
+for the first time since the trial had actually commenced.
+
+"Throw away, Huron," he cried, "or your tomahawk will forget its ar'n'd.
+Why do you keep loping about like a fa'a'n that's showing its dam how
+well it can skip, when you're a warrior grown, yourself, and a warrior
+grown defies you and all your silly antiks. Throw, or the Huron gals
+will laugh in your face."
+
+Although not intended to produce such an effect, the last words aroused
+the "Bounding" warrior to fury. The same nervous excitability which
+rendered him so active in his person, made it difficult to repress his
+feelings, and the words were scarcely past the lips of the speaker
+than the tomahawk left the hand of the Indian. Nor was it cast without
+ill-will, and a fierce determination to slay. Had the intention been
+less deadly, the danger might have been greater. The aim was uncertain,
+and the weapon glanced near the cheek of the captive, slightly cutting
+the shoulder in its evolutions. This was the first instance in which
+any other object than that of terrifying the prisoner, and of displaying
+skill had been manifested, and the Bounding Boy was immediately led from
+the arena, and was warmly rebuked for his intemperate haste, which had
+come so near defeating all the hopes of the band. To this irritable
+person succeeded several other young warriors, who not only hurled the
+tomahawk, but who cast the knife, a far more dangerous experiment, with
+reckless indifference; yet they always manifested a skill that prevented
+any injury to the captive. Several times Deerslayer was grazed, but in
+no instance did he receive what might be termed a wound. The unflinching
+firmness with which he faced his assailants, more especially in the sort
+of rally with which this trial terminated, excited a profound respect in
+the spectators, and when the chiefs announced that the prisoner had
+well withstood the trials of the knife and the tomahawk, there was not a
+single individual in the band who really felt any hostility towards
+him, with the exception of Sumach and the Bounding Boy. These two
+discontented spirits got together, it is true, feeding each other's
+ire, but as yet their malignant feelings were confined very much to
+themselves, though there existed the danger that the others, ere long,
+could not fail to be excited by their own efforts into that demoniacal
+state which usually accompanied all similar scenes among the red men.
+
+Rivenoak now told his people that the pale-face had proved himself to be
+a man. He might live with the Delawares, but he had not been made woman
+with that tribe. He wished to know whether it was the desire of the
+Hurons to proceed any further. Even the gentlest of the females,
+however, had received too much satisfaction in the late trials to forego
+their expectations of a gratifying exhibition, and there was but one
+voice in the request to proceed. The politic chief, who had some such
+desire to receive so celebrated a hunter into his tribe, as a European
+Minister has to devise a new and available means of taxation, sought
+every plausible means of arresting the trial in season, for he well
+knew, if permitted to go far enough to arouse the more ferocious
+passions of the tormentors, it would be as easy to dam the waters of
+the great lakes of his own region, as to attempt to arrest them in their
+bloody career. He therefore called four or five of the best marksmen to
+him, and bid them put the captive to the proof of the rifle, while
+at the same time he cautioned them touching the necessity of their
+maintaining their own credit, by the closest attention to the manner of
+exhibiting their skill.
+
+When Deerslayer saw the chosen warriors step into the circle, with their
+arms prepared for service, he felt some such relief as the miserable
+sufferer, who has long endured the agonies of disease, feels at the
+certain approach of death. Any trifling variance in the aim of this
+formidable weapon would prove fatal; since, the head being the target,
+or rather the point it was desired to graze without injuring, an inch or
+two of difference in the line of projection must at once determine the
+question of life or death.
+
+In the torture by the rifle there was none of the latitude permitted
+that appeared in the case of even Gessler's apple, a hair's breadth
+being, in fact, the utmost limits that an expert marksman would allow
+himself on an occasion like this. Victims were frequently shot through
+the head by too eager or unskilful hands, and it often occurred that,
+exasperated by the fortitude and taunts of the prisoner, death was
+dealt intentionally in a moment of ungovernable irritation. All this
+Deerslayer well knew, for it was in relating the traditions of such
+scenes, as well as of the battles and victories of their people, that
+the old men beguiled the long winter evenings in their cabins. He
+now fully expected the end of his career, and experienced a sort of
+melancholy pleasure in the idea that he was to fall by a weapon as much
+beloved as the rifle. A slight interruption, however, took place before
+the business was allowed to proceed.
+
+Hetty Hutter witnessed all that passed, and the scene at first had
+pressed upon her feeble mind in a way to paralyze it entirely; but, by
+this time she had rallied, and was growing indignant at the unmerited
+suffering the Indians were inflicting on her friend. Though timid, and
+shy as the young of the deer on so many occasions, this right-feeling
+girl was always intrepid in the cause of humanity; the lessons of her
+mother, and the impulses of her own heart--perhaps we might say the
+promptings of that unseen and pure spirit that seemed ever to watch over
+and direct her actions--uniting to keep down the apprehensions of
+woman, and to impel her to be bold and resolute. She now appeared in the
+circle, gentle, feminine, even bashful in mien, as usual, but earnest
+in her words and countenance, speaking like one who knew herself to be
+sustained by the high authority of God.
+
+"Why do you torment Deerslayer, redmen?" she asked "What has he done
+that you trifle with his life; who has given you the right to be his
+judges? Suppose one of your knives or tomahawks had hit him; what Indian
+among you all could cure the wound you would make. Besides, in harming
+Deerslayer, you injure your own friend; when father and Hurry Harry came
+after your scalps, he refused to be of the party, and staid in the canoe
+by himself. You are tormenting a good friend, in tormenting this young
+man!"
+
+The Hurons listened with grave attention, and one among them, who
+understood English, translated what had been said into their native
+tongue. As soon as Rivenoak was made acquainted with the purport of her
+address he answered it in his own dialect; the interpreter conveying it
+to the girl in English.
+
+"My daughter is very welcome to speak," said the stern old orator, using
+gentle intonations and smiling as kindly as if addressing a child--"The
+Hurons are glad to hear her voice; they listen to what she says. The
+Great Spirit often speaks to men with such tongues. This time, her eyes
+have not been open wide enough to see all that has happened. Deerslayer
+did not come for our scalps, that is true; why did he not come? Here
+they are on our heads; the war locks are ready to be taken hold of; a
+bold enemy ought to stretch out his hand to seize them. The Iroquois
+are too great a nation to punish men that take scalps. What they do
+themselves, they like to see others do. Let my daughter look around
+her and count my warriors. Had I as many hands as four warriors, their
+fingers would be fewer than my people, when they came into your hunting
+grounds. Now, a whole hand is missing. Where are the fingers? Two have
+been cut off by this pale-face; my Hurons wish to see if he did this by
+means of a stout heart, or by treachery. Like a skulking fox, or like a
+leaping panther."
+
+"You know yourself, Huron, how one of them fell. I saw it, and you all
+saw it, too. 'Twas too bloody to look at; but it was not Deerslayer's
+fault. Your warrior sought his life, and he defended himself. I don't
+know whether this good book says that it was right, but all men will
+do that. Come, if you want to know which of you can shoot best, give
+Deerslayer a rifle, and then you will find how much more expert he is
+than any of your warriors; yes, than all of them together!"
+
+Could one have looked upon such a scene with indifference, he would
+have been amused at the gravity with which the savages listened to the
+translation of this unusual request. No taunt, no smile mingled with
+their surprise, for Hetty had a character and a manner too saintly to
+subject her infirmity to the mockings of the rude and ferocious. On the
+contrary, she was answered with respectful attention.
+
+"My daughter does not always talk like a chief at a Council Fire,"
+returned Rivenoak, "or she would not have said this. Two of my warriors
+have fallen by the blows of our prisoner; their grave is too small to
+hold a third. The Hurons do not like to crowd their dead. If there is
+another spirit about to set out for the far off world, it must not
+be the spirit of a Huron; it must be the spirit of a pale-face. Go,
+daughter, and sit by Sumach, who is in grief; let the Huron warriors
+show how well they can shoot; let the pale-face show how little he cares
+for their bullets."
+
+Hetty's mind was unequal to a sustained discussion, and accustomed to
+defer to the directions of her seniors she did as told, seating herself
+passively on a log by the side of the Sumach, and averting her face from
+the painful scene that was occurring within the circle.
+
+The warriors, as soon as this interruption had ceased, resumed their
+places, and again prepared to exhibit their skill. As there was a double
+object in view, that of putting the constancy of the captive to the
+proof, and that of showing how steady were the hands of the marksmen
+under circumstances of excitement, the distance was small, and, in one
+sense, safe. But in diminishing the distance taken by the tormentors,
+the trial to the nerves of the captive was essentially increased. The
+face of Deerslayer, indeed, was just removed sufficiently from the ends
+of the guns to escape the effects of the flash, and his steady eye
+was enabled to look directly into their muzzles, as it might be, in
+anticipation of the fatal messenger that was to issue from each. The
+cunning Hurons well knew this fact, and scarce one levelled his piece
+without first causing it to point as near as possible at the forehead
+of the prisoner, in the hope that his fortitude would fail him, and that
+the band would enjoy the triumph of seeing a victim quail under their
+ingenious cruelty. Nevertheless each of the competitors was still
+careful not to injure, the disgrace of striking prematurely being second
+only to that of failing altogether in attaining the object. Shot
+after shot was made; all the bullets coming in close proximity to the
+Deerslayer's head, without touching it. Still no one could detect even
+the twitching of a muscle on the part of the captive, or the slightest
+winking of an eye. This indomitable resolution, which so much exceeded
+everything of its kind that any present had before witnessed, might
+be referred to three distinct causes. The first was resignation to his
+fate, blended with natural steadiness of deportment; for our hero had
+calmly made up his mind that he must die, and preferred this mode to any
+other; the second was his great familiarity with this particular weapon,
+which deprived it of all the terror that is usually connected with the
+mere form of the danger; and the third was this familiarity carried out
+in practice, to a degree so nice as to enable the intended victim to
+tell, within an inch, the precise spot where each bullet must strike,
+for he calculated its range by looking in at the bore of the piece. So
+exact was Deerslayer's estimation of the line of fire, that his pride of
+feeling finally got the better of his resignation, and when five or six
+had discharged their bullets into the tree, he could not refrain from
+expressing his contempt at their want of hand and eye.
+
+"You may call this shooting, Mingos!" he exclaimed, "but we've squaws
+among the Delawares, and I have known Dutch gals on the Mohawk, that
+could outdo your greatest indivours. Ondo these arms of mine, put a
+rifle into my hands, and I'll pin the thinnest warlock in your party
+to any tree you can show me, and this at a hundred yards--ay, or at two
+hundred if the objects can be seen, nineteen shots in twenty; or, for
+that matter twenty in twenty, if the piece is creditable and trusty!"
+
+A low menacing murmur followed this cool taunt. The ire of the warriors
+kindled at listening to such a reproach from one who so far disdained
+their efforts as to refuse even to wink when a rifle was discharged as
+near his face as could be done without burning it. Rivenoak perceived
+that the moment was critical, and, still retaining his hope of adopting
+so noted a hunter into his tribe, the politic old chief interposed in
+time, probably to prevent an immediate resort to that portion of the
+torture which must necessarily have produced death through extreme
+bodily suffering, if in no other manner. Moving into the centre of
+the irritated group, he addressed them with his usual wily logic and
+plausible manner, at once suppressing the fierce movement that had
+commenced.
+
+"I see how it is," he said. "We have been like the pale-faces when they
+fasten their doors at night, out of fear of the red men. They use so
+many bars that the fire comes and burns them before they can get out.
+We have bound the Deerslayer too tight: the thongs keep his limbs from
+shaking and his eyes from shutting. Loosen him; let us see what his own
+body is really made of."
