Chapter: "Yet art thou prodigal of smiles--
    Smiles, sweeter than thy frowns are stern:
    Earth sends from all her thousand isles,
    A shout at thy return.
    The glory that comes down from thee
    Bathes, in deep joy, the land and sea."

    Bryant, "The Firmament," 11.19-24

It may assist the reader in understanding the events we are about to
record, if he has a rapidly sketched picture of the scene, placed before
his eyes at a single view. It will be remembered that the lake was an
irregularly shaped basin, of an outline that, in the main, was oval, but
with bays and points to relieve its formality and ornament its shores.
The surface of this beautiful sheet of water was now glittering like a
gem, in the last rays of the evening sun, and the setting of the whole,
hills clothed in the richest forest verdure, was lighted up with a sort
of radiant smile, that is best described in the beautiful lines we have
placed at the head of this chapter. As the banks, with few exceptions,
rose abruptly from the water, even where the mountain did not
immediately bound the view, there was a nearly unbroken fringe of leaves
overhanging the placid lake, the trees starting out of the acclivities,
inclining to the light, until, in many instances they extended their
long limbs and straight trunks some forty or fifty feet beyond the line
of the perpendicular. In these cases we allude only to the giants of the
forest, pines of a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet in height, for
of the smaller growth, very many inclined so far as to steep their lower
branches in the water. In the position in which the Ark had now got, the
castle was concealed from view by the projection of a point, as indeed
was the northern extremity of the lake itself. A respectable mountain,
forest clad, and rounded, like all the rest, limited the view in that
direction, stretching immediately across the whole of the fair
scene, with the exception of a deep bay that passed the western end,
lengthening the basin, for more than a mile.

The manner in which the water flowed out of the lake, beneath the leafy
arches of the trees that lined the sides of the stream, has already been
mentioned, and it has also been said that the rock, which was a favorite
place of rendezvous throughout all that region, and where Deerslayer
now expected to meet his friend, stood near this outlet, and at no great
distance from the shore. It was a large, isolated stone that rested on
the bottom of the lake, apparently left there when the waters tore away
the earth from around it, in forcing for themselves a passage down the
river, and which had obtained its shape from the action of the elements,
during the slow progress of centuries. The height of this rock could
scarcely equal six feet, and, as has been said, its shape was not unlike
that which is usually given to beehives, or to a hay-cock. The latter,
indeed, gives the best idea not only of its form, but of its dimensions.
It stood, and still stands, for we are writing of real scenes, within
fifty feet of the bank, and in water that was only two feet in depth,
though there were seasons in which its rounded apex, if such a term can
properly be used, was covered by the lake. Many of the trees stretched
so far forward, as almost to blend the rock with the shore, when seen
from a little distance, and one tall pine in particular overhung it in a
way to form a noble and appropriate canopy to a seat that had held many
a forest chieftain, during the long succession of unknown ages, in
which America, and all it contained, had existed apart, in mysterious
solitude, a world by itself; equally without a familiar history, and
without an origin that the annals of man can reach.

When distant some two or three hundred feet from the shore, Deerslayer
took in his sail. He dropped his grapnel, as soon as he found the Ark
had drifted in a line that was directly to windward of the rock. The
motion of the scow was then checked, when it was brought head to wind,
by the action of the breeze. As soon as this was done, Deerslayer "paid
out line," and suffered the vessel to "set down" upon the rock, as fast
as the light air could force it to leeward. Floating entirely on the
surface, this was soon effected, and the young man checked the drift
when he was told that the stern of the scow was within fifteen or
eighteen feet of the desired spot.

In executing this maneuver, Deerslayer had proceeded promptly, for,
while he did not in the least doubt that he was both watched and
followed by the foe, he believed he distracted their movements, by the
apparent uncertainty of his own, and he knew they could have no means
of ascertaining that the rock was his aim, unless indeed one of their
prisoners had betrayed him; a chance so improbable in itself, as to give
him no concern. Notwithstanding the celerity and decision his movements,
he did not, however, venture so near the shore without taking due
precautions to effect a retreat, in the event of its becoming necessary.
He held the line in his hand, and Judith was stationed at a loop, on the
side of the cabin next the shore, where she could watch the beach and
the rock, and give timely notice of the approach of either friend
or foe. Hetty was also placed on watch, but it was to keep the trees
overhead in view, lest some enemy might ascend one, and, by completely
commanding the interior of the scow render the defence of the hut, or
cabin, useless.

The sun had disappeared from the lake and valley, when Deerslayer
checked the Ark, in the manner mentioned. Still it wanted a few
minutes to the true sunset, and he knew Indian punctuality too well
to anticipate any unmanly haste in his friend. The great question was,
whether, surrounded by enemies as he was known to be, he had escaped
their toils. The occurrences of the last twenty-four hours must be a
secret to him, and like himself, Chingachgook was yet young on a path.
It was true, he came prepared to encounter the party that withheld
his promised bride, but he had no means ascertaining the extent of the
danger he ran, or the precise positions occupied by either friends, or
foes. In a word, the trained sagacity, and untiring caution of an Indian
were all he had to rely on, amid the critical risks he unavoidably ran.

"Is the rock empty, Judith?" inquired Deerslayer, as soon as he
had checked the drift of the Ark, deeming it imprudent to venture
unnecessarily near the shore. "Is any thing to be seen of the Delaware
chief?"

"Nothing, Deerslayer. Neither rock, shore, trees, nor lake seems to have
ever held a human form."

'Keep close, Judith--keep close, Hetty--a rifle has a prying eye, a
nimble foot, and a desperate fatal tongue. Keep close then, but keep up
actyve looks, and be on the alart. 'Twould grieve me to the heart, did
any harm befall either of you.'

"And you Deerslayer--" exclaimed Judith, turning her handsome face from
the loop, to bestow a gracious and grateful look on the young man--"do
you 'keep close', and have a proper care that the savages do not catch
a glimpse of you! A bullet might be as fatal to you as to one of us; and
the blow that you felt, would be felt by us all."

"No fear of me, Judith--no fear of me, my good gal. Do not look
this-a-way, although you look so pleasant and comely, but keep your eyes
on the rock, and the shore, and the--"

Deerslayer was interrupted by a slight exclamation from the girl, who,
in obedience to his hurried gestures, as much as in obedience to his
words, had immediately bent her looks again, in the opposite direction.

"What is't?--What is't, Judith?" he hastily demanded--"Is any thing to
be seen?"

"There is a man on the rock!--An Indian warrior, in his paint--and
armed!"

"Where does he wear his hawk's feather?" eagerly added Deerslayer,
relaxing his hold of the line, in readiness to drift nearer to the place
of rendezvous. "Is it fast to the war-lock, or does he carry it above
the left ear?"

"'Tis as you say, above the left ear; he smiles, too, and mutters the
word 'Mohican.'"

"God be praised, 'tis the Sarpent, at last!" exclaimed the young man,
suffering the line to slip through his hands, until hearing a light
bound, in the other end of the craft, he instantly checked the rope,
and began to haul it in, again, under the assurance that his object was
effected. At that moment the door of the cabin was opened hastily, and,
a warrior, darting through the little room, stood at Deerslayer's side,
simply uttering the exclamation "Hugh!" At the next instant, Judith and
Hetty shrieked, and the air was filled with the yell of twenty savages,
who came leaping through the branches, down the bank, some actually
falling headlong into the water, in their haste.

"Pull, Deerslayer," cried Judith, hastily barring the door, in order
to prevent an inroad by the passage through which the Delaware had just
entered; "pull, for life and death--the lake is full of savages, wading
after us!"

The young men--for Chingachgook immediately came to his friend's
assistance--needed no second bidding, but they applied themselves to
their task in a way that showed how urgent they deemed the occasion. The
great difficulty was in suddenly overcoming the inertia of so large
a mass, for once in motion, it was easy to cause the scow to skim the
water with all the necessary speed.

"Pull, Deerslayer, for Heaven's sake!" cried Judith, again at the loop.
"These wretches rush into the water like hounds following their prey!
Ah--the scow moves! and now, the water deepens, to the arm-pits of the
foremost, but they reach forward, and will seize the Ark!"

A slight scream, and then a joyous laugh followed from the girl; the
first produced by a desperate effort of their pursuers, and the last by
its failure; the scow, which had now got fairly in motion gliding ahead
into deep water, with a velocity that set the designs of their enemies
at nought. As the two men were prevented by the position of the cabin
from seeing what passed astern, they were compelled to inquire of the
girls into the state of the chase.

