CORKTELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FROM 
 
 Claris S. Nd'rtliup- 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PS 1406.A1 1890 
 
 The deerslayer: or The first war path 
 
 3 1924 022 008 746 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022008746 
 
"Deerslayer arose as soon as he had spoken ; then he placed the 
 body of the dead man in a sitting position, with his back against a 
 small rock, taking the necessary care to prevent it from falling. Then 
 lie stood gazing at his fallen foe," etc. — The Deerslayer, page 117. 
 
THE DEEESLATEE 
 
 OB, 
 
 THE FIRST WAR-PATH 
 
 ^%^i& 
 
 BY 
 
 J. FENIMORE COOPER 
 
 AUTHOR OP 
 
 THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS," "THE PATHFINDES-" 
 
 " THE PIONEERS," " THE PBAIBIB,'" " THE 
 
 SPY," ETC. 
 
 "What terrors round him \\-ait? 
 Amazeinent in his van, with Flight combined. 
 And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind.' 
 
 NEW YOKK: 
 JOHN B. ALDEN, 
 
 PUBLISHBB. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 LEATHER-STOOKII^G TALES. 
 
 This series of Stories, which has obtained the name oi 
 " The Leather-Stocking Tales," has been written in a veiy 
 desultory and inartificial manner. The order in which 
 the seTeral books appeared was essentially different from 
 that in which they would have been presented to the 
 world had the regular course of their incidents been con- 
 sulteu. in " The Pioneers," the first of the series written, 
 the Leather-Stocking is represented as already old, and 
 driven from his early haunts in the forest by the sound 
 of the axe and the smoke of the settler. " The Last of 
 the Mohicans," the next book in the order of publication, 
 carried the readers back to a much earlier period in the 
 history of our hero, representing him as middle-aged, and 
 in the fullest vigor of manhood. In " The Prairie," his 
 career terminates, and he is laid in his grave. There, it 
 was originally the intention to leave him, in the expecta- 
 tion that, as in the case of the human mass, he would 
 soon be forgotten. But a latent regard for this character 
 induced the author to resuscitate him in " The Pathfinder," 
 a book that was not long after succeeded by " The Deer- 
 slayer," thus completing the series as it now exists. While 
 the five books that have been written were originally j)ub- 
 lished in the order just mentioned, that of the incidents, 
 insomuch as they are connected with the career of their 
 
4 PREFACE TO LEATHER-STOCKING TALES. 
 
 principal character, is, as has been stated, very different. 
 Taking the life of the Leather-Stocking as a guide, " The 
 Deerslayer " should have been the opening book, for in 
 that work he is seen just emerging into manhood; to be 
 succeeded by " The Last of the Mohicans," " The Path- 
 finder," " The Pioneers," and " The Prairie." This ar- 
 rangement embraces the order of events, though far from 
 being that in which the books at first appeared. " The 
 Pioneers "was published in 1823; "The Deerslayer" in 
 1841 ; making the interval between them nineteen years. 
 In the present edition the several tales will be arranged 
 solely in reference to their connection with each other. 
 
 The author has often been asked if he had any original 
 in his mind for the character of Leather-Stocking. In a 
 physical sense, different individuals known to the writer 
 in early life certainly presented' themselves as models, 
 through his recollections; but in a moral sense this man 
 of the forest is purely a creation. The idea of delineating 
 a character that possessed little of civilization but its high- 
 est principles as they are exhibited in the uneducated, and 
 all of savage life that is not incompatible with these great 
 rules of conduct, is perhaps natural to the situation in 
 which Natty was placed. He is too proud of his origin to 
 sink into the condition of the wild Indian, and too much 
 a man of the woods not to imbibe as much as was at all 
 desirable, from his friends and companions. In a moral 
 point of view it was the intention to illustrate the effect 
 of seed scattered by the wayside. To use his own language, 
 Jiis " gifts " were " white gifts," and he was not disposed 
 to bring on them discredit. On the other hand, removed 
 from nearly all the temptations of civilized life, placed in 
 the best associations of that, which is deemed savage, and 
 favorably disposed by nature to improve such advantages, 
 it appeared to the writer that his hero was a fit subject to 
 represent the better qualities of both conditions, without 
 j)ushing either to extremes. 
 , There was no violent stretch of the imagination, per- 
 
PREFACE TO LEATHER-STOCKING TALES. 5 
 
 haps, in supposing one of civilized associations in child- 
 hood, retaining many of his earliest lessons amid the 
 scenes of the forest. Had these early impressions, how- 
 ever, not been sustained by continued, though casual con- 
 nection with men of his own color, if not of his own caste, 
 all our information goes to show he would soon have lost 
 every trace of his origin. It is believed that sufficient at- 
 tention was paid to the particular circumstances in which 
 this individual was placed, to justify the pictuTe of his 
 qualities that has been drawn. The Delawares early at- 
 tracted the attention of the missionaries, and were a tribe 
 unusually influenced by their precepts and example. In 
 many instances they became Christians, and cases occurred 
 in which their subsequent lives gave proof of the efficacy 
 of the great moral changes that had taken place within 
 them. 
 
 A leading character in a work of fiction has a fair right 
 to the aid which can be obtained from a poetical view of 
 the subject. It is in this view, rather than in one more 
 strictly circumstantial, that Leather-Stocking has been 
 drawn. The imagination has no great task in portraying 
 to itself a being removed from the every day inducements 
 to err, which abound in civilized life, while he retains the 
 best and simplest of his early impressions; who sees God 
 in the forest; hears Him in the winds; bows to Him in 
 the firmament that o'ercanopies all ; submits to his sway 
 in a humble belief of his justice and mercy; in a word, a 
 being who finds the impress of the Deity in all the works 
 of nature, without any of the blots produced- by the expe- 
 dients, and passions, and mistakes of man. This is the 
 most that has been attempted in the character of Leather- 
 Stocking. Had this been done without any of the draw- 
 backs of humanity, the picture would have been, in all 
 probability, more pleasing than just. In order to preserve 
 the vrai-semblable, therefore, traits derived from the pre- 
 judices, tastes, and even the weaknesses of his youth, have 
 been mixed up with these higher qualities and longings. 
 
6 PREFACE TO LEATHER-STOCKING TALES. 
 
 in a way, it is hoped, to represent a reasonable picture oi 
 human nature, without offering to the spectator a " mon- 
 ster of goodness." 
 
 It has been objected to these books that they give a 
 more favorable picture of the red-man than he deserves. 
 The writer apprehends that much of this objection arises 
 from the habits of those who have made it. One of his 
 critics, on the appearance of the first work in which In- 
 dian character was portrayed, objected that its " characters 
 were Indians of the school of Heckewelder, rather than of 
 the school of nature." These words quite probably con- 
 tain the substance of the true answer to the objection. 
 Heckewelder was an ardent, benevolent missionary, bent 
 on the good of the red-man,' and seeing in him one who 
 had the soul, reason, and characteristics of a fellow-being. 
 The critic is understood to have been a very distinguished 
 agent of the government, one very familiar with Indians, 
 as they are seen at the councils to treat for the sale of their 
 lands, where little or none of their domestic qualities come 
 in play, and where, indeed, their evil passions are known 
 to have the fullest scope. As just would it be to draw 
 conclusions of the general state of American society from 
 the scenes of the capital, as to suppose that the negotiat- 
 ing of one of these treaties is a fair picture of Indian life. 
 
 It is the privilege of all writers of fiction, more particu- 
 larly when their works aspire to the elevation of romances, 
 to present the heau-ideal of their characters to the reader. 
 This it is which constitutes poetry, and to suppose that 
 the red-man is to be represented only in the squalid mis- 
 ery or in the degraded moral state that certainly more or 
 less belongs to his condition, is, we apprehend, taking a 
 very narrow view of an author's privileges. Such criticism 
 would have deprived the world of e-s en Homer. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 As lias been stated in the preface to the series of the 
 Leather-Stocking Tales, " The Deerslayer " is properly the 
 first in the order of reading, thoiigh the last • in that of 
 publication. In this book the he(ro is represented as just 
 arriving at manhood, with the freshness of feeling that 
 belongs to that interesting period of life, and with the 
 power to please that properly characterizes youth. As a 
 consequence, he is loved; and, what denotes the real way- 
 wardness of humanity, more than it corresponds with 
 theories and moral propositions, perhaps, he is loved by 
 one full of art, vanity, and weakness, and loved princi- 
 pally for his sincerity, his modesty, and his unerring truth 
 and probity. The preference he gives to the high quali- 
 ties named, over beauty, delirious passion, and sin, it is 
 hoped, will offer a lesson that can injure none. This por- 
 tion of the book is intentionally kept down, though it is 
 thought to be sufficiently distinct to convey its moral. 
 
 The intention has been to put the sisters in strong con- 
 trast; one, admirable in person, clever, filled with the pride 
 of beauty, erring, and fallen; the other, barely provided 
 with sufficient capacity to know good from evil, instinct, 
 notwithstanding, with the virtues of woman, reverencing 
 and loving God, and yielding only to the weakness of her 
 sex, in admiring personal attractions in one too coarse and 
 unobservant to distinguish or to understand her quiet, 
 gentle feeling in his favor. 
 
 As for the scene of this tale, it is intended for, and be- 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 lieved to be a close description of the Otsego, prior to the 
 year 1760, when the iirst rude settlement was commenced 
 on its banks, at that time only an insignificant clearing 
 near the outlet, with a small hut of squared logs, for the 
 temporary dwelling of the Deputy Superintendent of In- 
 dian ailairs. The recollections of the writer carry him 
 back distinctly to a time when nine-tenths of the shores 
 of this lake were in the yirgin forest, a peculiarity that 
 was owing to the circumstance of the roads running through 
 the first range of valleys removed from the water side. 
 The woods and the mountains have ever formed a princi- 
 pal source of beauty with this charming sheet of water, 
 enough of the former remaining to this day to relieve the 
 open grounds from monotony and tameness.' 
 
 In most respects the descriptions of scenery in the tale 
 are reasonably accurate. The rock appointed for the ren- 
 dezvous between the Deerslayer and his friend the Delaware 
 still remains, bearing the name of the Otsego Eock. The 
 shoal on which Hutter is represented as having built his 
 " castle " is a little misplaced, lying, in fact, nearer to the 
 northern end of the lake, as well as to the eastern shore, 
 than is stated in this book. Such a shoal, however, exists, 
 surrounded on all sides by deep water. In the dryest sea- 
 son a few rocks are seen above the surface of the lake, and 
 rushes, at most periods of the year, mark its locality. In 
 a word, in all but precise position, even this feature of the 
 book is accurate. The same is true of the several points 
 introduced, of the bay, of the river, of the mountains, and 
 of all the other accessories of the place. The legend is 
 purely fiction, no authority existing for any of its facts 
 characters, or other peculiarities, beyond that which was 
 thought necessary to secure the semblance of reality. 
 
 1 The " Deerslayer " was written in IMl. J, Fenimore Cooper died Sept. 14th 
 1851. * ' 
 
THE DEERSLATER. 
 
 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 Inusic in its roar ; 
 
 I love not man the less, but nature more, 
 
 lYom 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." 
 
 Childb Habold. 
 
 On the human imagination events produce the effects 
 of time. Thusj 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 ob- 
 scure, 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 month, 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 
 
 ' This was true when the " Leather Stocking Tales " were written— but Since 
 1^1 the United States have made strides which would astonish the shades of the 
 " Deerslayer,"and " Mohegan," and of the author himself, were they permitted 
 to revisit the mighty empire which was a short time ago a wilderness.— Eo. 
 
lo THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 imagina- 
 tion 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 defense 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 deenled the very 
 centre of American civilization, affording the plainest 
 
 E roofs that all we possess of security from invasion and 
 ostile violence is the growth of but little more than the 
 time that is frequently filled 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, extend- 
 ing from its mouth to thefalls near its head, and to a few 
 advanced " neighborhoods " on the Mohawk and the Scho- 
 harie. 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 compara- 
 tively narrow fringe of cultivation along the sea, dotted by 
 the glittering surfaces of lakes, and intersected by the 
 waving lines of rivers. 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 dis- 
 
 I It is no more than justice to say that the Greenbush Van Rensselaers claim 
 to be the oldest braaoh of that ancient and respectable family. ™ 
 
THE DEERSL/IYER. ii 
 
 tinctions, 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 compass- 
 ing the laws that control their exact uniformity, and 
 in calculating their never-ending revolutions. Centu- 
 ries of summer suns had warmed the tops of the same 
 noble oaks and pines, sending their heats even to the te- 
 nacious roots, when voices were heard calling to each pther, 
 in the depths of a forest, of which the leafy surface lay 
 bathed in the brilliant light of a cloudless day in Juno, 
 while the trunks of the trees rose in gloomy grandeur in the 
 shades beneath. The calls were in different tones, evi- 
 dently 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, emei'ging into au 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 ! Deerslay er ; here is daylight, 
 at last, and yonder is the lake." 
 
 These words were scarcely uttered when the second for- 
 ester 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 dispositions 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 friend as the sun. Now we have got the 
 p'ints of the compass in our minds once more, and 'twill 
 
12 j THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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! 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 an- 
 other 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 frontier-men 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, off-hand manner, and a physical rest- 
 lessness 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 real- 
 ized 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 pre- 
 vented 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 mus- 
 cles, however, that promised unusual agility, if not unu- 
 sual strength. His face would have had little to recom- 
 mend it except youth, were it not for an expression that 
 seldom failed to win upon those who had leisure to exam- 
 ine it, and to yield to the feeling of confidence it created. 
 
' THE DEERSLAYER. 13 
 
 This expression was simply that of guileless truth, sus- 
 tained 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 suspic- 
 ion 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 frontier-men were still young. Hurry having 
 reached the age of six or eight and twenty, while Deer- 
 slayer 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 
 tlieir time between the skirts of civilized society and the 
 boundless forests. There was, notwithstanding, some at- 
 tention to smartness and the picturesque in the arrange- 
 ments 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 re- 
 quired artificial aids, wore everything in a careless, slov- 
 enly 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 Delawarcs 
 have given me my name, not so much on account of a bold 
 
14 THE DEERSLAYER. ' 
 
 heart, as on account of a quick eye, and an actii/ve foot. 
 There may not be any cowardice 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 per- 
 mit it to be fairly opened, " or they would never have al- 
 lowed them loping vagabonds, the Mingoe, 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 tlie 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 ingen- 
 uous countenance. The struggle was short, however; 
 uprightness of heart soon getting the better of false prfSe' 
 and frontier boastfulness. 
 
 "To own the truth, I never did," answered Deerslayer; 
 " seeing that a fitting occasion never offered. The Dela.- 
 wares have been peaceable since my sojourn with 'em, and 
 I hold it to be onlawfnl 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 ? " 
 If I" .no,. trapper Hurry," returned the young man 
 proudly: "I live by the rifle, a we'pon at which I wtll 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." 
 
 "Aye, aye, this is all very well, in the animal wav, though 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. ? 15 
 
 it m^kes but a poor figure alongside of sealps and am- 
 bushes. 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 practise 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 
 f ri'nd waiting for me, who will think it no disgrace to con- 
 sort with a f ellow-creatur that has never yet slain his kind." 
 
 " I wish I knew what has brought that skulking Dela- 
 ware into this part of the country so early in the season," 
 muttered Hurry to himself, in a way to show equally dis- 
 trnsit and a recklessness of its betrayal. " Where did you 
 say the young chi^f was to give you the meeting ? " 
 
 "At a small round rock, near the foot of the lake, where, 
 they tell me, the tribes axe given to resorting to make their 
 treaties, and to bury their hatchets. This rook 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 ^rt of common terri- 
 tory 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 knov what Floating Tom Hutter would '. 
 say to that ? He claims the lake as his own property, in var- 
 tue 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, Deer- 
 slayer, but it will not do here. Not a human being, the 
 Lord excepted, owns a foot of sile in this part of the coun- 
 try. Pen was never put to paper eousarning 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 
 
1 6 THE DEEKS LAYER. 
 
 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 nator', it is not much 
 like other men's human natur', but more like a muskrat's 
 human natur', 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 knowQ them that never could enjoy it at all, unless it 
 was in the midst of a jollification, and them ag'in that en- 
 joyed it best in a corner. Some men have no peace if they 
 don't find plunder, and some if they do. Human natur' 
 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." 
 
 "Aye, he has darters, too; I've heard the Delawares, 
 who've hunted this-a-away, tell their histories of these 
 young women. Is there no mother, Hurry ? " 
 
 " There was owce, 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-wit- 
 ness of the ceremony; but whether Tom did it to save 
 digging, which is no easy job among roots, or out of a con- 
 sait that water washes away sin sooner than 'arth, is more 
 than I can say." 
 
 " Was the poor woman oncommon wicked, that her hus- 
 band should take so much pains with her body ? " 
 
 "Not onreasonable; though she had her faults. I con- 
 sidei Judith Hutter to have been as graceful, and about as 
 likely to make a good ind, as any woman who had lived so 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 17 
 
 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 kin- 
 dle, the listeners got some such insights into their past 
 lives, as one gets into the darkest 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 creatnr' as her darter, Judith Hutter ! " 
 
 "Aye, 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." 
 
 "Aye, but it might not be wise, always, to let the cata- 
 mount know it," growled March. " But you're young and 
 thoughtless, and I'll overlook your ignorance. Come, 
 Deerslayer," he added, with a good-natared laugh, after 
 pausing a moment to reflect, "come, Deerslayer, we are 
 sworn fr'inds, and will not quarrel about a ligTit-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 fool- 
 ish 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 schoolmas- 
 
i8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ter 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 char- 
 acter 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 
 light-mindedness." 
 
 "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'othex was an insartainty about her having me. The 
 hufisy is handsome, and she inows it. Boy, not a tree 
 that is growing in these hills is straighter, ot 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 sucli 
 failings that I find it hard to overlook them, and some- 
 times I swear I'll never visit the lake ag'in." 
 
 " Which is the reason that you always come back ? Noth- 
 ing is ever made more sure by swearing about it." 
 
 "Ah, Deerslayer, you are a novelty in these partie'lars ; 
 keeping as true to edication 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 fort 
 on the Mohawk, to fish and hunt, and then the creatur* 
 seems beside herself! You can see it in the manner in 
 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 wrong, 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 un- 
 sartain. 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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. \ 19 
 
 " 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 
 ofE 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 Deer- 
 slayer, raising his eyes with a 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 doesn't know how. ' Com- 
 pass ' for the p'int, and ' meant us ' for the intention. No, 
 poor Hetty is what I call on the varge of ignorance, and 
 sometimes she stumbles on one side of the line, and some- 
 times 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 onknown 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 frontier-men 
 
20 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 — hunters, and trappers, and soojits, and the like, — can do 
 a deal of mischief if they try. 'Twould be an awful thing 
 to me, Deerslayer, did I find Judith married, after an ab- 
 sence of six months ! " 
 
 " Have you the gal's faith, to incourage 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 yeb I could never get the hussy to a promise, 
 or even a cordial willing smile, though she will laugh by 
 the hour. If she lias dared to marry in my absence, she'll 
 be like to know the pleasures of widowhood afore she is 
 twenty ! " 
 
 " You would not harm the man she had chosen, Hurry, 
 simply because she found him more to her liking than 
 yourself ? " 
 
 " Why not ? If an inimy 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 vio- 
 lence 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 21 
 
 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 re- 
 sort 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 gripe, 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 fri'nd." 
 
 " 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 plain- 
 dealing 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 ofEered hand, and 
 the parties became friends. 
 
 " 'Twould have been foolish to quarrel about an idee," 
 March cried, as he resumed his meal, " and more like law- 
 yers 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." 
 
22 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " That do they,— that do they; and about other matters 
 that might 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. Howsever, 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 cu'rosity 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 defenseless enough with all their wits about 
 'em ; but it's a cruel f ortun' when that great protector and 
 guide fails 'em." 
 
 " Harkee, 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, howsever, 
 I rejoice to hear it ; but as the sun is beginning to turn 
 towards the a'ternoon's sky, had we not better strike the 
 trail ag'in, and make forward^ that we may get an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing these wonderful sisters ? " 
 
 Harry March giving a cheerful assent, the remnants of 
 the meal were soon collected; then the travellers shoul- 
 dered their packs, resumed thei arms, and. ouitting the 
 .little area of light, they again ^^i^'^gcd into the deep shad- 
 ows of the forest. 
 
THE DEEKSLAYER. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 •' Thou'rt passing from the lake's green side, 
 Aud the hunter's -heai'th away ; 
 For the time of flowers, for the Eummer's pride, 
 Daughter I thou canst not stay.' 
 
 Ekcobds of Women. 
 
 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 un- 
 derbrush, and the footing was firm and dry. After pro- 
 ceeding near a mile, March stopped, and began to cast 
 about him with an inquiring look, examining the different 
 objects with care, a,nd 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, es- 
 pecially in those parts of the country where timber has not 
 yet become valuahle. 
 
 " 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 onskillful 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 posi- 
 tion. Here is a beech and a hemlock" — 
 
 " Yes, and there is another beech and a hemlock, as lov- 
 ing 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 
 
24- 
 
 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 preten- 
 sions, 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 sap- 
 ling 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 unfor- 
 tunate 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 acknowl- 
 edge ; 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 noth- 
 ing 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 an- 
 other that it is almost hopeless to pass unseen. I'm im- 
 proving, 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 tra- 
 
 'Lest the similarity of the names should produce confusion, it may be well 
 to say that the Uricas here mentioned is the grandfather gf hint who pla^-3 
 BO conspicuous a part in The Last of the lioKwqm^. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 25 
 
 ditions of the ancient greatness and power of the Mo- 
 hicans ! " 
 
 " Harkee, fri'nd Nathaniel," said Hurry, stopping short"'^ 
 to face his companion, in order that his words might cart>y 
 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 be- 
 fore 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 moulder- 
 ing 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, hollowing 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 pecu- 
 liarity, and, from this and other circumstances, he krew it 
 to be the tree of which March was in search. 
 
 "Aye, 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 ac- 
 customed 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. Thid ves- 
 
26 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 sel 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 aboutten 
 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, com- 
 pressed into a setting of hills and woods. Its length was 
 about three leagues, while its breadth was irregular, ex- 
 panding 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 ofE 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 waterj 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 Avere 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 for- 
 est, that scarce an opening could be seen, the whole visible 
 earth, from the rounded mountain-top to the water's edge. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 27 
 
 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 b*ranches of 
 dark Eembrandt-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 a naked truth; and yet the gal has the vagaries. 
 All her time has not been passed here, howsever, 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 
 gailantifying 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 ? " 
 
 " A¥hy, that is what these gallanting gentry, from the 
 forts, call Muskrat Castle; and old Tom himself will grin 
 
 ' " It is a curious property of the hemlock, that a single stroke from an ax is 
 sufBcient to destroy it, from which it has been called the tree ot sensibility, or, 
 as the woodman says, ' the most sensible tree of the forest.' It does not imme- 
 diately perish from the wound, but languishes and never revives. I have myself 
 observed that where a hemlock has been merely marked as a line tree, and the 
 bark only cut through at one spot, at the end of fifteen years it is sure to be 
 found dead. So when they happen to stand by the road-side, and are liable to be 
 fretted and disturbed by cart-hubs, they perish in a few years. No ashes are 
 produced from this tree, other than an apparently ^ndy sediment, except from 
 Its bark which, when burned separately, produces ®e best of ashes."— Jiom a 
 Letter of Ju4ge Cooper, 1805-0. ff 
 
28 THE DEERSLA YER. \ 
 
 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 an- 
 other. 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 
 aflcat. This was no sooner done than 'the two frontier 
 men 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 for- 
 ward, and by leisurely but steady strokes of the paddles, 
 the canoe glided across the placid sheet, towards the ex- 
 traordinary-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 further 
 down the lake, or to get broader views of the wooded moun- 
 tains. 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 appar- 
 ently being clothed in a gala^dress of leaves. 
 
 " This i& a sight to warm the heart ! " exclaimed Deer- 
 slayer, 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 glo- 
 ries?" 
 
 "None but the king, lad. He may pretend to some 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 29 
 
 right of that natnr', 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 inv^ that man! Don't think. Hurry, 
 that I'm consarting any plan to put myself in his mocca- 
 sins, for such a thought doesn't harbor in my mind; but I 
 can't help a little invy ! 'Tis a uat'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 yon 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 en- 
 gage 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. T 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 red-men often visit this lake. Hurry ? " con- 
 tinued 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 Hiitter 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 four-footed 
 animal £ver trod. Eight glad am I that Chingachgook 
 
30 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 app'inted our meeting on this lake^ for hitherto eyes of 
 mine never looked on sucli a glorious spectacle." 
 
 " That's because you've kept so much among the Dela- 
 wares, in whose country there are no lakes. Now, farther 
 north and farther west these bits of water abound; aiid 
 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 im- 
 patience the more readily, as he perceived that the build- 
 ing 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 de- 
 scription. 
 
 Muskrat Castle, as the house had been facetiously named 
 by some waggish officer, stood in the open lake, at a dis- 
 tance 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 nearest shore. As there was not the smallest ap- 
 pearance of any island, but the house stood on piles, with 
 the water flowing beneath it, and Deerslayer had already 
 discovered that the kke 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 
 skrimmage, for old Tom is well supplied with arms and 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 31 
 
 ammunition, and the castle, as you mray 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 be- 
 sieged. 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 
 pfties, cut about nine feet long, and placed upright, instead 
 oi being laid horizontally, as was the practice of the coun- 
 try. 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 pur- 
 pose, and the lower tenons of the upright pieces were 
 placed in these grooves, giving them a secure fastening 
 below. Plates had been laid on the upper ends of the up- 
 right logs, and were kept in their places by a similar con- 
 trivance; the several corners of the structure being well 
 fastened by scarfing and pinning the sills and plates. The 
 floors 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 ar- 
 rangement was to give its owner a house that could be 
 approached only by water, the sides of which were com- 
 posed 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 floor 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 ob- 
 serve, 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 moiild of sticks, and 
 suffered to harden, a foot or two at a time, commencing 
 at the bottom. When the entire chimney had thus been 
 
32 
 
 THE DEEESLAYER. 
 
 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 ft 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 fire-place 
 and chimney had been obtained in the end. This part of 
 the work stood on the log-floor, 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. 
 
 " OH 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 
 parseyerance 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 at 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 par- 
 ticular way about a frying-pan or a gridiron ! " 
 
 While the parties were thus discoursing, the canoe nad 
 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," ob- 
 served 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 j'ou, seeing 
 
THE DEERSLA YER. 33 
 
 that there is no law. 'Tis as I supposed; not a soul 
 within, but the whole family is oif on a v'y'ge of dis- 
 covery ! " 
 
 While Hurry was bustling about the " door-yard," ex- 
 amining the fishing-spears, rods, nets, and other similar 
 appliances of a frontier cabin, Deerslayer, whose manner 
 was altogether more rebuked and quiet, entered the build- 
 ing, 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 "al^ a dark, massive chest. The kitchen uten- 
 sils 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 pas- 
 sage 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 bed-room. 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 floor. 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 color*, were placed half open, in a way to 
 2 
 
34 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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 a,bove it, 
 and a pair of long gloves, such as were rarely used in those 
 d'lys by persons of the laboring classes, were pinned osten- 
 tatiously 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 ap- 
 pearances 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, ex- 
 cept 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 daugh- 
 ters 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 lie 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 man- 
 ner 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 sad- 
 dened mien. He looked no further, but returned slowly 
 and thoughtfully towards the " door-yard." 
 
 " Old Tom has taken to a new calling, and has been try- 
 ing 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. We always give the poorest hunters half a share, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 35 
 
 but one as active and sai-tain 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 oiler. '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 accouiit 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 hot 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-skih, and a 
 Frenchman as pretty much the same thing; though Frii 
 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 ar-weary looking at it ! " 
 
 "'Tis your first acquaintance with a lake; and these 
 idees come over us all at such times. Lakes have a gen- 
 eral 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 inaps, it's likely 
 they've not bethought them to disturb hatur' 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 
 
36 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 general notions about it, such as that there was water and 
 hills ; but how much of either, he knowed no more than 
 you know of the Mohawk tongue. I didn't open the trap 
 any wider than was necessary, giving him but poor encour- 
 agement 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 parch- 
 ment, 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 an- 
 other, by way of improvement." 
 
 Here Hurry laughed heartily, such tricks being particu- 
 larly grateful to a set of men who dreaded the approaches 
 of civilization as a curtailment of their own lawless empjre. 
 The egregious errors that existed in the maps of the day, 
 all of which were made in Europe, was, moreover, a stand- 
 ing 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 justi- 
 fication 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 fore- 
 tell waste and destruction. No doubt, howsever, the red- 
 skins have their modes of knowing it, and the hunters and 
 trappers, too; they are likely to call the place by some- 
 thing reasonable and resembling." 
 
 "As for the tribes, each has its own 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 fringed with pines, cast 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 37 
 
 upward from its face; as if it would throw back the hills 
 that hung 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 keep- 
 ing : 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 red-men'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 atten- 
 tion. 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 for- 
 ward their trees even to nearly horizontal lines, while the 
 bays were seen glittering through an occasional arch be- 
 neath, 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 pleas- 
 ure 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 occu- 
 pied his thoughts, he was not insensible to the innate love- 
 liness of such a landscape neither, but felt a portion of 
 that soothing of the spirit which is a common attendant 
 ol a scene so thoroughly pervaded by the holy calm of 
 nature. 
 
THE DEERSLAYEk. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Coihe, shall we go and kill us venison f 
 And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools, 
 Beihg native burghers of this desert city,— 
 Should, in their own confines, With forked heads 
 Have their round haunches gored." 
 
 HuKKT Haery tnought more of the beauties of Judith 
 Hntter than of those of the Glimmefglass, and its accom- 
 panying 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 
 embarlcing, however. Hurry carefully examined the wholfe 
 of the northern end of the' water with an indifferent ship's 
 glass, that formfed a pa,rt 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 Hul-ry, laying aside the glass, 
 " the old fellow is drifting about the south end this fine 
 weather, and has left the oastle 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 com- 
 panion into the canoe; "to my eye it is such a solitude as 
 one niight Open his whole sOul in, and fear no one to dis- 
 arrange his thoughts er his worship." 
 
 " Yen forget your friends, the Mingos, and all the French 
 savages. Is there a spot oh 'urth, 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 discolor its water 
 with blood?" 
 
 " I hear no good character of them, sartainly, friend 
 Hurry, though I've never been called on, as yet, to meet 
 them, or any other mortal, on the war-path. I dare to 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 39 
 
 say that sucli a lovely spot as this wouM not be likely to 
 be overlooked by snch 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 mis- 
 creants." 
 
 " You may do that with a safe conscience, or, for that 
 matter, any other savage you maiy happen to meet." 
 ■i 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 
 H&taral competitor, and not unfrequently as a natural 
 enemy. As a matter of course, he was loud, claniorous, 
 dogmatical, and not very argumentative. Deerslayer, on 
 the other hand, manifested a very different temper; prov- 
 ing, by the moderation of his language, the fairness of his 
 views, and the simplicity of his distinctions, that he pos- 
 sessed every disposition to he^r reason, a strong, innate 
 desire to do justice, and an ingenuousness that was singu- 
 larly indisposed to have recourse to sophisms 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 rushes on its prey 
 througli 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 im- 
 pression 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 feelings can render youth. 
 »^ " You win allow, Deerslayer, that a Mingo is more than 
 half devil," cried Hurry, follpwing up the discussion with 
 an animation that touched closely on ferocity, "though 
 you want to over-persuade rne that the Delaware tribe is 
 pretty much made up of ^ngels, Now, I gainsay that pro- 
 posal, 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 
 'arih : 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 whjte man, as toler9.ble, 
 
40 THE DEERSLAYM. 
 
 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 ofE at half-cock, and don't hear me oat. 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 oifense 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 ofE the ears of wolves for the bounty, or strip- - 
 ping 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." 
 
 "Aye, 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 ouglit to be, which 
 we know they are not : but I will maintain that tradition, 
 and use, and color, ana 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 Oanadas, 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'sin 
 onlawful law more ag'in natur' than scalpin' a savao-e ? ^ 
 law can no more be onlawful, than truth can be a lie." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 41 
 
 '"Y^^t sounds reasonable; but it has a most onreason- 
 able 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, 'tis use- 
 less talking, as each man will think for himself, and have 
 his say agreeable to his thoughts. Let us keep a good 
 lookout for your friend Floating Tom, lest we pass him, 
 aiB 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 con- 
 trol. 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 reconnoiter- 
 ing 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 useful- 
 ness, 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 sud- 
 dfcily ceased paddling, as if uncertain in what direction 
 
 TIP'X"}' "t"0 RTPPr 
 
 " It is possible that the old chap has dropped into the 
 
42 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 river," said Hurry, after looking careffuUy alotig tlie 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 cjonsiderable, of late, and, bar- 
 ring 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 Susqaehannah run through it." 
 
 "Aye, Deerslayer, rivers are like liuman mortals; having 
 small beginnings, and ending with broad shouldeirs and 
 wide mouths. You don't see the outlet, because it passes 
 atween high, steep banks; and the pines, and hemloCksy 
 and bass-woods hang over it, a^ a roof hang§ over a house. 
 If old Tom is not in the ' Eat's Cove,' he must have bur- 
 rowed 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 " Eat's Gove/' froni the circumstance of its 
 being a favorite haunt of the muskrat; and which offered 
 so complete a cover for the " airk," 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 Hurrj', " it's a great ad- 
 vantage to get a good look at 'em before 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 sar- 
 tain to draw inimies, if any happened to find the lake ; a 
 think 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 skear- 
 ful 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 ihe s;ime idees; afld 
 I once know'd a vagabond that quarreled with a fri'nd be- 
 cause he didn't think him handsome. Now, you're no 
 
TUE DEERSLAYER. 43 
 
 monument in the vay of beauty, yourself, Deerslayer, and 
 yet you would't be so onreasonable as to become my ininiy 
 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 ricom- 
 mend in the way of good conduct. There's few nobler ■ 
 looking men to be seen than yourself, Hurry ; and J. 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 coun- 
 tenance 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 
 inost 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 beaxity, as you will own 
 yourself, if you'll look over the side of the canoe," he cried; 
 " Jude will say tliat to your face, if you start her, for a 
 parter 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, v/hen no harm is meant. You are not a beauty, 
 iis you must Isnow, 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 
 
44 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 your- 
 self, 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 trouble- 
 some 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 dep- 
 recating 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 valie 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 alto- 
 gether 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 
 
' THE DEEHSLAYER. 45 
 
 know'd even a Delaware of whom you might not say that 
 much. But here is the end of the long p'int you men- 
 tioned, and the ' Rats' Cove ' can't be far off." 
 
 This point, instead of thrusting itself forward, lilce 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, cir- 
 cling round south again, at the distance of a quarter of a 
 mile, and crossed the valley, forming the southern termina- 
 tion of the water. In this bay Hurry felt almost certain of 
 finding the ark, since, anchored behind the trees that cov- 
 ered the narrow strip of the point, it might have lain con- 
 cealed 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 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 bur- 
 row up among the rushes, and we shall be in his nest in 
 five minutes, although the old fellow may be ofE 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 sur- 
 face, 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 frontier-men 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 nar- 
 row 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ct in 
 
 'Twas too heavy for any light creatur'/' whispered 
 Hurry, " and it sounded like the tread of a man ! " 
 
 "Not so — not so," returned Deerslayer; "'twas, 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 
 pin't, be it a Mingo, or be it only 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 ex- 
 tremity 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 sol- 
 emn 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 thun- 
 ders 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 for- 
 ward, 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 arovmd 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 re- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 4? 
 
 conn'itered 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 I'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 un- 
 der-standing the creaturs habits, as well as for sartainty in 
 the aim; but they can't accuse me of killing an animal 
 when there is no occasion for the ineat or the skin. I 
 may be a slayer, it's true, but I'm no slaughterer." 
 
 " 'Twas an awfiil 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 ; 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 mis- 
 take, Hurry ; for they sound like the voice of natur' calling 
 out ag'in a wasteful and onthinkiug action," 
 
 " You'll hear plenty of such calls, if you tarry long in 
 this quarter of the world, lad," returned the other, laugh- 
 ing. ^" The echoes repeat pretty much all that is said or 
 done on the Glimmerlgass, in this calm summer weather. 
 If a paddle falls, you hear of it sometimes agi'n and ag'ih, 
 as if the hills were mocking your clumsiness ; and a laugh 
 or a whistle comes out of them pines, when they're in the 
 humor to speak, in a way to make you believe they can 
 ra'lh^ convarse." ' 
 
 " So much the more reason for being prudent and silent. 
 I do not think, the inimy ciin have foiind 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 war- 
 rior'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 visitors are at hand. 
 
 I It is a wonder that these echoes of the hills, rocks and caverns, so familiar 
 to every schoolboy, did not suggest tlie idea of tlie phonograph or graphoplione. 
 —En 
 
48 THE DEERSLAYEK. 
 
 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. It's 
 head was turned diagonally across the lake, pointing to- 
 wards the southeastern 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, v/as 
 not quite a mile, and their progress being always swift, it 
 was fast lessening, under the skillful 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 upwards 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 truer — 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 cocked 
 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 crea- 
 tur' 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 dp 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." 
 
 ., "A^7®, ^*, y""^^ "^'^ ^^y' Hurry; all I contend for is, 
 that it s lucky. I dare say I shall not pull upon a humnn 
 mortal ^as steadily or with as light a heart, as I pull upon 
 a> ci6Gr. 
 
 "Who's talking of mortals, or of human beings at nil, 
 Deerslayer .-- I put the matter to you on the supposition 
 o± an Injm. I dare say any man would have his feelin's 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 49 
 
 wlien it got to be life or death, ag'in another human mor- 
 tal ; 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 red-men to be quite as human as we 
 are ourselves. Hurry. They have their gifts, and their re- 
 ligion, 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 that 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 smil- 
 ing, " nevertheless, they are both squirrels." 
 