+
+It is often the case when we are thwarted in a cherished scheme, that
+any expedient, however unlikely to succeed, is gladly resorted to in
+preference to a total abandonment of the project. So it was with the
+Hurons. The proposal of the chief found instant favor, and several hands
+were immediately at work, cutting and tearing the ropes of bark from the
+body of our hero. In half a minute Deerslayer stood as free from bonds
+as when an hour before he had commenced his flight on the side of the
+mountain. Some little time was necessary that he should recover the use
+of his limbs, the circulation of the blood having been checked by the
+tightness of the ligatures, and this was accorded to him by the politic
+Rivenoak, under the pretence that his body would be more likely to
+submit to apprehension if its true tone were restored; though really
+with a view to give time to the fierce passions which had been awakened
+in the bosoms of his young men to subside. This ruse succeeded, and
+Deerslayer by rubbing his limbs, stamping his feet, and moving about,
+soon regained the circulation, recovering all his physical powers as
+effectually as if nothing had occurred to disturb them.
+
+It is seldom men think of death in the pride of their health and
+strength. So it was with Deerslayer. Having been helplessly bound and,
+as he had every reason to suppose, so lately on the very verge of the
+other world, to find himself so unexpectedly liberated, in possession of
+his strength and with a full command of limb, acted on him like a sudden
+restoration to life, reanimating hopes that he had once absolutely
+abandoned. From that instant all his plans changed. In this, he simply
+obeyed a law of nature; for while we have wished to represent our hero
+as being resigned to his fate, it has been far from our intention to
+represent him as anxious to die. From the instant that his buoyancy of
+feeling revived, his thoughts were keenly bent on the various projects
+that presented themselves as modes of evading the designs of his
+enemies, and he again became the quick witted, ingenious and determined
+woodsman, alive to all his own powers and resources. The change was so
+great that his mind resumed its elasticity, and no longer thinking of
+submission, it dwelt only on the devices of the sort of warfare in which
+he was engaged.
+
+As soon as Deerslayer was released, the band divided itself in a circle
+around him, in order to hedge him in, and the desire to break down his
+spirit grew in them, precisely as they saw proofs of the difficulty
+there would be in subduing it. The honor of the band was now involved in
+the issue, and even the fair sex lost all its sympathy with suffering in
+the desire to save the reputation of the tribe. The voices of the girls,
+soft and melodious as nature had made them, were heard mingling with
+the menaces of the men, and the wrongs of Sumach suddenly assumed the
+character of injuries inflicted on every Huron female. Yielding to this
+rising tumult, the men drew back a little, signifying to the females
+that they left the captive, for a time, in their hands, it being a
+common practice on such occasions for the women to endeavor to throw the
+victim into a rage by their taunts and revilings, and then to turn him
+suddenly over to the men in a state of mind that was little favorable to
+resisting the agony of bodily suffering. Nor was this party without the
+proper instruments for effecting such a purpose. Sumach had a notoriety
+as a scold, and one or two crones, like the She Bear, had come out with
+the party, most probably as the conservators of its decency and moral
+discipline; such things occurring in savage as well as in civilized
+life. It is unnecessary to repeat all that ferocity and ignorance could
+invent for such a purpose, the only difference between this outbreaking
+of feminine anger, and a similar scene among ourselves, consisting in
+the figures of speech and the epithets, the Huron women calling their
+prisoner by the names of the lower and least respected animals that were
+known to themselves.
+
+But Deerslayer's mind was too much occupied to permit him to be
+disturbed by the abuse of excited hags, and their rage necessarily
+increasing with his indifference, as his indifference increased with
+their rage, the furies soon rendered themselves impotent by their
+own excesses. Perceiving that the attempt was a complete failure, the
+warriors interfered to put a stop to this scene, and this so much the
+more because preparations were now seriously making for the commencement
+of the real tortures, or that which would put the fortitude of the
+sufferer to the test of severe bodily pain. A sudden and unlooked for
+announcement, that proceeded from one of the look-outs, a boy ten
+or twelve years old, however, put a momentary check to the whole
+proceedings. As this interruption has a close connection with the
+denouement of our story, it shall be given in a separate chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXX.
+
+
+    "So deem'st thou--so each mortal deems
+    Of that which is from that which seems;
+    But other harvest here
+    Than that which peasant's scythe demands,
+    Was gather'd in by sterner hands,
+    With bayonet, blade, and spear."
+
+    Scott, "The Field of Waterloo," V.i-6.
+
+It exceeded Deerslayer's power to ascertain what had produced the sudden
+pause in the movements of his enemies, until the fact was revealed in
+the due course of events. He perceived that much agitation prevailed
+among the women in particular, while the warriors rested on their arms
+in a sort of dignified expectation. It was plain no alarm was excited,
+though it was not equally apparent that a friendly occurrence produced
+the delay. Rivenoak was evidently apprised of all, and by a gesture of
+his arm he appeared to direct the circle to remain unbroken, and for
+each person to await the issue in the situation he or she then occupied.
+It required but a minute or two to bring an explanation of this singular
+and mysterious pause, which was soon terminated by the appearance of
+Judith on the exterior of the line of bodies, and her ready admission
+within its circle.
+
+If Deerslayer was startled by this unexpected arrival, well knowing
+that the quick witted girl could claim none of that exemption from the
+penalties of captivity that was so cheerfully accorded to her feebler
+minded sister, he was equally astonished at the guise in which she came.
+All her ordinary forest attire, neat and becoming as this usually was,
+had been laid aside for the brocade that has been already mentioned,
+and which had once before wrought so great and magical an effect in
+her appearance. Nor was this all. Accustomed to see the ladies of the
+garrison in the formal, gala attire of the day, and familiar with
+the more critical niceties of these matters, the girl had managed to
+complete her dress in a way to leave nothing strikingly defective in its
+details, or even to betray an incongruity that would have been detected
+by one practised in the mysteries of the toilet. Head, feet, arms,
+hands, bust, and drapery, were all in harmony, as female attire was
+then deemed attractive and harmonious, and the end she aimed at, that of
+imposing on the uninstructed senses of the savages, by causing them to
+believe their guest was a woman of rank and importance, might well
+have succeeded with those whose habits had taught them to discriminate
+between persons. Judith, in addition to her rare native beauty, had a
+singular grace of person, and her mother had imparted enough of her own
+deportment to prevent any striking or offensive vulgarity of manner; so
+that, sooth to say, the gorgeous dress might have been worse bestowed in
+nearly every particular. Had it been displayed in a capital, a thousand
+might have worn it, before one could have been found to do more credit
+to its gay colours, glossy satins, and rich laces, than the beautiful
+creature whose person it now aided to adorn. The effect of such an
+apparition had not been miscalculated. The instant Judith found herself
+within the circle, she was, in a degree, compensated for the fearful
+personal risk she ran, by the unequivocal sensation of surprise and
+admiration produced by her appearance. The grim old warriors uttered
+their favorite exclamation "hugh!" The younger men were still more
+sensibly overcome, and even the women were not backward in letting
+open manifestations of pleasure escape them. It was seldom that these
+untutored children of the forest had ever seen any white female above
+the commonest sort, and, as to dress, never before had so much splendor
+shone before their eyes. The gayest uniforms of both French and English
+seemed dull compared with the lustre of the brocade, and while the rare
+personal beauty of the wearer added to the effect produced by its hues,
+the attire did not fail to adorn that beauty in a way which surpassed
+even the hopes of its wearer. Deerslayer himself was astounded, and this
+quite as much by the brilliant picture the girl presented, as at the
+indifference to consequences with which she had braved the danger of the
+step she had taken. Under such circumstances, all waited for the
+visitor to explain her object, which to most of the spectators seemed as
+inexplicable as her appearance.
+
+"Which of these warriors is the principal chief?" demanded Judith of
+Deerslayer, as soon as she found it was expected that she should open
+the communications; "my errand is too important to be delivered to any
+of inferior rank. First explain to the Hurons what I say; then give an
+answer to the question I have put."
+
+Deerslayer quietly complied, his auditors greedily listening to the
+interpretation of the first words that fell from so extraordinary a
+vision. The demand seemed perfectly in character for one who had every
+appearance of an exalted rank, herself. Rivenoak gave an appropriate
+reply, by presenting himself before his fair visitor in a way to leave
+no doubt that he was entitled to all the consideration he claimed.
+
+"I can believe this, Huron," resumed Judith, enacting her assumed
+part with a steadiness and dignity that did credit to her powers of
+imitation, for she strove to impart to her manner the condescending
+courtesy she had once observed in the wife of a general officer, at
+a similar though a more amicable scene: "I can believe you to be the
+principal person of this party; I see in your countenance the marks of
+thought and reflection. To you, then, I must make my communication."
+
+"Let the Flower of the Woods speak," returned the old chief courteously,
+as soon as her address had been translated so that all might understand
+it--"If her words are as pleasant as her looks, they will never quit my
+ears; I shall hear them long after the winter of Canada has killed all
+the flowers, and frozen all the speeches of summer."
+
+This admiration was grateful to one constituted like Judith, and
+contributed to aid her self-possession, quite as much as it fed her
+vanity. Smiling involuntarily, or in spite of her wish to seem reserved,
+she proceeded in her plot.
+
+"Now, Huron," she continued, "listen to my words. Your eyes tell you
+that I am no common woman. I will not say I am queen of this country;
+she is afar off, in a distant land; but under our gracious monarchs,
+there are many degrees of rank; one of these I fill. What that rank
+is precisely, it is unnecessary for me to say, since you would not
+understand it. For that information you must trust your eyes. You see
+what I am; you must feel that in listening to my words, you listen to
+one who can be your friend, or your enemy, as you treat her."
+
+This was well uttered, with a due attention to manner and a steadiness
+of tone that was really surprising, considering all the circumstances
+of the case. It was well, though simply rendered into the Indian
+dialect too, and it was received with a respect and gravity that augured
+favourably for the girl's success. But Indian thought is not easily
+traced to its sources. Judith waited with anxiety to hear the answer,
+filled with hope even while she doubted. Rivenoak was a ready speaker,
+and he answered as promptly as comported with the notions of Indian
+decorum; that peculiar people seeming to think a short delay respectful,
+inasmuch as it manifests that the words already heard have been duly
+weighed.
+
+"My daughter is handsomer than the wild roses of Ontario; her voice is
+pleasant to the ear as the song of the wren," answered the cautious and
+wily chief, who of all the band stood alone in not being fully imposed
+on by the magnificent and unusual appearance of Judith; but who
+distrusted even while he wondered: "the humming bird is not much larger
+than the bee; yet, its feathers are as gay as the tail of the peacock.
+The Great Spirit sometimes puts very bright clothes on very little
+animals. Still He covers the Moose with coarse hair. These things are
+beyond the understanding of poor Indians, who can only comprehend
+what they see and hear. No doubt my daughter has a very large wigwam
+somewhere about the lake; the Hurons have not found it, on account of
+their ignorance?"
+
+"I have told you, chief, that it would be useless to state my rank and
+residence, in as much as you would not comprehend them. You must trust
+to your eyes for this knowledge; what red man is there who cannot see?
+This blanket that I wear is not the blanket of a common squaw; these
+ornaments are such as the wives and daughters of chiefs only appear
+in. Now, listen and hear why I have come alone among your people, and
+hearken to the errand that has brought me here. The Yengeese have young
+men, as well as the Hurons; and plenty of them, too; this you well
+know."
+
+"The Yengeese are as plenty as the leaves on the trees! This every Huron
+knows, and feels."
+
+"I understand you, chief. Had I brought a party with me, it might
+have caused trouble. My young men and your young men would have looked
+angrily at each other; especially had my young men seen that pale-face
+bound for the torture. He is a great hunter, and is much loved by all
+the garrisons, far and near. There would have been blows about him, and
+the trail of the Iroquois back to the Canadas would have been marked
+with blood."
