The young men who had been sent out to reconnoitre,
on the sudden appearance of Hetty, soon returned to report
their want of success in making any discovery. One of
them had even been along the beach as far as the spot

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

opposite to the ark, but the darkness had completely concealed
that vessel from his notice. Others had examined in different
directions, and everywhere the stillness of night was
added to the silence and solitude of the woods. It was consequently
believed that the girl had come alone, as on her
former visit, and on some similar errand. The Iroquois were
ignorant that the ark had left the castle, and there were movements
projected, if not in the course of actual execution by
this time, which also greatly added to the sense of security.
A watch was set, therefore, and all but the sentinels disposed
themselves to sleep.

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

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

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

and which, it was thought, would fully occupy the whole
of the pale-faces, who were at liberty, with their solitary
Indian ally. It was also probable Rivenoak was aware,
that, in holding his captive, he had in his own hands the
most dangerous of all his enemies.

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

The girl took no pains to conceal her movements. Any
ingenious expedient of this nature, quite likely, exceeded her
powers; still her step was habitually light, and scarcely
audible. As she took the direction of the extremity of the

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

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 consideration and
respect.

Hetty certainly had no very distinct notions of the localities,
but she found her way to the beach, which she reached
on the same side of the point as that on which the camp had
been made. By following the margin of the water, taking
a northern direction, she soon encountered the Indian, who
paced the strand as sentinel. This was a young warrior,
and when he heard her light tread coming along the gravel,
he approached swiftly, though with 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 disappointment when he found
whom he had met; for, truth to say, he was expecting his
favourite, who had promised to relieve the ennui of a midnight
watch with her presence. This man was also ignorant
of English, but he was at no loss to understand why
the girl should be up at that hour. Such things were usual
in an Indian village and camp, where sleep is as irregular
as the meals. Then poor Hetty's known imbecility, as in
most things connected with the savages, stood her friend on
this occasion. Vexed at his disappointment, and impatient
of the presence of one he thought an intruder, the young
warrior signed for the girl to move forward, holding the direction
of the beach. Hetty complied; but, as she walked
away, she spoke aloud in English, in her usual soft tones,
which the stillness of the night made audible at some little
distance.

“If you took me for a Huron girl, warrior,” she said, “I
don't wonder you are so little pleased. I am Hetty Hutter,

[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

Thomas Hutter's daughter, and have never met any man at
night, for mother always said it was wrong, and modest
young women should never do it; modest young women of
the pale-faces, I mean; for customs are different in different
parts of the world, I know. No, no; I'm Hetty Hutter, and
wouldn't meet even Hurry Harry, though he should fall
down on his knees and ask me! mother said it was wrong.”

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

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

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

“Here we are safe, Hetty,” she said, “and may talk without
the fear of being overheard. You must speak low,
however, for sounds are heard far on the water, in a still
night. I was so close to the point, some of the time, while

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

you were on it, that I have heard the voices of the warriors,
and I heard your shoes on the gravel of the beach, even before
you spoke.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh! I never thought fathers could read much, but mothers
ought all to read, else how can they teach their children?
Depend on it, Judith, Deerslayer could never have
had a mother, else he would know how to read.”

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

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

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

“Torment you! yes, now I remember all about it. I am
glad you used that word, Judith, for it brings it all back to
my mind. Well, he said he might be tormented by the savages,
but he would try to bear it as becomes a Christian
white man, and that no one need be afeard—why does

[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

Deerslayer call it afeard, when mother always taught us to say
afraid?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

important changes, Hetty perceived the circumstances, and
wondered at them in her own simple way.

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

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

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

“Judith Hutter! you frighten me. Hurry is the handsomest
mortal in the world—even handsomer than you are
yourself; because a man's good looks, you know, are always
better than a woman's good looks.”

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

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

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

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

“To think of you asking me this, Judith! He can't read,
and you can. He don't know how to talk, but speaks worse

[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

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

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

“Alas! poor Hetty, you little know mankind! Seeming
friends are often more to be dreaded than open enemies; particularly
by females. But you'll have to land in the morning,
and try again what can be done for Deerslayer. Tortured
he shall not be, while Judith Hutter lives, and can find
means to prevent it.”

The conversation now grew desultory, and was drawn
out, until the elder sister had extracted from the younger
every fact that the feeble faculties of the latter permitted her
to retain, and to communicate. When Judith was satisfied—
though, she could never be said to be satisfied, whose feelings
seemed to be so interwoven with all that related to the
subject, as to have excited a nearly inappeasable curiosity—
but, when Judith could think of no more questions to ask,
without resorting to repetition, the canoe was paddled towards
the scow. The intense darkness of the night, and the
deep shadows which the hills and forest cast upon the water,
rendered it difficult to find the vessel, anchored, as it had
been, as close to the shore as a regard to safety rendered
prudent. Judith was expert in the management of a bark
canoe, the lightness of which demanded skill rather than
strength; and she forced her own little vessel swiftly over
the water, the moment she had ended her conference with
Hetty, and had come to the determination to return. Still

[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

no ark was seen. Several times the sisters fancied they
saw it, looming up in the obscurity, like a low black rock,
but on each occasion it was found to be either an optical
illusion, or some swell of the foliage on the shore. After a
search that lasted half an hour, the girls were forced to the
unwelcome conviction that the ark had departed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[figure description] Page 051.[end figure description]

instant, by a flash. The crack of a rifle succeeded, and then
followed the roll of the echo along the eastern mountains.
Almost at the same moment a piercing female cry rose in
the air in a prolonged shriek. The awful stillness that succeeded
was, if possible, more appalling than the fierce and
sudden interruption of the deep silence of midnight. Resolute
as she was both by nature and habit, Judith scarce
breathed, while poor Hetty hid her face and trembled.

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

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

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

The scene that was now presented to the observation of
the girls was within the woods, on the side of the declivity
so often mentioned, and in plain view from the boat. Here
all in the camp were collected, some six or eight carrying
torches of fat-pine, which cast a strong but funereal light on
all beneath the arches of the forest. With her back supported
against a tree, and sustained on one side by the young
sentinel whose remissness had suffered Hetty to escape, sat
the female whose expected visit had produced his delinquincy.
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

[figure description] Page 052.[end figure description]

that she had been shot. Judith understood it all at a glance.
The streak of light had appeared on the water a short distance
from the point, and either the rifle had been discharged
from a canoe hovering near the land, or it had been fired
from the ark in passing. An incautious exclamation, or
laugh, may have produced the assault, for it was barely possible
that the aim had been assisted by any other agent than
sound. As to the effect, that was soon still more apparent,
the head of the victim dropping, and the body sinking in
death. Then all the torches but one were extinguished,—a
measure of prudence; and the melancholy train that bore
the body to the camp was just to be distinguished by the
glimmering light that remained.

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

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

CHAPTER IV.

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

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

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

“Deerslayer has shown himself a boy, in going among
the savages at this hour, and letting himself fall into their
hands like a deer that tumbles into a pit,” growled the old
man, perceiving as usual the mote in his neighbour's eyes,
while he overlooked the beam in his own. “If he is left to

[figure description] Page 054.[end figure description]

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 skilful
and watchful as Deerslayer, should have been caught in
such a trap! Didn't he know any better than to go prowling
about a Huron camp, at midnight, with no place to retreat
to, but a lake? or did he think himself a buck, that by
taking to the water could throw off the scent and swim himself
out of difficulty? I had a better opinion of the boy's
judgment, I 'll own; but we must overlook a little ignorance
in a raw hand. I say, Master Hutter, do you happen to
know what has become of the gals—I see no signs of Judith,
or Hetty, though I 've been through the ark, and looked
into all its living creatur's?”

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

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

Hutter had no objections to this movement, and the ark
was got under way, in the usual manner, care being taken
to make no noise. The wind was passing northward, and the
sail soon swept the scow so far up the lake, as to render
the dark outlines of the trees that clothed the point, dimly
visible. Floating Tom steered, and he sailed along as near
the land, as the depth of the water, and the overhanging
branches would allow. It was impossible to distinguish any
thing that stood within the shadows of the shore; but the

[figure description] Page 055.[end figure description]

forms of the sail and of the hut, were discerned by the young
sentinel on the beach, who has already been mentioned. In
the moment of sudden surprise, a deep Indian exclamation
escaped him. In that spirit of recklessness and ferocity that
formed the essence of Hurry's character, this man dropped
his rifle and fired. The ball was sped by accident, or by
that overruling Providence which decides the fates of all, and
the girl fell. Then followed the scene with the torches,
which has just been described.

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

Hurry's companions did not view his conduct with the
same indulgence, as that with which he appeared disposed
to regard it himself. Hutter growled out his dissatisfaction,
for the act led to no advantage, while it threatened to render
the warfare more vindictive than ever; and none censure
motiveless departures from the right, more severely than the
mercenary and unprincipled. Still he commanded himself,
the captivity of Deerslayer rendering the arm of the offender
of double consequence to him at that moment.

[figure description] Page 056.[end figure description]

Chingachgook arose, and for a single instant the ancient animosity of
tribes was forgotten, in a feeling of colour; but he recollected
himself in season to prevent any of the fierce consequences
that for a passing moment, he certainly meditated.
Not so with Hist. Rushing through the hut, or cabin, the
girl stood at the side of Hurry, almost as soon as his rifle
touched the bottom of the scow; and with a fearlessness that
did credit to her heart, she poured out her reproaches with
the generous warmth of a woman.

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

Hurry had never been so daunted, as by this close and
warm attack of the Indian girl. It is true that she had a
powerful ally in his conscience; and while she spoke earnestly,
it was in tones so feminine as to deprive him of any
pretext for unmanly anger. The softness of her voice added
to the weight of her remonstrance, by lending to the latter an
air of purity and truth. Like most vulgar-minded men, he
had only regarded the Indians through the medium of their
coarser and fiercer characteristics. It had never struck him
that the affections are human; that even high principles—
modified by habits and prejudices, but not the less elevated
within their circle—can exist in the savage state; and that
the warrior who is most ruthless in the field, can submit to
the softest and gentlest influences, in the moments of domestic
quiet. In a word, it was the habit of his mind to regard
all Indians as beings only a slight degree removed from the
wild beasts that roamed the woods, and to feel disposed to
treat them accordingly, whenever interest or caprice supplied
a motive, or an impulse. Still, though daunted by
these reproaches, the handsome barbarian could hardly be

[figure description] Page 057.[end figure description]

said to be penitent. He was too much rebuked by conscience,
to suffer an outbreak of temper to escape him; and
perhaps he felt that he had already committed an act that
might justly bring his manhood in question. Instead of resenting,
or answering, the simple, but natural appeal of
Hist, he walked away, like one who disdained entering into
a controversy with a woman.

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

The night was calm, though so much obscured by clouds.
The season was not one of storms, and those which did
occur in the month of June, on that embedded water, though
frequently violent, were always of short continuance. 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 efforts of the
night air to be a sort of capricious and fickle sighings of
the woods. Several times the head of the ark pointed east,
and once it was actually turned towards the south, again;
but, on the whole, it worked its way north; Hutter making
always a fair wind, if wind it could be called, his principal
motive appearing to be a wish to keep in motion, in order
to defeat any treacherous design of his enemies. He now

[figure description] Page 058.[end figure description]

felt some little concern about his daughters, and perhaps as
much about the canoe; but, on the whole, this uncertainty
did not much disturb him, as he had the reliance already
mentioned on the intelligence of Judith.