"What now, Judith?--What next?--Do the Mingos still follow, or are we
quit of 'em, for the present," demanded Deerslayer, when he felt the
rope yielding as if the scow was going fast ahead, and heard the scream
and the laugh of the girl, almost in the same breath.

"They have vanished!--One--the last--is just burying himself in the
bushes of the bank--There, he has disappeared in the shadows of the
trees! You have got your friend, and we are all safe!"

The two men now made another great effort, pulled the Ark up swiftly to
the grapnel, tripped it, and when the scow had shot some distance and
lost its way, they let the anchor drop again. Then, for the first time
since their meeting, they ceased their efforts. As the floating house
now lay several hundred feet from the shore, and offered a complete
protection against bullets, there was no longer any danger or any motive
for immediate exertion.

The manner in which the two friends now recognized each other, was
highly characteristic. Chingachgook, a noble, tall, handsome and
athletic young Indian warrior, first examined his rifle with care,
opening the pan to make sure that the priming was not wet, and, assured
of this important fact, he next cast furtive but observant glances
around him, at the strange habitation and at the two girls. Still he
spoke not, and most of all did he avoid the betrayal of a womanish
curiosity, by asking questions.

"Judith and Hetty" said Deerslayer, with an untaught, natural
courtesy--"this is the Mohican chief of whom you've heard me speak;
Chingachgook as he is called; which signifies Big Sarpent; so named for
his wisdom and prudence, and cunning, and my 'arliest and latest fri'nd.
I know'd it must be he, by the hawk's feather over the left ear, most
other warriors wearing 'em on the war-lock."

As Deerslayer ceased speaking, he laughed heartily, excited more
perhaps by the delight of having got his friend safe at his side, under
circumstances so trying, than by any conceit that happened to cross his
fancy, and exhibiting this outbreaking of feeling in a manner that was a
little remarkable, since his merriment was not accompanied by any
noise. Although Chingachgook both understood and spoke English, he was
unwilling to communicate his thoughts in it, like most Indians, and
when he had met Judith's cordial shake of the hand, and Hetty's milder
salute, in the courteous manner that became a chief, he turned away,
apparently to await the moment when it might suit his friend to enter
into an explanation of his future intentions, and to give a narrative
of what had passed since their separation. The other understood his
meaning, and discovered his own mode of reasoning in the matter, by
addressing the girls.

"This wind will soon die away altogether, now the sun is down," he said,
"and there is no need for rowing ag'in it. In half an hour, or so, it
will either be a flat calm, or the air will come off from the south
shore, when we will begin our journey back ag'in to the castle; in the
meanwhile, the Delaware and I will talk over matters, and get correct
idees of each other's notions consarning the course we ought to take."

No one opposed this proposition, and the girls withdrew into the cabin
to prepare the evening meal, while the two young men took their seats
on the head of the scow and began to converse. The dialogue was in
the language of the Delawares. As that dialect, however, is but little
understood, even by the learned; we shall not only on this, but on all
subsequent occasions render such parts as it may be necessary to give
closely, into liberal English; preserving, as far as possible, the idiom
and peculiarities of the respective speakers, by way of presenting the
pictures in the most graphic forms to the minds of the readers.

It is unnecessary to enter into the details first related by Deerslayer,
who gave a brief narrative of the facts that are already familiar to
those who have read our pages. In relating these events, however, it
may be well to say that the speaker touched only on the outlines, more
particularly abstaining from saying anything about his encounter with,
and victory over the Iroquois, as well as to his own exertions in behalf
of the two deserted young women. When Deerslayer ended, the Delaware
took up the narrative, in turn, speaking sententiously and with grave
dignity. His account was both clear and short, nor was it embellished by
any incidents that did not directly concern the history of his departure
from the villages of his people, and his arrival in the valley of the
Susquehannah. On reaching the latter, which was at a point only half
a mile south of the outlet, he had soon struck a trail, which gave him
notice of the probable vicinity of enemies. Being prepared for such an
occurrence, the object of the expedition calling him directly into
the neighborhood of the party of Iroquois that was known to be out, he
considered the discovery as fortunate, rather than the reverse, and took
the usual precautions to turn it to account. First following the river
to its source, and ascertaining the position of the rock, he met another
trail, and had actually been hovering for hours on the flanks of his
enemies, watching equally for an opportunity to meet his mistress,
and to take a scalp; and it may be questioned which he most ardently
desired. He kept near the lake, and occasionally he ventured to some
spot where he could get a view of what was passing on its surface. The
Ark had been seen and watched, from the moment it hove in sight,
though the young chief was necessarily ignorant that it was to be the
instrument of his effecting the desired junction with his friend. The
uncertainty of its movements, and the fact that it was unquestionably
managed by white men, soon led him to conjecture the truth, however,
and he held himself in readiness to get on board whenever a suitable
occasion might offer. As the sun drew near the horizon he repaired
to the rock, where, on emerging from the forest, he was gratified in
finding the Ark lying, apparently in readiness to receive him. The
manner of his appearance, and of his entrance into the craft is known.

Although Chingachgook had been closely watching his enemies for hours,
their sudden and close pursuit as he reached the scow was as much a
matter of surprise to himself, as it had been to his friend. He could
only account for it by the fact of their being more numerous than he had
at first supposed, and by their having out parties of the existence of
which he was ignorant. Their regular, and permanent encampment, if the
word permanent can be applied to the residence of a party that intended
to remain out, in all probability, but a few weeks, was not far from
the spot where Hutter and Hurry had fallen into their hands, and, as a
matter of course, near a spring.

"Well, Sarpent," asked Deerslayer, when the other had ended his brief
but spirited narrative, speaking always in the Delaware tongue, which
for the reader's convenience only we render into the peculiar vernacular
of the speaker--"Well, Sarpent, as you've been scouting around these
Mingos, have you anything to tell us of their captyves, the father of
these young women, and of another, who, I somewhat conclude, is the
lovyer of one of 'em."

"Chingachgook has seen them. An old man, and a young warrior--the
falling hemlock and the tall pine."

"You're not so much out, Delaware; you're not so much out. Old Hutter is
decaying, of a sartainty, though many solid blocks might be hewn out of
his trunk yet, and, as for Hurry Harry, so far as height and strength
and comeliness go, he may be called the pride of the human forest. Were
the men bound, or in any manner suffering torture? I ask on account of
the young women, who, I dare to say, would be glad to know."

"It is not so, Deerslayer. The Mingos are too many to cage their game.
Some watch; some sleep; some scout; some hunt. The pale-faces are
treated like brothers to-day; to-morrow they will lose their scalps."

"Yes, that's red natur', and must be submitted to! Judith and Hetty,
here's comforting tidings for you, the Delaware telling me that neither
your father nor Hurry Harry is in suffering, but, bating the loss of
liberty, as well off as we are ourselves. Of course they are kept in the
camp; otherwise they do much as they please."

"I rejoice to hear this, Deerslayer," returned Judith, "and now we are
joined by your friend, I make no manner of question that we shall find
an opportunity to ransom the prisoners. If there are any women in the
camp, I have articles of dress that will catch their eyes, and, should
the worst come to the worst, we can open the great chest, which I think
will be found to hold things that may tempt the chiefs."

"Judith," said the young man, looking up at her with a smile and an
expression of earnest curiosity, that in spite of the growing obscurity
did not escape the watchful looks of the girl, "can you find it in your
heart, to part with your own finery, to release prisoners; even though
one be your own father, and the other is your sworn suitor and lovyer?"

The flush on the face of the girl arose in part from resentment,
but more perhaps from a gentler and a novel feeling, that, with the
capricious waywardness of taste, had been rapidly rendering her more
sensitive to the good opinion of the youth who questioned her, than
to that of any other person. Suppressing the angry sensation, with
instinctive quickness, she answered with a readiness and truth, that
caused her sister to draw near to listen, though the obtuse intellect
of the latter was far from comprehending the workings of a heart as
treacherous, as uncertain, and as impetuous in its feelings, as that of
the spoiled and flattered beauty.

"Deerslayer," answered Judith, after a moment's pause, "I shall be
honest with you. I confess that the time has been when what you call
finery, was to me the dearest thing on earth; but I begin to feel
differently. Though Hurry Harry is nought to me nor ever can be, I
would give all I own to set him free. If I would do this for blustering,
bullying, talking Hurry, who has nothing but good looks to recommend
him, you may judge what I would do for my own father."