+
+"There is so much blood on it, now," returned the chief, gloomily, "that
+it blinds our eyes. My young men see that it is all Huron."
+
+"No doubt; and more Huron blood would be spilt had I come surrounded
+with pale-faces. I have heard of Rivenoak, and have thought it would be
+better to send him back in peace to his village, that he might leave his
+women and children behind him; if he then wished to come for our scalps,
+we would meet him. He loves animals made of ivory, and little rifles.
+See; I have brought some with me to show him. I am his friend. When
+he has packed up these things among his goods, he will start for his
+village, before any of my young men can overtake him, and then he will
+show his people in Canada what riches they can come to seek, now that
+our great fathers, across the Salt Lake, have sent each other the war
+hatchet. I will lead back with me this great hunter, of whom I have need
+to keep my house in venison."
+
+Judith, who was sufficiently familiar with Indian phraseology,
+endeavored to express her ideas in the sententious manner common to
+those people, and she succeeded even beyond her own expectations.
+Deerslayer did her full justice in the translation, and this so much
+the more readily, since the girl carefully abstained from uttering any
+direct untruth; a homage she paid to the young man's known aversion to
+falsehood, which he deemed a meanness altogether unworthy of a white
+man's gifts. The offering of the two remaining elephants, and of the
+pistols already mentioned, one of which was all the worse for the recent
+accident, produced a lively sensation among the Hurons, generally,
+though Rivenoak received it coldly, notwithstanding the delight with
+which he had first discovered the probable existence of a creature with
+two tails. In a word, this cool and sagacious savage was not so easily
+imposed on as his followers, and with a sentiment of honor that half
+the civilized world would have deemed supererogatory, he declined
+the acceptance of a bribe that he felt no disposition to earn by a
+compliance with the donor's wishes.
+
+"Let my daughter keep her two-tailed hog, to eat when venison is
+scarce," he drily answered, "and the little gun, which has two muzzles.
+The Hurons will kill deer when they are hungry, and they have long
+rifles to fight with. This hunter cannot quit my young men now; they
+wish to know if he is as stouthearted as he boasts himself to be."
+
+"That I deny, Huron--" interrupted Deerslayer, with warmth--"Yes, that
+I downright deny, as ag'in truth and reason. No man has heard me boast,
+and no man shall, though ye flay me alive, and then roast the quivering
+flesh, with your own infarnal devices and cruelties! I may be humble,
+and misfortunate, and your prisoner; but I'm no boaster, by my very
+gifts."
+
+"My young pale-face boasts he is no boaster," returned the crafty chief:
+"he must be right. I hear a strange bird singing. It has very rich
+feathers. No Huron ever before saw such feathers! They will be ashamed
+to go back to their village, and tell their people that they let their
+prisoner go on account of the song of this strange bird and not be able
+to give the name of the bird. They do not know how to say whether it
+is a wren, or a cat bird. This would be a great disgrace; my young men
+would not be allowed to travel in the woods without taking their mothers
+with them, to tell them the names of the birds!"
+
+"You can ask my name of your prisoner," returned the girl. "It is
+Judith; and there is a great deal of the history of Judith in the
+pale-face's best book, the Bible. If I am a bird of fine feathers, I
+have also my name."
+
+"No," answered the wily Huron, betraying the artifice he had so long
+practised, by speaking in English with tolerable accuracy, "I not ask
+prisoner. He tired; he want rest. I ask my daughter, with feeble mind.
+She speak truth. Come here, daughter; you answer. Your name, Hetty?"
+
+"Yes, that's what they call me," returned the girl, "though it's written
+Esther in the Bible."
+
+"He write him in bible, too! All write in bible. No matter--what her
+name?"
+
+"That's Judith, and it's so written in the Bible, though father
+sometimes called her Jude. That's my sister Judith. Thomas Hutter's
+daughter--Thomas Hutter, whom you called the Muskrat; though he was no
+muskrat, but a man like yourselves--he lived in a house on the water,
+and that was enough for you."
+
+A smile of triumph gleamed on the hard wrinkled countenance of the
+chief, when he found how completely his appeal to the truth-loving
+Hetty had succeeded. As for Judith, herself, the moment her sister was
+questioned, she saw that all was lost; for no sign, or even intreaty
+could have induced the right feeling girl to utter a falsehood.
+To attempt to impose a daughter of the Muskrat on the savages as a
+princess, or a great lady, she knew would be idle, and she saw her bold
+and ingenious expedient for liberating the captive fail, through one of
+the simplest and most natural causes that could be imagined. She turned
+her eye on Deerslayer, therefore, as if imploring him to interfere to
+save them both.
+
+"It will not do, Judith," said the young man, in answer to this appeal,
+which he understood, though he saw its uselessness; "it will not do.
+'Twas a bold idea, and fit for a general's lady, but yonder
+Mingo" Rivenoak had withdrawn to a little distance, and was out of
+earshot--"but yonder Mingo is an oncommon man, and not to be deceived by
+any unnat'ral sarcumvention. Things must come afore him in their right
+order, to draw a cloud afore his eyes! 'Twas too much to attempt making
+him fancy that a queen, or a great lady, lived in these mountains, and
+no doubt he thinks the fine clothes you wear is some of the plunder of
+your own father--or, at least, of him who once passed for your father;
+as quite likely it was, if all they say is true."
+
+"At all events, Deerslayer, my presence here will save you for a time.
+They will hardly attempt torturing you before my face!"
+
+"Why not, Judith? Do you think they will treat a woman of the pale faces
+more tenderly than they treat their own? It's true that your sex will
+most likely save you from the torments, but it will not save your
+liberty, and may not save your scalp. I wish you had not come, my
+good Judith; it can do no good to me, while it may do great harm to
+yourself."
+
+"I can share your fate," the girl answered with generous enthusiasm.
+"They shall not injure you while I stand by, if in my power to prevent
+it--besides--"
+
+"Besides, what, Judith? What means have you to stop Injin cruelties, or
+to avart Injin deviltries?"
+
+"None, perhaps, Deerslayer," answered the girl, with firmness, "but I
+can suffer with my friends--die with them if necessary."
+
+"Ah! Judith--suffer you may; but die you will not, until the Lord's time
+shall come. It's little likely that one of your sex and beauty will meet
+with a harder fate than to become the wife of a chief, if, indeed your
+white inclinations can stoop to match with an Injin. 'Twould have been
+better had you staid in the Ark, or the castle, but what has been done,
+is done. You was about to say something, when you stopped at 'besides'?"
+
+"It might not be safe to mention it here, Deerslayer," the girl
+hurriedly answered, moving past him carelessly, that she might speak in
+a lower tone; "half an hour is all in all to us. None of your friends
+are idle."
+
+The hunter replied merely by a grateful look. Then he turned towards his
+enemies, as if ready again to face their torments. A short consultation
+had passed among the elders of the band, and by this time they also were
+prepared with their decision. The merciful purpose of Rivenoak had been
+much weakened by the artifice of Judith, which, failing of its real
+object, was likely to produce results the very opposite of those she had
+anticipated. This was natural; the feeling being aided by the resentment
+of an Indian who found how near he had been to becoming the dupe of
+an inexperienced girl. By this time, Judith's real character was fully
+understood, the wide spread reputation of her beauty contributing to the
+exposure. As for the unusual attire, it was confounded with the profound
+mystery of the animals with two tails, and for the moment lost its
+influence.
+
+When Rivenoak, therefore, faced the captive again, it was with an
+altered countenance. He had abandoned the wish of saving him, and was
+no longer disposed to retard the more serious part of the torture. This
+change of sentiment was, in effect, communicated to the young men,
+who were already eagerly engaged in making their preparations for the
+contemplated scene. Fragments of dried wood were rapidly collected near
+the sapling, the splinters which it was intended to thrust into the
+flesh of the victim, previously to lighting, were all collected, and the
+thongs were already produced that were again to bind him to the tree.
+All this was done in profound silence, Judith watching every movement
+with breathless expectation, while Deerslayer himself stood seemingly as
+unmoved as one of the pines of the hills. When the warriors advanced
+to bind him, however, the young man glanced at Judith, as if to enquire
+whether resistance or submission were most advisable. By a significant
+gesture she counselled the last, and, in a minute, he was once more
+fastened to the tree, a helpless object of any insult, or wrong, that
+might be offered. So eagerly did every one now act, that nothing was
+said. The fire was immediately lighted in the pile, and the end of all
+was anxiously expected.
+
+It was not the intention of the Hurons absolutely to destroy the life of
+their victim by means of fire. They designed merely to put his physical
+fortitude to the severest proofs it could endure, short of that
+extremity. In the end, they fully intended to carry his scalp with
+them into their village, but it was their wish first to break down his
+resolution, and to reduce him to the level of a complaining sufferer.
+With this view, the pile of brush and branches had been placed at a
+proper distance, or, one at which it was thought the heat would soon
+become intolerable, though it might not be immediately dangerous. As
+often happened, however, on these occasions, this distance had been
+miscalculated, and the flames began to wave their forked tongues in a
+proximity to the face of the victim, that would have proved fatal, in
+another instant, had not Hetty rushed through the crowd, armed with a
+stick, and scattered the blazing pile in a dozen directions. More than
+one hand was raised to strike this presumptuous intruder to the earth,
+but the chiefs prevented the blows, by reminding their irritated
+followers of the state of her mind. Hetty, herself, was insensible to
+the risk she ran, but, as soon as she had performed this bold act, she
+stood looking about her, in frowning resentment, as if to rebuke the
+crowd of attentive savages for their cruelty.
+
+"God bless you, dearest sister, for that brave and ready act!"
+murmured Judith, herself unnerved so much as to be incapable of
+exertion--"Heaven, itself, has sent you on its holy errand."
+
+"'Twas well meant, Judith--" rejoined the victim--"'twas excellently
+meant, and 'twas timely; though it may prove ontimely in the ind! What
+is to come to pass, must come to pass soon, or 'twill quickly be too
+late. Had I drawn in one mouthful of that flame in breathing, the power
+of man could not save my life, and you see that, this time, they've so
+bound my forehead, as not to leave my head the smallest chance. 'Twas
+well meant, but it might have been more marciful to let the flames act
+their part."
+
+"Cruel, heartless Hurons!" exclaimed the still indignant Hetty--"Would
+you burn a man and a Christian, as you would burn a log of wood! Do you
+never read your Bibles? Or do you think God will forget such things?"
+
+A gesture from Rivenoak caused the scattered brands to be collected.
+Fresh wood was brought, even the women and children busying themselves
+eagerly, in the gathering of dried sticks. The flame was just kindling
+a second time, when an Indian female pushed through the circle, advanced
+to the heap, and with her foot dashed aside the lighted twigs in time to
+prevent the conflagration. A yell followed this second disappointment,
+but when the offender turned towards the circle, and presented the
+countenance of Hist, it was succeeded by a common exclamation of
+pleasure and surprise. For a minute, all thought of pursuing the
+business in hand was forgotten. Young and old crowded around the girl,
+in haste to demand an explanation of her sudden and unlooked-for return.
+It was at this critical instant that Hist spoke to Judith in a low
+voice, placed some small object unseen in her hand, and then turned to
+meet the salutations of the Huron girls, with whom she was personally
+a great favorite. Judith recovered her self possession, and acted
+promptly. The small, keen edged knife that Hist had given to the other,
+was passed by the latter into the hands of Hetty, as the safest and
+least suspected medium of transferring it to Deerslayer. But the feeble
+intellect of the last defeated the well-grounded hopes of all three.