It was the season of the shortest nights, and it was not
long before the deep obscurity which precedes the day began
to yield to the returning light. If any earthly scene could
be presented to the senses of man that might soothe his passions
and temper his ferocity, it was that which grew upon
the eyes of Hutter and Hurry, as the hours advanced, changing
night to morning. There were the usual soft tints of
the sky, in which neither the gloom of darkness nor the
brilliancy of the sun prevails, and under which objects appear
more unearthly, and we might add holy, than at any
other portion of the twenty-four hours. The beautiful and
soothing calm of eventide has been extolled by a thousand
poets, and yet it does not bring with it the far-reaching and
sublime thoughts of the half-hour that precedes the rising
of a summer'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 different as possible
from the decreasing twilight; and finally mellow, distinct
and luminous, as the rays of the great centre of light
diffuse themselves in the atmosphere. The hymns of birds,
too, have no novel counterpart in the retreat to the roost, or
the flight to the nest; and these invariably accompany the
advent of the day, until the appearance of the sun itself


“Bathes in deep joy, the land and sea.”

All this, however, Hutter and Hurry witnessed without
experiencing any of that calm delight, which the spectacle
is wont to bring, when the thoughts are just, and the aspirations
pure. They not only witnessed it, but they witnessed
it under circumstances that had a tendency to increase its
power, and to heighten its charms. Only one solitary object
became visible in the returning light, that had received
its form or uses from human taste, or human desires,
which as often deform as beautify a landscape. This was
the castle; all the rest being native, and fresh from the hand

[figure description] Page 059.[end figure description]

of God. That singular residence, too, was in keeping with
the natural objects of the view; starting out from the gloom,
quaint, picturesque, and ornamental. Nevertheless the whole
was lost on the observers, who knew no feeling of poetry,
had lost their sense of natural devotion in lives of obdurate
and narrow selfishness, and had little other sympathy with
nature, than that which originated with her lowest wants.

As soon as the light was sufficiently strong to allow of a
distinct view of the lake, and more particularly of its shores,
Hutter turned the head of the ark directly towards the castle,
with the avowed intention of taking possession for the
day at least, as the place most favourable for meeting his
daughters, and for carrying on his operations against the
Indians. By this time, Chingachgook was up, and Hist was
heard stirring among the furniture of the kitchen. The
place for which they steered was distant only a mile, and
the air was sufficiently favourable to permit it to be neared
by means of the sail. At this moment, too, to render the
appearances generally auspicious, the canoe of Judith was
seen floating northward in the broadest part of the lake;
having actually passed the scow in the darkness, in obedience
to no other power than that of the elements. Hutter got his
glass, and took a long and anxious survey, to ascertain if
his daughters were in the light craft, or not; and a slight 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

[figure description] Page 060.[end figure description]

occasional visits to the abodes of civilization; and Chingachgook
had imbibed enough of this impassibility to suppress any
very undignified manifestation of surprise. With Hist,
however, no such law was binding, and when her lover
managed to bring the glass in a line with a canoe, and her
eye was applied to the smaller end, the girl started back in
alarm; then she clapped her hands with delight, and a
laugh, the usual attendant of untutored admiration, followed.
A few minutes sufficed to enable this quick-witted girl to
manage the instrument for herself, and she directed it at
every prominent object that struck her fancy. Finding a
rest in one of the windows, she and the Delaware first surveyed
the lake; then the shores, the hills, and, finally, the
castle attracted their attention. After a long steady gaze at
the latter, Hist took away her eye, and spoke to her lover
in a low earnest manner. Chingachgook immediately
placed his eye to the glass, and his look even exceeded that
of his betrothed in length and intensity. Again they spoke
together, confidentially, appearing to compare opinions, after
which the glass was laid aside, and the young warrior quitted
the cabin to join Hutter and Hurry.

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

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

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

“The devil he is! If this should turn out to be true,
Floating Tom, a pretty trap were we about to pull down on
our heads! Huron there! — well, this may be so; but no

[figure description] Page 061.[end figure description]

signs can I see of any thing, near or about the old hut, but
logs, water, and bark—'bating two or three windows, and
one door.”

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

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

“No trail — water make no trail,” said Hist, eagerly.
“Stop boat—no go too near—Huron there!”

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

“No see moccasin,” said Hist, impatiently; “why no
look—and see him.”

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

Hurry had lowered the sail, and by this time the ark was
within two hundred yards of the castle, setting in, nearer and
nearer, each moment, but at a rate too slow to excite any
uneasiness. Each now took the glass in turn, and the castle,
and every thing near it, was subjected to a scrutiny still
more rigid than ever. There the moccasin lay, beyond a
question, floating so lightly, and preserving its form so well,
that it was scarcely wet. It had caught by a piece of the
rough bark of one of the piles, on the exterior of the

[figure description] Page 062.[end figure description]

water-palisade, that formed the dock already mentioned; which circumstance
alone prevented it from drifting away before the
air. There were many modes, however, of accounting for
the presence of the moccasin, without supposing it to have
been dropped by an enemy. It might have fallen from the
platform, even while Hutter was in possession of the place,
and drifted to the spot where it was now seen, remaining unnoticed
until detected by the acute vision of Hist. It might
have drifted from a distance, up or down the lake, and accidentally
become attached to the pile, or palisade. It might
have been thrown from a window, and alighted in that particular
place; or it might certainly have fallen from a scout,
or an assailant, during the past night, who was obliged to
abandon it to the lake, in the deep obscurity which then prevailed.

All these conjectures passed from Hutter to Hurry; the
former appearing disposed to regard the omen as a little sinister,
while the latter treated it with his usual reckless disdain.
As for the Indian, he was of opinion, that the moccasin
should be viewed as one would regard a trail in the
woods, which might, or might not, equally, prove to be
threatening. Hist, however, had something available to propose.
She declared her readiness to take a canoe, to proceed
to the palisade, and bring away the moccasin, when its ornaments
would show whether it came from the Canadas or not.
Both the white men were disposed to accept this offer; but
the Delaware interfered to prevent the risk. If such a
service was to be undertaken, it best became a warrior to
expose himself in its execution; and he gave his refusal to
let his betrothed proceed, much in the quiet but brief manner
in which an Indian husband issues his commands.

“Well then, Delaware, go yourself, if you 're so tender
of your squaw,” put in the unceremonious Hurry. “That
moccasin must be had, or Floating Tom will keep off, here,
at arm's-length, till the hearth cools in his cabin. It 's but
a little deer-skin, after 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

[figure description] Page 063.[end figure description]

man's eyes, and a white man's nose, and for that matter his
sight and ears, are all better than an Indian's, when fairly
tried. Time and ag'in have I put that to the proof, and what
is proved is sartain. Still I suppose the poorest vagabond going,
whether Delaware or Huron, can find his way to yonder
hut and back ag'in; and so, Sarpent, use your paddle and
welcome.”

Chingachgook was already in the canoe, and he dipped
the implement the other named, into the water, just as
Hurry's limber tongue ceased. Wah-ta!-Wah saw the departure
of her warrior on this occasion, with the submissive
silence of an Indian girl, but with most of the misgivings and
apprehensions of her sex. Throughout the whole of the
past night, and down to the moment when they used the
glass together in the hut, Chingachgook had manifested as
much manly tenderness towards his betrothed, as one of the
most refined sentiments could have shown under similar circumstances;
but now every sign of weakness was lost in an
appearance of stern resolution. Although Hist timidly endeavoured
to catch his eye, as the canoe left the side of the
ark, the pride of a warrior would not permit him to meet her
fond and anxious looks. The canoe departed, and not a
wandering glance rewarded her solicitude.

Nor were the Delaware's care and gravity misplaced,
under the impressions with which he proceeded on this enterprise.
If the enemy had really gained possession of the
building, he was obliged to put himself under the very muzzles
of their rifles, as it were, and this too without the protection
of any of that cover, which forms so essential an
ally in Indian warfare. It is scarcely possible to conceive
of a service more dangerous; and had the Serpent been
fortified by the experience of ten more years, or had his
friend, the Deerslayer, been present, it would never have
been attempted; the advantages in no degree compensating
for the risk. But the pride of an Indian chief was acted on
by the rivalry of colour; and it is not unlikely that the presence
of the very creature from whom his ideas of manhood
prevented his receiving a single glance, overflowing as he
was with the love she so well merited, had no small influence
on his determination.

Chingachgook paddled steadily towards the palisades,

[figure description] Page 064.[end figure description]

keeping his eye on the different loops of the building. Each
instant he expected to see the muzzle of a rifle protruded,
or to hear its sharp crack; but he succeeded in reaching the
piles in safety. Here he was, in a measure, protected, having
the heads of the palisades between him and the hut;
and the chances of any attempt on his life, while thus covered,
were greatly diminished. The canoe had reached
the piles with its head inclining northward, and at a short
distance from the moccasin. Instead of turning to pick
up the latter, the Delaware slowly made the circuit of the
whole building, deliberately examining every object that
should betray the presence of enemies, or the commission
of violence. Not a single sign could 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
Hutter, and even the gate of the dock had all the customary
fastenings. In short, the most wary and jealous eye could
detect no other evidence of the visit of enemies, than that
which was connected with the appearance of the floating
moccasin.

The Delaware was now greatly at a loss how to proceed.
At one moment, as he came round in front of the castle, he
was on the point of stepping up on the platform, and of applying
his eye to one of the loops, with a view of taking a
direct personal inspection of the state of things within; but
he hesitated. Though of little experience in such matters,
himself, he had heard so much of Indian artifices through
traditions, had listened with such breathless interest to the
narration of the escapes of the elder warriors, and, in short,
was so well schooled in the theory of his calling, that it
was almost as impossible for him to make any gross blunder
on such an occasion, as it was for a well-grounded
scholar, who had commenced correctly, to fail in solving
his problem in mathematics. Relinquishing the momentary
intention to land, the chief slowly pursued his course round
the palisades. As he approached the moccasin—having
now nearly completed the circuit of the building—he threw
the ominous article into the canoe, by a dexterous and
almost imperceptible movement of his paddle. He was now

[figure description] Page 065.[end figure description]

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 reconnoitring must be understood;
and it was the wisest way, however perilous it might be, to
retire with an air of confidence, as if all distrust were terminated
by the examination. Such, accordingly, was the
course adopted by the Indian, who paddled deliberately
away, taking the direction of the ark, suffering no nervous
impulse to quicken the motions of his arms, or to induce
him to turn even a furtive glance behind him.

No tender wife, reared in the refinements of the highest
civilization, ever met a husband on his return from the field,
with more of sensibility in her countenance, than Hist discovered,
as she saw the Great Serpent of the Delawares
step, unharmed, into the ark. Still she repressed her 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,
“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 downright Indian—as if any thing could make
less noise than nothing! If you 've no better reason than
this to give, Old Tom had better hoist his sail, and go and
get his breakfast under his own roof. What has become of
the moccasin?”

“Here,” returned Chingachgook, holding up his prize for
the general inspection.

The moccasin was examined, and Hist confidently pronounced
it to be Huron, by the manner in which the porcupine's
quills were arranged on its front. Hutter, and the
Delaware, too, were decidedly of the same opinion. Admitting
all this, however, it did not necessarily follow that
its owners were in the castle. The moccasin might have
drifted from a distance, or it might have fallen from the
foot of some scout, who had quitted the place when his errand
was accomplished. In short, it explained nothing,
while it awakened so much distrust.