 " Who denies it ? But you'll not say that a red-man and 
 a white man are both Injins ? " _ t 
 
 " No ; but I do say they are both men,. ;Mgn of differefel 
 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 put- 
 ting the whole family of red-men, incontinently, without 
 the category of human rights. Nothing angered him 
 sooner than to deny his proposition, more especially if the 
 denial were accomiaanied by a show of plausible argument; 
 and he did not listen to his companion's remarks wi h 
 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, whsn 
 excited. "You may account yourself as a red-skin's brother, 
 but I hold 'em all to be animals; with nothing human 
 
so THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 about "em but cnnning. 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 
 alv/ays 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." 
 
 nere Hurry's imagination did his temper some service, 
 since, by conjuring up the reception his semi-aqtiatic ac- 
 quaintance would be likely to bestow on one thus intro- 
 duced, 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 thait was increased by the expectation of 
 finding 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, howev(3r, that the trees and 
 bushes here, as elsewhere, fairly overhung the water, mak- 
 ing such a fringe to the lake, as to conceal any little varia- 
 tions 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. "Aye, 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 Avater for centuries had so rounded its 
 summit, .that it resembled a large bee-hive in shape, its 
 form being more than usually regular and even. Hurry 
 remarked, as they floated slowly past, that this rock wal 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. Si 
 
 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 riyer, 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 secresy and watch- 
 fulness; "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 ap- 
 peared, 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 
 
 I Ambush, 
 
52 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 jeal- 
 ous 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 un- 
 usual 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 sup- 
 posed ; 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, und collect scornful feel- 
 ings 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 
 sarying 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 53 
 
 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. 
 
 CHAPTBE IV. 
 
 "And that timid fawn starts not with fear, 
 
 When I steal to her secret bower ; 
 And that young May violet to me ij dear. 
 And I visit the silent streamlet near, 
 
 To look on the lovely flower . " Bryant. 
 
 The ark, as the floating habitation _ of the H utters 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 cabfti 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 re- 
 
54 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 moved 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 overhiing 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 perpen- 
 dicular, 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 vir- 
 gin 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 reci'iminating discourse with Judith, apparently forget- 
 ful 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 curi- 
 ous and scrutinizing eyes. It is true, he cast one admiring 
 glance at Judith, v/hich 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 Hut- 
 ter's contrivances. Step by step did he look into the con- 
 struction of the singular abode, investigate its fastenings 
 and strength, ascertain its means of defense, and make 
 every inquiry that would be likely "to occur to one whose 
 thoughts dwelt priucipally 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 ' 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 55 
 
 familiarity, he passed through the rooms as he had previ- 
 ously done at the castle; and, opening a door, issued into 
 the end of the scow opposite to that where he had left 
 Hurry and Jiidith. Here he found the other sister, em- 
 ployed on some coarse needlework, seated beneath the leafy 
 canopy of the cover. 
 
 As Deerslayer's examination was by this time endedj he 
 dropped the butt of his rifle, and, leaning on the barrel 
 with both hands, he turned towards the girl with an inter- 
 est 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 anything in Hetty Hutter's appearance, as so often 
 happens, to weaken the interest her situation excited. An 
 idiot she could not properly be terrried, 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 re- 
 marked of this girl, by the few who had seen her, and who 
 possessed s'ltficient 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 unfrequent with per- 
 sons who are termed feeble-minded; as if God had forbid- 
 den the evil spirits to invade a precinct so defenseless^ 
 with the benign purpose of extending a direct protection 
 to those who had been left without the usual aids of hu- 
 manity. Her person, too, was agreeable, having a strong 
 resemblance to that of her sister, of which it was_ a sub- 
 dued 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 color, 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 unsus- 
 pecting 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, 
 
S6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 Hjitter," 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 con- 
 siderable, 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 you,r 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 war-path; 
 which has never behappened me; seeing, firstly, because 
 I'm not born a red-skin, and have no right to sit in thuir 
 councilings, and am much too humble to be called on for 
 opinions from the great of my own color ; and, secondly, 
 because this is the first war that has befallen iii 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, sigsify the same things as the Dela- 
 ware names,— at least, so they tell me, for I know little of 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 57 
 
 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 de- 
 pendence, therefore, on names." 
 
 " Tell me all your names," repeated the girl, earnestly, 
 for her mind was too simple to separate things from pro- 
 fessions, 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, howsever, 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 that I was quick of foot, and 
 then they called me 'The Pigeon; ' which, you know, has 
 a swift wing, and flies in a direct line." 
 
 "TAa^ was ajoreWy name!" exclaimed Hetty; "pigeons 
 are pretty birds ! " 
 
 " Most things that God has 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 a hound." 
 
 "That's not so pretty," answered Hetty; "I hope you 
 didn't keep tliat name long," 
 
58 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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 valie 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. 81i6 says the 
 oflicers 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 sha is a woman, and lie 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. 
 
 "Aye, 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 mistress, the thoughts of Deerslayer, 
 and the gentle feelings of Hetty, by the sudden appear- 
 ance of the canoe of the ark's owner, in the narrow open- 
 ing 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 gratiflcation,but 
 a pleasure, mingled with a little disappointment at his not 
 having made his appearance some days sooner. 
 
?¥/£ DESiRSLAYER. ' Sgi 
 
 " I looked for you last week," he said, in a half-grtitn- 
 bling, half- welcoming manner ; " and was disappointed un- 
 commonly 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 'twas feel- 
 ing 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 Deer- 
 slayer. 
 
 " Why should I ? They say a bad companion, on a jour- 
 ney, helps to shorten the path ; and this young man I ac- 
 count to be a reasonably good one; This is Deerslayer, 
 old Tom, a noted hunter among the Delawares, and Chris- 
 tian-bornj and Ohristian-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, thrust- 
 ing a hard, bony hand towards the youth, as a pledge of 
 his sincerity; "in such times, a white-face is a friend's, 
 and 1 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 
 
6o THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 beauty, in a full, rich voice, and with an accuracy of in- 
 tonation 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 flut- 
 ter 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 " — 
 
 "Grirl — 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 misf ortunate 
 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 iad 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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 6i 
 
 "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 men- 
 tioned. 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 indi- 
 cated 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 ths Gospel, old Tom ; but not persona- 
 ble 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 quar- 
 ter of the country." 
 
 "That is soon told. Master Hutter," said the young 
 man, with the composure of one who kept a clean con- 
 science. "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." 
 
 " 'Tis 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 crowA 
 on the Schoharie, who had moneys to send to some of the 
 
62 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 friendly tribes, that' live fiirtlier west. This was thought 
 . a good occasion for Chingachgook, a young chief who had 
 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 
 iu 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 color 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." 
 
 "Aye, 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 nlost 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 start- 
 ing for his summer ha'nts, we agreed to journey in com- 
 pany; 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, however, I could tell in a 
 minute whether it is made in the Delaware fashion or hot." 
 
 "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 /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, ex- 
 amining the worn and rejected covering for the foot with 
 a cautious eye ; " I'm too young on a war-path to be posi- 
 tive, but I should say that moccasin has a northern look, 
 and comes from beyond the great lakes/' 
 
 " If such is the ease, we ought not to lie here a minute 
 
THE DEERSLAYER 63 
 
 longer than is necessary/' said Hutter, glancing through 
 the leaves of his cover, as if he already distnisted 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 mak- 
 ing a noise that would betray us. Did you hear the echo 
 oi! a piece in the mountains, half-an-hour since ? " 
 
 "Yes, old man, and heard the piece itself," q,nswered 
 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 Indiaius; still it may 
 put them on the look-out, and be a means of discovering 
 us. You did wrong to Sre in war-time, unless there was 
 goad occasion." 
 
 "So I begin to think myself, uncle Tom; and yet, if a 
 man can't trust himself to let ofE 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 
 A'ieinity 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, per- 
 haps, from the ear than from the eye, especially as long as 
 tkey 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, with- 
 out 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 as tarn as well as my- 
 self; and when we fear no enemy, to get out of the river 
 gives us but little trouble." 
 
64 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " What should we gain. Master Hutter, by changing the 
 position ? " asked Deerslayer, with a good deal of earnest- 
 ness ; " this is a safe cover, and a stout defense might be 
 made from the inside of this cabin. I've never fou'tun- 
 less in the way of tradition; but it seems to me we might 
 beat off twenty Mingos, with palisades like them afore us." 
 
 "Aye, aye; 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," Deersiayer answered, mod- 
 estly. "Youth is the time to I'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 iiothing 
 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 ex- 
 planation, now set about their preparations to move the 
 ark in earnest. The slight fastenings were quickly loos- 
 ened; 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 uneasinessj 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 65 
 
 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 impend- 
 ing 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, renderiilg 
 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 resist- 
 ance to the progress of the swift element beneath its bot- 
 tom. 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 turn 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 appre- 
 hension 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 bot- 
 tom, 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 foi-ward, occasionally urging his 
 friends, in a low and guarded voice, to increase their 
 3 
 
66 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 exertions, and then, as occasions offered, warning, them 
 against efEorts 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 day-light, 
 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 
 trcQS 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 mind- 
 ful 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 hiul 
 through the door, where we shall all be safe, from a sur- 
 prise, 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 neigh- 
 bors." 
 
 Deerslayer complied, with a sensation that had nothing 
 in common with fear, but which liad 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 a 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 ver- 
 dure; a feature as appropriate and peculiar to the country 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 67 
 
 perhaps, as that of Switzerhmd, -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 dowu 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 sup- 
 port 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 mo- 
 tion, and seemed to glide from under the tree as if con- 
 scious of the danger that was impending overhead. Per- 
 ceiving 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. Tlie chief, 
 who had taken the dangerous post in advance, having-an 
 earlier opportunity than the others, struck the scow :''nst 
 
68 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 within the stern. The fall proving so much greater than 
 he had antioipated, he was slightly stunned, and for amo- 
 ment he remained half bent and unconscious of his situa- 
 tion. 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, throw- 
 ing 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 ascer- 
 tain what had become of the man, and the expression of 
 her eyes softened to concern; next, her cheek crimsoned be- 
 tween 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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 con- 
 sciousness that they were expending their ammunition in 
 vain. "When the scow came up over her grapnel, liutter 
 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ' Why, let the stiicken deer go weep, 
 The hart uncalled play. 
 For some must watch, while some must sleep, 
 Thus runs the world away." 
 
 Shaekspearb. 
 
 Another consultation took place in tTie forward part of 
 the scow, at which both Judith and Hetty were present. 
 As ho danger could now approach unseen, immediate un- 
 easiness 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 prac- 
 ticable 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 appre- 
 ciate 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 ob- 
 server, the apprehension that was just then uppermost. 
 
 "We've a great advantage over the Iroquois, or the 
 enemy, whoever they are, in being afioat," 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 'twill 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- 
 
7o' THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 re- 
 treating sun, while the lake looked more lovely and calm 
 than it had before done that day. It was a scene a,lto- 
 gether soothing, and of a character to lull the passions 
 into a species of holy calm. How far this efEect was pro- 
 duced, 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 hahd ; 
 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 prefar 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 con- 
 tinued, 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 DEERSLAYER. yi 
 
 the allusion in a way that it might have puzzled even an 
 indifferent observer to say was iiitended as a bait, or as an 
 exclamation of paternal concern, " daughters, as you know. 
 Hurry, and good girls too, I may say, though I mn their 
 father." 
 
 ''A man may sa,y 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 fron- 
 tiers for good looks, whatever she may have for good be- 
 havior. 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- 
 weajher 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 in- 
 tends to desart you," said Deerslayer, with an earnest 
 simplicity that gave double assurance of its truth, " I think 
 you do him injustice, as I kiiow 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 lake. Master Hutter, to rende'vous a fr'ind, 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 daugh- 
 ters, 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 coun-t 
 on me, through all ad varsities; and I think Hurry does 
 discredit to his natur' and wishes, if yoti 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 i/ou they 
 
72 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 will rely on, Deerslayer; for yonr honest face and honest 
 heart tell us that what you promise you will perform." 
 
 This was said, as much, perhaps, in afEected scorn for 
 Hurry, as in sincerity. Still, it was not said without feel- 
 ing. The fine face of Judith suiiiciently 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 womanly softness and sensibility, than when her 
 speaking blue eyes were turned on his travelling com- 
 panion. 
 
 " 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 fiattery of the ofl&cers, who some- 
 times 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. Hettywould 
 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 mis- 
 conceived 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 satis- 
 faction 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 unfrequeut in the woods; and no com- 
 mander who was hard pressed could feel more joy at hear- 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 73 
 
 ing 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 restless- 
 ness of man induced him to think of the means of carry- 
 ing the war into the enemy's country. 
 
 " High prices are ofEered 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 superi- 
 ority to earning money by means that the ordinary feel- 
 ings 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 tall. 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 'tis different, for they've a nat'ral avar- 
 sion 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 you heart and 
 hand," returned Tom, losing all his reserve, as he gained a 
 renewed confidence in the disposition of his companion. 
 " 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 
 'amed 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 
 
 ^ V 
 
 * In ir>98 the price paid for a scalp was ten silver crowns. In New England £10, 
 £20 and even as high as £50 was paid. In 1747, New York paid £10 for a scalp. 
 
74 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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' in- 
 tended man to protect and console by his gentleness and 
 strength." 
 
 "Ilurry Harry, that is a lesson you might learn and 
 practice 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 further 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 cor- 
 rect. There's a large party of these savages on the 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 'tis 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 all 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 disappi'nted savage should fire at us, is in rule ; and I 
 think nothing of that. Besides, how often have they 
 burned me out, and robbed my traps— aye, 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! 
 AVomen 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 
 
[ THE DEERSLAYER. 75 
 
 Deerslayer, " I saw the Mingos, and hnoiv that they are 
 out ou 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 ? 1 wUl own, it would be ag'in riglit 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 an- 
 other, all the world over. That's reason, and I believe it 
 to be good religion." 
 
 "Aye, Master Hurry," again interrupted the rich voice 
 of Judith, " is it religion to say that one had 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 Oanadas pay- 
 ing 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 tliis, and listen to the advice of Deerslayer, who 
 
76 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 se- 
 cured 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 con- 
 nected ivith the right of the aborigines, since it is one of 
 the consequences of aggression that it hardens the con- 
 science, 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 an- 
 swer the objections of their juster-minded and more scru- 
 pulous companion. 
 
 "You must iight a man with his own we'pons, Deer- 
 slayer," cried Hurry, in his uncouth dialect, and in his dog- 
 matical manner of disposing of all moral propositions ; " if 
 he's f'erce, you must be fercer; 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 I'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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. -j-j 
 
 cheek, it's a duty to turn the other side of the face, and 
 take another blow, instead of seeking revenee, 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 
 oheek 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 difEerent. ' Do as you would be done 
 by,' they tell me, is the true saying, while men pract</se 
 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 &nj moral 
 causes. The easily-digested food of the forests offering the 
 fewest possible obstacles to the gratification of this great 
 
78 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 
 Jfoung 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 re- 
 ceived 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 time 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 mo- 
 ments, -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 ap- 
 peared to increase as she proceeded; and though nothing 
 vulgar or noisy mingled in her melody, its strength and 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 79 
 
 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 rtide 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 gentle- 
 ness 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 re- 
 joice." 
 
 " You can never do it, father ! " sa id Hetty, in a low, re- 
 monstrating 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." 
 
 "AVhy 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 %oish 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, Hgtty; to have your 
 
8o THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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." 
 
 "Oome, come, child; let us talk of matters you under- 
 stand. 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 con- 
 siderable 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 Harry," 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 to- 
 gether. 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 
 otherwise 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 con- 
 cern, continued to smoke with the apparent phlegm which 
 would seem to belong to that particular species of enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 " 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 like- 
 liest youth in these parts; and Jude is the likeliest young 
 woman I've met with since her poqr 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 
 
' THE DEERSLAYER. 8i 
 
 other matters now, for you hardly understand these, poor 
 Hetty. How do you like our new acquaintance. Deer- 
 slayer ? " 
 
 " He isn't handsome, father. Hurry is far handsomer 
 than Deerslayer." 
 j "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 dex- 
 terous 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 
 Ids 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 an- 
 swer. 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 hand- 
 some 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 be- 
 come 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 afEected, was moody and silent 
 at this allusion to his wife. He continued smoking, with- 
 out appearing disposed to make any answer, until his sim- 
 ple-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 
 
82 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 not befriend her; and you have no occasion to niourn that 
 you are not as much like lier 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." 
 
 " £ 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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 dis- 
 posed 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 love- 
 liest 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 ad- 
 dress, 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 coquettisKly com- 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. S3 
 
 menced, "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 tliat 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 in- 
 difference 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 preju- 
 dice against the girl in consequence of Hurry's suspicions 
 of her levity, felt its charm, notwithstanding half its win- 
 ning influence was lost in the feeble light. It at once 
 created a sort of confidence between them, and the dis- 
 course 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 re- 
 peated, 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 sophis- 
 ticated, he might have observed the averted face, the man- 
 ner in which the pretty little foot was agitated, and other 
 signs that, for some unexplained reason, the opinions of 
 
84 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 March were not quite as much 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 ap- 
 parent to the reader as we proceed in the tale. Deerslayer 
 felt embarrassed. He well remembered the cruel imputa- 
 tions 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, arousing herself as if in careless disdain. " Young 
 women's good names are a pleasant matter of discourse 
 with some that wouldn't dare to 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 re- 
 pent!" 
 
 " 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 inter- 
 rupted Judith, "/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 iliat, Judith, and I 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 85 
 
 hope 'arnestly that the same can be said of her handsome 
 sister." 
 
 There was a soothing sincerity in the yoice 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. Neyertheless, 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 
 ho, feels he can never become himself." 
 
 " Not in the sense of a king's olficer, 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 'twas 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 im- 
 mediately 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 noth- 
 ing 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 ab- 
 stracted, indeed, had his thoughts become, that he was 
 hailed by Hutter to keep the scow's head m the right di- 
 rection, before he remembered his actual situation. 
 
86 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 " So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain. 
 Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair." Milton. 
 
 Shortly after the disappearance of Judith, a light 
 southerly air arose, and Hutter set a large square-sail, that 
 had once been the flying topsail 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 efEect on 
 the ark was such as to supersede the necessity of rowing; 
 and in about two hours the castle was seen, in the dark- 
 ness, 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 com- 
 panion left it. The place was found in the quiet of mid- 
 night, 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 uso of lights ; " for 
 I've three or four trusty weapons always loaded, and Kill- 
 deer, in particular, is a piece that never misses. But it's 
 a diSerent thing at night. A canoe might get upon us 
 unseen, in the dark ; and the savages have so many cun- 
 ning ways of attacking, that I look upon it as bad enough 
 to deal with 'em under a bright sun. I built this dwell- 
 ing 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 87 
 
 and exposed, but I'm for anchoring out here, clear of under- 
 brush 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 ex- 
 pressions 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," retiirned 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 judg- 
 ment. 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 evi- 
 dently indisposed to dwell longer on the subject, its dis- 
 cussion ceased with this remark. The latter had some- 
 thing more on his mind, however, than recollections. His 
 daughters had no sooner left them, with an expressed in- 
 tention 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 ven- 
 omous enemies, will leave no likely place unexamined in 
 the morning, if they're serious in s'arch of bounties " — , 
 
88 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 ap- 
 peal had been made, " but you overlook the sarcumstance 
 that if you couldn't see the trail of the man who did the 
 job, / co%M. 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 ofE 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 hav- 
 ing 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 difEerent 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, ac- 
 cording to my consait." 
 
 " AVe'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 m the degree that 
 they fefl 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 sartain ty, instead of brag- 
 ging. I've heard of them that was valiant afore the fight, 
 who did little in it ; and of them that waited to know their 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 89 
 
 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 Ilutter, " 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, en- 
 tering 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 mid- 
 night 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 re- 
 quire any extraordinary efforts, and skill supplying the 
 place of strength, in about half an hour they were ap- 
 proaching 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 mountain-side, as it arose from the dy- 
 ing embers of a fire. Nothing unusual could be traced ; 
 and as the position was at some distance from the outlet, 
 or thfe 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 
 
90 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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 mid- 
 night scene, and the desired place was reached without an 
 occurrence to induce alarm. 
 
 "This is it," whispeTed 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 dis- 
 tance was not great, but the descent was extremely difl- 
 cult; and, towards the end of their little Journey, Deer- 
 slayer was obliged to land and meet them, in order to aid 
 in lifting the canoe through the bushes. With his assist- 
 ance 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 91 
 
 Unlike the last place at which they had gone ashore, here 
 was no acclivity to ascend, the mountains looming np in 
 the darkness quite a quarter of a mile further west, leav- 
 ing a margin of level ground between them and the strand. 
 The point itself, though long, and covered with tall trees, 
 was nearly fiat, and for some distance only a few yards iu 
 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 be- 
 tween 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 con- 
 fidence, 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; other- 
 wise 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 burrow- 
 ing 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 la'rned creaturs taking to the last when 
 hard pressed. I call our position now, entrenched, and 
 set the Ganadas at defiance." 
 
92 
 
 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 " Let us paddle along this soutli 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 
 sure of that quarter yet." _ i, ji ■ 
 
 As Hutter ceased speaking, all three moved in the di- 
 rection 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 sanie instant. 
 It was no more than a dying brand, giving out its flicker- 
 ing 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 back-bone. 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 93 
 
 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 reluct- 
 ance and a heavy heart. He knew the prejudices of the 
 frontier-men 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, await- 
 ing, with an intensity of suspense that can be easily im- 
 agined, 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 character- 
 izes 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 im- 
 pressions, 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 
 
94 THE BEEKS LAYER. 
 
 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 war- 
 fare, but he had neVer yet been confronted with an enemy. 
 
 The reader will readily understand, therefore, how in- 
 tense 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 wari- 
 ness in conducting any covert assault on the Indians. Once 
 he thought he heard the cracking of a dried twig, but ex- 
 pectation 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 com- 
 panions 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 in- 
 duced Hurry to select it as his own signal. There had 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 1 95 
 
 been snflScient 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 suflBcient motive for circling it, in order to reembark 
 at so great a distance. Should he obey the signal, and be 
 drawn away from the landing, the lives of those who de- 
 pended on him might be the forfeit — and, should he ne- 
 glect 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. 
 
 iDeerslayer 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 crackling of dried sticks, and the fall of 
 feet were distinctly audible; the sounds appearing to ap- 
 proach the water, though in a direction that led diagonally 
 towards the shore, and a little further north than the spot 
 that Deerslayer had been ordered to keep near. Follow- 
 ing this cine, the young man urged the canoe ahead, pay- 
 ing but little attention to the manner in which he might 
 
96 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 betray its presence. He had reached a part o^ 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 dis- 
 appointment— "his skin's greased! I shan't grapple!— 
 Take tliat 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 move- 
 ment, 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 frontier-man gave his loon's 
 call, in a manner that would have excited laughter undei 
 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 over- 
 powered 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 97 
 
 a few timely strokes of the paddle not only arrested his 
 advance, but forced him oil to six or eight times that dis- 
 tance from his enemies. Luckily for him, all of the In- 
 dians 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 m.eUe. 
 " 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 his 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 
 
 ' Ty'SiiB* got the shore, 'tis no use to deny, but he hasn't 
 
 ater. Providence has the charge of all, and no 
 
 ay what will come of it; but if good-will can 
 
 >,and your'n, depend on that much. My exper'- 
 
 jall, but my will is good." 
 
 Y e, Deerslayer," returned Hurry in his stentorian 
 vten*%hich was losing some of its heartiness, notwith- 
 standing, — "Aye, aye, 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. ray 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. 
 
98 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 oil to storm your castle," inter- 
 rupted Hurry, with more of the heat of argument than 
 might be expected from a man who was bound and a cap- 
 tive, and about whom nothing could be called free bui 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 en- 
 courage you to come ashore with the canoe; but that I'll 
 never do, as its 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 m'^^itiUj^ 
 any one knows but the devil that advises them hi^W^Sa 4j 
 I've such a big and bushy head that it's quite lii 
 indivor to get two scalps off it, for the bounty " 
 ing thing, or old Tom and I would'nt be in tl 
 Aye — there they go with their signs ag'in, but i^ 
 you to land may they eat me as well as roast me. • 
 Deerslayer — do you keep off where you are, and after day- 
 light, 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. Imme- 
 diately after, the whole group entered the forest, liutter 
 and Hurry apparently making no resistance to the move- 
 ment. 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 99 
 
 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, v/hich had so lately broken the stillness of the 
 forest, or the execrations of March, would have been a re- 
 lief 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 
 jiirection 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 pur- 
 pose, 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 pre- 
 pared 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 iiwelt 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 sig- 
 nal 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 tremu- 
 lous 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 " Clear, placid Leman 1 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, hut thy soft murmuring 
 Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice reproved. 
 Thai 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 np, and looked about him with the eagerness of one 
 who suddenly felt the importance of accurately ascertain- 
 ing his precise position. His rest had been deep and un- 
 disturbed ; and when he awoke, it was with a clearness of 
 intellect and a readiness of resources that were much needed 
 at that particular moment; The sun liad 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 increaised a little in 
 the course of the night, and as the canoes were mere 
 feathers on the water, they had drifted twice the expected 
 distance; and, what was still more dangerous, had ap- 
 proached 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 atten- 
 tion, 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. loi 
 
 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 on 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. AH- 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 
 unneeessaiy. 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 adoptdng all the expedients of their par- 
 ticular modes of warfare, and quite likely had many scouts 
 searching the shores for craft to carry them o£E to the 
 castle. As a glance at the lake fi-om any height or pro- 
 jection 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 efEort to detect any lurking dan- 
 ger. 'Twas a trying moment for a novice, nor was there 
 the encouragement which even the timid sometimes feel. 
 
I02 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 be- 
 haved better. Equally free from recklessness and hesita- 
 tion, 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 efEect 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 re- 
 nowned 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, Deeirslayer 
 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 la- ing 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 in- 
 voluntarily to start. The next instant Deerslayer stag- 
 gered, and fell his whole length in the bottom of the canoe. 
 A yell — it came from a single voice — followed, and an In- 
 dian 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 lev- 
 eled his own rifle at his uncovered foe ; but his finger hesi- 
 tated 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 mean time 
 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 to carry it beyond danger, before he 
 would be exposed to another shot. Under the circum- 
 stances, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 103 
 
 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 mountain-side. The trees were tall, large, and so free 
 from underbrush, that they resembled vast columns, ir- 
 regularly 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 re-loading, unless he had fled. The former proved to 
 be the case, for the young man had no sooner placed him- 
 self 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 afEair by a close assault on his unprepared foe; but 
 every feeling of Deerslayer revolted at such a step, al- 
 though 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 theoDy, and it struck him as an unfair advantage to 
 assail an unarmed foe. His color ha"d 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 sports- 
 man 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 wood. 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 ar- 
 
I04 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ranged 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 his 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 wai 
 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 dis- 
 covery 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 riile 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 ac- 
 customed 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 pre- 
 vented 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 creaturs 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 mission- 
 ary — 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 vaga- 
 bonds that preach about in the woods. No, no; I'm only 
 a hunter, as yet, though afore the peace is made, 'tis lika 
 
THE DEERSLAYEfi. 105 
 
 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 coun- 
 cil." 
 
 " 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 occa- 
 sion, 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 g6 your own way, 
 while 1 go mine; and hope that we may part fri'nds." 
 
 '■'Good! My brother has two scalp — gray hair under 
 t'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 ofEered 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; though you must be wrong in 
 thinking the canoe your property. Howsoever, 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 " Goodf " 
 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 accord- 
 ing to all law, red or white, till its owner comes to claim 
 it. Here's the seats and the stitching of the bark to speak 
 
io6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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, aiid 
 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 eyes 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 hi^ 
 life was placed. The black, ferocious eyes of the savage 
 were glancing on him, like those of the crouching tige,-, 
 through a small opening in the bushes, and the muzzle of 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. r 107 
 
 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 posi- 
 tion 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 mo- 
 tion; 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. Deer- 
 slayer dropped his piece, and stood with head erect, steady 
 as one of the pines in the calm of a June morning, watch- 
 ing 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 aboiit 
 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 Ohingach- 
 gook, great as he is in other matters, isn't downright 
 deadly with the rifle." 
 
 By this time the piece was reloaded, and Deerslayer, after 
 
io8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 tossing the tomahawk into the canoe, advanced to his 
 victim, and stood over him, leaning on his rifle, in melan- 
 choly 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 imme- 
 diately 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 a.t 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 sav- 
 age, without in the least detecting the bitter sarcasm that 
 struggled with the better feeling. 
 
 "Water! " ejaculated the thirsty and unfortunate crea- 
 ture ; " give poor Injin water." 
 
 "Aye, 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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 109 
 
 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 en- 
 deavored 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 ex- 
 pect 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 par- 
 dons, 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 over- 
 look altogether your designs ag'in my life; first, because 
 no harm came of 'em; next because it'§ your gifts, and 
 natur', and train in', 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 sonie 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 
 
no THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 of our own, he thought more of dying in a vay 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 war- 
 rior 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 
 Mart, 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 Dela- 
 wares 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 ttere,"— 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 Deer- 
 slayer — Hawkeye — Hawkeye — Hawkeye. Shake hand." 
 
 Deerslayer — or Hawkeye, as the youth was • then first 
 named, for in after years he bore the appellat;ion through- 
 out all that region — Deerslayer took the hand of the sav- 
 age, 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 re- 
 members it is the highest gratification an Indian can re- 
 ceive 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 
 of 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. in 
 
 glory, according to Moravi.in doctrine, or flames of fire! 
 yo 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. Bat 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 coun- 
 cils, 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 coun- ■ 
 teuance of his fallen foe, in a sort of melancholy abstrac- 
 tion. As was his practice, however, a habit gained by liv- 
 ing 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 creaturs of the forest, such as 
 bears, wolves, painters, and catamounts, hut tliis is the be- 
 ginning 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 Ohingachgook 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 slay- 
 ing a human, although he was a savage; and how do I 
 
112 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 know that he was a just Injin ; and that he has not been 
 taken away siiddenly 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 
 sliould like Chingachg'ook to know that I haven't dis- 
 credited 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 reflec- 
 tion received a startling interruption however by the sud- 
 den appearance of a second Indian on the lake shore, a few 
 hundred yards from the point. This man, evidently an- 
 other 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 mountain-side. There was no longer 
 any time for delay; in another minute the boat was quit- 
 ting 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 van- 
 ished, and the woods themselves were as silent and seem- 
 ingly 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 ear 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 
 
THE DERRSLAYER. 113 
 
 -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 vic- 
 tory 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 cur- 
 rent of air. He began to suspect the influence of some 
 unseen current in the water, and he quickened his exer- 
 tions, in order to regain possession of it before it could 
 drift in to a dangerous proximity to the woods. On get- 
 ting 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 
 furthest 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 cer- 
 tainly 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, v/ithout 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 sav- 
 age, the latter sprang to his feet, and uttered an exclama- 
 tion 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 
 
H4 THE VEERS LAYER. 
 
 in sufficient time to prevent an absolute collision between 
 the two boats, — " if you've en-j'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 mor- 
 tal. 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 mean- 
 ing. 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 disap- 
 peared 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 be- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 115 
 
 come white blood to brag, and 'tisn't easy to see how the 
 matter can be known unless I do. Well, well, — everything 
 is in the hands of Providence; this afEair as well as an- 
 other; 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, mak- 
 ing 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 
 pit, that its appearance was in singular harmony with all 
 the rest of the scene. Although nothing had been con- 
 sulted 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 pictur- 
 esque 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, ob- 
 jects 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 door- 
 yard, 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 spy-glass 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 rich- 
 est tints, while the softness of her eyes, a charm that even 
 poor Hetty shared with her, was deepened by intense con- 
 cern. Such, at least, without pausing or pretending to 
 analyze motives, or to draw any other very nice distinc- 
 tions between cause and efEect, 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. 
 
Ii6 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 " His woi'ds are bonds, his oaths are oracles ; 
 His love sincere, his thoughts immaciilate 
 His tears pure messene^ers sent from his heart ; 
 His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth." 
 
 Shaeespeaiie. 
 
 Neiteer of the girls ,spoke as Deerslayer stood before 
 them, alone, his countenance betraying all the apprehen- 
 sion 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 efPort. 
 
 " He's met with misfortune, and there's no use in con- 
 cealing 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 Oliin- 
 gachgook, 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?" 
 
 " 'Tis 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 narra- 
 tive of all that occurred during the night, in no manner 
 . concealing what had befallen his two coinpanions, or his 
 own opinion of what might prove to be the consequences. 
 The girls listened with profound attention, but neither be- 
 trayed that feminine apprehension and concern which 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 117 
 
 would have followed such a communication when made to 
 those who were less accustomed to the hazards and acci- 
 dents 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 foresee- 
 ing 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 habitu- 
 ally attend to such matters toil on mechanically even in 
 the midst of suffering and sorrov/. The plain but nutri- 
 tious breakfast was taken by all three in sombre silence. 
 The girls ate little, but Deerslayer gave proof of possess- 
 ing one material requisite of a good soldier, that of pre- 
 serving 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, Jiidith," returned the young man, who could not for- 
 bear throwing a glance of inquiry at the girl ; for, in com- 
 mon 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 feel- 
 ings that were novel to her, in more ways than one, she 
 became suddenly communicative, and seemingly much in- 
 terested 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." 
 
ii8 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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 in- 
 dentations proved the rough collisions that it had encoun- 
 tered 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 corre-J"; 
 sponded 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 lias 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 pro- 
 priety, in questioning the elder sister, he had just scruples 
 about taking what might be thought an advantage of the 
 feeble intellect of the younger. Judith, being under no 
 •luch restraint, however, turned quickly to the last speaker 
 md 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 
 lys." 
 
 "And what is it that he does, and" what does he say ?" 
 
 " That I cannot tell youj Judith," returned the other in 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 119 
 
 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 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 min- 
 ute 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," an- 
 swered 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. Kifles have been sighted this morning, 
 aye, 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 Deer- 
 slayer, 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 for- 
 ward about it, though it betrayed the quick instinct of a 
 
I20 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 female's affection, and the sympathizing kindness of a 
 woman's heart. She even took the hard hand of the 
 hunter, and presse'd it in both her own, unconsciously to 
 herself, perhaps, while she looked earnestly and even re- 
 proachfully into his sun-burned 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 sufEer so great a 
 calamity ! " 
 
 "I've fon't, Judith; yes, I liave 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 Ohingachgook 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 de- 
 signs, 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 Ohingachgook ; from what place does he 
 come, and loliy 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. Ohingachgook 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 
 counselor of his people. Even old Tamenund honors 
 Ohingachgook, 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 com- 
 menced in arnest, the Delaware and I rendezvous'd an 
 app'intment, to meet this evening at sunset on the ren- 
 dezvous-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 a war-path, as you may suppose, 
 do nothing without a calculation and a design." 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. I2i 
 
 "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, treach- 
 ery to my own color." 
 
 " No one suspects you, Deerslayer," the girl impetuously 
 cried. "No — no — your honest countenance would be a 
 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 thought 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 cour- 
 tier, 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 con- 
 versation as composedly as if nothing had occurred to dis- 
 turb 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 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 practiced in the arts of deception, that his 
 expressive countenance was, of itself, understood by the 
 quick-witted Judith, whose intelligence had been sharp- 
 ened 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 
 
122 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 do. But this is not as we think of Indians. They nevei 
 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 prac- 
 tice — 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 tliink 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 re- 
 venge. We must indivor, — Ohingachgook 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. Deer- 
 slayer ? " demanded the girl, thoughtfully. 
 
 "As mnch as I can myself. You say you do not sus- 
 pect 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 sus- 
 pect 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." 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 123 
 
 " 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 ? 1 
 ■want to hear nothing about my own, for if that isn't sar- 
 tified to by this time, in all these parts, there's little use 
 in being skillful 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 
 Ohingachgook, 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 Ohin- 
 gachgook 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 Ohingachgook, 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 arose, approached, and stood 
 attentive at his knee, as a child draws near to listen to the 
 legends of its rox)ther. " Yes, he fancied her, and she fan- 
 cied Mm," resma^d Deerslayer, casting a friendly and ap- 
 proving 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. Ohin- 
 gachgook 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, ajid we mistrust him of having a hand in 
 
124 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 I'arn 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 y'Oii, Deerslayer?" de- 
 manded Judith, a little anxiously. 
 
 '' It consarns me, as all things that touches a fri'nd con- , 
 sarns 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 alniost 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 jiist 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 avijiomst 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 resent.- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 125 
 
 ful 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 under- 
 stand that it might be well to drop the subject. 
 