+Instead of first cutting loose the hands of the victim, and then
+concealing the knife in his clothes, in readiness for action at the
+most available instant, she went to work herself, with earnestness and
+simplicity, to cut the thongs that bound his head, that he might
+not again be in danger of inhaling flames. Of course this deliberate
+procedure was seen, and the hands of Hetty were arrested, ere she
+had more than liberated the upper portion of the captive's body, not
+including his arms below the elbows. This discovery at once pointed
+distrust towards Hist, and to Judith's surprise, when questioned on the
+subject, that spirited girl was not disposed to deny her agency in what
+had passed.
+
+"Why should I not help the Deerslayer?" the girl demanded, in the tones
+of a firm minded woman. "He is the brother of a Delaware chief; my heart
+is all Delaware. Come forth, miserable Briarthorn, and wash the Iroquois
+paint from your face; stand before the Hurons the crow that you are. You
+would eat the carrion of your own dead, rather than starve. Put him face
+to face with Deerslayer, chiefs and warriors; I will show you how great
+a knave you have been keeping in your tribe."
+
+This bold language, uttered in their own dialect and with a manner full
+of confidence, produced a deep sensation among the Hurons. Treachery
+is always liable to distrust, and though the recreant Briarthorn had
+endeavoured to serve the enemy well, his exertions and assiduities had
+gained for him little more than toleration. His wish to obtain Hist
+for a wife had first induced him to betray her, and his own people, but
+serious rivals to his first project had risen up among his new
+friends, weakening still more their sympathies with treason. In a word,
+Briarthorn had been barely permitted to remain in the Huron encampment,
+where he was as closely and as jealously watched as Hist, herself,
+seldom appearing before the chiefs, and sedulously keeping out of
+view of Deerslayer, who, until this moment, was ignorant even of his
+presence. Thus summoned, however, it was impossible to remain in the
+back ground. "Wash the Iroquois paint from his face," he did not, for
+when he stood in the centre of the circle, he was so disguised in these
+new colours, that at first, the hunter did not recognise him. He assumed
+an air of defiance, notwithstanding, and haughtily demanded what any
+could say against "Briarthorn."
+
+"Ask yourself that," continued Hist with spirit, though her manner grew
+less concentrated, and there was a slight air of abstraction that became
+observable to Deerslayer and Judith, if to no others--"Ask that of your
+own heart, sneaking woodchuck of the Delawares; come not here with the
+face of an innocent man. Go look into the spring; see the colours of
+your enemies on your lying skin; then come back and boast how you run
+from your tribe and took the blanket of the French for your covering!
+Paint yourself as bright as the humming bird, you will still be black as
+the crow!"
+
+Hist had been so uniformly gentle, while living with the Hurons, that
+they now listened to her language with surprise. As for the delinquent,
+his blood boiled in his veins, and it was well for the pretty speaker
+that it was not in his power to execute the revenge he burned to inflict
+on her, in spite of his pretended love.
+
+"Who wishes Briarthorn?" he sternly asked--"If this pale-face is tired
+of life, if afraid of Indian torments, speak, Rivenoak; I will send him
+after the warriors we have lost."
+
+"No, chiefs--no, Rivenoak--" eagerly interrupted Hist--"Deerslayer fears
+nothing; least of all a crow! Unbind him--cut his withes, place him face
+to face with this cawing bird; then let us see which is tired of life!"
+
+Hist made a forward movement, as if to take a knife from a young man,
+and perform the office she had mentioned in person, but an aged warrior
+interposed, at a sign from Rivenoak. This chief watched all the girl did
+with distrust, for, even while speaking in her most boastful language,
+and in the steadiest manner, there was an air of uncertainty and
+expectation about her, that could not escape so close an observer. She
+acted well; but two or three of the old men were equally satisfied that
+it was merely acting. Her proposal to release Deerslayer, therefore, was
+rejected, and the disappointed Hist found herself driven back from the
+sapling, at the very moment she fancied herself about to be successful.
+At the same time, the circle, which had got to be crowded and confused,
+was enlarged, and brought once more into order. Rivenoak now announced
+the intention of the old men again to proceed, the delay having
+continued long enough, and leading to no result.
+
+"Stop Huron--stay chiefs!--" exclaimed Judith, scarce knowing what she
+said, or why she interposed, unless to obtain time. "For God's sake, a
+single minute longer--"
+
+The words were cut short, by another and a still more extraordinary
+interruption. A young Indian came bounding through the Huron ranks,
+leaping into the very centre of the circle, in a way to denote the
+utmost confidence, or a temerity bordering on foolhardiness. Five or six
+sentinels were still watching the lake at different and distant points,
+and it was the first impression of Rivenoak that one of these had come
+in, with tidings of import. Still the movements of the stranger were so
+rapid, and his war dress, which scarcely left him more drapery than
+an antique statue, had so little distinguishing about it, that, at the
+first moment, it was impossible to ascertain whether he were friend or
+foe. Three leaps carried this warrior to the side of Deerslayer,
+whose withes were cut in the twinkling of an eye, with a quickness and
+precision that left the prisoner perfect master of his limbs. Not till
+this was effected did the stranger bestow a glance on any other object;
+then he turned and showed the astonished Hurons the noble brow, fine
+person, and eagle eye, of a young warrior, in the paint and panoply of a
+Delaware. He held a rifle in each hand, the butts of both resting on
+the earth, while from one dangled its proper pouch and horn. This was
+Killdeer which, even as he looked boldly and in defiance at the crowd
+around him, he suffered to fall back into the hands of its proper owner.
+The presence of two armed men, though it was in their midst, startled
+the Hurons. Their rifles were scattered about against the different
+trees, and their only weapons were their knives and tomahawks. Still
+they had too much self-possession to betray fear. It was little likely
+that so small a force would assail so strong a band, and each man
+expected some extraordinary proposition to succeed so decisive a step.
+The stranger did not seem disposed to disappoint them; he prepared to
+speak.
+
+"Hurons," he said, "this earth is very big. The Great Lakes are big,
+too; there is room beyond them for the Iroquois; there is room for the
+Delawares on this side. I am Chingachgook the Son of Uncas; the kinsman
+of Tamenund. This is my betrothed; that pale-face is my friend. My heart
+was heavy, when I missed him; I followed him to your camp, to see that
+no harm happened to him. All the Delaware girls are waiting for Wah;
+they wonder that she stays away so long. Come, let us say farewell, and
+go on our path."
+
+"Hurons, this is your mortal enemy, the Great Serpent of them you hate!"
+cried Briarthorn. "If he escape, blood will be in your moccasin prints,
+from this spot to the Canadas. I am all Huron!" As the last words were
+uttered, the traitor cast his knife at the naked breast of the Delaware.
+A quick movement of the arm, on the part of Hist, who stood near, turned
+aside the blow, the dangerous weapon burying its point in a pine. At the
+next instant, a similar weapon glanced from the hand of the Serpent, and
+quivered in the recreant's heart. A minute had scarcely elapsed from the
+moment in which Chingachgook bounded into the circle, and that in which
+Briarthorn fell, like a log, dead in his tracks. The rapidity of events
+had prevented the Hurons from acting; but this catastrophe permitted no
+farther delay. A common exclamation followed, and the whole party was
+in motion. At this instant a sound unusual to the woods was heard, and
+every Huron, male and female, paused to listen, with ears erect and
+faces filled with expectation. The sound was regular and heavy, as if
+the earth were struck with beetles. Objects became visible among the
+trees of the background, and a body of troops was seen advancing with
+measured tread. They came upon the charge, the scarlet of the King's
+livery shining among the bright green foliage of the forest.
+
+The scene that followed is not easily described. It was one in which
+wild confusion, despair, and frenzied efforts, were so blended as to
+destroy the unity and distinctness of the action. A general yell burst
+from the enclosed Hurons; it was succeeded by the hearty cheers of
+England. Still not a musket or rifle was fired, though that steady,
+measured tramp continued, and the bayonet was seen gleaming in advance
+of a line that counted nearly sixty men. The Hurons were taken at
+a fearful disadvantage. On three sides was the water, while their
+formidable and trained foes cut them off from flight on the fourth. Each
+warrior rushed for his arms, and then all on the point, man, woman and
+child, eagerly sought the covers. In this scene of confusion and
+dismay, however, nothing could surpass the discretion and coolness of
+Deerslayer. His first care was to place Judith and Hist behind trees,
+and he looked for Hetty; but she had been hurried away in the crowd of
+Huron women. This effected, he threw himself on a flank of the retiring
+Hurons, who were inclining off towards the southern margin of the
+point, in the hope of escaping through the water. Deerslayer watched his
+opportunity, and finding two of his recent tormentors in a range, his
+rifle first broke the silence of the terrific scene. The bullet brought
+down both at one discharge. This drew a general fire from the Hurons,
+and the rifle and war cry of the Serpent were heard in the clamor. Still
+the trained men returned no answering volley, the whoop and piece of
+Hurry alone being heard on their side, if we except the short, prompt
+word of authority, and that heavy, measured and menacing tread.
+Presently, however, the shrieks, groans, and denunciations that usually
+accompany the use of the bayonet followed. That terrible and deadly
+weapon was glutted in vengeance. The scene that succeeded was one of
+those of which so many have occurred in our own times, in which neither
+age nor sex forms an exemption to the lot of a savage warfare.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXI.
+
+
+    "The flower that smiles to-day
+    To-morrow dies;
+    All that we wish to stay,
+    Tempts and then flies:
+    What is this world's delight?
+    Lightning that mocks the night,
+    Brief even as bright."
+
+    Shelley, "Mutability," II.  i-v.
+
+The picture next presented, by the point of land that the unfortunate
+Hurons had selected for their last place of encampment, need scarcely be
+laid before the eyes of the reader. Happily for the more tender-minded
+and the more timid, the trunks of the trees, the leaves, and the smoke
+had concealed much of that which passed, and night shortly after drew
+its veil over the lake, and the whole of that seemingly interminable
+wilderness; which may be said to have then stretched, with few and
+immaterial interruptions, from the banks of the Hudson to the shores of
+the Pacific Ocean. Our business carries us into the following day, when
+light returned upon the earth, as sunny and as smiling as if nothing
+extraordinary had occurred.
+
+When the sun rose on the following morning, every sign of hostility and
+alarm had vanished from the basin of the Glimmerglass. The frightful
+event of the preceding evening had left no impression on the placid
+sheet, and the untiring hours pursued their course in the placid order
+prescribed by the powerful hand that set them in motion. The birds were
+again skimming the water, or were seen poised on the wing, high above
+the tops of the tallest pines of the mountains, ready to make their
+swoops, in obedience to the irresistable law of their natures. In
+a word, nothing was changed, but the air of movement and life that
+prevailed in and around the castle. Here, indeed, was an alteration that
+must have struck the least observant eye. A sentinel, who wore the light
+infantry uniform of a royal regiment, paced the platform with measured
+tread, and some twenty more of the same corps lounged about the place,
+or were seated in the ark. Their arms were stacked under the eye of
+their comrade on post. Two officers stood examining the shore, with the
+ship's glass so often mentioned. Their looks were directed to that
+fatal point, where scarlet coats were still to be seen gliding among
+the trees, and where the magnifying power of the instrument also showed
+spades at work, and the sad duty of interment going on. Several of the
+common men bore proofs on their persons that their enemies had not
+been overcome entirely without resistance, and the youngest of the two
+officers on the platform wore an arm in a sling. His companion, who
+commanded the party, had been more fortunate. He it was who used the
+glass, in making the reconnoissances in which the two were engaged.