[figure description] Page 066.[end figure description]

Under the circumstances, Hutter and Hurry were not
men to be long deterred from proceeding, by proofs as slight
as that of the moccasin. They hoisted the sail again, and
the ark was soon in motion, heading towards the castle.
The wind, or air, continued light, and the movement was
sufficiently slow to allow of a deliberate survey of the building
as the scow approached. The same death-like silence
reigned, and it was difficult to fancy that any thing possessing
animal life could be in or around the place. Unlike the
Serpent, whose imagination had acted through his traditions
until he was ready to perceive an artificial in a natural stillness,
the others saw nothing to apprehend in a tranquillity
that, in truth, denoted merely the repose of inanimate objects.
The accessories of the scene, too, were soothing and
calm, rather than exciting. The day had not yet advanced
so far as to bring the sun above the horizon, but the heavens,
the atmosphere, and the woods and lake were all seen
under that softened light which immediately precedes his
appearance, and which perhaps is the most witching period
of the four-and-twenty hours. It is the moment when every
thing is distinct, even the atmosphere seeming to possess a
liquid lucidity, the hues appearing grey and softened, with
the outlines of objects diffused, and the perspective just as
moral truths, that are presented in their simplicity without
the meretricious aids of ornament or glitter. In a word, it
is the moment when the senses seem to recover their powers
in the simplest and most accurate forms, like the mind
emerging from the obscurity of doubts into the 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 Delawares, though too much accustomed to
witness the loveliness of morning-tide, to stop to analyze
their feelings, were equally sensible of the beauties of the
hour, though it 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

[figure description] Page 067.[end figure description]

summons from Hurry, who called on him to come forth and
help to take in the sail and to secure the ark.

Chingachgook obeyed; and by the time he had reached
the head of the scow, Hurry was on the platform, stamping
his feet, like one glad to touch what, by comparison, might
be called terra firma, and proclaiming his indifference to
the whole Huron tribe, in his customary noisy, dogmatical
manner. Hutter had hauled a canoe up to the head of the
scow, and was already about to undo the fastenings of the
gate, in order to enter within the dock. March had no other
motive in landing than a senseless bravado, and having shaken
the door in a manner to put its solidity to the proof, he
joined Hutter in the canoe, and began to aid him in opening
the gate. The reader will remember that this mode of entrance
was rendered necessary by the manner in which the
owner of this singular residence habitually secured it whenever
it was left empty; more particularly at moments when
danger was apprehended. Hutter had placed a line in the
Delaware's hand, on entering the canoe, intimating that the
other was to fasten the ark to the platform and to lower the
sail. Instead of following these directions, however, Chingachgook
left the sail standing, and throwing the bight of
the rope over the head of a pile, he permitted the ark to
drift round until it lay against the defences in a position
where it could be entered only by means of a boat, or by
passing along the summits of the palisades; the latter being
an exploit that required some command of the feet, and
which was not to be attempted in the face of a resolute enemy.

In consequence of this change in the position of the scow,
which was effected before Hutter had succeeded in opening
the gate of his dock, the ark and the castle lay, as sailors
would express it, yard-arm and yard-arm, kept asunder some
ten or twelve feet by means of the piles. As the scow pressed
close against the latter, their tops formed a species of
breast-work that rose to the height of a man's head, covering
in a certain degree the parts of the scow that were
not protected by the cabin. The Delaware surveyed this
arrangement with great satisfaction, and, as the canoe of
Hutter passed through the gate into the dock, he thought
that he might defend his position against any garrison in
the castle, for a sufficient time, could he but have had the

[figure description] Page 068.[end figure description]

helping arm of his friend Deerslayer. As it was, he felt
comparatively secure, and no longer suffered the keen apprehensions
he had lately experienced in behalf of Hist.

A single shove sent the canoe from the gate, to the trap
beneath the castle. Here Hutter found all fast, neither padlock,
nor chain, nor bar, having been molested. The key
was produced, the locks removed, the chain loosened, and
the trap pushed upward. Hurry now thrust his head in at
the opening; the arms followed, and the colossal legs rose
without any apparent effort. At the next instant, his heavy
foot was heard stamping in the passage above; that which
separated the chambers of the father and daughters, and into
which the trap opened. He then gave a shout of triumph.

“Come on, old Tom,” the reckless woodsman called out
from within the building—“here's your tenement, safe and
sound; ay, and as empty as a nut that has passed half an
hour in the paws of a squirrel! The Delaware brags of
being able to see silence; let him come here, and he may
feel it, in the bargain.”

“Any silence where you are, Hurry Harry,” returned
Hutter, thrusting his head in at the hole, as he uttered the
last word, which instantly caused his voice to sound smothered
to those without—“any silence where you are, ought
to be both seen and felt, for it's unlike any other silence.”

“Come, come—old fellow; hoist yourself up, and we'll
open doors and windows and let in the fresh air to brighten
up matters. Few words in troublesome times, make men
the best fri'nds. Your darter Judith, is what I call a misbehaving
young woman, and the hold of the whole family
on me is so much weakened by her late conduct, that it
wouldn't take a speech as long as the ten commandments
to send me off to the river, leaving you and your traps, your
ark and your children, your man-servants and your maid-servants,
your oxen and your asses, to fight this battle with
the Iroquois, by yourselves. Open that window, Floating
Tom, and I'll blunder through and do the same job to the
front door.”

A moment of silence succeeded, and a noise like that produced
by the fall of a heavy body followed. A deep execration
from Hurry succeeded, and then the whole interior
of the building seemed alive. The noises that now so

[figure description] Page 069.[end figure description]

suddenly, and we may add so unexpectedly even to the Delaware,
broke the stillness within, could not be mistaken.
They resembled those that would be produced by a struggle
between tigers in a cage. Once or twice the Indian yell
was given, but it seemed smothered, and as if it proceeded
from exhausted or compressed throats; and, in a single instance,
a deep and another shockingly revolting execration
came from the throat of Hurry. It appeared as if bodies
were constantly thrown upon the floor with violence, as
often rising to renew the struggle. Chingachgook felt greatly
at a loss what to do. He had all the arms in the ark, Hutter
and Hurry having proceeded without their rifles; but
there was no means of using them, or of passing them to the
hands of their owners. The combatants were literally caged,
rendering it almost as impossible, under the circumstances,
to get out, as to get into the building. Then there was Hist
to embarrass his movements, and to cripple his efforts.
With a view to relieve himself from this disadvantage, he
told the girl to take the remaining canoe, and to join Hutter's
daughters, who were incautiously but deliberately approaching,
in order to save herself, and to warn the others
of their danger. But the girl positively and firmly refused
to comply. At that moment, no human power, short of an
exercise of superior physical force, could have induced her
to quit the ark. The exigency of the moment did not admit
of delay, and the Delaware seeing no possibility of
serving his friends, cut the line and by a strong shove forced
the scow some twenty feet clear of the piles. Here he took
the sweeps and succeeded in getting a short distance to
windward, if any direction could be thus termed in so light
an air, but neither the time, nor his skill at the oars, allowed
this distance to be great. When he ceased rowing, the ark
might have been a hundred yards from the platform, and
half that distance to the southward of it, the sail being lowered.
Judith and Hetty had now discovered that something
was wrong, and were stationary a thousand feet farther
north.

All this while the furious struggle continued within the
house. In scenes like these, events thicken in less time
than they can be related. From the moment when the first
fall was heard within the building, to that when the

[figure description] Page 070.[end figure description]

Delaware ceased his awkward attempts to row, it might have
been three or four minutes, but it had evidently served to
weaken the combatants. The oaths and execrations of Hurry
were no longer heard, and even the struggles had lost some
of their force and fury; nevertheless, they still continued
with unabated perseverance. At this instant the door flew
open, and the fight was transferred to the platform, the light,
and the open air.

A Huron had undone the fastenings of the door, and
three or four of his tribe rushed after him upon the narrow
space, as if glad to escape from some terrible scene within.
The body of another followed, pitched headlong through the
door, with terrific violence. Then March appeared, raging
like a lion at bay, and for an instant freed from his numerous
enemies. Hutter was already a captive and bound.
There was now a pause in the struggle, which resembled a
lull in a tempest. The necessity of breathing was common
to all, and the combatants stood watching each other, like
mastiffs that have been driven from their holds, and are
waiting for a favourable opportunity of renewing them. We
shall profit by this pause, to relate the manner in which the
Indians had obtained possession of the castle; and this the
more willingly, because it may be necessary to explain to
the reader why a conflict which had been so close and fierce,
should have also been so comparatively bloodless.

Rivenoak and his companion, particularly the latter, who
had appeared to be a subordinate and occupied solely with
his raft, had made the closest observations in their visits to
the castle; even the boy had brought away minute and valuable
information. By these means the Hurons had obtained a
general idea of the manner in which the place was constructed
and secured, as well as details that enabled them
to act intelligently in the dark. Notwithstanding the care
that Hutter had taken to drop the ark on the east side of the
building, when he was in the act of transferring the furniture
from the former to the latter, he had been watched in a
way to render the precaution useless. Scouts were on the
look-out on the eastern, as well as on the western, shore of the
lake, and the whole proceeding had been noted. As soon
as it was dark, rafts like that already described, approached
from both shores to reconnoitre; and the ark had passed
within fifty feet of one of them, without its being discovered;

[figure description] Page 071.[end figure description]

the men it held, lying at their length on the logs, so as to
blend themselves and their slow-moving machine with the
water. When these two sets of adventurers drew near the
castle, they encountered each other, and after communicating
their respective observations, they unhesitatingly approached
the building. As had been expected, it was found
empty. The rafts were immediately sent for a reinforcement
to the shore, and two of the savages remained to profit by
their situation. These men succeeded in getting on the
roof, and, by removing some of the bark, in entering what
might be termed the garret. Here they were found by their
companions. Hatchets now opened a hole through the
square logs of the upper floor, through which no less than
eight of the most athletic of the Indians dropped into the
room beneath. Here they were left, well supplied with
arms and provisions, either to stand a siege, or to make a
sortie, as the case might require. The night was passed in
sleep, as is usual with Indians in a state of activity. The
returning day brought them a view of the approach of the
ark, through the loops, the only manner in which light and
air were now admitted, the windows being closed most effectually
with plank, rudely fashioned to fit. As soon as it was
ascertained that the two white men were about to enter by
the trap, the chief who directed the proceedings of the Hurons
took his measures accordingly. He removed all the
arms from his own people, even to the knives, in distrust of
savage ferocity, when awakened by personal injuries, and
he hid them where they could not be found without a search.
Ropes of bark were then prepared, and taking their stations
in the three different rooms, they all waited for the signal to
fall upon their intended captives. As soon as the party had
entered the building, men without replaced the bark of the
roof, removed every sign of their visit, with care, and then
departed for the shore. It was one of these who had dropped
his moccasin, which he had not been able to find again,
in the dark. Had the death of the girl been known, it is
probable nothing could have saved the lives of Hurry and
Hutter; but that event occurred after the ambush was laid,
and at a distance of several miles from the encampment
near the castle. Such were the means that had been employed
to produce the state of things we shall continue to
to describe.

CHAPTER V.

“Now all is done that man can do,
And all is done in vain!
My love! my native land, adieu,
For I must cross the main;
My dear,
For I must cross the main.”
Scottish Ballad.

[figure description] Page 072.[end figure description]

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 remarkable
for his skill or force in athletic exercises. As yet, no one
had been seriously hurt, though several of the savages had
received severe falls; and he, in particular, who had been
thrown bodily upon the platform, might be said to be temporarily
hors de combat. Some of the rest were limping; and
March himself had not entirely escaped from bruises,
though want of breath was the principal loss that both sides
wished to repair.