"This sounds well, and is according to woman's gifts. Ah's, me! The same
feelin's is to be found among the young women of the Delawares. I've
known 'em, often and often, sacrifice their vanity to their hearts. 'Tis
as it should be--'tis as it should be I suppose, in both colours. Woman
was created for the feelin's, and is pretty much ruled by feelin'."

"Would the savages let father go, if Judith and I give them all our best
things?" demanded Hetty, in her innocent, mild, manner.

"Their women might interfere, good Hetty; yes, their women might
interfere with such an ind in view. But, tell me, Sarpent, how is it
as to squaws among the knaves; have they many of their own women in the
camp?"

The Delaware heard and understood all that passed, though with Indian
gravity and finesse he had sat with averted face, seemingly inattentive
to a discourse in which he had no direct concern. Thus appealed to,
however, he answered his friend in his ordinary sententious manner.

"Six--" he said, holding up all the fingers of one hand, and the thumb
of the other, "besides this." The last number denoted his betrothed,
whom, with the poetry and truth of nature, he described by laying his
hand on his own heart.

"Did you see her, chief--did you get a glimpse of her pleasant
countenance, or come close enough to her ear, to sing in it the song she
loves to hear?"

"No, Deerslayer--the trees were too many, and leaves covered their
boughs like clouds hiding the heavens in a storm. But"--and the young
warrior turned his dark face towards his friend, with a smile on it that
illuminated its fierce-looking paint and naturally stern lineaments
with a bright gleam of human feeling, "Chingachgook heard the laugh of
Wah-ta-Wah, and knew it from the laugh of the women of the Iroquois. It
sounded in his ears, like the chirp of the wren."

"Ay, trust a lovyer's ear for that, and a Delaware's ear for all sounds
that are ever heard in the woods. I know not why it is so, Judith, but
when young men--and I dares to say it may be all the same with young
women, too--but when they get to have kind feelin's towards each other,
it's wonderful how pleasant the laugh, or the speech becomes, to the
other person. I've seen grim warriors listening to the chattering and
the laughing of young gals, as if it was church music, such as is heard
in the old Dutch church that stands in the great street of Albany, where
I've been, more than once, with peltry and game."

"And you, Deerslayer," said Judith quickly, and with more sensibility
than marked her usually light and thoughtless manner,--"have you never
felt how pleasant it is to listen to the laugh of the girl you love?"

"Lord bless you gal!--Why I've never lived enough among my own colour
to drop into them sort of feelin's,--no never! I dares to say, they are
nat'ral and right, but to me there's no music so sweet as the sighing
of the wind in the tree tops, and the rippling of a stream from a full,
sparkling, natyve fountain of pure forest water--unless, indeed,"
he continued, dropping his head for an instant in a thoughtful
manner--"unless indeed it be the open mouth of a sartain hound, when
I'm on the track of a fat buck. As for unsartain dogs, I care little for
their cries, seein' they are as likely to speak when the deer is not in
sight, as when it is."

Judith walked slowly and pensively away, nor was there any of her
ordinary calculating coquetry in the light tremulous sigh that,
unconsciously to herself, arose to her lips. On the other hand Hetty
listened with guileless attention, though it struck her simple mind as
singular that the young man should prefer the melody of the woods,
to the songs of girls, or even to the laugh of innocence and joy.
Accustomed, however, to defer in most things to her sister, she soon
followed Judith into the cabin, where she took a seat and remained
pondering intensely over some occurrence, or resolution, or
opinion--which was a secret to all but herself. Left alone, Deerslayer
and his friend resumed their discourse.

"Has the young pale-face hunter been long on this lake?" demanded the
Delaware, after courteously waiting for the other to speak first.

"Only since yesterday noon, Sarpent, though that has been long enough to
see and do much." The gaze that the Indian fastened on his companion was
so keen that it seemed to mock the gathering darkness of the night.
As the other furtively returned his look, he saw the two black eyes
glistening on him, like the balls of the panther, or those of the penned
wolf. He understood the meaning of this glowing gaze, and answered
evasively, as he fancied would best become the modesty of a white man's
gifts.

"'Tis as you suspect, Sarpent; yes, 'tis somewhat that-a-way. I have
fell in with the inimy, and I suppose it may be said I've fou't them,
too."

An exclamation of delight and exultation escaped the Indian, and then
laying his hand eagerly on the arm of his friend, he asked if there were
any scalps taken.

"That I will maintain in the face of all the Delaware tribe, old
Tamenund, and your own father the great Uncas, as well as the rest, is
ag'in white gifts! My scalp is on my head, as you can see, Sarpent, and
that was the only scalp that was in danger, when one side was altogether
Christian and white."

"Did no warrior fall?--Deerslayer did not get his name by being slow of
sight, or clumsy with the rifle!"

"In that particular, chief, you're nearer reason, and therefore nearer
being right. I may say one Mingo fell."

"A chief!" demanded the other with startling vehemence.

"Nay, that's more than I know, or can say. He was artful, and
treacherous, and stout-hearted, and may well have gained popularity
enough with his people to be named to that rank. The man fou't well,
though his eye was'n't quick enough for one who had had his schooling in
your company, Delaware."

"My brother and friend struck the body?"

"That was uncalled for, seeing that the Mingo died in my arms. The truth
may as well be said, at once; he fou't like a man of red gifts, and I
fou't like a man with gifts of my own colour. God gave me the victory;
I coul'n't fly in the face of his Providence by forgetting my birth and
natur'. White he made me, and white I shall live and die."

"Good! Deerslayer is a pale-face, and has pale-face hands. A Delaware
will look for the scalp, and hang it on a pole, and sing a song in his
honour, when we go back to our people. The glory belongs to the tribe;
it must not be lost."

"This is easy talking, but 'twill not be as easy doing. The Mingo's body
is in the hands of his fri'nds and, no doubt, is hid in some hole where
Delaware cunning will never be able to get at the scalp."

The young man then gave his friend a succinct, but clear account, of the
event of the morning, concealing nothing of any moment, and yet touching
on every thing modestly and with a careful attention to avoid the Indian
habit of boasting. Chingachgook again expressed his satisfaction at the
honour won by his friend, and then both arose, the hour having arrived
when it became prudent to move the Ark further from the land.

It was now quite dark, the heavens having become clouded, and the stars
hid. The north wind had ceased--as was usual with the setting of the
sun, and a light air arose from the south. This change favoring the
design of Deerslayer, he lifted his grapnel, and the scow immediately
and quite perceptibly began to drift more into the lake. The sail was
set, when the motion of the craft increased to a rate not much less than
two miles in the hour. As this superseded the necessity of rowing, an
occupation that an Indian would not be likely to desire, Deerslayer,
Chingachgook and Judith seated themselves in the stern of the scow,
where they first governed its movements by holding the oar. Here they
discoursed on their future movements, and on the means that ought to be
used in order to effect the liberation of their friends.

In this dialogue Judith held a material part, the Delaware readily
understanding all she said, while his own replies and remarks, both of
which were few and pithy, were occasionally rendered into English by his
friend. Judith rose greatly in the estimation of her companions, in the
half hour that followed. Prompt of resolution and firm of purpose, her
suggestions and expedients partook of her spirit and sagacity, both of
which were of a character to find favor with men of the frontier. The
events that had occurred since their meeting, as well as her isolated
and dependant situation, induced the girl to feel towards Deerslayer
like the friend of a year instead of an acquaintance of a day, and so
completely had she been won by his guileless truth of character and of
feeling, pure novelties in our sex, as respected her own experience,
that his peculiarities excited her curiosity, and created a confidence
that had never been awakened by any other man. Hitherto she had been
compelled to stand on the defensive in her intercourse with men, with
what success was best known to herself, but here had she been suddenly
thrown into the society and under the protection of a youth, who
evidently as little contemplated evil towards herself as if he had been
her brother. The freshness of his integrity, the poetry and truth of his
feelings, and even the quaintness of his forms of speech, all had their
influence, and aided in awakening an interest that she found as pure
as it was sudden and deep. Hurry's fine face and manly form had never
compensated for his boisterous and vulgar tone, and her intercourse with
the officers had prepared her to make comparisons under which even his
great natural advantages suffered. But this very intercourse with the
officers who occasionally came upon the lake to fish and hunt, had an
effect in producing her present sentiments towards the young stranger.
With them, while her vanity had been gratified, and her self-love
strongly awakened, she had many causes deeply to regret the
acquaintance--if not to mourn over it, in secret sorrow--for it was
impossible for one of her quick intellect not to perceive how hollow was
the association between superior and inferior, and that she was regarded
as the play thing of an idle hour, rather than as an equal and a friend,
by even the best intentioned and least designing of her scarlet-clad
admirers. Deerslayer, on the other hand, had a window in his breast
through which the light of his honesty was ever shining; and even his
indifference to charms that so rarely failed to produce a sensation,
piqued the pride of the girl, and gave him an interest that another,
seemingly more favored by nature, might have failed to excite.