 As the hour when Chingachgook was- expected still re- 
 mained distant, Deerslayer had time enough to examine 
 into the state of the defenses, and to make such additional 
 arrangements as were in his power, and the exigency of 
 the moment seemed to require. The experience and fore- 
 sight of Hutter had left little to be done in these particu- 
 lars; still, several precautions suggested themselves to the 
 youifg 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, pre- 
 vented any apprehension on the subject of rifle-bullets 
 thrown from the land. The house was within a musket- 
 shot, in one sense, it was true, but aim was entirely out of 
 the question, and even Judith professed a perfect disre- 
 gard 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 ex- 
 tinguish 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 defense, and who 
 had the spirit to take no unimportant share in the execu- 
 tion 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 pos- 
 session 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 seri- 
 ously contemplate the risks of an assault, it would not be 
 
126 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 a very difficult matter to find the necessary means. The 
 celebrated American axe, a tool that ia quite unrivaled in 
 its way, was then not very extensively known, and the sav- 
 ages 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 con- 
 struct a raft, shojild 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 indifEerence 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 piue-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 occasion- 
 ally became communicative, it was under the influence of 
 some temporary excitement that served to arouse her un- 
 sophisticated 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 ac- 
 count 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 127 
 
 future liS 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 Chingaehgook was more com- 
 monly called. As the plan had been matured by Deer- 
 slayer, 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 beneat>h 
 the house by chains that were fastened within the build- 
 ing. •• These palisadoes were trunks of trees driven iirmly 
 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 fas- 
 tened, 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, 
 Deerslaye? appeared at a trap, from which he descended 
 into the canoe of Judith. When this was done, he fas- 
 tened 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 
 
128 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 entire shore of the lake, as far aB 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 j 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 con- 
 cealed by the drapery of a dense forest. While the imag- 
 ination 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 Deerglayer, 
 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 with- 
 out the fear of being followed j 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, hows'ever, 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 hoist- 
 ing 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, 
 
THE DEEHS LAYER. 129 
 
 floating as it did on the surface, it was not difficult to got 
 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 be- 
 tween the castle and the rock was a little more than two 
 leagues. Knowing the punctuality of an Indian, Deer- 
 slayer 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 ray en 
 was visible, sailing high above the trees, and keeping a 
 watchful eye on the forest beneath him, in order to detect 
 anything havipg 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 neces- 
 sarily 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 hei-self, in this important particular. 
 5 
 
13° THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 This was far from being literally true, but it was suflficieiitly 
 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 bejrond 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 moou, to the place, and gazed down 
 into the limpid water, in the hope of being able to catch a 
 glimpse of a form that she had so tenderly loved from in- 
 fancy 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 jn the woods. " Will a few minutes, sooner or 
 later, alter the matter ? it will be very hazardous to remain 
 long as Hear 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 t'will never 
 do to hover about it too close and too long. When you 
 have to deal with an Injin, you must calculate and man- 
 age, 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 dii-ection, and get their legs! 
 awearied, and all for no advantage." 
 
 "You think, then, they see us, and watch our move- 
 ments, Deerslayer ? I was in hopes they miglit 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 pre- 
 sarves us. We must draw near the rock on a calculation, 
 and indivor to get the miscreants on a false scent. The 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 131 
 
 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 siniplicity 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 ease. She 
 wag scarcely forward in her manner, though there was 
 sometimes a freedom in her glances that it required all the 
 aid of, her exceediiig 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; bvit, 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 
 appa,rent indifEerenee. Once before, Hutter had been in 
 the hands of the Iroquois, and a few skins had readily 
 effected his release. This event, however, unknown ta 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 diilerent colonial governments. 
 
 While Judith was loquacious and caressing in her man- 
 ner, 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 pines that 
 bounded the western hill, or. about twenty minutes b'^fore 
 
132 ^ THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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. Deer- 
 slayer 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 curvatur-e of the lake,, and 
 the low marshy land that intervened, would probably allow 
 the ark to reach the rock before its pursuers, if really col- 
 lected near the 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 his 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 man thy frowns are stem 
 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." 
 
 The Skies. 
 
 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 i-ays of the evening 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. ' 133 
 
 sun, and the setting of the whole — hills clothed in the 
 richest forest verdure — was lighted up with a sort of radi- 
 ant 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 ex- 
 tended 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 imme- 
 diately across the whole of the fair scene, with the excep- 
 tion of a deep bay that passed its 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 ob- 
 tained 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 bee- 
 hives 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 
 
134 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 suc- 
 cession of unknown ages, in which America and all it 
 contained 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, and 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 would 
 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 manoeuvre, 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 
 had distracted their movements by the apparent uncer- 
 tainty of his own, and he. knew they could have no means 
 of ascertaining that the rock was his aim unless indeed one 
 of the prisoners had betrayed him ; a chance so improbable 
 in itself as to give him no concern. Notwithstanding the 
 celerity and decision of his movements, he did not, how- 
 ever, venture so near the shore without taking due pre- 
 cautions 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 rocks, 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 defenses 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 un- 
 manly haste in his friend. The great question was, whether. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 135 
 
 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 himseif, 
 Chingachgook was yet young on a war-path. It was true, 
 he came prepared to encounter the party that withheld his 
 promised bride, but he had no means of ascertaining the 
 extent of the danger he ran, or the precise positions occu- 
 pied 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 ? " inquii-ed Deerslayer, as 
 soon as he had checked the drift of the ark, deeming it 
 imprudent to venture unnecessarily near the shore. " Is 
 anything to be seen of the Delaware chief ? " 
 
 "Nothing, Deerslayer. Neither rock, shore, tree, 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 act?/ve looks, and be on the 
 alart. 'Twould grieve me to the very 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 «/om '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 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 anything 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 the place of rendezvous. " Is it fast to the 
 war-lock, or does he carry it above the left ear ? " 
 
136 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "'Tis as you say, above the left ear; he smiles, too, and 
 mutters the word ' Mohican.' " 
 
 " God he 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 efEected. 
 
 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 vis inertice 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 armpits of the foremost; 
 still they rush 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 
 naught. 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 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 137 
 
 himself in the bushes of the bank — there, he has disap- 
 peared 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 tne 
 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 the priming was not wet; and assured of this im- 
 portant 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 be- 
 trayal 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 the Big Sarpent; so named- for his wisdom, 
 and prudence, and cunning; my 'arliest and latest frieiid. 
 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, ex- 
 cited 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 exhibit- 
 ing 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. 
 
138 THE DEERSLAYER 
 
 " This wind will soon die away altogether, now the sun 
 is down," he said, "and there is no need of rowing ag'in it. 
 In half an hour or so, it will either he a flat calm or the 
 air will come off from the south shore, when we will begin 
 our journey back a'gin to the castle; in the meanwhile, 
 the Delaware and I will talk over matters, and get correct 
 ideas of each other's notions consarniug the course we 
 ought to take." 
 
 ISTo 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 un- 
 derstood, 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; pre- 
 serving, as far as possible, the idioms 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 particu- 
 larly abstaining from saying anything about his encounter 
 with, and victory over the Iroquois, as well as to his own 
 exertions in behalf of the deserted young women. "When 
 Deerslayer ended, the Delaware took up the narrative in 
 turn, speaking sententiously, and with great 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 pre- 
 pared 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 dis- 
 covery 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER.. 139 
 
 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 ven- 
 tured 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 effecting the desired junction with his friend. The 
 uncertainty of its movements, and the fact that it was un- 
 questionably managed by white men, 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, 
 wiiere, 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 surjorise to him- 
 self 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 exis- 
 tence of which he was ignorant. Their regular and perma- 
 nent encarhpment, 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 yoii anything to tell us of their captives ; the 
 father of these young women and another, who, I some- 
 what 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 
 
HO THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 human forest. "Were the men hound, or in any manner 
 suffering torture ? I ask on account of the young women ; 
 who, I dare 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 good 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, 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 re- 
 sentment, but more perhaps from a gentler and novel feel- 
 ing, 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 comprehend- 
 ing 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 lim 
 been when what you call finery was to me the dearest thing 
 on earth; but I begin to feel diS'erently. Though Hurry 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 14I 
 
 Harry is naught to me, nor eyer 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 feelings 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 colors. 
 Woman was created for the feelin's, and is pretty much 
 ruled by feelin' ! " 
 
 " Would the savages let father go, if Judith and I gave 
 them all our best things ? " demanded Hetty, in her inno- 
 cent, mild manner. 
 
 "Their women might interfere, good H«tty; yes, their 
 women might interfere with such an ind in view. But, 
 tell me, Sarpent, how it is 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 iip 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, DeerslaJ^er, — 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 ; he knew it from the laugh of the 
 women of the Iroquois. It sounded in his ears like the 
 chirp of the wren." 
 
 "Aye, 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 dare 
 
142 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 to say it may be all the same with young women too — but. 
 when they get to have kind f eelin's towards each other, 
 it's wonderful how pleasant the laugh or the speech be- 
 comes to the other person. I've seen grim warriors listen- 
 ing 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 color to drop into them sort of feelin's,- — 
 no, never! I dare 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, nat2/ve fountain of pure fresh 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 tremu- 
 lous 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 occur- 
 rence, 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 dark- 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 143 
 
 ness 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 an- 
 swered 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 liave 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 father, the great Uncas, as 
 well as the rest, is ag'in white gift? ! 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 Chris- 
 tian 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 vehe- 
 mence. 
 
 "Nay, that's more than I know or can say. lie 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 wasn'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 color. God gave me the victory; I couldn'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 honor, when we go back 
 to our people. The honor belongs to the tribe; it must 
 not be lost." 
 
 " This is easy talking, but 'twill not be as easy doing. 
 
144 ' THj: DEERSLAYER. 
 
 The Mingo's body is in the hands of his f rin'ds, i^iid, 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 everything 
 modestly, and with a careful attention to avoid the Indian 
 habit of boasting. Ohingachgook again expressed his sat- 
 isfaction at the honer 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 imme- 
 diately and quite perceptibly began to drift more into the 
 lake. The sail was set, when the motion of the craft in- 
 creased 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, 
 Ohingachgook, and Judith seated themselves in the stern 
 of the scow, where the 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 efEect the liberation of their friends. 
 
 In this dialogue Judith held a material part; the Dela- 
 ware 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 charac- 
 ter to find favor with men of the frontier. The events 
 that had occurred since their meeting, as well as her iso- 
 lated and dependent 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 liad been compelled to stand on the 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. ' 145 
 
 defensiTe, in her intercourse with men, — with what success 
 was best known to herself; but here had she been sud- 
 denly thrown into the society, and under the protection 
 of a youth, who evidently as little contemplated evil to- 
 wards herself as if he had been her brother. The fresh- 
 ness 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 turn; and her intercourse with the 
 ojBEicers 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 pro- 
 ducing 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 i]i 
 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 plaything of an idle hour, rather than as an equal 
 and a friend, by even the best intentioned and least de- 
 signing 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 hoiir passed, during which time 
 the ark had been slowly stealing over the water, the dark- 
 iiess 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 tract — 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 
 
146 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 that it led in the direction he wished to go. The reader 
 is not to suppose, however, that any difficulty coald exist 
 as to the course. This would have been deter/nined by 
 that of the air, had it not been possible to disti|iguish 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 fhat, 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 in 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; it must have been a fish. Them creaturs prey upon 
 each other like men and animals on the land; one has 
 leaped into the air, and fallen back hard into his own ele- 
 ment. '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 glooni, 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 start- 
 ling 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 skillful 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 Deer- 
 slayei', " but we'll first hail him and ask his arr'nd." Then 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. J 147 
 
 raising liis voice, he continued in a solemn manner, 
 " Hold ! If joa 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 re- 
 mained 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, bring- 
 ing 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, girl? This is a trying moment; one in 
 which truth must be spoljen ! " 
 
 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 indiscre- 
 tion of Hetty, she could refrain no longer. 
 
 " Then I fear poor, weak-minded Hetty has not been 
 altogether able to see the vanity, and madness, and folly 
 that lie hid behind the handsome face and fine form of 
 Hurry Harry. She talks of him in her sleep, and some- 
 times 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 ript^les, the Mingos, the 
 mastership of a canoe?" 
 
 " Such, I fear, will turn out to be the fact, Deerslayer. 
 
148 THE DEERSLAYER. " 
 
 Poor Hetty has hardly sufflcient cunning to outwit a sav- 
 age." 
 
 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 sweep- 
 ing 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 turn- 
 ings gave her time, and they had also the effect of gradu- 
 ally 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 pur- 
 suers, 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 make herself heard. Hetty stopped paddling at the 
 same moment, and waited the result with an impatience 
 that was breathless, equally from her late exei'tions and 
 her desire to land. A dead silence immediately fell on 
 the lake; during which the three in the ark wore using 
 their senses differently in order to detect the position of 
 the canoe. Judith leant forward to listen, in the hope of 
 catching some sound that might betray the direction in 
 which her sister was stealing away; while lier two com- 
 panions 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 149 
 
 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 been heard, resem- 
 bling a statue of profound and timid attention. Her in- 
 genuity 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 
 doubling 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 possi- 
 ble. It steered westward, a little southerly, or in the di- 
 rection of the encampment of the enemy. Having reached 
 a point at no great distance from the shore, and where the 
 obscurity wa? 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 
 relieved 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 I'ocky precipice or hollow cave, 
 ' Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves, 
 And crackling boughs, and cries of nightly birds, 
 Beturning seeming answer." 
 
 Joanna Baillie. 
 
 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 sta- 
 
1,50 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 tionary, until the ark had pulled in near the encampmentj 
 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, howeyer, 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 th€s 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 of- 
 fered 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 ofE frpni the shore, 
 in order that it might drift up towards her father's insu- 
 lated abode. She knew, too, from the logs that occasion- 
 ally 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 regain- 
 ing it in the morning, when no doubt he would be earn- 
 estly sweeping the surface of the water, and the whole of 
 its wooded shores, with the glass. In all this, too, Hetty 
 was less governed by any chain of reasoning than by her 
 habits : the latter often supplying the defects of mind in 
 human beings, as they perform the same ofiice 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 151 
 
 in the act of pushing it from her, she heard low voices that 
 seemed to come from among the trees behind her. Star- 
 tled at this unexpected danger, Hetty was on the point of 
 springing into the canoe again, 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 approach- 
 ing 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 ofE into the lake, leav- 
 ing its late occupant alone on the narrow strand. 
 
 WTien 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 with- 
 out 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, in order to 
 clear the point. 
 
 " Lay her head more off the shore, Delaware," said Deer- 
 slayer, for the third time, speaking in English, "that his 
 fair companion might understand his worcjs; "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 
 
152 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 Toioe 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 ! Eemember '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 tq do as you may think 
 right." 
 
 " You say so, Judith, and you tMnlc 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 ! " 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 153 
 
 " That wliicli 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 b§ 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 
 f/ith their head chief, let them plague me with as many 
 questions as they please; no — ^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 G-od 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 ever- 
 lasting punishment. When he hears this, and feels it 
 to be trile, 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 dumbfounded at this proof of guileless 
 feebleness of mind; but Judith had suddenly bethought 
 her of a means of counteracting this wild project, by act- 
 ing 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 t# 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 
 
 bootless, since the darkness, as well as the dense cover that 
 
 "the woods everywhere afforded, would have rendered her 
 
 "capture next to impossible; and there was also the never- 
 
154 THE DEERSLAYER. , 
 
 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 him- 
 self 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 he taken in entering the huilding, 
 that had been used on quitting it. Judith occupied a soli- 
 tary bed that night, bedewing the pillow with her tears, 
 as she thought of the innocent and hitherto neglected 
 creature, who had heen 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. Deer- 
 slayer 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 unhesi- 
 tatingly into the woods with a nervous apprehension of 
 being followed. Luckily, this course was the best she 
 could have hit on to eflEect 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 pro- 
 ceed. 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 find-' 
 ing herself on the brow of the bank that bounded the 
 water, and at others struggling up an ascent that warned 
 her to go no further in that direction, since it necessarily 
 ran at right angles to the courae 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 further. Kest was indispensa- 
 ble ; and she set about preparing a bed, with the readiness 
 and coolness of one to whom the wilderness presented no 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 155 
 
 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 uneasi- 
 ness from any doubts or skepticism. 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 exist- 
 ence 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 ev»r 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 tran- 
 r.quilly 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 houi^in a tranquillity 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 gray 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, 
 
156 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 cus- 
 tomary warnings failed of their eiiect. 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-conscious 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. Ee- 
 coiling a few ^teps, the girl looked hurriedly round, and 
 perceived the dam watching her movements, with fiery 
 eyes, at no great distance. A hollow tree, that had once 
 been the home of bees, havijig recently fallen, the mother, 
 Avith 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 reck- 
 less young. 
 
 It would exceed all the means of human knowledge to 
 pretend 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 ad van (^ to a place within twenty 
 feet of her, where it raised itseff on its hinder 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 157 
 
 This act of devotion was not the result of alarm ; 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 suflBcienfc 
 -not to put this dangerous project in execution; and recol- 
 lecting her errand among the hills, she tore herself away 
 frcfm 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 aloug 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 ir- 
 regular platform above. This was at a part of the valley 
 where the mountains ran obliquely, forming the com- 
 mencement of a plain that spread between the hills, south- 
 ward of the sheet of water. Hetty knew, by this circum- 
 stance, 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 tliis 
 
158 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 manner, with averted face and eyes riveted on the immov- 
 able 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 hur- 
 riedly, 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 ex- 
 posed 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 suc- 
 cessors, 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 pro- 
 tected all the upper part of her person, while a short petti- 
 coat of blue cloth edged with gold lace, that fell no lower 
 than her knees, leggings of the same, and moccasins of 
 deerskin, 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 feelings. 
 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 159 
 
 as to have procured 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, haying succeeded in lulling their suspicions, was per- 
 mitted 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 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 j 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 little surprised, Wah-ta-Wah 
 was the most willing to speak, and far the readier in fore- 
 seeing 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; " ivicked 
 warrior that-a-way — good warrior far ofE." 
 
 "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 in- 
 quired ; " iuhere you come from ? " 
 
 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. 
 
i6o THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " "Why yonr 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. GoTernor 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, color- 
 ing 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 Dela- 
 ware who is called the Big Serpent. A bold and hand- 
 some warrior is this Serpent, too ! " 
 
 Spite of the rich deep color that nature had bestowed 
 on the Indian beauty, the tell-tale blood deepened on her 
 cheeks, until the blush gave new animation and intelli- 
 gence to her jet-black eyes. Eaising a finger in an atti- 
 tude of warning, she dropped her voice, already so soft 
 and sweet, nearly to a whisper, as she continued the dis- 
 course. 
 
 "Chingachgook!" I'eturned 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 eei'emony of 
 civilized life, — " I'm afraid. Hist, he has coir^e 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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. l6i 
 
 " No true," returned, the Delaware girl, with a warmth 
 that nearly amounted to passion; "no true, I tell you! 
 The Manitou smile and please when he see young warrior 
 come back from the war-path, with two, ten, hundred 
 scalp on a pole ! Chingachgook father take scalp, grand- 
 father take scalp — all old chief take scalp ; and Chingach- 
 gook 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 feel- 
 ingjin one of its aspects, had got the better of feminine 
 feSing 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 mountains and valleys, 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 eaves- 
 , droppers ; 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 ndiiie exhibition 
 of feeling, and removing her hands, this creature of im- 
 pulses gazed again wistlally into the face of her companion, 
 as if inquiring how far she might trust a stranger with 
 her secret. Although Hetty had no claim 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 fre- 
 quently attend mental imbecility. It is true that one ac- 
 customed to closer observation 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 
 6 
 
1 62 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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. 
 
 "I^OM good," whispered the young Indian; "you good, 
 I know; it's so long since Wah-ta-Wah have a friend^a 
 sister — anybody to speak her heart to ! you Hist friend : 
 don'tlsaytrut'?" 
 
 " 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 everything except about the scalps " — 
 
 " No t'ink more of him — no say more of scalp," inter- 
 rupted Hist, soothingly; "you pale-face, I red-skin; we 
 bring up different fashion. Deerslayer and Chingachgook 
 great friend, and no the same color; 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. Wo 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 afEairs of others, 
 Hist would have betrayed her own feelings and expecta- 
 tions 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 dosed. As the quickest- 
 witted. Hist was the first with her interrogatories. Fold- 
 ing an arm about the waist of Hetty, she bent her head so 
 as to look up playfully into the face of the other; and, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 163 
 
 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 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 conscien- 
 tious 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 that wickedness will get the better of 
 me, if Hurry comes so often to the lake. I must tell yon 
 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! 0, 1 hope he will never put such a question to 
 me, for I should have to answer, and that would hill 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'r'aps everybody want to marry 
 
1 64 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 joTi, and by-and-by tongue say what heart feel. Why no» 
 body 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 knoio I'm not full-witted." 
 
 Hist gazed at the gentle, simple girl for quite a minute, 
 without speaking; when the truth appeared to flash all at 
 once on the mind of the young Indian- maid. Pity, rever- 
 ence, and tenderness seemed struggling together in her 
 breast; 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 precaution 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 defense, 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 Provi- 
 dence. 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 the untutored in- 
 habitants 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 apprehen- 
 sion 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 over- 
 hanging 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 165 
 
 Chingachgook when they by. Promise Hist that, good 
 Hetty." 
 
 " I. knov — I know," returned Hetty, half -whispering in 
 her eagerness to let the other see she understood the neces- 
 sity 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 mo- 
 ment 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 T 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 over- 
 heard it all, as I did Hurry and father's discourse about 
 the scalps." 
 
 " Very bad for pale-face 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 Min- 
 goB, If Serpent 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 sev- 
 eral of their own sex, who were apparently occupied in the 
 usual toils of women of their class. " T'ink of dat, Hetty, 
 and put two, twenty finger on mouth. No get friends 
 free without Serpent 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 
 
1 66 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 and the young frontier-man was the great object of her 
 adventure, she felt the connection between it and the serv- 
 ices 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 p^reat 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." 
 
 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 hos- 
 tilities, 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 hos- 
 tilities between the English and French — a struggle that 
 was certain to carry with it all the tribes that dwelt within 
 the infiuence 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 ex- 
 posed them to the dangers of a direct pursuit; and the 
 chiefs had determined to adopt the expedient of penetra^ 
 ting deeper into a region that had now become dano-erous, 
 in the hope of being able to retire in the rear of their pur- 
 suers, instead of having them on their trail. The presence 
 of the women had induced the attempt at this mse, the 
 strength of these feebler members of the party being un- 
 equal to the effort of escaping from the pursuit of warriors. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 167 
 
 When the reader remembers the vast extent of the Ameri- 
 can wilderness at that early day, he will perceive that it was 
 possible for even a tribe to remain months undiscovered 
 m particular portions of it, nor was the danger of en- 
 countering a foe, the usual precautions being' observed, 
 as great in the woods as it is on the high seas in a time 
 01 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 sug- 
 gested 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 — 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 in- 
 genuity, 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 sus- 
 pended 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 
 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 
 
1 68 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 and apprehension of danger seemed to be blended even 
 with their slumbers. 
 
 As the two girls came near the encampment, Hetty ut- 
 tered 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 whit- 
 tling 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 In- 
 dians ; well knowing that there was no more certain mode 
 of securing their respect than by imitating their self-com- 
 mand. 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 pre- 
 tensions to civilization, did an ordinary traveller drive up 
 to the door of its principal inn. Still, a few warriors col- 
 lected, 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 rea- 
 sons of her unlooked-for appearance were matters of dis- 
 cussion. 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 Ohingachgook 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 169 
 
 He recollected her gentle appeal to him before. he left the 
 ark, ;md misfortune rendered that of weight which might 
 have been forgotten amid the triumph of success. Then 
 he knew the simple, ingle -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 con- 
 sequences 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 anything 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 you 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 nat?/ve 
 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 these 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, thinkinff no harm, v/hen we were set upon 
 by critters that were more like a pack of hungry wolves 
 
I/O THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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; aye, and tongues, too; 
 for, was the old man here, or I, to start one single rod 
 beyond our jail 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 jail in the colony as tight as this we are now 
 in; for I've tried the vartue 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 school- 
 in' to puttin' up, in all such fabrications." 
 
 Lest the reader should get an exaggerated opinion of 
 Hurry's demerits from this boastful and indiscreet revela- 
 tion, it may be well to say that his offenses 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 neglebted to place them. But 
 Hetty had no knowledge of jails, and little of the nature 
 of crime, beyond what her unadulterated and almost in- 
 stinctive 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 dis- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. \^\ 
 
 posed to attach an importance to her mediation than might 
 otherwise have happened. When she manifested an in- 
 tention 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 cornpanion, she strayed near one or two of the elder 
 warriors, who had shown her most kindness in her cap- 
 tivity — 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 atten- 
 tion she desired, without wounding the pride of those 
 whom it was her duty to defer to and respect. Even her 
 aifected 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 presence 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 de- 
 tected 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 ven- 
 turing 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 v,rould prove her protection. As soon 
 as her own purpose v/as attained. Hist withdrew to a dis- 
 tance, where, with female consideration and a sisterly ten- 
 derness, she sot 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, and the smaller occurrences 
 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 
 
172 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 have done credit to men of more courtly origin. A fallen 
 tree lay near, and the oldest of the warriors maae 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 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 
 hetrothed, 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, 
 where 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 practiced, 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 young- 
 est 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 173 
 
 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 tliat. 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 brothers, 
 rather than as enemies. Now tell them all this plainly. 
 Hist, and fear nothing for yourself or mej God will pro- 
 tect 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 readinesis 
 almost equal to that with v/hich 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 sig- 
 nificant glances of the eyes. 
 
 "And now. Hist," continued Hetty, as soon as it was inti- 
 mated 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 intelli- 
 gence 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 meritori- 
 ous, and that which neither of them would have hesitated 
 to perform in his own person, he would not be apt to cen- 
 sure 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 
 
174 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 slain their children and wives, it would not alter the mat- 
 ter; and I'm not certain that what I am about to te/1 
 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-taWah looked a little surprised at this question; 
 for the idea of the Great Spirit is seldom long a,bsent from 
 the mind of an Indian girl. She put the question as liter- 
 ally 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 Koman- 
 ist 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 sur- 
 prise 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 ? " de- 
 manded Hist, with the directness of a mind that was totally 
 unsophisticated. 
 
 " Why ? " answered Hetty, a little bewildered by a ques- 
 tion so unexpected. " Why ? Ah ! vou know the Indians 
 don't know how to read." 
 
 If Hist was not satisfied with the explanation, she did 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 175 
 
 Bot deem the point of sufficient importance to be pressed. 
 Simply bending her body, in 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 
 IS they would brethren ; and never to injure their fellow- 
 creatures, more especially on account of revenge, or any 
 tvil passion. Do you think you can tell them this, so that 
 ihey will understand it, Hist ? " 
 
 "Tell him well enough; but he no very easy to under- 
 stand." 
 
 Hist then conveyed the ideas of Hetty in the best man- 
 ner 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 nov/^ 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 words of the 
 Great Spirit. First, then, ye are commanded to 'Love, thy 
 neighhor as thyself.' Tell them that, dear Hist." 
 
 "Neighbor i'orlnjin 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 anything 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 Mm the other also.' " 
 
 " Wha,t that mean ? " demanded Hist, with the quick- 
 ness of lightning. 
 
 Hetty explained that it was an order not to resent in- 
 juries, but rather to submit to receive fresh wrongs from 
 the offender. 
 
176 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 "And hear this too. Hist/' she added, " 'Love your ene- 
 mies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that half 
 you, and pray for them which d6spitefully ttse you anif 
 persecute you.' " i 
 
 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, he-| 
 came stronger and more impressive. With the Bible sh^ 
 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 trans-\ 
 late 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 wii-h 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 v/ould 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 ex- 
 travagant; and most of that which to them seemed incon- 
 sistent and paradoxical was accounted for by the fact, that 
 the speaker possessed a mind that was constituted differ- 
 ently from those of most of the human race. Still there 
 were one or two old men who had read similar doctrines 
 from the missionaries, and they 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 unresist- 
 ing hand of Hetty, who gazed anxiously at his face, wJiile 
 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 profess to live ? " 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. lyy 
 
 Hist, to whom this question was addressed, if it might 
 be considered as addressed to any one in particular, an- 
 swered 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 movith 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 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; 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 
 offense to the Great Spirit." 
 
 " Why, then, does the pale-face use them ? If he is or- 
 dered to give double to him that asks only for one thing 
 why does he take double from the poor Indians, who ask 
 for no thing ? He comes from beyond the rising sun, with 
 his 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 Eivenoak." 
 
 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 sur- 
 prising, 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 Icnoiv 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." 
 
178 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 " 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 everything 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 be wicked. There wicked 
 red-man, and wicked white man — no color all good — no 
 color 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 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 ! ' liencler 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 Iro- 
 quois," answered Hist, soothingly. "No good to tell 
 chiefs any such law as dat. T.ell 'em son;et'ing they 
 believe." 
 
 Hist was about to proceed, notwithstanding, when a tap 
 on the shoulder, from the finger of the oldest chief, caused 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 179 
 
 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 Delar- 
 ware, " ask this graybeard why ho 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 under- 
 stand 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 govern- 
 ment of the province had bid high for scalps. This frank 
 avowal was received by the Iroquois with evident satisfac- 
 tion, not so much, however, on account of the advantage 
 it gave them in a moral point of view, as by 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 in- 
 difEerence, 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 vigil- 
 antly 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. 
 
i8o THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 But they, who were so experienced in Indian practices, 
 know too well how great was the distance between appear- 
 ances and reality, to become the dupes of this seeming 
 carelessness. Although both thought incessantly on the 
 means of escape, and this without concert, each was aware 
 of the uselessness of attempting any project of tlie sort 
 that was not deeply laid and promptly executed. They 
 had been long enough in the encampment, and were suffi- 
 ciently 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," com- 
 menced 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 ? " 
 
 "Aye, 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. Per- 
 haps 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 
 1)iie 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, Deer- 
 slayer 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 nic a ready-witted squaw for a fri'nd, and though 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. i8i 
 
 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 ? " inquired 
 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 Oanadas. 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 ex- 
 pert than is common for her sex. 
 
 "Aye, aye — ^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 iinding something in tliat 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 under- 
 stand, 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 wc arc to do anything, 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 Dela- 
 ware 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---^7«ew 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. 
 
1 83 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 the girl arose and left the group, walking composedly 
 towards the hut she occupied, as if she had no further in- 
 terest 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 heai-fc ; 
 Spurns enviously at straws ; speaks things in doubt. 
 That carry but naif sense ; her speech is nothing, 
 Yet the unsuspected use of it doth move 
 The hearers to collection." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 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 re- 
 turned 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 disturbance 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 
 tlie latter, as he cast the jacket and trowsers 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 ao-'in 
 your gifts and your natur' to wear clothes, unless they'are 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 183 
 
 cut and carried in a red-man's fasliion, but make a virtue 
 ot necessity, and put these on at once, even if they do rise 
 a little m 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 di- 
 rection towards their female captive. Anything was better 
 than a failure, as it regarded his betrothed, and, after turn- 
 ing 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 color 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 coun- 
 tenance that was burned by the sun to a hue scarcely less 
 red than that of his Mohican companion. The awkward- 
 ness of the Delaware, in his now attire, caused his friend 
 to smile more than once that day, but he carefully ab- 
 stained 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 occu- 
 pied in the course of the last sleepless night. 
 
 "It would be dreadful, Deerslayer," the girl abruptly 
 exclaimed, " should anything serious befall my father and 
 
i84 THE DEEliSLAYER. 
 
 Hetty! We. cannot remain quietly here and leave tliem 
 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 pointed out. It's 
 no trifling matter to fall into red-skin hands, when men 
 set out on an arr'nd 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 
 anU me indivor to carry out ? " 
 
 " I know of no other means to release the prisoners, than 
 by bribing the Iroquois. They are not proof against pres- 
 ents ; 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 
 overstocked with riches that will be likely to buy his ran- 
 som. There's the piece he calls Killdeer might count for 
 something, and I understand there's a keg of powder about, 
 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, ob- 
 serving 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 oncommon, and onequaled, 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." 
 
THE BEERS LAYER. 1S5 
 
 "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 jJour own finery for such a purpose ? 
 Many is the man who has thought he was valiant till dan- 
 ger stared him in the face; I've known them too that eon- 
 saited 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 clenched as tight 
 as the riven hickory, when it came to downright offerings 
 of their own. Besides, Judith, you're handsome— oncdm- 
 raon in that way, one might obsarve, 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 devo- 
 tion 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 td be 
 really angry with one whose very soul seemed truth and 
 manly kindness. Look her reproaches she did; but con- 
 quering the desire to retort, she succeeded in answering 
 jn 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 color," 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 Dela wares; 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 bright- 
 ness towards his fri'nds. He uses the reason that God has 
 given him, and he uses it with a feelin' of his being ordered 
 
1 86 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 wonderfully oncomm-on 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 of 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 story that a prat- 
 ing 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 opinions 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," 
 reirurned 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." 
 
 "Aye, there is the chist, as you say, Judith; and when 
 the question gets to be between a secret and a scalp, I 
 should think most men would prefar keeping the last. 
 Did your father ever give you any downright command 
 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 chist, and altogether of curious build " re- 
 turned Deerslayer, rising and approaching the thing in 
 question, on which he seated himself, with a view to ex- 
 amine it with greater ease. " Chingachgook, this is no 
 wood that comes of any forest that you or I have ever 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 187 
 
 trailed through I '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-wood, all the walnuts, the butternuts, and 
 every tree that has a substance and color, wrought into 
 some form or other; but never have I before seen such a 
 wood as this! Judith, the chist 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, Deer- 
 slayer. 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 
 chist 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 Butter is your father, 
 not mine. Curios ity is a woman's and not a m anls^faihngj 
 and there youiavt) gi^nTairTtre "reasons Tefore 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 our'n. When the lawful owner of a trap, or a 
 buck, or a canoe, is'nt present, his next of kin becomes 
 his riprisentat«/ve, by all the laws of the woods. We there- 
 fore leave you to say whether the chist shall or shall not 
 be opened." 
 
i88 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "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 
 nnusual 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'ter- 
 ■wards. 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 in- 
 genious 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 bedroom of the daughters. Chin- 
 gachgook was immediately struck with the contrast be- 
 tween 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 
 
THE DEEJiS LAYER. 189 
 
 fact in a low voice, speaking to his friend in the Delaware 
 tongue. 
 
 "As you think, Sarpent," answered Deerslayer, whose 
 remarks w« 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 chest 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 Kose ? " 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 re- 
 fusing 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 Eose, as among coarse clothes ? " 
 
 Deerslayer started, and turning to- his friend with ad- 
 miration 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 
 unseemly as these of poor Hetty ? I dare to say Judith's 
 delicate fingers haven't touched a bit of cloth as rough 
 luid 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 lis 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 atten- 
 tion of Judith was called in that direction, and she spoke 
 
I90 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 hurriedly, and like one who wished to save unnecessary 
 trouble. 
 
 , " These 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 in- 
 strument 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 
 anything 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 hid- 
 den 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 ! Confi- 
 dence 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 191 
 
 secrets, they will fall into the keeping of two as close- 
 mouthed young men as are to be found. We ivill 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 Deer- 
 slayer swept the shore with the glass, while the Indian 
 gravely turned his eye on the water and the woods iu quest 
 of any sign that might betray the machinations of their 
 enemies. Nothing was visible, and assured of their tem- 
 porary 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 rendered 
 this so easy, and so much a matter of course, that it was 
 only quite recently the girl had begun 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 conse- 
 quences, 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 child- 
 hood to the present hour. Nevertheless, the time had 
 come when it would seem that this mystery was to be ex- 
 plained, 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, Deerslaycr," she said ; " had we 
 
,192 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 not better give up the attempt, and find some other means 
 of releasing the prisoners ? " 
 
 "Not so, Judith; not so, gal. Iso 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 prodig- 
 ious for so small a piece o± 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 dis- 
 covering 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 lidl 
 
 "Here's a full cargo," said Deerslayer, eying the ar- 
 rangement; "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 constru-ction lay hidden beneath. When the 
 canvas was removed, the first articles that came in view 
 were some of the habiliments of the male sex. These were 
 of fine materials, and, according to the fashions of the ag'e, 
 were gay in colors 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. Ohingachgook 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 splen- 
 dor of the vestment was too much for the philosophy of 
 an Indian. Deerslayer turned quickly, and he regarded 
 his friend with a momentary displeasure, as this burst of 
 weakness escaped him; and then he soliloquized, as was 
 his practice whenever any strong feeling suddenly got the 
 ascendency. 
 
 " '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 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. ig3 
 
 garment, too; and extr'ornary things get up extr'onary 
 feelin's. I think this will do, Jiidith, for the Indian heart 
 is hardly to be found in all America that can withstand 
 colors 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," an- 
 swered Deerslayer, with his silent, joyous laugh. "Sar- 
 pent, 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 a,nd threadbare 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 Dela- 
 ware 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 own it, that he wished he 
 could be seen by her in his present improved aspect. 
 
 " Off with it, Sarpent— off with it," resumed the inflexi- 
 ble 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 practices 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 yon 
 wait till that day, you'll wait until you see me beyond 
 reason and memory. No — no — gal, my gifts are my gilts, 
 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 mc in such a flaunting coat, 
 Judith?" 
 
 7 
 
194 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "Because I think, Deerslayer, that the false-tongued 
 and false-hearted young gallants of the garrison ought not 
 alone to appear in fine feathers ; but that truth and hon- 
 esty have their claims to be honored and exalted." 
 
 "And what exaltification " — the reader will have re- 
 marked 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 Ming;o 
 chief that has just got his presents up from Quebec ? ISIo 
 — 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 further into the chist." 
 
 The tempting garment, one surely that was never in- 
 tended for Hutter, was laid aside, and the examination 
 proceeded. The male attire, all of which correspond'ed 
 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 dif- 
 ferent 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 in- 
 quiry 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 prac- 
 ticed 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 ab- 
 sence in taking a second look at the female 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 195 
 
 " 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, Deer- 
 slayer," 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 talked 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 fnrt^, ^^ 
 and by letting Master Hutter have to himself and hi|j^ -^^ 
 feelin's all that's beneath this cover." 
 
I9<5 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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, al5ne, would be Tery 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 between 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 ofPer 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 a while, even though it should 
 be at long intervals, and only in playfulness ? " 
 
 " I understand you, Judith — yes, 1 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 
 the\.gownd was made for the child of some governor, or a 
 the ill high station; and it was intended to be worn 
 be loor fine furniture and in rich company. In my eyes, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 197 
 
 Judith, a modest maiden never looks more becoming than 
 ■vrhen 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." 
 f " So it is with 'em all, Sarpent," said the other, turning 
 to his friend and laughing, as soon as the beauty had dis- 
 appeared. " They like finery, but they like their native 
 c harms most of all. I'm glad the gal has consented to lay 
 aside her furbelows, howsever, for it's ag'in reason f or 
 one of he r class to wear 'em ; and then she ts~ handsome 
 enough, as i call it, to go alone. Hist would show oncom- 
 mon likely, too, in such a gownd, Delaware ! " 
 
 " "Wah-ta-Wah is a red-skin girl, Deerslayer," returned 
 the Indian; "liketh e voung of the pigeon she is to be 
 known by her ov^~Teathers. t should pass by without 
 knowing ner, were sue dressed in such a skin. It's wisest 
 always to be so clad that our friends need not ask us for 
 our name. The ' Wild Rose ' is very pleasant, but she is 
 no sweeter for so many colors." 
 