Under circumstances like those in which the parties were
placed, a truce, let it come from what cause it might, could
not well be of long continuance. The arena was too confined,
and the distrust of treachery too great, to admit
of this. Contrary to what might be expected in his situation,
Hurry was the first to recommence hostilities. Whether
this proceeded from policy, or an idea that he might gain
some advantage by making a sudden and unexpected assault,
or was the fruit of irritation and his undying hatred
of an Indian, it is impossible to say. His onset was furious,
however, and at first it carried all before it. He seized the
nearest Huron by the waist, raised him entirely from the
platform, and hurled him into the water, as if he had been

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

a child. In half a minute, two more were at his side, 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 believed himself
fully able to cope with that number of red-skins.

“Hurrah! Old Tom,” he shouted; “the rascals are
taking to the lake, and I'll soon have 'em all swimming!”
As these words were uttered, a violent kick in the face sent
back the injured Indian, who had caught at the edge of the
platform and was endeavouring to raise himself to its level,
helplessly and hopelessly into the water. When the affray
was over, his dark body was seen, through the limpid element
of the Glimmerglass, lying, with outstretched arms,
extended on the bottom of the shoal on which the castle
stood, clinging to the sands and weeds as if life were to be
retained by this frenzied grasp of death. A blow, sent into
the pit of another's stomach, doubled him up like a worm
that had been trodden on; and but two able-bodied foes remained
to be dealt with. One of these, however, was not
only the largest and strongest of the Hurons, but he was
also the most experienced of the warriors present, and that
one whose sinews were the best strung in fights, and by
marches on the war-path. This man had fully appreciated
the gigantic strength of his opponent, and had carefully husbanded
his own. He was also equipped in the best manner
for such a conflict, standing in nothing but his breech-cloth,
the model of a naked and beautiful statue of agility and
strength. To grasp him required additional dexterity and
unusual strength. 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,
endeavouring to force him into the water also.
The struggle that succeeded was truly frightful. So fierce
did it immediately become, and so quick and changeful were
the evolutions of the athletæ, that the remaining savage had
no chance for interfering, had he possessed the desire; but
wonder and apprehension held him spell-bound. He was
an inexperienced youth, and his blood curdled as he witnessed
the fell strife of human passions, exhibited, too, in an
unaccustomed form.

[figure description] Page 074.[end figure description]

Hurry first attempted to throw his antagonist. With this
view he seized him by the throat and an arm, and tripped
with the quickness and force of an American borderer. The
effect was frustrated by the agile movements of the Huron,
who had clothes to grasp by, and whose feet avoided the
attempt with a nimbleness equal to that with which it was
made. Then followed a sort of mêlée, if such a term can
be applied to a struggle between two, in which no efforts
were distinctly visible, the limbs and bodies of the combatants
assuming so many attitudes and contortions, as to defeat
observation. This confused but fierce rally lasted less
than a minute, however, when Hurry, furious at having his
strength baffled by the agility and nakedness of his foe,
made a desperate effort, which sent the Huron from him,
hurling his body violently against the logs of the hut. The
concussion was so great as momentarily to confuse the latter's
faculties. The pain, too, extorted a deep groan; an
unusual concession to agony, to escape a red man in the
heat of battle. Still he rushed forward again, to meet his
enemy, conscious that his safety rested on 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 body 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 within the two arms of Hurry; the
end threaded the eye, forming a noose, and his elbows were
drawn together behind his back, with a power that all his
gigantic strength could not resist. Reluctantly, even under
such circumstances, did the exasperated borderer see his
hands drawn from their deadly grasp, for all the evil passions
were then in the ascendant. Almost at the same instant,
a similar fastening secured his ancles, and his body
was rolled to the centre of the platform as helplessly, and

[figure description] Page 075.[end figure description]

as cavalierly, as if it were a log of wood. His rescued antagonist,
however, did not rise, for while he began again to
breathe, his head still hung helplessly over the edge of the
logs, and it was thought at first that his neck was dislocated.
He recovered gradually only, and it was hours before he
could walk. Some fancied that neither his body, nor his
mind, ever totally recovered from this near approach to
death.

Hurry owed his defeat and capture to the intensity with
which he had concentrated all his powers, on his fallen foe.
While thus occupied, the two Indians he had hurled into the
water mounted to the heads of the piles, along which they
passed, and joined their companion on the platform. The
latter had so far rallied his faculties as to have gotten the
ropes, which were in readiness for use as the others appeared,
and they were applied in the manner related, as
Hurry lay pressing his enemy down with his whole weight,
intent only on the horrible office of strangling him. Thus
were the tables turned, in a single moment; he who had
been so near achieving a victory that would have been renowned
for ages, by means of tradition, throughout all that
region, lying helpless, bound, and a captive. So fearful had
been the efforts of the pale-face, and so prodigious the
strength he exhibited, that even as he lay, tethered like a
sheep before them, they regarded him with respect, and not
without dread. The helpless body of their stoutest warrior
was still stretched on the platform; and, as they cast their
eyes towards the lake, in quest of the comrade that had been
hurled into it so unceremoniously, and of whom they had
lost sight in the confusion of the fray, they perceived his
lifeless form clinging to the grass on the bottom, as already
described. These several circumstances contributed to render
the victory of the Hurons almost as astounding to themselves,
as a defeat.

Chingachgook and his betrothed, had witnessed the whole
of this struggle from the ark. When the three Hurons were
about to pass the cords around the arms of the prostrate
Hurry, the Delaware sought his rifle; but, before he could
use it, the white man was bound, and the mischief was
done. He might still bring down an enemy, but to obtain
the scalp was impossible; and the young chief, who would

[figure description] Page 076.[end figure description]

so freely risk his own life to obtain such a trophy, hesitated
about taking that of a foe, without such an object in view.
A glance at Hist, and the recollection of what might follow,
checked any transient wish for revenge. The reader has
been told that Chingachgook could scarcely be said to know
how to manage the oars of the ark at all, however expert
he might be in the use of the paddle. Perhaps there is no
manual labour, 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 rullock of the gondolier. In short, it is
temporarily an impracticable thing for a new beginner to
succeed with a single oar; but, in this case, it was necessary
to handle two at the same time, and those of great size.
Sweeps, or large oars, however, are sooner rendered of use
by the raw hand, than lighter implements, and this was the
reason that the Delaware had succeeded in moving the ark
as well as he did, in a first trial. That trial, notwithstanding,
had sufficed to produce distrust, and he was fully aware
of the critical situation in which Hist and himself were now
placed, should the Hurons take to the canoe that was still
lying beneath the trap, and come against them. At one
moment he thought of putting Hist into the canoe in his own
possession, and of taking to the eastern mountain, in the
hope of reaching the Delaware villages by direct flight. But
many considerations suggested themselves to put a stop to
this indiscreet step. It was almost certain that scouts
watched the lake on both sides, and no canoe could possibly
approach 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 sufficiently sustained,
to outstrip the pursuit of trained warriors. This was a part
of America in which the Indians did not know the use of
horses, and every thing would depend on the physical energies
of the fugitives. Last, but far from being least, were
the thoughts connected with the situation of Deerslayer, a
friend who was not to be deserted in his extremity.

Hist, in some particulars, reasoned, and even felt, differently,
though she arrived at the same conclusions. Her
own danger disturbed her less than her concern for the two
sisters, in whose behalf her womanly sympathies were now

[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]

strongly enlisted. The canoe of the girls, by the time the
struggle on the platform had ceased, was within three hundred
yards of the castle, and here Judith ceased paddling, the evidences
of strife first becoming apparent to the eyes. She
and Hetty were standing erect, anxiously endeavouring to
ascertain what had occurred, but unable to satisfy their
doubts, from the circumstance that the building, in a great
measure, concealed the scene of action.

The parties in the ark, and in the canoe, were indebted to
the ferocity of Hurry's attack, for their momentary security.
In any ordinary case, the girls would have been immediately
captured; a measure easy of execution, now the savages had
a canoe, were it not for the rude check the audacity of the
Hurons had received, in the recent struggle. It required
some little time to recover from the effects of this violent
scene; and this so much the more, because the principal man
of the party, in the way of personal prowess at least, had
been so great a sufferer. Still it was of the last importance
that Judith and her sister should seek immediate refuge in
the ark, where the defences offered a temporary shelter at
least; and the first step was to devise the means of inducing
them to do so. Hist showed herself in the stern of the scow,
and made many gestures and signs, in vain, in order to induce
the girls to make a circuit to avoid the castle, and to
approach the ark from the eastward. But these signs were
distrusted or misunderstood. It is probable Judith was not
yet sufficiently aware of the real state of things, to put full
confidence in either party. Instead of doing as desired, she
rather kept more aloof; paddling slowly back to the north, or
into the broadest part of the lake, where she could command
the widest view, and had the fairest field for flight before her.
It was at this instant that the sun appeared above the pines
of the eastern range of mountain, and a light southerly
breeze arose, as was usual enough, at that season and
hour.

Chingachgook lost no time in hoisting the sail. Whatever
might be in reserve for him, there could be no question
that it was every way desirable to get the ark at such a distance
from the castle, as to reduce his enemies to the necessity
of approaching the former in the canoe, which the
chances of war had so inopportunely for his wishes and

[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]

security, thrown into their hands. The appearance of the
opening duck seemed first to arouse the Hurons from their
apathy; and by the time the head of the scow had fallen off
before the wind, which it did unfortunately in the wrong direction,
bringing it within a few yards of the platform, Hist
found it necessary to warn her lover of the importance of
covering his person against the rifles of his foes. This was
a danger to be avoided under all circumstances, and so much
the more, because the Delaware found that Hist would not
take to the cover herself, so long as he remained exposed.
Accordingly, Chingachgook abandoned the scow to its own
movements, forced Hist into the cabin, the doors of which he
immediately secured, and then he looked about him for the
rifles.

The situation of the parties was now so singular as to
merit a particular description. The ark was within sixty
yards of the castle, a little to the southward, or to windward
of it, with its sail full, and the steering-oar abandoned.
The latter, fortunately, was loose, so that it produced
no great influence on the crab-like movement of the unwieldy
craft. The sail being set, as sailors term it, flying,
or having no braces, the air forced the yard forward, though
both sheets were fast. The effect was threefold on a boat
with a bottom that was perfectly flat, and which drew merely
some three or four inches 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 slow,
however, for the wind was not only light, but it was baffling
as usual, and twice or thrice the sail shook. Once it
was absolutely taken a back.

Had there been any keel to the ark, it would inevitably
have run foul of the platform, bows on, when it is probable
nothing could have prevented the Hurons from carrying it;
more particularly as the sail would have enabled them to
approach under cover. As it was, the scow wore slowly
round, barely clearing that part of the building. The piles
projecting several feet, they were not cleared, but the head
of the slow-moving craft caught between two of them by
one of its square corners, and hung. At this moment the

[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]

Delaware was vigilantly watching through a loop for an
opportunity to fire, while the Hurons kept within the building,
similarly occupied. The exhausted warrior reclined
against the hut, there having been no time to remove him,
and Hurry lay, almost as helpless as a log, tethered like a
sheep on its way to the slaughter, near the middle of the
platform. Chingachgook could have slain the first at any
moment, but still his scalp would have been safe, and the
young chief disdained to strike a blow that could lead to
neither honour nor advantage.