+
+A sergeant approached to make a report. He addressed the senior of these
+officers as Capt. Warley, while the other was alluded to as Mr., which
+was equivalent to Ensign Thornton. The former it will at once be seen
+was the officer who had been named with so much feeling in the parting
+dialogue between Judith and Hurry. He was, in truth, the very individual
+with whom the scandal of the garrisons had most freely connected the
+name of this beautiful but indiscreet girl. He was a hard featured, red
+faced man of about five and thirty; but of a military carriage, and with
+an air of fashion that might easily impose on the imagination of one as
+ignorant of the world as Judith.
+
+"Craig is covering us with benedictions," observed this person to his
+young ensign, with an air of indifference, as he shut the glass and
+handed it to his servant; "to say the truth, not without reason; it is
+certainly more agreeable to be here in attendance on Miss Judith Hutter,
+than to be burying Indians on a point of the lake, however romantic the
+position, or brilliant the victory. By the way, Wright--is Davis still
+living?"
+
+"He died about ten minutes since, your honor," returned the sergeant to
+whom this question was addressed. "I knew how it would be, as soon as I
+found the bullet had touched the stomach. I never knew a man who could
+hold out long, if he had a hole in his stomach."
+
+"No; it is rather inconvenient for carrying away any thing very
+nourishing," observed Warley, gaping. "This being up two nights de
+suite, Arthur, plays the devil with a man's faculties! I'm as stupid
+as one of those Dutch parsons on the Mohawk--I hope your arm is not
+painful, my dear boy?"
+
+"It draws a few grimaces from me, sir, as I suppose you see," answered
+the youth, laughing at the very moment his countenance was a little
+awry with pain. "But it may be borne. I suppose Graham can spare a few
+minutes, soon, to look at my hurt."
+
+"She is a lovely creature, this Judith Hutter, after all, Thornton; and
+it shall not be my fault if she is not seen and admired in the Parks!"
+resumed Warley, who thought little of his companion's wound--"your arm,
+eh! Quite True--Go into the ark, sergeant, and tell Dr. Graham I desire
+he would look at Mr. Thornton's injury, as soon as he has done with the
+poor fellow with the broken leg. A lovely creature! and she looked like
+a queen in that brocade dress in which we met her. I find all changed
+here; father and mother both gone, the sister dying, if not dead,
+and none of the family left, but the beauty! This has been a lucky
+expedition all round, and promises to terminate better than Indian
+skirmishes in general."
+
+"Am I to suppose, sir, that you are about to desert your colours, in the
+great corps of bachelors, and close the campaign with matrimony?"
+
+"I, Tom Warley, turn Benedict! Faith, my dear boy, you little know the
+corps you speak of, if you fancy any such thing. I do suppose there are
+women in the colonies that a captain of Light Infantry need not disdain;
+but they are not to be found up here, on a mountain lake; or even
+down on the Dutch river where we are posted. It is true, my uncle, the
+general, once did me the favor to choose a wife for me in Yorkshire;
+but she had no beauty--and I would not marry a princess, unless she were
+handsome."
+
+"If handsome, you would marry a beggar?"
+
+"Ay, these are the notions of an ensign! Love in a cottage--doors--and
+windows--the old story, for the hundredth time. The 20th--don't marry.
+We are not a marrying corps, my dear boy. There's the Colonel, Old Sir
+Edwin-----, now; though a full General he has never thought of a wife;
+and when a man gets as high as a Lieutenant General, without matrimony,
+he is pretty safe. Then the Lieutenant Colonel is confirmed, as I tell
+my cousin the bishop. The Major is a widower, having tried matrimony
+for twelve months in his youth, and we look upon him, now, as one of our
+most certain men. Out of ten captains, but one is in the dilemma, and
+he, poor devil, is always kept at regimental headquarters, as a sort of
+memento mori, to the young men as they join. As for the subalterns, not
+one has ever yet had the audacity to speak of introducing a wife into
+the regiment. But your arm is troublesome, and we'll go ourselves and
+see what has become of Graham."
+
+The surgeon who had accompanied the party was employed very differently
+from what the captain supposed. When the assault was over, and the dead
+and wounded were collected, poor Hetty had been found among the latter.
+A rifle bullet had passed through her body, inflicting an injury that
+was known at a glance to be mortal. How this wound was received, no one
+knew; it was probably one of those casualties that ever accompany scenes
+like that related in the previous chapter.
+
+The Sumach, all the elderly women, and some of the Huron girls, had
+fallen by the bayonet, either in the confusion of the melee, or from
+the difficulty of distinguishing the sexes when the dress was so simple.
+Much the greater portion of the warriors suffered on the spot. A few had
+escaped, however, and two or three had been taken unharmed. As for
+the wounded, the bayonet saved the surgeon much trouble. Rivenoak had
+escaped with life and limb, but was injured and a prisoner. As Captain
+Warley and his ensign went into the Ark they passed him, seated in
+dignified silence in one end of the scow, his head and leg bound, but
+betraying no visible sign of despondency or despair. That he mourned
+the loss of his tribe is certain; still he did it in a manner that best
+became a warrior and a chief.
+
+The two soldiers found their surgeon in the principal room of the
+Ark. He was just quitting the pallet of Hetty, with an expression of
+sorrowful regret on his hard, pock-marked Scottish features, that it was
+not usual to see there. All his assiduity had been useless, and he was
+compelled reluctantly to abandon the expectation of seeing the girl
+survive many hours. Dr. Graham was accustomed to death-bed scenes,
+and ordinarily they produced but little impression on him. In all that
+relates to religion, his was one of those minds which, in consequence
+of reasoning much on material things, logically and consecutively, and
+overlooking the total want of premises which such a theory must ever
+possess, through its want of a primary agent, had become sceptical;
+leaving a vague opinion concerning the origin of things, that, with
+high pretentions to philosophy, failed in the first of all philosophical
+principles, a cause. To him religious dependence appeared a weakness,
+but when he found one gentle and young like Hetty, with a mind beneath
+the level of her race, sustained at such a moment by these pious
+sentiments, and that, too, in a way that many a sturdy warrior and
+reputed hero might have looked upon with envy, he found himself affected
+by the sight to a degree that he would have been ashamed to confess.
+Edinburgh and Aberdeen, then as now, supplied no small portion of the
+medical men of the British service, and Dr. Graham, as indeed his name
+and countenance equally indicated, was, by birth a North Briton.
+
+"Here is an extraordinary exhibition for a forest, and one but
+half-gifted with reason," he observed with a decided Scotch accent, as
+Warley and the ensign entered; "I just hope, gentlemen, that when we
+three shall be called on to quit the 20th, we may be found as resigned
+to go on the half pay of another existence, as this poor demented
+chiel!"
+
+"Is there no hope that she can survive the hurt?" demanded Warley,
+turning his eyes towards the pallid Judith, on whose cheeks, however,
+two large spots of red had settled as soon as he came into the cabin.
+
+"No more than there is for Chairlie Stuart! Approach and judge for
+yourselves, gentlemen; ye'll see faith exemplified in an exceeding and
+wonderful manner. There is a sort of arbitrium between life and
+death, in actual conflict in the poor girl's mind, that renders her an
+interesting study to a philosopher. Mr. Thornton, I'm at your service,
+now; we can just look at the arm in the next room, while we speculate as
+much as we please on the operations and sinuosities of the human mind."
+
+The surgeon and ensign retired, and Warley had an opportunity of looking
+about him more at leisure, and with a better understanding of the nature
+and feelings of the group collected in the cabin. Poor Hetty had
+been placed on her own simple bed, and was reclining in a half seated
+attitude, with the approaches of death on her countenance, though they
+were singularly dimmed by the lustre of an expression in which all the
+intelligence of her entire being appeared to be concentrated. Judith
+and Hist were near her, the former seated in deep grief; the latter
+standing, in readiness to offer any of the gentle attentions of feminine
+care. Deerslayer stood at the end of the pallet, leaning on Killdeer,
+unharmed in person, all the fine martial ardor that had so lately glowed
+in his countenance having given place to the usual look of honesty and
+benevolence, qualities of which the expression was now softened by
+manly regret and pity. The Serpent was in the background of the picture,
+erect, and motionless as a statue; but so observant that not a look of
+the eye escaped his own keen glances. Hurry completed the group, being
+seated on a stool near the door, like one who felt himself out of place
+in such a scene, but who was ashamed to quit it, unbidden.
+
+"Who is that in scarlet?" asked Hetty, as soon as the Captain's uniform
+caught her eye. "Tell me, Judith, is it the friend of Hurry?"
+
+"'Tis the officer who commands the troops that have rescued us all from
+the hands of the Hurons," was the low answer of the sister.
+
+"Am I rescued, too!--I thought they said I was shot, and about to die.
+Mother is dead; and so is father; but you are living, Judith, and so
+is Hurry. I was afraid Hurry would be killed, when I heard him shouting
+among the soldiers."
+
+"Never mind--never mind, dear Hetty--" interrupted Judith, sensitively
+alive to the preservation of her sister's secret, more, perhaps, at such
+a moment, than at any other. "Hurry is well, and Deerslayer is well, and
+the Delaware is well, too."
+
+"How came they to shoot a poor girl like me, and let so many men go
+unharmed? I didn't know that the Hurons were so wicked, Judith!"
+
+"'Twas an accident, poor Hetty; a sad accident it has been! No one would
+willingly have injured you."
+
+"I'm glad of that!--I thought it strange; I am feeble minded, and the
+redmen have never harmed me before. I should be sorry to think that they
+had changed their minds. I am glad too, Judith, that they haven't hurt
+Hurry. Deerslayer I don't think God will suffer any one to harm. It
+was very fortunate the soldiers came as they did though, for fire will
+burn!"
+
+"It was indeed fortunate, my sister; God's holy name be forever blessed
+for the mercy!"
+
+"I dare say, Judith, you know some of the officers; you used to know so
+many!"
+
+Judith made no reply; she hid her face in her hands and groaned. Hetty
+gazed at her in wonder; but naturally supposing her own situation was
+the cause of this grief, she kindly offered to console her sister.
+
+"Don't mind me, dear Judith," said the affectionate and pure-hearted
+creature, "I don't suffer; if I do die, why father and mother are both
+dead, and what happens to them may well happen to me. You know I am
+of less account than any of the family; therefore few will think of me
+after I'm in the lake."
+
+"No, no, no--poor, dear, dear Hetty!" exclaimed Judith, in an
+uncontrollable burst of sorrow, "I, at least, will ever think of you;
+and gladly, oh! how gladly would I exchange places with you, to be the
+pure, excellent, sinless creature you are!"
+
+Until now, Captain Warley had stood leaning against the door of the
+cabin; when this outbreak of feeling, and perchance of penitence,
+however, escaped the beautiful girl, he walked slowly and thoughtfully
+away; even passing the ensign, then suffering under the surgeon's care,
+without noticing him.
+
+"I have got my Bible here, Judith," returned her sister in a voice of
+triumph. "It's true, I can't read any longer, there's something the
+matter with my eyes--you look dim and distant--and so does Hurry, now
+I look at him--well, I never could have believed that Henry March would
+have so dull a look! What can be the reason, Judith, that I see so
+badly, to-day? I, who mother always said had the best eyes in the
+whole family. Yes, that was it: my mind was feeble--what people call
+half-witted--but my eyes were so good!"
+
+Again Judith groaned; this time no feeling of self, no retrospect of
+the past caused the pain. It was the pure, heartfelt sorrow of sisterly
+love, heightened by a sense of the meek humility and perfect truth of
+the being before her. At that moment, she would gladly have given up
+her own life to save that of Hetty. As the last, however, was beyond the
+reach of human power, she felt there was nothing left her but sorrow. At
+this moment Warley returned to the cabin, drawn by a secret impulse he
+could not withstand, though he felt, just then, as if he would gladly
+abandon the American continent forever, were it practicable. Instead of
+pausing at the door, he now advanced so near the pallet of the sufferer
+as to come more plainly within her gaze. Hetty could still distinguish
+large objects, and her look soon fastened on him.