 I " Tba.t's it!— that's natur'. and the trnft- J<Mi»4atifln for 
 ■love and protection . When a man stops to pick a wiM 
 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 he 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 further into the 
 chest of Hutfcer, when Judith reappeared, 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 danglipg 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 lie would be willing to do, did he 
 stand here in our places." 
 
1 98 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 Judith looked very happy. Accustomed as she was to 
 adulation, the humble 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 tha4 usually give value to praise; but the 
 unflinching feuth') 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 offend, possesses a power of praising that no 
 quality but sincerity can bestow; since his words go di- 
 rectly to the heart, finding their support in the under- 
 standing. 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 cer- 
 tain to rankle and excite enmity where his character had 
 not awakened a respect and aSection, 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 intrusted 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 color 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 imme- 
 diate 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- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 199 
 
 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 onknow- 
 ingly 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 sub- 
 ject 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 em- 
 pl'yed 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 feel- 
 ings as she affected to be. She remembered that the curi- 
 osity 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 admit bed all round that the inquiry into 
 the contents of the chest ought to be renewed, Deerslayer 
 proceeded to remove the second covering of canvas. 
 
 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 
 v/eapons, in the woods, they were a species of arms seldom 
 
200 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 employed; neyer 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. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 " An oaken, broken, elbow chair ; 
 A caudle-cup without an ear ; 
 A battered, shattered, ash bedstead 5 
 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." 
 
 Dbah Swift's Inventory. 
 
 No sooner did Deerslayer raise the pistols, than he 
 turned to the Delaware, and held them up for his admira- 
 tion. 
 
 " 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. 'Tis 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 cliists and corners. Let me look if care has 
 been given to these." 
 t 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 applicatiop 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 dis- 
 covery, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 201 
 
 sliall fire his- piece at a deer, or some other game, or per- 
 haps 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'ud ! Well, we shall do a good turn to the 
 owner if we fire these pistols for him ; and as they're nov- 
 elties to you and me, Sarpent, we'll try our hand 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 plat- 
 form, 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 acci- 
 dent 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 man- 
 hood; 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 aiiy of the terror 
 that is apt to come over her sex at the report of fire-arms. 
 She had discharged many a rifie, 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 an- 
 other 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 
 
202 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 much as said it here, to Judith; for your short we'pons 
 don't belong to red-skin gifts. You've hit the lake, ana 
 that's better than only hitting the air! Now, stand back, 
 and let us see what white gifts can do with a white wep on. 
 A pistol isn't a rifle; but color is color." 
 
 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, swal- 
 lowed a mouthful of the water that the Delaware offered 
 to 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," sa,id Deerslayer, soothingly; "though I am far 
 from wishing you not to weep ; for weeping often lightens 
 galish f eelin'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 un- 
 sartain 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 com- 
 panions. Wiping away the traces of tears, however, she 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 203 
 
 smiled again, and was soon able to join in the laugh at lier 
 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 aren't oncommon, at all, among worn-out 
 arms. The first rifle they gave me played the same trick, 
 and yet I lived 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 hap- 
 pened in trying to sarve him, there's no ground of com- 
 plaint. Now, draw near, and let us look further into the 
 inside of the chist." 
 
 Judith, by this time, had so far got 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 mathemati- 
 cal instruments that were then in use among seamen, 
 possessing the usual ornaments and fastenings in brass. 
 Deerslayer and Ghingachgook expressed their admiration 
 and surprise at the appearance of the unknown instru- 
 ment, 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 rne, 
 after all, that Thomas Hutter has journeyed into the wil- 
 derness with no fair intentions towards its happiness. Did 
 you ever see any of the cravings of a surveyor about your 
 
 father, gal ? " . ^ ^ .x, 
 
 " 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 
 
 ^" That's ft— that must be it, Sarpent; and the old fellow, 
 by some onkhown means, has fallen heir to another man s 
 soods! They say he has been a manner, and no doubt 
 this chist and all it holds-Ha! what have we here? 
 This far outdoes the brass and black wood of the tool! 
 
204 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 wag 
 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 ut- 
 tered 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 fol- 
 lowed 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 companion 
 observed his silence, and then, for the first time since the 
 chessmen had been discovered, did he s|»r: i. 
 
 " Judith," he asked earnestly, but with' u, concern that 
 amounted almost to tenderness of manner, " did your 
 parents ever talk to you of religion ? " 
 
 The girl colored, and the flashes of crimson that passed 
 over her beautiful countenance were like the wayward 
 tints of a Neapolitan sky in November. Deersjayer had 
 given her so strong a taste for truth, however, that she 
 did not waver in her answer, replying simjDly 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 ! " 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 205 
 
 Judith started, and for a moment she seemed seriously- 
 hurt. Then she reflected, and in the end she laughed. 
 
 "And you think, Ueerslayer, 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, like all the 
 other articles, and 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 color 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 haid to do so. That animal 
 seems to give you great satisfaction, Sarpent, though it's 
 an idolatrous head, 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 
 tlie loss hastened her end." 
 
 This was said equally without levity and without any 
 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 
 heavily. It required extraordinary circumstances to awaken 
 a proper sense of her situation, and to stimulate the better 
 feelings of this beautiful, but misguided girl ; a,nd these 
 circumstances had not yet occurred in her brief exist- 
 ence. 
 
 "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 
 
2o6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 from him to replace it in the bag. "Elephon buy whole 
 tribe — buy Delaware, almost ! " 
 
 '•'Aye, 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 buy- 
 ing Thomas llutter's liberty, but it goes ag'in conscience 
 to pass such counterfeit money. Perhaps no Injin tribe, 
 hereaway, is, downright idolaters, 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 gijt, Deerslayer, and yifts are what you 
 seem to think them, idolatry in such people can hardly 
 be a sin," said Judith, with more smartness than dis- 
 crimination. 
 
 "God grants no such gifts to any of his creaturs, 
 Judith," returned the hunter seriously. "He must be 
 adored, under some name or other, and not creaturs 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 before 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' un- 
 rolling 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 207 
 
 had the tact to uss 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 he 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 re- 
 mainder 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, and 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 re- 
 placed 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 eye gazed at 
 her handsome face, found the means to prolong the inter- 
 view, witu 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. Ohingachgook had remained in Hatter's 
 bedroom, 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 
 
2o8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 aloof; for Judith had not much reserve in the manifesta- 
 tions of her preferences, and the Delaware had not got so 
 far as one betrothed without acquiring some knowledge of 
 tne symptoms of the master passion. 
 
 " Well, Judith," said Deerslayer, rising, after_ the inter- 
 view had lasted much longer than even he himself sus- 
 pected, " '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 plat- 
 form 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, be- 
 tween 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 dis- 
 turb 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 af 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 con- 
 sequently 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 209 
 
 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 child- 
 hood 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 atten- 
 tive 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 stated. 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 the trees " — 
 
 "Aye, that did he — that did he," muttered Deerslayer; 
 "and a goodly harvest has followed." 
 
 " God planted the seeds of all the 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 re- 
 member it." 
 
 '*And did you find anything 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 tlien 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 rigM; 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 
 
2IO THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 they can bring father and Hurry, and their women, to tha 
 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 anything that so plainly 
 shows the power of the Bible as that f " 
 
 " If it were true, 'twould 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 this raft made a'ter you had got 
 your breakfast, gal; and did you walk from the camp to 
 the shore opposite to us, here ? " 
 
 " ! 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 oil, here." 
 
 "And the woods are full of the vagabonds, waiting to 
 know what is to be the upshot of the miracle. We com- 
 prehend this afEair, now, Judith — but I'll first get rid of 
 this young Canadian 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 ad- 
 miringj 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 re- 
 tiring with her sister into their own room. Deerslayer 
 had acquired some knowledge of most of the Indian dia- 
 lects 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 befo*e him. Up to 
 that moment, this youthful savage had not expressed a 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. in 
 
 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 philosophi- 
 cal composure. It is true, Deerslayer had detected his 
 dark eye scanning the defenses 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. Ihe instant, how- 
 ever, 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 Ameri- 
 can Indian under similar circumstances. In this particular 
 case, the young Iroquois, or Huron, permitted an exclama- 
 tion of rapture to escape him, and then he checked him- 
 self, 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 appear- 
 ance to his seniors, on his retiirn. When he thought suffi- 
 cient time had been allowed to produce the desired efEect, 
 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, look- 
 ing 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." 
 
212 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 The lad nodded, treating the circumstance witli great 
 apparent indifference; though a moment after he laughed 
 as if exulting in the superior address of his ova. tribe. 
 
 " Can you tell me, boy, what your chiefs intend to do 
 with these capt^/ves; 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 ? " 
 
 " Koad 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 commis- 
 sion 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 saga- 
 cious to consent; well knowing that it might never reach 
 its destination if confided to such hands. . This little diffi- 
 culty 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 
 bpvrow a canoe, as the means most likely to shorten the 
 negotiation. 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 213 
 
 embassador; 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 kd, 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 re- 
 ception which Chingachgook gave his visitor was respect- 
 ful and gentle. He understood her character; and, no 
 doubt, his disposition to be kind to such a being was in- 
 creased by the hope of learning some tidings of his be- 
 trothed. As soon as tlie 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 ]iot un- 
 derstand this feeling, he remained respectfully attentive 
 to anything she might be pleased to tell him. 
 
 "You are Chingachgook — the Great Serpent of the 
 Delawares, aren'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 Serpent in Deerslayer tongue." 
 
 " Well, that is my tongue. Deerslayer, and father, and 
 Judith, and I, and poor Hurry Harry — do you knov^r Henry 
 March, Great Serpent? I know you don't, however, or 
 lie would have spoken of you, too." 
 
 " Did any tongue name Chingachgook, Drooping-Lily ? " 
 for so the chief had named poor Hetty. " Was his name 
 sang by a little bird among the Iroquois ? " 
 
 Hetty did not answer at first ; but with that indescriba- 
 ble 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 color slowly receded from her cheek, and the 
 girl looked up archly at the Indian, smiling with the in- 
 nocence of a child, mingled with the interest of a woman. 
 
 " My sister, the Drooping-Lily, hear such bird! " Chin- 
 gachgook added, and this with a gentleness of tone and 
 
214 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 ordmary 
 Indian dialogues. " My sister's cars were open— has she 
 lost her tongue ? " 
 
 "You are Chingachgook— vou 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 Serpent, Yengeesei 
 tongue." 
 
 " Chin-gach-gook," repeated Hetty, in the same deliber- 
 ate 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 Ser- 
 pent." 
 
 " Will my sister say words of song ? What she sing most 
 — how she look — often she laugh ? " 
 
 "She sang Chin-gach-gook oftener than anything 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." 
 
 • 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 tlie 
 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 
 " E^ii£fZjs/t " instead of '* JngZisTi," and there is a close conformity of sounds 
 between "English" 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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 215 
 
 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 to 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 suffi- 
 cient 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 ap- 
 proached; 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 sus- 
 pect the presence of Chingachgook, though it was neces- 
 sarily known that an Indian had entered the ark the pre- 
 vious 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 in- 
 creasing by these ordinary means. All this had Hist com- 
 municated to Hetty while the Indians were dragging them 
 along shore ; the distance, which exceeded six miles, afford- 
 ing abundance of time. 
 
 " Hist don't know, herself, whether they suspect her or 
 not, or whether they suspect you, but she hopes neither is 
 
2i6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ■ the case. And now, Serpent, since I have told yon so 
 much from your betrothed," continued Hetty, uncon- 
 sciously 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. AVill you 
 promise this ? " 
 
 "Always 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 lie 
 smiled once either. You know the difieience 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 must'nt make her carry 
 burdens 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 
 f eelin's. All red ; no pale-face. M\i,st carry papoose." 
 
 " Every woman is willing to carry her child," said Hetty, 
 smiling ; " and there is no harm in tliat. 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. 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 'A stranger animal,' cries one, 
 
 ' Sure never lived 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 1 '" 
 
 Merkice. 
 
 The first act of the Delaware, on rejoining his friend, 
 was to proceed gravely to disencumber himself of his civ- 
 ilized 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 his maintaining the dis- 
 guise 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 suc- 
 ceeded in entering the ark undiscovered, he cheerfully 
 consented to the change, since further attempt at conceal- 
 ment 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 imagina- 
 tion 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 
 
2i8 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 of war in which they were to settle their future course, 
 lu the dialogue that followed, the parties mutually made 
 each other acquainted with what had passed in their sev- 
 eral interviews. Chingachgook was told the history of the 
 treaty abolit the ransom; and Deerslayer heard the whole 
 of Hetty's communications. The latter listened with gen- 
 erous interest to his friend's hopes, and promised cheer- 
 fully all the assistance he could lend. 
 
 "'Tis our main arr'nd, Sarpent, as you know; this bat- 
 tling for the castle and old Hutter's darters, coming in as 
 a sort of accident. Yes — yes — I'll be actj/ve 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. In- 
 stead 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 remarka- 
 ble 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 ofE, and have 'em mar- 
 ried 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 oncom- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 219 
 
 mon and extr'ornary. Yes — yes — he'll never be the man 
 he was till this matter is ofE his mind, and he comes to his 
 senses, liice 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 (fti the war- 
 path at the head of parties, and I'll just ask if you'd think 
 of putting your forces into the inimy's hands, afore the 
 battle is f ou't ? " 
 
 " Wah ! " ejaculated the Indian. 
 
 " Aye — "Wah ! — I know well enough it's Wah ! and al- 
 together Wah ! Ea'ally, Sarpent, I'm consarned and 
 mortified about you ! I never heard so weak an idea 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 shan't have, so long as the v'ice of fri'ndship and 
 warning can count for anything." 
 
 " My pale-face friend is right. A cloud came over the 
 face of Ohingachgook, 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 en- 
 divor 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. IS'ow, 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 movable, 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 con- 
 tained, the offered ransom included, and still retain the 
 advantages they had hitherto gained. Some precaution of 
 
220 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 de- 
 pending altogether on the castle for protection. But re- 
 flection 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 cer- 
 tain 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 perseTerance. 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 but half-ex- 
 amined 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 ap- 
 peared to be unarmed. The progress of the raft was slow 
 a circumstance that formed one of the great advantages 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 221 
 
 that would be possessed by the scow in any future collision 
 between them, the movements of the latter being com- 
 paratively 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 fire-arms. Neither Deerslayer nor 
 Ohingaehgook could discover any; but Judith, unwilling 
 to trust to simple eye-sight, 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, Deer- 
 slayer hailed the Hurons, directing them to cease rowing, 
 it not being his intention to permit them to land. Com- 
 pliance, of course, was necessary, and the two grim-looking 
 warriors instantly quitted their seats, though the raft con- 
 tinued slowly to a,pproach, 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 wai-riors 
 without names, on such an arr'nd ? If so, the sooner ye 
 go back, the sooner the one 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 Eivenoak (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, Kivenoak, as it may be; but 
 I am not likely to turn pale, seeing that I was born pale. 
 What's your arr'nd, and why do you come among light 
 bark cttnoes on logs that are not even dug out ? _ , _ , _ > j 
 
222 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "The Iroquois are not ducks, to walk on water ! Let 
 the pale-faces give tliem 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. Yon 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 act«/ve, 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 weak- 
 ness 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 uni- 
 verstilly 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 understand- 
 ing 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 the 
 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 ex- 
 clamation 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 223 
 
 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 
 Hnrons," 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 as- 
 tonishment and delight got the mastery of Indian stoicism. 
 These two grim old warriors manifested even more feel- 
 ing, 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 ele- 
 phant that is to be found in the American forest; but 
 this resemblance was far from b«ing sufficiently striking 
 to bring the new creatiire 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 burden. 
 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 cir- 
 cumstance 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 petition- 
 ing manner. 
 
224 THE DEERSLAYER. _ 
 
 "There's more where them came from, Mingo," was 
 the answer; "one is enough, however, 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; Harry Hurry is Harry Hurry, 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 never make 
 Hurry's scalp pass for more than a good head of curly hair, 
 and a rattlepate beneath it ! " 
 
 " My old prisoner very wise — king of the lake — great 
 warrior, wise counselor ! " 
 
 "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 Eivenoak 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 endeavor- 
 ing to recover the ground lost under the influence of 
 
' THE DEERSLAYER. 225 
 
 surprise. Ho even afEected. 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 ani- 
 mal. 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.^ 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 prevarications of his subtle op- 
 ponent with his own cool directness of manner and un- 
 moved 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, ho felt it to be prudent not to 
 concede too much at first, since there existed a nearly un- 
 conquerable 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, 
 iuU-grown male scalps, for a consideration so trifling as a 
 toy like that he had seen — and he prepared to take his de- 
 parture. 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 ofP in consequence of too much per- 
 tinacity in the way of management. The effect of the 
 disappointment was very different, however, on the respec- 
 tive 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 conclasion of the treaty, 
 therefore, left him melancholy and full of regret. With 
 the savage, his defeat produced the desire of revenge. In 
 
 I 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 tliis book, 
 swimming about in company. 
 
226 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 a moment of excitement, he loudly announced his inten- 
 tion to say no more; and he felt equally enraged with 
 liimself 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 vis inertim of 
 the logs, and while this was doing by the silent ladian, 
 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 terms 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 re- 
 newing the negotiation without giving too much advan- 
 tage 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 oppor- 
 tunely 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 the artifices 
 so far as to employ an agent who understood English. 
 The previous dialogue had taken place in his own lan- 
 guage, but it was evident, by the sudden manner in which 
 his feet ceased their treacherous occupation, and in which 
 the countenance of Eivenoak changed from sullen ferocity 
 to a smile of courtesy, that the call of the girl was under- 
 stood. 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 Eivenoak 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 negotiation on almost any terms, and determined to 
 clench the bargain if possible by a little extra liberality. 
 
THE DEERSLAVER. 227 
 
 " youll 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 ex- 
 amined, 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 Eivenoak'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 neces- 
 sary; 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 vi^asn't 
 for Indian natur'. But I'm no judge of a red-skin, if that 
 two-tailed beast doesn't set the whole tribe in some such 
 stir as a stick raises in a bee-hive ! Now, there's the Sar- 
 pent; 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, however, and one can't well quarrel with a .T-nn 
 
228 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 for liis 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 re- 
 nowned 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 everything 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 curious 
 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 mo- 
 3nent 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 skillful, 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 forest, and the springs. Much Taming 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 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 behindhand." 
 
 " 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 tlial, again and again ! " 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 229 
 
 "Thankee, Hetty — yes, thankee, with all my heart. 
 There 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 
 Like, 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 Iro- 
 quois, '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 sarcumvention or other to get 'em back ag'in, with 
 us and all in the castle, and the ark in the bargain. Hows- 
 ever, we must humor 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 ofE 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. Eather 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 watchful- 
 ness on 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 west-- 
 ern hills, and yet no signs were seen of the return of the 
 raft. By dint of sweeping the shore with the glass. Deer- 
 slayer 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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 
 
230 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 themselves^ by causing them to follo-w 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. En- 
 couraged by these reflections, a new stock of patience was 
 gathered, and the declension of the sun was viewed with 
 lejs 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 
 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 con- 
 fidence. 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 defenses 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 Eivenoak. 
 
 " My brother knows I put faith in Mm" 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 aad seek the means of 
 payment." 
 
 This excuse, however, though true in part, was princi- 
 pally a fetch. Deerslayer left the platform, and entering 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. ' 231 
 
 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 platforna, 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 her- 
 self 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', Harry 
 Hurry, that is rocking in a gale," said Deerslayer, check- 
 ing 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 othei*, 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 coun- 
 try 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 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 re- 
 mainder of the stipulated ransom, and making an earnest 
 sign, at the same moment, for him to commence his re- 
 treat. " You've come off whole, feet and all, and are only 
 a little numb, from a tight fit of the withes. Natur'U 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." 
 
232 ■' THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 
 upwards. It is probable that Deerslayer could have pre- 
 vailed 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 uncer- 
 tainty 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 re- 
 moved, 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 occu- 
 pied in endeavoring to restore the circulation, and in re- 
 gaining the use of his limbs, to indulge in any other reflec- 
 tions. 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 com- 
 pletely set in, and while the girls were preparing the even- 
 ing meal, Deerslayer related to Hutter an outline of the 
 events that had taken place, and gave him a history of the 
 means he had adopted for the security of his children and 
 property. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 233 
 
 • CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 ' As long as.Edwarde rales thys lande, 
 Ne quiet you wylle know ; 
 Your sonnes and husbandes shall be slayne. 
 And brookes with bloode shall flow." 
 
 " You leave youre goode and lawf ulle kynge, 
 Whenne ynne adversitye ; 
 Like me, untoe the true cause stycke, 
 And for the true cause dye." 
 
 Chattbrton. 
 
 The calm of the evening was again in singular con- 
 trast, 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 ceased to gild the edges of tiiie 
 few cl(5uds 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 sur- 
 face 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 dis- 
 honored, but their humility partook of the rancor of re- 
 venge. 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 sensa^ 
 tion, 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 regain- 
 ing his betrothed. Under such circumstances and in this 
 mood, all were taking the evening meal. 
 
 " Old Tom ! " cried Hurry, bursting into a fit of boister- 
 ous laughter, " you looked amazin'ly like a tethered bear, 
 as you was stretched on them hemlock boughs, and I only 
 
234 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 wonder you didn't growl more. "Well, it's over, and syth's 
 and lanientations won't mend the matter! There's the 
 blackguard Kivenoak, he that brought us off, has. an on- 
 common 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 PhiJipsteins ? " 
 
 The last were a family of German descent on the Mo- 
 hawk, to whom Hurry had a great antipathy, and whom 
 he had confounded with the enemies of Judea. 
 
 "Our tears have raised the lake, Harry 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 
 sarvice. 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 captj/vement, 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 vaga- 
 bonds 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. Injin, 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 
 i*"-^ an inner room, where, in answer to his questions, he 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 23^ 
 
 first learned the price thab 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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 parlor 
 and kitchen. 
 
 " I wonder if it's peace or w^r between us and the sav- 
 ao'es! " exclaimed Hurry, Just as Deerslayer, who had paused 
 for a single instant, listened attentively, and was passing 
 through the outer door without stopping. " This giviu' 
 up captives has a friendly look, and when men have traded 
 together, on a fair and honorable footing, they ought to 
 part fri'nds, for that occasion, at least. Come back. Deer- 
 slayer, and let us have your judgment, for I'm beginnin' 
 to think more of you, since your late behavior, 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 Injin! 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 mmut' since, m what you 
 call Floatin' Tom's door-yard." ,-, 1 ^ 
 
 " How came it there ? It never fell from the clouds, 
 Judith, as little toads sometimes do, and then it don't ram. 
 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 
 
236 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 bundle of sticks into his own hand, examining it atten- 
 tively. 
 
 " 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 trayelled, Harry March, that it has got 
 here, and you never the wiser as to the means. The sav- 
 ages may have left the scalp on your head, but theymiist 
 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 arr'nd 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 througli 
 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 arr'nd. There's no use in 
 words, for the boy is too cunning to leave the knot burn- 
 ing, 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 vio- 
 lence ; for, if Hurry was fierce and overbearing in the con- 
 sciousness 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 
 
THE DEERSLA YER. ' 237 
 
 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. Hun-y was furious when . he found that he 
 was deprived of the means of proceeding. He first ap- 
 proached the Indian with loud menaces, and even Deer- 
 slayer 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 at- 
 tempt 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 stem composure of the chief, and he, too, 
 knew that such a man was not to be outraged with im- 
 punity ; 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 com- 
 pleted, 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 ques- 
 tionable as it might, the effect was sufficiently certain. 
 Instead of throttling his old fellow-traveller. 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 jail, or a lack of beaver, to get a creatur' into your 
 very trap, and 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 'era. 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 
 iri'nds in letting such a chance slip through my fingers --is 
 well as your own." 
 
238 itl£ DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 ontrue 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-§kin that roams the woods would be 
 ashamed of not respecting his arr'nd. 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 meantime, 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 had 
 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 gentle- 
 ness, 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 dis- 
 play. 
 
 At length the several conferences were broken up by the 
 reappearance of Hutter on the platform. Here he assem- 
 bled 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. 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 239 
 
 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 dwelling, 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 com- 
 parative light was stretched 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 departure 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 hill-side filled up the perspective of 
 every view that was taken diagonally or directly across the 
 water. The prevalent 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 
 hio-h 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 visi- 
 ble and Chingachgook was already trembling lest the non- 
 appearance of the star might prevent his betrothed from 
 benK^ punctual to her appointment. Under these circum- 
 stances, 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. Ihe 
 air soon filled the cloth, and when the scow was got under 
 
240 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 an 
 Jiour, -Bfhen 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 inten- 
 tions be what they might, it was evident, ere two hours 
 had elapsed, that the ark had got over 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 an- 
 nounced 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 Ohingachgook to his 
 friend. "There is room for some on the girdle of the 
 Serpent, 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." 
 
 "Aye, aye, Sarpent, I see how it is ; that name's to stick, 
 and in time I shall get to be known by it instead of Deer- 
 slayer; well, if such honors 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 maroiful, I beseech of 
 you. It surely can do no harm to a red-skin's honor 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 241 
 
 bettor bear the fruit of a more christianized tree, as for 
 ihem 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 a 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. Deer- 
 slayer 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 re- 
 flections. 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 indescriba- 
 ble witchery of natural tenderness. Leaving the young 
 liunter exposed to these dangerous assailants, it has become 
 onr 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 height- 
 ened, 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, though possessing 
 veins of human feeling on other matters, was much actu- 
 ated by any other desire than a heartless longing for profit. 
 Hurry had felt angered at his sufferings, when first liber- 
 
242 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ated, 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 cease- 
 less 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 unceas- 
 ing 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. This 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 him- 
 self. 
 
 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 manage- 
 ment of that species of frail bark, as to be able to keep 
 erect positions in the midat 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 in the lead, his two companions treading in 
 his footsteps with a stealthy cautiousness of manner that 
 rendered their progress almost literally noiseless. Occa- 
 sionally 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 encampmeiTt. At length the keen 
 eye of Chingachgook caught a glimpse o^.this important 
 guide. It was glimmering at a distance among the trunks 
 of trees. There was no blaze, but merely a single smoulder- 
 ing 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 prog- 
 ress of the adventurers became swifter and more certain. 
 In a few minutes they got to the edge of the circle of little 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. li,^ 
 
 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 glow- 
 ing 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 Chin- 
 gachgook attempted to reconnoitre its interior. The 
 manner in which the Indian approached the place that 
 was supposed to contain enemies, resembled the wily ad- 
 vances 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 trust- 
 ing 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 in- 
 formed 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 difEerent 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 com- 
 panions. 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 war- 
 rior, who was zealous th the search, might always hope to 
 be honored. Cki 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 feel- 
 ings. They went prowling among the huts, as if they ex- 
 pected 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 quarreled with 
 
244 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 re- 
 turning 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 ex- 
 claimed. " 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 SAveet and tranquil ! A dwell- 
 ing 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 some- 
 times 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 iliem, but you find their 
 disabled trunks, marking the 'arth like head-stones in a 
 
THE DEERSLAYER ' 245 
 
 grave-yard. 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 fol- 
 lows 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 tem- 
 ples 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. More- 
 over, 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 color, I rather think 
 you're not far from the truth, gal; but as for the females 
 of the red-men, 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 feel- 
 in'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 waylaymg a 
 Mingo for his scalp." 
 
 " If you really believe this, Deerslayer, no wonder j'ou 
 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 
 
246 THE DEERSLAYER. ' 
 
 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— t'is altogether a different 
 matter, Judith. Woman is too weak and gentle to be in- 
 tended 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 colors, 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 daugh- 
 ter, provided she was a little comely, and could ielp 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 way 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 in- 
 stant, suppose I place you by the side of Harry March ? 
 No, no. I am not so far gone in dullness as that. JSTo 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 
 Henry 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 has said as much to me, in plain lan- 
 guage." 
 
 Judith was a girl of quick sensibilities and of impetuous 
 feelings; and, being under few of the restraints that cur- 
 tail the manifestations of maiden emotions among those 
 who are educated in the habits of civilized life she some- 
 times betrayed the latter with a feeling that was so purelv 
 natural as to place it as far above the wiles of coquetry ai 
 it was superior to its heartlessness. She had now even 
 taken one of the hard hands of the hunter and pressed it 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 247 
 
 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 Deer- 
 slayer, as between the hunter and Hurry, but having actu- 
 ally, 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 awak- 
 ened 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, imme- 
 diately relinquishing the hand, and falling, back on a re- 
 serve that was more suited to her sex, and, indeed, to her 
 natural modesty. 
 
 "Thank'ee, Judith, thank'ee with all my heart," re- 
 turned the hunter, whose humility prevented him from 
 pliacing any flattering interpretation on either the conduct 
 or the language of the girl. " Thank'ee as much as if it 
 was all true. Harry's sightly — yes, he's as sightly as the 
 tallest pine of these mountains, and the Sarpent has named 
 him accordingly; howsever, 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 en- 
 deavoring 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 bat terrified speaker, "and 
 that would have ke^t 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 cravm's for 
 
248 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 gold and revenge, if you believe they are easily turned 
 Hside from their longings! But this is an uncommon 
 lousiness 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 sufEer if 
 tliaVs to be the law. Sartinly there has been no onset, and 
 'tis most likely that the camp's deserted, and the men are 
 coming back disapp'inted. That accounts for the growls 
 of Hurry and the silence of the ISarpent." 
 
 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 Ohingachgook, 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 Dela- 
 ware, 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 
 tlie wisest way would be to keep in motion as the means 
 niost likely to defeat any attempt at a surprise — ^announc- 
 ing 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 on two of the 
 pallets, leaving Deerslayer and his friend bo look after the 
 movements of the craft. As neither Of the latter was dis- 
 posed 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- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 249 
 
 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 was said the while even 
 by the girls; and that little had more reference to the res- 
 cue 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 rendez- 
 vous! 
 
 CHAPTEK 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. 
 
 The discovery mentioned at the close of the preceding 
 chapter was of great moment in the eyes of Deerslayer and 
 his friend. In the first place, there was the danger, almost 
 the certainty, that Hutter and Hurry would make a fresh 
 attempt on this camp should they awake and ascertain its 
 position Then there was the increased risk of landing to 
 bring ofE Hist; and there were the general uncertainty 
 and Idditional hazards that must follow from the circum- 
 
250 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 stance that their enemies had begun to change their^ posi- 
 tions. 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 foe^s; and one ot the 
 first things arranged between him and his associate was 
 to permit the two others to sleep on, lest they should dis- 
 turb the execution of their plans by substituting sonie 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, m 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 onlooked-for event. But 'tis 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. i 
 
 The situation in which the ark now lay had its ad- 
 vantages and its disadvantages. The fire had been hid by 
 sheering towards the shore, and the latter was nearer per- 
 haps 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 witlioS|^sing 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 o>^*. to Judith, instructing her as to the course sh,©' 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 251 
 
 "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 war- 
 rant 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 
 catcB 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 «/o?6 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 Um 
 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 
 arr'nd here, on the lake, and it would not tell well to 
 forget an arr'nd just at the pinch. Then, if love does 
 count for so much with some people, particularly with 
 young women, f ri'ndship . counts for something, too, with 
 other some. I dare to say, the Delaware can paddle a canoe 
 by himself,,and can bring ofE Hist by himself, and perhaps 
 he would like that quite as well as to have me with him; 
 but he couldn't garcumvent ^arcumventions, or stir up an 
 ambushment, or fight with the savages, and get his sweet- 
 heart 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. JSo— no— Judith, you wouldn't desart 
 one that counted on yoii;, at such a moment, and you can't, 
 jn reason, expect me to do it." 
 
 "I fear — I believe you are right, Deerslayer; yet I wish 
 
252 ,_ THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 he 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 soft-hearted in you, Judith, to feel this 
 consarn for a fellow creatur', and I shall always say that 
 you are kind and. of true feelin's, let them that rosy 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 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 ! " ex- 
 claimed Judith, her 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 anything else. Smile 
 on him when he awakes, and squeeze lais hand only half 
 as hard as you squeezed mine a bit ago, and my life on it 
 the poor fellow will forget everything but your comeliness. 
 Hot words don't always come from the heart, but of tener 
 from the stomach, than anywhere else. Try him, Judith, 
 when he wakes, and see the vartue of a smile." 
 
 Deerslayer laughed, in his own manner, as he concluded, 
 and then he intimated to the patient-looking, but really 
 impatient Ohingachgook, his readiness to proceed. As 
 the young man entered the canoe, the girl stood immov- 
 able 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 ■ 
 
THE DEERS LAYER, 253 
 
 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 he 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 hare 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 move- 
 ments 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 com- 
 ment, but in secret influenced by the reflection that one 
 who had so much at stake as the Indian, might not possi- 
 bly guide the canoe with the same steadiness and intelli- 
 gence as another who had more command of his feelings. 
 From the instant they left the side of the ark, the move- 
 ments 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 d&>ut of bis com- 
 panion in warfare is known to the reader. It is true, the 
 Indian had been hanging about his enemy's camp for a 
 few hours, on his first arrival, and he had even once en- 
 tered 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 cap- 
 tivity 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 dis- 
 tant from the ark less than a quarter of a mile, Deerslayer 
 laid the head of his canoe diagonally towards the centre 
 of the lake, with a view to obtain a position from which he 
 mght approach the shore, having his enemies in his front 
 
254 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 only. The spot where Hetty had landed, and where Hist 
 had promised to meet them, moreover, was on the upper 
 side of the projection, rather than on the lower ; and to 
 reach it, would have required the adventurers to double 
 nearly the whole point, close in with the shore, had not 
 this preliminary step been taken. So well was the neces- 
 sity for this measure understood, that Chingachgook 
 quietly paddled on, although it was adopted without con- 
 sulting 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 mountains. In vain did 
 the Delaware turn his head eastjvard, 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 con- 
 ceal all behind it. In front, as was known by the forma- 
 tion of land above and behind it, lay the point, at a distance 
 of about a thousand feet. No signs of the castle could be 
 seen, nor could any movement in that quarter of the lake 
 reach the ear. The latter circumstance might have been 
 equally owing to the distance, which was several miles, or 
 to the fact that nothing was in motion. As for the ark, 
 though scarcely further 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 be- 
 trothed 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 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 255 
 
 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 ac- 
 cordingly. 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 
 esa^iined 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. Xo 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. Deer- 
 slayer 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 selected star 
 was glittering among the branches of a pine. This was 
 every way a flattering omen, and the young men leaned on 
 their rifles, listening intently for the sound of approaching 
 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 Ameri- 
 cans 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 ap- 
 proaching 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 
 
2S6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 plausi- 
 ble conjectures for the non-appearance of Hist. The 
 Delaware, however, resolutely refused to quit the spot, 
 plausibly 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 cir- 
 cuit of the point by himself, leaving the latter concealed 
 in the bushes to await the occurrence of any fortunate 
 event that might favor his views. With this understand- 
 ing, 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 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, favorable 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 practiced 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 readi- 
 ness, 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 illumina- 
 tion, he brought the canoe to a state of Best, in the most 
 favorable position he could find, and commenced his ob- 
 servations. 
 
 We have written much, but in vain, concerning this ex- 
 traordinary being, if the reader requires now to be told 
 that, untutored as he was in the learning of the world and 
 simple as he ever showed himself to be in all matters 
 touching the subtleties of conventional taste, he was a man 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 257 
 
 of strong native, poetical feeling. He loved the woods 
 tor their freshness, their sublime solitudes, their vastness, 
 and the impress that they everywhere bore of the divine 
 hand of their Creator. He rarely 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 com- 
 muning m 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 look- 
 ing on the scene he now beheld, that momentarily caused 
 hihi to forget the object of his visit. This will more fully 
 appear wheh 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, v/hich 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 labors of the day 
 have ended. The hunters and the fishermen had been 
 equally 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. 
 
 Deersl^yer saw at a glance that many of the warriors 
 were absent. His acquaintance, Eivenoak, however, was 
 present, being seated in the foreground of a picture that 
 Salyator Rosa would have delighted to draw, his swarthy 
 features^ illuminated as much by pleasure as by the torch- 
 like flame, while he showed another of the tribe one of the 
 
2S8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 elephants that had caused so much sensation among tiis 
 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 inclining against trees, so many types 
 of indolent repose. Their arms were near them, some- 
 times 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, wjth 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 de- 
 ceived 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 wan-ior's form first came fairly into 
 view; then followed two youthful females, one of whom 
 proved to be the Delaware girl. Deerslayer now compre- 
 hended it all. Hist was watched, possibly by her young 
 companion, certainly by the old woman. The .jouth was 
 probably some suitor of either her or her companion ; but 
 even his discretion was distrusted under the influence of 
 admiration. The known vicinity of those who might be 
 his supposed to be her friends, and the arrival of a strange 
 red-man on the lake, had induced more than the usual care, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 259 
 
 and the girl Lad not been able to slip away from tbose who 
 watched her, in order to keep her appointment. Deer- 
 slayer traced her uneasiness, by her attempting, once or 
 twice, to look up through the branches of the trees, as if 
 endeavoring 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 afEected 
 indifference, the two girls quitted their male escort, and - 
 took seats among their own sex. As soon as this was done J 
 the old sentinel changed her place to one more agreeable 
 to herself, a certain proof that she had hitherto been ex- 
 clusively 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 arbor, under which Hist reposed; a 
 circumstance that would be of infinite use in their future 
 proceedings. Should he remain, however, nluch 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 endeavor to temper 
 his impetuosity by some of his own coolness and discre- 
 tion. 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 
 acquaini||pwith 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 posi- 
 tion, 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 
 
26o THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 vigilance than had been previously required was noTV 
 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 sug- 
 gest themselves to the reader, were briefly discussed, before 
 the young men came to a"ny decision. The occasion, howT 
 ever, 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 con sequence 
 of their shape the trees were closer together than is com- 
 mon in regions where the axe has been freely used, resem- 
 bling, 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 lire, 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 the spot has become subjected to the uses of 
 civilization, by its windings and shaded banks, it has be- 
 come 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 ^)t 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 261 
 
 favored the secret advance of the two adventurers. It pre- 
 vented the hght of the fire diffusing itself on the ground 
 directly m 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 cover- 
 ing. 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 novsr stealthily 
 approaching, rather than any protection to the Indians. 
 Deerslayer did not break through the fringe of bushes im- 
 mediately 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 
 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 ad- 
 vanced 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 readi- 
 ness 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 ex- 
 amination of the camp. In order, however, to protect 
 themselves against any straggler in the rear, they placed 
 their bod#s against the trunk of an oak, standing on the 
 side next xhe 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 
 
262 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 
 .nluch earnestness among themselves, the image of the ele- 
 phant 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 
 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 zeal- 
 ous 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 pla,ce 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 dis- 
 course.; and the light-hearted laugh that escaped the girls 
 might occasionally have reached the canoe. Deerslayer 
 felt the tremor 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 admoni- 
 tion 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(|pien, they 
 conversed of the elephant and his qualities. " The Dela- 
 wares will think this creature wonderful, but to-morrow 
 no Huron tongue will talk of it. Our young men will find 
 him if the animal dares to come near our wigwams." 
 