“Run out one of the poles, Sarpent, if Sarpent you be,”
said Hurry, amid the groans that the tightness of the ligatures
were 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 quickwitted
creature comprehended it at a glance. His ancles
were bound with several turns of stout bark rope, and his
arms, above the elbows, were similarly secured behind his
back, barely leaving him a little play of the hands and
wrists. Putting her mouth near a loop, she said in a low
but distinct voice—

“Why you don't roll here, and fall in scow? Chingachgook
shoot Huron if he chase!”

“By the Lord, gal, that's a 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 fire-arms. She undid the bar of the door that
led to the stern of the scow, but did not dare to expose her
person. All this time the head of the ark hung, but by a
gradually decreasing hold, as the other end swung slowly
round, nearer and nearer to the platform. Hurry, who now
lay with his face towards the ark, occasionally writhing and
turning over like one in pain, evolutions he had performed

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

ever since he was secured, watched every change, and, at
last, he saw that the whole vessel was free, and was beginning
to grate slowly along the sides of the piles. The attempt
was desperate, but it seemed the only chance for
escaping torture and death, and it suited the reckless daring
of the man's character. Waiting to the last moment, in
order that the stern of the scow might fairly rub against the
platform, he began to writhe again, as if in intolerable suffering,
execrating all Indians in general; and the Hurons in
particular, and then he suddenly and rapidly rolled over and
over, taking the direction of the stern of the scow. Unfortunately,
Hurry's shoulders required more space to revolve
in than his feet, and, by the time he reached the edge of the
platform, his direction had so far changed as to carry him
clear of the ark altogether; and the rapidity of his revolutions,
and the emergency, admitting of no delay, he fell into
the water. At this instant, Chingachgook, by an understanding
with his betrothed, drew the fire of the Hurons
again, not a man of whom saw the manner in which one,
whom they knew to be effectually tethered, had disappeared.
But Hist's feelings were strongly interested in the success
of so bold a scheme, and she watched the movements
of Hurry as the cat watches the mouse. The moment he
was in motion she foresaw the consequences, and this the
more readily, as the scow was now beginning to move with
some steadiness, and she bethought her of the means of
saving him. With a sort of instinctive readiness, she opened
the door at the very moment the rifles were ringing in
her ears, and, protected by the intervening cabin, she stepped
into the 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, and catching up all the spare rope, with the awkwardness,
but also with the generous resolution, of a woman,
she threw it in the direction of the helpless Hurry.
The line fell on the head and body of the sinking man, and
he not only succeeded in grasping separate parts of it with
his hands, but he actually got a portion of it between his
teeth. Hurry was an expert swimmer, and, tethered as he
was, he resorted to the very expedient that philosophy and
reflection would have suggested. He had fallen on his

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

back, and instead of floundering and drowning himself by
desperate efforts to walk on the water, he permitted his body
to sink as low as possible, and was already submerged, with
the exception of his face, when the line reached him. In
this situation he might possibly have remained until rescued
by the Hurons, using his hands as fishes use their fins, had
he received no other succour; but the movement of the ark
soon tightened the rope, and of course he was dragged gently
ahead, holding even pace with the scow. The motion
aided in keeping his face above the surface of the water,
and it would have been possible for one accustomed to endurance
to have been towed a mile in this singular but simple
manner.

It has been said that the Hurons did not observe the sudden
disappearance of Hurry. In his present situation, he
was not only hid from view by the platform, but, as the ark
drew slowly ahead, impelled by a sail that was now filled,
he received the same friendly service from the piles. The
Hurons, indeed, were too intent on endeavouring to slay
their Delaware foe, by sending a bullet through some one
of the loops or crevices of the cabin, to bethink them at all,
of one whom they fancied so thoroughly tied. Their great
concern was, the manner in which the ark rubbed past the
piles, although its motion was lessened at least one-half by
the friction, and they passed into the northern end of the
castle, in order to catch opportunities of firing through the
loops of that part of the building. Chingachgook was similarly
occupied, and remained as ignorant as his enemies,
of the situation of Hurry. As the ark grated along, the
rifles sent their little clouds of smoke from one cover to the
other, but the eyes and movements of the opposing parties
were too quick to permit any injury to be done. At length
one side had the mortification, and the other the pleasure,
of seeing the scow swing clear of the piles altogether, when
it immediately moved away, with a materially accelerated
motion, towards the north.

Chingachgook now first learned from Hist, the critical
condition of Hurry. To have exposed either of their persons
in the stern of the scow, would have been certain
death; but, fortunately, the sheet to which the man clung,
led forward to the foot of the sail. The Delaware found

[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]

means to unloosen it from the cleet aft; and Hist, who was
already forward for that purpose, immediately began to pull
upon the line. At this moment Hurry was towing fifty or
sixty feet astern, with nothing but his face above water. As
he was dragged out clear of the castle and the piles, he was
first perceived by the Hurons, who raised a hideous yell, and
commenced a fire on, what may very well be termed, the
floating mass. It was at the same instant, that Hist began
to pull upon the line forward—a circumstance that probably
saved Hurry's life, aided by his own self-possession and
border readiness. The first bullet struck the water directly
on the spot where the broad chest of the young giant was
visible through the pure element, and might have pierced
his heart, had the angle at which it was fired been less
acute. Instead of penetrating the lake, however, it glanced
from its smooth surface, rose, and actually buried itself in
the logs of the cabin, near the spot at which Chingachgook
had shown himself the minute before, while clearing the
line from the cleet. A second, and a third, and a fourth
bullet followed, all meeting with the same resistance 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 moment the body was dragged
past the end of the scow, and became concealed. As for
the Delaware and Hist, they worked perfectly covered by
the cabin, and in less time than it requires to tell it, they
had hauled the huge frame of Hurry to the place they occupied.
Chingachgook stood in readiness with his keen
knife, and bending over the side of the scow, he soon severed
the bark that bound the limbs of the borderer. To raise
him high enough to reach the edge of the boat, and to aid
him in entering, were less easy 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

[figure description] Page 083.[end figure description]

blood, while we proceed with the narrative of events that
crowd upon us too fast to admit of any postponement.

The moment the Hurons lost sight of the body of Hurry,
they gave a common yell of disappointment, and three of
the most active of their number ran to the trap and entered
the canoe. It required some little delay, however, to embark
with their weapons, to find the paddles, and, if we may
use a phrase so purely technical, “to get out of dock.” By
this time Hurry was in the scow, and the Delaware had his
rifles, again, in readiness. As the ark necessarily sailed
before the wind, it had got by this time, quite two hundred
yards from the castle, and was sliding away each instant,
farther and farther, though with a motion so easy as scarcely
to stir the water. The canoe of the girls was quite a quarter
of a mile distant from the ark, obviously keeping aloof, in
ignorance of what had occurred, and in apprehension of the
consequences of venturing too near. They had taken the
direction of the eastern shore, endeavouring at the same time
to get to windward of the ark, and in a manner between the
two parties, as if distrusting which was to be considered a
friend, and which an enemy. The girls, from long habit,
used the paddles with great dexterity; and Judith, in particular,
had often sportively gained races, in trials of speed
with the youths that occasionally visited the lake.

When the three Hurons emerged from behind the palisades,
and they found themselves on the open lake, and under the
necessity of advancing unprotected on the ark, if they persevered
in the original design, their ardour sensibly cooled.
In a bark canoe, they were totally without cover, and Indian
discretion was entirely opposed to such a sacrifice of life as
would most probably follow any attempt to assault an enemy,
entrenched as effectually as the Delaware. Instead of following
the ark, therefore, these three warriors inclined towards
the eastern shore, keeping at a safe distance from the
rifles of Chingachgook. But this manœuvre rendered the
position of the girls exceedingly critical. It threatened to
place them if not between two fires, at least between two
dangers, or what they conceived to be dangers; and, instead
of permitting the Hurons to enclose her, in what she fancied
a sort of net, Judith immediately commenced her retreat, in
a southern direction, at no very great distance from the

[figure description] Page 084.[end figure description]

shore. She did not dare to land; if such an expedient were
to be resorted to at all, she could only venture on it, in the last
extremity. At first the Indians paid little or no attention to the
other canoe; for, fully apprised of its contents, they deemed
its capture of comparatively little moment; while the ark,
with its imaginary treasures, the persons of the Delaware
and of Hurry, and its means of movement on a large scale,
was before them. But this ark had its dangers as well as
its temptations; and after wasting near an hour, in vacillating
evolutions, always at a safe distance from the rifle, the Hurons
seemed suddenly to take their resolution, and began to
display it by giving eager chase to the girls.

When this last design was adopted, the circumstances of
all parties, as connected with their relative positions, were
materially changed. The ark had sailed and drifted quite
half a mile, and was nearly that distance due north of the
castle. As soon as the Delaware perceived that the girls
avoided him, unable to manage his unwieldy craft, and
knowing that flight from a bark canoe, in the event of pursuit,
would be a useless expedient if attempted, he had lowered
his sail, in the hope it might induce the sisters to change
their plan, and to seek refuge in the scow. This demonstration
produced no other effect than to keep the ark nearer
to the scene of action, and to enable those in her to become
witnesses of the chase. The canoe of Judith was about a
quarter of a mile south of that of the Hurons, a little nearer
to the east shore, and about the same distance to the southward
of the castle, as it was from the hostile canoe, a circumstance
which necessarily put the last nearly abreast of
Hutter's fortress. With the several parties thus situated, the
chase commenced.

At the moment when the Hurons so suddenly changed
their mode of attack, their canoe was not in the best possible
racing trim. There were but two paddles, and the third
man 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. Judith
did not commence her exertions until the near approach of

[figure description] Page 085.[end figure description]

the other canoe rendered the object of the movement 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 sensation 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 resorted to their
greatest exertions from the outset, both knowing that the
chase was likely to be arduous and long. Like two vessels
of war that are preparing for an encounter, they seemed desirous
of first ascertaining their respective rates of speed, in
order that they might know how to graduate their exertions,
previously to the great effort. A few minutes sufficed to
show the Hurons that the girls were expert, and that it
would require all their skill and energies to overtake them.

Judith had inclined towards the eastern shore at the commencement
of the chase, with a vague determination of
landing and flying to the woods, as a last resort; but as she
approached the land, the certainty that scouts must be watching
her movements, made her reluctance to adopt such
an expedient unconquerable. Then she was still fresh, and
had sanguine hopes of being able to tire out her pursuers.
With such feelings, she gave a sweep with her paddle, and
sheered off from the fringe of dark hemlocks, beneath the
shades of which she was so near entering, and held her way
again, more towards the centre of the lake. This seemed
the instant favourable 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

[figure description] Page 086.[end figure description]

great dexterity and self-command. For half a mile the Indians
gained no material advantage, but the continuance of
so great exertions for so many minutes sensibly affected all
concerned. Here the Indians resorted to an expedient that
enabled them to give one of their party time to breathe, by
shifting the paddles from hand to hand, and this, too, without
sensibly relaxing their efforts. Judith occasionally
looked behind her, and she saw this expedient practised. It
caused her immediately to distrust the result, since her
powers of endurance were not likely to hold out against
those of men who had the means of relieving each other;
still she persevered, allowing no very visible consequences
immediately to follow the change.