+
+"Are you the officer that came with Hurry?" she asked. "If you are, we
+ought all to thank you, for, though I am hurt, the rest have saved their
+lives. Did Harry March tell you, where to find us, and how much need
+there was for your services?"
+
+"The news of the party reached us by means of a friendly runner,"
+returned the Captain, glad to relieve his feelings by this appearance of
+a friendly communication, "and I was immediately sent out to cut it off.
+It was fortunate, certainly, that we met Hurry Harry, as you call him,
+for he acted as a guide, and it was not less fortunate that we heard a
+firing, which I now understand was merely a shooting at the mark, for
+it not only quickened our march, but called us to the right side of the
+lake. The Delaware saw us on the shore, with the glass it would seem,
+and he and Hist, as I find his squaw is named, did us excellent service.
+It was really altogether a fortunate concurrence of circumstances,
+Judith."
+
+"Talk not to me of any thing fortunate, sir," returned the girl huskily,
+again concealing her face. "To me the world is full of misery. I wish
+never to hear of marks, or rifles, or soldiers, or men, again!"
+
+"Do you know my sister?" asked Hetty, ere the rebuked soldier had time
+to rally for an answer. "How came you to know that her name is Judith?
+You are right, for that is her name; and I am Hetty; Thomas Hutter's
+daughters."
+
+"For heaven's sake, dearest sister; for my sake, beloved Hetty,"
+interposed Judith, imploringly, "say no more of this!"
+
+Hetty looked surprised, but accustomed to comply, she ceased her awkward
+and painful interrogations of Warley, bending her eyes towards the Bible
+which she still held between her hands, as one would cling to a casket
+of precious stones in a shipwreck, or a conflagration. Her mind now
+adverted to the future, losing sight, in a great measure, of the scenes
+of the past.
+
+"We shall not long be parted, Judith," she said; "when you die, you must
+be brought and be buried in the lake, by the side of mother, too."
+
+"Would to God, Hetty, that I lay there at this moment!"
+
+"No, that cannot be, Judith; people must die before they have any
+right to be buried. 'Twould be wicked to bury you, or for you to bury
+yourself, while living. Once I thought of burying myself; God kept me
+from that sin."
+
+"You!--You, Hetty Hutter, think of such an act!" exclaimed Judith,
+looking up in uncontrollable surprise, for she well knew nothing passed
+the lips of her conscientious sister, that was not religiously true.
+
+"Yes, I did, Judith, but God has forgotten--no he forgets nothing--but
+he has forgiven it," returned the dying girl, with the subdued manner
+of a repentant child. "'Twas after mother's death; I felt I had lost the
+best friend I had on earth, if not the only friend. 'Tis true, you and
+father were kind to me, Judith, but I was so feeble-minded, I knew I
+should only give you trouble; and then you were so often ashamed of such
+a sister and daughter, and 'tis hard to live in a world where all look
+upon you as below them. I thought then, if I could bury myself by the
+side of mother, I should be happier in the lake than in the hut."
+
+"Forgive me--pardon me, dearest Hetty--on my bended knees, I beg you
+to pardon me, sweet sister, if any word, or act of mine drove you to so
+maddening and cruel a thought!"
+
+"Get up, Judith--kneel to God; don't kneel to me. Just so I felt when
+mother was dying! I remembered everything I had said and done to vex
+her, and could have kissed her feet for forgiveness. I think it must be
+so with all dying people; though, now I think of it, I don't remember to
+have had such feelings on account of father."
+
+Judith arose, hid her face in her apron, and wept. A long pause--one of
+more than two hours--succeeded, during which Warley entered and left the
+cabin several times; apparently uneasy when absent, and yet unable to
+remain. He issued various orders, which his men proceeded to execute,
+and there was an air of movement in the party, more especially as Mr.
+Craig, the lieutenant, had got through the unpleasant duty of burying
+the dead, and had sent for instructions from the shore, desiring to know
+what he was to do with his detachment. During this interval Hetty
+slept a little, and Deerslayer and Chingachgook left the Ark to confer
+together. But, at the end of the time mentioned, the Surgeon passed upon
+the platform, and with a degree of feeling his comrades had never before
+observed in one of his habits, he announced that the patient was rapidly
+drawing near her end. On receiving this intelligence the group collected
+again, curiosity to witness such a death--or a better feeling--drawing
+to the spot men who had so lately been actors in a scene seemingly of
+so much greater interest and moment. By this time Judith had got to be
+inactive through grief, and Hist alone was performing the little offices
+of feminine attention that are so appropriate to the sick bed. Hetty
+herself had undergone no other apparent change than the general failing
+that indicated the near approach of dissolution. All that she possessed
+of mind was as clear as ever, and, in some respects, her intellect
+perhaps was more than usually active.
+
+"Don't grieve for me so much, Judith," said the gentle sufferer, after
+a pause in her remarks; "I shall soon see mother--I think I see her now;
+her face is just as sweet and smiling as it used to be! Perhaps when I'm
+dead, God will give me all my mind, and I shall become a more fitting
+companion for mother than I ever was before."
+
+"You will be an angel in heaven, Hetty," sobbed the sister; "no spirit
+there will be more worthy of its holy residence!"
+
+"I don't understand it quite; still, I know it must be all true; I've
+read it in the Bible. How dark it's becoming! Can it be night so soon? I
+can hardly see you at all--where is Hist?"
+
+"I here, poor girl--Why you no see me?"
+
+"I do see you; but I couldn't tell whether 'twas you, or Judith. I
+believe I shan't see you much longer, Hist."
+
+"Sorry for that, poor Hetty. Never mind--pale-face got a heaven for girl
+as well as for warrior."
+
+"Where's the Serpent? Let me speak to him; give me his hand; so; I feel
+it. Delaware, you will love and cherish this young Indian woman--I know
+how fond she is of you; you must be fond of her. Don't treat her as some
+of your people treat their wives; be a real husband to her. Now, bring
+Deerslayer near me; give me his hand."
+
+This request was complied with, and the hunter stood by the side of
+the pallet, submitting to the wishes of the girl with the docility of a
+child.
+
+"I feel, Deerslayer," she resumed, "though I couldn't tell why--but
+I feel that you and I are not going to part for ever. 'Tis a strange
+feeling! I never had it before; I wonder what it comes from!"
+
+"'Tis God encouraging you in extremity, Hetty; as such it ought to be
+harbored and respected. Yes, we shall meet ag'in, though it may be a
+long time first, and in a far distant land."
+
+"Do you mean to be buried in the lake, too? If so, that may account for
+the feeling."
+
+"'Tis little likely, gal; 'tis little likely; but there's a region for
+Christian souls, where there's no lakes, nor woods, they say; though why
+there should be none of the last, is more than I can account for; seeing
+that pleasantness and peace is the object in view. My grave will be
+found in the forest, most likely, but I hope my spirit will not be far
+from your'n."
+
+"So it must be, then. I am too weak-minded to understand these things,
+but I feel that you and I will meet again. Sister, where are you? I
+can't see, now, anything but darkness. It must be night, surely!"
+
+"Oh! Hetty, I am here at your side; these are my arms that are around
+you," sobbed Judith. "Speak, dearest; is there anything you wish to say,
+or have done, in this awful moment."
+
+By this time Hetty's sight had entirely failed her. Nevertheless death
+approached with less than usual of its horrors, as if in tenderness to
+one of her half-endowed faculties. She was pale as a corpse, but her
+breathing was easy and unbroken, while her voice, though lowered almost
+to a whisper, remained clear and distinct. When her sister put this
+question, however, a blush diffused itself over the features of the
+dying girl, so faint however as to be nearly imperceptible; resembling
+that hue of the rose which is thought to portray the tint of modesty,
+rather than the dye of the flower in its richer bloom. No one but Judith
+detected this exposure of feeling, one of the gentle expressions of
+womanly sensibility, even in death. On her, however, it was not lost,
+nor did she conceal from herself the cause.
+
+"Hurry is here, dearest Hetty," whispered the sister, with her face so
+near the sufferer as to keep the words from other ears. "Shall I tell
+him to come and receive your good wishes?"
+
+A gentle pressure of the hand answered in the affirmative. Then Hurry
+was brought to the side of the pallet. It is probable that this handsome
+but rude woodsman had never before found himself so awkwardly placed,
+though the inclination which Hetty felt for him (a sort of secret
+yielding to the instincts of nature, rather than any unbecoming impulse
+of an ill-regulated imagination), was too pure and unobtrusive to have
+created the slightest suspicion of the circumstance in his mind. He
+allowed Judith to put his hard colossal hand between those of Hetty, and
+stood waiting the result in awkward silence.
+
+"This is Hurry, dearest," whispered Judith, bending over her sister,
+ashamed to utter the words so as to be audible to herself. "Speak to
+him, and let him go."
+
+"What shall I say, Judith?"
+
+"Nay, whatever your own pure spirit teaches, my love. Trust to that, and
+you need fear nothing."
+
+"Good bye, Hurry," murmured the girl, with a gentle pressure of his
+hand. "I wish you would try and be more like Deerslayer."
+
+These words were uttered with difficulty; a faint flush succeeded them
+for a single instant. Then the hand was relinquished, and Hetty turned
+her face aside, as if done with the world. The mysterious feeling
+that bound her to the young man, a sentiment so gentle as to be almost
+imperceptible to herself, and which could never have existed at all, had
+her reason possessed more command over her senses, was forever lost in
+thoughts of a more elevated, though scarcely of a purer character.
+
+"Of what are you thinking, my sweet sister?" whispered Judith "Tell me,
+that I may aid you at this moment."
+
+"Mother--I see Mother, now, and bright beings around her in the lake.
+Why isn't father there? It's odd that I can see Mother, when I can't see
+you! Farewell, Judith."
+
+The last words were uttered after a pause, and her sister had hung over
+her some time, in anxious watchfulness, before she perceived that
+the gentle spirit had departed. Thus died Hetty Hutter, one of those
+mysterious links between the material and immaterial world, which, while
+they appear to be deprived of so much that it is esteemed and necessary
+for this state of being, draw so near to, and offer so beautiful an
+illustration of the truth, purity, and simplicity of another.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXII
+
+
+    "A baron's chylde to be begylde!
+    it were a cursed dede:
+    To be felawe with an outlawe!
+    Almighty God forbede!
+    Yea, better were, the pore squy
+    re alone to forest yede,
+    Then ye sholde say another day,
+    that by my cursed dede
+    Ye were betrayed:
+    wherefore, good mayde,
+    the best rede that I can,
+    Is, that I to the grene wode go, alone,
+    a banyshed man."
+
+    Thomas Percy, 'Nutbrowne Mayde,' 11.  265-76 from Reliques of
+    Ancient English Poetry, Vol.  II.
+
+The day that followed proved to be melancholy, though one of much
+activity. The soldiers, who had so lately been employed in interring
+their victims, were now called on to bury their own dead. The scene
+of the morning had left a saddened feeling on all the gentlemen of the
+party, and the rest felt the influence of a similar sensation, in a
+variety of ways and from many causes. Hour dragged on after hour until
+evening arrived, and then came the last melancholy offices in honor of
+poor Hetty Hutter. Her body was laid in the lake, by the side of that of
+the mother she had so loved and reverenced, the surgeon, though actually
+an unbeliever, so far complying with the received decencies of life as
+to read the funeral service over her grave, as he had previously done
+over those of the other Christian slain. It mattered not; that all
+seeing eye which reads the heart, could not fail to discriminate between
+the living and the dead, and the gentle soul of the unfortunate girl
+was already far removed beyond the errors, or deceptions, of any human
+ritual. These simple rites, however, were not wholly wanting in suitable
+accompaniments. The tears of Judith and Hist were shed freely, and
+Deerslayer gazed upon the limpid water, that now flowed over one whose
+spirit was even purer than its own mountain springs, with glistening
+eyes. Even the Delaware turned aside to conceal his weakness, while
+the common men gazed on the ceremony with wondering eyes and chastened
+feelings.