 This was in fact addressed to Wah-ta-Wah, though she 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 263 
 
 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 hanters coming. 
 Who has ever heard the name of a young Delaware war- 
 rior ? " 
 
 This was said in good-humor, and with a laugh; but it 
 was also said bitingly. That Hist so felt it, was apparent 
 by the spirit betrayed in her answer. ' 
 
 " Who has ever heard the name of a young Delaware ! " 
 she repeated earnestly. " Tamenund, himself, though now 
 as old as the pines on the hill, or as the eagles in the air, 
 was once young; his name was heard from the great salt 
 lake to the sweet waters of the west. What is the family 
 of Uncas ? Where is another as great, though the pale- 
 faces have ploughed up its graves, and trodden on its 
 bones ? Do the eagles fly as high, is the deer as swift, or 
 the panther as brave ? Is there no young warrior of that 
 race ? Let the Huron maidens open their eyes wider, and 
 they may see one called Chingkchgook, 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-humor, 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 
 
264 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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 Ohingachgook felt xjertain 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 un- 
 certainty of his 'situation. It left no doubt of her endeav- 
 oring 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 pos- 
 sessed 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 eloud invis- 
 ible at any distance. This Deerslayer well knew, and it 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 265 
 
 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 hiit^ or bower, 
 that had been built near the spot 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 walk- 
 ing. Hist was held tightly by the hand. As she moved 
 by the tree that hid Ohingachgook 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 siich 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, there- 
 fore, 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, stand- 
 ing, 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 
 tho 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 pre- 
 vent 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 
 
266 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 her, on the north side of the point. Here he immediately 
 turned along the beach and ran towards the canoe. A 
 more direct course could have been taken, but it might 
 have led to a discovery of the place of embarking. 
 
 Deerslayer kept playing on the throat of the old woman, 
 like the keys of an organ, occasionally allowing her to 
 breathe, and then compressing his fingers again nearly to 
 strangling. The brief intervals for breath, however, were 
 well improved, and the hag succeeded in letting out a 
 screech or two that served to alarm the camp. The tramp 
 of the warriors, as they sprang from the fire, was plainly 
 audible; and, at the next moment, three or four of them 
 appeared on the top of the ridge, drawn against the back- 
 ground of light, resembling the dim shadows of the phan- 
 tasmagoria. It was now quite time for the hunter to 
 retreat. Tripping up the heels of his captive, and giving 
 her throat a parting squeeze, quite as much in resentment 
 at her 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 
 Te would be dupes and victims, and ye are, 
 Is it enough ? or must I, while a thiill 
 Lives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still?" 
 
 Moors. 
 
 The fire, the canoe, and the spring, near which Deer- 
 slayer 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 cur- 
 vature 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 267 
 
 habits of all Indians, who rarely fail in cases of sudden 
 alarm, more especially when in the midst of cover, imme- 
 diately 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 re- 
 lated, but were also heard, under the faint impulse, diverg- 
 ing 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 be- 
 came a matter of the last importance, as the parties migEt 
 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 in the ridge, drawn against the 
 brightness of the fire, and an enemy might have been sac- 
 rificed 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, oc- 
 cupied 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 Eoman illustrious throughout all time, but which, in the 
 career of one so simple and humble, would have been for- 
 ever lost to the world, but for this unpretending legend, 
 Deerslayer threw all his force into a desperate effort, shoved 
 the canoe off with a power that sent it a hundred feet from 
 the shore as it might be in an instant, and fell forward 
 into the lake himself, face downward; his assailant neces- 
 sarily following him. 
 
 Although the water wcs deep within a few yards of the 
 
268 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 relin- 
 quish 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 power- 
 ful prey, and then both stood erectj 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 anotherminute. So much en- 
 gaged 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 hLS 
 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 sur- 
 rounded by no less than eight grim savages, among whom 
 was his old acquaintance Eivenoak. . As soon as the latter 
 caught a glimpse of the captive's countenance, he spoke ■ 
 apart to his companions, and a low but general exclama- 
 tion 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 269 
 
 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 com- 
 pensated for what it wanted in these particulars, perhaps, 
 by its greater justice, and the total absence of mystifica- 
 tion 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 precaiition 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 pre- 
 vent 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 Ohmgachgook 
 would have been treated in the same manner, had he too 
 fallen into the hands of the enemy. Nor did the reputa- 
 tion 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 re- 
 ceived 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 attrib- 
 uted the discovery of their new camp to the vigilance ot 
 so shrewd a foe. The manner in which he ventured upon 
 the point, the absbraction or escape of Hist, and most o± 
 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 unre- 
 servedly bestowed on Deerslayer, he did not escape some 
 of the penalties of his situation. He was permitted to seat 
 hirnself on the end of a log, near the fire, m order to dry 
 
270 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 his clothes, his late adversary standing opposite, now hold; 
 ing articles of his own scanty vestments to the heat, and 
 now feeling his throat, on which the marks of his enemys 
 fingers were still quite visible. The rest of the warriors, 
 consulted together, near at hand, all those who had Veen 
 out having returned to reporb that no signs of any p'ther 
 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 hqr fists 
 clenched and her eyes flashing fire. Hitherto sfie 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. Thpse 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 impassible hunter, "you are not even a woman. Your 
 friends, the Delawares, are only women, and you are their 
 sheep. Your own people will not own you, and no tribe 
 of red-??!6w would have you in their wigwams; you skulk 
 among petticoated warriors. Yoii, 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 — ■ hedge-hog — pig — toad 
 — spider — Yen gee " — 
 
 Here the old woman, having expended her breath, and 
 exhausted her epithets, was fain to pause a moment. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 271 
 
 thougli 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 irnpotent 
 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 perma- 
 nently affect those who resort to their use ; but he was 
 spared any further attack at present by the interposition 
 of Eivenoak, 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 re- 
 mained 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. 
 Eivenoak 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." 
 
 " 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 
 
 Eleasant, at such a time, to a man with a Delaware 
 eart." 
 
 " 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 color on his cheek, " Mingo, ^JOur 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. 
 
272 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 Hawkeye is not a woman ; why does he live with the Dela- 
 wares ? " 
 
 " I understand you, Mingo, but we look on all that as/a 
 sarcumvention of some of your subtle devils, and deny the 
 charge. Providence placed me among the Delawares 
 young; and, 'bating what Christian usages demand of my 
 color 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 supiDOse you know, Mingo, your own meaning; if 
 you don't, I make no question 'tis well known tcj Satan. 
 But if you wish to get anythiug out of me, speak plainer, 
 for bargains cannot be made blindfolded or tongue-tied." 
 
 " Good! Hawkeye has not a forked tongue, and he likes 
 to say what he thinks. He is an acquaintance of the 
 Muskrat," — this was a name by .which all the Indians 
 designated Hutter, — "and he has lived in his wigwam; 
 but he is not a friend. He wants no scalps, like a misera- 
 ble 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 (wattoj-snakeX) sometimes in the spring and 
 sometimes on the land. Tie looks for scalps like an out- 
 cast. Hawkeye can go back and tell him how he has out- 
 witted the Hurons, how he has escaped; and when his 
 eyes are in a fog, when he can't see as far as from his cabin 
 to the woods, then Hawkeye can open the door for the 
 Hurons. And how will the plunder be divided ? Why, 
 Hawkeye will carry away the most, and the Hurons will 
 take what he may choose to leave behind him. The scalps 
 can go to Canada, for a pale-face has no satisfaction in 
 tUm ? " 
 
 " Well, well, Eivenoak, — 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 tlie Muskrat's bread, and laughing and 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 273 
 
 talking with his pretty darters, I might put his eyes into 
 fo 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 anything but mischief, and all 
 suppose Hawkeye is acting as a faithful sentinel, all I 
 have to do is, to set a torch somewhere in sight for a 
 signal, open the door, and let in the Hurons to knock 'em 
 all on the head." 
 
 "Surely my brother is mistaken; he cannot be white! 
 He is worthy to be a great chief among the Hurons! " 
 
 " That is true enough; I dare to say, if he could do all 
 this. Now, harkee, Huron, and for once hear a few honest 
 words from the mouth of a plain man. I am a Christian 
 born, and them that come of such a stock, and that listen 
 to the words that were spoken to their fathers, and will 
 be spoken to their children, until 'arth and all it holds 
 perishes, can never lend themselves to such wickedness. 
 Sarcumventions in war may be, and are lawful ; but sar- 
 cumventions, and deceit, and treachery, among fri'nds, are 
 fit only for the pale-face devils. I know that there are 
 white men enough to give you this wrong idee of our 
 natur', but such are 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 his rebuke with obvious disgust; 
 but he had his ends in view, and was too wily to lose all 
 chance of effecting them by a precipitate avowal of resent- 
 ment. Affecting to smile, he seemed to listen eagerly, and 
 he then pondered on what he had heard. 
 
 "Does Hawkeye love the Muskrat?" he abriiptly de- 
 manded ; " or does he love his daughters ? " 
 
 " Neither, Mingo. ' Old Tom is not a man to gain my 
 love; and as for the darters, they are comely enough to 
 gain the liking of any young man; but there's reason ag'in 
 
274 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 Eose!" exclaimed the Huron — for the 
 fame of Judith's beauty had spread among t^se 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 Eose; 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 afEec- 
 tion lay at the bottom of his reserve. Still bent on cor- 
 rupting 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 Eivenoak is a man of his word, for they 
 have traded together, and trade opens the soul. My friend 
 has come here on account of a little string held by a girl, 
 that can pull the whole body of the stoutest warrior ? " 
 
 "You are nearer the truth now, Huron, than you've 
 been afore, since we began to talk. This is true. But one 
 end of that string was not fast to my heart, nor did the 
 Wild Eose 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 the Mohican stock in fact, living 
 among the Delawares since the dispersion of his own 
 people, and of the family of Uncas — Ohingachgook 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 — ? " 
 
 " AVhy the other was here close to the fire, half an liour 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 275 
 
 since. Wah-ta-Wah held it in her hand, if she didn't hold 
 it to her heart." 
 
 '■ 1 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," an- 
 swered 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 sur- 
 passed Huron sarcumventions to keep two young people 
 apart when there was so strong a feeliii' to bring 'em to- 
 gether." 
 
 "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 
 perfect satisfaction. For what else should we come? 
 And yet, it is'nt exactly so, neither ; for we didn't come 
 into your camp at all, but only as far as that pine, there, 
 that you see on the other side of the ridge, where we stood 
 watching your movements and conduct as long as we liked. 
 When we were ready the Sarpent gave his signal, and then 
 all went just as it should, down to the moment when 
 yonder vagabond leaped upon my back. Sartain we came 
 for that, and no other purpose, and we got what we came 
 for; there's no use in protending otherwise. Hist is off 
 with a man who's the next thing to her husband, and come 
 what will to me, thaVs one good thing detarmined." 
 
 " What sign or signal told the young maiden that her 
 lover was nigh ? " asked the old Huron, with more curi- 
 osity than it was usual for him to betray. 
 
 Deerslayer laughed again, and seemed to enjoy the suc- 
 cess of the exploit with as much glee as if he had not been 
 its victim. . 
 
 " Your souirrels are great gadabouts, Mmgo ! he cried, 
 still laughing— "yes, they're sartainly great gadabouts! 
 When other folks' squirrels are at home and asleep, yourn 
 keep in motion among the trees, and chirrup and smg m a 
 way that even a Delaware gal can understand their music !. 
 Well there's four-legged squirrels, and there's two-legged 
 
276 THE .DEERSLA YER. 
 
 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 the hardest." 
 
 The Huron looked vexed, though he succeeded in sup- 
 pressing any violent exhibition of resentment. He soon 
 quitted his prisoner, and Joining the rest of his warriors, 
 he communicated the substance of what he liad 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 them- 
 selves, and one even descended 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 dis- 
 patched 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 Deer- 
 slayer. He had held himself aloof from his friends even, 
 passing near the bevy of younger women who were cluster- 
 ing 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 sym- 
 pathies were with the lovers, while their pride was boimd 
 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 en- 
 tirely conquer the inextinguishable leaning of their sex to 
 the affections. One of the girls even laughed at the dis- 
 consolate look of the swain who might fancy himself de- 
 serted, a circumstance that seemed suddenly to arouse his 
 energies, and induced him to move towards the log on 
 which the prisoner was still seated, drying his clothes. 
 
THE DEERSLA YER. 277 
 
 "This is Catamount!" said the Indian, striking his hand 
 boastfully on his naked breast as he uttered the words, in 
 a manner to show how much weight he expected them to 
 carry. 
 
 " This is Hawkeye/' quietly returned Deerslayer, adopt- 
 ing the name by which he knew he would beknown iu 
 future among all the tribes of the Iroquois. " My sight is 
 keen ; is my brother's leap long ? " 
 
 "Prom 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 Oanadas; her mind is in the cabin of a Dela- 
 ware, and her body has gone to find it. The catamount is 
 active, I know; but its legs can't keej) pace with a woman's 
 wishes." 
 
 " The Serpent of the Delawaros is a dog ; he is a poor 
 bull-pout thab 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 Sarpeut 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 hirri, 
 hadn't I laid the weight of a little judgment on his hand. 
 You may take in timersome 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 fool." 
 
 " 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 prefers 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 
 
278 THE DEERSLAYEfi. 
 
 their owner hesitated between policy and resentment. At 
 this critical moment Eivenoak approached, and, by a ges- 
 ture of authority, induced the young man to retire, assum- 
 ing his former position, himself, on the log at the side of 
 Deerslayer. Here he continued silent for a little time, 
 maintaining thB grave reserve of an Indian chief. 
 
 " Hawkeye is right," the Iroquois at length began; " his 
 sight is so strong that he can see truth iti 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 sarcumvention, except open-war sarcumventions, 
 are agi'n 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 color. 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 com- 
 pliment ; though his gravity and apparent sincerity would 
 have prevented any man but one practiced in artifices 
 from detecting his motives. Deerslayer belonged to the 
 class of the unsuspicious; and acquainted with the Indian 
 notions of what constituted respect, in matters connected 
 with the treatment of captives, he felt his blood chill at 
 the 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 endivors not to disgrace the people 
 among whom I got my training. Howsever, I wish you 
 now to bear witness, that I'm altogether of v/hite blood, 
 and, in a natr'al way, of white gifts, too; so,.should I be 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 279 
 
 OYercome 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 — bat 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 anything 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 f eelins' ; and I leave you to judge for your- 
 self, 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 emo- 
 tions 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 sim- 
 plicity, and which was certainly justified by the treatment 
 formerly received from the Indians. As soon as Rivenoak 
 perceived the girl she was recognized, and calling to two 
 or three of the younger warriors, the chief sent them out 
 to reconnoitre, lest her appearance- should be the fore- 
 runner of another attack. He then motioned to Hetty to 
 
 draw near. ,,,,,-, . j tt- j. 
 
 " I hope your visit is a sign that the barpent 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." . ^ , „ tt j.j. 
 
 "Judibb told me to come this time, Deerslayer, Hetty 
 
28o THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 natiir', gal; yes, that may be set down as human 
 natur'. She's with her betrothed, and no longer fears a 
 Mingo husband. In my judgment, Judith herself would 
 lose most of her beauty if she thought she was to bestow 
 it all on a Mingo ! Content is a great fortifier of good 
 looks; and I'll warrant you. Hist is contented enough, now 
 she is out of the hands of these miscreants and with her 
 chosen warrior ! Did you say that your sister told you to 
 come ashore — why should Judith do that ? " 
 
 " She bid me come to see you, and to try and persuade 
 the savages to take more elephants to let you off; but I've 
 brought the Bible with me — that will do more than all the 
 elephants in father's chest ! " 
 
 "And your father, good little Hetty — and Hurry; did 
 they know of your arr'nd ? " 
 
 "Nothing. Both. are asleep; and Judith and the Ser- 
 pent 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 chil- 
 dren 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! "Why 
 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 
 IJelawares, and this is a matter in which pale-face ajid red- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 281 
 
 skin gifts are all as one 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 fol- 
 lows melancholy and sighing, and such sort of actions; 
 after which, especially if matters don't come to plain dis- 
 course, she often flies round to backbiting and fault-find- 
 ing, 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 thai, must 
 be far gone indeed." 
 
 " The young woman who liked Hurry would own that 
 he is handsome. / think Hurry very handsome. Deer- 
 slayer, 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 usu- ■ 
 ally quick enough to make discoveries, and so acate in mat- 
 ters that would baflBle the observation of much the greater 
 portion of mankind; " I see how it is with them vagabonds. 
 Eivenoak 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!" 
 
 "Ah's me! poor girl; I'm afeard all that's easier said 
 than done. They're a venomous set of ript^les, and their 
 
282 . THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 p'ison's none the milder for the loss of Hist. Well, I'm 
 glad the Sarpent was the one to get ofE with the gal; for 
 now there'll be two happy, at least; whereas had lie fallen 
 into the hands of the Mingos, there'd be 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 ofE, 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; bnt no matter; have it your own way, so 
 you be but careful not to let the vagabonds get the mas- 
 tery 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 hut 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 must 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 trvM. I see no reason Judith Hutter 
 shouldn't hear the trutli about me as well as a lie. I'm a 
 capt?/ve 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 endivoring to 
 work upon me, through fear of consequences, to betray 
 your father and all in the ark. I understand the black- 
 guards as well as if they 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, Tie knows it already." 
 
THE DEF.RSLAYER. 283 
 
 " But what shall I tell Jnditli ? She will certainly send 
 me back if I don't satisfy her mind." 
 
 " Well, tell Judith the same. No doubt the sayages 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 boast- 
 ing 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 bowlings, 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 
 upper hand, 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 color 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 ad- 
 mitted that it exceeded his power to read, she even volun- 
 teered to remain with him, and to perform this holy office 
 in person. The offer was gently declined, and Eivenoak 
 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 practiced Indian counselor, 
 and the other baffling him by the very mesins 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. 
 
284 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 pleasures were 
 Brief but delightful— such as had not stayed 
 Long with her destiny ; but she sleeps well 
 By the sea-shore whereon she loved to dwell." 
 
 Byron. ' 
 
 The young men who had heen sent out to reconnoitre, 
 on the sudden appearance of Hetty, soon returned to report 
 their want of success in making any discovery. One of 
 them had even been along the beach as far as the spot op- 
 posite to the ark, but the darkness 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 suffer- 
 ing; 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 cap- 
 tivity, but it procured for her a consideration and an at- 
 tention that placed her, on the score of comfort, quite on 
 a level with the wild but gentle beings around her. Sha 
 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 285 
 
 from the fire, however. His duty was to guard the captive, 
 to take care that the fire neither blazed up so as to illu- 
 minate the spot, nor yet became wholly extinguished ; and 
 to keep an eye generally on the state of the camp. An- 
 other 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 move- 
 ments 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 the 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, Eivenoak was aware, that, in holding 
 his captive, he had in his own hands the most dangerous 
 of all his enemies. 
 
 The precision with which those accustomed to watchful- 
 ness, or lives of disturbed rest, sleep, is not the least of the 
 phenomena of our mysterioas 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 over it the while. 
 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 ciariosity 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 por- 
 tion of her existence was thought to be, it was sufiicieutly 
 active to cause her to open her eyes at midnight. At that 
 hour she awoke_, and leaving her bed of skm 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 unsophisti- 
 oated 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 o± 
 
286 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 a 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 
 than that of any person of feeble intellect would excite in 
 civilized society, while her person met with more considera- 
 tion 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 foUowins the margin of the 
 water, taking a northern direction, she soon encountered 
 the Indian who paced the strand as sentinel. This was a 
 young warrior, and when he heard her light tread coming 
 along the gravel he approached swiftly, though with any- 
 thing but menace in his manner. The darkness was so 
 intense that it was not easy to discover forms, within the 
 shadows of the woods, at the distance of twenty feet, and 
 quite impossible to distinguish persons until near enough 
 to touch them. The young Huron manifested disappoint- 
 ment when he found whom he had met; for, truth to say, 
 he was expecting his favorite, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 287 
 
 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 tor 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," ake said, 
 "I don't wonder you are so little pleased. I am Hetty 
 Hutter, Thomas Hutter's daughter, and have never met 
 ■any m.an 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 sai'd this, she reached the place 
 where the canoes had come ashore, and, owing to the curva- 
 ture of the land and the bushes, would have been com- 
 pletely hid from the sight of the sentinel, had it been broad 
 day. But another footstep 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 thewater 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 nioment the weight of Hetty 
 was felt in the light craft, the canoe withdrew, stern fore- 
 most, as if possessed of life and volition, until it was a 
 Jiundred yards from the shore. Then it turned, and mak- 
 ing a wide sweep, as much to prolong the passage as to get 
 beyond the sound of voices, it held its way towards the 
 
288 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ark. For several minutes nothing was uttered; but, be- 
 lieving herself to be in a favorable 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 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 war- 
 riors, 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 ? " 
 
 " 0, 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 I " 
 
 " Never mind tliat, 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." 
 
 "0! 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 1 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 rim cold to hear him. He told me to say that his 
 friends — I suppose you are one of them, sister — ? " 
 
YER. 289 
 
 "How can youtprSient me thus, Hetty! Certainly, I 
 an^ raej^ilfee-tSfi^t friends he has on earth." 
 
 L'orment 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. ! I felt very sorry for him, and 
 Deerslayer took all so quietly and without noise ! Deer- 
 slayer is not as handsome as Hurry Harry, Judith, but he 
 is more quiet." 
 
 " He's worth a million Hurrys ! yes, he's worth all the 
 young men who ever came upon the lake put together," 
 said Judith, with an energy and positiveness that caused 
 her 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 
 Bhe 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- con- 
 tinued more calmly, still speaking frankly to her sister^ 
 whose intelligence and whose discretion in anything 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 
 n-nequal, sister— Deerslayer and I ? He is not altogether 
 my superior ? " , u. 
 
 It was not usual for Judith so far to demean herseit as 
 to appeal to Hetty's judgment. Nor did she often address 
 10 
 
290 THE L^SSRSLAYER. 
 
 her by the title of sister, a distinotfeqittiat is commonly 
 given by the junior to the senior, evenTi?'4BS^S--t]j.ere is a 
 perfect equality in all other respects. As trifling H^pssiii 
 ures from habitual deportment oftener strike the imagina- 
 tion than more important changes, Hetty perceived the cir- 
 cumstances, 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 ques- 
 tion; 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 " — 
 
 "N'o, not ugly, Hetty,?' interrupted Judith. "Only 
 plain. But his honest face has a look in it that is far 
 better than beauty. In my eyes Deerslayer is handsomer 
 than Hurry Harry." 
 
 " Judith Hutter ! you frighten me. Hurry is the hand- 
 somest mortal in the world — even handsomer than you are 
 yourself; because a man's good looks, you know, are 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 Deer- 
 slayer ? — speak of tliat, 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 Mm, and he ought to be told it at once." 
 
 "1! Judith, how you forget! Why, /am not beautiful, 
 and am. feeble-minded." 
 
 " You are good, Hetty, and that is more than can be said 
 of Henry March. He may have a face, and a body, but he 
 has no lieart. But enough of this, for the present. Tell 
 me what raises me to an equality with Deerslayer." 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 291 
 
 "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 qf 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 I 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 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 interwoven with all that related to 
 the subject, as to have excited a nearly inappeasable curi- 
 osity—but, when Judith could think of no more questions 
 to ask, without resorting to repetition, the canoe was pad- 
 dled 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 
 
292 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 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 conyiction that the ark had de- 
 parted. 
 
 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 apprehension 
 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, Ju- 
 dith," 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 moun- 
 tains. Almost at the same moment a piercing female cry 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 293 
 
 arose 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 mid- 
 night. Eesolute 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, sol- 
 emnly, "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 assist- 
 ^ce — 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 precau- 
 tions. 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 ail 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 un- 
 derstood it all at a glance. The streak of light had ap- 
 peared on the water a short distance from the point, and 
 either the rifle had been discharged from a canoe hovering 
 
294 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 im- 
 agination, 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 counte- 
 nance, near the dying female. He betrayed neither fear 
 nor backwardness, Mmself; but it was apparent by the 
 glances cast at him by the warriors that fierce passions 
 were struggling in fheir 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 295 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 " stand to your arms, and guard the door— all's lost 
 Unless that fearful bell be silenced soon. 
 The officer hath missed his path, or purpose, 
 Or met some unforeseen and hideous obstacle. 
 Anselmo, with thy company proceed 
 Straight too the tower ; the rest remain with me." 
 
 Makino Faliebo. 
 
 The conjecture of Judith Hutter concerning the manner 
 in which the Indian girl had met her death, was accurate 
 in the main. After sleeping several hours, her father and 
 March awoke. This occurred a few minutes after she had 
 left the ark to go in quest of her sister, and when of course 
 Chingachgook and his betrothed were on board. From 
 the Delaware the old man learned the position of the camp, 
 and the recent events, as well as the absence of his 
 daughters. The latter gave him no concern ; for he relied 
 greatly on the sagacity of the eldest, and the known im- 
 punity with which the younger passed among the savages. 
 Long familiarity with danger, too, had blunted his sensi- 
 bilities. Nor did he seem much to regret the captivity of 
 3Deerslayer; for while he knew how material his aid might 
 be in a defense, thip difEerence in their views on the moral- 
 ity 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 captivity and revenge had excited 
 him to entartain. 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 
 
296 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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, however, that a lad as skill- 
 ful 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 daugh- 
 ters had taken to the canoe, as it had been related by the 
 Delaware, as well as the return of Judith after landing her 
 sister, and her second departure. 
 
 " This comes of a smooth tongue. Floating Tom," ex- 
 claimed Hurry, grating his teeth iii pure resentment — 
 " this comes of a smooth tongue, and a silly gal's inclina- 
 tions— ^and you had best look into the matter ! You and 
 I were both prisoners," — Hurry could recall that circum- 
 stance noxo, — "you and I were both prisoners, and yet 
 Judith never stirred an inch to do us any sarvice ! She is 
 bewitched with this lank-looking Deerslayer; and he, and 
 she, and you, and all of us, had best look to it. I am not 
 a man to put up with such a wrong quietly, and do say, all 
 the parties had best look to it ! Let's up kedge, old fellow, 
 and move nearer to this point, and see how matters are 
 getting on." 
 
 Hutter had no objections to this movement, and the ark 
 was got under way, in the usual manner, care being taken 
 to make no noise. The wind was passing northward, and 
 the sail soon swept the scow so far up the lake, as to render 
 the dark outlines of the trees that clothed the point dimly 
 visible. Moating 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 297 
 
 mentioned. In the moment of sudden surprise, a deep 
 Indian exclamation escaped him. In that spirit of reck- 
 lessness 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 oiSee to follow that of her father and his 
 companions. The shriek announced the efEects 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 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 inter- 
 posed 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 affecta- 
 tion 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 dissatisfac- 
 tion, 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. 
 Ohingachgook arose, and for a single instant the ancient 
 animosity of tribes' was forgotten in a feeling of color; but 
 he recollected himself in season to prevent any of the fierce 
 
298 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 consequences that for a passing moment he certainly medi- 
 tated. Not so with Hist. Bushing 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. 
 
 " Wliat 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 honor — 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 c6me from 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. 
 Eed-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 preju- 
 dices, 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 ac- 
 cordingly, whatever interest or caprice supplied a motive 
 or an impulse. Still, though daunted by these reproaches, 
 the handsome barbarian oould hardly be said to be peni- 
 tent. 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 resenti'no- or 
 answering tlio simple but natural ajipeal of IJist, he walked 
 
THE DEERSLAYER 299 
 
 away like one who disdained entering into a controversy 
 with a woman. 
 
 In the meanwhile the ark swept onward, and by the 
 time the scene with the toiches 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 for- 
 ward 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 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 drift- 
 ing 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 contiuu- 
 ance. Nevertheless, there was the usual current of heavy, 
 damp night air, which, passing over the summits of the 
 trees, scarcely appeared to descend so low as the surface 
 of the glassy lake, but kept moving a short distance above 
 it, saturated with the humidity that constantly arose from 
 the woods, and 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 efEorts of the night air to be a sort of capricious 
 and fickle sighings of the woods. Several times the head 
 of the ark pointed east, and once it was actually turned 
 towards the south again; but on the whole, it worked its 
 way north, Hutter making always a fair wind, if wind it 
 could be called, his principal motive appearing to be a 
 wish to keep in motion, in 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 in- 
 telligence of Judith. 
 
 It was the season of the shortest nights, and it was not 
 long before the deep obscurity which precedes the day 
 
300 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 began to yield to the returning light. If any earthly scene 
 could be presented to the senses of man that might soothe 
 his passion 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's 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 back- 
 ground; next seen in the witchery of an increasing, a 
 thing as diiferent 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 atmos- 
 phere. The hymns of birds, too, have no novel counter- 
 part in the retreat to the roost, or the flight to the nest; 
 and these invariably acQompany. 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 as- 
 pirations pure. They not only witnessed it, but they wit- 
 nessed 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 301 
 
 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 
 tor 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, Ghingachgook was up, and 
 Hist was heard stirring among the furniture of the kitchen. 
 The place for which they steered Wds distant only a mile, 
 and the air was sufficiently favorable to permit it to be 
 neared by means of the sail. At this moment, too, to 
 render the appearances generally auspicious, the canoe of 
 Judith was seen floating northward in the broadest part 
 ol the lake, having actually passed the scow in the dark- 
 ness, in obedience to no other power than that of the ele- 
 ments. 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 character 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 Ghingachgook had im- 
 bibed enough of this impassibility to suppress any very 
 undignifled manifestation of surprise. With Hist, how- 
 ever, 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 
 
302 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 the instrument for herself, and she directed it at eve^y 
 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 bark was slowly but steadily advancing, and the 
 castle was materially within half a mile, when Chingach- 
 gook 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 chip-munk in a tree, or 
 is there a salmon-trout swimming under the bottom of the 
 scow? You find what a pale-face can do in the way of 
 eyes, now, Sarpent, and mustn't wonder that they can see 
 the 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 anything 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 ! " 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 303, 
 
 ." A-ye, 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 jail in the colony that has a more lock-up look about it 
 than old Tom^s chiente; and I know something about 
 Jails from exper'ence." 
 
 " No see moccasin," said Hist impatiently, "why no hole, 
 and see him." 
 
 " Give me the glass, Harry," interrupted Hutter, " and 
 lower the sail. It is seldom that an Indian woman med- 
 dles, 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 thrust 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 everything 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 ex- 
 terior 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 inoccasin 
 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 dis- 
 tance up or down the lake, and accidentally become at- 
 tached to the pile or palisade. It might have been thrown 
 from a windov/ 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. 
 
304 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 All these conjecUxres 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 ofEer; 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 exeeution; 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 deer-skin arter 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 an(f ears, are all better than an Injin's when fairly 
 tried. Time and ag'in have 1 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 de- 
 parture 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 DEERSLAYER. 305 
 
 the most refined sentiments could have shown under simi- 
 lar circumstances; but now every sign of weakness was 
 lost in ;;n 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 de- 
 parted, and not a wandering glance rewarded her solici- 
 tude. 
 
 Nor were the Delaware's care and gravity misplaced, 
 under the impressions with which he proceeded on this 
 enterprise. If the enemy had re.ally 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 con- 
 ceive 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 com- 
 pensating for the risk. But the pride of an Indian chief 
 was acted on by the rivalry of color; and it is not unlikely 
 that the presence of the very creature from whom his ideas 
 of manhood prevented his receiving a single glance, over- 
 flowing 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 eye on the different loops of the building. 
 Each instant he expected to see the muzzle of a rifle pro- 
 truded, 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.be 
 discovered, 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 Ilutter, and even the gate of 
 
3o6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 tak- 
 ing 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 breath- 
 less 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. Eelinqnish- 
 ing the momentary intention to land, the chief slowly 
 pursued his course round the palisades. As he approached 
 the moccasin-shaving 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 Dela- 
 wares step, unharmed, into the ark. Still she repressed 
 her emotions, 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, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 307 
 
 " what news from the Muskrats ? Did they show their 
 teeth, as you surrounded their dwelling ? " 
 
 " I no like him," sententiously returned the Delaware. 
 " Too still. So still, can see silence ! " 
 
 "That's downrigiit Injin — as if anything 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 pro- 
 nounced it to be Huron, by the manner in which the por- 
 cupine'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 noth- 
 ing, while it awakened so much distrust. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Hutter and Harry 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 tlie building as the scow approached. 
 
 The same death-like silence reigned, and it was difficult 
 to fancy that anything possessing animal life could be in 
 or around the place. Unlike the Serpent, whose imagina- 
 tion 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 tranquillity that, in truth, 
 merely denoted the repose of inanimate objects. The ac- 
 cessories 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 w'oods and lake, were all seen under 
 that softening light which immediately precedes his ap- 
 pearance, and which, perhaps, is the most witching period 
 of the four-and-twenty hours. It is the moment when 
 everything is distinct, even the atmosphere seeming to 
 possess a liquid lucidity, the hues appearing gray and soft- 
 
3o8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ened, with the outlines of objects diffused, and the per- 
 spective 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 tranquillity 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 Dela wares, 
 thougii 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, stamp- 
 ing his feet, like one glad to touch what, by comparison, 
 might be called terra firma, and proclaiming his, indiffer- 
 ence 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 fas- 
 tenings 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 neces- 
 sary 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 appre- 
 hended. 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. In- 
 stead 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 agr.inst the defenses in a position where it could 
 
THE BEERS LAYER. 309 
 
 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 SCO (7 pressed close against the latter, their tops formed 
 a species of breastwork 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 sur- 
 veyed 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 suflEered 
 the keen apprehensions he had la?tely experienced in be- 
 half 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 ; aye, 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." 
 
3IO THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " Oome, 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 mis- 
 behaving 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, kaving 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, Float- 
 ing 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 in- 
 terior 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 mis- 
 taken. They resembled those that would be produced by 
 a struggle between tigers in a cage. Once or twice the 
 Indian yell w:is 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 revolt- 
 ing execration came from the throat of Hurry. It ap- 
 peared 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 pro- 
 ceeded 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 disadvantajge, he told 
 the girl to take the remaining canoe, and to join Hutter's 
 daughters, who were incautiously but deliberately ap- 
 proaching, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 311 
 
 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 dis- 
 tance 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 dis- 
 covered that something was wrong, and were stationary a 
 thousand feet further 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 R^as 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 
 numeroiis enemies. Hutter was already a captive and 
 bound. There was now a pause in the struggle, which re- 
 sembled 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 re- 
 newing them. Vv"e 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. 
 
 Eivenoak 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 
 
312 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 
 v/as constructed and secured, as well as of details that en- 
 abled them to act intelligently in the dark. Notwith- 
 standing 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 use- 
 less. Scouts were on the lookout 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 recon ■ 
 noitre, 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 encoun- 
 tered each other, and after communicating their respective 
 obsen'ations, 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 re- 
 moving some of the bark, in entering what might be 
 termed the garret. Here they were found by their com- 
 panions. Hatchets now opened a hole tlirough the square 
 logs of the upper floor, through which no less than eight 
 of the most atliletic of the Indians dropped into the room 
 beneath. Here they were left, well supplied v/ith 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 return- 
 ing 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 effectu- 
 . ally 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 in- 
 juries, and he hid them where they could not be found 
 without a search. Ropes of bark were then prepared, and 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 313 
 
 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 with- 
 out rejjlaced 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 I 
 My love I my native land, adieu, 
 For I must cross the main ; 
 
 My dear. 
 For I must cross the main." 
 
 Scottish Ballad. 
 
 In 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 re- 
 markable 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 Tiors 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 vi»ere 
 placed, a truce, let it come from what cause it might, could 
 not well be of long continuance. The arena was too con- 
 fined, and the distrust of treachery too great, to admit of 
 
314 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 this. Contrary to "what might be expected in his situation, 
 Hurry was the first to recommence hostilities. Whether 
 this proceeded from policy or an idea that he might gain 
 some advantage by making a sudden and unexpected as- 
 sault, 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 sid^, one 
 of whom received a grave injury by falling on 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 be- 
 lieved himself fully able to cope with that number of red- 
 skins. 
 