As yet, the Indians had not been able to get nearer to the
girls than two hundred yards, though they were what sea-men
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 position of the parties,
no change becomes apparent, except that which is a direct
gain in the nearest possible approach. “Long” as this
species of chase is admitted to be, however, Judith was enabled
to perceive that the Hurons were sensibly drawing
nearer and nearer, before she had gained the centre of the
lake. She was not a girl to despair; but there was an instant
when she thought of yielding, with the wish of being
carried to the camp where she knew the Deerslayer to be a
captive; but the considerations connected with the means
she hoped to be able to employ, in order to procure his release,
immediately interposed, in order to stimulate her to
renewed exertions. Had there been any one there to note
the progress of the two canoes, he would have seen that of
Judith flying swiftly away from its pursuers, as the girl
gave it freshly-impelled speed, while her mind was thus
dwelling on her own ardent and generous schemes. So
material, indeed, was the difference in the rate of going
between the two canoes, for the next five minutes, that the
Hurons began to be convinced all their powers must be exerted,
or they would suffer the disgrace of being baffled by
women. Making a furious effort, under the mortification

[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]

of such a conviction, one of the stronger of their party
broke his paddle, at the very moment when he had taken it
from the hand of a comrade, to relieve him. This at once
decided the matter; a canoe containing three men, and having
but one paddle, being utterly unable to overtake fugitives
like the daughters of Thomas Hutter.

“There, Judith!” exclaimed Hetty, who saw the accident—
“I hope, now, you will own, that praying is useful!
The Hurons have broke a paddle, and they never can overtake
us.”

“I never denied it, poor Hetty; and sometimes wish, in
bitterness of spirit, that I had prayed more myself, and
thought less of my beauty! As you say, we are now safe,
and need only go a little south, and take breath.”

This was done; the enemy giving up the pursuit, as suddenly
as a ship that has lost an important spar, the instant
the accident occurred. Instead of following Judith's canoe,
which was now lightly skimming the water towards the
south, the Hurons turned their bows towards the castle,
where they soon arrived and landed. The girls, fearful
that some spare paddles might be found in, or about the
buildings, continued on; nor did they stop, until so distant
from their enemies as to give them every chance of escape,
should the chase be renewed. It would seem that the savages
meditated no such design, but at the end of an hour
their canoe, filled with men, was seen quitting the castle,
and steering towards the shore. The girls were without
food, and they now drew nearer to the buildings and the
ark, having finally made up their minds, from its manœuvres,
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 circle 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 entirely round the piles, and reached
the platform.

“Do you go into the house, Hetty,” said Judith, “and

[figure description] Page 088.[end figure description]

see that the savages are gone. They will not harm you,
and if any of them are still here, you can give me the
alarm. I do not think they will fire on a poor defenceless
girl, and I at least may escape, until I shall be ready to go
among them of my own accord.”

Hetty did as desired—Judith retiring a few yards from
the platform, the instant her sister landed, in readiness for
flight. But the last was unnecessary, not a minute elapsing
before Hetty returned to communicate that all was safe.

“I've been in all the rooms, Judith,” said the latter, earnestly,
“and they are empty, except father's; he is in his
own chamber, sleeping, though not as quietly as we could
wish.”

“Has any thing happened to father?” demanded Judith,
as her foot touched the platform; speaking 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 she should learn it
abruptly.

“You know how it is with father, sometimes, Judith,”
she said. “When overtaken with liquor he doesn't always
know what he says, or does—and he seems to be overtaken
with liquor, now.”

“This is strange!—Would the savages have drunk with
him, and then leave him behind? But 't is a grievous sight
to a child, Hetty, to witness such a failing in a parent, and
we will not go near him till he wakes.”

A groan from the inner room, however, changed this
resolution, and the girls ventured near a parent, whom it
was no unusual thing for them to find in a condition that
lowers a man to the level of brutes. He was seated, reclining
in a corner of the narrow room, with his shoulders
supported by the angle, and his head fallen heavily on his
chest. Judith moved forward, with a sudden impulse, and
removed a canvass cap that was forced so low on his head
as to conceal his face, and, indeed, all but his shoulders.
The instant this obstacle was taken away, the quivering and
raw flesh, the bared veins and muscles, and all the other
disgusting signs of mortality, as they are revealed by tearing
away the skin, showed he had been scalped, though
still living.

CHAPTER VI.

“Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him;
But nothing he'll reck, if they'll let him sleep on,
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.”
Disputed.

[figure description] Page 089.[end figure description]

The reader must imagine the horror that daughters would
experience, at unexpectedly beholding the shocking spectacle
that was placed before the eyes of Judith and Esther, as
related in the close of the last chapter. We shall pass over
the first emotions, the first acts of filial piety, and proceed
with the narrative, by imagining rather than relating most
of the revolting features of the scene. The mutilated and
ragged head was bound up, the unseemly blood was wiped
from the face of the sufferer, the other appliances required
by appearances and care were resorted to, and there was
time to 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 had settled the matter. This
occurred just as the door was opened, and Hurry burst out
upon the platform, as has been previously related. This
was the secret of neither party's having appeared in the
subsequent struggle; Hutter having been literally disabled,
and his conqueror being ashamed to be seen with the traces
of blood about him, after having used so many injunctions to
convince his young warriors of the necessity of taking their
prisoners alive. When the three Hurons returned from the
chase, and it was determined to abandon the castle, and join
the party on the land, Hutter was simply scalped, to secure
the usual trophy, and was left to die by inches, as has been
done in a thousand similar instances, by the ruthless warriors

[figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]

of this part of the American continent. Had the injury of
Hutter been confined to his head, he might have recovered,
however; for it was the blow of the knife that proved
mortal.

There are moments of vivid consciousness, when the stern
justice of God stands forth in colours so prominent, as to
defy any attempts to veil them from the sight, however unpleasant
they may appear, or however anxious we may be
to avoid recognising it. Such was now the fact with Judith
and Hetty, who both perceived the decrees of a retributive
Providence, in the manner of their father's suffering, as a
punishment for his own recent attempts on the Iroquois.
This was seen and felt by Judith, with the keenness of perception
and sensibility that were suited to her character;
while the impression made on the simpler mind of her sister
was perhaps less lively, though it might well have proved
more lasting.

“Oh! Judith,” exclaimed the weak-minded girl, as soon
as their first care had been bestowed on the sufferer. “Father
went for scalps, himself, and now where is his own?
The Bible might have foretold this dreadful punishment!”

“Hush—Hetty—hush, poor sister—he opens his eyes; he
may hear and understand you. 'T is as you say and think;
but 't is too dreadful to speak of!”

“Water—”ejaculated Hutter, as it might be by a desperate
effort, that rendered his voice frightfully deep and
strong, for one as near death as he evidently was—“water—
foolish girls—will you let me die of thirst?”

Water was brought and administered to the sufferer; the
first he had tasted in hours of physical anguish. It had the
double effect of clearing his throat, and of momentarily reviving
his sinking system. His eyes opened with that
anxious, distended gaze, which is apt to accompany the passage
of a soul surprised by death, and he seemed disposed to
speak.

“Father—”said Judith, inexpressibly pained by his deplorable
situation, and this so much the more from her ignorance
of what remedies ought to be applied—“Father, can
we do any thing for you? Can Hetty and I relieve your
pain?”

“Father!” slowly repeated the old man. “No, Judith—

[figure description] Page 091.[end figure description]

no, Hetty—I'm no father. She was your mother, but I'm
no father. Look in the chest—tis all there—give me more
water.”

The girls complied; and Judith, whose early recollections
extended farther back than her sister's, and who, on every
account, had more distinct impressions of the past, felt an
uncontrollable impulse of joy, as she heard these words.
There had never been much sympathy between her reputed
father and herself, and suspicions of this very truth had
often glanced across her mind, in consequence of dialogues
she had overheard between Hutter and her mother. It
might be going too far to say she had never loved him; but
it is not so to add, that she rejoiced it was no longer a duty.
With Hetty the feeling was different. Incapable of making
all the distinctions of her sister, her very nature was full of
affection, and she had loved her reputed parent, though far
less tenderly than the real parent; and it grieved her, now,
to hear him declare he was not naturally entitled to that
love. She felt a double grief, as if his death and his words
together, were twice depriving her of parents. Yielding to
her feelings, the poor girl went aside and wept.

The very opposite emotions of the two girls, kept both
silent for a long time. Judith gave water to the sufferer frequently,
but she forbore to urge him with questions, in some
measure out of consideration for his condition; but, if truth
must be said, quite as much lest something he should add,
in the way of explanation, might disturb her pleasing belief
that she was not Thomas Hutter's child. At length Hetty
dried her tears, and came and seated herself on a stool by
the side of the dying man, who had been placed at his length
on the floor, with his head supported by some worn vestments
that had been left in the house.

“Father,” she said, “you will let me call you father,
though you say you are not one,—Father, shall I read the
bible to you—mother always said the bible was good for
people in trouble. She was often in trouble herself, and
then she made me read the bible to her; for Judith wasn't
as fond of the bible as I am—and it always did her good.
Many is the time I've known mother begin to listen with
the tears streaming from her eyes, and end with smiles and
gladness. Oh! father, you don't know how much good the

[figure description] Page 092.[end figure description]

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 instinctive
sense of right, which appeared to shield her from
the commission of wrong, and even cast a mantle of moral
loveliness and truth around her character, could not penetrate
abstrusities, or trace the nice affinities between cause
and effect, beyond their more obvious and indisputable connection,
though she seldom failed to see all the latter, and to
defer to all their just consequences. In a word, she was one
of those who feel and act correctly, without being able to
give a logical reason for it, even admitting revelation as her
authority. Her selections from the bible, therefore, were
commonly distinguished by the simplicity of her own mind,
and were oftener marked for containing images of known
and palpable things, than for any of the higher cast of
moral truths with which the pages of that wonderful book
abound—wonderful, and unequalled, even without referring
to its divine origin, as a work replete with the profoundest
philosophy, expressed in the noblest language. Her mother,
with a connection that will probably strike the reader, had
been fond of the book of Job; and Hetty had, in a great
measure, learned to read by the frequent lessons she had
received from the different chapters of this venerable and
sublime poem—now believed to be the oldest book in the
world. On this occasion, the poor girl was submissive to
her training, and she turned to that well-known part of the
sacred volume, with the readiness with which the practised
counsel would cite his authorities from the stores of legal
wisdom. In selecting the particular chapter, she was influenced
by the caption, and she chose that which stands in
our English version as, “Job excuseth his desire of death.”
This she read steadily, from beginning to end, in a sweet,
low, and plaintive voice; hoping devoutly that the allegorical
and abstruse sentences might convey to the heart of the
sufferer the consolation he needed. It is another peculiarity
of the comprehensive wisdom of the bible, that scarce a

[figure description] Page 093.[end figure description]

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 its owner, either through the workings of that
heart, or even in a still more direct form. In this instance,
the very opening sentence,—“Is there not an appointed
time to man on earth?”—was startling; and as Hetty proceeded,
Hutter applied, or fancied he could apply many
aphorisms and figures to his own worldly and mental condition.
As life is ebbing fast, the mind clings eagerly to
hope, when it is not absolutely crushed by despair. The
solemn words,—“I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee,
O thou preserver of men? Why hast thou set me as a
mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself,” struck
Hutter more perceptibly than the others; and, though too obscure
for one of his blunted feelings and obtuse mind either
to feel or to comprehend in their fullest extent, they had a
directness of application to his own state that caused him to
wince under them.

“Don't you feel better now, father?” asked Hetty, closing
the volume. “Mother was always better when she had
read the bible.”

“Water,” returned Hutter; “give me water, Judith. I
wonder if my tongue will always be so hot! Hetty, isn't
there something in the bible about cooling the tongue of a
man who was burning in hell-fire?”

Judith turned away, shocked; but Hetty eagerly sought
the passage, which she read aloud to the conscience-stricken
victim of his own avaricious longings.

“That's it; poor Hetty; yes, that's it. My tongue wants
cooling, now; what will it be hereafter?”