In this manner half an hour passed, during which time the Ark had been
slowly stealing over the water, the darkness thickening around it;
though it was easy to see that the gloom of the forest at the southern
end of the lake was getting to be distant, while the mountains that
lined the sides of the beautiful basin were overshadowing it, nearly
from side to side. There was, indeed, a narrow stripe of water, in the
centre of the lake where the dim light that was still shed from the
heavens, fell upon its surface in a line extending north and south;
and along this faint track, a sort of inverted milky way, in which the
obscurity was not quite as dense as in other places, the scow held her
course, he who steered well knowing that it led in the direction he
wished to go. The reader is not to suppose, however, that any difficulty
could exist as to the course. This would have been determined by that of
the air, had it not been possible to distinguish the mountains, as well
as by the dim opening to the south, which marked the position of the
valley in that quarter, above the plain of tall trees, by a sort of
lessened obscurity; the difference between the darkness of the forest,
and that of the night, as seen only in the air. The peculiarities
at length caught the attention of Judith and the Deerslayer, and the
conversation ceased, to allow each to gaze at the solemn stillness and
deep repose of nature.

"'Tis a gloomy night--" observed the girl, after a pause of several
minutes--"I hope we may be able to find the castle."

"Little fear of our missing that, if we keep this path in the middle of
the lake," returned the young man. "Natur' has made us a road here, and,
dim as it is, there'll be little difficulty following it."

"Do you hear nothing, Deerslayer?--It seemed as if the water was
stirring quite near us!"

"Sartainly something did move the water, oncommon like; must have been
a fish. Them creatur's prey upon each other like men and animals on the
land; one has leaped into the air and fallen hard, back into his own
element. 'Tis of little use Judith, for any to strive to get out of
their elements, since it's natur' to stay in 'em, and natur' will have
its way. Ha! That sounds like a paddle, used with more than common
caution!"

At this moment the Delaware bent forward and pointed significantly into
the boundary of gloom, as if some object had suddenly caught his eye.
Both Deerslayer and Judith followed the direction of his gesture, and
each got a view of a canoe at the same instant. The glimpse of this
startling neighbor was dim, and to eyes less practised it might have
been uncertain, though to those in the Ark the object was evidently
a canoe with a single individual in it; the latter standing erect and
paddling. How many lay concealed in its bottom, of course could not be
known. Flight, by means of oars, from a bark canoe impelled by vigorous
and skilful hands, was utterly impracticable, and each of the men seized
his rifle in expectation of a conflict.

"I can easily bring down the paddler," whispered Deerslayer, "but
we'll first hail him, and ask his arrn'd." Then raising his voice, he
continued in a solemn manner--"hold! If ye come nearer, I must fire,
though contrary to my wishes, and then sartain death will follow. Stop
paddling, and answer."

"Fire, and slay a poor defenseless girl," returned a soft tremulous
female voice. "And God will never forgive you! Go your way, Deerslayer,
and let me go mine."

"Hetty!" exclaimed the young man and Judith in a breath; and the former
sprang instantly to the spot where he had left the canoe they had been
towing. It was gone, and he understood the whole affair. As for the
fugitive, frightened at the menace she ceased paddling, and remained
dimly visible, resembling a spectral outline of a human form, standing
on the water. At the next moment the sail was lowered, to prevent the
Ark from passing the spot where the canoe lay. This last expedient,
however, was not taken in time, for the momentum of so heavy a craft,
and the impulsion of the air, soon set her by, bringing Hetty directly
to windward, though still visible, as the change in the positions of
the two boats now placed her in that species of milky way which has been
mentioned.

"What can this mean, Judith?" demanded Deerslayer--"Why has your sister
taken the canoe, and left us?"

"You know she is feeble-minded, poor girl!--and she has her own ideas of
what ought to be done. She loves her father more than most children love
their parents--and--then--"

"Then, what, gal? This is a trying moment; one in which truth must be
spoken!"

Judith felt a generous and womanly regret at betraying her sister, and
she hesitated ere she spoke again. But once more urged by Deerslayer,
and conscious herself of all the risks the whole party was running by
the indiscretion of Hetty, she could refrain no longer.

"Then, I fear, poor, weak-minded Hetty has not been altogether able
to see all the vanity, and rudeness and folly, that lie hid behind the
handsome face and fine form of Hurry Harry. She talks of him in her
sleep, and sometimes betrays the inclination in her waking moments."

"You think, Judith, that your sister is now bent on some mad scheme to
serve her father and Hurry, which will, in all likelihood, give them
riptyles the Mingos, the mastership of a canoe?"

"Such, I fear, will turn out to be the fact, Deerslayer. Poor Hetty has
hardly sufficient cunning to outwit a savage."

All this while the canoe, with the form of Hetty erect in one end of it,
was dimly perceptible, though the greater drift of the Ark rendered it,
at each instant, less and less distinct. It was evident no time was to
be lost, lest it should altogether disappear. The rifles were now laid
aside as useless, the two men seizing the oars and sweeping the head of
the scow round in the direction of the canoe. Judith, accustomed to the
office, flew to the other end of the Ark, and placed herself at what
might be called the helm. Hetty took the alarm at these preparations,
which could not be made without noise, and started off like a bird that
had been suddenly put up by the approach of unexpected danger.

As Deerslayer and his companion rowed with the energy of those who
felt the necessity of straining every nerve, and Hetty's strength was
impaired by a nervous desire to escape, the chase would have quickly
terminated in the capture of the fugitive, had not the girl made several
short and unlooked-for deviations in her course. These turnings gave her
time, and they had also the effect of gradually bringing both canoe and
Ark within the deeper gloom, cast by the shadows from the hills. They
also gradually increased the distance between the fugitive and her
pursuers, until Judith called out to her companions to cease rowing, for
she had completely lost sight of the canoe.

When this mortifying announcement was made, Hetty was actually so near
as to understand every syllable her sister uttered, though the latter
had used the precaution of speaking as low as circumstances would allow
her to do, and to make herself heard. Hetty stopped paddling at the same
moment, and waited the result with an impatience that was breathless,
equally from her late exertions, and her desire to land. A dead silence
immediately fell on the lake, during which the three in the Ark were
using their senses differently, in order to detect the position of the
canoe. Judith bent forward to listen, in the hope of catching some sound
that might betray the direction in which her sister was stealing away,
while her two companions brought their eyes as near as possible to
a level with the water, in order to detect any object that might be
floating on its surface. All was vain, however, for neither sound nor
sight rewarded their efforts. All this time Hetty, who had not the
cunning to sink into the canoe, stood erect, a finger pressed on her
lips, gazing in the direction in which the voices had last been heard,
resembling a statue of profound and timid attention. Her ingenuity had
barely sufficed to enable her to seize the canoe and to quit the Ark,
in the noiseless manner related, and then it appeared to be momentarily
exhausted. Even the doublings of the canoe had been as much the
consequence of an uncertain hand and of nervous agitation, as of any
craftiness or calculation.

The pause continued several minutes, during which Deerslayer and the
Delaware conferred together in the language of the latter. Then the oars
dipped, again, and the Ark moved away, rowing with as little noise as
possible. It steered westward, a little southerly, or in the direction
of the encampment of the enemy. Having reached a point at no great
distance from the shore, and where the obscurity was intense on account
of the proximity of the land, it lay there near an hour, in waiting for
the expected approach of Hetty, who, it was thought, would make the best
of her way to that spot as soon as she believed herself released
from the danger of pursuit. No success rewarded this little blockade,
however, neither appearance nor sound denoting the passage of the canoe.
Disappointed at this failure, and conscious of the importance of getting
possession of the fortress before it could be seized by the enemy,
Deerslayer now took his way towards the castle, with the apprehension
that all his foresight in securing the canoes would be defeated by this
unguarded and alarming movement on the part of the feeble-minded Hetty.




    "But who in this wild wood
    May credit give to either eye, or ear?
    From rocky precipice or hollow cave,
    'Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves,
    And creaking boughs, and cries of nightly birds,
    Returning seeming answer!"

    Joanna Baihie, "Rayner: A Tragedy," II.L3-4, 6-g.