 "Hurrah! Old Tom," he shouted; "the rascals are tak- 
 ing 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 plat- 
 form 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 ele- 
 ment 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 the warriors present, 
 and that one whose sinews were the best strung in fights, 
 and by marches on the war-path. This man fully appre- 
 ciated the gigantic strength of his opponent, and had care- 
 fully husbanded his own. He was also equipped in the 
 best manner for such a confiict, 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 315 
 
 So fierce did it immediately become, and so quick and 
 changeful were the evolutions of the athletse, that the re- 
 maining savage had no chance for interfering, had he pos- 
 sessed the desire; but wonder and apprehension held him 
 spellbound. 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 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 distinctly visible, the linibs and bodies of the com- 
 batants 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 hav- 
 ing 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 con- 
 fuse 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 his 
 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 far stunned the sufferer, that his gigantic white opponent 
 now had him completely at his mercy. Passing his hands 
 round 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 withm 
 the two arms of Hurry; the end threaded the eye, form- 
 ing a noose, and his elbows were drawn together behind 
 his back, with a power that all his gigantic strength could 
 not resist. Keluctamtly, even under such circumstances, 
 
31 6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 did the exasperated borderer see his hands drawu from 
 their deadly grasp, for all the evil passions were then in 
 the ascendant. Almost at the same instant, a similar fast- 
 ening 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 recov- 
 ered 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 got the 
 ropes, which were in readiness for use as the others ap- 
 .peared, 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 re- 
 nowned for ages, by means of tradition, throughout all 
 that region, lying helpless, bound, and a captive. So fear- 
 ful 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 stout- 
 est warrior was still stretched on the platform; and, as 
 they cast their eyes towards the lake, in quest of the com- 
 rade 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. 
 
 Ohingachgook 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 DEEJiS LAYER. 317 
 
 the scalp was impossible; and the young chief, who would 
 so freely risk his own life to obtain such a trophy, hesi- 
 tated about taking that of a foe, without sucli 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 
 S'lid 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 an 
 oar, even the experienced mariner, or boatman, breaking 
 down in his efforts to figure with the celebrated rulloek 
 of the gondolier. In short, it is temporarily an impractica- 
 ble 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 Dela- 
 ware had succeeded in moving the ark as well as he did, 
 in a first trial. That trial, notwithstanding, suificed 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 one moment 
 he thought of putting Hist into the canoe in his own pos- 
 session, 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 possi- 
 bly approach the 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 sufiiciently 
 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 m his ex- 
 
 ^ Hist, in some particulars, reasoned, and even felt, differ- 
 ently though she arrived at the same conclusions. Her 
 own danger disturbed her less than her concern for the 
 two sisters, in whose behalf her womanly sympathies were 
 
31 8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 pad- 
 dling, the evidences of strife first becoming apparent to 
 the eyes. She and Hetty were standing erect, anxiously 
 endeavoring to ascertain wha/t had occurred, but unable to 
 satisfy their doubts, from the circumstance that the build' 
 ing, 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 se- 
 curity. 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 efEects 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 im- 
 mediate refuge in the ark, where the defenses 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 misunder- 
 stood. 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 broad- 
 est 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. What- 
 ever might be in reserve for him, there could be no ques- 
 tion 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 319 
 
 fallen off before the wind, which it did tinfortunately in 
 the wrong direction, bringing it within a few yards of the 
 platform. Hist found it necessary to warn her lover oi the 
 importance of covering his person against the rifles of his 
 foes. This was a danger to be avoided under all circum- 
 stances, 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 movement of the unwieldy 
 craft. The sail being set, as sailors term it, flying, or hav- 
 ing 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 of 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 
 Blow, 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 proba- 
 ble nothing could have prevented the Hurons from carry- 
 ing 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. 
 
320 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 near the middle of the platform. Chlngachgook 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 advanta.ge. 
 
 " Eun out one of the poles, Sarpent, if Sarpent you be," 
 said Hurry, amid the groans that the tightness of the liga- 
 tiires v/as 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 mouttf near a loop, she said, in a low 
 but distinct voice, — 
 
 " Why you don't roll here, and fall in scow ? Chlngach- 
 gook shoot Huron if he chase ! "" 
 
 " By the Lord, gal, that's a judgmatical 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 aind nearer to the platform. 
 Hurry, who now lay with his face towards the ark, occa- 
 sionally writhing and turning over like one in pain, evolu- 
 tions he had performed ever since he was secured, watched 
 every change, and at last he saw the whole vessel was free, 
 and was beginning to grate slowly along the sides of the 
 piles. The attempt was desperate, but it seemed 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 stem of the scow might 
 fairly rub against the platform, he began to writhe again, 
 as if in intolerable suffering, execrating all Indians in 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 321 
 
 general, and the Hurons in particular, and then he sud- 
 denly 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 alto- 
 gether; and the rapidity of his revolutions, and the emer-" 
 gency, 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 feel- 
 ings were strongly interested in the success of so bold a 
 seheme, 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 steadi- 
 ness, and she bethought her of the means of saving him. 
 With a sortof 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 
 stern 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, 
 apd catching up all the spare rope, with the awkwardness, 
 but also with the generous resolution of a woman, she 
 threvf 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 succor; 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 boeli possible for one accus- 
 11 
 
322 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 tomed 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. Ohin- 
 gaohgook was similarly occupied, and relhained 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 in- 
 jury 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 Delavpare found 
 means to unloosen it from the elect 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 circum- 
 stance 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 323 
 
 it was fired been less acute. Instead of penetrating the 
 lake, however, it glanced from its smooth surface, rose, 
 and actually buried itself in the logs of the cabin, near the 
 spot at which Ohingachgook 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 from the surface 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 mo- 
 ment 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 Hurry to the place they occupied. Ohingachgook 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 tasks, 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 en- 
 tered 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 bis 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, further and further, 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 ven- 
 
324 THE DEEKS LAYER. 
 
 iuring too near. They had taken the direction of the 
 eastern shore, endeavoring at the same time to get to wind^ 
 ward 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 pali- 
 sades, 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 sacri- 
 fice of life as would most probably follow any attempt to 
 assault an enemy, entrenched as eilectually as the Dela- 
 ware. 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 
 inclose her, in what she fancied a sort of net, Judith im- 
 mediately commenced her retreat, in a southern direction, 
 at no very great distance from the shore. She did not 
 dai-e 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, 
 wifh 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 iffi vacil- 
 lating evolutions/ always at a safe distance from the rifle, 
 the Hurons seemed suddenly to take theip 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 325 
 
 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 
 Wiis about a quarter of a mile south of that of the Hurons, 
 a little nearer to the east shore, and about the same dis- 
 tance 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 vi^hen the Hurons so suddenly changed 
 their mode of attack, their canoe was not in the best possi- 
 ble racing trim. There were but two paddles, and the 
 third man was 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. Ju- 
 dith did not commence her exertions until the near ap- 
 proach of the other canoe rendered the object of the move- 
 ment certain, and then she excited 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 sensa- 
 tion of feebleness and dependence 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 re- 
 sorted 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 
 
326 TRE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 hem- 
 locks, beneath the shades of which she was so ne;ir enter- 
 ing, 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 exer- 
 tions 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 shift- 
 ing their paddles from hand to hand, and this, too, without 
 sensibly relaxing their efforts. Judith occasionally looked 
 behind her, and she saw this expedient practiced. 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" 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 327 
 
 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 con- 
 nected 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 dis- 
 grace of being baffled by women. Making a furious effort, 
 under . the mortification of such a conviction, one of the 
 stronger of their party broke his paddle, at the very mo- 
 ment 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 acci- 
 dent, " I hope, now, you will own that praying is useful ! 
 The Hurons have broke a paddle, and they never can over- 
 take 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 Ju- 
 dith'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 
 
328 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 seem that the sayages meditated no such design, but at the 
 end of an hour their canoe, filled with men, was seen quit- 
 ting the castle, and steering towards the shore. The girls 
 were without food, and they now drew nearer to the build- 
 ings and the ark, having finally made up their minds, from 
 its mancBuvres, 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 defenseless 
 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 elaps- 
 ing 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 anything happened to father ? " demanded Judith, 
 as her foot touched the platform, speaking quick, 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 slie, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 329 
 
 to a child, Hetty, to witness such a failing in a parent, and 
 we will not go near him till he waiies." 
 
 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, reclin- 
 ing in a corner of a narrow room, with his shoulders sup- 
 ported by the angle, and his head fallen heavily on his 
 chest. Judith moved forward with a sudden impulse, and 
 removed a canvas 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. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 " Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone. 
 And o'er his cold ashes upbraid hirii ; 
 But nothing he'll rec-k, if they'll let him sleep on. 
 In the grave where a Briton has laid him." 
 
 Disputed. 
 
 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 un- 
 seemly 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 inquire 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 settled the matter. This occurred Just a-s the door 
 
33° THEDEERSLAYER. 
 
 "was opened and Hnrry 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 vs^as 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 war- 
 riors 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 colors so prominent 
 as to defy any attempts to veil them from the sight, how- 
 ever unpleasant they may appear, or however anxious we 
 may be to avoid recognizing 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. Tliis 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. 
 
 "0! Judith," exclaimed the weak-minded girl, as soon 
 as their first care had i)een bestowed on the sufferer. 
 " Father went for scalps, himself, and now where is his 
 own? The Bible might have foretold this dreadful pun- 
 ishment ! " 
 
 "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 of ! " 
 
 " Water ! " ejaculated Hutter, as it might be by a desper- 
 ate 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 mo- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 331 
 
 mentarily reviving his sinking system. His eyes opened 
 with that anxious, distended gaze, which is apt to accom- 
 pany the passage of a soul surprised by death, and he 
 seemed disposed to speak. 
 
 " Father," said Judith, inexpressibly pained by his de- 
 plorable situation, and this so much the more from her 
 ignorance of what remedies ought to be applied, "Father, 
 can we do anything 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 recollec- 
 tions extended further 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 liad loved her re- 
 puted parent, though far less tenderly than the real par- 
 ent; 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, and she forebore 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 her- 
 self 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 worn vestments that had been left in the house. 
 
 " Father," she said, " you will let me call you father, 
 
333 THE DEERSLAVER. 
 
 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 lyith 
 the tears streaming from her eyes, and end with smiles 
 and gladness. ! 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 virtue 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 in- 
 stinctive 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 pene- 
 trate abstrusities, or trace the nice affinities between cause 
 and effect, beyond their more obvious and indisputable 
 connection, though she seldom failed to see 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 wonder- 
 ful book abound — wonderful and uneqiialed, 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 practiced counsel would cite his authorities 
 from the stores of legal wisdom. In selecting the particu- 
 lar chapter, she was influenced by the caption, and she 
 chose that which stands in oui' English version as, "Job 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 333 
 
 excnsetli Us desire of death." This she read steadily, from 
 begmnmg to end, in "a sweet, low, and plaintive voice; 
 hoping devoutly that the allegorical and abstruse sentences 
 might convey to the heart of the sufEerer the consolation 
 he needed. It is another peculiarity of the comprehensive 
 wisdom of the Bible, that scarce a chapter, unless it be 
 strictly narrative, 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 the 
 owner, either through the workings of that heart, or even 
 in a still more direct form. In this instance, the very 
 opening sentence — "Is tliere 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, "/ 
 have sinned; tohat shall I do unto thee, thou preserver of 
 men ? Wliy liast thou set me as a inarlc agairist thee, so 
 that I am a burden to myself? " struck Hutter more per- 
 ceptibly than the others ; and, though too obscure for one 
 ol his blunted feelings and obtuse mind either to feel or 
 to comprehend in their fullest extent, they had a direct- 
 ness of application to his own state that caused liim to 
 wince under them. 
 
 " Don't you feel better now, father ? " asked Hetty, clos- 
 ing 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 f " . 
 
 This appeal silenced even the confiding Hetty, for she 
 had no answer ready for a confession so fraught with de- 
 spair. Water, so long as it could relieve the sufEerer, 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 
 
334 THE DEERSLAYER. . 
 
 texts were no longer rewarded with success, she knelt at 
 his side, and devoutly repeated the words which the Savioiir 
 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 possi- 
 ble, when they first found him. At times he spoke in- 
 telligibly, 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 " hus- 
 band," "death," "pirate," "law," "scalps," and several 
 others of a similar import, though there was no sentence 
 to tell the precise connection in which they were used. 
 Still, they were suflBciently expressive to be understood by 
 one whose ears had not escaped all the rumors 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 deso- 
 lation and grief placed them above the danger of such an 
 interruption; and when the sound of ears 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 im- 
 possible. Then she had the sort of confidence that is in- 
 spired by extreme misery. But there was no cause for any 
 new alarm, — Ohingachgook, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 335 
 
 side, fanning him with pious care. The eyents 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 an 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 con- 
 nection with a picture of bodily helplessness ; the daring 
 of this man being far more the ofEspring 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 de- 
 plorable 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 as- 
 sociate in this -desperate situation, b.ut he was greatly sur- 
 prised. 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 cap- 
 ture 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 
 Bit "by the bedside and watch the slow beating of the pulse 
 as it gradually grew weaker and weaker. Notwithstand- 
 ing the change in his feelings, the manners of a life could 
 not be altogether cast aside in a moment, and the unex- 
 pected scene extorted a characteristic speech from the 
 
 DordcrGr 
 
 "How now! old Tom," he said, "have the vagabonds 
 got you at an advantage, where you're not only down, but 
 ire likely to be kept down! I thought you a capt,«/ve, it s 
 true, but never supposed you so hard run as this! " 
 
 Hutter opened his glassy eyes, and stared wildly at the 
 
336 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 speaker. A flood of confused reco]lections rushed on liis 
 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 fail- 
 ing 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^rs^. 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 tliem. 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 I-Iurons 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 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," re- 
 torted Hurry. 
 
 "God be praised for that! — whatever reproach it may 
 bring on my poor mother, I am not Thomas Hutter's 
 daughter." 
 
 " Not Thonjas Hytter's darter ! Don't disown the old. 
 fellow in his lagt momej^t^, Judith, for that's a sin the 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 337 
 
 Lord will never overlook. If you're not Thomas Hntter's 
 darter, whose darter be you ? " 
 
 This question rebuked the rebellious spirit of Judith; 
 for, jn 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 an- 
 swered 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 hot deny that hard stories were 
 in circulation consarning Floating Tom, but who is there 
 tbat doesn't get a scratch when an inimy holds the rake ? 
 There's themr 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 com- 
 munity of character between the parties, and, as the poli- 
 ticians are wont to express it, with ulterior intentions. 
 What might have been the consequences with one of Ju- 
 dith'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 min- 
 ute later his breathing grew ghastly ; a pause totally with- 
 out 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 sat- 
 isfied with their success as to have relinquished all im.me- 
 diate design 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 meanwhile, the preparations were made 
 for the interment of Hutter. To bury him on the land 
 
338 THE DEEIiSLAYER. 
 
 was impracticable, and it was Hetty's wish tliat 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 office 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 j it is 
 thought that the veil has been remOved, and that the char- 
 acter 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 leveler 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 arrogance 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 inclosed 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, this 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 eifort, and as he was 
 expert in their use, the Delaware remained a passive spec- 
 tator 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 339 
 
 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 m melancholy stillness. Judith was affected to 
 tears, and even Hurry, though he hardly knew why, was 
 troubled. Hetty preserved the outward signs of tran- 
 quillity, but her inward grief greatly surpassed that of her 
 sister, since her afEectionate 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 sol- 
 emn. 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 alto- 
 gether, and to think only of heaven. Hist was serious, 
 attentive, and interested, for she had often seen the inter- 
 ments 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 
 furthest 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 
 
340 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 the scow. The ark turned slowly round under this re- 
 straint, 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. This neglect proceeded 
 from no indifference to the memory of the deceased; for 
 she had loved her mother, and bitterly had she found oc- 
 casion to mourn her loss ; but she was averse to the con- 
 templation 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 re- 
 luctant to approach the spot that contained the remains 
 of one whose severe lessons of female morality and pro- 
 priety 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 care- 
 fully anchoring her canoe so as not to disturb the body, 
 she would sit and hold fancied conversations with the de- 
 ceased, 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 claildhood. 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 red-men 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 341 
 
 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 dis- 
 posed 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 fh&re — Hari-y 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 m 
 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 from her 
 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. 
 
342 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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 under- 
 stood 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 unreasonable 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 dis- 
 turbed 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 amouo- the 
 hunters and trappers, or in the settlements." 
 
 " Yes,, yes, I've heard this before, and I suppose it to be 
 
THE DEERSLA YER. 343 
 
 true," answered Judith, with a sort of feTerish impa- 
 tience. ^ 
 
 "When a young man holds such language of any par- 
 ticular young woifian, 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 couldn'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 sus- 
 pect you always will. I've often told you that I not only 
 like you better than any other woman going, or, for that 
 matter, better than all the young women going; but you 
 must have obsarved, Judith, that I never asked you, in up 
 and down tarms, to marry me." 
 
 " I have observed both," returned the girl, a smile strug- 
 gling 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 which 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 im- 
 possible that you and Hetty could live here, alone, allow- 
 ing it was peace and the Iroquois was quiet; but, as matters 
 stand, not only would you starve, but you'd both be pris- 
 oners, 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 evi- 
 dently wished to hear, and which she now listened to with 
 
344 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 stid, 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 yon 
 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, Hurry, 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 ofEer. 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 
 offense is meant, and none should be taken." 
 
 " I do not brighten up, and will not take offense," 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." 
 
 " 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 brotiier to revenge your words." 
 
 "Well, there is something in the last, and I'il 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 DEERSLAYER. 345 
 
 The impetuous earnestness of the girl awed the young 
 man, for never before had he seen her so serious and de- 
 termined. In most of their previous interviews she had 
 met his advance'^ 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 caviling out of the question, if not absolutely 
 dumfounded, 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 shore as pigeons in the woods, and 
 altogether, it is getting to be an onsuitable place." 
 
 "Then leave it. You see it 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. Gro to-night; we'll never accuse you of having done 
 anything forgetful or unmanly." 
 
 " If I do go, 'twill be with a heavy heart on your ac- 
 count, 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. >Wheh 
 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 these 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 loliat 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, lelt 
 thus, my feelings towards you might have been dilter- 
 
 ^"" is it too late, now, Judith ? I'm rough, and a woods- 
 
346 THE DEERSLAY&R. 
 
 man; 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 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 strug- 
 gling 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; I would greatly prefer it should be another. If 
 Captain AYarley can be kept back, 'twould 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 oflftcer you mean ; a red-faced, gay, 0-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 
 color changed from pale to crimson, and from crimson back, 
 again to the hue of death. 
 
 " Alas ! my poor mother ! " she ejaculated mentally, in- 
 stead 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 347 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 "That point 
 In miserr, which makes the oppressed man 
 Begai'dless of his own life, makes him too 
 Lord of the oppressor's." 
 
 C01.EBIDGB. 
 
 All this time Hetty had remained seated in the head 
 ol the scow, looking sorrowfully iiito the water which held 
 th&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 
 sympathy by means of acts rather than of speech. Chin- 
 gachgook held himself a little aloof, in grave reserve, look- 
 ing 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 ofE 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 the ark, and leave 
 us here, near the graves of father and mother, to say what 
 we may have to siy." 
 
 " 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." 
 
348 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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 accounts. Nothing that / 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 ws should do nothing to 
 offend liim ; 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 onay see, after all; especially the 
 spirits of parents that feel anxious about their children." 
 
 " Hetty, Hetty — you know not wliat you say ! " mur- 
 
THE DEEKSLAYER. 349 
 
 mured Judith, almost livid witli 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 Hntter 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 Qow proper to know what we are to do in the future." 
 
 " If we arc not Thomas Butter'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 thought- 
 fully down at the spot where the funeral pile of her 
 toother 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 m 
 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 rouud." 
 
3SO THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " Harry March and I understand each other, and no more 
 need be said about liim. 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. Eemain here — that is, remain here alone, v/e can- 
 not — 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 rela- 
 tions, 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 chil- 
 dren 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 relations 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 cojiceal her embarrassment in a similar 
 manner. " Would he not make a brother-in-law to your 
 liking?" 
 
 " Deerslayer ! " repeated the other, looking up in un- 
 feigned 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 anything 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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 351 
 
 " Poor child ! you scarce know what you say or what 
 you mean ! Beauty in our sex is something,, but in man, 
 it passes for little. To be sure, a man ought to be tall, 
 but others are tall as well as Hurry; and active — I think I 
 know those that are more active; and strong — well, he hasn't 
 all the strength in the world; and brave — I'm 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 Harry Hurry. I am sure / 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 stayed 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 con- 
 solation 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 ma 
 woman's heart. I don't think,^child, I have even now the 
 same love of 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 vou say so, and will let Hurry go where he pleases. 
 
 " I am willing to consent to the last, but cannot answer 
 for the first, Hetty. We must live, in future, as becomes 
 
352 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 respectable young women, and cannot remain here to be 
 the talk and jest of all the rude and foul-tongued trappers 
 and hunters" ttiat may come upon the lake. Let Hurry 
 go by himself, and then I'll find the means to see Deer- 
 slayer, 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 friend. 
 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 practiced towai-ds her feeble-minded 
 sister. But, while thus accustomed to have her w.ay, 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 as- 
 cendency of the girl of weak intellect over her of a capar- 
 city 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 Mm 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 spirits fre- 
 quently wrung frorn 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 dovr^n to the hour of her ill-fated visits to the 
 
THE deE-RSLAYER. 353 
 
 garrisons; and she would williif^-^ **iiave given worlds, a i; 
 such moments, to be able to exchange her present sensa- 
 tions, for that 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. 
 " God has been kind to me, and lifted a burden off my 
 heart. Mother had many 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 slovsrly away from the place, under 
 the gentle impulsion of the elder sister's paddle, the 
 younger sat musing, as was her wont, whenever her mmd. 
 was perplexed by any idea more abstract and difficult of 
 comprehension than common. j-,i,„ 
 
 "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 ! " , . xi i. • j. j. 
 
 "It means both, dear sister; everything 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 tho 
 least about it. Mother's future is; eternity ; ours may yet 
 mean what will happen while wc live m 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 eaw a canoe stealing behind the logs. 
 
 "rve seen it some time," Hetty quietly answered for 
 the Indians had few terrors for her, "but I did not thmk 
 it right to talk about such things over toothers grave. 
 
THE DEE 
 354 RSLAYER. 
 
 The canoe came fronr-.*vJ 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 can't be ! Deerslayer is a 
 jirisoner, 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; 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 liad 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 depart- 
 ing, 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 glare 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 colors 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 visitor ere he reached the ark — even Deer- 
 slayer'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 ex- 
 pression. 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 near, the loveliest creature of her 
 sex his eyes had ever dwelt on. 
 
 " AVolcome — welcome, Deerslayer ! " exclaimed the girl, 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 355 
 
 as the canoe floated at each other's sides ; " we have had a 
 melancholy— a frightful day; biu your return is, at least, 
 one misfortune the less. Have the Hurons become more 
 humane 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 uatur's will ever undergo much improvement. 
 Well, they've fliair 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 vaga- 
 bonds. As for outwitting them, that might have been 
 dene, and it ivas 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 fasliion, — " 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 I'arn comes by 
 practice, and not by books; and of all schoolmasters, ex- 
 per'ence gives lessons that are 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 
 Eose, 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 oppor- 
 tunity. They feel their loss here, in the late skrimmage, 
 to their heart's 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 think they would stand at taking their 
 satisfaction out of a Dutchman." 
 
 "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 
 
35^^ -- -_ THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 it, from day to day,. If yoii'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 suifer for want of food in the 
 wigwam. I can't brijig 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 difEer, of a sartainty, Judith. 
 I've known them that wasn't to be trusted any further 
 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 words, than when you said some men might be de- 
 pended on, and some others 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 simpli- 
 city 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 ! — ! 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; I cannot tell what it signifies 
 when used by a prisoner." 
 
 "It meane 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." 
 
THE DEKRSLA YER. ' 357 
 
 "Haye the Hnrons suffered you to quit them in this 
 manner, without watch or guard ? " 
 
 '■ Sartain — I couldn't have come in any other manner, 
 unless, indeed, it had been by a bold rising, or a sarcum- 
 Vbntion." 
 
 " Vvliat pledge have they that you will ever return ? " 
 
 '•' My word," answered the hunter, simply. " Yes, I own 
 I gave'em tliat, and big fools would they have been ta 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 
 Bnade 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 1" 
 
 " 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 anybody 
 else's, they give him no consarn. Don't be under any on- 
 easiness, therefore, gal; I shall be allowed to go back ac- 
 cording 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 f«r some little time. All her 
 feelings as a woman — and as a woman who, for the first 
 
358 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 time in her life, ■was-feegiiming to submit to that senti- 
 ment which has so much influence on the happiness or 
 misery of her sex — revolted at the cruel fate she fancied 
 Deerslayer was drawing down upon himself, while the 
 sense of right, which God has implanted in every human 
 breast, told her to a'dmire an integrity as indomitable and 
 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 neces- 
 sity 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 circum- 
 stances. 
 
 "When is your furlough out, Deerslayer ?" she asked, 
 after both canoes were heading towards the ark, and mov- 
 ing, 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 under- 
 stood atween us, that, should I fail in my arr'nd, 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 staunch hound his scent. My own judgment is 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 359 
 
 greatly ag'iu 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 consid- 
 erable 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. How- 
 sever, come what will, the Sarpent and his wife will be 
 safe, and that is some happiness, in any case." 
 
 " ! Deerslayer, they will think better of this, since they 
 have given you until to-morrow noon to make up yoixr 
 mind ! " 
 
 "I judge not, Judith; yes, I judge not. An Injin is an 
 Injin, gal, and it's pretty much hopeless to think of swarv- 
 ing Mm, when he's got the scent and follows it with his 
 nose in the air. The Delawares, now, are a half -christian- 
 ized tribe — not that I think such sort of Christians much 
 better than your whole-blooded disbelievers — but, never- 
 theless, 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 talk- 
 ing 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 natural, 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." 
 
36s, THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 iinow ; 
 Who lives at ease and can content him so, 
 Is pertect wise, and sets us all to sohoole : 
 Who hates this lore may well be called a foole." 
 
 CHtmCHTAKD. 
 
 The meeting between Deerslayer and his friends in the 
 ark was grave and anxious. The two Indians, in parti- 
 cular, 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 get- 
 ting to be dark, and it was decided to sweep the ark up to 
 the castle, and secure it in its ordinary berth. The de- 
 cision 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 prop- 
 osition 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 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 361 
 
 members of the party occupied themselves in their several 
 peculiar manners; haste in council, or in decision, no more 
 characterizing the proceedings of the 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 Irom 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 workshop 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 ac- 
 curacy of its bore, the perfection of the details, and tlie 
 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 ab- 
 straction, 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 hasn'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." 
 
 "Aye, Old Tom used to give the piece a character, 
 though he wasn't the man to particularize the ra'al natur' 
 of ijny sort of fire-arms, in practice," 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 hia 
 
362 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 bad ones. I have had hopes that Judith might consait 
 th* idee of giving Killdeer to me." 
 
 " There's no saying what young women may do, "fhat's a 
 trutli. Hurry; and I suppose you're as likely to own the 
 rifle as another. Still, when things are so very near per- 
 fection, 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-look- 
 ing, 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 men's hands, than would 
 fall in a week in your-n, Hurry ! I've seen you try; you 
 remember the buck, t'other day ?" 
 
 " That buck was out of season ; and who wishes to kill 
 Yenison 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 conver- 
 sation, 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; 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 ; wfe'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 your'n; and, therefore, 
 you mustn't be downhearited. 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 prepara- 
 tions, to waste his breath on a subject of this nature. 
 
THE DEEKSLAYER. 363 
 
 Shortly after, the supper was ready; 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 communications; 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 starlight night. Along the shore, 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 impa- 
 tience 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 ofEer." 
 
 "Furlough, Judith; furlough is the word; and it car- 
 ries the same meaning with a capt?/Ye 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 re- 
 member to have heard that's the ra'al signification, ' fur- 
 lough' meaning a 'word' passed for the doing of any- 
 thing, or 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 arr'nd • 
 but it must be told." 
 
 "Harkee, Deerslayer," put in Hurry, a little authorita- 
 tively; "you're a- sensible man in a hunt, and as good a 
 
364 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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, aB was plainly 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 inimies 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 — "ib isn't often 
 they consait anything 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 war- 
 rior, they know he's now on his first war-path. As for 
 the gals, of course they set them down as they do women 
 in gin'ral." 
 
 " You mean that they despise us ! " interrupted Judith, 
 with eyes that flashed so bi-ightly as to be observed by all 
 present. 
 
 " That will bo seen in the ind. 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; 
 
THE DEERSLAYER 365 
 
 he may now strike across the mountains, for his own 
 villages, and no one shall look for his trail. If ho has found 
 a scalp, let him take it with him; 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; when she left them 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 everybody 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, put 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 inclina- 
 tions 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 were 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 more bitter as 
 ske proceeded. " I suppose a woman is a woman, let her 
 color 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 Musk- 
 rat, as they call your father, has dove to tlie bottom of the 
 lake; that he Will never come up again, and that his 
 voung will soon be in want of wigwams, if not of food. 
 The Huron huts, they think, are better than the huts of 
 York • they wish you to come and try them. Your color 
 is white, they own, but they think young women who've 
 lived so long in the woods, would lose their way m 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 
 
366 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 every- 
 thing 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 fur- 
 lough, 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." 
 
 " Aye; 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 
 <m no one is it more sartainly settled than 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 hogs- 
 head 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 re- 
 maining to defend her and her sister, but under the cir- 
 cumstances, a feeling of resentment . rather urged him to 
 abandon them. At all events, there was not a sufficiency 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 367 
 
 of chivalry in Hurry Harry to induce liim to hazard the 
 safety of his own person, unless he could see a direct 
 (jonnection between the probable consequences and his 
 own interests. It is no wonder, therefore, that his answer 
 jartook equally of his intention, and of the reliance he so 
 hoastingly placed on his gigantic strength, which, if it did 
 npt always make him courageous, usually made him im- 
 pudent 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 hy 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, un- 
 moved 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 answel-, and in. order to 
 do so, it is necessary that you should send it. A faithful 
 messenger gives his arr'nd word for word." 
 
 Hist no longer hesitated to speak her mind fully. In 
 
368 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 honey- 
 suckles, 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 Dela^ 
 wares. 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 roamed the shores of the salt lake, it 
 would be in vain, unless he were of the family of TJneas. 
 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 sprang, with undisguised delight ; meeting the 
 til-dent eloquence of the girl, as she concluded, with one of 
 his own heart-felt, silent, and peculiar fits of laughter. 
 
 " That's worth all the wampum in the woods ! " he ex- 
 claimed. " You don't understand it,! suppose, Judith; but 
 if you'll look into your feelin's, and fancy that an iuimy 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 369 
 
 speak what they feel. By speakiu', I don't mean chatterhi', 
 howsever, for most of them will do thai by the hour; but 
 comin' 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, in- 
 deed, a countenance that is as blooming as your'n can in 
 any wise so be tarmed. You are well named the Wild 
 Eose,and so far as color goes, Hetty ought to be called the 
 Honeysuckle." 
 
 " Did this language come from one of the garrison gal- 
 lants, I should deride it, Deeerslayer; but coming from you, 
 I know it can be depended on," returned Judith, deeply 
 gratified by his unmeditated and characteristic compli- 
 ments. "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, 
 Chingachgooii, 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 active 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 pre- 
 tended wolves from the great lakes, that are howling 
 throusrh 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 froni the 
 f '-madas If he has a tender feeling m 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 e:irs 
 
370 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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, \vhich is a word easily intarpreted, and 
 the most hateful to all 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 Ohingach- 
 gook, quite willingly complying with his friend's request. 
 " Tell the Huron dogs to howl louder, if they wish a Dela- 
 ware 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 hunt- 
 ing 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- 
 away 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 tliem 
 things!" cried Deerslayer; "'twill set all the Huron 
 blood in motion ; most particularly that part where he tells 
 'em Hist, too, will keep on their heels, till they're fairly 
 driven out of the country. Ah's me ! big words aren'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 fiom 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 anything 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 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 371 
 
 her own gentle, soft tones, as earnestly as any who liad 
 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 cue 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's 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'U answer for it, that they'll be easily satisfied. Now, 
 Judith, your turn comes next, and then this part of my 
 arr'nd 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 com- 
 menced, repeating the words merely to change the em- 
 phasis, "what effect will our answers have on yourt^v>i 
 If vou 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 
 
 ^"'^ Lord!' Judith, you might as well ask me which way 
 the wind will blow next week or what will be the age 
 of tlTe 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 Xd blo^ lip ^^i"- ^^^*'' ^ 1"^^*'"^' therefore, much 
 
 more easily put than answered." 
 
372 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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 dis- 
 posed 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 frontier-man took his 
 departure, the different individuals occupied themselves 
 in their customary modes, the hunter, in particular, pass- 
 ing most of the time in making further inquiries 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 con- 
 sidered Judith's obstinacy was blended with mortification 
 at the career he had run 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 cen- 
 sure himself. Judith gave him her hand, but it was quite 
 as much in gladness as with regret, while the two Dela- 
 wares were not sorry to find he was leaving them. Of the 
 whole party, Hetty alone betrayed any real feeling. Bash- 
 fulness, and the timidity of her sex and character, kept 
 even her aloof, so that Hurry entered the canoe, where Deer- 
 slayer 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. 
 
 " Good-by, Hurry," — she called out in her sweet voice, 
 — "good-by, dear Hurry. Take care of yourself in the 
 woods, and don't stop once till you reach the ga.rrison. 
 The leaves on the trees are scarcely plentier than the 
 Hurons round the lake, and they'd not treat a strong man 
 like you as kindly as they treat me." 
 
 The ascendency which March had obtained over this 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 373 
 
 feeble-minded, but right-thinking and right-feeling girl, 
 arose from a law of nature. Her senses had been cap- 
 tivated by his personal advantages; and her moral com- 
 munications with him had never been sufficiently inti- 
 mate to counteract an effect that must have been other- 
 wise 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 oppor- 
 tunities to enlighten her; but while he conversed and 
 trifled wibh her sister, at a distance from herself, his per- 
 fection 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 ab- 
 solutely 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 circumstance. 
 
 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 
 sw'eep 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 shrank timidly back at his unexpected return. 
 
 " You're a good gal, Hetty, and I can't quit you witliout 
 shaking hands," said March, kindly. "Judith, a'ter all, 
 isn't worth as much as you, though she may be a trifle 
 
374 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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; aye, and for that matter, 
 most young women of my acquaintance." 
 
 " Don't say anything against Judith, Harry," returned 
 Hetty imploringly. "Father's gone, and mother's gone, 
 and nobody's left but Judith and me, and ib 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 again, Hetty, you'd find a fri'nd in 
 me, let your sister do what she may. I was no great fr'ind 
 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." 
 
 "Good-by, 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; "good-by, Hurry; take care of yourself 
 in the woods; don't halt till 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 sym- 
 pathies, and without more words he shook the girl cordially 
 by the hand, and reentered the canoe. In another minute 
 the two adventurers were a hundred feet from the ark, 
 and half a dozen had not elapsed before they /«rere com- 
 pletely lost to view. Hetty sighed deeply, r nd rejoined 
 her sister and Hist. 
 
 For some time Deerslayer and his companion paddled 
 ahead in silence. It had been determined to lana Hurry 
 at the precise point where he is represented, in the com- 
 mencement 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 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 375 
 
 skillful canoe-men 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 efEorts in order to make their 
 parting communications out of ear-shot of any straggler 
 who might happen to be in the neighborhood. 
 
 " You will do well to persuade the officers at the garri- 
 son to lead out a party ag'in these vagabonds, as soon as 
 you get 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'raliz- 
 ing 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 diflereqce 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 inquired with 
 more interest than he was accustomed to betray in ihe 
 welfare of others,—" and as for yourself, what do you think 
 is likely to turn up ? " , -,, ^t nr 1.1 
 
 " 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 feelm's are upper- 
 most in the hearts of the Mingos, and any little disapp mt- 
 ment about the plunder, or the prisoners, or Hist, may 
 make the torments sartain. The Lord, m 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 
 T had scalped every creatur' in their camp, the night we 
 L UandS with tLt capital object ! Had you not held 
 back Deerslayer, it might have been done; then you 
 wouldn't have found yourself, at the last moment, m the 
 desperate condition you mention," 
 
376 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "'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 oncalled for, Henry March, 
 and leaves a heavy load on our names, if not on our con- 
 sciences ! " 
 
 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 humored 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 anything 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 In Jin, or a word passed, or a furlough taken 
 from creatur's like them, that have neither souls nor 
 names ? " 
 
 " If they've got neither souls nor names, you and I have 
 both, Harry March, and one is accountable for the other. 
 This furlough is not, as you seem to think, a matter alto- 
 gether 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 377 
 
 and wants. The words are said to the ears of the Almighty. 
 1 he 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 nQ,ver wish you 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 
 according to the cravings of the spirit." 
 
 March was now glad again to escape. It was quite im- 
 possible that he could enter into the sentiments that en- 
 nobled 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 un- 
 manly 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 counter- 
 acting the decrees of Providence. He stood calmly on the 
 shore, listening to the reckless tread with which Hurry 
 betrayed his progress through the hushes, shook his head 
 in dissatisfaction at the want of caution, and th'en 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 summer's noon-tide, it was now sad 
 and melancholy under the shadows of night. The moun- 
 tains 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 m 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. 
 
378 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 "Thy secret pleasures turned to open shiime ; 
 Thy private feasting to a public fast; 
 Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name ; 
 Thy sugared tongue to bitter wormwood taste ; 
 Thy violet vanities cau never last." 
 
 EiPE OP LUCEECE. 
 
 JuBiTH was waiting the return of Deerslayer, on tha 
 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 oc- 
 casions, 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 simi- 
 lar 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 them. 
 selves. 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 occasionsi and 
 I consider this night as the mo.st 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 ob- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 379 
 
 jections, 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, and 
 to expose 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, hastily. " 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 composs enough for that, Judith ? " de- 
 manded the just-minded young man. " It's a good rule, 
 and a righteous one, never to take when those 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 care- 
 fully as children that haven't yet come to their under- 
 standings." 
 