This appeal silenced even the confiding Hetty, for she
had no answer ready for a confession so fraught with despair.
Water, so long as it could relieve the sufferer, it
was in the power of the sisters to give; and, from time to
time, it was offered to the lips of the sufferer as he asked
for it. Even Judith prayed. As for Hetty, as soon as she
found that her efforts to make her father listen to her texts
were no longer rewarded with success, she knelt at his side,
and devoutly repeated the words which the Saviour has left
behind him as a model for human petitions. This she

[figure description] Page 094.[end figure description]

continued to do, at intervals, as long as it seemed to her that the
act could benefit the dying man. Hutter, however, lingered
longer than the girls had believed possible, when they first
found him. At times he spoke intelligibly, though his
lips oftener moved in utterance of sounds that carried no
distinct impressions to the mind. Judith listened intently,
and she heard the words “husband,” “death,” “pirate,”
“law,” “scalps,” and several others of a similar import,
though there was no sentence to tell the precise connection
in which they were used. Still they were sufficiently expressive
to be understood by one whose ears had not escaped
all the rumours that had been circulated to her reputed father's
discredit, and whose comprehension was as quick as
her faculties were attentive.

During the whole of the painful hour that succeeded, neither
of the sisters bethought her sufficiently of the Hurons
to dread their return. It seemed as if their desolation and
grief placed them above the danger of such an interruption;
and when the sound of oars was at length heard, even Judith,
who alone had any reason to apprehend the enemy,
did not start, but at once understood that the ark was near.
She went upon the platform fearlessly; for, should it turn
out that Hurry was not there, and that the Hurons were
masters of the scow also, escape was impossible. Then she
had the sort of confidence that is inspired by extreme misery.
But there was no cause for any new alarm,—Chingachgook,
Hist, and Hurry all standing in the open part of the scow,
cautiously examining the building, to make certain of the
absence of the enemy. They, too, had seen the departure
of the Hurons, as well as the approach of the canoe of the
girls to the castle, and, presuming on the latter fact, March
had swept the scow up to the platform. A word sufficed to
explain that there was nothing to be apprehended, and the
ark was soon moored in her old berth.

Judith said not a word concerning the condition of her
father, but Hurry knew her too well not to understand that
something was more than usually wrong. He led the way,
though with less of his confident bold manner than usual,
into the house, and, penetrating to the inner room, found
Hutter lying on his back, with Hetty sitting at his side, fanning
him with pious care. The events of the morning had

[figure description] Page 095.[end figure description]

sensibly changed the manner of Hurry. Notwithstanding
his skill as a swimmer, and the readiness with which he had
adopted the only expedient that could possibly save him, the
helplessness of being in the water, bound hand and foot, had
produced some such effect on him as the near approach of
punishment is known to produce on most criminals, leaving
a vivid impression of the horrors of death upon his mind,
and this, too, in connection with a picture of bodily helplessness;
the daring of this man being far more the offspring
of vast physical powers than of the energy of the will, or
even of natural spirit. Such heroes invariably lose a large
portion of their courage with the failure of their strength;
and, though Hurry was now unfettered, and as vigorous as
ever, events were too recent to permit the recollection of his
late deplorable condition to be at all weakened. Had he
lived a century, the occurrences of the few momentous minutes
during which he was in the lake, would have produced
a chastening effect on his character, if not always on his
manner.

Hurry was not only shocked when he found his late associate
in this desperate situation, but he was greatly surprised.
During the struggle in the building, he had been
far too much occupied himself to learn what had befallen
his comrade, and, as no deadly weapon had been used in
his particular case, but every effort had been made to capture
him without injury, he naturally believed that Hutter had
been overcome, while he owed his own escape to his great
bodily strength, and to a fortunate concurrence of extraordinary
circumstances. Death, in the silence and solemnity
of a chamber, was a novelty to him. Though accustomed
to scenes of violence, he had been unused to sit by the
bed-side and watch the slow beating of the pulse as it gradually
grew weaker and weaker. Notwithstanding the
change in his feelings, the manners of a life could not be
altogether cast aside in a moment, and the unexpected scene
extorted a characteristic speech from the borderer.

“How now! Old Tom,” he said, “have the vagabonds
got you at an advantage, where you're not only down, but
are likely to be kept down! I thought you a captyve it's
true, but never supposed you as hard run as this!”

Hutter opened his glassy eyes and stared wildly at the

[figure description] Page 096.[end figure description]

speaker. A flood of confused recollections rushed on his
wavering mind at the sight of his late comrade. It was
evident that he struggled with his own images, and knew not
the real from the unreal.

“Who are you?” he asked in a husky whisper, his failing
strength refusing to aid him in a louder effort of his
voice. “Who are you?—You look like the mate of the
Snow—he was a giant, too, and near overcoming us.”

“I'm your mate, Floating Tom, and your comrade,
but have nothing to do with any snow. It's summer now,
and Harry March always quits the hills as soon after the
frosts set in as is convenient.”

“I know you—Hurry Skurry—I'll sell you a scalp!—
a sound one, and of a full-grown man;—what'll you give?”

“Poor Tom! That scalp business hasn't turned out at
all profitable, and I've pretty much concluded to give it up,
and to follow a less bloody calling.”

“Have you got any scalp? Mine's gone—How does it
feel to have a scalp?—I know how it feels to lose one—fire
and flames about the brain—and a wrenching at the heart—
no, no—kill first, Hurry, and scalp afterwards.”

“What does the old fellow mean, Judith? He talks like
one that is getting tired of the business as well as myself.
Why have you bound up his head? or, have the savages
tomahawked him about the brains?”

“They have done that for him, which you and he, Harry
March, would have so gladly done for them. His skin
and hair have been torn from his head to gain money from
the governor of Canada, as you would have torn theirs from
the heads of the Hurons, to gain money from the governor
of York.”

Judith spoke with a strong effort to appear composed, but
it was neither in her nature, nor in the feeling of the moment
to speak altogether without bitterness. The strength
of her emphasis, indeed, as well as her manner, caused Hetty
to look up reproachfully.

“These are high words to come from Thomas Hutter's
darter, as Thomas Hutter lies dying before her eyes,” retorted
Hurry.

“God be praised for that!—whatever reproach it may

[figure description] Page 097.[end figure description]

bring on my poor mother, I am not Thomas Hutter's daughter.”

“Not Thomas Hutter's darter!—Don't disown the old
fellow in his last moments, Judith, for that's a sin the Lord
will never overlook. If you're not Thomas Hutter's darter,
whose darter be you?”

This question rebuked the rebellious spirit of Judith; for,
in getting rid of a parent, whom she felt it was a relief to
find she might own she had never loved, she overlooked the
important circumstance that no substitute was ready to supply
his place.

“I cannot tell you, Harry, who my father was,” she answered
more mildly; “I hope he was an honest man, at
least.”

“Which is more than you think was the case, with old
Hutter? Well, Judith, I'll not deny that hard stories were
in circulation consarning Floating Tom, but who is there
that doesn't get a scratch when an inimy holds the rake?
There's them that say hard things of me; and even you,
beauty as you be, don't always escape.”

This was said with a view to set up a species of community
of character between the parties, and, as the politicians
of the day are wont to express it, with ulterior intentions.
What might have been the consequences with one of Judith's
known spirit, as well as her assured antipathy to the
speaker, it is not easy to say; for, just then, Hutter gave
unequivocal signs that his last moment was nigh. Judith
and Hetty had stood by the dying bed of their mother, and
neither needed a monitor to warn them of the crisis, and
every sign of resentment vanished from the face of the first.
Hutter opened his eyes, and even tried to feel about him
with a hand, a sign that sight was failing. A minute later
his breathing grew ghastly; a pause totally without respiration
followed; and, then, succeeded the last, long-drawn
sigh, on which the spirit is supposed to quit the body. This
sudden termination of the life of one who had hitherto filled
so important a place in the narrow scene on which he had
been an actor, put an end to all discussion.

The day passed by without further interruption, the Hurons,
though possessed of a canoe, appearing so far satisfied
with their success as to have relinquished all immediate

[figure description] Page 098.[end figure description]

designs on the castle. It would not have been a safe undertaking,
indeed, to approach it under the rifles of those it was
now known to contain, and it is probable that the truce was
more owing to this circumstance than to any other. In the
meanwhile, the preparations were made for the interment
of Hutter. To bury him on the land was impracticable,
and it was Hetty's wish that his body should lie by the side
of that of her mother, in the lake. She had it in her power
to quote one of his speeches, in which he himself had called
the lake the “family burying-ground,” and luckily this was
done without the knowledge of her sister, who would have
opposed the plan, had she known it, with unconquerable
disgust. But Judith had not meddled with the arrangement,
and every necessary disposition was made without her
privity or advice.

The hour chosen for the rude ceremony, was just as the
sun was setting, and a moment and a scene more suited to
paying the last 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; it is thought
that the veil has been removed, and that the character and
destiny of the departed are now as much beyond human
opinions, as they are beyond human ken. In nothing is death
more truly a leveller than in this, since, while it may be
impossible absolutely to confound the great with the low,
the worthy with the unworthy, the mind feels it to be 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 enclosed with
it, in order that it might sink. No other preparation seemed
to be thought necessary, though Hetty carried her bible beneath
her arm.

When all were on board the ark, this singular habitation
of the man whose body it now bore to his final abode, was
set in motion. Hurry was at the oars. In his powerful

[figure description] Page 099.[end figure description]

hands, indeed, they seemed little more than a pair of sculls,
which were wielded without effort, and, as he was expert in
their use, the Delaware remained a passive spectator of the
proceedings. The progress of the ark had something of the
stately solemnity of a funeral procession, the dip of the oars
being measured, and the movement slow and steady. The
wash of the water, as the blades rose and fell, kept time
with the efforts of Hurry, and might have been likened to
the measured tread of mourners. Then the tranquil scene
was in beautiful accordance with a rite, that ever associates
with itself the idea of God. At that instant, the lake
had not even a single ripple on its glassy surface, and the
broad panorama of woods seemed to look down on the holy
tranquillity of the hour and ceremony in melancholy stillness.
Judith was affected to tears, and even Hurry, though he
hardly knew why, was troubled. Hetty preserved the outward
signs of tranquillity, but her inward grief greatly surpassed
that of her sister, since her affectionate heart loved
more from habit and long association, than from the usual
connections of sentiment and taste. She was sustained by
religious hope, however, which in her simple mind usually
occupied the space that worldly feelings filled in that of Judith;
and she was not without an expectation of witnessing
some open manifestation of divine power, on an occasion so
solemn. Still, she was neither mystical nor exaggerated,
her mental imbecility denying both. Nevertheless her
thoughts had generally so much of the purity of a better
world about them, that it was easy for her to forget earth
altogether, and to think only of heaven. Hist was serious,
attentive and interested, for she had often seen the interments
of the pale-faces, though never one that promised to
be as peculiar as this; while the Delaware, though grave,
and also observant in his demeanour, was stoical and calm.

Hetty acted as pilot, directing Hurry how to proceed, to
find that spot in the lake, which she was in the habit of terming
“mother's grave.” The reader will remember that the
castle stood near the southern extremity of a shoal that extended
near half a mile northerly, and it was at the farthest
end of this shallow water that Floating Tom had seen fit to
deposit the remains of his wife and child. His own were
now in the course of being placed at their side. Hetty

[figure description] Page 100.[end figure description]

had marks on the land by which she usually found the spot,
although the position of the buildings, the general direction
of the shoal, and the beautiful transparency of the water, all
aided her, the latter even allowing the bottom to be seen.
By these means the girl was enabled to note their progress,
and at the proper time she approached March, whispering—

“Now, Hurry, you can stop rowing. We have passed
the stone on the bottom, and mother's grave is near.”