Fear, as much as calculation, had induced Hetty to cease paddling, when
she found that her pursuers did not know in which direction to proceed.
She remained stationary until the Ark had pulled in near the encampment,
as has been related in the preceding chapter, when she resumed the
paddle and with cautious strokes made the best of her way towards the
western shore. In order to avoid her pursuers, however, who, she rightly
suspected, would soon be rowing along that shore themselves, the head
of the canoe was pointed so far north as to bring her to land on a point
that thrust itself into the lake, at the distance of near a league from
the outlet. Nor was this altogether the result of a desire to escape,
for, feeble minded as she was, Hetty Hutter had a good deal of that
instinctive caution which so often keeps those whom God has thus visited
from harm. She was perfectly aware of the importance of keeping the
canoes from falling into the hands of the Iroquois, and long familiarity
with the lake had suggested one of the simplest expedients, by which
this great object could be rendered compatible with her own purpose.

The point in question was the first projection that offered on that side
of the lake, where a canoe, if set adrift with a southerly air would
float clear of the land, and where it would be no great violation of
probabilities to suppose it might even hit the castle; the latter lying
above it, almost in a direct line with the wind. Such then was Hetty's
intention, and she landed on the extremity of the gravelly point,
beneath an overhanging oak, with the express intention of shoving the
canoe off from the shore, in order that it might drift up towards her
father's insulated abode. She knew, too, from the logs that occasionally
floated about the lake, that did it miss the castle and its appendages
the wind would be likely to change before the canoe could reach the
northern extremity of the lake, and that Deerslayer might have an
opportunity of regaining it in the morning, when no doubt he would be
earnestly sweeping the surface of the water, and the whole of its wooded
shores, with glass. In all this, too, Hetty was less governed by any
chain of reasoning than by her habits, the latter often supplying the
place of mind, in human beings, as they perform the same for animals of
the inferior classes.

The girl was quite an hour finding her way to the point, the distance
and the obscurity equally detaining her, but she was no sooner on the
gravelly beach than she prepared to set the canoe adrift, in the manner
mentioned. While in the act of pushing it from her, she heard low
voices that seemed to come among the trees behind her. Startled at this
unexpected danger Hetty was on the point of springing into the canoe
in order to seek safety in flight, when she thought she recognized the
tones of Judith's melodious voice. Bending forward so as to catch the
sounds more directly, they evidently came from the water, and then she
understood that the Ark was approaching from the south, and so close
in with the western shore, as necessarily to cause it to pass the point
within twenty yards of the spot where she stood. Here, then, was all she
could desire; the canoe was shoved off into the lake, leaving its late
occupant alone on the narrow strand.

When this act of self-devotion was performed, Hetty did not retire. The
foliage of the overhanging trees and bushes would have almost concealed
her person, had there been light, but in that obscurity it was utterly
impossible to discover any object thus shaded, at the distance of a few
feet. Flight, too, was perfectly easy, as twenty steps would effectually
bury her in the forest. She remained, therefore, watching with intense
anxiety the result of her expedient, intending to call the attention
of the others to the canoe with her voice, should they appear to
pass without observing it. The Ark approached under its sail, again,
Deerslayer standing in its bow, with Judith near him, and the Delaware
at the helm. It would seem that in the bay below it had got too close to
the shore, in the lingering hope of intercepting Hetty, for, as it came
nearer, the latter distinctly heard the directions that the young man
forward gave to his companion aft, in order to clear the point.

"Lay her head more off the shore, Delaware," said Deerslayer for the
third time, speaking in English that his fair companion might understand
his words--"Lay her head well off shore. We have got embayed here, and
needs keep the mast clear of the trees. Judith, there's a canoe!"

The last words were uttered with great earnestness, and Deerslayer's
hand was on his rifle ere they were fairly out of his mouth. But the
truth flashed on the mind of the quick-witted girl, and she instantly
told her companion that the boat must be that in which her sister had
fled.

"Keep the scow straight, Delaware; steer as straight as your bullet
flies when sent ag'in a buck; there--I have it."

The canoe was seized, and immediately secured again to the side of the
Ark. At the next moment the sail was lowered, and the motion of the Ark
arrested by means of the oars.

"Hetty!" called out Judith, concern, even affection betraying itself in
her tones. "Are you within hearing, sister--for God's sake answer, and
let me hear the sound of your voice, again! Hetty!--dear Hetty."

"I'm here, Judith--here on the shore, where it will be useless to follow
me, as I will hide in the woods."

"Oh! Hetty what is't you do! Remember 'tis drawing near midnight, and
that the woods are filled with savages and wild beasts!"

"Neither will harm a poor half-witted girl, Judith. God is as much with
me, here, as he would be in the Ark or in the hut. I am going to help my
father, and poor Hurry Harry, who will be tortured and slain unless some
one cares for them."

"We all care for them, and intend to-morrow to send them a flag of
truce, to buy their ransom. Come back then, sister; trust to us, who
have better heads than you, and who will do all we can for father."

"I know your head is better than mine, Judith, for mine is very weak, to
be sure; but I must go to father and poor Hurry. Do you and Deerslayer
keep the castle, sister; leave me in the hands of God."


"God is with us all, Hetty--in the castle, or on the shore--father as
well as ourselves, and it is sinful not to trust to his goodness. You
can do nothing in the dark; will lose your way in the forest, and perish
for want of food."

"God will not let that happen to a poor child that goes to serve her
father, sister. I must try and find the savages."

"Come back for this night only; in the morning, we will put you ashore,
and leave you to do as you may think right."

"You say so, Judith, and you think so; but you would not. Your heart
would soften, and you'd see tomahawks and scalping knives in the air.
Besides, I've got a thing to tell the Indian chief that will answer all
our wishes, and I'm afraid I may forget it, if I don't tell it to him at
once. You'll see that he will let father go, as soon as he hears it!"

"Poor Hetty! What can you say to a ferocious savage that will be likely
to change his bloody purpose!"

"That which will frighten him, and make him let father go--" returned
the simple-minded girl, positively. "You'll see, sister; you'll see, how
soon it will bring him to, like a gentle child!"

"Will you tell me, Hetty, what you intend to say?" asked Deerslayer. "I
know the savages well, and can form some idee how far fair words will be
likely, or not, to work on their bloody natur's. If it's not suited to
the gifts of a red-skin, 'twill be of no use; for reason goes by gifts,
as well as conduct."

"Well, then," answered Hetty, dropping her voice to a low, confidential,
tone, for the stillness of the night, and the nearness of the Ark,
permitted her to do this and still to be heard--"Well, then, Deerslayer,
as you seem a good and honest young man I will tell you. I mean not to
say a word to any of the savages until I get face to face with their
head chief, let them plague me with as many questions as they please
I'll answer none of them, unless it be to tell them to lead me to their
wisest man--Then, Deerslayer, I'll tell him that God will not forgive
murder, and thefts; and that if father and Hurry did go after the
scalps of the Iroquois, he must return good for evil, for so the Bible
commands, else he will go into everlasting punishment. When he hears
this, and feels it to be true, as feel it he must, how long will it be
before he sends father, and Hurry, and me to the shore, opposite the
castle, telling us all three to go our way in peace?"

The last question was put in a triumphant manner, and then the
simple-minded girl laughed at the impression she never doubted that her
project had made on her auditors. Deerslayer was dumb-founded at this
proof of guileless feebleness of mind, but Judith had suddenly bethought
her of a means of counteracting this wild project, by acting on the
very feelings that had given it birth. Without adverting to the closing
question, or the laugh, therefore, she hurriedly called to her sister by
name, as one suddenly impressed with the importance of what she had to
say. But no answer was given to the call.

By the snapping of twigs, and the rustling of leaves, Hetty had
evidently quitted the shore, and was already burying herself in the
forest. To follow would have been fruitless, since the darkness, as
well as the dense cover that the woods everywhere offered, would have
rendered her capture next to impossible, and there was also the never
ceasing danger of falling into the hands of their enemies. After a short
and melancholy discussion, therefore, the sail was again set, and
the Ark pursued its course towards its habitual moorings, Deerslayer
silently felicitating himself on the recovery of the canoe, and brooding
over his plans for the morrow. The wind rose as the party quitted the
point, and in less than an hour they reached the castle. Here all was
found as it had been left, and the reverse of the ceremonies had to
be taken in entering the building, that had been used on quitting it.
Judith occupied a solitary bed that night bedewing the pillow with her
tears, as she thought of the innocent and hitherto neglected creature,
who had been her companion from childhood, and bitter regrets came over
her mind, from more causes than one, as the weary hours passed away,
making it nearly morning before she lost her recollection in sleep.
Deerslayer and the Delaware took their rest in the Ark, where we shall
leave them enjoying the deep sleep of the honest, the healthful and
fearless, to return to the girl we have last seen in the midst of the
forest.