 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 mount- 
 ings of the spirit, and she smothered the passing sensation 
 in the desire to come to the great object she had m view 
 
 "Hetty will not be wronged," she mildly answered; 
 "she even knows not only what I am about to do. Deer- 
 slayer, but lohy I do it. So take your seat raise the hd 
 of the chest, and this time we will go to^ the bottorn I 
 shall be disappointed if something is not lound to tel] us 
 more of the Hstory of Thomas Hutter and my mother 
 
 "Whv Thomas Hutter, Judith, and not your fathc-? 
 The dead ought to meet with as much reverence &s the 
 
 ■^^^'a\'ave 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 father of neither. He acknowl- 
 
380 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 edged 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 de- 
 tarmine about realities, Judith," returned the other ad- 
 monishingly. " 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." 
 
 "Aye, if some bundles could speak, they might tell 
 wonderful secrets," returned the young man, deliberately 
 undoing the folds of another piece of coarse canvas, 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 
 oi' what nation, it passes my I'arnin' to say." 
 
 " That flag 'must have some meaning to it," Judith hur- 
 riedly interposed. "Open it wider, Deerslayer, that we 
 may see the colors." 
 
 " Well, I pity the ensign that has to shoulder this cloth, 
 and to parade it about in the field. Why 'tis large enough, 
 Judith, to make a dozen of them colors the king's officers 
 set so much store by. These can be no ensign's colors 
 but a gin'ral's ! " 
 
 "A ship might carry it, Deerslayer: and ships I know do 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 381 
 
 use such things. Have you never heard any fearful stories 
 about Thomas Hutter's having once been concerned witli 
 the people they call buccaneers ? " 
 
 " Buck-and near ! Not I— not I^I never heard him 
 mentioned as good at a buck far ofE, or near by. Hurry 
 Harry did tell me something about its being supposed that- 
 he had formerly, in some way or other, dealings with sar- 
 tain sea-robbers; but. Lord, Judith, it can't surely give 
 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 
 wty a woman like Tier should have chosen a man like liim, 
 is more than mortal reason can explain. You never saw 
 mother, Deerslayer, and can't feel the vast, vast difEerence 
 there was between them ! " 
 
 " Such things do happen, howsoever — yes, they do hap- 
 pen; 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 In j ins fit to be missionaries." 
 
 "That was not it, Deerslayer; that was not it. 0, if it 
 should prove that — no ; I cannot wish she should not have 
 been his wife at all. Tliat 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 tmnk 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 m 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, m mno- 
 
382 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 conce 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 Wood. 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 Jadith was much gratified 
 v/ith the letters that first met her eye. They contained the 
 correspondence of an affectionate and intelligent 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 site 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 care- 
 fully 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 inclosed in envelopes accord- 
 ing 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 con- 
 tribute 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 senti- 
 ment of indignation and pride better sustaining her. Her 
 hand shook, however, and cold shivers again passed through 
 hor frame, as she discovered a few points of strong resem- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 383 
 
 blance between these letters and some it had been her own 
 K *o, ""eceive. Once, indeed, she laid the packet down, 
 bowed her head to her knees, and seemed nearly convulsed. 
 All this time, Deerslayer sat a silent hut attentive observer 
 of everything that passed. As Judith read a letter she 
 put it into his hands to hold, until she could peruse the 
 liext; but this seemed in no degree to enlighten her com- 
 panion, 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 discovei-ing. 
 
 Judith had commenced at 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 could not admit of delay, and she 
 soon got to glancing her eyes over a page, by way of com- 
 ing 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 this melancholy revelation of her mother's failings 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 per- 
 son 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 affec- 
 tion 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 
 
384 THE DEERSLAYER. \ 
 
 latest communication that had probably ever passed be- 
 tween 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 re- 
 mainder 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 mar- 
 riage, 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 disposition, 
 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 attrac- 
 tions, 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 
 correspondeiace 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 dis- 
 agreeable to the other. But a single 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 re- 
 vengeful feelings to get the ascendency. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 385 
 
 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 freebooters 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 wore, 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 ex- 
 amination 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 look- 
 ing at them bits of papers ! " 
 
 "They tell me of my parents, Deerslayer, and have set- 
 tled 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 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 
 13 
 
386 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 search necessarily continued some time, during whicli 
 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 Deerskyer, 
 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 appar- 
 ent 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 ginerous, — yes, 'tis downright free-hearted, 
 and free-handed, and ginerous. 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 valie in their eyes. Howsever, while I thank 
 you both, just as much as if the bargain was made, and 
 Kivenoak, 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 yoiit 
 while to waste many words on the bargain ? " 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 387 
 
 "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 calculate ! They say the chist is 
 theirs already; or as good as theirs, 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 way, is nat'ral 
 and according to the gifts of the man. He knows no 
 better, and, therefore, he is Uttle likely to feel or to act 
 any better; but, Judith, I put it to your heart and con- 
 science, — would you, could you think of me as favorably ks 
 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. Deer- 
 slayer, 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 to disgrace 
 myself on my very first war-path ? This you will parceive, 
 moreover, Judith, is without laying any stress on nat'ral 
 gifts, and a white man's duties, to say nothing of con- 
 science. The last is king with me, and I try never to dis- 
 pute his orders." 
 
 " I believe you are right, Deerslayer," returned the girl, 
 after a little reflection, and in a saddened voice; "a man 
 like %iou 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 
 
388 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 of their parents nat'rally and by a sort of gift, like ; and 
 why shouldn't you and Hetty do as others have done a^iore 
 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 a.gaiu; nor, with 
 my consent, shall Hetty ! Hutter was not 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 Pleaven ; 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 djd not properly concern him; 
 "yes, this is very strange and oncommon ! Thomas Hut- 
 ter, wasn't Thomas Hutter, and his darters weren't his dart- 
 ers ! Who, then, could Thomas Hutter \>b, 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 I'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 prefer to see and judge for myself, in- 
 stead of letting every jaw that chooses to wag become my 
 judge. Hurry Harry spoke pretty plainly of the whole 
 family, as we journeyed this-a-way; and he did hint some- 
 thing 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 minc- 
 ing matters between friends. Eead 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 389 
 
 "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 
 inadvertently made an appeal that might wound her com- 
 panion'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. ISTo, no, Judith," .and here the young man laughed 
 cordially ; " not even for wads, seeing that your true deer- 
 killer always uses the hide of a fa'an, 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 name may sarve you just as 
 good a turn." 
 
 " I do not know it. I've looked 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 
 
 " That's both oncommon and onreasonable. Parents are 
 bound to give their offspring a name, even though they 
 oive 'em nothing else. Now, I come of a humble stock, 
 thouffh 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 
 
390 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 
 humoredly, "unless one of you should so far demean her- 
 self 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 aimed to bring it. Although 
 far from unfeminine or forward in her feelings or her 
 habits, the girl was goaded by a sense of wrongs not 
 altogether merited, incited by the helplessness of a future 
 that seemed to contain no resting-place, and still more in- 
 fluenced 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, justi- 
 fiable address of a woman. 
 
 "' I do not think Hetty will ever marry, Deerslayer," she 
 said ; " 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 oases, 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, Deer- 
 slayer, that you could be happy with such a wife as a 
 woman like myself would make 'i " 
 
 "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, edication 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 391 
 
 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 stimu- 
 lant of a disinterested desire to atone, to her other im- 
 pulses, and clothing 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 " — 
 
 "Aye, 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 extolling the 
 qualities which had so strongly interested her in her 
 listener; hoping by these means covertly to approach the 
 
392 THE DEERSLA YER. 
 
 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 difEerent 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 color, 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's not among them." 
 
 " Well, this is wonderful.! I always thought that hand- 
 some lilied 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 brue-hearted girl could tiie for such a husband I 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 sen- 
 sations 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 393 
 
 crossed Lis mind. Tlie 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 keen- 
 ness 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 sim- 
 ple, untaught, but highly taoral 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 soli- 
 tary lamp. 
 
 " You're wonderful handsome, and enticing, and pleas- 
 ing 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 
 ycung women, hereaway, wouldn't be so hard upon him;" 
 
 "No — no — Judith without a name, would never con- 
 sent to be called Judith March ! Anything would be better 
 
 than that!" m i j 
 
 "Judith Bumppo wouldn't sound as well, gal; ana 
 there's many names that would fall short of March, m 
 pleasing the ear." , 
 
 "Ah ' Deerslayer, the pleasantness of the sound, m such 
 cases, does not come through the eai% but through the 
 heart Everything is agreeable when the heart is satislied. 
 Were' Natty Bumppo Henry March, and Henry March 
 Nattv Bumppo, I might think the name of March better 
 than it is; or were he you, I should fancy the name of 
 Bumppo horrible ! " 
 
394' THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 "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 whip-poor- 
 will of a calm evening— it is. The feelin's make all the 
 difference in the world, Judith, in the natur' o-f sounds; 
 aye, 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 begin- 
 ning, are the most apt to I'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, how- 
 sever, that «/0M 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 ofEer of her hand, " and can say, from the 
 bottom of my heart, that I would rather trust my happi- 
 ness 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 on the other side stood 
 one, that has passed his days in the open air till his fore- 
 head is as red as his cheek; had cut his way through 
 swamps and bushes till his hand was as rugged as the oaks 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 395 
 
 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 ahout 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 com- 
 panion had so simply drawn of a guy 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 feel- 
 ings; but the mounting color was sacceeded 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 bet- 
 ter than myself." 
 
 " This is pleasant to listen to, and might lead a young 
 man, in time, to forget [lis 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 cap- 
 able ! 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 a sun- 
 shine, 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 mme, m 
 the world; and onequal matches, like onequal fri'ndships 
 can't often tarminate kindly. I speak of this matter 
 altoo-ether as a fanciful thing, since it's not very likely that 
 you°dA. least-, would be able 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 
 
396 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 soul. Nothing there betrayed any covert meaning, and she 
 was obliged to admit to herself that he regarded the con- 
 versation as argumentative, rather tha,n 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 quickwitted and ingenious, she adopted a scheme 
 by which she hoped effectually to Ijind 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, how- 
 ever, 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 cheerful. 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 back- 
 slidings. 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 ; this 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 397 
 
 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 under- 
 stood. 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 resolu- 
 tion and the bold project for the morrow; and when drow- 
 siness 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 passed 
 
 Athwart my brightest visions here, 
 A cloud of darkest gloom has wrapped 
 
 The remnant of my brief career ; 
 No song, no echo can I win ; 
 The sparkling fount has dried within." 
 
 Mahgaret Davidson. 
 
 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 &ilico dress belted 
 tight to her slender waist, and her littk feet concealed m 
 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 
 
 "^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 
 
398 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 the eyes, though each understood the other a,s 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 sad- 
 dened 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 reilecting 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 pano- 
 rama, 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 fll'st 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 thenj 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 
 village 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 pleas- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 399 
 
 antest 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, point- 
 ing 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 sufEer 
 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 sup- 
 port, 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 t"&e head, too, speak the same words as the 
 heart ? " 
 
 " What does Wah-ta-Wah say, at a moment when my 
 dearest friend is in danger ? The smallest birds smg the 
 sweetest; it is always pleasant to hearken to their songs. 
 I wish I could hear the Wren of the Woods m my diffi- 
 culty; its note would reach deeper than the ear." _ 
 
 Again Hist experienced the profound gratification that 
 the lanffuacre of praise can always awaken, when uttered by 
 those wi love. The " Honeysuckle of the Hills ''was a term 
 often applied to the girl, by the young men of the Dela- 
 wares, though it never sounded so sweet m her ears as 
 from the lips of Chingachgook; but the latter alone had 
 ever styled her the Wren of the Woods. With him, how- 
 
400 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ever, 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 Ser- 
 pent could ever laugh again, or evei- 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 youth- 
 fuj 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 inanner, 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'nts. 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 Ohingachgook 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 in- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 401 
 
 quiring 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?" 
 
 "Aye, that is downright red-skin I'arnin," returned the 
 other, laughing, though he was not altogether insensible to 
 the pleasure of proving the superiority of his race, by solv- 
 ing the difficulty, which he set about doing in his own 
 pieculiar 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 travelling in the heavens, never 
 budges, but it is the 'arth that turns round; and any one 
 can understand, if lie is placed on the side of a mill-wheel, 
 for instance, when it's in motion, that he must sometimes 
 see the heavens, while he is at other times under water. 
 There's no great secret in that, but plain natur'; the diffi- 
 culty 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. Some- 
 times I'v consaited that I could ; and then ag'in, I've been 
 obliged to own it an onpossiblity. 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." . , ,, . 
 
 "Aye, that's what I call sense-obstmacy ! beemg is be- 
 lieving they say; and what they can't see, some men won't 
 in the least give credit to. Nevertheless, chief, that isn't 
 quite as good reason as it may at first seem. You beheye 
 in the Great Spirit, I know; and yet, I conclude, it would 
 puzzle you to show where you see him ! " _ 
 
 " Chino-achgook can see him everywhere— everywhere m 
 good things— the Evil Spirit in had. Here, in the lake; 
 
402 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 there, in the forest; yonder, in the clouds; in Hist, in the 
 son of Uncas, in Tamenund, in Deerslayer. The Evil 
 Spirit is in the Mingos. That I know ; 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 answer doesn't quite meet my idee. 
 That God is obsarvable- in all nat'ral objects is allowable; 
 but then he is not parceptible 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 ex- 
 plained, 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 
 lie feared might get the mastery over their reason. Here 
 he stopped, and pursued the conversation in a more con- 
 fidential tone. 
 
 " 'T was a little onreasonable in you, Sarpent," he said, 
 " to bring up such a subject afore Hist, and when the 
 young woman of my own color 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." 
 
 " Chingachgoo^ will be with his friend, Deerslayer ; if 
 he be in the land bf 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, foi- that 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 403 
 
 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 desurted, 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. Boili 
 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 down- 
 ri^t madness. Can either ot both of you alter a Mingo 
 natur' ? W ill 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 hope- 
 less expectation to look forward to a Mingo's turning aside 
 from evil, and letting marcy get uppermost in his heari|l^ 
 Nevertheless, no one knows to a sartainty what will hap- 
 pen; and young creatur's, like Hist, aren't to be risked on 
 unsartainties. 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 shoulrl 
 expect you to be active 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 nie,.and to distract the inemy; 
 but two are often 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 tho 
 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 mgen'ous; it s cunning enough 
 
404 THE DEERSLAYER. ' 
 
 for a Mingo himself. Tiie Lord only knows -what put it 
 into your head to ask such a question. What would 1 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 Tier couldn''t be said with- 
 out 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, 
 Barpent, reason is ag'in you, and you may as well give it 
 up^^ince to hold out ag'in reason, is no way becoming a 
 chief of your character and r.epitation." 
 ■ "My brother is not himself; he forgets that he is talk- 
 ing to one who has sat at the council-fires 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 other- 
 wise. 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 
 dp 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 tor- 
 ments. 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 ; liever had the kind of 
 feelin's towards any young woman that you have towards' 
 Hist; though the Lord knows my feelin's 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 consarn- 
 ing 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 Dela wares ; she pulls tqwards 
 the camp of the Hurons." 
 
 "She's a noble gal, for all her little feet and Jiands that 
 ain't bigger than a child's, and a voice that's as pleasafli; as 
 a mocker's; she's a noble gal, and like the stock of her 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 405 
 
 sires ! Well, what is it, Sarpent ? for I conclude slie hasn't 
 changed her mind and means to give herself up, and turn 
 Huron v/ife. What is it you want ? " 
 
 "Wah-ta-wah will never live in the wigwam of an 
 Iroquois," answered the Delaware, dryly. " She has little 
 '^et, but they can carry her to the villages of her people; 
 she has small hands, too, but her mind is largo. 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 in- 
 vent, no ta'ntings and revilings, no burnings and roastings 
 and nail-tearings, nor any other onhuman contrivance, 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 ^s 
 
 Here the dialogue terminated. Hetty announced that 
 the breakfast was ready, and the whole party were 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 mani- 
 festing want of appetite, though the two men were un- 
 changed in this particular. It wag 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 plat- 
 iorm again, in the desire to be near the expected victim, to 
 listen to his discourse, and, if possible, to show their 
 Sntei-est in him by anticipating his wishes. Deerslayer 
 himself, so far as human eyes could penetrate, was wholly 
 unmov^, conversing cheerfully and naturally, though he 
 avoidedany direct allusion to the expected and great event 
 of the day. If any evidence could be discovered of his 
 
4o6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 thoughts reverting to that painful subject at fill, it was in 
 the manner in which he spoke of death and the last great 
 cliange. 
 
 " 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'flnly in the order of natur', my good gal, for the aged 
 go fiiet, and the young follow. But one tHat had a mother 
 lilce 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 (]ifEerent doctrine. Still, I i-ather conclude our heaven 
 is their land of spirits, and that the path which leads to it 
 will be travelled by all colors 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 tire same race 
 on 'arth. Keep up your spirits, poor Hetty, and look for- 
 ward to the day when you will meet your mother ag'in, and 
 iW^ 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 bhe 
 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, — " how- 
 sever, 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 ricommgnd to you trusting to God, and 
 putting down all misgivings and faint-hearted 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 Iiereafter; 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'ads 
 here." ^. 
 
 " Which of these opinions is most pleasing to yoii. Deer- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 407 
 
 slayer ? " asked the girl, willing to indulge his melancholy 
 «\*jr 'ij"^-*^ **^ ^""""^ ^®"'S 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 for- 
 ward 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 a buck 
 or doe, Judith, unless when food or clothes was wanting." 
 
 '■ The recollection of which, Deerslayer, must now bffTi 
 great consolation to you." 
 
 " It is the thought of such things, my f ri'nds, that en- 
 ables a man to keep his furlough. It might be done with- 
 out it, I own, for the worst red-skins sometimes do their 
 duty in this matter; but it makes that which might other,' 
 wise 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 thfe 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 arbout 
 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 ill sheep's clothing. I suppose you know what a 
 sheep is, Deerslayer ? " 
 
4o8 ^ THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " That I do, gal; and a useful creature it is to such as 
 like cloths better than skins for winter garments. I 
 understand the natur' of sheep, though I'ye 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 wMild be likely to prove a hot jacket for such a 
 beast in tjre warm months." 
 
 "Andyfin 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 under- 
 take, since they've none of the longings of this world to 
 feed. ! mother told me all that years ago, and I didn'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 war- 
 liors 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 actt/ve and instinc- 
 tive enough to give a pleasure to death. So I wouldn't 
 recommend 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 everything 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, anything but that ! I am too christianized to 
 expect anything so fanciful as hunting and fishing after 
 death; nor do I believe there is one Manitou for t§e, red- 
 skin, and another for a pale-face. You mid different 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 409 
 
 colors on 'arth, as any one may see, but yon don't find 
 aitterent 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 quiok-thoughted and creditable, Judith, 
 thoughthe main idee is wrong. A natur' is the creatur' 
 itself; its wishes, wants, idees, and feelin's, as all are boVn 
 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 \\\ 
 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 color 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, oiit 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, Jadith, to say that you gave me this 
 rifle," he \aid. "I agreed to take it because a young 
 woman can have no particular use for fire-arms. 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 reputation may be lost by careless and thoughtless 
 handling." 
 
4IO THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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 tliis is a gift, 
 Judith, and not natur'- — but I'll not deny my gifts, and 
 therefore allow that the riflo couldn't well be in better 
 hands than it is at precont. 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 hap- 
 pen which is so likely to happen, Killdeer would be with- 
 out an owner." 
 
 Judith listened with apparent composure, though the 
 conflict Avithin came near overpowering her. Appreciat- 
 ing 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, toucMn' our gifts; his'n bein' red, and mine 
 bein' altogether white. Now, I should like to leave Kill- 
 deer to the Sarpent, should anything happen to keep me 
 from doing credit and honor to your precious gift, Judith." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 411 
 
 "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 bo 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 a law in that, but there's no great rea- 
 son, 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, her simple-minded and afEec- 
 tionate natiire 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 
 reexamining 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 cross-bow, than this simple forester was 
 to prove those of his rifle. Eeturning 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 anything serious befalling himself. 
 
 " This is a new reason why you should be wary, Sarpent, 
 and not ran into any oncalculated danger," the hunter 
 added, " for it will be victory of itself, to a tribe, to own 
 Buch 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 
 lailin's. Hist may be, and should be precious to you, but 
 
412 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 Killdeer will have the love and veneration of your wliole 
 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 frin'd, 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 result, every one was will- 
 ing to enter into it; the girls bringing forth the fire-arms 
 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 occa- 
 sion, 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 defense, as their male companions. 
 
 " Now, Sarpent, we'll begin in a humble way, using old 
 Tom's commoners flrst, and coming to your we'pon and 
 Killdeer as the winding-up obseivations," 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 dived at the flash, as had been expected, and 
 the bullet skipped harmlessly along the surface of the lake, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 413 
 
 first striking the water within a few inches of the spot 
 where the bird liad 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 hap- 
 pened, 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 your- 
 self sartain of the wild goose, and I took him out of your 
 very eyes, as it might be, with a little smoke ? Kow- 
 sever, such things pass for nothing atween fri'nds, and 
 young folk will have their fun, Judith. Aye, 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 com, 
 paratively deserted for other sheets, more retired and 
 ?emote, though some of each species continued to resort 
 thither as indeed they do to the present hour At thd.t 
 nS a hundred birds were visible- from the castle 
 sleeprngon the water, or laving their feathers m the limpid 
 eSenI though no other offered so favorable a mark as 
 thaT Deerslayer had just pointed out to his friend. Chin- 
 Schgook, as usual,;spared his words, and P/feeded to 
 fxecution This time his aim was more careful than be- 
 
414 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 fore, and his success in proportion. The bird had a wing 
 cripjpled, and fluttered along the water screaming, materi- 
 ally increasing its distance from its enemies. 
 
 " That bird must be put out of pain," exclaimed Deer- 
 slayer, 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 alollg, when the fatal 
 bullet overtook it, severing the head from the neck, as 
 neatly as if it had been done with an aie. Hist had in- 
 dulged 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 feel- 
 in's, which will neither choke nor drown, slay nor beau- 
 tify," 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 prejudice and friend- 
 ship go. Here is a bird overhead 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 con- 
 siderable 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. Deer- 
 slayer, 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 fo-llowed 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, Dela- 
 ware; you've now a better rifle, and Judith, bring out 
 
THE DEEJiS LAYER. 415 
 
 Killdeer for this is the occasion to try his merits, if he 
 jQtis em '." J J ^ 
 
 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 
 nea,rly over the hut, at a distance even greater than before. 
 Chmgachgook gazed at him, and then expressed his opin- 
 ion 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 glisten- 
 ing 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 anything may be I'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 mes- 
 senger sped upwards, and, at the next instant, the bird 
 turned on its side, and came swooping down, now strug- 
 gling with one wing and then with the other, sometimes 
 whirling in a circuit, next fanning desperately as if con- 
 scious of its injury, until, having described several com- 
 plete 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, 
 Sue leaned her bosom, more than stony hard ; 
 There slept the 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. 
 
 ""Wb've done an onthoughtful thing, Sarpent — yes, 
 Judith, we've done an onthoughtful thing in taking life 
 with an object no better than vanity ! " exclaimed Deer- 
 
4i6 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 slayer, 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 war-path, even though it be their first. Ah's me ! well, 
 as a punishment I'll quit you at once, and when I find my- 
 self 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. Here, 
 Judith; there's Killdeer; 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 ^ohen to use fire-arms as well as 
 ho^o to use 'em. I haven't I'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 knojv 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 it's young, praisin' 
 the Lord, for anything that we can know about the matter, 
 lor 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 conse- 
 quences, 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 crcatur's. nest, if I 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 417 
 
 travelled the woods a fortnight— though an eagle's nest is 
 Boon 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 sor- 
 row 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 cmild 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 see our 
 faults and mistakes when it's too late to help them ! How- 
 sever, 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 feel- 
 ings that were natural to the man, and so strictly in 
 accordance with his own unsophisticated and just princi- 
 ples, 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 upon 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 hnnter sat. 
 14 
 
41 8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 " 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 ProYidence; 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 be- 
 cause the mouth that gives it isn't likely to give it ag'in. 
 No one knows what will happen in the world; and there- 
 fore it may be well, when fri'nds separate under a likeli- 
 hood 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 counselor 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 ; 
 " 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, its hard to say what may come to pass. 
 Besides " — 
 
 "What were you about to say, Deerslayer?" asked Ju- 
 dith, 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 ajs little gifted with reason and memory as Hetty, 
 here, might 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 Dela wares, do reverence and fear the Bible ! " 
 
 " I think you have not the least ground to fear any in- 
 jury, Hetty," answered the sister, " and therefore I shall 
 insist on your going to the HuroE camp with our friend. 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 419 
 
 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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 fr'ind, 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 an eternal 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 Provi- 
 dence has been as bountiful as it has to you Judith, m 
 this partic'lar, I warn you as it might be with my dym 
 breath, to beware of the inimy; fri nd or inimy as we deal 
 
 with the gift." ^ -,.,,, , .-, ■ i 
 
 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 
 
420 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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, haviu' 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 
 sarenmstance. 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 sup • 
 pressed. 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 natui'e of 
 Deerslayer did not require proofs of intense feeling 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 ! Some- 
 times 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 421 
 
 I've a ra'al and strong regard for yon, 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 dis ■ 
 covered 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 blessing 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 surpass- 
 ing personal advantages, as to preserve the ascendency 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 everything 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 resplendent 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-skm natur' and red-skin 
 usages Wah-ta-Wah, to see the condition I am in on 
 account of this furlough," commenced the hunter, in Del- 
 aware 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 
 
422 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ag'in. I've but little to say ; but tbat 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 color, that it is harder among the red-men than 
 it is among the pale-faces. This is a p'int on which Chris- 
 tians 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. Eed 
 women have their'n in what I should call the nat'ral way, 
 while white women take 'em inoculated like. Bear your 
 burden. 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 anything 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 Ohingachgook. It's not very 
 likely that either will ever forget the sarcumstance, and do 
 anything 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 
 nioistened 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 ideas or Chris- 
 tian doctrines." 
 
 Hist shed no tears 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 ex- 
 pression 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, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 423 
 
 " Come this-a^way, Sarpent, here more out of sight of 
 bhe 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 likely to happen, when I get back to the camp. On 
 them tv/o 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 your'n. 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 prac- 
 tice of kind doin', and kind talkin', is a wonderful advan- 
 tage 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 nngs 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 
 mvself 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 use ess, and a sort of vanity On that score I m no 
 wav partic'lar, though it might be well enough to take a 
 S fi the remains of the pile, and should any bones or 
 pieces be found, 'twould be more decent to gather them 
 
424 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 ind, but men of white blood and 
 Christian feelin's have rather a gift for graves." 
 
 " It shall be as my brother says/' returned the Indian, 
 gravely. " If his mind is full, let him empty it in the 
 bosom of a friend." 
 
 "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' others come out, all will be right in 
 the long run. .There's one thing, howsever, chief, that 
 does seem to be owreasonable, and ag'in natur', though the 
 missionaries say it's true; and bein' of my religion and 
 color, I feel bound to believe them. They say an Injin 
 may torment and tortur' the body to the 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; they mean well," re- 
 turned 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 — ah's me ! and some 
 of us may see these things sooner than we thought. I 
 comprehend your meanin' about Tamenund's father, Sar- 
 pent, 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'm 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 prin- 
 ciples, let them be what they may." 
 
 " That is strange for a wise natio„, saia the Delaware, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 425 
 
 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 oncomprehensible ; but when there's so many 
 things about which it may be said we know nothing at 
 all, why, there's little use and no reason in bein' difficult 
 touchin' any 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 conter- 
 plation by my people. On such occasions the mind is 
 actz/ve, 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 comprehension, 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 feelins'. But of all the 
 doctrines, Sarpent, that which disturbs me, and discon- 
 sarts 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 earnest- 
 ness. " 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 
 uniust Indians, and cowards, will have to sneak m with 
 the dogs and the wolves, to get venison for their lodges. 
 
 "'Tis wonderful how many consaits mankind have con- 
 sarnin' happiness and misery, hereafter ! " exclaimed the 
 hunter, borne away by the power of his own thoughts. 
 "Some believe in burnin's and flames, and some think 
 
426 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 light, 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 experience." 
 
 " 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 wickedness, and tliat 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 pres- 
 sure warmly. Then falling back on his acquired stoicism 
 of manner, which so many mistake for constitutional in- 
 difference, he drew up in reserve, and prepared to part 
 from his friend with dimity. Deerslayer, however, was 
 more natural; nor would he have at all cared about giving 
 way to his feelings, had not the recent conduct and lan- 
 guage 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 427 
 
 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 shrank 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 
 himself 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 knows 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 to- 
 gether, hereafter, as we have so long done in these pleasant 
 woods afore us ! " 
 
 Chingachgook waved his hand. Drawing the light 
 blanket he worie over his head, as a Eoman would conceal 
 his grief in his robes, he slowly withdrew into the ark, in 
 order to indulge his sorrow and his musings alone. Deer- 
 slayer did not speak again, until the canoe was half way to 
 the shore. Then he suddenly ceased paddling, at an in- 
 terruption that oame from the mild, musical voice of Hetty. 
 
 " AVhy do -you go back to the Hurons, Deerslayer ? " de- 
 manded the girl. "They say 1 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 sarcumven- 
 tion, 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 color, 
 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 
 
428 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 altogether among brambles and difficiilties. There s a 
 bright side to a war-path, 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 war-path, 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 donft understand as easily as those that have 
 sense." 
 
 "Well then, Hetty, the simple truth is this. You know 
 that I'm now a captive 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 bark 
 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 my 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. 
 Eopes and chains allow of knives, and desait, and contriv- 
 ances; 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, ^ood little Hetty ? " 
 
 " Certainly. A promise is to say you will do a thing, 
 
' THE DEERSLAYER. '. 429 
 
 and that binds yon 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 
 everybody 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 f ri'nds and send messages in to my own color, 
 if any such feel consarn on my a.ccount, on condition that 
 I shall be back, when the sun is up to-day, and take what- 
 ever 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 a mother and 
 darter, or even atween strangers, in the settlements is 
 called a furlough, when given by one soldier to another, on 
 a war-path. And now I suppose you understand my situ- 
 ation, 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 brag- 
 ging, as it might be, on the verge 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 princi- 
 pal sorrow is, that such a calamity should befall me on my 
 first war-path: 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 
 
43° THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 theriefore, 
 when the moment comes, 1 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 diffliculties, 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 talk- 
 ing 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, start- 
 ing. " 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 ? " 
 
 " ! I knew 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 to be on her guard against 
 evils she little dreams of." 
 
 " What harm can it be to think well of a fellow-creat- 
 ure ? " ]-eturned 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 431 
 
 US to love them who despitef uUy 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 ii, 
 reproving manner — much as a parent rebukes a child for an 
 act of indiscretion. " If you have anything 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 lijvin' for 
 your sister Judith." 
 
 " Well, what of that ? Everybody admires Judith, she's 
 so handsome, and Hurry has told me, again and again, how 
 mnch 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 m 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." 
 
432 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "Ah's me !— well, poor Hetty, 'tis of no great use to talk 
 to tliem 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 fur- 
 lough 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 further 
 was uttered that it may be thought necessary to relate. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ' Thoji hast been busy. Death, this day, irnd yet 
 But half thy work is done 1. 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 1 " 
 
 SOUTHET. 
 
 xpijTE 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 tiiese two circum- 
 stances, 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. 
 Favored 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 433 
 
 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. Some- 
 thing 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 return- 
 ing 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 open- 
 ing 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 ex- 
 clamation 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 
 
434 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 trophy of liis 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 camp, having set up for them- 
 selves imaginary and arbitrary points of honor, to supplant 
 the conclusions for the right, and the decisions of reason. 
 
 The Hurons had been divided in their opinions concern- 
 ing 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 Dela- 
 wares 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 the 
 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 ex- 
 pected 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, as 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 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 435 
 
 ;"with grave deciorum. On the right stood the young men, 
 armed, while the lef b was occupied by the women and chil- 
 dren. In the centre was an open space of considerable 
 extent, always canopied by leaves, but from which the 
 underbrushes, 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 shadows 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 sev- 
 eral 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 — per- 
 haps we might add, in confoTmity with nature, that one of 
 the chiefs was indebted to his mind for his inflaence, 
 whereas the other owed his distinction altogether to quali- 
 ties 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 warpath. The first was 
 Eivenoak, who has already been introduced to the reader, 
 while the' last was called Ive Panthere, 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 dis- 
 tinctive features of his character. The title had been 
 
436 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 received fTom the French, and was prized so much the 
 more from that circumstance, the Indian submitting pro- 
 foundly to tfie' 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. 
 
 Eivenoak 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 presenc.e 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 Dela- 
 wares, 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 busi- 
 ness 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 Eivenoak. This 
 chief arose, stretched his ar.m before liim, 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; ive 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 
 tlie blood of a pale-face was too thin; that it would refuse 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 437 
 
 to run under the Huron knife. Yoa -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 forgot- 
 ten, and that he cannot travel towards the land of spirits 
 alone, that his enemy must be sent to overtake him, thoy 
 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 lime spoken, and \ do 
 know not only what you have said, but, what is still more 
 important, what you mean, i dare say your warrior, the 
 Lynx, was a stout-hearted brave, and worthy of your 
 fri'ndship and respect, but I do not feel onworthy 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 Eivenoak, 
 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 use- 
 less, and lead to braggin' feelins'; here I am; act your will 
 on me." 
 
 Eivenoak made a sign of acquiesence, 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 Vas more of seeming, than of real confidence, 
 however, in this apparent liberality, inasmuch as the young 
 
438 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 re- 
 moved beyond this line of sentinels, to a spot where it was 
 considered safe from any sudden attempt. These precau- 
 tious 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 dis- 
 tinctions 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 over- 
 take, or to outwit a fugitive, when his exertions were sup- 
 posed 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 how have seen 
 any probable opening for an escape, the attempt would not 
 have been delayed a minute. But the case seemed des- 
 perate. 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 ever a point of 
 honor to reason and feel like white men, 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 chances 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 a.n exclusive right 
 to be heard on such an occasion. The young men strolled 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 439 
 
 about in indolent listlessness, awaiting the result with 
 Indian impatience, while the females prepared the feast 
 that was to celebrate the termination of the aflair, 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 differ- 
 ent 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 
 6:^0 rt at escape, as it might be from sheer anxiety to termi- 
 nate 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 Eivenoak, 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 Ijakes when we look towards our villages. It 
 may be a wise 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 calamity befallen her. She has two duties; 
 
440 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 one to Le Loup Oervier, 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 wig- 
 wam, 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 feared this, Eivenoak," 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'; 'twould ill becoijie 
 me to take a wife, under red-skin forms, from among 
 heathen. That v/hich 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 in- 
 tended I should live single, and v/ithout a lodge of my own ; 
 but should such a thing come to pass, none but a woman 
 of my own color and gifts shall dai-ken the door of my 
 wigwam. As for feeding the young of your dead warrior, 
 I would do that cheerfully, could it be done without dis- 
 credit; but it cannot, seeing that I can never live in a 
 Huron village. Your own young men miist find the 
 Sumach in venison, and the next time she marries, let her 
 take a husband whose legs are n6t 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 Deer- 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 441 
 
 slayer, before a common murmur betrayed the dissatisfac- 
 tion with which they had been lieard. The aged women, 
 in i^articular, 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 Iti her 
 denunciations. But all the other manifestations of disap- 
 pointment and discontent were thrown into the back- 
 ground, 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 Yengeeso, 
 at all, and had only given a reluctant consent to the 
 arrangement — one by no means unusual among the 
 Indians, howeyer — at the earnest solicitations of the 
 bereaved widow; and it goaded him to the quick to find 
 his condescension slighted, the honor he with so much regret 
 had been persuaded to accord, contemned. 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 
 y^U 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 skull 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 sue- 
 
442 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 cess; 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 capirive, 
 for 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 
 coiirsfi of the past hour, he had pondered well on the 
 chances of such an experiment, and had shrewdly calcu- 
 lated 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 in- 
 decision, 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, Deer^ 
 slayer 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 443 
 
 Several rifles were discharged at Deerslayer while in the 
 water, and more followed as he came out into the com- 
 parative 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, anti the 
 general confusion that prevailed in the camp, prevented 
 any harm from being done. Bullets whistlfed past him, 
 and many cut twigs from the branches at his'side, but not 
 one touched even his dress. The delay caysed by these 
 fruitless attempts was of great service to the fugitive, who 
 had gained more than a hundred yards on eyfen the leading 
 men of the Hurons, ere something like cop-cert and order 
 had entered into the chase. To think of following with 
 rffle in hand was out of the question; and after emptying 
 their pieces in vague hope 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 sufiiciently 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 diflicult 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 inter- 
 vened, 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 closely 
 as possible under its lower side, took but a moment. 
 
444 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 pulsation 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, how- 
 ever, 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 move- 
 ment 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 sud- 
 denly threw himself over the tree, and fell on the upper 
 side. This achievement apjDeared to be effected success- 
 fully, and hope beat high in the bosom of the fugitive. 
 Eising to his hands and feet, after a moment lost in 
 listening to the sounds in the glen, in order to ascertain if 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 445 
 
 te 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 him- 
 self 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 f ngitive. A fe\y, 
 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 cool- 
 ness, 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 princi- 
 pally 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 Ime, 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. Derslayer had 
 now a different, though a desperate project m view. 
 Abandoning all thoughts of escape by the woods, he made 
 the best of his way towards the canoe. He knew where ib 
 lav could it be reached, he had only to run the gauntlet 
 nf a few rifles, and success would be certain. None of ttie 
 warriors had kept their weapons, which would have retarded 
 
446 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 their speea, 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 execu- 
 tion of this plan, and the course being a continued descent, 
 tlie 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 endeavored 
 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 him- 
 self 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 scoop- 
 ing up water 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. Pre- 
 paring 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 dis- 
 tance 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 Ohingachgook 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. ""^ 447 
 
 pottom of the canoe he M'atehed its movements, hy study- 
 ing the tops of the trees on the mountain-side, and judged 
 of his distance by the time and the motion. Voices on 
 tlie 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 on the lake would 
 reach his ears, did any one venture to approach by swim- 
 ming. 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- 
 Jiole" and fortunately commanded a very tolerable view of 
 
448 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 the point. The canoe, by one of those imperceptible im- 
 pulses 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 mentioaed, 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 
 ofi shore. 
 