March ceased his efforts, immediately dropping the kedge,
and taking the warp in his hand, in order to check the scow.
The ark turned slowly round, under this restraint, and when
it was quite stationary, Hetty was seen at its stern, pointing
into the water, the tears streaming from her eyes, in ungovernable
natural feeling. Judith had been present at the interment
of her mother, but she had never visited the spot
since. This neglect proceeded from no indifference to the
memory of the deceased; for she had loved her mother,
and bitterly had she found occasion to mourn her loss; but
she was averse to the contemplation of death; and there had
been passages in her own life since the day of that interment,
which increased this feeling, and rendered her if possible
still more reluctant to approach the spot that contained
the remains of one whose severe lessons of female morality
and propriety, had been deepened and rendered doubly impressive
by remorse for her own failings. With Hetty, the
case had been very different. To her simple and innocent
mind, the remembrance of her mother brought no other
feeling than one of gentle sorrow; a grief that is so often
termed luxurious, even, because it associates with itself the
images of excellence, and the purity of a better state of existence.
For an entire summer, she had been in the habit
of repairing to the place after night-fall; and carefully anchoring
her canoe so as not to disturb the body, she would
sit and hold fancied conversations with the deceased, sing
sweet hymns to the evening air, and repeat the orisons that
the being who now slumbered below, had taught her in infancy.
Hetty had passed her happiest hours in this indirect
communion with the spirit of her mother; the wildness of
Indian traditions, and Indian opinions, unconsciously to herself,
mingling with the Christian lore received in childhood.
Once she had even been so far influenced by the former, as

[figure description] Page 101.[end figure description]

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 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 had revealed the solitary
sign of the uses of the spot, that has just been mentioned.
Even the most rude and brawling are chastened by
the ceremonies of a funeral. March felt no desire to indulge
his voice in any of its coarse outbreakings, and was disposed
to complete the office he had undertaken in decent sobriety.
Perhaps he reflected on the retribution that had alighted on
his late comrade, and bethought him of the frightful jeopardy
in which his own life had so lately been placed. He signified
to Judith that all was ready, received her directions to
proceed, and with no other assistant than his own vast
strength, raised the body and bore it to the end of the scow.
Two parts of a rope were passed beneath the legs and shoulders,
as they are placed beneath coffins, and then the corpse
was slowly lowered beneath the surface of the lake.

“Not there—Harry March—no, not there,” said Judith,
shuddering involuntarily; “do not lower it, quite so near
the spot where mother lies!”

“Why not, Judith?” asked Hetty, earnestly. “They
lived together in life, and should lie together in death.”

“No—no—Harry March, farther off—farther off.—Poor

[figure description] Page 102.[end figure description]

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 church-yards.”

This little controversy was conducted earnestly, but in
smothered voices, as if the speakers feared that the dead
might overhear them. Judith could not contend with her
sister, at such a moment, but a significant gesture 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.

“There's an end of Floating Tom!” exclaimed Hurry,
bending over the scow, and gazing through the water at the
body. “He was a brave companion on a scout, and a
notable hand with traps. Don't weep, Judith—don't be
overcome, Hetty, for the righteousest of us all must die;
and when the time comes, lamentations and tears can't bring
the dead to life. Your father will be a loss to you, no doubt;
most fathers are a loss, especially to onmarried darters; but
there's a way to cure that evil, and you're both too young
and handsome to live long without finding it out. When
it's agreeable to hear what an honest and onpretending man
has to say, Judith, I should like to talk a little with you,
apart.”

Judith had scarce attended to this rude attempt of Hurry's
at consolation, although she necessarily understood its
general drift, and had a tolerably accurate notion of its
manner. She was weeping at the recollection of her mother's
early tenderness, and painful images of long-forgotten
lessons and neglected precepts were crowding her
mind. The words of Hurry, however, recalled her to the
present time, and abrupt and unseasonable as was their import,
they did not produce those signs of distaste that one
might have expected, from the girl's character. On the
contrary, she appeared to be struck with some sudden idea,
gazed intently for a moment at the young man, dried her
eyes, and led the way to the other end of the scow, signifying
her wish for him to follow. Here she took a seat, and
motioned for March to place himself at her side. The

[figure description] Page 103.[end figure description]

decision and earnestness with which all this was done, a little
intimidated her companion, and Judith found it necessary
to open the subject herself.

“You wish to speak to me of marriage, Harry March,”
she said, “and I have come here, over the grave of my parents,
as it might be—no, no—over the grave of my poor,
dear, dear, mother, to hear what you have to say.”

“This is oncommon, and you have a skearful way with
you, this evening, Judith,” answered Hurry, more disturbed
than he would have cared to own; “but truth is truth, and
it shall come out, let what will follow. You well know, gal,
that I've long thought you the comeliest young woman my
eyes ever beheld, and that I've made no secret of that fact,
either here on the lake, out among the hunters and trappers,
or in the settlements.”

“Yes—yes, I've heard this before, and I suppose it to be
true,” answered Judith, with a sort of feverish impatience.

“When a young man holds such language of any particular
young woman, it's reasonable to calculate he sets
store by her.”

“True—true, Hurry—all this you've told me, again and
again.”

“Well, if it's agreeable, I should think a woman 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 suspect
you always will. I've often told you that I not only
like you better than any other young woman going, or, for
that matter, better than all the young women going; but
you must have obsarved, Judith, that I've never asked you,
in up and down tarms, to marry me.”

“I have observed both,” returned the girl, a smile struggling
about her beautiful mouth, in spite of the singular and
engrossing intentness which caused her cheeks to flush and
lighted her eyes with a brilliancy that was almost dazzling,—
“I have observed both, and have thought the last

[figure description] Page 104.[end figure description]

remarkable for a man of Harry March's decision and fearlessness.”

“There's been a reason, gal, and it's one that troubles
me even now—nay, don't flush up so, and look fiery-like,
for there are thoughts which will stick long in any man's
mind, as there be words that will stick in his throat—but,
then, ag'in, there's feelin's that will get the better of 'em
all, and to these feelin's I find I must submit. You've no
longer a father, or a mother, Judith; and it's morally impossible
that you and Hetty could live here, alone, allowing
it was peace and the Iroquois was quiet; but, as matters
stand, not only would you starve, but you'd both be prisoners,
or scalped, afore a week was out. It's time to think
of a change and a husband, and, if you'll accept of me,
all that's past shall be forgotten, and there's an end on't.”

Judith had difficulty in repressing her impatience until
this rude declaration and offer were made, which she evidently
wished to hear, and which she now listened to with a
willingness that might well have excited hope. She hardly
allowed the young man to conclude, so eager was she to
bring him to the point, and so ready to answer.

“There, Hurry, that's enough,” she said, raising a hand,
as if to stop him; “I understand you as well as if you were
to talk a month. You prefer me to other girls, and you
wish me to become your wife.”

“You put it in better words than I can do, Judith, and I
wish you to fancy them said, just as you most like to hear
'em.”

“They're plain enough, 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 offer. There is a reason, March, why I
should never—”

“I suppose I understand you, Judith; but if I'm willing
to overlook that reason, it's no one's consarn but mine.
Now don't brighten up like the sky at sundown; for no offence
is meant, and none should be taken.”

“I do not brighten up, and will not take offence,” said
Judith, struggling to repress her indignation, in a way she
had never found it necessary to exert before. “There is a
reason why I should not, can not, ever be your wife, Hurry,

[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

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.”

“O Judith, them flaunting, gay, scarlet-coated officers of
the garrisons have done all this mishief!”

“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; that I have neither father nor brother
to revenge your words.”

“Well, there is something in the last, and I'll say no
more. Take time, Judith, and think better of this.”

“I want no time; my mind has long been made up, and
I have only waited for you to speak plainly, to answer
plainly. We now understand each other, and there is no
use in saying any more.”

The impetuous earnestness of the girl awed the young
man, for never before had he seen her so serious and determined.
In most of their previous interviews she had met his
advances with evasion, or sarcasm; but these Hurry had
mistaken for female coquetry, and had supposed might easily
be converted into consent. The struggle had been with
himself, about offering; nor had he ever seriously believed
it possible that Judith would refuse to become the wife of
the handsomest man on all that frontier. Now that the refusal
came, and that in terms so decided as to put all cavilling
out of the question, if not absolutely 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 is surrounded by dangers,
and there is no reason why you should risk your life for
others. Nor do I know that you can be of any service to

[figure description] Page 106.[end figure description]

us. Go, to-night; we'll never accuse you of having done
any thing forgetful, or unmanly.”

“If I do go, 't will be with a heavy heart on your account,
Judith; I would rather take you with me.”

“That is not to be spoken of any longer, March; but, I
will land you in one of the canoes, as soon as it is dark, and
you can strike a trail for the nearest garrison. When you
reach the fort, if you send a party—”

Judith smothered the words, for she felt that it was humiliating
to be thus exposing herself to the comments and
reflections of one who was not disposed to view her conduct
in connection with all in these garrisons, with an eye of favour.
Hurry, however, caught the idea; and, without perverting
it, as the girl dreaded, he answered to the purpose.

“I understand what you would say, and why you don't
say it,” he replied. “If I get safe to the fort, a party shall
start on the trail of these vagabonds, and I'll come with it,
myself; for I should like to see you, and Hetty, in a place
of safety, before we part for ever.”

“Ah, Harry March, had you always spoken thus, felt
thus, my feelings towards you might have been different!”

“Is it too late, now, Judith? I'm rough, and a woodsman;
but we all change under different treatment from what
we have been used to.”

“It is too late, March. I can never feel towards you, or
any other man but one, as you would wish to have me.
There, I've said enough, surely, and you will question me
no further. As soon as it is dark, I, or the Delaware, will
put you on the shore; you will make the best of your way
to the Mohawk, and the nearest garrison, and send all you
can to our assistance. And, Hurry, we are now friends,
and I may trust you, may I not?”

“Sartain, Judith; though our fri'ndship would have been
all the warmer, could you look upon me, as I look upon
you.”

Judith hesitated, and some powerful emotion was struggling
within her. Then, as if determined to look down all
weaknesses, and accomplish her purposes, at every hazard,
she spoke more plainly.

“You will find a captain of the name of Warley, at the
nearest post,” she said, pale as death, and even trembling as

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

she spoke; “I think it likely he will wish to head the party;
I would greatly prefer it should be another. If Captain
Warley can be kept back, 't would make me very happy!”

“That's easier said than done, Judith; for these officers
do pretty much as they please. The major will order, and
captains, and lieutenants, and ensigns must obey. I know
the officer you mean; a red-faced, gay, oh!-be-joyful sort
of a gentleman, who swallows Madeira enough to drown the
Mohawk, and yet a pleasant talker. All the gals in the
valley admire him; and they say he admires all the gals. I
don't wonder he is your dislike, Judith, for he's a very
gineral lover, if he isn't a gineral officer.”

Judith did not answer, though her frame shook, and her
colour changed from pale to crimson, and from crimson back
again to the hue of death.

“Alas! my poor mother!” she ejaculated mentally, instead
of uttering it aloud; “we are over thy grave, but little
dost thou know how much thy lessons have been forgotten;
thy care neglected; thy love defeated!”

As this goading of the worm that never dies was felt, she
arose, and signified to Hurry, that she had no more to communicate.