When Hetty left the shore, she took her way unhesitatingly into the
woods, with a nervous apprehension of being followed. Luckily, this
course was the best she could have hit on to effect her own purpose,
since it was the only one that led her from the point. The night was so
intensely dark, beneath the branches of the trees, that her progress
was very slow, and the direction she went altogether a matter of chance,
after the first few yards. The formation of the ground, however, did not
permit her to deviate far from the line in which she desired to proceed.
On one hand it was soon bounded by the acclivity of the hill, while
the lake, on the other, served as a guide. For two hours did this
single-hearted and simple-minded girl toil through the mazes of the
forest, sometimes finding herself on the brow of the bank that bounded
the water, and at others struggling up an ascent that warned her to go
no farther in that direction, since it necessarily ran at right angles
to the course on which she wished to proceed. Her feet often slid from
beneath her, and she got many falls, though none to do her injury; but,
by the end of the period mentioned, she had become so weary as to want
strength to go any farther. Rest was indispensable, and she set about
preparing a bed, with the readiness and coolness of one to whom the
wilderness presented no unnecessary terrors. She knew that wild beasts
roamed through all the adjacent forest, but animals that preyed on the
human species were rare, and of dangerous serpents there were literally
none. These facts had been taught her by her father, and whatever her
feeble mind received at all, it received so confidingly as to leave her
no uneasiness from any doubts, or scepticism. To her the sublimity
of the solitude in which she was placed, was soothing, rather than
appalling, and she gathered a bed of leaves, with as much indifference
to the circumstances that would have driven the thoughts of sleep
entirely from the minds of most of her sex, as if she had been preparing
her place of nightly rest beneath the paternal roof. As soon as Hetty
had collected a sufficient number of the dried leaves to protect her
person from the damps of the ground, she kneeled beside the humble pile,
clasped her raised hands in an attitude of deep devotion, and in a soft,
low, but audible voice repeated the Lord's Prayer. This was followed by
those simple and devout verses, so familiar to children, in which she
recommended her soul to God, should it be called away to another state
of existence, ere the return of morning. This duty done, she lay down
and disposed herself to sleep. The attire of the girl, though suited
to the season, was sufficiently warm for all ordinary purposes, but the
forest is ever cool, and the nights of that elevated region of country,
have always a freshness about them, that renders clothing more necessary
than is commonly the case in the summers of a low latitude. This had
been foreseen by Hetty, who had brought with her a coarse heavy mantle,
which, when laid over her body, answered all the useful purposes of
a blanket. Thus protected, she dropped asleep in a few minutes, as
tranquilly as if watched over by the guardian care of that mother,
who had so recently been taken from her forever, affording in this
particular a most striking contrast between her own humble couch, and
the sleepless pillow of her sister.

Hour passed after hour, in a tranquility as undisturbed and a rest as
sweet as if angels, expressly commissioned for that object, watched
around the bed of Hetty Hutter. Not once did her soft eyes open, until
the grey of the dawn came struggling through the tops of the trees,
falling on their lids, and, united to the freshness of a summer's
morning, giving the usual summons to awake. Ordinarily, Hetty was up
ere the rays of the sun tipped the summits of the mountains, but on this
occasion her fatigue had been so great, and her rest was so profound,
that the customary warnings failed of their effect. The girl murmured
in her sleep, threw an arm forward, smiled as gently as an infant in
its cradle, but still slumbered. In making this unconscious gesture,
her hand fell on some object that was warm, and in the half unconscious
state in which she lay, she connected the circumstance with her habits.
At the next moment, a rude attack was made on her side, as if a rooting
animal were thrusting its snout beneath, with a desire to force her
position, and then, uttering the name of "Judith" she awoke. As the
startled girl arose to a sitting attitude she perceived that some dark
object sprang from her, scattering the leaves and snapping the fallen
twigs in its haste. Opening her eyes, and recovering from the first
confusion and astonishment of her situation, Hetty perceived a cub, of
the common American brown bear, balancing itself on its hinder legs, and
still looking towards her, as if doubtful whether it would be safe to
trust itself near her person again. The first impulse of Hetty, who had
been mistress of several of these cubs, was to run and seize the little
creature as a prize, but a loud growl warned her of the danger of such
a procedure. Recoiling a few steps, the girl looked hurriedly round, and
perceived the dam, watching her movements with fiery eyes at no great
distance. A hollow tree, that once been the home of bees, having
recently fallen, the mother with two more cubs was feasting on the
dainty food that this accident had placed within her reach; while the
first kept a jealous eye on the situation of its truant and reckless
young.

It would exceed all the means of human knowledge to presume to analyze
the influences that govern the acts of the lower animals. On this
occasion, the dam, though proverbially fierce when its young is thought
to be in danger, manifested no intention to attack the girl. It quitted
the honey, and advanced to a place within twenty feet of her, where it
raised itself on its hind legs and balanced its body in a sort of angry,
growling discontent, but approached no nearer. Happily, Hetty did not
fly. On the contrary, though not without terror, she knelt with her face
towards the animal, and with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, repeated
the prayer of the previous night. This act of devotion was not the
result of alarm, but it was a duty she never neglected to perform
ere she slept, and when the return of consciousness awoke her to the
business of the day. As the girl arose from her knees, the bear dropped
on its feet again, and collecting its cubs around her, permitted them
to draw their natural sustenance. Hetty was delighted with this proof of
tenderness in an animal that has but a very indifferent reputation for
the gentler feelings, and as a cub would quit its mother to frisk and
leap about in wantonness, she felt a strong desire again to catch it
up in her arms, and play with it. But admonished by the growl, she had
self-command sufficient not to put this dangerous project in execution,
and recollecting her errand among the hills, she tore herself away from
the group, and proceeded on her course along the margin of the lake, of
which she now caught glimpses again through the trees. To her surprise,
though not to her alarm, the family of bears arose and followed her
steps, keeping a short distance behind her; apparently watching every
movement as if they had a near interest in all she did.

In this manner, escorted by the dam and cubs, the girl proceeded
nearly a mile, thrice the distance she had been able to achieve in the
darkness, during the same period of time. She then reached a brook that
had dug a channel for itself into the earth, and went brawling into
the lake, between steep and high banks, covered with trees. Here Hetty
performed her ablutions; then drinking of the pure mountain water, she
went her way, refreshed and lighter of heart, still attended by her
singular companions. Her course now lay along a broad and nearly level
terrace, which stretched from the top of the bank that bounded the
water, to a low acclivity that rose to a second and irregular platform
above. This was at a part of the valley where the mountains ran
obliquely, forming the commencement of a plain that spread between
the hills, southward of the sheet of water. Hetty knew, by this
circumstance, that she was getting near to the encampment, and had she
not, the bears would have given her warning of the vicinity of human
beings. Snuffing the air, the dam refused to follow any further, though
the girl looked back and invited her to come by childish signs, and even
by direct appeals made in her own sweet voice. It was while making her
way slowly through some bushes, in this manner, with averted face and
eyes riveted on the immovable animals, that the girl suddenly found her
steps arrested by a human hand, that was laid lightly on her shoulder.

"Where go?--" said a soft female voice, speaking hurriedly, and in
concern.--"Indian--red man savage--wicked warrior--that-a-way."

This unexpected salutation alarmed the girl no more than the presence of
the fierce inhabitants of the woods. It took her a little by surprise,
it is true, but she was in a measure prepared for some such meeting, and
the creature who stopped her was as little likely to excite terror as
any who ever appeared in the guise of an Indian. It was a girl, not much
older than herself, whose smile was sunny as Judith's in her brightest
moments, whose voice was melody itself, and whose accents and manner had
all the rebuked gentleness that characterizes the sex among a people
who habitually treat their women as the attendants and servitors of the
warriors. Beauty among the women of the aboriginal Americans, before
they have become exposed to the hardships of wives and mothers, is by no
means uncommon. In this particular, the original owners of the country
were not unlike their more civilized successors, nature appearing to
have bestowed that delicacy of mien and outline that forms so great a
charm in the youthful female, but of which they are so early deprived;
and that, too, as much by the habits of domestic life as from any other
cause.