+
+The business of the day closed with this pious office. By order of the
+commanding officer, all retired early to rest, for it was intended to
+begin the march homeward with the return of light. One party, indeed,
+bearing the wounded, the prisoners, and the trophies, had left the
+castle in the middle of the day under the guidance of Hurry, intending
+to reach the fort by shorter marches. It had been landed on the point so
+often mentioned, or that described in our opening pages, and, when the
+sun set, was already encamped on the brow of the long, broken, and ridgy
+hills, that fell away towards the valley of the Mohawk. The departure of
+this detachment had greatly simplified the duty of the succeeding day,
+disencumbering its march of its baggage and wounded, and otherwise
+leaving him who had issued the order greater liberty of action.
+
+Judith held no communications with any but Hist, after the death of her
+sister, until she retired for the night. Her sorrow had been respected,
+and both the females had been left with the body, unintruded on, to the
+last moment. The rattling of the drum broke the silence of that tranquil
+water, and the echoes of the tattoo were heard among the mountains,
+so soon after the ceremony was over as to preclude the danger of
+interruption. That star which had been the guide of Hist, rose on a
+scene as silent as if the quiet of nature had never yet been disturbed
+by the labors or passions of man. One solitary sentinel, with his
+relief, paced the platform throughout the night, and morning was ushered
+in, as usual, by the martial beat of the reveille.
+
+Military precision succeeded to the desultory proceedings of border men,
+and when a hasty and frugal breakfast was taken, the party began its
+movement towards the shore with a regularity and order that prevented
+noise or confusion. Of all the officers, Warley alone remained. Craig
+headed the detachment in advance, Thornton was with the wounded, and
+Graham accompanied his patients as a matter of course. Even the chest
+of Hutter, with all the more valuable of his effects, was borne away,
+leaving nothing behind that was worth the labor of a removal. Judith was
+not sorry to see that the captain respected her feelings, and that he
+occupied himself entirely with the duty of his command, leaving her to
+her own discretion and feelings. It was understood by all that the place
+was to be totally abandoned; but beyond this no explanations were asked
+or given.
+
+The soldiers embarked in the Ark, with the captain at their head. He had
+enquired of Judith in what way she chose to proceed, and understanding
+her wish to remain with Hist to the last moment, he neither molested her
+with requests, nor offended her with advice. There was but one safe
+and familiar trail to the Mohawk, and on that, at the proper hour,
+he doubted not that they should meet in amity, if not in renewed
+intercourse. When all were on board, the sweeps were manned, and the Ark
+moved in its sluggish manner towards the distant point. Deerslayer and
+Chingachgook now lifted two of the canoes from the water, and placed
+them in the castle. The windows and door were then barred, and the
+house was left by means of the trap, in the manner already described. On
+quitting the palisades, Hist was seen in the remaining canoe, where
+the Delaware immediately joined her, and paddled away, leaving Judith
+standing alone on the platform. Owing to this prompt proceeding,
+Deerslayer found himself alone with the beautiful and still weeping
+mourner. Too simple to suspect anything, the young man swept the light
+boat round, and received its mistress in it, when he followed the course
+already taken by his friend. The direction to the point led diagonally
+past, and at no great distance from, the graves of the dead. As the
+canoe glided by, Judith for the first time that morning spoke to her
+companion. She said but little; merely uttering a simple request to
+stop, for a minute or two, ere she left the place.
+
+"I may never see this spot again, Deerslayer," she said, "and it
+contains the bodies of my mother and sister! Is it not possible, think
+you, that the innocence of one of these beings may answer in the eyes of
+God for the salvation of both?"
+
+"I don't understand it so, Judith, though I'm no missionary, and am but
+poorly taught. Each spirit answers for its own backslidings, though a
+hearty repentance will satisfy God's laws."
+
+"Then must my poor poor mother be in heaven! Bitterly, bitterly has she
+repented of her sins, and surely her sufferings in this life ought to
+count as something against her sufferings in the next!"
+
+"All this goes beyond me, Judith. I strive to do right, here, as the
+surest means of keeping all right, hereafter. Hetty was oncommon, as
+all that know'd her must allow, and her soul was as fit to consart with
+angels the hour it left its body, as that of any saint in the Bible!"
+
+"I do believe you only do her justice! Alas! Alas! that there should be
+so great differences between those who were nursed at the same
+breast, slept in the same bed, and dwelt under the same roof! But, no
+matter--move the canoe, a little farther east, Deerslayer--the sun so
+dazzles my eyes that I cannot see the graves. This is Hetty's, on the
+right of mother's?"
+
+"Sartain--you ask'd that of us, and all are glad to do as you wish,
+Judith, when you do that which is right."
+
+The girl gazed at him near a minute, in silent attention; then she
+turned her eyes backward, at the castle. "This lake will soon be
+entirely deserted," she said, "and this, too, at a moment when it will
+be a more secure dwelling place than ever. What has so lately happened
+will prevent the Iroquois from venturing again to visit it for a long
+time to come."
+
+"That it will! Yes, that may be set down as sartain. I do not mean to
+pass this-a-way, ag'in, so long as the war lasts, for, to my mind no
+Huron moccasin will leave its print on the leaves of this forest,
+until their traditions have forgotten to tell their young men of their
+disgrace and rout."
+
+"And do you so delight in violence and bloodshed? I had thought better
+of you, Deerslayer--believed you one who could find his happiness in
+a quiet domestic home, with an attached and loving wife ready to study
+your wishes, and healthy and dutiful children anxious to follow in your
+footsteps, and to become as honest and just as yourself."
+
+"Lord, Judith, what a tongue you're mistress of! Speech and looks go
+hand in hand, like, and what one can't do, the other is pretty sartain
+to perform! Such a gal, in a month, might spoil the stoutest warrior in
+the colony."
+
+"And am I then so mistaken? Do you really love war, Deerslayer, better
+than the hearth, and the affections?"
+
+"I understand your meaning, gal; yes, I do understand what you mean, I
+believe, though I don't think you altogether understand me. Warrior I
+may now call myself, I suppose, for I've both fou't and conquered, which
+is sufficient for the name; neither will I deny that I've feelin's
+for the callin', which is both manful and honorable when carried on
+accordin' to nat'ral gifts, but I've no relish for blood. Youth is
+youth, howsever, and a Mingo is a Mingo. If the young men of this region
+stood by, and suffered the vagabonds to overrun the land, why, we might
+as well all turn Frenchers at once, and give up country and kin. I'm no
+fire eater, Judith, or one that likes fightin' for fightin's sake, but I
+can see no great difference atween givin' up territory afore a war, out
+of a dread of war, and givin' it up a'ter a war, because we can't help
+it, onless it be that the last is the most manful and honorable."
+
+"No woman would ever wish to see her husband or brother stand by and
+submit to insult and wrong, Deerslayer, however she might mourn the
+necessity of his running into the dangers of battle. But, you've done
+enough already, in clearing this region of the Hurons; since to you
+is principally owing the credit of our late victory. Now, listen to
+me patiently, and answer me with that native honesty, which it is as
+pleasant to regard in one of your sex, as it is unusual to meet with."
+
+Judith paused, for now that she was on the very point of explaining
+herself, native modesty asserted its power, notwithstanding the
+encouragement and confidence she derived from the great simplicity of
+her companion's character. Her cheeks, which had so lately been pale,
+flushed, and her eyes lighted with some of their former brilliancy.
+Feeling gave expression to her countenance and softness to her voice,
+rendering her who was always beautiful, trebly seductive and winning.
+
+"Deerslayer," she said, after a considerable pause, "this is not a
+moment for affectation, deception, or a want of frankness of any sort.
+Here, over my mother's grave, and over the grave of truth-loving,
+truth-telling Hetty, everything like unfair dealing seems to be out of
+place. I will, therefore, speak to you without any reserve, and without
+any dread of being misunderstood. You are not an acquaintance of a week,
+but it appears to me as if I had known you for years. So much, and so
+much that is important has taken place, within that short time, that the
+sorrows, and dangers, and escapes of a whole life have been crowded
+into a few days, and they who have suffered and acted together in such
+scenes, ought not to feel like strangers. I know that what I am about
+to say might be misunderstood by most men, but I hope for a generous
+construction of my course from you. We are not here, dwelling among the
+arts and deceptions of the settlements, but young people who have no
+occasion to deceive each other, in any manner or form. I hope I make
+myself understood?"
+
+"Sartain, Judith; few convarse better than yourself, and none more
+agreeable, like. Your words are as pleasant as your looks."
+
+"It is the manner in which you have so often praised those looks, that
+gives me courage to proceed. Still, Deerslayer, it is not easy for
+one of my sex and years to forget all her lessons of infancy, all
+her habits, and her natural diffidence, and say openly what her heart
+feels!"
+
+"Why not, Judith? Why shouldn't women as well as men deal fairly and
+honestly by their fellow creatur's? I see no reason why you should not
+speak as plainly as myself, when there is any thing ra'ally important to
+be said."
+
+This indomitable diffidence, which still prevented the young man from
+suspecting the truth, would have completely discouraged the girl, had
+not her whole soul, as well as her whole heart, been set upon making a
+desperate effort to rescue herself from a future that she dreaded with
+a horror as vivid as the distinctness with which she fancied she foresaw
+it. This motive, however, raised her above all common considerations,
+and she persevered even to her own surprise, if not to her great
+confusion.
+
+"I will--I must deal as plainly with you, as I would with poor, dear
+Hetty, were that sweet child living!" she continued, turning pale
+instead of blushing, the high resolution by which she was prompted
+reversing the effect that such a procedure would ordinarily produce on
+one of her sex; "yes, I will smother all other feelings, in the one that
+is now uppermost! You love the woods and the life that we pass, here, in
+the wilderness, away from the dwellings and towns of the whites."
+
+"As I loved my parents, Judith, when they was living! This very spot
+would be all creation to me, could this war be fairly over, once; and
+the settlers kept at a distance."
+
+"Why quit it, then? It has no owner--at least none who can claim
+a better right than mine, and that I freely give to you. Were it a
+kingdom, Deerslayer, I think I should delight to say the same. Let us
+then return to it, after we have seen the priest at the fort, and never
+quit it again, until God calls us away to that world where we shall find
+the spirits of my poor mother and sister."
+
+A long, thoughtful pause succeeded; Judith here covered her face with
+both her hands, after forcing herself to utter so plain a proposal, and
+Deerslayer musing equally in sorrow and surprise, on the meaning of
+the language he had just heard. At length the hunter broke the silence,
+speaking in a tone that was softened to gentleness by his desire not to
+offend.
+
+"You haven't thought well of this, Judith," he said, "no, your feelin's
+are awakened by all that has lately happened, and believin' yourself to
+be without kindred in the world, you are in too great haste to find some
+to fill the places of them that's lost."
+
+"Were I living in a crowd of friends, Deerslayer, I should still think
+as I now think--say as I now say," returned Judith, speaking with her
+hands still shading her lovely face.
+
+"Thank you, gal--thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Howsever, I
+am not one to take advantage of a weak moment, when you're forgetful of
+your own great advantages, and fancy 'arth and all it holds is in this
+little canoe. No--no--Judith, 'twould be onginerous in me; what you've
+offered can never come to pass!"