 Deerslayer now felt the urgent necessity of- resorting to 
 some expedient to get further from his foes, and, if pos- 
 sible 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. The 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 bjiat, while he worked his own body as far aft as pos- 
 sible. U3efore quitting the shore, and as soon as he per- 
 ceived that the paddles were gone, Deerslayer had thrown 
 a bit of dead branch into the canoe, and this was within 
 reach of his arm."l Eemoving the cap he wore, he put it 
 on the end of th'E 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 
 proof how much he had underrated the intelligence of his 
 enemies. In contempt of an artifice so shallow and com- 
 monplace, a bullet was fired directly through another part 
 of the canoe, which actually razed 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, feel- 
 ing 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 449 
 
 Xv^^"^ ^i"ift"ig gradually futher and further from the shore. 
 \V hen he looked upwards, the tree tops had disappeared, 
 but he soon found that the canoe was slowly turning, so as 
 to prevent his getting a view of anything at his peep-hole, 
 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' invaders' force ; 
 Nor swelling seas, nor threatening skies, 
 
 Prevent the pirate's course : 
 Their lives to selfish ends deci'eed, 
 Through blood and rapine they proceed ; 
 No anxious thoughts of ill- repute. 
 Suspend the impetuous and unjust pursuit ; 
 But power and wealth obtained, Ruilty and great. 
 Their fellow-creatures' fears they raise, or urge their hate. 
 
 CONGRKVE. 
 
 Bt 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 
 v.-ere up or down the lake ; and, though he knew that his 
 15 
 
45° THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 Eivenoak, 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 air, aided by some eddies 
 in the water. 
 
 '■ Come," saia the Huron, with a quiet gesture of author- 
 ity 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 
 jiiil 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, 
 
 I " These calves \vere found unprofitable, giving but little railk, and being with 
 difficulty restrained" by fences. They always inclined to browse upon the trees 
 and shrubs, rather than to feed upon the grass. The legs of the raoose are so long 
 that without spreading their feet wide asunder, they cannot bring their mouths 
 to the ground, and evidently they are not destined by nature to pasture on t'-o 
 (.'ra*s. They travel with great rapidity, their swiftest gait being a long trot."— 
 Letter of Judfic Cooper, 1805 — 6. 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 45 £ 
 
 and not killed by bullets. When ho turns moose agahi 
 he will be treated like a moose." 
 
 "Aye, 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 vrords atween us; 
 for all men must and ought to follow their gifts. How- 
 sever, when your women begin to ta'nt and abuse me, as 1 
 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 capt«/ve ; work your 
 will on me." 
 
 "My brother has had a long run on the hills, and a 
 pleasant sail on the water," returned Eivenoak, more mildly, 
 sfliiling, 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 bears' 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 emptj-. 
 We thought this; but the Panther yelled, and followed 
 the husband on the path of death. They are now trynig 
 which shall first reach the happy hunting-groLinds._ Some 
 think the Lynx can run fastest, and some think the 
 Ponther can jump the furthest. 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 
 ^ho told her husband and her brother to quit her lodge, 
 
452 THE DEERS layer: 
 
 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." 
 
 "Aye, Huron, this is soon settled, accordin' to your 
 notions ; but it goes sorely ag'in the grain ol a white man's 
 feelin's. I've heard of men's saving their lives this-away, 
 and I've know'd them that would prefer 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 pl9,ce, Kivenoak 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, a.nd the trodden earth, that 
 still showed the marks of their feet. So sudden and un- 
 expected 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 encamp- 
 ment was intended, and that the mystery of the movement 
 was resorted to in order to work on his apprehensions. 
 
 Eivenoak walked iip 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 un- 
 practiced 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 him- 
 self at liberty, or a free agent. Still, he was ignorant how 
 far the Hurons meant to carry their artifices, and he de- 
 termined to bring the question, as soon as practicable, to 
 the proof. Affecting an indifference he was far from feel- 
 ing, 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, ho 
 
" THE DEERS LAYER. ' 453 
 
 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 thrown into a small pile. Eemoving 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, when 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 act«/ve 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 
 
 8T)0j£6 
 
 " Poor Hetty," he said, "times have been so troublesonie 
 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 command- 
 
4S4 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ments, which say, ' Thou shalt not kill ' ? They tell me yon 
 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 " 
 
 "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 a'gin 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 maitrimony, 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'll think of it a moment." 
 
 "I've always heard mother say,". returned Hetty, avert- 
 ing 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." - 
 
 "Aye, and she's red, and I'm white. Besides, Hetty, 
 suppose you was a wife, now, having married some young 
 man of your own years, and state, and color — 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 ?" 
 
 " ! no, no, no," returned the girl, shuddering. " That 
 would be wicked, as well as heartless ! No Christian girl 
 
THE DEERSLA YER. ' 455 
 
 could or would do that. I never shall be the wife of 
 -tlurry, 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 wed- 
 dm's have no priests, and not much religion, a white man 
 who knows his gifts and duties can't profit by that, and 
 80 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." 
 
 "Aye, gal; you ain't Sumach, but a comely young Chris- 
 tian, 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; ! 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 lookout. Some are burying the 
 
456 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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." 
 
 "Ah's me ! Well, it is an awful dispatch to be standing 
 here, alive and angry, and with thefeelin's up and furious, 
 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 war-path, 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, in 
 a circle — the armed men being so distributed among the 
 feebler members of the band, that there was no safe open- 
 ing through which the prisoner could break. But the 
 latter no longer contemplated flight ; the recent trial hav- 
 ing 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 color and his man- 
 hood ; one equally removed from recreant alarm and savage 
 boasting. 
 
 When Eivenoak reappeared 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 recognized 
 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. 
 Eivenoak, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 457 
 
 tnith of which the career of the profound Englishman 
 himself furnishes so apt an illustration. 
 
 Next to arms, eloquence ofEers the great avenue to 
 popular favor, whether it be in civilized or savage life ; and 
 Eivenoak had succeeded, as so many have succeeded before 
 hmi, 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 indulg- 
 ence of the mere 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-. With- 
 out her forgiveness, there was scarce a hope that the tribe 
 could be induced to overlook its loss ; and even to Eivenoak 
 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 pkce. 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 orthree 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 sheaths, impatient 
 for the bloody and merciless work to begin. 
 
 " Killer of the Deer," recommenced Eivenoak, 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, 
 
458 THE DEERSLAYER. ■ 
 
 lie has begun to fall near the pines on this side of the 
 Talley. 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 nt 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 sprits 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 indivors to bear up 
 ag'in it, ihough 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 Eouge ; a sobriquet he had 
 gained from the French, by his facility in making unsea- 
 sonable 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 flasli 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 interfered, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 459 
 
 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 ofEered no resist- 
 ance. 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 a hope that the captive would finally save him- 
 self from any serious bodily suffering, by consenting to 
 take the Sumach for a wife. As soon as the body of Deer- 
 slayer 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 pre- 
 vented 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 anything 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 com- 
 promise of her right to be revenged. With this view, tlien, 
 the woman was next desired to advance, and to look to her 
 own interest; 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 advan- 
 tages by the time they have reached an age which the 
 Sumach had 'Fong 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 
 arrano'ement of Eivenoak's some of the women around her 
 liad been employing the time in endeavoring to persuade 
 
46o THE DEERSLAYER.' 
 
 the beteaved 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 suc- 
 cess 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 the 
 greatest hunter tliat was then thought to exist in all that 
 region transferred to his own nation, as well as a husband 
 for a woman who he felt would be likely to be trouble- 
 some, were any of her clainis 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 
 loath, 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 embar- 
 rassment 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 hand 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 yov,; I cannot find Le Loup Cerviex, nor the Pan- 
 ther; 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," inter- 
 posed 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 hunt- 
 ing-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." 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 461 
 
 '' Kay, nay, good Sumach," interrupted the Deerslayer, 
 ^'iiose 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 wiis 
 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, inas- 
 much as what the Great Spirit intends is sartain to come 
 to pass. Then, ag'in, it's plain neither of your fri'nds did 
 me any harm; I raised my h'and 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 
 Hvirons 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 Lave 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 
 1/otir children — they are also mine; feed us, and we will 
 live with you.' " 
 
 " The tarms are onadmissible, woman; and though I feel 
 for yoni 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 m a lodge 
 that has no head ? There are more among my people m 
 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 Ueerslayer, whose im- 
 a<rination was far from seconding the appeal of the widow, 
 aSd 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 
 
462 THE DEERSLA YER. 
 
 my color, 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 down- 
 right refusal of the woman's proposals. If there was any- 
 thing like tenderness in her bosom, — and no woman was 
 probably ever entirely without that feminine quality, — it 
 all disappeared at this plain announcementi, ■ Fury, rage, 
 mortified pride, and a volcano of wrath, burst out at one 
 explosion, converting her into a sort of maniac, as it might' 
 be at the touch of a magician's wand. Without deigning 
 a reply in words, she made the arches of the forest ring 
 with her 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 
 handfulls 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 Pluron 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- Ei von oak 
 understood; and as his elder associates manifested no dis- 
 position to permit any longer delay, he was compelled to 
 give the signal for the infernal work to proceed. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 463 
 
 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." 
 
 Lord Doesey. 
 
 It was 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 giv- 
 ing 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 perseScution. 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 color. 
 
 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 pos ■ 
 sible 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 
 mio'ht interfere with the expected entertainment. In the 
 tru*est hands, it was seldom that the captive escaped injury 
 ill these trials ; and it often happened that death followed 
 even when the blow was not premeditated. In the par- 
 
464 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 ticular case of our hero, Rivenoak and the older warriors 
 were apprehensiye 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 identi- 
 cal 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 con- 
 nection 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 Eivenoak 
 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 sacrified 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 immi- 
 nent danger, when he took his stand, and poised the tonia- 
 hawk. 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 reputa- 
 tion, 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 y/ould 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 465 
 
 sapling to -wliich 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 dodg- 
 ing, and otherwise attempting to avoid the blows. Deer- 
 slayer 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 disdain- 
 fully denied himself this advantage, under similar circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The Eaven 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 
 skillful 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 Eaven, 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 skillful 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 steadi- 
 ness of nerve alone enabled him to give this evidence of his 
 consummate skill. 
 
 Le Daim-Mose was succeeded by the Bounding lioy, or 
 Le Gargon 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 aetur.lly 
 
466 THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 unable to move in any other manner, than by showing the 
 antics just mentioned. Nevertheless, he was both brave 
 and skillful, and had gained the respect ol 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 
 Frenchman 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 Bound- 
 ing 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 arr'nd. Why do you keep loping about like 
 a fa'an 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 antics ? 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 good-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 pre- 
 vented ainy 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 >vith which 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 467 
 
 ^^ {^°6d his assailants, more especially in the sort of rally 
 with which this trial terminated, excited a profound respect 
 m 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 excep- 
 tion 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 con- 
 fined 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. 
 
 Eivenoak now told his people that the pale-face had 
 proved himself to be a man. He might live with the Dela- 
 wares, 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 exhibi- 
 tion ; 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 . 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 had 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 injury, 
 an inch or two of difference in the line of projection must 
 at once determine the question of life or death. 
 
468 ' ' THE DEERSLA YER. 'f 
 
 In the tortuTe by the rifle there was none of the latitude 
 permitted that appeared in the case of even Gesler'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 unskillful 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 :r*elating 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 experi- 
 enced 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 oi 
 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 counte- 
 nance, speaking like one who knew herself to be sustained 
 by the high authority of God. 
 
 "Why do you torment Deerslayer, red-men ? " 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, 
 m harming Deerslayer, you injure your own friend ; when 
 father and Hurry Harry came after your scalps, he refused 
 to be of the party, and stayed in the canoe l)y himself. 
 You are tormenting your friend, in tormenting this voung 
 man \" 
 
 The Hurons listened with grave attention, and one 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 4^9 
 
 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 bold 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 
 the 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 indiffer- 
 ence 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 sub- 
 •ject her infirmity to the mockings of the rude and feroci- 
 ous. On the contrary, she was answered with respectful 
 attention. 
 
 " My daughter does not always talk like a chief at a 
 coiincil-fire," returned Eivenoak, "or she would not have 
 
470 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 therfe is 
 another spirit about to set out fo^r the far-ofE 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 leveled 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 indom- 
 itable 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 resigna- 
 tion to his f:ite, blended with natural steadiness of deport- 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. . 471 
 
 meiit; for our hero had calmly made up his miud that he 
 must die, and preferred this mode to any other; the second 
 was his great familiarity with this particular weapon, which 
 depriyed 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 
 trees, 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 
 indivors. 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 : 
 aye, or at two hundred, if the object 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. Eivenoak 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 im- 
 mediate 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 oeen like the pale- 
 faces when they fasten their doors at night, oui of fear of 
 the red-man. 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 
 gee what his own body is really made of." 
 
472 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 Eivenoak, under the pretense that his 
 body would be more likely to submit to apprehension, if 
 its true tone were restored ; though really wi'th 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, stamp- 
 ping his feet, and moving about, soon regained the 
 circulation; recovering all his physical powers as efEectually 
 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 sup- 
 pose, 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 inten- 
 tion 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 them- 
 selves 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 re- 
 sumed 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 DEERSLAYER. 473 
 
 the desire to break down his spirit grew in them, precisely 
 as they saw proofs of the difficulty there would be in sub- 
 Qiung it. The honor of the band was now involved in the 
 issue; and even the sex lost all its sympathy with suffering, 
 m _ the desire to save the reputation of the tribe. The 
 voices of the girls, soft and melodious as nature had made 
 them, were heard mmgling 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 occasionp, 
 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 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 an 
 nouncement that proceeded from one of the look-outs, £ 
 boy ten or twelve years old, however, put a momentary 
 check to the whole proceedings. As this interruption has 
 
 close connection with the denouement of our story, it 
 shall be given in a separate chapter. 
 
 a 
 
474 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 " So deetn'st thou— so each mortal deems 
 Of that which is from that which seems ; 
 
 But other harvest' hei*e 
 Than that which peasant's scythe demands, 
 Was gathered in by sterner hands, 
 
 With bayonet, blade, and spear." 
 
 Scott, 
 
 It exceeded Deerslayer's power to ascertain what had 
 produced the sudden pause in the movements of his ene- 
 mies, 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 exemptioij from the penalties of captivity that was 
 so cheerfully accorded to her feeble-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 efEect 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 oven to betray an incongruity 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 47 S 
 
 that would have been detected by one practiced 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 uningtructed 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 colors, glossy 
 satins, and rich laces, than the beautiful creature whose 
 person it now aided to adorn. 
 
 The eflecb of such an apparition had not been miscalcu- 
 lated. 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 mani- 
 festations 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 cir- 
 cumstances, all waited for the visitor to explain her object, 
 which to most of the spectators seemed as inexplicable cs 
 her appearance. 
 
 " Which of these warriors is the principal chief ? " de- 
 manded Judith of Deerslayer, as soon as she found it was 
 
476 THE DEERSLA YER. 
 
 expected that she should open the communication ; " ray 
 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 listen- 
 ing to the interpretation of the first words that fell from so 
 eKtraordinary a vision. The demand seemed perfectly in 
 character for one who had every appearance of an exalted 
 rank herself. Eivenoak 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 
 clairiied. 
 
 " I 6an 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 trans- 
 lated 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 in Canada has killed 
 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 ofP, 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 /ee? 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, con- 
 
7^HF. DEERSLAYER. 477 
 
 sidering 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 
 favorahly for the girl's success. But Indian thought is 
 not easily traced to its sources. Judith waited with anx- 
 iety to hear the answer, filled with hope even while she 
 douhted. Eivenoak was a ready speaker, and he answer»d 
 as promptly as comported with the notions of Indian de- 
 corum ; that peculiar people seeming to think a short delay 
 respectful, inasmuch as it manifests that the words already 
 heard have heen 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 hand stood alone in not heing fully imposed on hy the 
 magnificent and unusual appearance of Judith ; hut who 
 distrusted even while he wondered; "the humming-hird 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 be- 
 yond the understanding of poor Indians, who can only com- 
 prehend 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 he useless to state 
 my rank and residence, inasmuch as you would not com- 
 prehend them. You must trust to your eyes for this 
 knowledge; what red-man is there that 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 
 
 ^^^' 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 a^d 
 vour young men would have looked angrily at each other; 
 esnecially had my young men seen that pale-face bound for 
 the tortures. He is a great hunter, and is much loved by 
 all the garrisons, far and near. There would have been 
 
478 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 
 liake, 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 phrase- 
 ology, 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 thfe worse for the recent 
 accident, produced a lively sensation among the Hurons 
 generally, though Rivenoak received it coldly, notwith- 
 standing 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 im- 
 posed on as his followers; and with a sentiment of honor, 
 that half the civilized world would have deemed superero- 
 gatory, 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 dryly answered ; " and the little gun, 
 which has two muzzles. The Hurons will kill doer when 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 479 
 
 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 stout-hearted 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 hoast, 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-faces' 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 practiced, 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 gleaned on the hard, wrinkled coun- 
 tenance of the chief, when he found how completely his 
 appeal to the truth-loving Hetty had succeeded. As for 
 
48o THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 Judith herself, the moment her sister was questioned, she 
 saw that all was lost; for no sign, or even entreaty, 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 idee, and fit 
 for a general's lady; but yonder Mingo" — Eivenoak had 
 withdrawn to a little distance, and was out of ear-shot — 
 " but yonder Mingo is an oncommon man, and not to be 
 deceived by any unnat'ral sarcumventions. Things must 
 come afore him in their right order to draw a cloud afore 
 Ms' 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 are 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 hadn't 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 gener- 
 ous 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 481 
 
 of your sex and beauty will meet with a harder fate than 
 to become the wife of a chief, if indeed your white in- 
 clinations can stoop to match with an Injin. 'Twould 
 have been better had you stayed 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 low 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 the 
 torments. A short consultation had passed among the 
 elders of the baud, and by this time they also were pre- 
 pared with their decision. The merciful purpose of 
 Eivonoak had been much weakened by the artifice of 
 Judith, which, failing of its real object, was likely to pro- 
 duce results the very opposite of those she had anticipated. 
 This was natural; the feeling being aided by the resent- 
 ment 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 contributed to the ex- 
 posure. 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 sen- 
 timent was, in effect, communicated to the young men, 
 who were already eagerly engaged in making their prep- 
 arations for the contemplated scene. Fragments of dried 
 wood were rajDidly 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 unmtived 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 inquire whether resistance or submission were most 
 advisable. By a significant gesture she counseled the last; 
 10 
 
482 THE DEERSLAYER, 
 
 and, in a minute, lie 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 hinj 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 the presumptuous intruder 
 to' the earth; but the chiefs prevented the blows, by re- 
 minding 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 
 couldn't 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 in-dignant 
 Hetty; "would you burn a man and a Christian as you 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 483 
 
 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 tlie circle, and presented the 
 countenance of Hist, it was succeeded by a common ex- 
 clamation of pleasure and surprise. For a minute, all 
 thought of pursuing- the business in hand- was forgotten, 
 and 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 smail, keen-edged knife, that Hist had 
 given to the other, was passed by the latter into tlie 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 her- 
 self, with earnestness and simplicity, to cut tlie thongs that 
 bound his head, that he might not agam 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 dis- 
 covery 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 de- 
 manded, in the tones of a firm-minded woman. " lie is 
 the brother of a Delaware chief; my heart is all Delaware. 
 Come forth, miserable Briarthorn, and wash ihe Iroquois 
 paint from your face; stand before the Hurons, the crow 
 
484 THE DEERSLAYEK. 
 
 that you are; yon 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 sensa- 
 tion among the Hurons. Treachery is always liable to 
 distrust; and though the recreant Briarthorn had endeav- 
 ored 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 proj- 
 ect had risen up among his new friends, weakening still 
 more their sympathies with treason. In a word. Briar- 
 thorn 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 background. " 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 colors, that, at first, 
 the hunter did not recognize 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 Dela wares; come not here 
 with the face of an innocent man. Go look in the spring; 
 see the colors of your enemies on your lying skin; and 
 then come back and boast how you ran from your tribe, 
 and took the blanket of the French for your covering. 
 Paint yourself as bright as a humming-bird, you will still 
 be black as the crow." 
 
 Hist had been so uniformly gentle while living witli the 
 Hurons, that they now listened to her language with sur- 
 prise._ 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 485 
 
 pale-face is tired of life; if afraid of Indian torments, 
 speak, Rivenoak; I will send him after the warriors we 
 have lost." 
 
 " N 0, chief, — no, Rivenoak,^' eagerly interrupted Hist. 
 "The Deerslayer fears nothing; least of alia crow! Un- 
 bind 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 men- 
 tioned 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, there- 
 fore, was rejected; and the disappointed Hist found her- 
 self 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 pro- 
 ceed ; the delay having been 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 bound- 
 ing 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 senti- 
 nels 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 twink- 
 ling of an eye, with a quickness and precision that left 
 the prisoner perfect master of his limbs. Not till this was 
 
486 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 war- 
 rior, 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 defi- 
 ance on the crowd around him, he suffered to fall back 
 into the hands of the proper owner. The presence of two 
 armed men, though it was in their midst, startled the 
 Hurons. Their rifles were scattered about against the dif- 
 ferent 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 ex- 
 traordinary 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 Iro- 
 quois; there is room for the Delawares on this side. I am 
 Chingachgook, the son of Uncas; the kinsman of Tame- 
 nund. This is my betrothed; that pale-face is my friend. 
 My heart was heavy when I missed him. All the Dela- 
 ware 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. /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 recre- 
 ant's heart. A minute had scarcely elapsed from the mo- 
 ment in which Uhingaohgook bounded into the circle, and 
 that in which Briarthorn fell, like a dog, dead in his tracks. 
 The rapidity of events prevented the Hurons from acting; 
 but this catastrophe permitted no further delay. A common 
 exclamation followed, and the whole party was in motion. 
 At this instant, a sound unusual to the woods was heard. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 4S7 
 
 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 inclosed 
 Hurous; 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 ofE 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 Deerslaye.r. 
 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 inclin- 
 ing off towards the southern margin of the point, in the 
 hope of escaping through the v/ater. 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, how- 
 ever, 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 CHAPTEK 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, 
 Bnef even as bright." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 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 
 rtiay be said to have then stretched, with few and imma- 
 terial 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 oc- 
 curred. 
 
 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 even- 
 ing 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 irresistible laws of their nature. In a word, nothing 
 was changed but the air of movement and life that pre- 
 vailed 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 regi- 
 ment, paced the platform with measured tread, and some 
 twenty men of the same corps lounged about the place, or 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 489 
 
 were seated in the ark. Their arms were stacked under the 
 eye of their comrade on post. Two officers stood examin- 
 ing 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 proof 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 that 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 Captain 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 agree- 
 able 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 stiil 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 
 
490 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 yery 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 1 
 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 
 colors, in the great corps of bachelors, and close the cam- 
 paign 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 ? " 
 
 " Aye, these are the notions of an ensign ! Love in a 
 cottage — doors — and windows — the old story, for the hun- 
 dredth time. The twenty — th 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 lieu- 
 tenant-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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 491 
 
 ^^en 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 em- 
 ployed 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, inflict- 
 ing an injury that was known at a glance to be mortal. 
 How this wound was received, no one knew; it was prob- 
 ably 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 mel&e, 
 or from the difficulty of distinguishing the sexes, where 
 the dress was so simple. Much the greater portion of the 
 warriors suifered on the spot. A few had escaped, how- 
 ever, and two or three had been taken unharmed. As |or 
 the wounded, tho 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 betray- 
 ing no visible signs 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 accus- 
 tomed to death-bed scenes, and ordinarily they produced 
 but little impression on him. In all that relates to re- 
 ligion, his was one of those minds which, in consequence 
 of reasoning much on material things, logically and con- 
 secutively, and overlooking the total want of premises 
 which such a theory must ever possess, through its want 
 of a primary agent, had become skeptical ; leaving a vague 
 
492 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 opinion concerning the origin of things, that with high pre- 
 tensions 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 de- 
 cided Scotch accent, as Warley and the ensign entered; 
 " I just hope, gentlemen, that when we three shall be 
 called on to quit the twenty- — th, we may be found as 
 resigned to go on the half-pay of another existence as this 
 poor demented ehiel ! " 
 
 " Is there no hope that she can survive the hurt? " de- 
 manded 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 Ohairlie Stuart. Approach ■ 
 and judge for yourselves, gentlemen; ye'U see faith ex- 
 emplified in an exceeding and wonderful manner. There 
 is a sort of arhitrium between life and death, in actual 
 conflict in the poor girl's mind, that renders her an inter- 
 esting 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 deeji grief, the 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. 493 
 
 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 giyen place to the usual look of hon- 
 esty and benevolence; qualities of which the expression 
 was now softened by manly regret and pity. The Serpent 
 was in the back-ground of the picture, erect and motionless 
 as a statue; but so observant, that not a look of the eye 
 escaped his own keen glance. Hurry completed the group ; 
 being seated on a stool near the door, like one who >lt 
 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 red-men 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. Deer- 
 slayer I don't think God will sufEer 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." 
 
494 
 
 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 Judith made no reply; she hid her face in her hands 
 and groaned. Hetty gazed at her in wonder; but natu- 
 rally supposing her own situation was the cause of this 
 grief, she kindly ofEered 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 tliem 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, 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 
 j)erchance of penitence, 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 called 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 be- 
 yond 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 with- 
 stand, though he felt, Just then, as if he would gladly 
 abandon the American continent forever, were it practic- 
 able. Instead of pausing at the door, he now advanced 
 so near the pallet of the sufferer as to come more plainly 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 495 
 
 within her gaze. Hetty could still distinguish large ob- 
 jects, 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 shoot- 
 ing 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 circum- 
 stances, Judith." 
 
 " Talk not to me of anything 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 daugh- 
 ters." 
 
 " 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 interrogatories 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 reverted 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 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 
 
496 THE DEERSLAYER 
 
 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 ? " ex- 
 claimed 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, \i& for- 
 gets 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 pro- 
 ceeded to execute; and there was an air of movement with 
 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 Chin- 
 gachgook left the ark to confer together. But, at the end 
 of the time mentioned, the surgeon passed upon the plat- 
 form ; and with a degree of feeling his comrades had never 
 before observed in one of his habits, he announced that 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 497 
 
 the patient was rapidly drawing near her end. On receiv- 
 ing this intelligence, the group collected again; curiosity 
 to witness such a death — or a better feeling — drawing to 
 tne spot men who hail so lately been actors in a scene seem- 
 L ingly 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 disso- 
 lution. 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 
 moMier; 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. JSTever mind ; pale-face got 
 a heaven for girl as well as for warrior." 
 
 "Where's the Serpent? Let me speak to him; give me 
 liis hand ; so ; I feel it. Delaware, you will love and 
 cherish this young Indian woman ; I know how fond she is 
 of yo?</ and yon must be fond of Mr, Don't treat her as 
 some people treat their wives; be a real husband to her. 
 Now bring Deerslayer near me; give me Ms hand." 
 
 This request was complied with, and the hunter stood 
 by the side of the pallet, submitting to the wishes of the 
 o-irl 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 
 forever. 'Tis a strange feeling! I never had it before; I 
 wonder what it comes from ! " 
 
498 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 "'Tis God encouraging you iu extremity, Iletty; as 
 such it ought to be harbored and respected. Yes, we sliall 
 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 mu^st be, then. I am too weak-minded to under- 
 stand these things, hut I Jml that you and I will meet 
 again. Sister, where are you ? I can't see now anything 
 but darkness. It must be night, surely ! " 
 
 "0! Hetty, I am here at your side; these are my arms 
 that are round 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 liloom. No 
 one but Judith detected this expression of feeling, one of 
 the gentle expressions of womanly sensibility, even in 
 death. On her, however, it was not lost, nor did she con- 
 ceal 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 affirma- 
 tive, and 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 DEERSLAYER. 499 
 
 the inclination which Hetty felt for him (a sort of secret 
 yielding to the instincts of nature, rather than any unbe- 
 coming impulse of an ill-regulated imagination), was too 
 pure and unobtrusive to have created the slightest suspic- 
 ion 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." 
 1^ What shall I say, Judith ? " 
 
 " N^-y? whatever your own pure spirit teaches, my love. 
 Trust to that, and you need fear nothing." 
 
 " Good-by, 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 ? " whis- 
 pered Judith; "tell me, that I may aid you at this mo- 
 ment." 
 
 " 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 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 anotiier. 
 
500 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 " A baron's chylde to be begylde I it were a cursed dede ; 
 To be felawe with an outlawe I Almighty God f orbede ! 
 Yea, better were, the poor squySre, alone to forest yede. 
 Than 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." 
 
 NOTEEOWNE MaTDE. 
 
 ^ 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. Ilo.ur 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 o'ther 
 Christian slain. It mattered not; that all-seeing eye 
 which reads the heart, could not fail to discriminate 
 between the living and the dc^id, 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 vs^holly wanting in suitable ac- 
 companiments. 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 homewards with 
 
THE j:>eerslayer. 501 
 
 tile 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 leav- 
 ing him who had issued the order greater liberty of 
 action. 
 
 Judith held no communication 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 tran- 
 quil 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 proceed- 
 ings 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 efEects, 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 
 
 I In January, 1779, Major-General Sullivan and General George Clinton con- 
 ducted a successful joint expedition into this region, and over the waters of 
 Ots'-po Lake and the Susquehanna, to avenge the massacre of Wyoming.— See 
 Ibving's Life oi? Washington, pages 400-1-25, Wm. L. Allison, N. Y,, publisher. 
 
503 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 was to be totally abandoned; but beyond this no explana- 
 tions were asked or given. 
 
 The soldiers embarked in the ark, with the captain at 
 their head. He had inquired 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, or 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 doors 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 Deer- 
 slayer 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 mis- 
 sionary, and am but poorly taught. Bach spirit answers 
 for its own backslidings ; though a hearty repentance will 
 satisfy G-od's laws." 
 
 "Then must my poor, poor mother, be in heaven! Bit- 
 terly — 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 ! " 
 
THE DEERS LAYER. S03 
 
 " All this goes beyond me, Judith. I strive to do right, 
 here, as the surest means of keeping all riglit, hereafter. 
 Hetty was oncommon, as all that know'd her must allow; 
 and her soul was as fit to consort 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 difEerences 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 further east, Deerslayer; the sun so daz- 
 zles my eyes that I cannot see the graves. This is Hetty's, 
 on the right of mother's ? " 
 
 " Sartain — you asked 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 atten- 
 tion; 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 settled. 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 yoxt,, 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 srarrior 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 alto- 
 gether understand me. Warrior I may now call myself, I 
 suppose, for I've both fou't and conquered, which is suffi- 
 
504 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 cient for the name ; neither will I deny that Pve f eelin's 
 lor 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 Min- 
 go. If the young men of this region stood by, and suf- 
 fered 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 differ- 
 ence atween givin' up territory afore a war, out of a dread 
 of war, and givin' it up a'ter a war, because we canH help it 
 — onless it be that the last is the most manful and honor- 
 able." 
 
 "No woman would ever wish to see her husband or 
 brother stand by, and submit to insult and wrong. Deer- 
 slayer, however she might mourn the necessity of his run- 
 ning 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, oi' a want of 
 frankness of any sort. Here, over my mother's grave, and 
 over the grave of truth-loving, truth-telling Hetty, every- 
 thing like unfair dealing seems to be out of place. I will 
 therefore speak to you without any reserve, and without 
 any dread of heijxg- misunderstood. You are not an ac- 
 quaintance of a' 'Week, but it appears to me as if I had 
 known you for years. So much, and so much that is im- 
 portant, 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 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 505 
 
 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 pleas- 
 ant 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 my- 
 self, when there is anything ra'ally important to be said." 
 
 This indomitable diffidence, which still prevented the 
 young man from suspecting the truth, would have com- 
 pletely discouraged the girl, had not her whole soul, as well 
 as her whole heart, been set upon making a desperate 
 efEort 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 tc her great confusion. 
 
 " I will — -I mthst deal as plainly with you, as I would with 
 poor, dear Hetty, were that sweet child living ! " she con- 
 tinued, turning pale, instead of blushing, the high resolu- 
 tion 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 fpelings, in the one 
 that is now uppermost ! You love the woods and the life 
 that we pass, here, in the wilderness, away from the dwell- 
 ings 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. 
 
5o6 THE DEERSLAYER 
 
 after we have seen the priest at the fort, and never quit it 
 iigaiu, until God calls us away to that world where we shall 
 find the spirits of poor mother and sister/' 
 
 A long, thoughtful pause succeeded; Judith having cov- 
 ered 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 ofEend. 
 
 "You haven't thought well of this, Judith," he said; 
 " no, your f eelin's are awakened by all that has lately hap- 
 pened, 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 re- 
 pentance 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 gar- 
 rison; 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. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. $07 
 
 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 fteadiness 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 im- 
 petuous 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 cer- 
 tain 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 
 any want of sincerity now," she said. " I hope we under- 
 stand 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 — every- 
 thing, 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, how- 
 ever, 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 cieave 
 unto her." 
 
 " This is enough ! " answered Judith, in a rebuked and 
 smothered voice; " I understand all that you mean. Marry 
 you cannot, without loving; and that love you do not feel 
 for me. Make no answer if I am right, for I shall under- 
 stand 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 sat 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 
 
5o8 THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 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 ex- 
 changed 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 color frequently changed from the deep 
 flush of mortification to the paleness of disappointment. 
 Sorrow, deep, heartfelt sorrow, however, was the predomi- 
 nant 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. Chin- 
 gachgook 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, sep- 
 arated. The soldiers, too, had taken up their line of ma.rch; 
 first setting the ark adrift again, with a reckless disregard 
 of its fate. All this Judith saw, biit 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 un- 
 noticed; that modest young creature shrinking from the 
 averted face of Judith, as if guilty herself of some wrong- 
 doing. 
 
 " 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 the rear, when Judith turned and spoke. 
 
 " This will do, Deerslayer," she said, sadly. " I under- 
 stand 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, 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 509 
 
 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. Deer- 
 slayer, 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 
 bKoken by the consciousness of undeserving, 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; Ohingachgook 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 
 TJncas, the last of his race, was added to the long line of 
 warriors who bore that distinguished 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 
 ofiScers 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, 
 Ohingachgook, 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 un- 
 changed; the river still rushed through its bower of trees; 
 
5IO THE DEERS LAYER. 
 
 the little rock was wasting 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 piit it in a state for service, and they all embarked, 
 with a desire to examine the place. All the points were 
 passed, aJid 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 trace 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 
 traditioijis were already rousing his young mind to the 
 ambition and sternness of a warrior. 
 
 From ,the point, the 'canoe took its way towards 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 piace, 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 tne 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 oiitlet, 
 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 fiuttering from a 
 log. It recalled all her beauty, and we may add, all her 
 failings. Although the girl had never touched his heart. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 
 the riawkeye, for so we ought now to call him, sti 
 :i kind and sincere interest in her welfare. He 
 the ribbon and knotted it to the stock of Killd 
 had been the gift of the girl herself. 
 
 A few miles further up the lake another of 
 was discovered: and on the point where the pi 
 landed, were found those which had been left ' 
 he shore. That in which the present navigatio: 
 and the one discovered on the eastern shore, h, 
 through the decayed floor of the castle, drift 
 falling palisades, and had been thrown as wai: 
 beach. 
 
 From all these signs, it was probable the la 
 been visited since the occurrence of the final s< 
 tale. Accident or tradition had rendered it 
 sacred to nature; the frequent wars, and the 
 lation of the colonies, still confining the settle 
 narrow boundaries. Chingachgook and his t'r 
 spot with melancholy feelings. It hud been t 
 their First War-Path, and it carried back the m, 
 to scenes of tenderness as well as to hours 
 They held their way towards the Mohawk in sj 
 ever, to rush into new adventures, as stirrin 
 markable as those which had attended their op' 
 on this lovely lake. At a later day they ret 
 place, where the Indian found a grave. 
 
 Time and circumstances have drawn an i 
 mystery around all elae connected with the Hu'S 
 lived, erred, died, and are forgotten. None cdu: 
 felt sufficient interest in the disgraced and di 
 withdraw the veil; and a century is about t' 
 the recollection of their names. The histor^ 
 ever revolting, and it is fortunate that few I 
 on its incidents. The sins of the family haTi| 
 been arraigned at the Judgment-seat of God, or'are regis-,' 
 tered for the terrible settlement of the last gr 
 
 The same fate attended Judith. When Haw' 
 the garrison on the Mohawk, he inquired auA! 
 that lovely, but misguided creature. Nouc l 
 even her person Vv-as no longer remembered. 0? 
 had again and again succeeded the Warieys 
 and Grahams; though an old sergeant 01 the g; 
 had lately come from England, was enabled to 
 that Sir Eobert Y/arley lived on hifc paternal 
 
 Ipoi, tli^ 
 
 nsi 
 
 spoil 
 popi^' 
 s within 
 left t.ie 
 gion of 
 
 Id a« ; 
 ijcareejl 
 
 . to tl 
 
 penetrable 
 
 ., They 
 ^cted have 
 
 racing, to 
 
 trase even 
 
 3f_ crime it 
 
 «-eil 
 
 fg since*. 
 
THE DEERSLAYER. 
 
 was a lady of rare beauty in the lodge, who had 
 
 ence over him, though she did not bear his name. 
 
 his was Judith, relapsed into her early failing, or 
 
 victim of the soldier's, Hawkeye never knew, 
 
 it be pleasant or profitable to inquire. We live 
 
 of transgressions and selfishness, and no pictures 
 
 ent us otherwise can be true; though happily 
 
 nature, gleamings of that pure spirit in whose 
 
 n has been fashioned, are to be seen, relieving 
 
 .ties, and mitigating, if not excusing its crimes. 
 
 EHE END.