The girl who had so suddenly arrested the steps of Hetty was dressed
in a calico mantle that effectually protected all the upper part of her
person, while a short petticoat of blue cloth edged with gold lace, that
fell no lower than her knees, leggings of the same, and moccasins of
deer-skin, completed her attire. Her hair fell in long dark braids down
her shoulders and back, and was parted above a low smooth forehead, in
a way to soften the expression of eyes that were full of archness and
natural feeling. Her face was oval, with delicate features, the teeth
were even and white, while the mouth expressed a melancholy tenderness,
as if it wore this peculiar meaning in intuitive perception of the fate
of a being who was doomed from birth to endure a woman's sufferings,
relieved by a woman's affections. Her voice, as has been already
intimated, was soft as the sighing of the night air, a characteristic of
the females of her race, but which was so conspicuous in herself as
to have produced for her the name of Wah-ta-Wah; which rendered into
English means Hist-oh-Hist.

In a word, this was the betrothed of Chingachgook, who--having succeeded
in lulling their suspicions, was permitted to wander around the
encampment of her captors. This indulgence was in accordance with the
general policy of the red man, who well knew, moreover, that her trail
could have been easily followed in the event of flight. It will also be
remembered that the Iroquois, or Hurons, as it would be better to call
them, were entirely ignorant of the proximity of her lover, a fact,
indeed, that she did not know herself.

It is not easy to say which manifested the most self-possession at this
unexpected meeting; the pale-face, or the red girl. But, though a little
surprised, Wah-ta-Wah was the most willing to speak, and far the readier
in foreseeing consequences, as well as in devising means to avert them.
Her father, during her childhood, had been much employed as a warrior by
the authorities of the Colony, and dwelling for several years near the
forts, she had caught a knowledge of the English tongue, which she spoke
in the usual, abbreviated manner of an Indian, but fluently, and without
any of the ordinary reluctance of her people.

"Where go?--" repeated Wah-ta-Wah, returning the smile of Hetty, in her
own gentle, winning, manner--"wicked warrior that-a-way--good warrior,
far off."

"What's your name?" asked Hetty, with the simplicity of a child.

"Wah-ta-Wah. I no Mingo--good Delaware--Yengeese friend. Mingo cruel,
and love scalp, for blood--Delaware love him, for honor. Come here,
where no eyes."

Wah-ta-Wah now led her companion towards the lake, descending the bank
so as to place its overhanging trees and bushes between them and any
probable observers. Nor did she stop until they were both seated, side
by side, on a fallen log, one end of which actually lay buried in the
water.

"Why you come for?" the young Indian eagerly inquired--"Where you come
for?" Hetty told her tale in her own simple and truth-loving manner. She
explained the situation of her father, and stated her desire to serve
him, and if possible to procure his release.

"Why your father come to Mingo camp in night?" asked the Indian girl,
with a directness, which if not borrowed from the other, partook largely
of its sincerity. "He know it war-time, and he no boy--he no want
beard--no want to be told Iroquois carry tomahawk, and knife, and rifle.
Why he come night time, seize me by hair, and try to scalp Delaware
girl?"

"You!" said Hetty, almost sickening with horror--"Did he seize you--did
he try to scalp you?"

"Why no? Delaware scalp sell for much as Mingo scalp. Governor no tell
difference. Wicked t'ing for pale-face to scalp. No his gifts, as the
good Deerslayer always tell me."

"And do you know the Deerslayer?" said Hetty, coloring with delight and
surprise; forgetting her regrets, at the moment, in the influence of
this new feeling. "I know him, too. He is now in the Ark, with Judith
and a Delaware who is called the Big Serpent. A bold and handsome
warrior is this Serpent, too!"

Spite of the rich deep colour that nature had bestowed on the Indian
beauty, the tell-tale blood deepened on her cheeks, until the blush gave
new animation and intelligence to her jet-black eyes. Raising a finger
in an attitude of warning, she dropped her voice, already so soft and
sweet, nearly to a whisper, as she continued the discourse.

"Chingachgook!" returned the Delaware girl, sighing out the harsh
name, in sounds so softly guttural, as to cause it to reach the ear in
melody--"His father, Uncas--great chief of the Mahicanni--next to old
Tamenund!--More as warrior, not so much gray hair, and less at Council
Fire. You know Serpent?"

"He joined us last evening, and was in the Ark with me, for two or three
hours before I left it. I'm afraid, Hist--" Hetty could not pronounce
the Indian name of her new friend, but having heard Deerslayer give her
this familiar appellation, she used it without any of the ceremony of
civilized life--"I'm afraid Hist, he has come after scalps, as well as
my poor father and Hurry Harry."

"Why he shouldn't--ha? Chingachgook red warrior--very red--scalp make
his honor--Be sure he take him."

"Then," said Hetty, earnestly, "he will be as wicked as any other. God
will not pardon in a red man, what he will not pardon in a white man.

"No true--" returned the Delaware girl, with a warmth that nearly
amounted to passion. "No true, I tell you! The Manitou smile and pleased
when he see young warrior come back from the war path, with two, ten,
hundred scalp on a pole! Chingachgook father take scalp--grandfather
take scalp--all old chief take scalp, and Chingachgook take as many
scalp as he can carry, himself."

"Then, Hist, his sleep of nights must be terrible to think of. No one
can be cruel, and hope to be forgiven."

"No cruel--plenty forgiven--" returned Wah-ta-Wah, stamping her little
foot on the stony strand, and shaking her head in a way to show how
completely feminine feeling, in one of its aspects, had gotten the
better of feminine feeling in another. "I tell you, Serpent brave; he go
home, this time, with four,--yes--two scalp."

"And is that his errand, here?--Did he really come all this distance,
across mountain, and valley, rivers and lakes, to torment his fellow
creatures, and do so wicked a thing?"

This question at once appeased the growing ire of the half-offended
Indian beauty. It completely got the better of the prejudices of
education, and turned all her thoughts to a gentler and more feminine
channel. At first, she looked around her, suspiciously, as if
distrusting eavesdroppers; then she gazed wistfully into the face of her
attentive companion; after which this exhibition of girlish coquetry
and womanly feeling, terminated by her covering her face with both her
hands, and laughing in a strain that might well be termed the melody of
the woods. Dread of discovery, however, soon put a stop to this naive
exhibition of feeling, and removing her hands, this creature of impulses
gazed again wistfully into the face of her companion, as if inquiring
how far she might trust a stranger with her secret. Although Hetty
had no claims to her sister's extraordinary beauty, many thought
her countenance the most winning of the two. It expressed all the
undisguised sincerity of her character, and it was totally free from
any of the unpleasant physical accompaniments that so frequently attend
mental imbecility. It is true that one accustomed to closer observations
than common, might have detected the proofs of her feebleness of
intellect in the language of her sometimes vacant eyes, but they were
signs that attracted sympathy by their total want of guile, rather than
by any other feeling. The effect on Hist, to use the English and more
familiar translation of the name, was favorable, and yielding to an
impulse of tenderness, she threw her arms around Hetty, and embraced her
with an outpouring emotion, so natural that it was only equaled by its
warmth.

"You good--" whispered the young Indian--"you good, I know; it so long
since Wah-ta-Wah have a friend--a sister--any body to speak her heart
to! You Hist friend; don't I say trut'?"

"I never had a friend," answered Hetty returning the warm embrace with
unfeigned earnestness. "I've a sister, but no friend. Judith loves
me, and I love Judith; but that's natural, and as we are taught in the
Bible--but I should like to have a friend! I'll be your friend, with all
my heart, for I like your voice and your smile, and your way of thinking
in every thing, except about the scalps--"

"No t'ink more of him--no say more of scalp--" interrupted Hist,
soothingly--"You pale-face, I red-skin; we bring up different fashion.
Deerslayer and Chingachgook great friend, and no the same colour, Hist
and--what your name, pretty pale-face?"

"I am called Hetty, though when they spell the name in the bible, they
always spell it Esther."

"What that make?--no good, no harm. No need to spell name at
all--Moravian try to make Wah-ta-Wah spell, but no won't let him. No
good for Delaware girl to know too much--know more than warrior some
time; that great shame. My name Wah-ta-Wah that say Hist in your tongue;
you call him, Hist--I call him, Hetty."

These preliminaries settled to their mutual satisfaction, the two girls
began to discourse of their several hopes and projects. Hetty made her
new friend more fully acquainted with her intentions in behalf of her
father, and, to one in the least addicted to prying into the affairs,
Hist would have betrayed her own feelings and expectations in connection
with the young warrior of her own tribe. Enough was revealed on both
sides, however, to let each party get a tolerable insight into the views
of the other, though enough still remained in mental reservation,
to give rise to the following questions and answers, with which the
interview in effect closed. As the quickest witted, Hist was the first
with her interrogatories. Folding an arm about the waist of Hetty, she
bent her head so as to look up playfully into the face of the other,
and, laughing, as if her meaning were to be extracted from her looks,
she spoke more plainly.