+
+"It all may be, and that without leaving cause of repentance to any,"
+answered Judith, with an impetuosity of feeling and manner that at once
+unveiled her eyes. "We can cause the soldiers to leave our goods on the
+road, till we return, when they can easily be brought back to the house;
+the lake will be no more visited by the enemy, this war at least; all
+your skins may be readily sold at the garrison; there you can buy the
+few necessaries we shall want, for I wish never to see the spot, again;
+and Deerslayer," added the girl smiling with a sweetness and nature that
+the young man found it hard to resist, "as a proof how wholly I am and
+wish to be yours,--how completely I desire to be nothing but your wife,
+the very first fire that we kindle, after our return, shall be lighted
+with the brocade dress, and fed by every article I have that you may
+think unfit for the woman you wish to live with!"
+
+"Ah's me!--you're a winning and a lovely creatur', Judith; yes, you are
+all that, and no one can deny it and speak truth. These pictur's are
+pleasant to the thoughts, but they mightn't prove so happy as you now
+think 'em. Forget it all, therefore, and let us paddle after the Sarpent
+and Hist, as if nothing had been said on the subject."
+
+Judith was deeply mortified, and, what is more, she was profoundly
+grieved. Still there was a steadiness and quiet in the manner of
+Deerslayer that completely smothered her hopes, and told her that for
+once her exceeding beauty had failed to excite the admiration and homage
+it was wont to receive. Women are said seldom to forgive those who
+slight their advances, but this high spirited and impetuous girl
+entertained no shadow of resentment, then or ever, against the fair
+dealing and ingenuous hunter. At the moment, the prevailing feeling was
+the wish to be certain that there was no misunderstanding. After another
+painful pause, therefore, she brought the matter to an issue by a
+question too direct to admit of equivocation.
+
+"God forbid that we lay up regrets, in after life, through my want of
+sincerity now," she said. "I hope we understand each other, at least.
+You will not accept me for a wife, Deerslayer?"
+
+"'Tis better for both that I shouldn't take advantage of your own
+forgetfulness, Judith. We can never marry."
+
+"You do not love me,--cannot find it in your heart, perhaps, to esteem
+me, Deerslayer!"
+
+"Everything in the way of fri'ndship, Judith--everything, even to
+sarvices and life itself. Yes, I'd risk as much for you, at this moment,
+as I would risk in behalf of Hist, and that is sayin' as much as I can
+say of any darter of woman. I do not think I feel towards either--mind I
+say either, Judith--as if I wished to quit father and mother--if father
+and mother was livin', which, howsever, neither is--but if both was
+livin', I do not feel towards any woman as if I wish'd to quit 'em in
+order to cleave unto her."
+
+"This is enough!" answered Judith, in a rebuked and smothered voice.
+"I understand all that you mean. Marry you cannot with loving, and that
+love you do not feel for me. Make no answer, if I am right, for I shall
+understand your silence. That will be painful enough of itself."
+
+Deerslayer obeyed her, and he made no reply. For more than a minute, the
+girl riveted her bright eyes on him as if to read his soul, while he
+was playing with the water like a corrected school boy. Then Judith,
+herself, dropped the end of her paddle, and urged the canoe away from
+the spot, with a movement as reluctant as the feelings which controlled
+it. Deerslayer quietly aided the effort, however, and they were soon on
+the trackless line taken by the Delaware.
+
+In their way to the point, not another syllable was exchanged between
+Deerslayer and his fair companion. As Judith sat in the bow of the
+canoe, her back was turned towards him, else it is probable the
+expression of her countenance might have induced him to venture some
+soothing terms of friendship and regard. Contrary to what would have
+been expected, resentment was still absent, though the colour frequently
+changed from the deep flush of mortification to the paleness of
+disappointment. Sorrow, deep, heart-felt sorrow, however, was the
+predominant emotion, and this was betrayed in a manner not to be
+mistaken.
+
+As neither labored hard at the paddle, the ark had already arrived
+and the soldiers had disembarked before the canoe of the two loiterers
+reached the point. Chingachgook had preceded it, and was already some
+distance in the wood, at a spot where the two trails, that to the
+garrison and that to the villages of the Delawares, separated. The
+soldiers, too, had taken up their line of march, first setting the Ark
+adrift again, with a reckless disregard of its fate. All this Judith
+saw, but she heeded it not. The glimmerglass had no longer any charms
+for her, and when she put her foot on the strand, she immediately
+proceeded on the trail of the soldiers without casting a single glance
+behind her. Even Hist was passed unnoticed, that modest young creature
+shrinking from the averted face of Judith, as if guilty herself of some
+wrongdoing.
+
+"Wait you here, Sarpent," said Deerslayer as he followed in the
+footsteps of the dejected beauty, while passing his friend. "I will just
+see Judith among her party, and come and j'ine you."
+
+A hundred yards had hid the couple from those in front, as well as those
+in their rear, when Judith turned, and spoke.
+
+"This will do, Deerslayer," she said sadly. "I understand your kindness
+but shall not need it. In a few minutes I shall reach the soldiers. As
+you cannot go with me on the journey of life, I do not wish you to go
+further on this. But, stop--before we part, I would ask you a single
+question. And I require of you, as you fear God, and reverence the
+truth, not to deceive me in your answer. I know you do not love another
+and I can see but one reason why you cannot, will not love me. Tell me
+then, Deerslayer," The girl paused, the words she was about to utter
+seeming to choke her. Then rallying all her resolution, with a face that
+flushed and paled at every breath she drew, she continued.
+
+"Tell me then, Deerslayer, if anything light of me, that Henry March has
+said, may not have influenced your feelings?"
+
+Truth was the Deerslayer's polar star. He ever kept it in view, and it
+was nearly impossible for him to avoid uttering it, even when prudence
+demanded silence. Judith read his answer in his countenance, and with a
+heart nearly broken by the consciousness of undue erring, she signed to
+him an adieu, and buried herself in the woods. For some time Deerslayer
+was irresolute as to his course; but, in the end, he retraced his steps,
+and joined the Delaware. That night the three camped on the head waters
+of their own river, and the succeeding evening they entered the village
+of the tribe, Chingachgook and his betrothed in triumph; their companion
+honored and admired, but in a sorrow that it required months of activity
+to remove.
+
+The war that then had its rise was stirring and bloody. The Delaware
+chief rose among his people, until his name was never mentioned without
+eulogiums, while another Uncas, the last of his race, was added to the
+long line of warriors who bore that distinguishing appellation. As for
+the Deerslayer, under the sobriquet of Hawkeye, he made his fame spread
+far and near, until the crack of his rifle became as terrible to the
+ears of the Mingos as the thunders of the Manitou. His services were
+soon required by the officers of the crown, and he especially attached
+himself in the field to one in particular, with whose after life he had
+a close and important connection.
+
+Fifteen years had passed away, ere it was in the power of the Deerslayer
+to revisit the Glimmerglass. A peace had intervened, and it was on the
+eve of another and still more important war, when he and his constant
+friend, Chingachgook, were hastening to the forts to join their allies.
+A stripling accompanied them, for Hist already slumbered beneath
+the pines of the Delawares, and the three survivors had now become
+inseparable. They reached the lake just as the sun was setting. Here all
+was unchanged. The river still rushed through its bower of trees; the
+little rock was washing away, by the slow action of the waves, in the
+course of centuries, the mountains stood in their native dress, dark,
+rich and mysterious, while the sheet glistened in its solitude, a
+beautiful gem of the forest.
+
+The following morning, the youth discovered one of the canoes drifted
+on the shore, in a state of decay. A little labor put it in a state for
+service, and they all embarked, with a desire to examine the place. All
+the points were passed, and Chingachgook pointed out to his son the
+spot where the Hurons had first encamped, and the point whence he had
+succeeded in stealing his bride. Here they even landed, but all traces
+of the former visit had disappeared. Next they proceeded to the scene of
+the battle, and there they found a few of the signs that linger around
+such localities. Wild beasts had disinterred many of the bodies, and
+human bones were bleaching in the rains of summer. Uncas regarded all
+with reverence and pity, though traditions were already rousing his
+young mind to the ambition and sternness of a warrior.
+
+From the point, the canoe took its way toward the shoal, where the
+remains of the castle were still visible, a picturesque ruin. The storms
+of winter had long since unroofed the house, and decay had eaten into
+the logs. All the fastenings were untouched, but the seasons rioted
+in the place, as if in mockery at the attempt to exclude them. The
+palisades were rotting, as were the piles, and it was evident that a few
+more recurrences of winter, a few more gales and tempests, would
+sweep all into the lake, and blot the building from the face of that
+magnificent solitude. The graves could not be found. Either the elements
+had obliterated their traces, or time had caused those who looked for
+them to forget their position.
+
+The Ark was discovered stranded on the eastern shore, where it had long
+before been driven with the prevalent northwest winds. It lay on the
+sandy extremity of a long low point, that is situated about two miles
+from the outlet, and which is itself fast disappearing before the action
+of the elements. The scow was filled with water, the cabin unroofed, and
+the logs were decaying. Some of its coarser furniture still remained,
+and the heart of Deerslayer beat quick, as he found a ribbon of Judith's
+fluttering from a log. It recalled all her beauty, and we may add
+all her failings. Although the girl had never touched his heart, the
+Hawkeye, for so we ought now to call him, still retained a kind and
+sincere interest in her welfare. He tore away the ribbon, and knotted it
+to the stock of Killdeer, which had been the gift of the girl herself.
+
+A few miles farther up the lake, another of the canoes was discovered,
+and on the point where the party finally landed, were found those which
+had been left there upon the shore. That in which the present navigation
+was made, and the one discovered on the eastern shore, had dropped
+through the decayed floor of the castle, drifted past the falling
+palisades, and had been thrown as waifs upon the beach.
+
+From all these signs, it was probable the lake had not been visited
+since the occurrence of the final scene of our tale. Accident or
+tradition had rendered it again a spot sacred to nature, the frequent
+wars and the feeble population of the colonies still confining the
+settlements within narrow boundaries. Chingachgook and his friend left
+the spot with melancholy feelings. It had been the region of their First
+War Path, and it carried back the minds of both to scenes of tenderness,
+as well as to hours of triumph. They held their way towards the Mohawk
+in silence, however, to rush into new adventures, as stirring and as
+remarkable as those which had attended their opening careers on this
+lovely lake. At a later day they returned to the place, where the Indian
+found a grave.
+
+Time and circumstances have drawn an impenetrable mystery around all
+else connected with the Hutters. They lived, erred, died, and are
+forgotten. None connected have felt sufficient interest in the disgraced
+and disgracing to withdraw the veil, and a century is about to erase
+even the recollection of their names. The history of crime is ever
+revolting, and it is fortunate that few love to dwell on its incidents.
+The sins of the family have long since been arraigned at the judgment
+seat of God, or are registered for the terrible settlement of the last
+great day.
+
+The same fate attended Judith. When Hawkeye reached the garrison on the
+Mohawk he enquired anxiously after that lovely but misguided creature.
+None knew her--even her person was no longer remembered. Other officers
+had, again and again, succeeded the Warleys and Craigs and Grahams,
+though an old sergeant of the garrison, who had lately come from
+England, was enabled to tell our hero that Sir Robert Warley lived on
+his paternal estates, and that there was a lady of rare beauty in the
+Lodge who had great influence over him, though she did not bear his
+name. Whether this was Judith relapsed into her early failing, or some
+other victim of the soldier's, Hawkeye never knew, nor would it be
+pleasant or profitable to inquire. We live in a world of transgressions
+and selfishness, and no pictures that represent us otherwise can be
+true, though, happily, for human nature, gleamings of that pure spirit
+in whose likeness man has been fashioned are to be seen, relieving its
+deformities, and mitigating if not excusing its crimes.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Deerslayer, by James Fenimore Cooper
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