"Hetty got broder, as well as fader?--" she said--"Why no talk of
broder, as well as fader?"

"I have no brother, Hist. I had one once, they say, but he is dead many
a year, and lies buried in the lake, by the side of my mother."

"No got broder--got a young warrior--Love him, almost as much as fader,
eh? Very handsome, and brave-looking; fit to be chief, if he good as he
seem to be."

"It's wicked to love any man as well as I love my father, and so I
strive not to do it, Hist," returned the conscientious Hetty, who knew
not how to conceal an emotion, by an approach to an untruth as venial as
an evasion, though powerfully tempted by female shame to err, "though I
sometimes think wickedness will get the better of me, if Hurry comes so
often to the lake. I must tell you the truth, dear Hist, because you ask
me, but I should fall down and die in the woods, if he knew it!"

"Why he no ask you, himself?--Brave looking--why not bold speaking?
Young warrior ought to ask young girl, no make young girl speak first.
Mingo girls too shame for that."

This was said indignantly, and with the generous warmth a young female
of spirit would be apt to feel, at what she deemed an invasion of
her sex's most valued privilege. It had little influence on the
simple-minded, but also just-minded Hetty, who, though inherently
feminine in all her impulses, was much more alive to the workings of her
own heart, than to any of the usages with which convention has protected
the sensitiveness of her sex.

"Ask me what?' the startled girl demanded, with a suddenness that proved
how completely her fears had been aroused. 'Ask me, if I like him as
well as I do my own father! Oh! I hope he will never put such a question
to me, for I should have to answer, and that would kill me!"

"No--no--no kill, quite--almost," returned the other, laughing in spite
of herself. "Make blush come--make shame come too; but he no stay great
while; then feel happier than ever. Young warrior must tell young girl
he want to make wife, else never can live in his wigwam."

"Hurry don't want to marry me--nobody will ever want to marry me, Hist."

"How you can know? P'raps every body want to marry you, and by-and-bye,
tongue say what heart feel. Why nobody want to marry you?"

"I am not full witted, they say. Father often tells me this; and so does
Judith, sometimes, when she is vexed; but I shouldn't so much mind them,
as I did mother. She said so once and then she cried as if her heart
would break; and, so, I know I'm not full witted."

Hist gazed at the gentle, simple girl, for quite a minute without
speaking, and then the truth appeared to flash all at once on the
mind of the young Indian maid. Pity, reverence and tenderness seemed
struggling together in her breast, and then rising suddenly, she
indicated a wish to her companion that she would accompany her to the
camp, which was situated at no great distance. This unexpected change
from the precautions that Hist had previously manifested a desire to
use, in order to prevent being seen, to an open exposure of the person
of her friend, arose from the perfect conviction that no Indian would
harm a being whom the Great Spirit had disarmed, by depriving it of its
strongest defence, reason. In this respect, nearly all unsophisticated
nations resemble each other, appearing to offer spontaneously, by
a feeling creditable to human nature, that protection by their own
forbearance, which has been withheld by the inscrutable wisdom of
Providence. Wah-ta-Wah, indeed, knew that in many tribes the mentally
imbecile and the mad were held in a species of religious reverence,
receiving from these untutored inhabitants of the forest respect and
honors, instead of the contumely and neglect that it is their fortune to
meet with among the more pretending and sophisticated.

Hetty accompanied her new friend without apprehension or reluctance. It
was her wish to reach the camp, and, sustained by her motives, she felt
no more concern for the consequences than did her companion herself,
now the latter was apprised of the character of the protection that the
pale-face maiden carried with her. Still, as they proceeded slowly along
a shore that was tangled with overhanging bushes, Hetty continued the
discourse, assuming the office of interrogating which the other had
instantly dropped, as soon as she ascertained the character of the mind
to which her questions had been addressed.

"But you are not half-witted," said Hetty, "and there's no reason why
the Serpent should not marry you."

"Hist prisoner, and Mingo got big ear. No speak of Chingachgook when
they by. Promise Hist that, good Hetty."

"I know--I know--" returned Hetty, half-whispering, in her eagerness
to let the other see she understood the necessity of caution. "I
know--Deerslayer and the Serpent mean to get you away from the Iroquois,
and you wish me not to tell the secret."

"How you know?" said Hist, hastily, vexed at the moment that the other
was not even more feeble minded than was actually the case. "How you
know? Better not talk of any but fader and Hurry--Mingo understand
dat; he no understand t'udder. Promise you no talk about what you no
understand."

"But I do understand this, Hist, and so I must talk about it. Deerslayer
as good as told father all about it, in my presence, and as nobody
told me not to listen, I overheard it all, as I did Hurry and father's
discourse about the scalps."

"Very bad for pale-faces to talk about scalps, and very bad for young
woman to hear! Now you love Hist, I know, Hetty, and so, among Injins,
when love hardest never talk most."

"That's not the way among white people, who talk most about them they
love best. I suppose it's because I'm only half-witted that I don't see
the reason why it should be so different among red people."

"That what Deerslayer call gift. One gift to talk; t'udder gift to hold
tongue. Hold tongue your gift, among Mingos. If Sarpent want to see
Hist, so Hetty want to see Hurry. Good girl never tell secret of
friend."

Hetty understood this appeal, and she promised the Delaware girl not to
make any allusion to the presence of Chingachgook, or to the motive of
his visit to the lake.

"Maybe he get off Hurry and fader, as well as Hist, if let him have his
way," whispered Wah-ta-Wah to her companion, in a confiding flattering
way, just as they got near enough to the encampment to hear the voices
of several of their own sex, who were apparently occupied in the usual
toils of women of their class. "Tink of dat, Hetty, and put two, twenty
finger on mouth. No get friend free without Sarpent do it."

A better expedient could not have been adopted, to secure the silence
and discretion of Hetty, than that which was now presented to her mind.
As the liberation of her father and the young frontier man was the great
object of her adventure, she felt the connection between it and the
services of the Delaware, and with an innocent laugh, she nodded her
head, and in the same suppressed manner, promised a due attention to
the wishes of her friend. Thus assured, Hist tarried no longer, but
immediately and openly led the way into the encampment of her captors.

 Deerslayer heads the ark toward the rock skillfully, but the rescue of Chingachgook, while successful, is perilous. Chingachgook's leap to the safety of the ark is closely followed by the outcry of twenty pursuing Mingos. Judith saves the mission by her directions to Deerslayer as he moves the boat again to the open lake. Chingachgook is welcomed by the three exiles, and his news that Tom Hutter and Hurry Harry, though prisoners, are still unharmed calms the two girls. The Mohican chief has also heard the laughter of Hist and knows that she, too, though a prisoner, is safe. As the ark moves away from range of any Mingo attack, the four defenders attempt to settle upon a plan for the escape of Tom, Hurry, and Hist. Judith is willing to sacrifice her dresses to the Indians as ransom; and if worst comes to worst, the chest can be opened. The sound of a paddle in the water interrupts the conversation, and Deerslayer is on the point of firing at the canoe when Hetty Hutter identifies herself. She is on her way, alone, to the Indian encampment. Judith realizes that her sister, unaware of the danger she is risking, believes she can persuade the Indians to release the two men she loves. Deerslayer tries to divert her in the ark, but she outwits him and reaches land. Hetty, after landing, pushes the canoe away from the shore; Deerslayer recovers it, but he is still unable to persuade Hetty to return to the ark. As Deerslayer and Judith argue with Hetty, she tells them her plan: She intends to go directly and honestly to the Indians and tell the chief that God's commandment is to return good for evil. If the Indians do not release Hutter and Hurry Harry, God's punishment will be everlasting. This said, Hetty flees into the forest to avoid capture by Deerslayer, then at last falls asleep. She is suddenly awakened after several hours by a bear and her cubs. She watches them for awhile, then goes to a brook where she washes. The bears follow, then stop, and Hetty is coaxing them forward when an Indian girl places her hand upon Hetty's shoulder. After a few frightening moments, the two begin to talk in a friendly manner. Hist introduces herself, and the two exchange information. Hetty is overjoyed to know that she is near the two prisoners, and Hist happily learns that Chingachgook is with Deerslayer. Won over by Hetty's simple faith, Hist also understands that the white girl may not be in such peril because of the Indians' respect for those who appear simple-minded or abnormal. But Hist warns Hetty not to mention Chingachgook's name as the two girls approach the camp of the Mingos.

